Mystical Journey

Valley in the outskirts, Morraso Province, Germany

Three mountains squeezed together, forming a valley shaped like two sides of a triangle(1), there were neat green forests in the middle, and a small stream twisting down the yellow dirt roads, going through the entire valley.

It was noon, and the clear sound of an engine came from the valley road, a convoy of military green jeeps was neatly driving down the yellow dirt roads.

The white clouds swayed slightly in the wind, the remaining sky was completely blue. The sun shone through everything, such that nothing was hidden.

Garen pulled back his gaze, looking at the driver in front of him.

"There’s still another half hour or so, boss."

The one driving the car was one of the Nighthawks, Lotus Pearl was handed to Rod’s subordinates, Rexott was communicating with the Primary Colors, Lotus Pearl was also testing the waters with Rod’s subordinates, Seasnake and Seal, it would probably be some time before they reached a decision, even if they said they had already gotten Lotus Pearl’s general position.

Garen nodded. Moving his gaze outside the car, he watched as the valley fell back in front of his eyes. He could see grey-brown houses by the roadside, or even farms and fields.

"Tell me about this Allen Hill."

Rod sat next to him, and laughed.

"He’s a friend of mine since young, but we’re not that close, when we were young we had a lot of fun together, but once we grew up, many things changed. We haven’t met for many years as well, I didn’t know how he’d developed, if it weren’t for this investigation, I would not know that he had so much hidden away. To think he’s the boss of Germany’s number one, Halo."

He reminisced.

"I remember he was always a very capable and ambitious guy, he was always smiling, but no one could guess what he was hiding inside. He kept his cards close to his chest."

"How strong is his faction?" Garen went straight to the point.

"The main reason Halo can be number one is that they are themselves a special forces mercenary group. Well, I call it a mercenary group, but it’s actually just three people, Allen Hill himself should be Halo in the flesh, then there’s Mole, and the last one is Su Lanjing." Rod introduced them all.

"The name sounds Asian?"

"That’s right, an Asian immigrant to Germany, there are many like that, you know that." Rod shrugged.

Garen nodded, when Rod came out with him today, he had just brought one person with him, a black woman codenamed Black Date, she looked very efficient.

Garen, on the other hand, brought ten Nighthawks in three cars, ready for anything.

The two of them chatted about the Halo organization’s situation, the driver chipping in occasionally. The car twisted and turned with the road, and finally slowly stopped in front of a large grille gate made of wood.

The large grille gate blocked the road, and there were two men in green standing guard in front of it.

Seeing the cars approach, the two of them walked up to them one after the other, the first one chatted with the driver of the first car, and the other picked up his walkie-talkie, seemingly talking to someone through it.

*************

On the right side of the valley road, there were two inconspicuous figures sprawled on a slanting grassy field by the side of the mountain.

The two of them watched the situation down on the road from a distance, one of them was Kenna and the other Cole, both of them wore simple grass-woven hats. They had a large broken branch covering over their bodies, and each of them held a small telescope.

"They’re here," Kenna said in a soft voice, looking at the convoy below. "I have no idea if it was a right choice or not to lure the Nighthawk King here."

"This might be a new development." Cole comforted him calmly beside him, "If you hadn’t informed the Nighthawk King, then Mole would not have been summoned back so suddenly, and we would not have been able to get away from there so easily."

"Perhaps. But I keep getting the feeling that things will get even worse..." Kenna frowned tightly.

"Just stay back and watch. Find a chance, it would be best if we could break away from the valley barricade, we can’t stay stuck here forever," Cole said softly, this valley seemed normal, but in truth, the whole valley was surrounded by Halo’s people, they searched everywhere, and had many surveillance machines in hidden places, even some of the animals and insects here had been tampered with, so it was not easy to get out.

The two of them lay on the grassy slope, watching as the people from the Halo base behind the gate invited the green jeep convoy inside.

A blonde man with a crew cut walked out, laughing loudly, and hugged a man who had gotten out of the convoy tightly. The two of them seemed to be close, chatting about something.

"Shit... They actually have people who are close with Allen Hill!" Kenna’s expression changed drastically.

"Don’t panic... It’s not as bad as you think." But Cole noticed a tiny clue.

************

"Hahaha!! Rod Crusoe! How many years has it been?" The blonde crew cut laughed as he enveloped Rod in a bear hug.

"It’s probably been four years, what a long time. I think the last time I saw you was in Chicago." Rod laughed as well. There was a large contrast between their sizes, he was 170cm, more than 130kg, compared to the other person, he was a bean sprout.

The blonde crew cut was about two meters tall, looking at his powerful muscles, his shoulders considerably wider than Rod’s, he should be at least 170 or 180 kg.

"Now that you’ve come to my turf this time, I must greet you well, why don’t you introduce us? This is?" Allen Hill turned around, his gaze sweeping across Garen who was behind Rod, just a light glance, and his gaze froze, focused on Garen’s body that was about the same size as him. As for the other person’s strange mask, he narrowed his eyes slightly, but did not ask anything.

"This is Garen, Garen Thomas, my friend." Rod hurriedly smiled as he patted Garen’s shoulder while he introduced him. "He came over this time to see what the famous Halo organization is like."

"Mn, you mentioned that over the phone, relax! I’ve got everything arranged. Rod’s friend is my, Allen Hill’s friend." Allen Hill thumped his chest and laughed loudly, he was just wearing a white open-chested shirt, white long trousers, and leather boots, looking nothing like a person who spent most of their time in the valley. He looked more like a normal tycoon on vacation in a seaside city.

"Then I’ll be troubling you." Garen nodded and smiled.

Every few steps they took, there were people from Halo standing neatly in two rows beside the road. There was one person in charge of leading Garen’s and Rod’s subordinate aside to rest, while the three leaders went through another large door, walking straight into a forest path on the left of the road.

The path was covered with white pebbles, it looked especially delicate and fresh, twining through the woods and stretching inwards.

Rod and Allen Hill walked ahead, talking about their childhood memories, while Garen stayed back purposely to watch the surroundings.

There were inconspicuous bird nests, bee hives, between the tree branches, in the grass, or even the armadillo that flashed past. He could sense tiny man-made surveillance equipment on all these plants and animals.

Garen’s eyesight was outstanding, through the mask, his eyes could clearly see the traces of these surveillance equipment.

The three of them went through the woods, reaching a white mansion built deep inside the woods.

The black metal door opened automatically, guards came from either side to check some unknown equipment, and then they saw a black statue facing the back of the door turn slightly. It was a statue of a young girl holding a water vase, the vase’s mouth faced the three of them from the side, and a red light lit up inside before extinguishing immediately.

The three of them walked past the metal door, lush blooming gardens on either side, the green vines and the red and white flowers fighting for attention, dense and beautiful.

Walking through the beautiful twisting garden, and to the end of the pebbled road, what appeared before the three was a white castle-like estate with a pyramidal roof.

Two pretty women dressed as maids opened the door respectfully, bowing.

"Welcome, Mr Rod, Mr Garen."

The crisp voices showed that these two were no older than 25. Their maid uniforms were obviously altered, it looked as though there was just a simple piece of black and white cloth covering their upper bodies, while their lower halves were barely concealed by a little bit of skirt, extremely revealing.

"Welcome to my kingdom, hahahaha!" Allen Hill laughed confidently, "Don’t think this is a simple estate, the truth is there’s something deeper to it." He stretched out his finger mysteriously and pointed downwards.

"Underground?" Rod cocked an eyebrow.

"Exactly!" Allen Hill nodded with a smile, "I have the newest hallucinogenic powders here, do you want to try some? I guarantee it’s pure. It’s not like the stuff on market." This was a drug processing company anyway, he had plenty of that stuff.

The three of them walked into the estate, sitting in the luxurious golden hall, beautiful near-naked maids offered them fruits, cakes, and drinks. And then they left under Rod’s reluctant gaze.

"They’re all top quality..." Rod licked his lips.

"Hehe, they’re a hundred percent obedient, if you like them, I have a pair of jewels here as well! Twins, they’re extremely rare in this world, the sisters have a certain degree of telepathy, satisfaction guaranteed!" Allen Hill introduced in a low but confident voice.

"Oh?" Rod’s eyes shone, that was his favorite type, but since Garen was here on business, he resisted the urge to immediately enjoy himself right now.

"Let’s settle business first." He gulped, picked up a drink and finished in one swallow.

"Business?" Allen Hill stopped smiling, waving his hand and indicating that he was all ears.

"My friend Garen wants a tour of your base, he’s an extremely passionate collector, and is highly interested in the legendary Sleepless Faces." Putting down his drink, Rod briefly introduced their reason for coming here.

"Sleepless Faces? You mean that thing..." A hint of understanding flashed through Allen Hill’s eyes, "But I don’t have much to do with that thing here. If you want the best drugs, you’ve come to the right place. If you need the world’s best beauties, come here, and I can also satisfy your desires. But if you want that thing, there’s nothing I can do." He splayed his hands, shrugging, "Sorry I can’t be of more help to you."

Translator’s notes:

Lit. shaped like the word 人