Chapter 570: Childish

“No one there.”

After opening the car door, Nicole stepped into the front passenger’s seat. She exhaled before turning to Tian Lie. “Water.”

Tian Lie handed her a bottle of mineral water. After unscrewing the cap, Nicole downed the entire bottle of water in one go. After that, she said, “Let us go. The next objective.”

“How was the situation inside?”

“The place is empty. Someone had rummaged through the place. Although there are signs of battle, it is not an intense one. Their enemies must have had an absolute advantage in the fight; they must have taken them away.” Nicole gritted her teeth and threw a glare at Tian Lie. “I said let’s go! To the next objective!”

Tian Lie sighed. He started up the vehicle and moved the MPV into the street.

They were in a small town in the south-eastern area of France. It was not a big town, with only three streets within it. After driving for only a few minutes, they made it into the highway and headed east.

“This is already the third one.” Nicole sat inside the vehicle and looked outside. Suddenly, she growled in a low voice, “The third! There is no one there! It has been empty again and again!”

“Truth be told, you have already expected this, no?” said Tian Lie, who shook his head.

“I am not sure about the other peripheral members in Europe. However, these few core staff members have the most connection with our Angel Corps. Unexpectedly, even they would be taken.” Nicole narrowed her eyes. “I just do not know who. Who is it? To have the guts to make a move on the peripheral members of Zero City’s Angel Corps, an organization like this… …”

“Not Thorned Flower Guild.” Tian Lie shook his head. “At present, Thorned Flower Guild has no time for others. I had secretly checked it out. As Shen had yet to return, the infighting within Thorned Flower Guild is going crazy. The Awakened members of Thorned Flower Guild are organizing themselves to take advantage of this period of time before the opening of another instance dungeon and the arrival of the Player members to prepare themselves for battle. They are putting everything into those efforts and have no time to be making enemies of others.”

“So, who do you think is behind this?”

“It could be anyone.” Light flashed across Tian Lie’s eyes. “If a tiger suddenly loses its fangs and claws, what would it become in the eyes of others? It would become nothing more than a few hundred pounds worth of prey!”

Nicole stopped talking. She reached out with one hand to stroke the mechanical watch she was wearing; her Floater had transformed into the watch. There was an icy look within her eyes.

“I have accompanied you to three places. For this next trip, do you mind accompanying me to a certain place?” Tian Lie suddenly hit the brakes and stopped the MPV by the street.

Nicole turned to look at Tian Lie.

Tian Lie exhaled. He looked back at Nicole and said, “I know you are feeling anxious and restless. That is why I did not rush this. As you had wanted to go check up on those three spots, I accompanied you so that you would give up. As of right now, you have already gone to those places, but you can’t find anyone. You should have at least calmed down. Being anxious and restless won’t help you solve this issue.”

Nicole remained silent.

“Next, accompany me to this place.” Tian Lie continued looking at Nicole. “You are feeling anxious and restless. Am I any different? You have friends, comrade-in-arms, fellow guild members, acquaintances. Likewise, I did not just crawl out into existence from the gap between some rocks. Hear me out, I have a way. We will head to a certain spot and find someone. I believe that person is reliable. Besides… … we may be able to obtain some accurate information.”

“… … you are certain?”

“No,” replied Tian Lie coolly. “I have never seen something like this either – no one has! However, this person I am going to find… I believe this method of mine is slightly more reliable than yours. There is the saying, the blind cat bumps into the dead rat. Who knows? I might just bump into one.”

“… … I will listen to you for once.” Nicole closed her eyes. “I am sleepy. I will sleep for a moment.”

Tian Lie smiled and turned to look at the three figures seated at the back of the MPV. “You three, if any of you want to go the toilet, speak up now. For this next stretch, we will be in a hurry so I will be driving faster. Other than stopping for gas, I will be doing my best to not stop.”

Lin Leyan did not say anything. She had resigned herself to her fate as a captive. Tom Huggins, however, frowned and said, “Where are you planning to go?”

“Romania.”

Tom Huggins’ face instantly sank. “You… … you want to find…”

Tian Lie grinned. Starting up the MPV, he drove the MPV forward, leaving a trail of smoke behind the vehicle.

…

…

If you are going to Romania for a vacation, you will find that many of the major travel agencies in this world would suggest and promote going to the commune known as Bran.

The reason for this is very simple. In one word: Vampires.

Naturally, for others, this is just a legend. However, the birthplace of the legendary vampires is in Romania. The model used for the infamous Count Dracula is also in Romania.

On the tourist map, Bran is a most important commune.

…

…

The slightly dated Cadillac SRX drove into Bran. At that point in time, Bran was very lively.

Judging by the sights on either side of the street, this place had absolutely no connection with the terrifying legend of vampires.

The shops were selling various tourist baubles: Vampire hats, masks, various types of Romanian dolls. There were also T-shirts with the drawing of vampires on them.

Some shops deliberately played horror music. Sharp screams and crunching sounds rang out.

Yet, every one of the endless stream of tourists on the street had cheerful smiles on their faces. Youngsters of varying skin colours were taking selfies at different angles. Some had vampire getups on them as they chased after others in amusement.

Some shops had been turned to those ‘House of Terror’s and scary music played out from them. The door with the shape of the opened mouth of a demon was adorned in a very gaudy manner. Red coloured cloth was hung above.

Tourists queued up outside while staff members wearing vampire masks were in charge of collecting tickets.

“What vampire? This is just a theme park.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. Looking at the House of Terror, he turned to look at Soo Soo, who was fiddling with her mobile phone in the back row. He said, “Do you want to go in and have a look?”

Soo Soo raised her head and cast a glance out the window. Almost immediately, she lowered her head and continued playing with her mobile phone. She said, “Childish.”

Thankfully, it was not this place’s tourist season. This time was the skiing season. Thus, the tourists had mostly gone up to the snowy mountains. As for this little ‘vampire town’ at the foot of the mountains, it was not too crowded with tourists.

The Cadillac reached a hotel and parked outside. Phoenix then got out to make an inquiry before returning. She said, “We are in luck, there are rooms available.”

Chen Xiaolian led Soo Soo out of the SUV and followed Phoenix into the hotel. After finishing the check-in procedures, Chen Xiaolian looked at the two room keys in his hand.

“I will take one room. You two girls take the other.”

“No.” Soo Soo raised her head to look at Chen Xiaolian before glancing at Phoenix. “I am not staying with her.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled wryly. As he was about to say something, Phoenix said with an air of indifference. “What are you dawdling about for? We are not actually here for a vacation after all. As Awakened ones, even if we find ourselves in the wilderness with no tents to sleep in, we can still improvise by just putting a blanket over us. There are two rooms here. When the time comes, whoever wants to sleep inside can go sleep inside. What is there to be worried about?”

After saying that, Phoenix grabbed one of the room keys from Chen Xiaolian’s hand. She said, “I want to go take a bath and get some rest. Take this child and go do whatever you want. You can take her to visit the sights if you want.”

Chen Xiaolian knitted his brows and said, “You are not going to visit the sights with us?”

Phoenix replied with a harrumph. She gave Chen Xiaolian a glance and said, “You were the one who pulled me along with you. As for me, I am only interested in the ones you are meeting tomorrow. I have no interest in visiting the tourist attractions with you fellows. Do I make myself clear? You two go ahead. If anything happens, just give me a call.”

After saying that, Phoenix turned around and got up the stairs, leaving Chen Xiaolian, who remained dumbfounded for a good five seconds. Soo Soo, however, kept her mobile phone and tugged Chen Xiaolian’s sleeve. “Let’s go.”

“Mm, go where?”

“Bran Castle. I have checked the internet. The most famous spot here is the castle. Let’s go check it out.”

Chen Xiaolian responded with a smile. “You don’t think it is childish now?”

Soo Soo puffed up her cheeks and glared at Chen Xiaolian. Next, she said with a very serious tone, “I am only 10 years old.”

…