Ring!
A phone started ringing, breaking the silence spread inside the room.
Shu stood up and walked towards the back wall. There was a number pad on the wall that was attached with a fingerprint sensor.
He placed his left hand on the fingerprint sensor while he typed the numbers with his right.
/28740/
After pressing the code, he removed his thumb from the fingerprint sensor.
A door became visible in the wall that was invisible until now.
There was another number pad on the door.
Shu pressed a different code inside this time.
After he finished typing the code, the door was unlocked. He pushed the door open and entered the hidden room.
The room inside had many safes. It also had a few portraits hung on the wall.
There seemed to be a portrait of a middle-aged man who seemed to have similar features to Shu. Beside that portrait was a portrait of a woman who looked slightly younger than the man in the portrait.
Shu stepped closer and placed the portrait of the young man who looked like Ryder on the wall beside the portrait of the middle-aged man.
After being done, he stepped back and gazed at all three portraits. Tears appeared around his eyes as a sad smile spread across his face.
"Father, Mother, brother… Did you take pity on my loneliness?" he muttered.
He turned back and stepped out of the room.
He closed the door behind him, which once again disappeared into the wall.
Wiping the tears from his eyes, Shu walked over to the table where a glass of water was placed.
He pulled out a pill from his pocket and placed it in his mouth before he picked up the glass of water. He drank the water, effectively swallowing the pill before he laid on the bed.
He was just about to pick up his Divinity Glasses when his phone started ringing again.
He picked up the call.
"Yeah?"
"You traced the number he called when he was inside?"
"Are you sure? Why would he be in contact with a high-ranking member of the FBI? It should be Bastion he called in anger!"
"You know the consequences of giving me wrong information, right?"
"Alright. I got it."
Shu disconnected the call and placed his phone to the side.
"FBI… Ray, is it? How did you enter the picture suddenly? A friend? Or a Foe?" He muttered as he looked at the roof while lying on the bed. "Only time can tell."
He picked up the Divinity Glasses and wore them.
"Take me to Divinity," he muttered.
****
"Take me to Divinity."
Ryder wore the Divinity Glasses and entered the world of Divinity. He woke up inside the room where Rale was standing, looking outside the window.
"Do you ever sleep?" Ryder asked, smiling.
"I do, unfortunately," Rale answered as he turned back.
"I never saw you sleep. Everyone I come, you're always up. You're really punctual," Ryder said as he walked over to the window.
"Beautiful, isn't it? There's no difference compared to our Demon Realm. The cities and the people are all so similar. Only the species are different," he lamented as he looked outside.
"And the fact that they are weaker than Demons," Rale chimed in.
"Compared to Dukes and you, they do seem a whole lot weaker, but they should have people capable of fighting normal Demons," Ryder replied as he smiled.
"Anyway, let's get going."
The two of them left the hotel and walked back to the bar where they met Shu.
"So, where is that location, and how will we be traveling? The Location Portals inside the city shouldn't be activated yet. They will do it once the Real World Currency Exchange update arrives. Are we going to walk or take some carriage?" Ryder asked Shu.
"We will be taking a carriage. Even if we had the Teleportation unlocked, we couldn't go there since Teleportation can only take us from one city to another. We don't know which city that place might be inside. We only have a compass that shows us the direction," Shu answered as he walked with Ryder.
They went to an NPC and hired a carriage to escort them.
They entered the carriage, which started escorting them.
****
Ryder spent his nights in Divinity, getting escorted to the destination and his Day in the real world, where he continued working on his company.
After the merger was completed, he owned two buildings as the ACL Headquarters was his as well now.
As for the information about the two people that kidnapped Alice, their identity wasn't found as Ray didn't find any match in the database.
Ray only came to the conclusion that these people didn't have a criminal record, and it was almost impossible to find their identity now without putting a lot of resources that he couldn't at the moment.
Ryder could only give up on the lead as he failed to find the real culprit.
Bastion returned to his everyday life, where he went out and partied often.
Esmi also returned to normal. She and Ryder started spending more time together as they went out to eat every once in a while and even indulged in their romantic sessions often.
****
Rale and Ryder were standing at some distance from the carriage as Ryder waited for Shu to log in.
"It's already the fifth day. We can't stay out for too long. If someone finds out that we are missing, it would be very troublesome to handle." Rale expressed his concerns to Ryder.
"I know, but this shouldn't take longer. We'll be done as soon as we get there. Also, I have faith in Miku. She's a clever girl who knows how to handle things. If things get worse, I even gave her a sure-fire excuse to use," Ryder replied, smiling.
"What excuse?" Rale inquired.
"If people come to her with real urgency, I told her to lie to them and say that I left," Ryder explained.
"Isn't that the truth? If she told them that we left, we would be in trouble." Rale let out, not understanding.
"No, we would only be caught if she told them that we left the realm. I told her to lie that we only left the Palace. She will tell them that it was my wish to roam the kingdom while being undercover to see the real situation of the kingdom and the lives of citizens," Ryder replied.
"Ah, as expected of Your Highness. Your plan had such depths! Someone like me could never comprehend your wiseness!" Rale said, bowing his head in praise to Ryder.
"Let's continue. I'm here."
Shu said as he appeared inside the carriage.
"Right. Let's be on our way," Ryder nodded his head as he walked back inside the carriage.
"According to the map, we will soon be entering the Forest of Liander. It's said to be a good hunting ground. Do you wish to hunt along the way?" Shu asked Ryder as they reached near a forest.
" Hunting? I guess we can hunt a beast or two for some fun. It has been a long time since I last hunted in this place either," Ryder replied, nodding his head.
"Only one round of hunting. We can't waste too much time here," he continued.
"Hmm?"
He suddenly frowned as a warning notification appeared on his system screen.
[Warning: It has been Two Months since the Beast Egg Hatched. If it isn't taken out in two hours, the Egg will be ruined]
"Hmm? The Egg? What does it mean?" Ryder muttered in confusion.
'Oh heck! The Beast Egg that I found in the valley of Wandering Souls! How could I forget that?' he suddenly remembered as he stood shocked.
He opened his inventory, and in the lonely corner, he saw an Egg which has a timer on top of it.
He tapped on the egg to see its status.
[Item: Mysterious Egg]
[Description: Hatched long ago. The beast isn't able to come out since the Egg is in inventory. Bring the egg out to help the beast come out]
[Status: Expiring in 2 hours]
"Sigh, if I hadn't received the warning reminder, I would have forgotten about it completely. Being attacked by Vampire General and then the deal with the Vampire King, I completely forgot about it," Ryder muttered as he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Stop the carriage," he told the driver.
Ryder jumped out as soon as the driver stopped the carriage.
"What happened?" Shu and Rale also stepped out.
"It's nothing. I just remembered that my tamed beast hatched. It's time to see what it is going to be," Ryder smiled as he glanced back at Shu.
"Tamed beast? Hatched? You mean you found a rare beast egg so fast? Sigh, who am I even talking to? You're the strongest player here. I shouldn't be shocked at anything," Ryder replied as he smiled.
"Let's see what you received. Don't delay," Shu insisted.
"Yes." Nodding his head, Ryder opened his inventory again.
