Inside a bar in Belltaine City.
Roy, Biles, Phil, and Pasha sat around a small round table, guzzling down Southville beer.
They didn’t talk much as they listened to the drunkards in the next table discussing supernatural powers and mysticism incidents.
“Before this, hic. I saw that, not only do the Feysacians look like bears, but they could also control fire, throwing them out like javelins!”
“No way… Supernatural powers actually exist?”
“Haha, that’s because you don’t know a thing. I was drunk one day and slept near the cemetery. I saw people from the Church of Evernight appear with a few ghosts out. Yes, ghosts! They floated in the air, and it was terrifying!”
…
It was unknown if the drunkards were sharing stories from personal experiences or from hearsay, but the way they described it was with so much agitation that saliva kept flying as their faces flushed red.
“That’s what they’re like. They only become more excited after drinking. They always like to brag and be dramatic despite usually being depressed.” Biles was a Belltaine local. Upon seeing this, he explained, “Ever since the coal mines began to run dry, young people gradually left Belltaine and headed for Constant and Backlund. The atmosphere here has become more and more oppressive, and the city is just declining by the day.”
This man, who was less than thirty years old, had also been a miner when he was young. He was lucky to survive in the mines, his skin was tanned from all the labor.
His exposed muscles weren’t too exaggerated, but it gave people the feeling that they were made of steel.
As the leader of the group, Roy smiled and said, “What they’re saying might be the truth. They’re not bragging. The previous war has indeed exposed supernatural powers to many people, especially the soldiers who were directly involved. As long as they’re still alive, they will have the corresponding experience.
“Besides, this also brings about many fortuitous encounters, making it so that people who had zero chance of interacting with supernatural powers or true mysticism to become Beyonders.”
The way he expressed himself was very subtle, as though he was talking about others, but in reality, this was exactly what the four of them had experienced.
Biles and Roy had participated in the defense of Belltaine City before. Phil had once been ransacked by the Feysacians, but he was lucky to not have died. Pasha and her former citizens had seduced and ambushed a few Intis soldiers in the harbor battle.
They had witnessed the deaths of many of their friends and obtained supernatural powers due to various reasons.
After that, due to the chaos brought about by the war, they either lost contact with their unit, or they avoided it on their own accord without the officials learning about it. Slowly, they got to know each other and became friends with each other due to their common experiences.
This time, they had come to Biles’s hometown in Belltaine to seek out any friends and family who might’ve survived.
“The reality of this world far exceeds our imaginations.” Pasha, who had long dark-blonde hair and deep-blue eyes, sighed.
She was only in her twenties, and she was quite good looking. However, her face was a little thin, accentuating the protrusion of her cheekbones. This made her look much older than her actual age.
“In the future, we will lead different lives.” Roy, who had the typical Loenese characteristics, raised his cup. “To a brand new future…”
Before he could finish speaking, someone in the bar suddenly screamed.
The experienced Roy and company quickly raised their vigilance and cast their gazes over.
They saw a young man dressed in ordinary clothes, lying on the ground, rolling back and forth as if he was in extreme pain.
Under the dim yellow gas wall lamps, everyone realized that the clothes on the young man’s back had been torn open, revealing blood-red streaks. It was as if he had been whipped by a whip.
However, no one around him held a whip. The victim had only let out one scream. This was only possible if he had been whipped countless times in an instant.
But if that were the case, how could no one notice it?
“…He’s holding a wallet… Could this have something to do with the anomaly just now?” The thin Phil took several looks and said after some deliberation, “Shall I take a look?”
Roy thought for a moment and nodded.
“Be careful.”
Phil grunted and walked over from the small round table. With the help of the crowd, he approached the young man who was now whimpering instead of rolling about.
He quietly extended his left hand. His target was the seemingly ordinary leather wallet.
“Ah!”
Phil suddenly screamed as he watched his left wrist snap and land on the ground.
Blood splattered from the stump onto the faces and bodies of the people around them.
The scene instantly froze. The drunken guests were first stunned before swallowing their saliva. Then, they turned around and ran frantically towards the door or to the corners!
“Something’s wrong… No one attacked me!” Phil nearly fainted from the pain, but he still forced himself to tell Roy, Biles, and Pasha what he had just experienced.
Roy’s eyes narrowed as he decisively said, “Let’s get out of here first!”
He then turned his head and said to Biles, “Pick up Phil’s hand and preserve it well. I remember that a military doctor I met before is also from Belltaine. After he got discharged from the army, he came here and opened a private clinic. H-he can effectively treat this kind of wound.”
The military doctor named Weber was also a Beyonder. When he participated in the war in the south, he had advanced step by step, obtaining medical skills that surpassed reality. It was said that he could sew up a severed limb and restore it to its former flexible state.
“Alright.” Biles agreed without hesitation.
He took a few steps forward, took out a wooden box, picked up Phil’s severed hand, and put it in.
At the same time, Pasha used the mystical ointment she had bought previously to stop Phil’s bleeding, and bandaged it.
Soon after, the group of four left the bar.
After many inquiries, they finally found Weber’s clinic with the help of passersby.
The clinic hadn’t closed for the day, and the light from the gas lamps inside spread outwards, casting a dim yellow light.
Roy politely pulled at the doorbell again and again as he heard the ringing echo inside.
However, after a few minutes, no one came to open the door.
“He’s drunk?” Pasha looked at the miserable Phil and made a guess.
Roy shook his head.
“I remember that Weber isn’t one to drink. Other than being more amorous, he doesn’t have any bad habits. Perhaps, he’s currently…”
As he spoke, the middle-sized man with a face full of weathered pockmarks pushed the door open and realized that it was not locked. It was ajar.
As the door opened, Roy, Biles, and the others saw two figures.
Two figures were hanging in the middle of the clinic. Due to the wind blowing in from the outside, they swayed gently.
One was a man in his thirties wearing a white coat, while the other was a young lady in a nurse’s uniform. Their lower bodies were naked and their eyes were protruding. Their mouths were half-open, and their tongues were squeezed out. They were hung on the ceiling by an invisible rope. Their expressions were filled with fear, despair, and blankness.
“Weber…” Roy recognized the dead man.
He, along with Pasha, Phil, and Biles, felt a chill run down their spines. They didn’t know why something like this had happened, nor did they know what kind of horrors such an unknown might bring.
Boom!
The sound of a chair being knocked over sounded from the side, jolting the dazed Roy and company.
They looked in the direction of the voice and saw a lady carrying a baby standing up in a fluster. She whispered in horror and confusion, “They were having an affair…”
What had this got to do with their encounter? Roy took a deep breath. He felt that he shouldn’t stay here for long.
He quickly instructed, “Let’s go!”
He didn’t ask Pasha to comfort the lady, nor did he attempt to obtain the clinic’s disinfectant and bandages.
Biles and the others swallowed their saliva with great difficulty, turned around, and warily left the clinic.
To Phil, the horror of the unknown had completely suppressed the pain in his left hand.
“What exactly happened?” Phil asked as he turned into another street, asking as his facial muscles winced.
“How would I know?” Biles blurted out. He had seemed to lose control of his emotions.
Roy looked around and exhaled.
“Calm down.
“This should be a terrifying Beyonder matter that has exceeded our imaginations.”
“Right. All of this is too strange. That can be the only reason.” Pasha nodded in agreement.
“Then what should we do?” Phil asked anxiously.
Roy thought for a moment and said, “Let’s try to leave Belltaine.
“Also, analyze what happened before and summarize the patterns hidden within.
“We can’t be sure of the anomalies we might encounter later. We can only ensure our own safety after knowing the underlying rules.”
“Right.” Biles calmed down and agreed with Roy.
They discussed as they walked, gradually having some ideas.
“Weber was hung for adultery. Before Phil’s hand was cut off, he tried to take the wallet. That’s a form of theft…” Pasha summarized the common point the two incidents had in common.
Roy suddenly had an idea:
“Could it be that they suffered such a situation because they did something illegal?”
“How is that possible?” Biles and Phil both replied.
As soon as he said that, they suddenly had a corresponding guess, and their expressions turned solemn.
“Maybe there’s an invisible law enforcer. That’s the essence of this Beyonder incident…” Biles said in thought.
Roy tersely acknowledged and said, “That’s highly possible.
“Next, we’ll take note of our actions.”
Pasha and the others nodded and walked on the streets cautiously.
Not long after, they arrived at the municipal square and saw that there were many people standing around the noticeboard.
“Notice?” Roy and the others exchanged looks, wondering if it was a warning that the officials had given to the supernatural incidents.
Hence, they approached and used the light from the street lamps to look at the notice on the wooden board.
There was a piece of white paper stuck in the middle, and beneath it was a piece of yellow paper. It seemed to be an annex.
As they quickly scanned through the notice, Roy, Pasha, and the others quickly had their eyes filled with horror. They seemed to understand the source of the matter.
After reading the paper, their eyes landed on the yellow paper.
“All citizens are to arrest foreigners using all possible means.”
Arrest foreigners… Roy and the others felt their hearts tighten as they instinctively looked at the citizens around the noticeboard.
As if sensing their gazes, the citizens turned around and cast their gaze at them.
Under the dim yellow light from the gas lamps, their eyes seemed to glimmer with a strange light.
