Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong hesitated for a moment and answered: ”I’m... introduced to him by someone, the community said he was very reliable, a staff member at Stargate Port. He...”

The community said...

He’s very reliable?

If it were anyone else, Su Changfeng would probably find it amusing. It seemed like this guy has never been deceived before, his precious daughter didn’t fall for this even at ten years old. But given the other’s bad mood, he politely maintained his original expression.

”Who introduced him to you?”

”A few familiar friends in the community...”

”How well do you know them?”

”We often chat together, we all have common topics... About smuggling, they created a group, and almost all in there didn’t get the Chosen qualification...” Fang Hong’s voice grew smaller and smaller, as if he were confessing a crime.

Su Changfeng snapped his fingers, and a page of light screen floated in front of the two. ”Is this the group?” Fang Hong took a look and couldn’t help being slightly surprised. On the light screen was the community group he had joined, named ’Eteliria’, and due to many groups with the same name, it also had a number, so its full name was ’Eteliria#005679’.

But what truly startled him was that he remembered two years ago this group was very active, he knew most of the people inside, now those familiar names had long faded away. At this moment the group was empty, no one was online.

He couldn’t help but look at Su Changfeng with some fear, wondering if the military had caught everyone in a net. Unexpectedly, Su Changfeng saw through his thoughts, shook his head, and said: ”You might not know, shortly after you went to Eteliria, the people in this group disappeared one by one.”

Fang Hong was shocked: ”How could that be?”

”It’s a fact,” Su Changfeng pointed to a few names, ”Not only disappeared in the online sense, afterwards we investigated the whereabouts of some people here, don’t look at me like that, it’s the ’water meter check’ you imagined. These people not only vanished online but also were untraceable in real life, and are still missing to this day.”

He pointed to another name, at the top of the group list, below the founder, the ID was Rekehtopa, and Fang Hong remembered this ID vividly, even though it looked like a string of meaningless characters, he remembered clearly—it was this person who recommended that Snakehead to him.

”That’s him.” Fang Hong couldn’t help but say softly.

”He’s the one who recommended that Snakehead to you, right?” Su Changfeng, as if mind reading, guessed what he wanted to say.

Fang Hong looked at the other as if he had seen a ghost.

”Don’t be surprised, we did a lot of things in the past half year, you just don’t know,” Su Changfeng quietly answered, ”You might not know, this person not only recommended that Snakehead to you, but he also paid a large ’deposit’ for you before you contacted them—”

Fang Hong felt like he was listening to a fantastical tale: ”Why?”

”There’s no reason why, and don’t guess how much that ’deposit’ is, I can only tell you it’s many, many times more than your money, enough to buy a life in a sense.”

Su Changfeng’s voice was eerie, making Fang Hong feel a chilling sensation rise up his spine.

”...Why?” he still asked.

”No one knows, the ID behind it corresponds to a false identity, anyone who can do that under the current identity authentication is definitely not a good person,” Su Changfeng replied: ”But since you’re involved and cooperating with us, we are obligated to give you a heads up—”

He paused, as if to emphasize: ”One possible guess is, maybe someone wants you to come to this world...”

It was noon, the warm sunlight was passing through the bright glass windows, falling onto the room’s floor, the wood in the fireplace was also burning brightly, but Fang Hong couldn’t feel any warmth, only waves of dizziness.

Before coming to this world, he was just an ordinary student, why would anyone want to bring him to Eteliria unreasonably? Entering the Stargate wasn’t a bad thing, many people sharpened their heads just to get a Chosen qualification, it’s not like twenty or thirty years ago.

As long as there’s interest in something, it’s not surprising someone’s plotting behind the scenes. But someone doing a good deed without leaving a name, not seeking fame, even inexplicably making a profit for someone unrelated, spending a fortune to send him beyond the Stargate.

What is this for?

A person who doesn’t consider money as money, a boring pastime?

Fang Hong found it hard to convince himself of this reason.

He first thought of R, actually the mysterious Shana, and then extended to everyone around him, he felt a complex splitting, wanting to confirm to feel at ease on one side. But on the other, he didn’t want it to be someone he knew involved.

There’s a life behind it.

He opened his mouth slightly, finally struggling to make a sound: ”Rekehtopa is...”

”Don’t worry,” Su Changfeng responded, ”this ID has nothing to do with your uncle.”

Fang Hong let out a long breath, it was the thing he was most worried about.

But he quickly realized, if it’s unrelated to his uncle’s family, why mention his uncle?

Seeing he realized, Su Changfeng inwardly thought his earlier decision was correct, and only then began to speak:

”After you entered the Stargate, someone attempted to retrieve the relics left by your parents at Stargate Port, coincidentally because you were registered as an Invoker by us before that, therefore during the relic handling, the port administrative office inadvertently discovered they had a higher level of inheritance rights, and directly notified us.”

He pointed to the page of paper in Fang Hong’s hand, ”We investigated the person retrieving the relics, found they left no real identity, but further checks revealed this person had made several brief contacts with the ground using the airport’s communication terminal, the contact person...”

Su Changfeng stopped.

The answer was actually self-evident.

”Was... my uncle?” Fang Hong asked softly.

Su Changfeng nodded, but then shook his head.

...