Mysteries: Arcana Wars

“There is one floor above the factory.”

"Security system detected within the factory grounds."

"The factory...wait, Mr. Scott, could you please take a look at this."

Scott's terminal immediately connected to the view of a drone.

Among the dilapidated ruins, there was a truck hidden in the crisscrossing construction waste. Zooming in, Scott could see that it was a cold chain truck.

Sure enough, the factory is still running and is even preparing to ship today.

"There's probably a lot of life happening underground."

It seems that the missing persons are underground.

"It is estimated that there are five underground floors. We are trying to detect a detailed map. It will take more time..."

All the reconnaissance of each group was gathered on Scott's terminal. He pushed his glasses, and with the help of extraordinary items, the huge and tedious deduction was completed in his brain in a short time.

"Don't check. I know what's going on." Scott narrowed his eyes. "Now, the mission process has changed. Just take it down."

Everyone lowered their bodies and advanced towards the factory building stealthily and quickly.

When they entered the attack range, Scott quickly approached the building, and several tiny and hard chips flashed coldly and directly inserted into the cameras on the high wall. Accompanied by a flash of electric light, the cameras that were violently invaded were instantly twisted into mechanical hummingbirds, rushing into the factory at a swift posture.

Screams and explosions sounded, and other members of the Mechanical Heart immediately joined the battlefield. Under the leadership of a Sequence 3 fighter, this battle was a foregone conclusion. The abandoned building soon returned to peace again.

After accurately and quickly dealing with the armed forces, Scott began to arrange personnel to copy data and conduct on-site inspections, and casually connected the portable Kowawu to the factory intranet as if nothing had happened.

Human, electronic and mystical computing power worked together efficiently, and soon all kinds of information were summarized in Scott's hands.

"Is this... a delivery list? Is this refrigerated truck outside going to... Peaceful Starlight Hospital today?"

Tranquil Starlight Hospital? Is it the new hospital under the Ishdar Group, those Feynapote people who believe in the goddess of night?

"... This room... Oh my steam, there is actually a magic circle here... Excuse me, Mr. Scott, could you please take a look at this ritual magic?"

Scott followed the sound and carefully examined the pattern on the ground beside Damien, his brows suddenly furrowed.

"This is... the ritual magic used by the Motian Cult!"

Damn it, these Feynapot guys actually dared to collude with the cult!

The unexpected incident immediately made Scott energetic. Now the factory disappearance case has been upgraded to a level that he must face personally. All plans need to be re-written.

Before he could issue a new command, Scott had an idea and took out his terminal, which contained Gloria's message and a photo.

"Geraldine Lightning, missing, please pay attention, Mechanical Heart."

Most of the messages that could be sent openly through a private channel were not top secrets that could only be kept between two people. Scott sent Geraldine's missing person notice to the mechanical hearts of the action team present.

"Come on, boys! Has anyone found Robert Russell?" Scott shouted, pounding on the floor. "Or that Geraldine Lightning! The one I just sent you!"

"Report, Mr. Scott! We didn't find Geraldine Lightning, but I think we found Robert Russell...but we're not sure..."

"What do you mean by 'you think'? What do you mean by 'not sure'?"

"…I'm sorry, Mr. Scott, we can't be sure if he is Mr. Robert Russell. We found him on the fifth floor underground…I think you'd better come down and take a look…"

Scott didn't say anything and rushed down immediately. He found the location of the mechanical heart, but saw that the team was carefully surrounding a ventilation hole.

A low and hoarse humming sound came from the pipe, which sounded like a dilapidated bellows that was still beating with all its might, but the wind all escaped from its leaky old wind cavity, leaving behind an arrogant hissing and mocking sound. In the end, the tiny airflow that remained was not enough to send the weak sound out of the pipe mouth intact.

"It... is inside... and seems to be injured..." A mechanical heart was a little frightened and confused, "It seems that it escaped from several floors underground before we arrived..."

"It?" Scott frowned.

"…Sorry, I don't know if I can still call him 'he'…"

According to the information, Robert Russell had his right hand and right foot cut off in the dungeon because of theft. If his prosthesis was removed by the people in the factory, it would be easy to recognize him based on the mutilated limbs.

Scott stopped asking questions and walked up to the vent and called out tentatively.

"Robert Russell?"

"Huchi - Huchi -"

"Can you understand me?"

"Huchi - Huchi -"

"Robert Russell?"

"Huchi - Huchi -"

"Do you remember your wife? Sadie Russell! She reported you missing to the police, and now we're here to rescue you."

The sound in the pipe suddenly became intense, whirring like an overloaded old computer.

Responding to the name Sadie Russell, does that mean he understood it? Does that mean he still retains consciousness?

No…Scott still had his doubts.

After a moment of excitement, the creature in the pipe approached Scott vigilantly, then came to the pipe mouth, waited cautiously for a few seconds, then turned sideways, carefully stretched out a dry arm and a dry leg, and slowly revealed its equally dry head and chest to everyone.

Finally he fell from the vent with a snap, revealing his three white, plump right hands and two healthy, strong right legs.

The Mechanical Heart on the side moved back involuntarily, but Scott remained unmoved and gestured to the other team members to retreat.

These three weird and uncoordinated right hands and two right legs were all different from each other, as if they were "planted" on Robert's broken limbs by external force, like some beautiful but deadly parasitic plant, firmly digging its roots into Robert's barely usable land, sucking the originally thin and tall Robert into a rotten wooden beam, with dry skin tightly wrapping the fragile bones and internal organs.

Only the five healthy and white strange limbs absorbed enough sweet nutrients and exuded vigorous vitality.

"…Robert Russell? Do you know Sadie Russell? If you do, call her once. If you don't, call her twice."

The shriveled Robert looked up at Scott with empty eyes. He didn't make a sound or roar, but just continued to breathe heavily.

The spirituality reached out quietly, bringing back the despairing results from the silent consciousness on the opposite side, and suddenly rang the tight bell loudly to Scott.

The next second, Robert, who had been quiet, suddenly jumped up, his shriveled head split into two big mouths, and he rushed towards Scott with a roar.

Scott loaded the shotgun smoothly and stuffed the barrel into the twisted mouth.

"boom!"

Amid the splatter of blood and flesh, Scott turned towards the Mechanical Heart and wiped the flesh off his face.

"He's hopeless."