Chapter 161: The Summoning Failed
Chapter 161: The Summoning Failed
"Did the ghosts make the fog, or did you?" Capped Man shouted loudly.
"Zzz... It really wasn't me. Do you have a problem with me? Apart from being taller, more handsome, and younger, I'm not that great, so why do you keep picking on me? Yesterday, I already told you I got rid of the fog, but you still don't believe me", the person in the walkie-talkie complained, accompanied by static.
Capped Man's eyes twitched, and his veins bulged. He ignored the idiot in the walkie-talkie and turned to the young man beside him. "Who hired this guy? Fire him tomorrow!"
"That might not be a good idea. He's a student from the nearby Ninth Beastmaster High School, here for the summer job", the young man said, voicing his opinion.
"Most of our customers are students from this school. If he goes back and spreads some rumors, we could lose a lot of business."
Capped Man calmed down a bit.
This kind of store mainly made money from young people, and it was located here to cater to the students from nearby schools, especially the Beastmaster High School, which brought in both students and their familiars.
"Fine, there are only a few days left of summer break..." Capped Man said, feeling a bit embarrassed. He added, "Once the break is over, fire him!"
"Got it..."
The young man was interrupted by the scene on the security camera.
The room that was on fire suddenly lit up brightly, but the next second, it went completely dark again. Not only that, the background lights that created the eerie atmosphere were all turned off, leaving only the firelight to faintly illuminate the scene.
"Damn it, who turned off the lights? Turn them back on now!" Capped Man saw the security camera footage and shouted into the walkie-talkie.
But the walkie-talkie only emitted static, with no one responding.
Capped Man's anger flared up, and he was about to curse the other person's family.
At that moment, the young man's expression turned serious. "The fog color is wrong."
The artificial fog in the store was purple, but when the lights briefly came on, the fog was black.
...
At the same time.
"Who would have thought the service at this place would be so thorough", Qiao Sang remarked, looking at the holographic screen, momentarily forgetting about the height of the room.
The room was on fire, and instead of putting it out immediately, they continued to create a terrifying atmosphere—truly professional!
But the fog seemed a bit too thick...
It was almost covering the entire scene.
Fang Sisi came to her senses and looked at the screen uncertainly. "I don't remember this room having this scenario set up."
She had spent the day watching a dozen or so sessions with Cotton Worm, memorizing the timing of the scary sound effects and when the Npcs would appear.
She had even seen familiars destroy artifacts inside, like the Flat-Billed Fire Duck that burned most of the artifacts in the second level yesterday, though it wasn't as severe as now...
But they had put out the fire immediately and used Black Mud to move the Flat-Billed Fire Duck to the next level.
Qiao Sang was taken aback by her words and looked at the screen again, noticing that the mist had covered the entire scene.
The smoke from the fire and the mist merged, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.
Qiao Sang's brow furrowed, a sense of unease rising in her. She hesitated for a moment, then formed the hand seals to summon Fangy.
Three seconds later, her expression turned grim.
The summoning failed...
"Can you summon Cotton Worm back now?" Qiao Sang turned and asked.
Fang Sisi was taken aback. Although she didn't know why, seeing Qiao Sang's serious expression and the hand seals she had just made, she knew something must have gone wrong.
"Alright."
She nodded and began forming the summoning seal with her hands.
"Damn it, why can't I summon mine back?!" Fang Sisi's face turned pale with panic.
Hearing this, the others in the observation room quickly began forming seals to recall their familiars.
Soon, everyone's faces turned ashen.
"How is this possible..."
"I actually failed!"
"Me too!"
Qiao Sang saw this and didn't say anything more. She simply stepped out and walked away.
Her brain domain had already reached over 10%, so as long as Fangy wasn't too far away, she could sense its location in her mind and summon it back without any issue.
The fact that everyone else couldn't summon their familiars back only confirmed her suspicions.
Something had gone wrong...
"I'll go with you!" Fang Sisi quickly got up and followed.
"Me too!"
"Let's go together!"
"Me too!"
The others all joined in.
Just as the last person stepped out of the observation room, a red eye appeared on the holographic screen.
The eye filled the entire screen, moving slightly from side to side, pressed against the camera.
The next second, the screen flickered twice and went black.
...
"You can't go in!" the staff member tried to stop them.
"Why can't we go in? Our familiars are in there! Who's going to be responsible if something happens?" The man who had been startled by the Treasure Seeker was visibly agitated.
"Exactly! You just tried calling in there, and no one answered, so something must have happened! Let me in!" A girl nearby, her eyes red, added.
"We've already sent someone in to check. Just wait a moment, and they'll come out. If something really did happen, we'll call the police to handle it", the staff member tried to calm them down.
"By the time the police get here, it'll be too late! There's a Flame Listener in there! Do you know what a Flame Listener is? Its Beastmaster is right here! Miss, tell them..." The man turned to the side, but then paused. Where was the Flame Listener's Beastmaster?
...
The secret room was dimly lit.
Qiao Sang used her mobile phone's flashlight to light the way.
Taking advantage of the staff's distraction, she had pulled Fang Sisi into the room.
Sometimes, being flexible was necessary. If she had tried to explain, they would never have been allowed in.
"Go left", Fang Sisi pointed the way.
Cotton Worm had worked here, so she had been inside the Lost Town secret room before.
That's why Qiao Sang had brought her along despite the trouble.
They quickly reached the first secret room where Fangy had been in the screen.
The fog had cleared, and the fire had gone out for some reason, leaving only the remains of the artifacts and a strong, smoky smell.
Qiao Sang closed her eyes and focused on sensing Fangy's location.
The fragmented images in her mind pieced together, showing a black background that made it hard to see the exact position, but she knew it was within a hundred meters.
"It's not here. Let's keep going", Qiao Sang said as she opened her eyes.
"Wait." Fang Sisi used her mobile phone's flashlight to shine on the ground, took three steps forward, then two steps to the left, and then knelt down to tap on a stone slab.
"What is it?" Qiao Sang asked.
"There's a room underneath. Remember the Npc that was dragged underground? That was Black Mud using its trait. If nothing else has happened, the two of them should still be in the room below. They might know what happened", Fang Sisi explained.
"Is this the Black Mud you're talking about?" Qiao Sang picked up a small, black, spherical object from the ground and asked.
Fang Sisi was taken aback and used her flashlight to shine on the black, spherical object in Qiao Sang's hand.
"...Yes, it is."
(End of Chapter)
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