Mythology Rebooted-Chapter 42 - 39 Void Lord
42: Chapter 39 Void Lord
42 -39 Void Lord
Garden gazebo.
Wayne lay on the bench, eyes closed, meditating, merging with nature to capture more Elemental Radiant Spots.
Last night, Veronica called, and Wayne heard uncontrollable joy in her words, thinking that the matter had been settled, and his father-in-law had taken care of that big shot.
But that wasn’t the case.
Veronica asked Wayne to wait a bit longer, as Mister Lando was busy running around for this matter, but regrettably, he hadn’t made any breakthrough progress.
The saying goes, ‘It’s coming soon, almost there.’
Wayne, resigned, asked Veronica to pass a message to Mister Lando, thanking him for his tremendous help and assuring that Wayne would not decline any request for his assistance in the future.
Wayne didn’t ask why Veronica was so happy, guessing she must have graduated successfully.
Damned genius, enjoy your happiness while you still can, laugh all you want now.
Once I, Wayne, rise to the occasion, you’ll stop laughing.
Wayne had food and drink in Enrold Town, living in a mansion, with top-notch ingredients for meals, luxury cars to drive, and butlers and maids at home.
He had no particular eagerness to return to Lundan.
Right now, he only wanted to do three things: meditate, meditate, and meditate some more!
Even without that big shot’s obstruction, he still had the Glamor Lady teacher’s grounding magic on him.
Since he couldn’t return to Lundan anyway, he might as well throw one hundred percent of his energy into his training.
Besides, Wayne felt slightly ashamed of his long-term freeloading off the Lando Family, staying and eating for free and getting help in dealing with big shots on the streets.
Mister Lando was so good to him that if they didn’t develop a father-in-law and son-in-law relationship, Wayne wouldn’t know how to repay the favor.
“Young Master Wayne, two detectives have come to visit at the gate.
They claim to be Wesley and Hood,” Butler Philark approached the gazebo, bowed, and said from outside.
The butler’s address to Wayne as ‘Young Master’ was due to Hefei, the lady of the house, who held Wayne in high regard as her teacher and student.
If it had been just a normal teacher-student relationship, Philark wouldn’t have changed his form of address, but Hefei had specifically instructed him to treat Wayne with the same respect as a member of the Lando Family.
There weren’t many members of the Lando Family; disregarding some distant relatives who weren’t essential, there were only the master, the lady, and the young miss: three significant figures.
Thus, calling Wayne ‘Young Master’ was appropriate.
Wayne had once tried to get the butler to change his form of address, but it was only mildly effective, so he let it be.
Young Master is fine, as long as it’s not Master Wayne.
“What do they want with me?”
Wayne stopped meditating, pondered for a moment, and thought there must be more to yesterday’s case.
“Young Master Wayne, do you need me to send them away?”
“No need, let them in,” Wayne said, shaking his head slightly.
He would bet his bottom dollar on Ah Bin’s nose that the murderer was the middle-aged man.
There was no mistaking the smell that overwhelmed the senses. frёeωebɳovel.com
Wayne speculated that the reality of the locked-room murder was different from his deduction.
The middle-aged man wasn’t hiding behind the door but stood behind the curtains.
The two detectives had come to inform him of the truth and, by the way, to exchange their experience of solving cases with this excellent fellow detective, so they could progress together.
“Young Master Wayne, the two gentlemen have arrived.” Butler Philark bowed and stepped back, ordering a maid to serve a pot of black tea.
Wesley and Hood, looking at the mansion worth billions, and hearing the butler’s address to Wayne, fell into a brief silence.
Joy and sorrow do not necessarily transfer between people, and they just found Wayne’s demeanor abruptly repulsive.
Damn rich kid!
Hood knew to whom the mansion belonged: the local number one capitalist, the prestigious Lando Family of Lundan; Wesley knew as well, for he had seen the Lando Family crest at the entrance, but hadn’t expected Wayne to be part of this family.
Three hundred years ago, before the Windsor Kingdom had its constitutional monarchy reform, the Royal Family had its own Tulip Legion composed entirely of aristocratic knights, synonymous with elegance and strength.
As times changed, the former Tulip Legion was disbanded and became fourteen families scattered across the Windsor Kingdom, collectively known as the Tulip Family.
The crests of these fourteen families all feature tulips as the main element, sometimes adorned with shields, swords, or scepters, or with slight modifications to the flower shape, but overall maintaining a consistent style.
According to rumors, regardless of the prosperity or decline of the fourteen families, even if only one member remained, they would be unconditionally loyal to the Royal Family, upholding their knightly mission.
The Lando Family was one of the Tulip Families and one of the few visible to the public.
With modest achievements, they opened a small bank in Lundan, joined forces with other banks to establish the Lundan Bill Exchange, monopolizing the bill exchange business and thereby controlling all the small and medium-sized banks in Lundan.
Beyond banking, the Lando Family also invested in real estate, military, civilian business, and some minor foreign trade.
Family head Austin Lando served consecutive terms as the mayor of the Financial City of Lundan, owned several newspapers and radio stations privately, and held substantial industrial assets, particularly favoring social aid, hence holding a seat of authority throughout the Windsor Kingdom.
So, what does Young Master Wayne mean?
Does Mister Lando have a secret son?
x2
Both detectives harbored a ridiculous thought, suspecting they had stumbled upon a major secret of the Lando Family.
Wesley believed it immediately, having seen Austin Lando himself at a reception, surrounded by women and frequented by various elite socialites.
That wasn’t the point.
The point was that Austin Lando and Wayne shared the same hair color and pupils, enough to prove a blood relationship between them.
As detectives excel in analysis and deduction, with their imaginations running wild, Wesley and Hood looked at each other, each beating a silent retreat.
Young Master Wayne was rich, exceedingly rich, laying flat without doing anything and set to inherit wealth beyond ordinary imagination.
Inviting such a person to partake in the high-risk work of detective investigation seemed next to impossible.
The rich value their lives.
“There’s no need to be formal, this isn’t my home.
Just like you, I am a guest here,” Wayne said.
Wayne asked, “Was it the locked-room poisoning case from yesterday?
Did something go wrong with my deduction?”
Being a bastard, he couldn’t openly acknowledge his own identity.
Wesley nodded and replied, “Indeed, it was yesterday’s murder case, but Mister Wayne’s reasoning was flawless.
You are a very formidable detective.
Your grasp of details makes Hood and myself quite ashamed.
We’re here today for another matter.”
“Please speak.”
“Have you heard of the Earth Core Cult, Mister Wayne?”
The Earth Core Cult he hadn’t heard of, but he was familiar with the concept of the Earth being at the center of the universe, a point of minor friction between Copernicus and the Pope.
Wayne pondered for a moment and shook his head, stating bluntly, “It’s the first time I’m hearing about the Earth Core Cult.
Is it a conservative faction from Windsor?”
“It’s a sect that has only begun to spread recently.
They advocate not only that the Earth is the center of the universe but also believe that there is a massive landmass inside the Earth where human civilization originated…”
“There are passageways between the surface and the core.
The largest entrances to the inner world are at the North and South Poles, where a plethora of extinct prehistoric creatures exist…”
Wesley shared some details about the Earth Core Cult, concluding, “According to my investigation, it first emerged from Enrold Town, attracting a large number of followers and is currently gaining scale, even affecting Lundan.”
Hood nodded, continuing, “The deceased Professor Vincent, who died in the hotel yesterday, came at the invitation of the Earth Core Cult.
He was a renowned geologist.
The Earth Core Cult found a passage to the inner world in Enrold Town and wanted Professor Vincent to inspect it and publish an academic article to draw more followers to the cult.”
“The professor is dead, poisoned by his own student.
The perpetrator confessed that it was a crime of passion.”
A crime of passion?
What do you mean, did the professor engage in relations with the student, did he sleep with the student’s girlfriend, or did the student sleep with the professor’s wife?
Could you elaborate?
My friend wants to know more for the sake of gossip.
Wayne, confused, asked, “Gentlemen, you’ve said so much, but you still haven’t explained why you are looking for me.
Can you get straight to the point?”
“Our investigation into the Earth Core Cult has reached a deadlock, and we want to ask for Mister Wayne’s help.
Your abilities far surpass ours.” Wesley stated bluntly.
That was the plan, but upon learning that Wayne was an illegitimate child of the Lando Family, they extinguished this impractical notion.
As expected, Wayne shook his head, declining their request tactfully, “I am honored to be recognized by colleagues like you, but I have more important matters to attend to.
I beg your pardon for my inability to assist.”
Wesley and Hood were not disappointed, having anticipated this outcome.
They exchanged a few polite remarks before rising to take their leave from Wayne.
“One more thing, if Mister Wayne happens to encounter followers of the Earth Core Cult, please don’t be swayed by their sweet talk…”
Wesley looked around and whispered, “The one who commissioned me to investigate the Earth Core Cult is no ordinary person.
It comes from an official intelligence agency in Lundan.
I can’t disclose more; just be aware that the Earth Core Cult is not a regular religious group.”
Wayne nodded.
He hardly believed in the Goddess of legitimate sects, let alone a heretical cult founded on contradictions.
Before seeing them off, he offhandedly asked, “Mister Wesley, do you know which deity the Earth Core Cult worships?
The Earth Core God?”
“Quite the contrary, the deity worshiped by the Earth Core Cult does not hail from below but from above…”
Wesley shrugged and said, “The deity the Earth Core Cult worships comes from the cosmos, named the Void Lord.”
“The Void Lord…”
Wayne murmured the name to himself, not saying what he really thought.
He had always found the God-chosen Continent strange, permeated by an indescribable air.
Knowledge that drives one mad, slowly losing one’s sanity upon entering the Gate of Truth until eventual death.
The more he thought, the more bizarre it seemed.
If the universe was truly as inexplicable as he imagined, the Void Lord, the cosmic deity worshiped by the Earth Core Cult, might indeed be a cosmic-class powerhouse.
A generous deity that gives knowledge upon sacrifice!
To attract the attention of such a powerhouse and derive mighty power from it, one can only imagine the difficulty and standards required for the sacrifices.
Wayne somewhat understood why the Earth Core Cult was in such a hurry to amass followers; they needed more sacrifices.
Before Hood and Wesley left, he had his butler Philark give each a business card.
Should they encounter any peculiarities, he was willing to offer his modest assistance.
He might not be able to stop it, but his teacher Hefei could.
“The Earth Core Cult…”
“The Void Lord…”
Wayne returned to the garden pavilion, wishing the two detectives—or rather, investigators—a smooth and safe return, and that they would rise to become legendary investigators.
And should they bring back forbidden artifacts like the Book of the Dead, all the better.
Wayne knew he didn’t have the courage to look; he was living a good life and didn’t plan to become an imbecile at such a young age.
Yet, should a forbidden book appear, it might offer him a more direct understanding of the present world.
Wayne lay in the garden, swallowing a pill to freshen the mind, and began meditating with bated breath.
The Earth Element tirelessly strengthened his bones, muscles, and organs.
He could feel himself growing stronger.
The power was intoxicating, and the process of gaining it exhilarating.
He found it hard to stop and wanted to keep on going forever.
On March 24th, Wayne captured five thousand Elemental Radiant Spots, yet still hadn’t touched the depths of his Essence of Life.
“Three months is probably not enough.
My meditation is too ineffective.
My teacher is too comforting, not exposing the harsh truth.
She is quite kind indeed!”
