Chapter 201: God’s Back Garden, Aurelio ‘Fairyland’ Opens [Part 2]
He knew that it was related to the Aurelio’s Cage the second he saw that footage.
Shawton might know a little about the Aurelio’s Cage, but the rest of the lieutenant commanders were unaware about it. However, Shawton’s meeting today was exactly to briefly explain Aurelio’s Cage. He selected only the important points and didn’t explain in detail.
If the omnipotent energy ‘White Night’ was the object of desire during that conflict 50 years ago, then this time it was a different Aurelio piece and that piece happened to be the one under the GAL army’s command. If this was true, then Fernando and Zweig Feihang did obtain an Aurelio starmap piece from ‘Miracle’ just like the gray cat had told him. Since the GAL army already possessed the rest of the pieces of this star map to begin with, they had assembled a complete star map, found the key and activated that Aurelio’s Cage.
However, Cillin didn’t think expect this after the Aurelio’s Cage was opened.
One of the Aurelio Cages in Genesis Mythos was ‘God’s Back Garden’. It represented a fairyland.
What was surprising was that this ‘God’s Back Garden’ was at a place in Sector Z!
There were many scientists who studied astronomy who researched Sector Z before, but they only had a basic understanding of Sector Z due to its terrible space environment. However, researchers had discovered that Sector Z had a ‘black hole’ region since a long time ago.
Through a telescope, one could see that that region was completely covered in black, and none of the probes they sent into this region had ever returned. Some people said that it was a black hole, but the data supplied by external probes disproved those claims. They didn’t have an alternative explanation either. All those who entered deep into that region had never returned. All communications were cut off the moment a ship entered that black region. Moreover, the cut off was permanent.
That was why GAL hadn’t set a high limitation on the exploration and development of Sector Z. In fact, they would even encourage some Hunter regiments and adventurers to explore it from time to time. They would then spend credits and purchase whatever information these Hunter regiments and adventurers had found.
No one knew that this ‘black hole’ region was one of the Aurelios until now.
The fact that the GAL army had made public this footage meant either one of these two things: One, they had the ‘black hole’ region completely under their control already, and the release of this footage was just a way to increase their influence in GAL. Or two, they had encountered a problem they couldn’t solve, and they were forced to find a solution from the public.
“We’re not sure about the exact situation either, but I’ve contacted the A Squad and they told me that both B Squadrons are expected to make way towards the ‘black hole’ region. Vanguard will send someone to support us when the time comes.”
Shawton explained to everyone present what the A Squadron had told them, but Cillin’s thoughts had flown away to somewhere else. He already knew all the important points in the A Squadron’s message, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.
God’s Back Garden, the fairyland. It was obvious from its name alone that there would be plenty of valuables and beautiful sceneries in this place. They couldn’t see this in the publicised footage since the military hadn’t put them in. They had only made public the rough appearance of this ‘black hole’ region after it was figuratively ‘lit up’.
This was the first ever ‘Aurelio’s Cage’ to be opened after countless years. It had never truly opened even during the ‘White Night’ incident from 50 years ago. As the first ever open Aurelio’s Cage, he could imagine the waters running behind the scenes must be incredibly deep and complicated. There was no telling if the conflict from 50 years ago would repeat itself especially after that incident in Sector S.
Cillin thought of ‘Mist’ and ‘Merciless’. They had been so quiet after that incident in Sector S it was almost as if they had never shown up. He mustn’t forget about ‘Death God’ either, and every time ‘Death God’ showed up there would be serious cases of destruction.
Cillin had a feeling that all these fellows would show their faces during their trip to ‘God’s Back Garden’.
“Anyway, we’ll be cancelling our current mission plans and head to Sector Z with the Third B Squadron.” Shawton declared solemnly.
Since everything was planned already, the rest of the lieutenant commanders accepted the decision in silence. Once the meeting was over, they would tell their subordinates to make the necessary preparations.
Everyone in the Sixth B Squadron had an odd feeling towards Sector Z since that one experience they had was incredibly bitter. However, they were expected to get used to it as Hunters.
“Cillin, stay back.”
Shawton stopped Cillin just as he stood up and was about to head out.
When the rest of the lieutenant commanders had left the room, Shawton asked, “What is your opinion on this matter?”
“Opinion?”
“Mm. Tell me your thoughts. The fact is we can’t see much into things from our position at all. The A Squadrons usually don’t interfere with their B Squadrons, but when they do it’s usually incredibly big. We will obey the A Squadrons and head over as they command, but there are still some questions that I’d like to have answers to.” Shawton said as he frowned on his chair.
Cillin shook his head, “I can’t say I can offer an opinion on this Aurelio’s Cage thing, but I think that the A Squadrons wants us to head over to look strong.”
Shawton nodded. He had thought of this too. He was fine as long as they weren’t sent out as cannon fodders. Normally speaking, the higher ups of the four great Hunter regiments wouldn’t send out their subordinates as cannon fodders. After all, it would be very difficult to absorb new blood in the future if they did.
“We are not the only B Squadron to head out this time. I believe that the rest of the B Squadrons will also make way soon. If Vanguard is setting out to Aurelio’s Cage, then the remaining three of the great four would do the same. In that case a lot of lives would be affected by this matter. If the military is set on starting a conflict, the resulting conflict would be a huge blow to the entire GAL. They wouldn’t do something that stupid.”
Shawton had thought of everything Cillin was telling him right now. However, hearing it from Cillin gave him confidence in his own thoughts, and he was able to relaxed just a little thanks to this. It had taken the Sixth B Squadron much hardships to reach where they were now. He was absolutely going to spit blood If they were to suffer another heavy blow.
Cillin talked for a little while longer before he finally left the meeting room. When he returned, he explained to his team what was going to happen later and what they need to pay attention to. He didn’t need to emphasis anything since everyone quickly fell into form. Sector Z was a deeply impressionable Sector for all of them. If they didn’t prepare well, they could easily lose their life.
After he was done instructing everything, Cillin returned to his room and closed his eyes thoughtfully. There were many things that he chose not to speak directly to Shawton. If he did, he would be exposing himself excessively.
Cillin was not going to take out the two Aurelio starmap pieces he possessed just yet. It was not yet the right time. Revealing them now would only result in the destruction of the entire Sixth B Squadron.
After thinking for some time, Cillin felt a little tired. He gradually slipped into dreamland.
Who’s talking?
While he was still in a daze, two speaking voices suddenly appeared in Cillin’s mind. Other than the speaking voices, Cillin also sensed a familiar and strong change in magnetic field and air pressure. The room temperature had also risen above 50 degrees before falling down to 0 all in one second. His surroundings were dark, and he couldn’t see anything. He could only hear blurred speaking voices, sounds of fighting and strange-sounding gunshots. It was a strange but familiar feeling of energy.
Suddenly, Cillin suffered a heavy blow to the stomach, and the sounds and feelings abruptly shattered to pieces. Cillin abruptly opened his eyes and saw the gray cat bouncing on top of his stomach.
He exhaled deeply before wiping away the sweat on his forehead. Cillin muttered, “What the hell do you want?”
The gray cat stopped fooling around after it saw Cillin waking up. It opened its round eyes and looked Cillin up and down once before it flicked its ears backwards and said with a ‘thank me thank me’ look, “You were looking very strange just now. You look like you’ve entered hibernation, but your heartbeat was incredibly quick and irregular and you’re sweating like a waterfall. Look at yourself; all wet and dirty. Ew. Anyway, I called out to you, but you didn’t answer me at all. That’s why I did this.”
Cillin shuddered when he heard the gray cat’s words.
It was hypnosis!
Cillin wanted to laugh. He had hypnotised others so many times, but he didn’t think he would one day be hypnotised without knowing. If his analysis was correct, the person who hypnotised him was one of the two voices he heard just now. Every time Cillin thought of that incident, he would be affected by this voice and would be kept from analysing whatever happened that day calmly.
However, what puzzled Cillin was why the man had chosen to hypnotise him instead of killing him outright. He had been completely powerless back then, and it should’ve been completely unsurprising for another person to think that he was dead for sure in that situation.
Cillin sat up and scratched the gray cat’s chin, “Thanks.”
The gray cat narrowed its eyes and purred, “You had a nightmare, hadn’t you? I knew that I’m not the only one who had a nightmare.”
“What’s your nightmare about?” Cillin asked while scratching the gray cat’s chin.
The gray cat’s whiskers shook the second its nightmare was brought up, “It’s about the fish biscuits! I dreamed that my whole cabinet of fish biscuits grew legs and ran away!”
“So that’s why you ate them all the next day.”
No wonder he saw this glutton eating its whole cabinet of fish biscuits that day and leaving behind crumbs all over the floor. He had to clean up for a long time before he finally removed that fishy scent.
“I never had that nightmare again after I ate them all!” The gray cat said proudly.
There’s nothing to be proud about!
What an idiot!
Cillin literally didn’t know what to say about this cat.
“Oh right, are we still going back to that planet where we found the special energy ores during our trip to Sector Z this time?” The gray cat asked expectantly.
“We’ll set the best course to our destination once we’ve reached the edge of Sector Z. If it isn’t convenient then we won’t be heading over there. If it is, then we’ll be able to see how far the planet has been modified.”
“I hope it’ll be convenient. I’m already missing the fishes there.”
“Mm. We’ll stock up on some fishes if we happen to pass by.”
While Cillin and the others were making their way towards Sector Z, there were plenty others among the four great Hunter regiments who were also rushing towards Sector Z.
When they finally reached there, the great four would finally and truly be gathered at one spot. There was no telling what kind of conflict of happen. One thing was certain. This would be the most influential ‘gathering’ to ever happen in the history of GAL.