There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 224 - 218. Night of Secretive Plights

Chapter 224: Chapter 218. Night of Secretive Plights

The voice came from a tall woman who leaned into the door and watched the inside of the room with a smile on her face. Zein could see a group of women behind her, each and every one of them sported butterfly tattoos on their body--like the woman on the door who had it inked around her eyes.

Glasswing--Zein muttered inwardly.

One of the big five, it was a guild with all-women espers, guides, and staff. Coincidentally, they were the ones booking the villas on the other side of their hotel. Zein only met the Guildmaster, Ageha, once in the elevator, in which they got acquainted briefly.

The Guildmaster looked around the room in amusement before settling her gaze on Zein. "O-ho, what are you doing here, Mister hotel-mate?"

It was kind of a risky word to use, but Zein wasn’t the type to get flustered, fortunately. "Making sure my stuff is not stolen," he replied nonchalantly, glancing at the familiar box of the earring that was supposed to be his sitting on the shelf. "I can’t afford my esper to throw another tantrum."

Ageha laughed at this, and proceeded to enter the room. "I’d throw a tantrum too if the item I won after a hard battle is to get stolen."

"I merely trying to preserve peace,"

"I can see that," she smiled widely, walking straight without caring if she stepped on some of the people still laying on the floor with her stiletto.

Following her, the rest of Glasswing also entered the room; six of them. One, who had butterflies inked all over her left arm to her fingers, came inside while looking all around the room.

"Was the committee sent you here?" Han Joon asked while rolling his wire back.

"Yeah, since there was a distress signal coming not long ago," she looked at the unconscious workers who finally started to wake up. "And of course, just like Mister Guide here, I need to make sure our stuff is safe and counted."

She made a signal for her guildmates and they proceeded to help the workers secure the assailants and gathered them in one place so the floor would look clearer.

"So what got you guys so agitated? They seemed to be...meek," Ageha nudged one of the assailants with her foot.

One of the Association’s espers replied hurriedly. "Ah, so the thing is..."

They proceeded to explain what Zein had said earlier, and the guide followed by pointing at the place where he felt weird. At the last place, the woman with tattoos on her left arm pointed to the same spot as the guide did.

"So you feel it too?" Ageha looked at the young woman, who nodded wordlessly, before making a series of signs with her hands. The Guildmaster then nodded and introduce her to Zein. "Celastrina said the formations are engraved in a clear sheet that they stuck on top of where the barrier formation is."

"Ah, to hide it better?"

The woman, Celastrina, nodded. She made signs again, and Ageha translated immediately. "She said she can try to take it off," the Guildmaster looked at the Association’s espers. "Would that be alright?"

"Of--of course! It’ll be good if we can deal with it quickly," the one who seemed to have a higher rank replied quickly. "But we would have to record the process to avoid misunderstanding later, Ma’am. If that’s alright with you."

"Sure--you have to collect the evidence anyway," Ageha nodded, and then looked around the room again. "There must be something you can use here to store those formation sheets, right?"

For the next ten minutes, they began the operation to take off those weird traps that the assailants had planted. The people who were still conscious finally made a growling sound when the first sheet came off. One of them even slammed their head to the floor as of expressing their anger and frustration. Han Joon decided to give them a little love tap on their neck to make the room more noise-conducive for Celastrina to work in.

What they found then, was something even more serious than robbery.

"Explosion, huh..." Ageha muttered as Celastrina explained the formation with her hands. "It’s structured to explode after a certain period, but it seems like you caught them before they could activate the spell, Captain Han."

"I see..." Joon looked down at the man he just kicked to a dreamland. "So they never had any intention of stealing them, huh? They want to destroy them," his gaze moved to the door, and then, as he recalled what Zein said earlier, added. "Perhaps, along with the people who would try to come inside."

Zein raised his brow. Checking for the earring was something he pulled out simply as an excuse, but...didn’t mean other people wouldn’t have the same--real--thought about it.

"It’s an auction, and an emergency happened," Han Joon continued. "People who haven’t got their goods yet might be panicking and swarming the storage room, demanding their items. And then..."

"Boom?" Ageha finished the conjecture, and as she looked at Celastrine who was signing again, she added. "Also...it seems to spread poison after exploding--my, my, how vicious."

"But people who might do that are those who buy the items for the main batch," an Association esper said, alluding to how those were the items with high enough monetary value that would make the bidder feel a huge loss. "We haven’t reached that stage yet, though?"

Han Joon tapped on his chin in contemplation, before looking at Zein and smiled. "Because the second batch got delayed for so long."

As Zein raised his brow, Ageha added with a smirk. "Thanks to a devoted esper creating a bidding war."

"Heh," Zein chuckled, amused at how the chaotic situation earlier turned out to be somewhat helpful.

"So if the auction went by schedule, we’d be in the middle of the main auction right now. People would have already spent a lot of money on some of the items, and they would be agitated about them," Han Joon left the assailants beneath his foot and walked toward the Earring of Still Water’s box. "They might try to take the items they already purchase themselves from this room, and once one or two people do it, others usually followed."

The soldier took the box and brought it to Zein, placing it above the guide’s palm, who proceeded to ask. "Why not just attack the venue directly?"

"Then they wouldn’t be able to damage the items too."

"Also, there will be people with high sensitivity to mana like you two," Ageha added.

"So...what--they tried to distract the guards’ attention by masking it as robbery while the camouflaged people put on this formation?" Zein tried to conclude as he fiddled with the small box.

"Most likely," Han Joon nodded. "But that’s for the investigator to decide."

The guide frowned slightly and muttered. "Investigation..."

"Instant outbreak is one thing, but knowing when it happened and capitalizing on it...there will be an investigation for sure," Ageha said while glancing at the Association’s espers that were recording the dismantling process, curled her lips in a deep smile and added a lower tone. "There should be."

The Association’s espers laughed awkwardly before saluting her as if to assure the Guildmaster that they would do a thorough and transparent investigation. Not that it matters, since Ageha would probably demand it anyway during a meeting later.

And oh--there would definitely be an emergency meeting after all this.

After Celastrina was done removing all the formations, they put the transparent sheets inside a secured box used to carry sensitive items. Han Joon then asked Glasswing to help guard the vault and bring the captured assailants into custody.

There was a basement with cells that were usually used to detain troubling espers, and they had been instructed to bring the assailants there since the outbreak seemed to be contained rather well by the Serpent Lord. But Han Joon had made them unconscious, with some of them bleeding, so the Association’s espers wouldn’t be able to carry them all without help.

"Alright, I’ll leave Camilla here," she pointed at one of the women with a white butterfly tattoo on her neck, and then cracked a smile at the soldier. "Anyway, it’s good to see you again, Han."

"Likewise."

The soldier nodded briefly, and Ageha laughed in response. "You’re as stiff as usual!" she scoffed while hauling the assailant that seemed to be their leader. "But that’s why being a soldier is so fitting for you."

Zein looked at them in interest and asked curiously. "Are you from the same academy?"

"Uh-huh," Ageha nodded and gave the other a signal to move. "Well, I better get these fuglies moving then," she looked at Zein and winked. "Let’s have a coffee sometimes, Mister Guide."

She then led the Association’s espers and her guildmates herself, leaving four Association members and one of her guildmates behind to guard the room. As he watched them leave, Zein looked at the soldier.

"Well, since I’m here anyway, I’ll guide you," he said, pointing to the bench in the hall outside the room with his thumb.

The soldier tilted his head. "Is that allowed?"

"It’s an emergency," Zein shrugged, giving up excuses nonchalantly.

Han Joon arched his brow and chuckled quietly. "Alright," he walked toward the door, following Zein to the bench out in the corridor. "Probe me."

Zein, who was about to reach out his hand, paused and stared at the subtle smile and relaxed gaze on the soldier’s face. So he already knew that Zein wanted to see his mana core more than cleanse him?

"...you are even scarier than Radia."

"I’ll take that as a compliment."