Chapter 12: The Möbius Strip
After a short rest, the group set off again.
Due to the unusual nature of this anomaly, Asker didn’t mention splitting up again and kept the team together.
Meanwhile, similar incidents were occurring with other mercenary groups.
These mysterious imposters sometimes impersonated members of separated mercenary groups, and sometimes pretended to be from other mercenary groups known to them, luring the deceived teams to specific locations.
Those who trusted these imposters subsequently disappeared.
Mysteriously vanished.
Of course, being in the midst of a supernatural anomaly, most mercenaries wouldn’t easily trust others.
Impersonating members of their own group was one thing, but if they were impersonating members of another mercenary group they knew, most would be cautious, perhaps only sending a scout to investigate.
Then the scout would disappear without a trace, alerting the mercenary group to the deception.
Whether they realized these imposters were fake or simply thought they had been tricked by a “friendly” group, after a few hours, these mercenary groups had raised their guard to the highest level, no longer trusting any human they encountered in the town.
It was under such circumstances that the Azure Longsword mercenary group encountered the Free Wind mercenary group, led by Captain Matthews, whom they had dealt with before.
“Well, isn’t this Captain Matthews?” Turning a corner, Asker immediately recognized the captain and said in surprise.
“You are…” Matthews remained impassive, signaling his men to be on guard, while quickly recalling who this uninvited guest was. “You’re Captain Asker from the…Pale Sword mercenary group, right?”
“It’s Azure Longsword,” Asker corrected him. “Captain Matthews, something’s not right about this anomaly. Have you discovered anything?”
“Discovered anything? Not yet,” Matthews said, feigning ignorance. “We haven’t encountered any monsters so far, luckily.”
Oh. Asker understood that he didn’t want to reveal the clue about the Philosopher’s Stones on the monster corpses, and was also trying to conceal the imposter incident. He smiled, shook his head, and turned to leave with his team.
“Captain Asker, you said something is not right about this anomaly. What exactly do you mean?” Matthews called out, seeing them about to leave.
The Free Wind warriors inwardly cringed. Not revealing any useful information, but trying to extract information from the other side, our captain is truly cunning.
“Ah, we haven’t encountered any monsters along the way either, just like you, so we find it a bit strange,” Asker said with a smile.
I don’t believe you! Matthews roared inwardly.
They had killed six or seven humanoid monsters along the way. How could they not have discovered that although these monsters weren’t strong attackers, they were incredibly tough and hard to kill? Coupled with the previous imposter incident, they couldn’t take this anomaly lightly.
This Captain Asker of Azure Longsword, was he actually trying to deceive them and say that this anomaly was simple? Shameless, truly shameless, he had to condemn him in his heart.
“I see,” Matthews said, forcing a smile. “Indeed, according to the scouts under the Duke of Carinthia, the residents in the town seem to have turned into monsters. How come we haven’t encountered a single one after entering? It is indeed strange.”
“However, after all, we signed a mercenary contract with Duke Carinthia,” Asker said. “So we have to find the root cause of this anomaly to completely resolve it.”
“Indeed,” Matthews agreed. “In that case, we won’t disturb you any further.”
“We’ll go right,” Asker said.
“We’ll go left,” Matthews said.
So the two mercenary groups parted ways again. Neither mentioned cooperation.
After walking for about ten minutes, the two mercenary groups met again.
Matthews et al.: ???
Azure Longsword: ???
“There’s something wrong with this place,” Asker stated calmly. “First, we’ve been walking straight ahead. Second, this intersection is exactly where we met before, at least judging from the surroundings.”
“Same here,” Matthews said. “We didn’t turn, kept walking straight, and ended up back here.”
Faced with this strange, looping situation, the two mercenary groups were a bit dumbfounded, casting wary glances at each other.
“I have a theory,” Asker said. “This anomaly is deliberately forcing our two mercenary groups together, perhaps to provoke a fight between us.”
“Indeed,” Matthews agreed. “We won’t fall for it, of course.”
Won’t fall for it, then why are you still gripping your sword hilt so tightly? The girls looked at Matthews’ wary demeanor and were speechless.
“Then we’ll turn right this time,” Asker said.
“We’ll go the opposite way,” Matthews replied.
So the two mercenary groups turned their backs on each other and walked away. Asker took a bullet from his pouch and dropped it on the ground.
Ten minutes later, the two mercenary groups met again.
Everyone: …
“The last time we separated, I dropped a bullet on the ground,” Asker said slowly.
“Did any of you see a bullet on the ground?” Matthews asked his men.
The Free Wind mercenaries looked down, all saying they hadn’t seen any bullet.
“That is to say, although the environment is exactly the same, we haven’t actually returned to our original location,” Asker said.
“What does that mean?” Matthews asked cautiously.
“It means we’re not walking in a closed circle, but some force is merging the paths of our two mercenary groups.”
“Like a Möbius strip?” Nuo said thoughtfully, lost in her own world. “We walk on the front, they walk on the back, but we end up meeting because the warped space connected our paths.”
“I don’t understand what a Möbius strip is,” Matthews frowned, “But since there’s some supernatural force at play, even if we separate again, we’ll just repeat the same thing.”
“In that case, let’s travel together for now,” Asker said calmly.
Matthews nodded.
So the two mercenary groups joined forces, choosing a random direction and continuing forward.
Azure Longsword walked on the left side of the road, Free Wind on the right, maintaining a distance of about 10 meters, their mutual wariness evident.
After another ten minutes, they saw several bodies lying haphazardly in the middle of the road ahead.
One of them, covered in blood, seemed to still be alive. Hearing footsteps approaching, he struggled to prop himself up in the pool of blood.
Seeing the faces of the newcomers clearly, the man’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he pointed at Asker, shouting:
“You! You’re a fake! Impersonating me… You!”
Before he could finish, Asker drew his sword and cleanly pierced the man’s heart.
The mercenaries behind them stared at the corpse in horror.
The young man, now lying dead in a pool of blood, killed by Asker, looked exactly like Asker.
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