Era of Mystical Arts

Chapter 1: Say, Are You a Rabbit?

"People, when they're unlucky, even drinking cold water will choke them."

He was hit by a car.

He crossed over.

As soon as he landed, he was captured.

Why? He didn't know.

Luke felt like he was tied to a cold, iron chair.

A hood was placed over his head, and darkness engulfed his vision. The coarse fabric on the inside of the hood pressed against his cheeks, sticky and greasy, emitting a nauseating smell of putrid blood that kept assaulting his nose.

Whipping sounds echoed by his ears, accompanied by the pitiful cries of someone nearby.

"Tell us! Where is the thing?" a rough voice demanded loudly.

The person being whipped pleaded in agony, "I really don't know what you're talking about. Please stop beating me. Let me go... I'm just a petty thief. I hid my money in a bird's nest on the eastern side of the Botu Square. You can have it all... Just let me go..."

The rough voice man seemed to ask someone else, "He probably really doesn't know..."

A gunshot! The pleading thief fell silent.

The rough-voiced man said, "Now we only have one suspect left. If he's not the one who stole the thing... we will be punished."

At that moment, a woman's voice responded, "No, we won't be punished. He will tell us where the thing is..."

"Are you sure he stole it? Why interrogate others, then?"

The woman said, "They're just not smart. As long as they confess, saying that the thing was thrown into the Lime River, whether it can be salvaged or not is no longer our secret bureau's concern.

It's also possible that it was thrown into another hard-to-find place.

As long as they confess... at least they won't die here.

If they don't confess... we can go out and catch more people."

Luke knew the woman's words were directed at him.

They couldn't find the thief, so they were trying to find a scapegoat to report to their superiors.

Should he confess? What would be the outcome of confessing? Luke heard footsteps approaching him, and a hand grabbed the hood...

At that moment, Luke suddenly remembered a few key words from the conversation he just heard.

"Botu Square," "statue," "bird's nest."

"Lime River," "secret bureau."

In a single-player open-world game he played before called "Epoch," there was a Botu Square in the furious waves city's Cape District. On the statue on the eastern side of the square, there was a bird's nest where one could search and find a bag of gold coins.

Fifteen gold coins were a decent unexpected gain for a newbie player.

The Lime River was the river that ran through the entire furious waves city.

And the secret bureau... was the intelligence investigation agency directly under the imperial shield. They had extensive power and possessed independent investigative, enforcement, and execution authority, making everyone in the furious waves city tremble at the mention of the secret bureau.

The Cape District had a branch of the secret bureau...

A joke circulated in the game about this branch.

"One day, a noblewoman lost her pet rabbit and entrusted the Cape District branch of the secret bureau to help find it.

The next day, the secret bureau sent over a bear. The bear was beaten to a pulp and lay on the ground, howling, 'I'm a rabbit! I'm a rabbit! I really am a rabbit!'"

That was how the Cape District branch of the secret bureau operated.

The joke was indeed amusing, but from the bear's perspective, it wasn't so funny.

Luke was now certain.

Even if he confessed, after he signed the confession, the result would be sudden death.

Death without any evidence!

It was the Cape District branch of the secret bureau's usual method.

Now, there was only one gamble left...

The hood was being pulled up.

Luke angrily shouted, "Pisco, get your mechanically oily hand off my head!"

The edge of the hood had reached Luke's chin and stopped.

The rough-voiced man asked in surprise, "How do you know my name?"

This was indeed the Cape District branch of the secret bureau.

"Pisco, I not only know your name... I also know that you have a cat named Miley, and you sleep with her every night."

Pisco was even more astonished, "How do you know about Miley! I, I made sure to hide her well."

The woman laughed heartily at this moment, "Pisco, you actually have a cat named Miley! You've truly let me know you better..."

At that moment, Luke said, "Shelley, born in the Imperial Extraordinary Species Research Institute, a third-generation hybrid of human and Medusa, with Medusa's eye as her right eye.

Joined the Royal Imperial 469th Infantry Corps at the age of 18.

Transferred to the Royal Steam Fortress of the Tenth Division at the age of 25, serving as the captain of the 398 Rapid Assault Team, participating in the Fio Hills Battle.

Promoted to third lieutenant of the Tenth Steam Fortress, leading the capture of three enemy steam fortresses during the Bann Campaign.

Later... due to severe injuries, the newly appointed commander of the Tenth Steam Fortress sentenced her to 45 years of imprisonment.

But in her second year of serving the sentence, she adopted the alias Black Mamba and joined the secret bureau. She has been working in the Cape District branch of the secret bureau until now."

After Luke finished speaking, the room fell into complete silence.

Silent!

That meant the words he spoke had an effect.

Now he just had to wait.

Be patient.

After a while, Pisco suddenly said, "Boss, you're, you're 46 now. Why do you, why do you still look like you're in your twenties?"

"Shut up!" The woman's mood became noticeably irritable. She asked Luke, "Who exactly are you? Why do you know these things about me?"

Luke asserted himself and said, "Shelley, have Pisco take off the hood. I don't trust those mechanical hands of his.

If a single hair on my head is harmed, your 45-year imprisonment won't be the lightest punishment for you."

After another while, the hood that covered Luke's head was removed.

The dim room was illuminated by a glaring incandescent lamp hanging from above. The light was so intense that it took Luke quite a while to adapt and see the scene he was in.

It was a closed interrogation room.

Seven people were tied to chairs, and six of them were dead.

All of them had their heads blown apart by a single gunshot, red and white matter covering the floor.

Standing next to him was an extremely burly old white man with exposed upper body covered in flesh knots resembling tires, and both of his arms were mechanical.

In front of him.

A young red-haired beauty sat down on a chair. Her right eye was covered by a black eyepatch, and she was twirling a revolver in her hand.

The barrel was long, with golden engravings and green fluorescent light radiating from the center of the grip.

Snap! The woman propped her right foot on the chair Luke was sitting on, positioned between his legs.

A blade extended from the bottom of her shoe.

"Mister in the peculiar attire, now we can have a talk... Who exactly are you!"