Chapter 12 Green Lake Town

After a journey of over six hours, it was now dusk.

When Yi Chen stepped off the coach, filled with excitement,

he didn't see any signs of the Organization or any grand buildings,

instead, another small town came into view,

and about two hundred meters behind him, next to the road, stood a huge billboard

"Welcome to Green Lake Town (Green-Lake)"

The town, retaining a medieval style, carried a vibrant and lively aura,

with buildings mostly made of slightly yellowed white bricks, paired with brown and red roofs.

Perhaps because the town had no factories,

the air was fresher and the overall light penetration was better,

one could feel the last warmth of the sunset on their skin.

Paired with the town's spacious streets, neatly arranged trees, extensive lawns, and the large lake adjoining the town, it gave a tranquil and comfortable sense of nature.

It was a place far from industrial cities, a return to nature, a tourist spot.

Seeing such a vibrant town,

Yi Chen felt a slight stir of plant life within him, and his physiological needs quickly surged.

"Hold on a moment..."

He quickly dived into a small grove beside the road,

and the moment he loosened his belt, a sensation similar to flood discharge swept through his lower body.

After dealing with the waste water accumulated in his body,

due to not having eaten for a long time,

his gaze was immediately drawn to the lush vegetation around, saliva secreting.

Ultimately, he could not resist. After confirming there was no risk of infection, he directly bit into the bark of a tree, even pulling off some leaves and grass to eat together.

The plants in his stomach quickly converted into nutrients with high efficiency.

The whole process took less than five minutes,

Yi Chen had fully returned to his pre-journey state of energy,

just as he walked out of the grove and returned to the coach,

surprisingly, different types of coaches were continuously arriving at the town,

and the individuals descending from these coaches were all under the age of thirty,

dressed neatly,

behaving elegantly,

each with a distinct style,

Yi Chen tried asking the coachman next to him, "Are all these people here to join the Organization?"

"Every month, a good number of people come from various places to participate in the Organization's assessments.

Some are born into well-known big families, with ancestors who were members of the Organization,

others come from special training groups designed to channel talents into the Organization,

and a very few, like you, are common folks who were spotted by Organization members during external activities and brought here for a provisional assessment."

"Okay."

"This town is just a temporary transit point,

in [three days] members of the Organization will come to Green Lake Town to take you, the assessors, to the [Headquarters]. Before then, you need to stay here temporarily.

I have other duties, so I won't say more."

After conveying the necessary information, the coachman quickly vanished from sight with his coach.

"I have to wait here for three days?

Could it be that they want to wait until there are enough people for the assessment before heading to the Organization together?"

Yi Chen touched the silver coins in his pocket and strode towards the Green Lake Town before him.

Just as he was nearing the first building of the small town, he glimpsed three young men walking towards him out of the corner of his eye.

The blond young man leading them took off his hat and held it against his chest.

"Hi, friend! My name is Edmund, from the Mariano family.

Are you interested in joining our team?

During the upcoming Organization assessment, we can support each other, and I also have some secret information about the assessment that I'm willing to share."

Following behind blond Edmund were a strikingly beautiful woman with a feathered hat and a towering Northern European man carrying a great sword.

Yi Chen noticed,

that their main focus was not on him, but on the 'little grape' on his shoulder.

For Yi Chen, who had just Transcended to this place, joining a team could indeed offer him a wealth of useful information, but it also brought some potential risks and questions.

As Yi Chen hesitated slightly,

a voice from 'little grape' came to his mind:

『I'm not too comfortable forming teams with strangers, the two of us are enough... there's no need to mingle with them.』

With this suggestion, Yi Chen made his decision immediately,

After a slight bow, he turned and walked away without even giving his name.

As Yi Chen's figure gradually disappeared into the town,

Blond Edmund showed an embarrassed expression, "Ah? Was I not gentlemanly enough or is there some other reason... He just walked away without even turning back?

Or maybe this guy is incredibly strong and simply disdains to team up with us."

The woman behind Edmund lightly wiped her nose and mouth with her black nails, whispering:

"He has a residue of 'the dead' on him that is difficult to eliminate, plus a bias towards dark gentleman's attire... This young man must be from the Organization's sub-unit, the [Graveyard].

The thing on his shoulder must also be a product of the Graveyard.

Perhaps a rare necromancer, such a strong individual would naturally not accept an invitation.

Moreover, our staying with him might result in us being treated as corpses."

Edmund spread his hands, "Ah, what a pity~

But since we are in the same batch for the assessment, we'll probably meet him later.

I really want to see what the Graveyard's standards are like."

...

In Green Lake Town,

Yi Chen walked down the spacious main road,

and although the townspeople here also wore masks, there was no sense of dead silence.

Those active outside were relatively numerous and would even greet each other proactively.

When they saw an outsider like Yi Chen, they would slightly tilt their heads in a friendly manner.

However,

this cozy and pleasant town did not bring a genuine sense of comfort;

as the walk went on and as he delved deeper into the town, his anxiety increasingly grew.

When this agitation reached a certain limit,

Yi Chen suddenly tilted his head.

What caught his eye was a building with an aura of age, maintaining a medieval style, a two-storied structure,

with a wooden sign hanging by a metal frame in front of the door, severely eroded by rainwater, its words barely legible.

[Green Shadows Inn]

Intuition told him that this inn was significant.

Perhaps there was something there,

perhaps related to the town's secrets,

"The feeling Green Lake Town gives, it's not as comfortable as it seems from the outside… The longer I walk in the streets, the more uncomfortable I become. I would even prefer patrolling a graveyard.

This town feels off, and the inn before me stands out even more,

Is it possible... that the assessment has already begun?

Little Grape, could you hide for a while?"

Following Yi Chen's request,

Little Grape rolled into his collar, burying more than half of its body within the skin, completely concealing itself beneath his clothing.

He resolutely stepped into the inn.

Ring! The doorbell chimed as the door opened.

A relatively strong scent of incense wafted towards him,

Black leather shoes stepped on the wooden plank flooring of the inn, creaking~

The windows along the hallway were all sealed with wooden bars and labeled with 'Under Repair',

Unevenly set white candles placed along the hallways flickered weakly, replacing sunlight.

A man nearing thirty stood behind the counter, examining a dead fish specimen.

His swollen eyebags compressed his lifeless, small eyes, casting a quick glance at the young man who entered before quickly averting them.

He was also holding a brown bottle of liquor, almost empty,

not turning around until Yi Chen approached the counter.

He squeezed out a few unclear words in the local language from his yellow-toothed mouth:

"Are you looking for a room?"

Accompanied by a distinctly unique breath,

it smelled as if a mouse had crept into a stomach and then, after getting drunk, drowned in it.

"Are there any rooms available?"

"There are rooms everywhere; it's just that many have not been cleaned… One silver coin per day. If you want to stay, just pick a key."

The owner put down the bottle,

and tossed a bunch of rust-stained keys onto the counter.

[0206]

Yi Chen deposited a silver coin, deliberately selecting a key corresponding to a guest room on the second floor.

Not only could he use this as a chance to explore the second floor of the inn,

he could also gain a decent vantage point, from which he could observe the situation around the town during the day.

He ascended the loose staircase to the second floor,

sidestepping past a moldy mattress piled up at the corner of the stairs.

The printed wallpaper in the hallway was also largely peeling off, damp and moldy.

This kind of inn naturally had no guests,

and Yi Chen was probably the only guest for the month.

Creak creak~

As he stepped on the constantly groaning floor and arrived in front of the room door,

a feeling of unease drew Yi Chen's gaze toward the end of the second-floor corridor,

"What is that…"

On the right at the end, the wooden door of room [0213] was adorned with seven different types of padlocks.

And there were also several blotches of black mold the size of pancake scattered across the door, as if it were diseased.

As Yi Chen stared fixedly,

a faint flicker of light flashed by his face,

and when he turned his head,

a pale human face suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

Startled, Yi Chen instinctively reached towards his waist, preparing to pull out the silver axe from within the graveyard.

However,

the figure was just the innkeeper from earlier,

the candlelight making his already weak complexion even paler.

"Oh right… I forgot to tell you.

I have a gravely ill sister living in the room at the end. Normally, stay away, she's quite afraid of strangers."

Having said this,

the owner turned around and hunched his body, heading downstairs.

His frail body floated lightly, making no sound at all as it stepped on the floor.