Green Lake Town

After more than six hours of travel by carriage, it was already dusk.

When Yi Chen stepped down from the carriage with excitement in his heart, he saw neither any insignia of the organization nor any particularly grand buildings.

What entered his sight was another small town.

About two hundred meters behind him, beside the road, stood a huge billboard.

Welcome to Green Lake Town (Green-Lake)

This town, which retained a medieval style, carried an air of vibrant life.

Most of the buildings were made of slightly yellowed white bricks, paired with brown and red roofs.

Perhaps because there were no factories in the town, the air was fresh, and the overall visibility was better.

His skin could still feel the last trace of warmth from the setting sun.

Combined with the town's wide streets, neatly lined trees, broad lawns, and the large lake bordering the town, it gave off a peaceful, comfortable feeling of natural ease.

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

At the sight of such a vibrant town, a faint restless sensation stirred from the plants within Yi Chen's body, and all kinds of physical needs quickly surged forth.

"Wait a moment..."

He quickly slipped into the small woods by the roadside.

The moment he undid his belt, a flood-like sensation swept through his lower body.

After relieving the wastewater that had built up inside him, his gaze was immediately drawn to the lush vegetation around him due to having gone so long without food, and saliva began to flow.

In the end, he could not resist. After confirming there was no source of infection, he took a bite directly out of the tree bark, then tore off some leaves and grass to eat along with it.

The plants that fell into his stomach rapidly converted into nutrients with astonishing efficiency.

The entire process took less than five minutes.

Yi Chen had already fully recovered the vigor he had before boarding the carriage.

Just as he emerged from the woods and returned to the carriage, different types of carriages gradually began arriving at the town within his field of vision.

The people who stepped down from those carriages were all under thirty.

They were well dressed, and carried themselves elegantly.

Each possessed a distinct style.

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

"Every month, quite a few people come from all over to take part in the organization's examinations.

Some are born into renowned families, with ancestors who were members of the organization.

Others come from special training groups that specifically supply talent to the organization.

Then there are the very few like you—commoners who happened to catch the attention of organization members operating outside and were temporarily sent here for examination."

"Got it."

"This town is merely a temporary transfer point.

In three days, members of the organization will come to Green Lake Town to escort you examinees to the headquarters. Until then, you will need to stay here.

I have other work to do, so I won't say more."

After conveying the relevant information, the coachman drove his carriage away and swiftly vanished from sight.

"We have to wait here for three days?

Could it be that they want to wait until there are enough examinees before taking everyone to the organization together?"

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

Just as he was about to reach the town's first building, he caught sight of three young people walking in his direction from the corner of his eye.

The blond young man at the front removed his hat and held it against his chest.

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

Would you be interested in joining our group?

We can look out for one another during the organization's upcoming examination. Besides, I have some confidential information about the examination that I'm willing to share."

Behind the blond Edmund followed a tall, cold-looking woman wearing a hat decorated with feathers, as well as a nearly two-meter-tall burly Norseman carrying a greatsword.

Yi Chen noticed that

the group's attention was focused not on him, but on 'Little Grape' perched on his shoulder.

Having only just crossed over to this place, Yi Chen could gain plenty of useful information by joining a team, but certain issues and potential risks would come along with it.

Just as Yi Chen hesitated slightly, Little Grape's voice sounded in his mind:

'I'm not used to teaming up with strangers. The two of us are enough... There's no need to mingle with them.'

That suggestion made Yi Chen reach a decision at once.

After a slight bow, he turned and left, not even giving them his name.

As Yi Chen's back gradually vanished into the town, the blond Edmund wore an awkward expression. "Huh? Was I not gentlemanly enough, or was it something else...? He just left without even looking back?

Or is This Guy so capable that he simply can't be bothered to team up with us?"

The woman behind Edmund lightly brushed her black-painted nails across her nose and lips as she softly said:

"The scent of the 'dead' lingers on him, difficult to remove, along with that gentlemanly attire leaning toward a dark style... That young man should be from the Cemetery under the organization.

The thing on his shoulder must also be a Cemetery Product.

Perhaps he's a rare necromancer type. A Strong Person like that naturally wouldn't accept an invitation.

And if we stay with him, there's a good chance we'll be dealt with as corpses."

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

But since we're part of the same batch of examinees, we should run into each other again later.

I really want to see what the Cemetery is capable of."

Within Green Lake Town, Yi Chen walked along the broad main road.

Although the townsfolk living here also wore masks, there was none of that deathly stillness about them.

There were relatively many townsfolk out and about, and they would actively Greeted one another.

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

However, this comfortable, pleasant little town brought him no real sense of ease.

The longer he walked, and the deeper he went into the town, the more restless his Inner Heart became.

When that restlessness reached a certain limit, Yi Chen abruptly turned his head.

What came into view was a two-story building with a sense of age, retaining a medieval style.

The wooden sign hanging from a metal bracket by the front door had been severely eroded by rain, but the words on it were still barely legible.

Green Shade Inn

His intuition told him that this inn was important.

Perhaps something existed within it.

Perhaps it was connected to the town's secret.

'Green Lake Town feels nothing like as comfortable as it appears from the outside... The longer I walk these streets, the more uncomfortable I become. I'd almost rather patrol the Cemetery.

There's something wrong with this town, and the inn In Front Of me stands out even more.

Could it be... the assessment has already begun?

Little Grape, can you hide for now?'

At Yi Chen's request, Little Grape rolled down through his collar, burying more than half of its fleshy body beneath his skin and completely concealing itself under his clothes.

He resolutely stepped into the inn.

Ding! The bell rang as he pushed open the door.

A rather strong scent of incense drifted toward him.

His black leather shoes creaked across the inn's plank floor~

The windows along the corridor had all been sealed with wooden boards, bearing words such as "Under Repair."

Uneven white candles had been placed throughout the corridor, burning weakly in place of sunlight.

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

His swollen, protruding eye bags squeezed his dull, tiny eyes. He glanced at the young man who had entered, then quickly withdrew his gaze.

He was still carrying a brown liquor bottle with little left in it.

Only when Yi Chen reached the counter did he slowly turn around.

From a mouth full of yellow teeth, he laboriously squeezed out a muffled, indistinct phrase in the local language:

"Need a room?"

His breath carried a peculiar stench, like a rat had crawled into a stomach, gotten drunk, and drowned inside.

"Are there any rooms left?"

"Rooms are everywhere. Most of them just haven't been cleaned... One 'Silver Coin' a day. If you're staying, pick a key yourself."

The Boss set down the bottle, then tossed a ring of rust-covered keys onto the counter.

Yi Chen placed down a 'Silver Coin' and deliberately chose a key for a room on the second floor.

That would let him use the opportunity to investigate the inn's second floor, while also giving him a fairly good elevated view from which to observe the town during the day.

He climbed the rickety stairs to the second floor.

Moldy mattresses were piled at the stairwell corner, forcing him to turn sideways to squeeze past.

Large sections of the patterned wallpaper in the corridor had peeled away as well, leaving it damp and moldy.

Naturally, no one stayed in an inn like this.

Yi Chen was probably its only guest this month.

Creak, creak~

As he stepped across the endlessly groaning floorboards and reached his door, a surge of unease pulled Yi Chen's gaze toward the far end of the second-floor corridor.

"What is that..."

On the right side at the end of the hall, the wooden door marked Room 0213 had seven different padlocks hanging from it.

Several black mold patches the size of egg pancakes covered the door as well, making it look diseased.

As Yi Chen stared at it without blinking, a faint flicker of firelight flashed beside his face.

When he turned around, a deathly pale face suddenly pressed close before his eyes.

Yi Chen was so startled that his hand instinctively went to his waist, ready to draw the Silver Axe from the Cemetery.

However, the person was merely the inn's Boss from earlier.

The candlelight made his already sickly complexion look even paler.

"Oh, right... I forgot to tell you.

My younger sister is seriously ill and lives in the room at the end. Don't go near her normally. She's rather afraid of strangers."

With that said, the Boss turned around and hunched his way downstairs.

His frail, weightless body made no sound at all as it stepped across the floorboards.