The Fateful Incident

Chapter 24 Decisive Events

About ten minutes had passed since the end of the strategy meeting.

In those ten minutes, the Master candidates had logged into their respective 〈Coffins〉 and were standing by, awaiting orders to enter and initiate Spiritron Transfer.

Luo Zhen was also waiting next to his designated 〈Coffin〉.

However...

"This is really irritating..."

Luo Zhen muttered with a displeased expression while standing next to the 〈Coffin〉.

Mashu, who was also waiting by her own 〈Coffin〉, seemed to have accepted the situation, saying, "I didn't expect that you would be excluded from Team A's list, Senior."

Indeed.

Luo Zhen was not on Team A's list.

There were nine Master candidates in Chaldea a month ago.

Team A was selected from the top eight performers in simulated battles.

Naturally, one person would be left out.

Unfortunately, that one person was Luo Zhen.

"Who told you not to take the simulated battles seriously before, Senior?"

Mashu explained the reason with a helpless tone.

That was the root cause.

Although Luo Zhen had been unusually active in the past month, scoring full marks in almost every simulated battle, he had never taken them seriously before. He either barely passed, failed outright, or even missed or was late. All of these were recorded as actual results in Chaldea's computer.

As a result, Luo Zhen's score ranked last, successfully leaving him out.

Actually, being left out didn't matter so much to him.

With Team A paving the way for him, Luo Zhen was happy to take it easy.

However, Mashu was one of the members of Team A.

How could Luo Zhen be at ease letting this battle-fearing girl take the lead and head to the Singularity ahead of time?

"It's okay, Senior."

Seemingly sensing Luo Zhen's worries, Mashu said very earnestly, "I will definitely pave the way for you and hold out until you arrive."

This wasn't bravado, but strength.

Even though she feared battle, Mashu didn't intend to run away from it, nor did she intend to hide behind Luo Zhen.

Faced with the girl's strength, Luo Zhen couldn't bring himself to say anything to the contrary.

"I can't help it..." Luo Zhen could only say to Mashu, "Then you have to be careful."

"Yes, I understand." Mashu nodded heavily.

Only then did Luo Zhen reluctantly stop complaining, turning his head to look towards the command room.

There, a group of Chaldea's technical staff were working feverishly on the final adjustments for the Spiritron Transfer, constantly operating various instruments.

Olga Marie was also pacing among the technical staff, constantly giving instructions.

Luo Zhen glanced at the situation, then frowned.

"Senior?"

Noticing Luo Zhen's abnormality once again, Mashu couldn't help but speak up.

But this time, Luo Zhen had no energy to respond to Mashu.

Luo Zhen simply stared at the direction of the command room, his expression extremely serious.

Because there, one person whom Luo Zhen couldn't help but care about was missing.

"Where's Leff...?"

It was Leff.

After carefully searching the interior of the command room, Luo Zhen still couldn't find Leff's figure.

This made Luo Zhen think of the strange feeling he had felt when he first met Leff.

This strange feeling, now with Leff's disappearance, grew stronger in Luo Zhen's heart.

Finally, it grew to the point where Luo Zhen was agitated.

"How could that man suddenly disappear at such an important moment?"

The more Luo Zhen thought about it, the more concerned he became.

Thus...

"S-Senior? Where are you going?"

Mashu's astonished voice rang out.

At the same time, the other Master candidates also cast bewildered and surprised gazes at Luo Zhen.

Luo Zhen paid them no mind. While running towards the door of the command center, he shouted to Mashu without turning his head.

"I'll be right back!"

After shouting, Luo Zhen rushed out of the command center amidst Mashu's calls and the murmurs of the crowd.

Faintly, it seemed to be accompanied by Olga Marie's roar.

"Lorelai Annerose...!"

Hearing his name roared out, Luo Zhen ran out of the command center without looking back.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Having just run out of the command center, Luo Zhen felt his stamina was about to run out.

If it were any other time, Luo Zhen would have already complained and collapsed.

But this time, Luo Zhen kept exhausting his stamina, running in the corridors of Chaldea, and even used the magic of

Bird Summoning

, summoning dozens of birds and scattering them throughout Chaldea.

Luo Zhen ran and searched, dividing his mind into dozens of parts, sharing his senses with his Familiars, searching for Leff's whereabouts.

The fact that he could divide his senses into dozens of parts while doing his own thing showed how excellent Luo Zhen's abilities were.

But...

"Nothing...?"

Resting one hand on the wall, Luo Zhen, panting, couldn't help but feel a little incredulous.

"How could there be nothing?"

He had clearly divided his senses into dozens of parts, searching the entire Chaldea with the flock of Familiar birds, but he couldn't even find a trace of Leff.

"Could he have hidden in some important facility or workshop, or simply left Chaldea?"

If it was the former, because it was an important place, there would generally be defense systems and barriers set up, which the Familiars couldn't enter.

The latter was even worse. Once Leff really left Chaldea, it would be impossible to find him.

No, that's not the problem.

"Why did Leff not only leave the command center at such an important moment, but also disappear without a trace?"

A bad feeling had been growing in Luo Zhen's heart.

And unfortunately, Luo Zhen's premonitions were always so accurate, especially when it came to bad things.

Therefore, that thing happened.

A matter that could determine the fate of Luo Zhen and those closest to him.

"Thud..."

A muffled sound without any warning suddenly resounded, causing the entire Chaldea to shake, accompanied by a rumbling sound.

"Wh-What's going on!?"

Luo Zhen couldn't help but be shocked.

The next moment, an alarm sounded throughout Chaldea.

"Emergency situation, emergency situation."

"Fire in the central power plant and central command center."

"The isolation walls in the central area will be sealed in 240 seconds. Please evacuate from the second gate."

"Repeat."

"Central power plant and central ————"

The cold and merciless alarm sounded, and the entire Chaldea began systematic processing under the flashing red lights.

Luo Zhen's mind went completely blank.

"Fire? Command center?"

As these two words flashed through Luo Zhen's mind, he ran madly towards the command center before he could even react.

Because there, there were still people who were extremely important to Luo Zhen.

"Mashu...!"

Letting out a roar from his throat, Luo Zhen ran towards the command center.