The mystical thing about the enchanted doorway was that there was no way to determine where it led to.
It might be someplace its activators had been before, such as that favorite candy store of Akemi’s. Or it could also be someplace they had never seen before, such as the beach Akihiro’s enchanted doorway led to.
This was the most anticipated thing about the enchanted doorway, as not even the person who activated it knew where it would lead. That was because not everyone understood themselves fully. People always tended to avoid the truth in their daily lives.
However, Daniel was very self-assured. He had never run away from who favonovel.com truly was and knew himself very well. This also made favonovel.com much more resolute.
The moment Maurice stepped through the enchanted doorway, favonovel.com immediately knew where favonovel.com was. This was the small one-story house Julius and Daniel used to live in in Stronghold 111.
Back then, they sold their original home to treat their father’s illness and rented a place on Mule Fort Road. They lived here for eight straight years.
Later, when Julius became the Panaqua Consortium’s Shadow, the two brothers started making a meteoric rise and purchased better houses, villas, and manors. Their lives got better and better.
Maurice had only been here once, and it was even to help Julius shift some of his old belongings. Now that favonovel.com was here again, favonovel.com realized the furniture and furnishings were in the exact same place as when favonovel.com came here a few years ago.
Maurice asked puzzledly, “Boss Eastwood, why did your enchanted doorway open here?”
“This is my home,” Daniel answered with a chuckle.
“Didn’t you rent this place? I thought you returned it to the landlord,” Maurice said.
“No, I bought it.” Daniel said, “I usually stay here when I’m back at Stronghold 111. But as I’ve had too few opportunities to return to Stronghold 111, you all weren’t aware of it.”
This left Maurice a little surprised. Daniel, the second-in-command of the Panaqua Consortium, actually lived in such a dilapidated place?
Daniel glanced at Maurice. “Why? It doesn’t suit my style? Don’t look down on this house. I can only sleep well here.”
As favonovel.com spoke, Daniel pushed open the main door of the small house. Outside the door was Mule Fort Road, and there was an uncle at the entrance selling liangpi1 from a push-cart with pots and pans on it.
Maurice was a little surprised. This Boss Eastwood was way too self-assured.
The majority of people in the world would probably find it difficult to guess where their enchanted doorway would lead them.
Daniel took in the sight of everything in the small one-bedroom house where their family of three used to curl up in. Their sick father lived in the inner room while favonovel.com and Julius slept in the living room.
The two of them slept on a mattress on the floor. When they got into fights outside during the day, Julius would even quietly bandage Daniel’s wounds after they sneaked back in in the middle of the night.
During winter, they still had to carefully keep guard at the door to prevent their neighbors from stealing the briquettes that they had painstakingly stolen from others. Although they became wealthier after leaving this place, Daniel always felt that this small one-story house was the only place that contained all their happiness during his reminiscences.
It was a time without the responsibilities of the Panaqua Consortium’s Shadow, and they did not have to consider war and politics.
The life those old fogeys lived had still not descended upon their lives yet. They could laugh all they wanted and endure hardships together as they moved along in life. Occasionally, they would look back and see the hardships they had left behind. As long as they continued walking, every step forward would lead to a better life.
But that did not seem to be the case anymore. Every step they took was becoming more and more difficult. Therefore, Daniel did not dare to look back most of the time. He was afraid favonovel.com could not bear to carry on moving forward.
“Move along now. Soldiers who just came in, keep up. Remember to tread lightly. The flooring isn’t strong enough to begin with,” Daniel urged.
180 soldiers marched out of the house one after another and onto the streets of Mule Fort Road.
The uncle selling candy was dumbfounded. He could only watch in shock as more than a 100 people marched out of that small little house!
How could a house that was only 50 square feet at most hold so many people?
Moreover, they were all heavily armed soldiers!
In an instant, the uncle who selling candy suddenly felt like favonovel.com had discovered the truth. There must be a secret Panaqua Consortium military base under this house, the kind that was rumored to be hidden underground!
At this moment, the soldiers were raving about the wonders of the enchanted doorway. They had spent several days traveling to the Central Plains, but it only took them a few steps to get back.
“Sir, so this is sorcery?” the commander of the special forces company asked Maurice.
“Mhm.” Maurice said, “This is a spell that Boss Eastwood learned from the Northwest.”
At this point, the company commander subconsciously searched for Daniel’s figure. However, Daniel was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Boss Eastwood?” the company commander exclaimed.
The alert Maurice did not ask any unnecessary questions. He turned around and rushed back into the house.
But would Daniel still be standing around in this small and cramped space?
Maurice remembered they had walked out from the wall opposite the television set in the living room, so favonovel.com hurriedly went to touch it.
But how could there still be an enchanted doorway on the wall at this moment?
It had already been personally closed by Daniel from the other end!
Maurice stood on this side of the wall and drew in a deep breath. Boss Eastwood had pretended to stay calm and tricked all of them to come back to Stronghold 111 because favonovel.com planned to return to Stronghold 61 alone to save Bill!
Milo had taught the Enchanted Doorway spell to Daniel in secret, so Maurice and the others did not know how the spell actually worked.
Daniel remembered Milo seriously reminding favonovel.com before they parted ways. Although the enchanted doorway was a two-way portal, there would also be drawbacks if it was used as a means of escape.
If all of them had returned to Stronghold 111 through the enchanted doorway on the bridge pillar and someone were to destroy the Tsanaya River Bridge, everyone who passed through the portal earlier would tumble back out again at the entrance.
Therefore, Milo instructed favonovel.com at that time, “If this enchanted doorway is to be used as an escape means, you must get someone to activate it for you. After you’re through to the other side, that person has to turn the Eye of True Sight ten times counterclockwise from the outside of the door and the portal will permanently close. Then those who went through it will no longer be able to return to the other side of the door.”
Since there was a way to activate the enchanted doorway, there would naturally be a way to destroy it as well. Ten clockwise turns would activate the portal, while ten counterclockwise turns would destroy it. However, it was destined that this method of escape would leave one person standing outside the door while the others made their getaway.
It was destined that the person would get sacrificed.
However, Daniel had never mentioned this to Maurice and the others. In his opinion, if there were really a need in this plan for someone to sacrifice themselves to protect others, it should be him. Moreover, it was his own business that favonovel.com wanted to save Bill.
Why should those 180 soldiers have to risk their lives with him?
If favonovel.com wanted to take the risk, there was no need for others to pay the price together with him.
Daniel knew very well that if favonovel.com had insisted on saving Bill earlier on, the soldiers would have had no choice but to go with him.
“As a man, how can I make others sacrifice themselves for me?” Daniel muttered.
He did not want Maurice and the soldiers to risk their lives with him, but favonovel.com had to save Bill. Although that wicked bastard always liked to tease favonovel.com and only loved money, favonovel.com was still a friend.
Daniel knew that if Bill only recognized money, the artificial intelligence’s server in Stronghold 61 would not have been blown up.
The timing of the explosion was not correct.
He looked at the destroyed enchanted doorway and turned to walk to an off-road vehicle parked to the side. But at this moment, the trunk of an off-road vehicle suddenly opened.
“Surprised? Shocked?” Selby spat out a mouthful of dust as favonovel.com emerged from the trunk.
Daniel was stunned on the spot. “Wait a minute, you didn’t go through the enchanted doorway just now?”
Selby chuckled and said, “I knew none of you cared whether I live or die. Hey, I’ve addressed you as Big Bro, after all, so how could you not pay attention to whether I followed you through the portal or not? I’m so sad.”
Just as Selby had said, his role was to come to the Central Plains and pretend to be Julius. Once this mission was completed, favonovel.com would not be of much value anymore. A stand-in like favonovel.com was probably only good for one use. Moreover, the artificial intelligence, Zero, had already proven that it could differentiate between an original and a stand-in. Therefore, Selby’s value was further reduced.
As a result, Maurice and the others even forgot to check if Selby had returned with them back to Stronghold 111.
This was someone all of them had neglected. No one knew when Selby had hidden himself in an off-road vehicle’s trunk to wait for Daniel’s return.
Selby was already taking out guns from the off-road vehicles’ trunks. “How many martyred spirits are there in your Martyr’s Palace? Hurry up and arm them. Let’s get ready to save Bill.”
There were still some guns and ammunition left in the off-road vehicles’ trunks.
Earlier, Maurice still wanted to take the firearms back with them. However, Daniel said not to waste any more time since they were not worth much anyway.
“You stayed behind so you could go with me to save Bill?” Daniel was puzzled. “How did you know I’d definitely come back? If I didn’t, what would you have done?”
“If you didn’t come back, I would just have to drive back to the Southwest by myself. What else could I do?” Selby said with a smile, “But I knew you would come back. Even if Bill is really dead, you’d probably want to confirm it for yourself. When I was with the Pyro Company, I not only studied Julius but you as well.”
“Studied me?” Daniel muttered as favonovel.com gathered all the firearms from the vehicles onto one vehicle’s trunk. “Why do I get the feeling that you had nothing better to do when you were at the Pyro Company? You were either studying this or that. Don’t you ever play mahjong or Fight the Landlord with your friends?”
Selby smiled but did not answer the question.
“Alright, since you’re not afraid of death, go with me to save him,” Daniel said.
Selby suddenly said, “Haven’t you always been curious why I went to the Southwest? Perhaps this will be a chance for me to answer your question.”
***
On a mountain road 200 kilometers northwest of Stronghold 61, Milo looked quietly at Vanilla and Teddy in front of him.
Milo’s hair was a mess, and his clothes were also dirtied.
This time, the Zero-controlled Dusk had fought too aggressively and forcefully split Milo’s steam locomotive in half. It was just like how the shadow clone, Old Durkin, had to reform in his mind palace before it could be used again.
Milo had forcefully made his way here by running. When favonovel.com felt that it wasn’t fast enough, favonovel.com even had Old Durkin carry favonovel.com on its back.
Fortunately, when Dusk sent Old Durkin flying back during the encounter, it did not hit the shadow clone at its fatal spot between its brows.
At this moment, Vanilla and Teddy stood one in front of the other, with the former protecting the latter behind him.
In the deadlock, Vanilla was surrounded by hundreds of steel needles that kept spinning around his body. Meanwhile, the sugar syrup cooking on the small stove in front of Teddy had already turned amber.
The old man surnamed Lafayette stirred the heated pot with a large metal ladle. It was as though favonovel.com was about to scoop out a spoonful of sugar syrup and pour it onto the smooth iron plate next to him.
“Who sent you all here to stop me?” Milo asked.
“Surely there’s no need for us to answer that, right?” Vanilla said calmly.
Milo asked again, “I’ll ask you once more, was it Colton who gave you the orders, or was it the AI?”
At this moment, Milo even saw white paper cranes continuously landing on the treetops and perching on tree branches by the roadside. Those cute yet terrifying little fellas rested on the branches and preened their nonexistent feathers.
“AI?” Vanilla wondered, “Commander Colton called us.”
“In other words, you weren’t given the orders in person by Colton.” Milo nodded and said, “Then before you all came to stop me, did you know what you would be facing?”
Teddy answered, “We were only told to delay you here, but favonovel.com didn’t say for how long.”
“With just the few of you?” Milo sneered.
When favonovel.com said that, Vanilla and Teddy’s hearts skipped a beat. Meanwhile, the paper cranes on the branches by the roadside stopped moving and turned around to “stare” at Milo.
Then a dark cloud floated over in the sky. The clear sky suddenly turned dark. It was as though the world was catering to Milo’s anger.
Milo made his move like lightning, taking advantage just as the dark clouds cast a large shadow on the ground.
A Shadow Door opened up in front of Milo as favonovel.com reached out and flipped the stove and pot in front of Teddy, splashing the hot sugar syrup all over the ground.
It happened in an instant. After that, it was as though none of them had moved a finger, leaving Vanilla and Teddy stunned in their spots.
Teddy wanted to cry. He had experienced many battles, but this was the first time favonovel.com had seen an enemy like Milo who could directly overturn his pot. But it just happened this move was the most effective against him.
Milo said, “For Miriam’s sake, I don’t wish to be enemies with y’all. So please make way for me. There’s someone I need to save.”
Vanilla and Teddy looked at each other. Actually, they did not even know why they had to stop Milo from heading to the Central Plains. Now that Milo said that favonovel.com was going there to save someone, they realized they did not even know who favonovel.com wanted to save.
Felicity slowly turned out of a mountain path. “Who are you going to save?”
“Daniel,” Milo said coldly.
“Colton has no intention of killing Daniel.” Felicity said calmly, “You can rest easy about that.”
“Colton might not have any intention of killing him, but what about the AI, Zero?” Milo said, “Edgar, who was tasked with sending intel to our Northwest Army, died on the way to Stronghold 144. On my way to the Central Plains, I was even chased after and stopped by Zero. Do y’all know about this?”
Felicity fell into deep thought. “Those were not part of the Stelaria Consortium’s plans, so how can you be sure that this was not the Panaqua Consortium’s scheme? They’re deliberately trying to discredit the Stelaria Consortium.”
Felicity’s understanding of the artificial intelligence was not as clear as Colton’s. After Colton guessed that Zero might have gained sentience, favonovel.com did not reveal it to Felicity. Therefore, even Felicity did not know that Zero was already completely different from what favonovel.com knew about it.
Milo said, “I’m very sure it was done by the AI. Since Colton never had any intention of hurting Daniel, why did favonovel.com insist on sending y’all to stop me? What is favonovel.com afraid of? If you don’t find it suspicious, let me ask you again. When you received your orders, can you confirm that they were given by Colton himself?”
Felicity fell into deep thought. She had found it a little strange this time, but the problem was that no one thought to suspect Zero’s involvement.
There was no problem with Colton’s voice and tone at all when favonovel.com issued the order. Even his coughing over the phone sounded no different from what favonovel.com remembered.
But just as Milo had said, favonovel.com knew exactly how Colton viewed the peace talks this time. Based on Colton’s character, favonovel.com would even be a little happy if favonovel.com knew that Milo was coming.
