When the three elders' gloomy voices sounded close to their ears, not only the Terashima brothers and sisters who were shrouded in shadows, but even the audience in the live broadcast room were so nervous that they held their breath.

Outside the window, it was as dark as night, and the flickering candles in the room disturbed the light and shadows, magnifying the oppression in the silence until the sound of speech broke the almost frozen air.

"Hey, why do you open your mouth to slander people. The adventurer named Beidou said inexplicably, as if he didn't feel the hostility faintly revealed by the three elders at all, "What we said the day before yesterday was to try to report once a day - the point is 'as much as possible', but we didn't say that we would definitely come, and there was no such clause in the contract we signed. ”

When he said this, he took two steps back vigilantly, "Third Elder, I admire your leadership skills, and I also know that managing such a big villa requires a lot of expenses, but we always have to pay attention to a debtor and a master, right? ”

Brother and sister: "......"

Audience: "......"

The three elders who were inexplicably deducted from the hat of a mistreated employee and almost got angry: "......"

It was probably because the actors were too tired from the scenes of working at the desk day and night, and the three elders were stuck for a while, and they didn't think of how to pick up this line that seriously deviated from the point. The adventurer waited politely for three seconds, and when he saw that the other party did not mean to answer, he continued to say, "Third Elder, what do you think of this? If you need us to report back once a day, then we can make up this clause and re-sign the contract now." However, this may lead to less work hours, and it will be difficult to spend time hunting the 'big guys' like last night, so I think we deserve to increase the gratuity a little-"

The third elder couldn't help but raise a hand and interrupted the adventurer's three words without leaving the money, "No need. So, you're here to report on yesterday's results?"

"Yes. Seeing that the three elders did not plan to discuss the possibility of a salary increase, Beidou sighed with pity, and then stepped forward to put the collected demon core on the desk. Among the many inconspicuous little balls, the shining spar stood out.

The middle-aged man's expression changed slightly. He nodded at the big magic core, "This is what you got by hunting the demonic beasts yourself?"

"That's right. Last night, as the sun was approaching, we spotted a powerful Blizzard King in the depths of the Warcraft Forest. It commanded the beasts to harass the people of the forest, and we judged that it was a great threat to humans, so we spent a night setting up an ambush and managed to eliminate it. ”

The adventurer Beidou observed the expressions of the three elders while talking eloquently. Seeing that the stiff expression of the middle-aged man showed faint signs of loosening, the adventurer immediately stepped forward and said enthusiastically: "Of course, Third Elder, you hired us, and all the credit should belong to you. After two days of exploration, we have also summed up some experience against the Ice Demon Beast, if you need it, we can discuss it carefully-"

Seeing that there were about to be eight hundred new giant text bubbles in front of him, the third elder burst out with a speed that did not match his previous calm self - he quickly put away the demon core, wrote a few lines of text in a flying manner, and then slapped the scroll of paper in front of the three of them to show them.

"The results of the three have been registered, thank you for your contributions. The middle-aged man said in a hard tone, "I still have a job, and I can't talk to the three of you more, please forgive me." ”

Beidou suddenly showed a look of regret.

"Wouldn't you really consider trading with us? I'm sure we'll both have something to gain, such as—"

"Tom, send off!"

The three adventurers were hurried back to the courtyard with a series of bombardments, and the assistant officer named Tom wiped his sweat and told the adventurers the news that should have been narrated by the three elders himself—due to their fruitful results, the work of "destroying the demonic beasts" could be regarded as complete, and they should focus on the second task in the future, "retreating the snowman".

After seeing the messenger go away, the Terashima siblings looked at their boss with admiration in their eyes.

At this point, they had more or less guessed that the Third Elder was definitely not a person as kind as he appeared to be, and it was even very likely that he was the culprit who had persecuted the Demon Beasts and the Himi Clan. Seeing that the names of the characters suspected of being the final boss gradually turned red from yellow, and even suspected that they had something to do with the night attack of Warcraft, the sisters and brothers thought that they were going to die on the spot and be eliminated in advance - they never expected that they could use the "word therapy" method to force the situation back, and it is estimated that at least within forty-eight hours, the three elders will only think of "adventurers who have lost money and talk a lot" when they see them.

And bathed in the adoring eyes of the younger brothers, Xiao Ye silently took out the kettle and poured it several times.

...... Next time, let's leave the chattering role to the chattering southerners.

Afterwards, the three of them went around to the second elder's living room, trying to meet the elder whose name was engraved on the tombstone. But the guards at the gate had already said that "no one is allowed to enter", and there were surprisingly many patrols nearby, and even the guards standing on the rooftops were watching the area almost perfectly.

There was no doubt - they would not have been able to approach the Second Elder without the help of Pokémon.

The three of them secretly conspired, and finally decided to retreat temporarily by Xiao Ye's clap, and then try to sneak into the Elder's Mansion until late at night to find out.

Before leaving, they saw Tom again who had arrived in a hurry, and received a letter from him.

"This is a letter from the three elders to you, please be sure to check it out of no one. The assistant officer repeatedly emphasized that he saw that the three of them nodded in understanding before leaving.

Li Jiu touched the fire paint that was still warm on the seal of the letter, and said tentatively, "Could it be that Mr. Jean said ...... 'that'?"

Xiao Ye nodded, "I think it should be." ”

Long Xing was immediately ignited by curiosity, "Find a place to take it apart!"

The leader of the team was not in a hurry, and pointed to the sky after putting the letter in the package, "Go back to dinner first." ”

As soon as the siblings looked up, they saw that the sunlight faintly visible behind the dark clouds was about to climb overhead, and then they belatedly felt hungry.

It was close to noon, and the maid Linda had already prepared a hearty lunch.

She smelled the smell of the food triumphantly, admired her work for a while, and then turned and went into the back room. Within a few minutes, her caustic voice rang out in the room.

"Ouch, Master Carl, you're a busy man—I've worked so hard to prepare lunch for you, hoping that you'll study hard and don't tarnish our master's reputation. You're okay, you said you want to practice calligraphy, but you didn't write a few lines, and you just dozed off?"

"yes, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to......"

"Yes, yes, you're so busy, I understand. Although you went back to the house to rest before eight o'clock last night, you were certainly not sleeping, but reading at night. Oh, look at my memory, your room didn't have a light last night—so, I guess it's reading in the dark, right?"

It wasn't until the sound of the door opening from the entrance that the maid Linda reluctantly stopped sarcastically about the boy.

"Hey, aren't we the adventurers who are not so forgetful. Linda raised her eyelids and glanced at the person who entered the door, "I made a table of good dishes in vain yesterday, and I didn't wait for a few people to come until the curfew, why was I finally cured of my amnesia today, and I remembered that I was here?"

It's a pity that the brain circuits of young people in the south are naturally lacking in twists and turns, and Long Xing, who was slapped in the face by cold words, immediately beat his chest, "What, good food!? I would have come back early if I knew that we had been in the wild last night, not to mention how miserable it was." ”

Linda, who was sneering in the empty space: "......"

Xiao Ye watched the poor maid's mood take a turn for the worse, and finally she had to put on a world-weary face to serve the plate, and her expression was quite similar to that of the three elders who were thought of as collapsed.

Thanks to Long Xing, the three of them had a rare lunch without cynicism. The appearance of the sister and brother eating without manners made Linda frown frequently, wanting to taunt a few words but afraid of flashing her waist again, and finally simply hid in the kitchen out of sight.

Considering that the punishment for "playing" is to be eliminated, Li Jiu and Long Xing don't dare to talk more at the dinner table, and it is better to bury their heads and suffer than to talk awkwardly. And the young master Karl who was sitting at the same table looked so tired that he couldn't even notice the adventurer's conversation.

Xiao Ye recalled the boy who was surrounded by his fellow clansmen in the back mountain to find fault on the first night - and a certain sentence that the maid had inadvertently mentioned during small talk, and a guess quietly took root in his heart.

At the end of lunch, the three of them gathered in the eldest's bedroom and impatiently took out the letters handed to them by the three elders.

The yellowed paper had a hint of rosin on it, and there were only a few lines of concise words on it.

——————————

Hello young and promising adventurers. I'm Ice Moriton, the third elder of Wind and Snow Villa.

Thank you very much for your contributions so far. You've proven your worth with a great record, and as such, I want to give you a secret mission.

Please look for a crimson crystal in the wilderness north of the Wind and Snow Mountain, which is the "key" to unlock our secret treasure. Whatever method you use, if you can bring the Crimson Crystal, I will reward you as best I can.

What do you want is money, is it power?

Still is...... Become my fellow travelers?

——————————

After all three of them had finished reading the letter, Saya left behind the drawing with the red crystals, and the letter itself was placed on a candle flame and quickly burned.

"What do you think?"

Li Jiu grimaced, imitating the boss's tone, and said, "There is no doubt that this is the 'third mission' that Mr. Jean mentioned. But we don't have enough information, and we need to gather more information before making a judgment. ”

Xiaoye: "...... Well, you're right. ”

Long Xing actively raised his hand to speak, "Boss, what should we investigate now?"

"Go to sleep. Xiao Ye said.

The sister and brother were stunned for a moment. Without waiting for them to refute, Xiao Ye continued, "Tonight we are going to infiltrate the Elder's Mansion and explore the secrets of the Second Elder. It's going to be a tough battle, and you'll have to get your spirits up first—now go back to your room and get some sleep, and wait until the evening for the battle meeting, okay?"

"Uh...... Okay. ”

Now that the team leader has given the order, the Terashima siblings have no choice but to nod their heads in agreement.

However, after all, the group had stayed up all night. After the spirit brought by curiosity passed, the sister and brother soon yawned and got up, and went back to their rooms to rest without being urged by the night.

Xiao Ye didn't rush to sleep, first summarized the information he got today, and then released the Pokémon one by one and brought them lunch - fortunately, the room for adventurers was large enough, and the tyrannosaurus could barely break through the ceiling, so he was not forced to starve.

One by one, the well-fed Pokémon returned to the Poké Balls, leaving Ghost Stone slumped on the ground like mud, covered in pitiful babas.

Xiao Ye shook the medicine bottle in his hand, feeling a little distressed.

In that ice puppet collision, the hateful Ghost Stone was invincible with his fists, and was finally caught and beaten - I don't know what the shells of the ice puppets were made of, and the effect of each slap was comparable to a frozen fist, almost beating Ghost Stone out of his body.

Without the assistance of the Pokémon Center's equipment, relying only on medication, it may take several days for such an injury to heal completely. What's more, the medicine provided by the Bingjian family is limited and cannot withstand squandering.

She thought about it and felt that there was only one way left that was most economical and reasonable.

Xiao Ye stretched out his hand, and when his fingertips touched Ghost Stone's cold body, a white glow flowed from the cobblestone on his wrist.

In the time of going against the current, the scars on Ghost Stone's body disappeared little by little. Within three seconds, the whole ghost jumped to its feet in high spirits, and began to happily gnaw on the tree fruit and the trainer's head, until the skin chu that was stuck to the master's shoulder was so frightened that it almost discharged. The scene was so chaotic that it almost attracted all the maids.

After finally dealing with the Pokémon, Xiao Ye lay back on the bed with Venus in his eyes, not because he was distracted by using the Heart of the Moon, but because he was smoked by the gas of Ghost Stone.

The Pokémon were curled up contentedly on the ball to take a nap, and the siblings next door had long since stopped moving. Xiao Ye took the electric mouse that was about to fall out of bed into her arms, closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

====================

She knew that what she was seeing was no ordinary nightmare or hallucination.

That's what happened, the "future."

The girl saw the scorched earth, the flames raging in the air, the blackened half of the World Tree, and the black meteorites that devoured all starlight.

...... Well, since touching Xiaotian's necklace, Xiao Ye has dreamed of the same scene too many times. At first, she would be shocked by the apocalyptic scene, but now she only feels bored of seeing it, and she can't wait to press the fast-forward button.

As if hearing the voice of the dreamer, the picture of the dream flashed and suddenly changed.

Saya found herself standing beside a noisy path, with a cold mountain covered in snow in the distance.

When the five senses returned to her body, she vaguely captured a sense of familiarity—as if she had been in a "dream" of the same origin not long ago. And this familiarity is fleeting, and the noisy human voice invades the ears.

"Did you hear about it? There was a big incident on the mountain, saying that there was an accident in the middle of the race, and everyone died!"

"No, hasn't the Bingjian family always been quite reliable?"

"I also heard from my friends...... Ouch, look!"

As the exclamations rang out, "she" looked up at the mountain tops in the distance.

Under the dark clouds, a brilliant aurora gradually emerged.

Fengxue Mountain is located near the equator, and even if the altitude makes it have land covered with ice and snow all year round, there is absolutely no reason for the aurora. And now, the blue and green light spreads so overwhelmingly that it almost overwhelms the tiny island.

After the palpitating aurora, dark clouds began to stir.

As if a prehistoric beast was fighting in the clouds, the wind became so cold that even the people of the town at the foot of the mountain were blown to their feet. And "she" opened her eyes wide in the cold wind and saw everything that was happening high in the sky.

One blue and one red, two huge birds are fighting in the distance.

Ice and snow fly, flames flow. The roar of the bird whipped up air currents and cut through the soft clouds, and the blood of the bird dripped to the ground, scorching the white snowflakes.

It was a war beyond the reach of humanity.

It was a war that "humanity" had to prevent.

"Hey, kid, what are you going to do!"

The voices of the townspeople were left behind. "She" ran desperately towards the mountain, sweat spilling on the gray earth, her eyes still staring persistently at the distant mountain top.

But compared to the vastness of the mountains, the human footsteps are too small and too weak. The clear purple eyes like the LCD screen clearly and inescapably reflected everything—the wind and snow intensified, and the flames gradually weakened, and the curtain of aurora, which was so brilliant that it did not look like the world, condensed into a sharp blade, mercilessly piercing the chest of the flame god bird.

It's like time freezes, and even the air freezes at that moment. In the next moment, the clouds and mist surged, the earth shook, and countless boulders rushed along the collapsed hillside, like the greatest wave under the lightless sun and moon, swallowing up the humans at the foot of the mountain.

At the end of the darkness of consciousness, a heart-rending pain emerged.

====================

Small Theatre:

Third Elder: Actually, there is no such thing as sending a letter in the script, so I should have issued the task to them in person. It's just that...... I really don't want to talk to that kid anymore. (Falling into autism)