At the same time, Zion had already reached the brothel. Before he came, he had asked the system to give him back his original identity since it was no use roaming around as a servant who was supposed to be in prison. Since his original identity as servant 52 was dead weeks ago, he used makeup to change his face a little before he could sneak inside the brothel. He didn't have much time, so he couldn't change his entire look.
But the changes from makeup also made it seem as if he was another individual. There was a bloody scar right across his face that made him look hideous. He had deliberately put dark circles around his eyes and made his cheeks feel they didn't have any color. After changing more things like his nose, chin, and even the shape of his eyebrows with makeup, he sneaked inside the brothel and headed toward the room.
This time, he didn't even care about taking a seal. He directly hid in the shadows and pushed the door open. Surprisingly, it wasn't locked, which made him frown.
Did someone open this recently? From what he could remember, the manager would always keep this room locked and hide the key in his inner robes. But now that Zion found this room unlocked without anyone guarding here, he didn't know what was going on.
He narrowed his eyes and got inside. He would find out what was wrong with this place in a while anyway. So he didn't bother himself with anything else and unlocked the room. It was a good thing that Linton hadn't changed the lock so that he could open it easily.
After entering the dark corridor, he didn't even turn on the torch for fear of alerting the enemy. He took a few steps before pausing as if realizing something.
If he would go and tail the villain, the black-cloaked man would find out that someone was following him. But what else could he do?
A frown crossed Zion's forehead. He wouldn't be afraid of this in the usual case, but ever since he had realized that his enemy probably knew his secret, he would have to keep his guard up. The person who could find out about Zion's secret identities, it wouldn't be a surprise if that man knew about his system too.
So should he hide the system or himself? He knew he couldn't do both since he was already lagging in terms of points.
His brows furrowed deeper as he contemplated with a serious expression on his face. If he would hide, there was a huge possibility that the enemy would be able to find out about him through sensing the presence of his system that was lying dormant in his mind. So it would be safer to hide the system. At least, even if the enemy would be able to find out that someone was tailing him, that person wouldn't consider that it was Zion following the black-cloaked man.
After thinking for a while, he decided to call out the system. "007, can you hide your presence?"
The system tilted his head innocently. "Why?"
"No reason. Just do as I said." Zion didn't have the patience to talk nonsense with this furry man.
The latter could tell from the expression on his host's face that things were critical. So instead of asking more, he suppressed his curiosity and silently nodded. "But if I hide my presence, I would go to standby mode and won't be able to turn on before five minutes."
Zion pursed his lips. This choice was risky, but it was his only solution. He nodded and glanced at the light that showered brightness at the end of the dark corridor, and he squinted his eyes. Would he be able to find that black-cloaked man here? He didn't know. But he intended to go there. It was the only path he could choose, or else he would be back to square one.
The system knew that his host had made a choice. So he sighed and said with a trace of emotion in his voice, "I'll go to the stand-by mode. Just call me out when you want to turn me online. I will come out after five minutes." 007 paused and hesitated before opening his mouth. "Be careful."
After this, the system went offline and didn't say anything else. The system seemed to be in a deep sleep and wouldn't wake up for a long time.
Zion took a deep breath and calmed himself before stealthily moving forward. He knew it was a risky decision, but his intuition told him that hiding his system was the first thing he should do while dealing with this villain.
But just as he reached the brightened forest that he had seen earlier, he froze. Right in the middle of the ground covered with grass and surrounded by trees, He saw the dead body of a familiar man lying on the ground with eyes wide open as if the person was frightened before he died.
It was Linton, and the killer didn't even bother cleaning up the dead body.
When Zion thought of this, a trace of anxiety burst into his heart like a cyclone. It destroyed his peaceful and calm mind.
This situation right now seemed as if the villain was waiting for him to come and see the dead body. Zion's eyes were stuck to Linton's pale face as blood flooded out of his neck. It seemed as if this prince was killed just a few seconds before he came. The injury in the neck seemed as if someone had slashed the flesh open so much that he could even see internal organs filled with blood.
Zion gritted his teeth and passed by the dead body. Even though his hands were itching to check up the body, he couldn't afford such a luxury. He knew that the enemy was nearby, and that person would find out about his presence easily if he were to come out and boldly check the dead body. A sigh escaped his lips as he hid in the shadows while walking ahead.
This was the first time in his life that someone had managed to lead him around the nose like this. Was this Bradley acting alone in this world? Or was there someone else, or probably a group of individuals behind him? Zion couldn't tell, but he had a feeling that today he would find out something that would change the face of this mission forever.