Chapter 23 - Hellrank Wormhole
After coming inside the chief's office, Miss Sylva directly stated her reason for coming without beating around the bush. "Chief Dix Marcel, how's the search for my missing student going?"
As expected, it was about that. The chief said without voicing out.
Miss Sylva felt a slight pain in her gut when she noticed a frown on the chief's expression. It could only mean one thing.
With knitted brows, Miss Sylva remained unperturbed. The chief beckoned her to sit down first before he summoned a deep sigh and began his reply. He spoke when she took her seat. "Sorry, Miss Sylva, as you may already guess, aside from the bloodstain that leads to that dangerous sanctuary of ferocious beasts, my men could not find more traces aside from that."
Miss Sylva felt something bitter at the tip of her tongue after hearing it. "So, still no results, huh," she muttered dejectedly.
Chief Dix Marcel clasped his hands and placed them on the desk in front of him. He knew that it wasn't easy to have her students missing in the Desolate Region. He also felt the same way as her.
Noticing Miss Sylva's silence, the chief frowned and opened his mouth again.
"I don't want to sound insensitive, but isn't it better to organize our thoughts and accept the highly possible worst-case scenario?"
After hearing it, "Are you saying you want to stop the search?!" Miss Sylva snapped and raised her voice along with a hard tap of both her palms on the desk which caused a loud bang that startled the chief. Dammit, he almost bit his tongue at her sudden outburst.
If the other party was from an ordinary family, he already kicked her out of this room. But since she was from an influential family all over the federation, he could not do it.
The Sylva family was well-known in the federation.
Many of their family seniors were in higher positions in the federation army and the other major departments such as the research institute, the main exploration team, in politics, and etcetera. There was also a rumor that their family's monthly income was around 8 digits federation money.
On the contrary, the Marcel family was only known in a specific region of the federation, and with a monthly income of only 6 digits federation money.
Such a gap was like comparing a boulder and a mountain. Money and strength were the two factors that determined the family's social status in the federation. Perhaps it was also true in other countries.
Regardless, he needed to make her understood without lowering his self-esteem and remained relevant and reasonable to avoid making her more furious. Just a slight mistake could squash him to dust. That's why he felt so bitter facing this kind of figure that could endanger his reputation.
After a sigh, he opened his mouth again. "I also lost a newly recruited man, and the other one has yet to get out of the hospital. I at least wanted to retrieve my soldier's body for his family to mourn. However, even you-- can probably guess already that it was hopeless. With those beasts, it was lucky enough if we could find a finger-size of his remains," said Chief Dix Marcel in a sorrowful voice and dejected expression.
Then he continued saying, "Also, there's nothing we can do about it now. I can't risk my men entering the Uno Labyrinth--" Chief Dix Marcel paused for a moment with noticeable movements on his throat.
Miss Sylva remained silent as she noticed the troubled expression of the 3-star chief. She guessed that he had slight information that he was troubled to disclose.
"Why are you so afraid of this labyrinth? Isn't it a normal dungeon only?" No matter what, she needed to force him to spit it out.
The chief sank back on his chair. He did not expect that he was so easy to read. The tone and the way the other party questioned him indicates that she already noticed that he was hiding something.
'Dammit!' He groaned inwardly. 'Well, it wasn't truly a highly-confidential information,' he thought.
"I have a bit of information from the research team who was studying the wormholes--"
"What of it?"
Miss Sylva narrowed her eyes, looking forward to more words from the 3-star chief.
"The Uno Labyrinth is not an ordinary dungeon…"
"Yeah, I heard that it wasn't ordinary. But what makes it different from the rest? Also, what is the connection of it to the researchers who studied the wormholes?" Miss Sylva bombarded him with questions.
"Erm," Chief Dix Marcel cleared his throat. This wasn't good. He was being pressed by a teacher for information unrelated to her job. Though this teacher wasn't an ordinary one.
Also, it was the more reason that he felt so worried about disclosing the information to her since she wasn't an ordinary person.
But it was too late now. He understood that expression on her face. She wouldn't stop bothering him if he didn't tell her the truth regarding the Uno Labyrinth.
*Hah!*
He sighed in defeat before telling her the truth regarding this labyrinth.
"The Uno Labyrinth or also known as the labyrinth of no return. According to the information, it used to be a Hell-rank wormhole."
Hell-rank wormhole…
Hell-rank wormhole…
Hell-rank wormhole…
The last two words reverberated in her ears.