บท 6: Central Square
"Where have you been, brother? Why didn't you go home?"
Just as Han Dong quickly walked out from the dark alley, and was just about to ask a passerby about everything... a pleasant soft-spoken voice came from beside him.
Han Dong's brain reacted extremely quickly.
Already conceiving in his mind a cute and adorable girl in a lace tutu, blonde hair and blue eyes standing beside him... From the verbal analysis, it was naturally this Nicholas' sister.
Just as Han Dong was off to the side, the situation was completely different from what he had imagined.
The young girl was much healthier compared to his own skinny body... However, also due to a lack of some vitamins, her skin was yellowish.
The age should be around fifteen.
No wavy blonde hair as expected.
Instead, the same short brown hair as Han Dong's as well as a pair of aquamarine eyes.
Wearing rather crude brass goggles, denim jeans, and a tool bag on her side, the young woman looked like a young artisan.
In addition, in the young girl's hands, she was holding a bag of fragrant food close to her heart... akin to a baby, held in her arms for fear of being snatched away by others.
"Come out for some air...because time is running out."
Han Dong was an associate professor at a local Italian university before he was born, and his fluent English is a basic necessity.
In addition, Han Dong's statement was interesting, deliberately mentioning 'time matters' and shaking his bracelet in front of the young girl.
Who knew that this action directly caused the young girl's eyes to moisten and hugged Han Dong from the side.
"Brother will never die... Nina believes that brother will be able to become a 'Returner' and come home alive."
Nina.
I know the sister's name.
However, Han Dong was still more concerned about the countdown and its mention of the 'Returner' noun than his sister's name.
The reason why this cowardly youth chose to commit suicide was related to the countdown nine times out of ten.
What on earth could force a person to give up on life in despair? Han Dong was curious.
"Well, I'll be back alive... Of course, I'm still a little nervous, so I'm just out for a walk. Nina, don't worry, it'll be fine."
Han Dong pretended to be as sunny and confident as possible, after all, a girl crying was a troublesome thing to do.
Nina moved her goggles up, wiping her wet eyes, and took out the food she had prepared for a long time
"Well! This is the fish and chips and cabbage sandwich that mom made for you, so go to the [Central Square] while brother eats it...and arrive as early as possible, atleast fifteen minutes early."
"Okay..."
Han Dong secretly made a note of the location of 'Central Square'.
It seemed that one had to get there before the clockwork device's countdown ended, or else something very scary would happen.
On the way to the square, Han Dong was too hungry to care too much about his image, and every bite was quite 'extravagant', containing at least a whole fried fish with fries.
If he feels it''s too oily, he takes a bite of a vegetable sandwich to help him eat.
Due to the country and family problems, this kind of food is sometimes not eaten once a year by the Valen family... That's why Nina holds on to the food as if it were a treasure.
However.....
Nina, who was following by the side, almost cried at Han Dong's reckless eating, along with the aroma emitted from the fish and chips.
Han Dong looked helpless.
He hadn't eaten a single bit of human food in seven years, and honestly, he wasn't willing to share.
Considering that this sibling relationship might come in handy in the future, as well as the need to get some information about the Holy City from Nina.
Only then did Han Dong share out a piece of undersized fried fish.
"I'm not hungry."
Seeing the piece of fried fish handed over by Han Dong, Nina said unconvincingly while licking off the saliva from the corner of her mouth.
After all, this could be Han Dong's last meal...Nina was well aware of how dangerous an event her brother was about to go through.
"Take it, I'm full."
"...Okay, thanks brother."
As soon as Nina took the fish pieces, it seemed as if she wanted to follow Han Dong's example and put the entire piece of fried fish into her mouth...but there was a feeling that it was too extravagant, so she slowly bit into it one bite at a time.
With every bite, she would steal an embarrassed glance at Han Dong.
........
After spending nearly half an hour on a quick walk, [Central Square] finally arrived.
Giant.
Han Dong had never seen a plaza as giant as this.
And there were over ten thousand people gathered inside.
At a glance, at least half a dozen people were wearing wind-up bracelets on their wrists similar to Han Dong's... Moreover, most of them belonged to teenagers.
This explained why Han Dong couldn't see any teenagers in the civilian buildings.
"20 minutes left... Why do I have a bad feeling about it. A large sacrifice scene?!"
Han Dong's first thought was the sacrifice ceremony.
However, on second thought it wasn't very likely...sacrificing thousands of teenagers at once to symbolize the future power of the country, unless this country didn't want to continue.
Moreover, in his sister Nina's statement, he wasn't necessarily going to die, just the probability of death was high.
"Nina, just send it here! Don't worry, I'll be back alive."
"Well, whether you're 'brother' or not, I'll be waiting for you."
This statement surprised Han Dong a bit.
Nina, who had already run away, stood outside the arena and threw up her tongue, waving goodbye to him.
At the same time.
A familiar sound of metallic hoofbeats was heard.
However, this time, it wasn't a carriage, but a group of black-clothed knights riding mechanical horses.
A total of thirty people.
Han Dong had a sneaking feeling that the aura emitted by these thirty people could overpower the tens of thousands of civilians gathered in the square.
"The Black Rose Knights!!!"
The people in the square could not help but shout out this noble and awe-inspiring name.
They were the backbone of this country, they were the true hope for the survival of mankind.
The "Black Rose Badge" was their identity symbol.
The black iron armor worn by them looked heavy, but it was actually light and fit well.
The knights did not wear helmets, but instead wore a black steel mask that incorporated the element of 'goggles'.
This also made Han Dong curious, as the previous line of people on the carriage were also wearing similar goggles.
It seemed that the item 'goggles' had its own special meaning in this world... not simply applied in industry, but also needed to be used when dealing with 'foreign objects'.
As for their mounts, they all used the finest pure-blooded black horses.
Unlike the carriages that Han Dong had seen before, these black horses retained strong leg muscles to a certain extent, using an embedded advanced modification to strengthen the horses' mobility.
"These riders shouldn't belong to ordinary people, it's better to keep a low profile."
Han Dong tried to blend in with the high density of personnel on the side as much as possible, keeping his presence to a minimum.
Thirty Black Knights stood at equal intervals around the perimeter of the square, completely blocking it off.
The lead black knight drew out the ornate sword at its waist, visible as a white coldness wrapped around its surface.
The sword blade pointed straight at the night sky.
The majestic sound emitted from the lower end of the mask covered the entire square.
"The ceremony is about to begin... all non-'selected' persons are to leave the arena quickly!"
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