The rich second-generation Alpha in the sports car finished shouting at the top of his lungs, but before the drivers of the two cars in front could react, the sound of cars honking came intermittently from more than ten meters away.
"What's going on!" The Alpha driving the sports car turned around and glared, his eyes full of hypocrisy. "Why are you yelling? Can't you see there's a traffic jam ahead?"
The window on Erica's side was still open. The people in Azathoth's car all had good hearing. Nixon Evelyn said to his colleague Mike, "There are quite a few people here. It seems we're not the only ones who received invitations."
"Invitation?"
Igor repeated the term somewhat puzzledly.
Hugo rolled down the car window again, fully utilizing his young age and good looks, squinting his eyes and smiling adorably: "Big brother, can I see your invitation?"
Although the request was a bit abrupt, Mike had always been fond of children, and it was he who initiated the conversation with Hugo. So after the black-haired, red-eyed little boy made his cute request, the driver agreed without hesitation, directing Nixon, "It's inconvenient for me to hold the steering wheel. Please help me pass the invitation to him."
Nixon rolled his eyes but didn't object, handing the paper over. He saw the little boy in the next car politely thank him and then hand the invitation directly to the person sitting in the front seat.
Is he an elder in the family?
But why didn’t you open the car window to talk, and instead let the children come over to communicate?
The question only flashed through his mind for a moment. There were many eccentrics in the universe, and as a news commentator, Nixon had dealt with what ordinary people would call eccentrics many times. He was always tolerant of them, as long as it didn't harm the interests of others.
The man in the passenger seat, wearing a large hood that covered most of his/her face, making one wonder how he/she could see the road clearly, said something to the boy in the back seat.
Another thin but smart-looking Omega girl also came over to take a look.
There was nothing special about the invitation. It was all machine-printed and the content was very simple:
Dear Mr./Ms. xxx:
It is our honor to invite you to watch the magic show to be held at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon at S264832.51 South Latitude, E1320248.66 East Longitude.
We warmly welcome you to visit us.
In order to show the sincerity of the organizer, we have attached a small gift prepared for you.
We hope you will bring your family and friends to enjoy this grand event and sincerely wish you a safe journey.
Best regards,
Sincerely presented by the Chief Magician of the Watchtower Magic Group."
"Sounds like a liar," Azathoth commented. "Where are the longitude and latitude marked on it?"
"Logically, it's not located anywhere," Igor said with a strange tone. "Few people use this ancient counting method these days, but some early geography textbooks still teach how to convert the longitude and latitude of individual planets..." He silently calculated for a moment. "The exact location is hard to pinpoint, but it should be near Keminting Town."
As they were talking, their car accelerated and changed lanes, driving in front of Nixon and Mike, allowing others to pass in the side lane.
After this group of people had driven away, the two cars, which were not in a hurry to move forward, parked side by side again. Hugo handed the invitation back and asked again, "What gifts did you receive?"
"I don't know why I'm any different from you guys." Mike held the steering wheel with his left hand and threw a silver coin over with his right hand.
He threw it accurately, so even if Hugo missed it, it wouldn't fall out of the car window. However, the android caught it precisely before it hit the ground and was surprised to find that this commemorative coin, only half the size of a palm, was much heavier than he had imagined.
"It seems the little gift you received is something else?" Nixon pointed at its surprised expression and said, "You can press the center of the silver coin."
In fact, before he opened his mouth to speak, Hugo and Erica had almost discovered the secret of this "little toy".
As Nixon finished speaking, Hugo had already stroked the pattern on the silver coin, roughly figuring out its structure. Then he gently pressed the slightly raised part in the center, and instantly the sound of gears moving, friction, and mechanical operation echoed from within the coin.
Then, with a click, the surface of one side of the coin split into four pieces, separating like petals in four different directions and then retracting into the bottom of the coin, forming a hollow cylinder several times smaller than the previous one. After this transformation, the inner wall of the cylinder rotated and slowly opened like a stage curtain. A wooden figure, no bigger than a pinky fingernail, with a retractable rod attached to its back, rotated continuously on a series of ascending platforms.
Its production is so exquisite that it is amazing. The facial features of the little man are clear and distinct, and his mouth even opens and closes, dancing to the music coming from below the stage.
"Music box?" Erica quickly understood.
Nixon nodded. "But it's definitely not cheap. I thought the magic troupe gave this silver coin as a small gift with each invitation—that's why everyone was attracted to it."
Because of the exquisitely designed and expensive gifts attached, the advertising flyers that only fools would believe suddenly became high-end, and even the strange latitude and longitude information was seen as an interesting puzzle game set up by advertisers.
Igor replied calmly, "We didn't receive an invitation. We just happened to choose to travel here today."
This was the first time he spoke.
Because when he met the human-insect hybrid girl Kunna before, he was inevitably seen by passers-by on the street. Hugo relied on the fact that he could change his face at any time and rarely covered his face, so this time Igor adopted the same disguise as last time in the spirit of not wasting time.
That is, a handsome uncle with gray hair, blue eyes, elegant demeanor and profound knowledge.
The only possible problem is that in the past, when people saw them going out in groups, they would naturally think that it was a young couple with their children or siblings, but now it is easy to think of it as a single father with three children...
Although it was logical that Igor's current appearance shouldn't have given birth to a son as old as Azathoth, the world is full of wonders, so perhaps he just took good care of himself? Besides, Azathoth's face couldn't be seen, so just listening to his voice shouldn't make him over 25 years old.
Nixon was no exception and made some speculations about the complex relationships between the groups.
However, his gossiping spirit was limited, and he hadn't noticed any signs of child trafficking, so he naturally ignored the question and responded, "I see. Are you interested in visiting this place?"
Igor said it simply and looked very serious: "It depends on what the children think."
He looks like a serious and family-oriented man. Perhaps most Betas who are successful in their careers and have happy families have this kind of personality.
——Nixon selectively ignored his colleague Mike.
He was about to say something when his attention was suddenly drawn to Erica, who was sitting on the other side of Hugo: "Wait a minute, is that little girl..."
Erica quickly replied, "I'm so sorry I bumped into you at the park earlier."
Humans actually have a powerful ability to fill in the gaps in their memories.
Originally, Azathoth and his men went to the Happy Cemetery where Kunna was to exchange information that day, leaving Erica in the park. The people who almost ran into Nixon were actually a group of children of the same age that Erica met temporarily while playing.
But because it was Erica who apologized to Nixon at the time, and she deliberately mixed herself up with the other children, Nixon subconsciously regarded them as a fixed group. Even the familiar feeling of "I seemed to have heard her voice somewhere" was attributed to the impression left by that day.
——It had been a while since he had carefully watched the live video of the cult incident in Port Alpre. If he went back to watch it again now, he would immediately realize the source of Erica's voice.
At this moment, Nixon simply said: "It doesn't matter, you have already apologized."
Hugo blinked and said, "Let's go to the place mentioned in the invitation. It seems to be very interesting."
It is not worried about accidents at all, because the team's current structure can provide 360-degree defense against attacks from hackers, high-tech weapons, cold weapons, mysticism and other natural disasters. The only thing that can pose a threat to it is the situation where energy is exhausted and cannot be replenished.
"Let's go and see it!" Mike invited. "Isn't it a good idea to take the kids to see a magic show?"
Other people's suggestions were secondary. Igor said, "Sir, are you interested?"
"Let's go, there's still an hour until three o'clock in the afternoon." Azathoth nodded indifferently.
Anyway, we are out for fun, so it doesn't matter where we go.
"Then we lead the way!" Mike whistled and sped up.
Igor followed them with some emotion in his heart.
Azathoth vaguely sensed his emotions: "You don't want to see them?"
"No." Igor denied immediately, "I just didn't expect to meet old friends in this way."
In fact, he also considered that if Nixon was alone, he could go up and say hello in his true appearance and give his friend a hug after a long time.
But then I thought... no matter how loyal the friendship is, we should not bring endless troubles to each other for the sake of momentary happiness.
Igor is very self-aware. In the current situation, the best way to protect his past relatives and friends is to completely cut off contact with them.
But he didn't know that Azathoth had already met Nixon in his dream.
Now the portrait of the god is tucked away in the compartment of Nixon's wallet, and he treasures it more than a photo of his partner...even though he's single and loves to write fishing articles, and he also uses his secondary account to criticize those stupid commentators who agree with him in the comments, so he doesn't deserve to have a partner.
Azathoth was about to say something else when a scream suddenly came from the front, piercing the silent fog.
Igor's attention was instantly diverted.
Although the environment was originally shrouded in fog but one could still vaguely feel that it was daytime, on this road that was circled by the Kemingting Town Government and was less than one kilometer away from the fog-free urban area, gray-white clouds appeared in the sky, just like a downburst caused by a thunderstorm, swallowing up the vehicles in front in the blink of an eye!
The scene before him was both spectacular and rare, like a tornado approaching. Igor reflexively slammed on the brakes, but there was no time to turn around.
What's more, the vehicle of Nixon and his colleague Mike was buried in the clouds and disappeared dozens of meters ahead of them.
Hugo, who was sitting in the back seat of the car, said quickly, "The address on the invitation is right in front of that cloud."
Igor turned his head and glanced at Azathoth with understanding.
The god nodded at him.
"Erica, close the window." Igor instructed calmly, then skillfully started the engine and stepped on the accelerator.
——They rushed into the fog.
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