Empire Building With Infinite Warehouse-Chapter 59: Mission

The Hunter Association’s private dining hall on the top floor felt like stepping into a parallel dimension.

After surviving the ruined streets of District 9, the room was different with polished marble floors stretched beneath high ceilings with crystal lighting.

Julien pushed through the heavy double doors and paused.

He stood there for a long moment, just taking it all in. Not just the ridiculous wealth of the room, but the simple fact that he could actually see it.

The grey void was gone because the system’s penalty had been lifted from his optic nerves.

He scanned the long, elegant tables until he spotted them.

Chris and Alice were sitting in a quiet corner near the floor-to-ceiling windows.

They did not look like two people whose team leader was currently locked in a room negotiating for his life with a terrifying Guild boss, but two starving survivors who had just discovered an unlimited, high-end buffet.

Julien walked over, navigating around the expensive, high-backed chairs without bumping into a single piece of furniture.

He pulled out a seat directly across from Chris and sat down, grabbing a tall glass of cold orange juice from the centre of the table.

Chris paused, a forkful of rare steak halfway to his mouth. The big man looked at Julien’s eyes.

"Dude," Chris said, slowly lowering his fork to the plate.

"Did you develop a new echolocation power, or are you just guessing where the furniture is?"

Julien took a long, deliberate sip of the juice.

The sweet, cold taste was a shock to his system after hours of choking on dust.

"My pupils are back. I can see."

"Holy shit," Chris leaned forward, his eyes wide.

"Did she cure you? Wait, what about the massive penalty debt? Did you seduce her in some way?"

Julien almost choked on his drink.

He coughed, slamming the glass down on the table.

The mere thought of trying to romance the woman who had casually threatened to crush his soul in a white room sent a shiver down his spine.

"No, Chris, I did not seduce the terrifying Guild boss who can manipulate force and read minds," Julien shot back, wiping his mouth.

"She cleared my debt on the Association’s dime."

"Just like that?" Chris asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"No. We have a mission to do." Julien waved a hand, dismissing the topic for a moment as his eyes tracked down to his friend’s arm.

The blood-soaked rag was gone.

In its place was a clean, tightly wrapped white bandage.

There was no red seeping through the fabric.

Julien pointed at it.

"How did you heal so fast?"

"The healers here are top-tier, man," Chris grinned, flexing his thick fingers to demonstrate his regained mobility.

"A guy walked in, chanted a few glowing runes over my arm, and the torn muscles just knitted themselves back together. It still aches, a deep ache right down to the bone, but I can swing a sword again."

"Good," Julien nodded, turning his attention to the pale, ethereal woman sitting next to Chris.

Alice had a plate piled high with pastries, chicken legs, and fresh fruit. Despite being a soul entity, she was currently shoving a massive bite of buttered bread into her mouth, chewing with intense dedication.

"How are you holding up, Alice?" Julien asked.

"Bhsuwunsn," she gibberished, her cheeks puffed out like a squirrel, crumbs falling onto her lap.

"Yeah, good to know," Julien nodded seriously, acting as if he perfectly understood the breakdown she had just delivered.

"Eat up. We will meet up with Kiara soon and talk strategy."

Chris grabbed a linen napkin, wiping grease from his mouth and standing up.

"Give me a minute. I need to hit the restroom."

Julien watched the heavy fighter walk away.

He must have eaten half a cow, Julien thought, pulling a plate of food toward himself.

Ten minutes passed.

Julien was busy cleaning a plate of actual, non-charred food when steady footsteps approached their table.

He looked up, expecting Chris, but he froze with a piece of chicken halfway to his mouth.

A guy with neatly trimmed blonde hair and a smooth, cleanly shaven jawline stood there.

He was wearing Chris’s heavy armour, but the rugged, terrifying aesthetic was gone.

Without the wild facial hair and dirt, he looked like a handsome college student who had accidentally stumbled into a high-fantasy cosplay convention.

Alice stopped chewing.

A piece of bread slipped out of her open mouth and hit her plate with a soft thud.

"What?" Chris asked, dropping back into his chair and looking between their staring faces.

"Why did you abandon your identity?" Alice asked, her voice filled with a profound, genuine sense of betrayal.

Julien stared at the stranger sitting across from him. "You shaved the beard and your hair."

Chris rolled his eyes, picking his fork back up and stabbing a piece of potato.

"Did you guys really think I was from some ancient, proud Viking lineage this whole time?"

"Yes!" Alice answered, her eyes wide.

Chris laughed, a sound that echoed in the quiet dining hall.

Before Chris could answer, the heavy double doors to the dining hall opened again.

Blaze walked in. The veteran hunter’s scorch-marked gear had been repaired and polished, and the dirt had been washed from his face, but the expression he wore ruined the relaxed, joking mood of the table.

Blaze pulled out a chair at the head of the table.

His sharp eyes swept over the group, pausing for a brief, confused second on Chris’s clean-shaven face before snapping to Julien.

"I see your vision is back," Blaze said, resting his massive forearms on the table.

"I assume you know the details of your new mission?"

Julien pushed his empty plate away, leaning forward.

The casual merchant banter evaporated, replaced by the reality of the apocalypse.

"Yeah. We raid the Red Gate in this district right after the second wave breaks. But I have a query."

"Ask."

"Why aren’t you coming with us?" Julien asked, meeting the veteran’s hardened gaze.

"It would be a lot easier if we had a strong hunter backing us up. If Gina wants this Red Gate cleared so badly, sending her best asset makes logistical sense."

Blaze didn’t answer right away.

He reached out, grabbing a green apple from a silver bowl in the centre of the table. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"I was assigned a different mission," Blaze finally replied, his voice low and tight.

"A mission more important than a Red Gate forming in the middle of District 5?" Chris asked, his playful demeanour entirely gone.

"There has been no contact from the Association branch on the eastern island," Blaze explained, tossing the apple back into the bowl.

It rattled against the silver.

"The island where the first red Gate opened. The communication lines went dead three hours ago, so I am being deployed there to investigate the silence."

"Didn’t you say an elite team was already sent there the moment that gate opened?" Julien pressed.

"Yeah," Blaze said.

He stopped talking, his eyes darting away from the table, looking out toward the massive windows and the dark sky beyond.

"And?" Julien asked, leaning closer.

Blaze looked back at them, the heavy weight of the unknown settling over his broad shoulders.

"No one returned."