Lord of Prayer-Chapter 200 - 153: Pursuit Compass (2)

Zhou Chen and Old Yang entered through the south gate, stepping first into a sea of pink tulips. In the distance stood several windmills painted a peachy-pink, which, set against the floral sea, lent the scene an even more romantic air. At dusk, this romantic, aesthetic beauty would become dreamlike and fantastical, like a scene from a fairy tale. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

This area was also the most popular spot for couples to take photos. A single glance revealed amorous men and women embracing everywhere.

"All the gardens in Hong City are designed with a specific theme in mind. Come look at the map," Old Yang said, beckoning to Zhou Chen from in front of an information board.

Zhou Chen walked over and saw that the entire park was constructed in the shape of a tulip—not including the stem, just the blossom.

"The garden is shaped like a tulip. Three kilometers to the east, there's a rose manor shaped like a rose. The other flower-sea parks are the same. It's considered one of the major highlights of Hong City's scenic areas," Old Yang explained.

"This pattern..." Zhou Chen's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Looks familiar, right? It's almost identical to the pattern on the wax seal. The letter writer probably wanted you to come here," Old Yang said.

Zhou Chen nodded. "Let's look around first."

The two of them began to stroll along the paths of the Tulip Garden. The night grew deeper, and by the time they had slowly wandered through the entire garden, it was already three in the morning. Yet, the stream of tourists was still endless.

"Find any clues?" Zhou Chen asked.

"Along the way, I saw seventy-four gorgeous girls and thirty-eight with great figures. Among them, the Elf lady we met thirty minutes ago and the hot South American supermodel from an hour ago both get a 9.5 in my personal opinion. It's a tie. Give me ten minutes, and I'm confident I could land that hot South American supermodel. The Elf, on the other hand, would be tough. The Elves have always been a rather conservative people," Old Yang stated matter-of-factly.

"...That's you, all right."

Old Yang shrugged. "This place seems perfectly normal. At least, nothing strikes me as problematic."

Zhou Chen pinched his chin. He hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary either. 'You think there might be some ancient treasure buried under here? Or maybe this field of flowers is actually made of man-eating, blood-drinking demon flowers, and a few tourists mysteriously vanish every year, devoured completely. Maybe they can even use Spirit Manipulation to turn humans into puppet gardeners, allowing them to thrive right under our noses.'

"You've got quite the imagination," Old Yang said with a helpless shrug. "Unfortunately, everything here is normal. None of those theories apply."

Zhou Chen scratched his head, a little frustrated. In that case, he had only one option left.

'Time to use a cheat!'

'I wish to find the letter writer!'

'I wish to find any leads the letter writer might have left behind!'

Zhou Chen made two wishes in his mind. By his intent, "the letter writer" referred not to the young girl who had physically transcribed the letter, but to the elderly man in the letter who claimed to be on the verge of death.

The few stars that had accumulated in the Wish Bottle vanished in an instant. Zhou Chen also sensed that a drop of water from the Wishing Fountain had been consumed. He couldn't help but feel a bit stunned. 'Such a high cost?'

In his Spiritual World, a map of Hong City formed, and a single cursor appeared.

'Just one?'

Zhou Chen pondered for a moment. Two wishes had resulted in only one prompt, which meant either one of the wishes had no corresponding result, or the results of the two wishes overlapped.

"The location is still in the Tulip Garden, but it's a place we haven't been... Tsk, it's so far. It'll take us hours to walk there."

They had currently returned to the garden's south gate, but the cursor was pointing to a location at the north gate, clear across the enormous garden.

"Let's walk another lap. If we still don't find any clues, we'll find a place to rest," Zhou Chen said.

"I'm getting a little hungry. Want to grab a bite first?" Old Yang rubbed his stomach, his gaze shifting to a snack stand by the road.

Zhou Chen nodded. He was a little hungry, too.

"Savory crepes, egg-filled flatbreads, dessert crepes... you know what, just give me one of everything. Two extra eggs in the savory crepe, two sausages in the egg-filled flatbread, and go heavy on the cilantro and seasoning," Old Yang declared magnanimously to the vendor. Now that he had money, he had to order his meals with two sausages and two eggs!

Zhou Chen ordered the exact same thing. They found a spot in the rest area and sat down to enjoy their expensive park snacks.

Suddenly, Old Yang's expression grew inexplicably serious. Chewing on his egg-filled flatbread, he muttered in a low, muffled voice, "They're quick on the scent..."

Zhou Chen's eyes narrowed, but he continued eating his savory crepe without a change in expression. He realized Old Yang meant that people from Omega had found them.

But they had worn disguises, covered their tracks, and even swapped their backpacks for inconspicuous ones. How did Omega manage to find them in this vast sea of people?

After eating calmly for a moment, Old Yang said abruptly, "They're gone. Didn't spot us. It was probably just a scout. Eat up. We'll do one more lap and then leave. They must have used some kind of Artifact to get a general fix on our location."

A thought struck Zhou Chen, and he secretly made a wish: 'I wish to block any and all tracking and locating abilities aimed at me and Old Yang.'

·

In a certain room, Miss A sat on a sofa, drinking a beer, eating barbecue, and smoking a cigarette. Spread open on the coffee table was a map of Hong City, on top of which sat a compass.

This was a Forbidden Object known as the "Pursuit Compass." As long as the blood or body tissue of a deceased person was placed inside it, it could track the general location of the killer, provided the victim's time of death was no more than four hours ago.

The side effect was that the user would become "directionally challenged" for one hour, unable to tell north from south, east from west, and would even get lost in familiar places.

The longer it was used, the more severe the cost. If used for more than an hour, it would inflict a "mental confusion" debuff on the user.

Under this debuff, the user's logic would become chaotic. They might intend to go left but inexplicably turn right, want to lie down but start running, or try to sit but end up prostrate on the floor...

At that moment, the C-268 Pursuit Compass began to spin rapidly without any warning, as if its magnetic field was being interfered with. The malfunctioning needle pointed intermittently at several locations on the Hong City map. A short while later, the Pursuit Compass stopped pointing at any location at all; its needle just spun wildly, refusing to stop.

"The Pursuit Compass's Ability is being interfered with. These two are no simpletons..." Miss A stubbed out her cigarette and canceled the Pursuit Compass's Ability. "The last place the compass pointed was Tulip Park," she said calmly. "Send a few more people over there. The rest of you, check the surveillance footage."

"Yes, ma'am!" came the reply through her earpiece.

·

To avoid attracting attention, Zhou Chen and Old Yang walked at a normal pace, taking nearly two hours to get from the south gate of the Tulip Garden to the north gate.

By now, the light of dawn was appearing on the horizon. The sea of multi-colored tulips basked in the sunlight—the fiery reds, snowy whites, dawn-cloud pinks, and brilliant golds. Clusters of vibrant tulips bloomed one next to another, and the morning dew refracted the sunlight, making them seem to glow with a dazzling, enchanting light.

The splendid tulips were full of life, standing tall and graceful. They danced in the morning breeze, displaying a nimble vitality. The air was filled with a captivating fragrance that refreshed the spirit. Tourists gasped in awe, capturing the beautiful scenery with their cameras.

Zhou Chen led Old Yang to the location indicated by the cursor.

This was the periphery of the Tulip Garden. Before them was a small hill, and the path leading out was blocked by a high wall. The only entrance was a locked iron gate bearing a sign that read "No Unauthorized Entry." If one focused, they could also sense an Alchemy Matrix had been set up here.

"This place is the back hill of the Li's Flowers Group's local branch. Are you sure you want to go in?" Old Yang said.