Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 640: Chapter 639 Tracing the Footprints of the Elf

After his conversation with Zhenna, Fang Zheng had decided on his next target, which was to find other elves and make contact with them. His first target was to be Nightmare.

”Are, are we really going to find her, Mr. Fang Zheng?”

Looking at Fang Zheng beside her, Yoshino asked anxiously.

”Didn’t Miss Zhenna say that elf has killed many people?”

”Even so, we still don’t know why she did all of this, Yoshino.”

While swiftly browsing through the information on the screen before him, Fang Zheng quietly responded.

”You must understand, murder initially doesn’t seem like a good thing, but we also need to consider the targets. All we currently know from Zhenna is that the elf didn’t use spatial tremors, but rather killed over ten thousand humans with her own hands. Apart from that, we know nothing. As far as we can tell, the impact of spatial tremors is widespread and powerful. Logically, using spatial tremors to annihilate humans would be a conveniently effective method. Yet, that elf didn’t use such a method and chose to kill with her own power. The reason for this remains unknown, and furthermore, there’s another question.”

”What question?”

”If that elf is truly a mass murderer, then why didn’t she target magicians? Compared to ordinary people, magicians would seem to have the highest probability of conflict with elves. However, according to Zhenna, the elf seems to have mostly killed common folk and rarely attacked magicians. Not only that, although the number of people she killed seems large, it hasn’t caused much of an uproar.”

Searching through the information on the internet, Fang Zheng quickly identified the issue.

Ten thousand is not a small number. Of course, Fang Zheng did not doubt that elves have such capability; in fact, even Yoshino possesses such power. If she were to summon an Angel and unleash a Barrier, she could freeze an entire city and turn everyone within it to ice sculptures. Judging from Yoshino’s abilities, the power of other elves must not be too far off.

But in such a case, there are problems as well.

If we assume that the opponent killed ten thousand ordinary people at once, then this kind of large-scale disaster simply cannot be covered up. The government could at most rationalize it as a result of spatial tremors or other pretexts. However, Fang Zheng has searched through recent years’ data and has found no reports of spatial tremors or natural disasters with casualties over a hundred.

This implies that the elf does not kill many at a time, raising a second question, which is the basis for the elf’s murders. If it were indiscriminate slaughter, such results wouldn’t occur. Especially with the power of the elves, annihilating a group of ordinary people would just take moments.

In such cases, where the number of victims in a single event is quite limited, it can only mean that the elf likely chooses her targets selectively.

Next, if one can find information about the victims and identify their commonalities, judgments about the elf’s personality and motives should be possible.

”Uuu... why does this feel so complicated... I don’t understand at all...”

”It may be too complicated for Yoshino.”

Looking at the girl with her head bowed in deep thought, Fang Zheng smiled and reached out to pat her on the head.

”However, this isn’t something Yoshino needs to worry about. Just continue being yourself, that’s good enough. These issues aren’t suitable for you to face; leave them to me.”

This was Fang Zheng’s first reason, and his other reason for not trusting Zhenna was that... Zhenna was just a child.

Though Zhenna seemed competent and capable from her demeanor, she was just a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child. At this age, kids are the easiest to deceive. Otherwise, why aren’t there university students becoming Magical Girls? That’s because after high school graduation, one’s worldview and values are basically settled, and they’re no longer swayed by such nebulous slogans of peace, justice, love, and dreams to risk their lives as they would have in their childhood.

Zhenna was still at that naive, pure-hearted, and upright age. From his previous conversation with her, Fang Zheng had realized that in Zhenna’s thought process, it was a simple logic that went like this: ”Spatial tremors pose a great danger to humans” → ”Spatial tremors are caused by elves” → ”Elves pose a great danger to humans” → ”Therefore, we must eliminate elves to protect humans.”

For such an innocent girl, there might be hidden truths that DEM Corporation wouldn’t reveal to her.

As Fang Zheng pondered, he had once again easily infiltrated DEM’s database and found the information on ”Nightmare.” Sure enough, he quickly came across the list of victims within the data—Hmm, it’s a long list indeed, quite a shocking sight to behold. Certainly, if one were an ordinary person, merely seeing such a long list would probably lead them to believe that this elf must be some sort of mass-murdering killer.

Next, it was time to search for commonalities among the victims...

”Woo...!!!”

Just then, suddenly, a rapid alarm blared, and shortly after, Fang Zheng and Yoshino saw the people around them quickly running towards a nearby building. They swiftly boarded the elevator, and soon enough, in front of Fang Zheng, iron gates of the buildings dropped down, sealing off the surrounding structures.

”Hey! What are you doing?!”

At this moment, a passerby who was dashing toward a shelter also shouted at Fang Zheng and Yoshino from not far away.

”A spatial quake is coming! Hurry to the shelter!”

While shouting, the passerby promptly rushed into a shelter nearby.

Hearing his shout, Fang Zheng exchanged looks with Yoshino.

Is this a spatial quake alarm?

Looking at how well-trained everyone around seemed to be, as if this was a routine for them, Fang Zheng finally understood why no one was visible in the vicinity after every Present Realm event... It seemed the disaster drills were well-executed in this world.

But...

”Yoshino, do you feel any spatial fluctuations?”

”No...”

In response to Fang Zheng’s question, Yoshino shook her head. As an elf, Yoshino was now somewhat capable of sensing the spatial fluctuations generated by collisions between the Present Realm and the Borderland. But this time, Yoshino appeared not to have detected any signs of an imminent spatial quake.

”Neither do I...”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng activated his personal terminal and performed a scan of the surroundings—The spatial frequency seemed normal; there were no issues, right?

Could it be a false alarm?

As Fang Zheng reflected upon this, suddenly, a whistling sound came from the distance. Looking up, Fang Zheng saw dozens of fully armed magicians flying quickly through the sky, heading in the direction of the commotion. Not long after, a barrage of gunfire and explosions followed in swift succession.

It looked like a battle was underway nearby, and given that one of the parties was magicians, the other party must be elves, presumably.

”Yoshino.”

With this thought, Fang Zheng quickly made a decision.

”You hide here; I’m going to check out the situation.”