My Cellular Prison

Chapter 6 The Festival Square

"Brother, where have you been? Why don't you go home?"

　　Just as Han Dong quickly walked out by the dark alley and was just about to ask passersby about everything ...... a pleasant soft girl's voice came from beside him.

　　Han Dong's brain reacted extremely fast.

　　Already in his mind, he conceived a cute and adorable blonde girl in a lace puffy dress standing next to him ...... analyzing from the words, it was naturally this Nicholas' sister.

　　Just as Han Dong inclined his head, the situation was very different from what he had imagined.

　　The young girl looked a lot healthier compared to her own thin body ...... however, again, her skin was yellowish due to a partial lack of vitamins.

　　The age must have been in the mid to late fifties.

　　There is no imaginary wavy blonde hair.

　　Instead, it was the same short brown hair as Han Dong as well as a pair of aquamarine eye pupils.

　　Wearing rather crude copper goggles, denim trousers and a tool bag on her side, the young girl looked like a young craftsman.

　　In addition, a bag of fragrant food ...... was clutched in the young girl's hand like a treasure for fear of being snatched away by others.

　　"Come out to get some air ...... because there is not much time left."

　　Han Dong was an associate professor in his native Italian university before he was born, and a fluent English is an everyday basis.

　　In addition, Han Dong's statement was interesting, deliberately mentioning the 'time issue' and waving the bracelet in front of the young girl.

　　Who knows, 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 become a 'returner' and come home alive."

　　Nina.

　　My sister's name was known.

　　However, Han Dong was still more concerned about the countdown and its mention of the term 'returner' than his sister's name.

　　The reason why this cowardly youth had chosen to commit suicide was nine times out of ten related to the countdown.

　　What exactly could drive a person to despair and give up on life? Han Dong was curious.

　　"Well, I'll be back alive ...... of course, still a bit nervous, that's why I came out to take a break. Nina don't worry about it, it'll be fine."

　　Han Dong pretended to be as sunny & confident as possible, after all, a girl crying is a very troublesome thing.

　　Nina moved her goggles up, wiped her wet eyes and brought out the food she had prepared for a long time.

　　"Mmm! Here's some fish and chips and coleslaw sandwiches mum made for you, eat while you go to [Festival Square] ...... Be there fifteen minutes early if possible."

　　"Okay ......"

　　Han Dong secretly made a note of the location 'Festival Square'.

　　It seemed that he had to get there before the countdown of the clockwork device ended, or else something very horrible 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 and served with fries.

　　If he felt too heavy on the oil, he took a bite of his vegetable sandwich to make up for it.

　　Due to the country and the family's circumstances, such food is sometimes not eaten once a year for the Valen family ...... which is why Nina clutches the food like a treasure the whole time.

　　However ......

　　Nina, who was following along, was almost on the verge of crying from Han Dong's reckless eating, combined with the aroma emanating from the fish and chips.

　　Han Dong had a helpless face.

　　He hadn't eaten a morsel of human food in seven years, and to be honest, he wasn't willing to share.

　　Considering that this brother-sister relationship might come in handy in the future, he also needed to get some information about the Holy City from Nina's mouth.

　　Only then did Han Dong share out a piece of fried fish that was on the small side.

　　"I'm not hungry."

　　Seeing the piece of fried fish handed over by Han Dong, Nina said unconvincingly while licking the saliva off the corner of her mouth.

　　After all, this might be Han Dong's last meal ...... Nina knew very well how dangerous an event her brother was about to experience.

　　"Take it, I'm full."

　　"...... Okay, thanks brother."

　　As soon as Nina took the fish pieces, she seemed to want to follow Han Dong's example and put the whole piece of fried fish all into her mouth ...... but there felt too extravagant, so she bit into it slowly one bite at a time.

　　Every time she took a bite, she would steal a glance at Han Dong in embarrassment.

　　......

　　After spending nearly half an hour on a quick walk, [Festival Square] finally arrived.

　　Giant.

　　Han Dong had never seen a square as huge as this before.

　　And there were over 10,000 people gathered inside.

　　At a glance, at least half of the people were wearing clockwork bracelets similar to Han Dong's ...... wrists and most of them belonged to teenagers.

　　This explained why Han Dong could not see any teenagers in the civilian building.

　　"20 minutes left ...... Why do I have an ominous feeling. A large sacrifice site?!"

　　The first thing that came to Han Dong's mind was the sacrifice ceremony.

　　However, thinking about it carefully it was not very likely ...... to sacrifice thousands of teenagers who symbolized the future power of the country at once, unless the country was not wanting to continue.

　　Besides, in his sister Nina's words, 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 took Han Dong a little by surprise.

　　Nina, who had already run away, stood outside the field and spat out her tongue, waving goodbye to him.

　　Meanwhile.

　　A familiar sound of metallic horse hooves came.

　　However, this time it was not a horse-drawn carriage, but a group of black-clad knights riding mechanical war horses.

　　There were thirty of them in total.

　　Han Dong had a vague feeling that the Qi emanating from these thirty people could overpower the tens of thousands of civilians gathered within the square.

　　"The Black Rose Knights!!!"

　　The people within the square could not help but shout out this noble and awe-inspiring name.

　　They are the backbone of this country, they are the true hope for the survival of humanity.

　　They are the true hope for the survival of mankind. The "Black Rose Breastplate" is a symbol of their status.

　　The black iron armour that they wear may look heavy, but it is light and well-fitting.

　　The knights did not wear helmets, but instead wore a black steel mask that incorporated the elements of 'goggles'.

　　This also made Han Dong curious, as the group of people on the carriage before were all wearing similar goggles.

　　It seemed that the prop of 'goggles' had its own special significance in this world ...... not just simply applied to industry, but also needed to be used when dealing with 'foreign objects'.

　　As for their mounts, they all use the finest thoroughbred black horses.

　　Unlike the carriages Lu Ran had seen before, these black horses retained their strong leg muscles to a certain extent, using in-built advanced modifications to strengthen the horses' mobility.

　　"These riders should not belong to ordinary people, it's better to keep a low profile."

　　Han Dong mingled in places with a high density of people as much as possible to minimise his presence.

　　Thirty Black Knights surrounded the perimeter of the square, standing at equal spacing, blocking it off completely.

　　One of the Black Knights at the head drew out the magnificent sword at his waist, and a white chill was visible wrapped around its surface.

　　The blade pointed straight up into the night sky.

　　A majestic sound emanated from the lower end of the mask, covering the entire square.

　　"The ceremony is about to begin ...... All non-'selected' personnel leave the grounds quickly!"