The party fell into a quiet contemplation after hearing Old Charlie's explanation. Old Charlie continued, "Raising funds is probably just a small part of the reason. The main reason for selling those expensive tickets is to tie the world's richest people to this Noah's Ark plan. With them on board, they'll surely use their network, manpower, material resources, and technology to weave a large information network to keep the news of the end of the world from the public! With the blockade network constructed by the government as the core and the network constructed by the billionaires as support, they can keep the risk of the secret leaking to a minimum."
Mogensha nodded. "If that's the case, the Cullen family probably can't get on board even with enough money. To some extent, money is just a number. They don't have enough influence in other aspects to qualify."
Sheyan added, "The ark tickets won't be sold like concert tickets; it's impossible to buy one just by making a call. The ark builders won't call the billionaires one by one to ask them if they want tickets either."
"I'm guessing that the people who are allowed to buy tickets must have been selected after a series of complicated screening processes. They'll be notified directly with the truth told to them and forced to buy the tickets. At most, they'd have a choice in how many tickets they buy. The ark tickets won't be available to you just because you have the money."
"Besides, the pa.s.sengers are bound to be made to undergo extremely strict medical examinations before boarding the arks so as to avoid bringing infectious diseases or other illnesses onto the arks. Can the vampires pa.s.s the medical examinations? Once their secret is revealed, would the humans allow them to board the arks? The Cullen vampires may be the "vegetarians" of their kind and only drink the blood of wild animals, but the animals on board the arks are there to avoid the extinction of their species! Moreover, the animals only const.i.tute a tiny portion of the ark pa.s.sengers, most of the pa.s.sengers are human beings! No one will sell tickets to the Cullens even if they're willing to pay tens of billions or hundreds of billions of Euros!"
Sheyan's face showed a very confident smile.
"Therefore, the Cullen family will certainly come to us!"
The party had rushed to the highway while they a.n.a.lysed the situation. They soon managed to stop a pa.s.sing Mitsubis.h.i.+ Pajero and shamelessly took on the role of car hijackers.
(TL: Mitsubis.h.i.+ happens to announce the retirement of the Pajero, also known as the Montero in America and the Shogun in the UK, on the day I translate this chapter. RIP. )
Brother Black quickly drove to Racc.o.o.n City, which had the nearest airport, following a map. His driving skills had become more sophisticated lately. It took him only about half an hour to complete the 80-kilometer journey, and that was including the time he took to throw off the highway patrols.
Because the threat from other contestants did not exist for the time being, everyone instantly went separate ways to perform their own tasks as soon as the car stopped. Sheyan had already allocated jobs for everyone while they were on the car, which were mostly just robbing money and plundering supplies. Sheyan himself went to the nearest coffee shop that had a WiFi.
As the tactician, he must get his hands on the blacklist as quickly as possible. To protect those who will be a.s.sa.s.sinated, the biggest difficulty they would face would be the shortage of manpower. Furthermore, during these three days, Sheyan also had to try to contact and persuade the legendary figures and forces in this world.
***
The blacklist was soon in front of Sheyan.
Sheyan frowned upon seeing the list, because there were actually as many as 27 people on it! They were also scattered all over the world! Considering the current situation, there was no way Party Ace could save them all. Those that were too far away could only be abandoned.
The alliance of governments would certainly not a.s.sa.s.sinate all 27 people at the same time in the same way. They must be a.s.sa.s.sinated at different times with different causes of death. Fortunately, the time of action and the a.s.sa.s.sination method of each target was listed in detail on the list.
That reduced at least half of Sheyan's workload, and also enabled him to control the situation more precisely. At such moments, Old Charlie was a great help to Sheyan. He smoothly arranged the subsequent schedule and tasks for each party member.
Thus, every member of Party Ace received a schedule when they returned, which explained in detail the places they had to go to, the tasks they had to perform, and the deadline for each task. The arrangement was so precise that it sometimes came down to seconds!
Everyone could truly feel that time was pressing, so they accepted the schedule unconditionally. They all left in a hurry without saying much. Even Sanzi, who was still very tired, had to accept the work arranged for him; there was nothing that could be done about it. Sheyan's responsibility was greater than everyone else's, for he was responsible for many tasks. First, he had to rescue people too. Second, he had to strategize and make the general game plan. And finally, he had to try to contact the legendary forces of this world.
Sheyan soon got on a train. He turned on a laptop and typed the words "Elm Street" on Google Maps. The result stunned him.
"How is this possible? No search result?"
Old Charlie took a look, then told him in a whisper, "You missed a letter, master."
"....Oh. I didn't graduate junior high, so it's pretty good that I only missed one letter."
With Old Charlie's help, Sheyan finally spelt Elm Street right, but the result left him stunned again. That's right, there were more than a thousand results.... Well, there was nothing to be done but to go over them carefully. After some difficult screening processes, he finally locked on to the place he wanted.
Springwood, Ohio.
That's where the Elm Street was.
The Elm Street where the most horrible story took place on.
A nun was trapped in the dirtiest prison, raped by more than 100 murderers, psychopaths and perverts, and gave birth to Freddy Krueger, a person with a deformed and twisted personality.
When he was in his forties, he was killed by the parents of the children he hara.s.sed and murdered. From then on, he became the most terrible ghost. His most remarkable feature was that he could kill people in their dreams. His actions were sinister, cunning and even a little artistic. He was a very mysterious evil villain!
In order to maximise efficiency, Sheyan searched the blacklist on the way and found a scientist and a member of Parliament in need of protection within 100 kilometers of the area. He planned to save them as well.
Sheyan did not choose saving the targets as his first task, but continued on his way to Elm Street instead. If his plan was successful, the most twisted and vicious villain in history would become a brand-new weapon under his control! The weapon may be extremely evil, but it could sometimes be used for justice too.
Through generous spending, Sheyan managed to reach Elm Street forty minutes after getting off the train. The scenery there was quite beautiful - old buildings of nineteenth century architecture, golden sunset, empty swings, little girls jumping ropes and humming nursery rhymes. However, there was a hint of chilling desolation hidden behind the peaceful facade...
What Sheyan ought to do now was to determine how strong Freddy had grown. According to the original plot, Freddy, claimed by many to be the most bizarre and powerful vengeful ghost in existence, made his appearance in 1984. Although he was repeatedly defeated after that, he could always find a way to return from h.e.l.l. The last time he appeared should have been in 2010.
Sheyan began his search. During the search, he might have broken a law or two. He finally found a strange glove at a place mentioned in the plot. The glove was really old and had rusty razors at the fingers. It was obviously a very vicious weapon when it was still usable.
Next, Sheyan went to the place where Freddy was burned alive. The place was deeply suffused with a strong evil. He soon found a deformed, blackened skeleton - the remains of the evil Freddy.
These two things were very important to Freddy, and could even bring him back to life.
Sheyan put the weird glove on the hand of the skeleton. Suddenly, darkness descended even though it was still dusk. A strong wind howled and moaned in agony. At that moment, Sheyan felt a strong drowsiness overcoming him. He raised an eyebrow nonchalantly and casually sat down. He then leaned on the car tires to his side and closed his eyes. His breathing became even and light, and he fell into slumber!
The only way to communicate with Freddy was through dreams!
***
Sheyan felt like only a fleeting moment had pa.s.sed before he woke up again. He was still in the old parking lot where Freddy was burned, but the place was now enshrouded in thick grey mist.
He heard a sound, far at first, but gradually moving closer. It was the sound of steel claws dragged slowly across a hard concrete wall. Not long after that, a man with a fedora and an ugly, distorted face stood in front of Sheyan.
He was wearing a ragged striped red-and-green sweater and a dirty old fedora which half-covered his severely-burned face. The sharp blades on his fingers constantly sc.r.a.ped and collided together, producing hair-raising sounds....
"Welcome to the dream world....My world!!"
