I put a leash on Catastrophe

“Aaa!”

Seeing the index finger pointing at her, the girl jumped and quickly hid behind the translator. Although the girl moved, the fingertip didn’t follow her.

What Zhi-wu had imagined in his mind was the entrance to the Black Market auction hall. The index finger was precisely pointing at the building they had left.

Zhi-wu mentally imagined the locations of desired objects several more times. When he thought about Martin, the hotel where they were staying, the location of the Black Market, etc., the index finger began to bend in different directions.

Moreover, when he slightly moved his body, the finger corrected the changed position in real-time.

‘So the pharaoh is in the place the finger pointed to the first time.’

When he thought about the pharaoh again, the finger pointed somewhere again. The girl, who had been observing all this time, said something to her translator in an excited voice, as if whining.

Judging by her greedy look, she seemed to want to buy the hand from Zhi-wu.

“Not for sale.”

When Zhi-wu spoke first to the translator, who had a bewildered expression, he relayed this to the girl.

The girl puffed out her cheeks and showed Zhi-wu two fingers. It seemed she was offering twice the amount for which Zhi-wu had won at the auction, but Zhi-wu firmly shook his head.

Ignoring the girl who was trying to say something again, Zhi-wu headed in the direction the finger was pointing. He didn’t know if it was related to the pharaoh or not, but the pharaoh’s absence nearby caused him great anxiety. He decided that finding him was the first priority.

When Martin followed Zhi-wu, who silently walked forward, the girl and her company, who had been looking at the two of them in confusion, also followed them. In some sense, this seemed like a good choice. The screams of people were coming from the opposite direction from where they were going.

When the path was blocked, they followed the bends of the finger.

Kiiiik!

An animal cry came from ahead. Thinking it might be a giant rat again, Zhi-wu tensed up, and the girl’s bodyguards took something out from inside their clothes. These were short swords, similar to army knives.

Zhi-wu also thought he couldn’t remain unarmed and looked around. He saw a chair with a broken leg, apparently smashed in the commotion. Thinking it could be used as a club, he picked it up, and at that moment, quickly approaching rats jumped and lunged at them.

Zhi-wu was about to swing the chair leg, looking at the translator who stood in front of the girl, protecting her with a dagger in hand, but this turned out to be useless. Martin’s sword was faster.

“Eh…”

When Martin easily swung his sword, and the giant rat in front of them was split in two, he continued to slash the remaining rats with his sword. The bodyguards, who were forced to act passively due to the short range of their weapons, gaped at him instantly cutting the rats in half.

“Wow.”

The same was true for the girl they were protecting. She seemed interested in where this sword came from, pointing at it, but neither Martin nor Zhi-wu intended to explain.

Zhi-wu, who was heading towards Martin, stopped. His eyes noticed something.

“…What is this?”

Zhi-wu used the chair leg he was holding to part the innards of the giant rat cut in half by Martin. The girl made a strange sound due to his unusual behavior, but Zhi-wu was speechless seeing the object before his eyes.

What was shining next to the rat’s heart was undoubtedly…

“An ether stone?”

Why was it here now? Zhi-wu’s eyes trembled finely. Thinking he might have been mistaken, he checked the bodies of other rats, but ether stones were implanted in the same place, only slightly differing in size.

‘Ha…’

Until now, he thought they were just giant rats. He had assumed they might have escaped from some nutria farm, but the presence of ether stones in their bodies meant these creatures were not ordinary animals.

It was obvious if you thought about it. Usually, wild animals avoid humans unless threatened and don’t attack people as soon as they see them.

The reason Zhi-wu didn’t immediately associate the giant rats with monsters was that they were too small. He had encountered disasters and monsters only after humanity was destroyed, and then roamed monsters more befitting the name “beasts” than these animals.

Zhi-wu’s face became serious.

‘Is all of this related to the pharaoh’s disappearance?’

When he didn’t know they were monsters, he thought it was just a random incident, but now it seemed to be related to the pharaoh’s disappearance, and Zhi-wu’s head started to ache.

“Martin.”

Zhi-wu called him, who seemed to be standing protecting him, and Martin looked at him.

“Yes, my lord.”

“I’m sorry, but can you quickly take us there?”

When Zhi-wu asked, holding the monkey’s hand, Martin, who had been silently observing, suddenly picked Zhi-wu up in his arms. He held him in his arms like a father holding a child, but Zhi-wu had no time to feel embarrassed.

Martin, holding Zhi-wu in his arms, pushed off from the wall of the nearest building. Then, alternately pushing off from the walls of opposite buildings, he was able to quickly ascend upwards.

When Zhi-wu glanced down, he saw the girl and her company looking up with open mouths. Although he was a bit worried about leaving them behind, he thought they knew how to fight, so if they hid well in a building, they would be fine, and he stopped thinking about it.

After several jumps, they were able to climb to the roof of a building. When the walls obstructing the path disappeared, the finger changed shape again. It seemed to be a direct distance.

“Following this…”

In response to Zhi-wu’s words, Martin, still holding him in his arms, began jumping across the roofs of buildings. When they reached the roof of one building, the finger clearly pointed downwards.

“This building…”

Zhi-wu and Martin opened the door on the roof as the finger indicated. Inside the building was a strong smell of animals and excrement. This disgusting odor, like a concentrated zoo smell, became stronger as they descended, and Zhi-wu pinched his nose.

When Zhi-wu reached about the second floor, a “bang!” sound came from behind the emergency staircase door. It was more the sound of hitting a wall than something falling.

Zhi-wu grabbed the doorknob and looked at Martin, who already had his sword ready.

Seeing that he was prepared, Zhi-wu sharply opened the door, and some mass jumped out from behind it.

Kiiiik!

A giant rat with a high-pitched squeal lunged at Martin, but he unhesitatingly thrust his sword into its mouth. The sword seemed to pierce it to the heart, as the rat’s body went limp.

When Zhi-wu entered inside, believing this place might be the source of the incident, he saw traces of blood everywhere. It was impossible to determine whether it was the blood of rats or humans.

“Judging by the absence of corpses, it seems there were no human casualties.”

Martin explained, as if trying to improve Zhi-wu’s mood, noticing his gloomy expression. Hearing his words, Zhi-wu realized that although rat corpses were encountered periodically, no human bodies were visible. His heavy mood improved slightly.

“…Why?”

Martin looked at Zhi-wu as if not understanding what he was talking about, but Zhi-wu didn’t answer. Originally, this wasn’t a question he expected an answer to, but rather a lament.

‘The first uncontrolled Gate opening occurred in China.’

Because they were the first to create ether stone farms. However, even considering this, an uncontrolled Gate opening at this time made no sense. The uncontrolled Gate opening in China should have happened several years from the present moment.

Monsters live only inside Gates unless there’s an uncontrolled opening. The fact that giant rats with ether stones came out meant that an uncontrolled opening had occurred…

The attackers in the museum, the pharaoh’s early resurrection, and now this uncontrolled Gate opening – everything Zhi-wu knew had become useless and distorted. There was no point in his return to the past.

As they walked forward, at some point the floor changed. It was clearly covered with tiles, but now it had become an earthen path covered with moss.

Since it was unlikely to be a special interior design, Zhi-wu bit his lip. He was internally trying to convince himself that this couldn’t be an uncontrolled Gate opening, but seeing such a scene, as if mocking him, he felt anger.

“Damn it.”

How to close uncontrollably opened Gates? Zhi-wu had no knowledge about this. When he was active, all Gates were already uncontrollably opened, so they were focused on containing them, not closing them.

‘I know that if you destroy the Gate’s core, they disappear…’

But would uncontrollably opened Gates disappear if destroyed? He didn’t know.

With a gloomy face, he continued walking forward, and the animal smell became stronger, and the moss thicker. Now not only the floor but also the walls were covered with moss.

“Ha…”

And amidst all this, an empty space resembling cracked glass was visible. Zhi-wu wanted to faint seeing the Gate, which should have been round in shape and softly glowing, but instead was pulsating with an ominous light. Even more surprising was that the monkey’s hand was pointing at the Gate.

The pharaoh was inside.

“Damn bastard.”

Did he really arrange all this? All circumstances pointed to him being the culprit.

Zhi-wu, staring intently at the Gate, headed towards it. He planned to go inside and find the pharaoh. Martin blocked his path.

“It’s dangerous.”

Zhi-wu angrily looked at Martin. He thought he was trying to stop him. However, contrary to Zhi-wu’s thoughts, Martin had no intention of stopping him.

“I’ll go in first.”

He just stood in front to say he would enter first for safety. The momentarily arising feeling of resentment disappeared, and only embarrassment remained.

Zhi-wu’s sharp gaze softened as usual, and he didn’t know where to put himself from awkwardness. Martin, ignoring Zhi-wu’s mood, entered the pulsating Gate first. Zhi-wu watched Martin’s back disappearing as if dissolving, and as soon as he completely disappeared, he immediately followed him into the Gate.

After both disappeared, only the Gate remained in the empty space, coloring the surroundings with an ominous light.