Night fell in Moria Town.
Wade and his two companions pushed open the wooden door of the Elk Tavern, and the sweltering, thick smell of alcohol and the aroma of food rushed to meet them.
The interior was brightly lit; the wall behind the bar was hung with deer head specimens and landscape paintings, and in the corner stood several old, vintage promotional standees of The Seven.
Three young faces in thin clothing looked out of place among the warmly dressed crowd, and they caught everyone's attention the moment they entered.
"It's those Supes. I heard their companion got into some trouble and is locked up in the police station."
"I think I've seen them on TV... Oh! I remember now, they're the superpowered trainees who appeared in that documentary, 'The Seven: Drug Bust'!"
"Not just that, didn't they also get interviewed on that one show?"
Wade walked up to the bar, sat on a swivel chair, looked at the menu, and said, "Could I please get a bottle of whiskey, and ten orders each of chicken tenders, mozzarella sticks, and barbecue?" After speaking, he handed over two hundred-dollar bills.
Andre and Jordan Li also ordered piles of food for themselves.
The male bartender pocketed the bills and glanced at them several times. "Alright, please wait a moment."
A voluptuous woman walked up to Andre, holding her phone, and asked, "Are you... the children chosen by God from the television? Can I take a picture with you?"
Andre took a sip of his drink, his eyes darting around, and swallowed. "Sure, we don't eat people. Come on."
Seeing that the three didn't look like fierce or wicked people, the chatter in the tavern grew louder, and the atmosphere became lively.
"God, even our backwater town has been graced by superheroes!"
"Rare opportunity! Move aside, I'm going to get a photo too."
Before long, more and more people gathered in the tavern, circling them like they had discovered some rare animal, coming one after another.
Wade chewed his food and looked at the shelves, where Vought-branded superhero drinks, keychains, stickers, plush toys, and other merchandise were sparsely displayed.
He understood that in this relatively information-isolated town, Vought's pervasive propaganda could indeed mold superheroes into mythical beings.
A middle-aged man with a thick handlebar mustache stood on a stool, raised his hat, and shouted in a booming voice, "Everyone—today, for the first time, heroes are visiting Moria, and we must treat them well! Drinks on me tonight!"
"Oh... Long live the Mayor!"
"The Hawkes are always generous! Tonight, we drink until we drop!"
Surrounded by the crowd, Wade and his two companions gorged themselves on local barbecue, and their glasses were almost never empty... Interaction requests came one after another, and from the initial reserve to later putting arms around each other's shoulders, the atmosphere became increasingly harmonious.
Mayor Randy Hawke raised his glass and asked with a smile, "Young men, could you broaden our horizons? I've never seen superpowers with my own eyes."
A wave of noise and jeering followed: "That's right!" "Show us a trick!"
"No problem, watch this." Jordan Li took a hunting knife handed to him by someone and started playing the knife-between-the-fingers game on the table, moving so fast that only a blur remained.
"Haha... watch mine!" Andre, meanwhile, manipulated all the surrounding metal tableware to float and dance, drawing gasps of amazement.
A red-faced, bearded, burly man patted Wade on the shoulder and shouted, "Hey, you flying kid, show us a few tricks too!"
Wade raised his glass in acknowledgment and shook his head. "My moves are too big; if I start flying, I'm afraid I'll blow your roof off."
"It's safer to just drink. Come on... bottoms up!"
Taking advantage of the gap while everyone was watching Jordan Li and Andre show off, Wade leaned over to the bar.
He pointed to the door and window and asked the bartender who was wiping a glass, "Hey buddy, I noticed a lot of people in town have those black branches hanging at their doorways. They're quite unique. Is there any significance to them?"
The bartender looked up. "Oh, that? Those are black walnut branches; they mean good luck."
"We used to rely on this forest for a living. The older generation always said that if you hang one up, the forest spirits will bless you and ensure you return safely."
Wade ate some tortilla chips and nodded. "Understood."
This kind of custom, colored with nature worship, was common in conservative areas. He didn't think much of it, but instead became more interested in the forest spirits.
Wade gnawed on a chicken tender and curiously asked, "Forest spirits? Sounds quite mysterious. What do the legends say they look like?"
The bartender put down the rag, tilted his head, and thought for a moment. "Probably just the deer or monkeys in the woods... I heard they run super fast and their eyes reflect light at night." After speaking, he turned to attend to other customers.
Wade sensed the superficial thoughts quietly passing through the man's mind, which were indeed consistent with the description.
'A creature that darts swiftly through the woods, sounds like some kind of nocturnal animal,' he muttered to himself. 'Could it be a special lifeform like Heidi or A-Train? Maybe some kind of failed Vought experiment that escaped into the woods?'
He immediately asked a few other heavily intoxicated burly men, and the clues he found were more or less the same—nothing more than the existence of guardian spirits in the forest at night.
'These people only have a vague understanding. It looks like I have to explore the forest tonight and see what's really going on.'
Wade leaned against the bar, using Blood Sense to peek at the crowd moving through the tavern. Everyone he saw was a normal human, with the majority having sharp canines.
'Why was Sam so certain those two were vampires? Or did the people in this area undergo genetic mutations? There must be a secret.'
...
A few hours later, on the street.
The three, drunk and dizzy, were each supported by female companions as they stumbled toward the hotel across the street.
When midnight arrived, the three quietly climbed out of the window and flew together toward the distant forest.
Wade deployed an airflow shield and asked casually, "What do you think that forest spirit looks like? And what should we do if we catch it?"
Jordan Li crossed his arms and said softly, "As long as it hasn't killed anyone, it's part of the natural ecosystem, and we have no right to interfere."
Andre gestured excitedly. "Discovering a new species is big news! I think making it public and drawing attention and concern is the best way to protect them."
They floated over the sea of forest for nearly twenty minutes, but the light sources had long since disappeared, and aside from the endless canopy, they had found nothing.
"Could the bartender have been talking nonsense?" Andre said, flipping a coin with some impatience. "This forest is nothing but trees."
"Be patient." Wade slowed his flight, scanning the endless green forest below, and suddenly changed direction. "There are a lot of lights over there, let's go check it out."
The three landed from high up onto the dense canopy and discovered that there were indeed several moving light sources in the forest below, converging from various directions toward a certain spot.
Wade looked at the two beside him and said in a low voice, "The situation below is unclear. I'll maintain low-altitude flight and be responsible for providing you with visibility. You two follow the footprints on the ground and provide support, how about that?"
Jordan Li took out his phone, glanced at it, and then put it away. "The signal is getting weaker. If we keep following, we might lose the signal entirely. How will we communicate if we find something?"
Wade stirred the airflow near their ears. "Remember this feeling and sound: one sound means safe, continue moving forward; three consecutive sounds mean danger, stop immediately."
"Understood." Andre pulled out a bag of coins and flexed his wrists. "Put us down."
Jordan Li and Andre landed steadily from mid-air, using their phone lights and superhuman vision to identify the messy footprints on the muddy ground pointing deep into the forest, and advanced quickly.
Wade wove through the branches, monitoring the vast area from above while keeping an eye on the progress below.
The three advanced in sync. The surrounding trees became increasingly dense, and the atmosphere grew more and more eerie. Not a single insect chirp or bird call could be heard, as if all life was avoiding this area.
After passing through an exceptionally dense thicket, the view suddenly opened up, and a forest clearing the size of a football field came into view.
Surrounded by dense circles of red mushrooms emitting a faint phosphorescent glow, a large, pitch-black cathedral stood in the center of the clearing.
The cathedral was not made of brick or stone; its main body was formed by a huge, charred ancient tree. Parts of the trunk were hollowed out, revealing the outlines of doors, windows, and a spire.
"This doesn't look right at all!" Seeing the abnormality below, Wade hurriedly stirred the airflow near the two's ears.
Andre crouched on the ground, rubbing his eyes in confusion. "So many mushrooms... they're soft and mushy, like they're breathing?"
As soon as he finished speaking, ripples of phosphorescence spread from the mushroom circles, and countless imperceptible spores rose like a mist of dust.
Jordan Li waved his hand instinctively, but within two or three seconds, his eyes instantly lost focus.
In the air, Wade saw the two below walk straight into the area where the red mushroom circles were, completely ignoring the signal he had sent.
He landed behind the two immediately, but before he could even get close, he sensed swarms of tiny spores in the air enveloping them, trying to bore into his mouth, nose, and skin.
"There's a big problem!" With a thought, Wade caused the airflow around his body to circulate quietly, insulating him from all floating matter and gases.
He carefully inhaled a single spore, and a strong sense of dizziness and hallucination immediately surged in his brain. The scene before him began to twist and glow, and sounds echoed within the cathedral.
Jordan Li and Andre suddenly began to move, walking wobbly toward the cathedral.
Wade shook his head and flew in front of the two. Seeing their tightly closed eyelids and serene expressions, he realized with a start: 'Those spores have hypnotic and hallucinogenic effects. It looks like they accidentally stepped on those mushrooms, and as soon as they inhaled them, they got hit.'
At this moment, Jordan Li suddenly shifted into his male form and muttered in confusion, "...Dad...Mom...why are you here too? Wait for me...don't run off!" After speaking, he continued walking toward the cathedral.
"Luke... you escaped from prison? Don't... kill this thing... hey, don't set the forest on fire!" Andre, looking astonished, followed step by step.
Wade didn't startle the two; instead, he closed his eyes and, imitating a sleepwalking posture, wobbled along behind them. 'Let me see what mysterious creature is hiding inside.'
The three stepped into the mushroom circle one by one, walking toward the eerie cathedral constructed from the charred ancient tree.
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