Chapter 160: Lived for Only "One Episode"

"Oh! God, oh! My heavens."

Xisur Albenson was even more excited than his own daughter.

For a severe persecutory delusionist who had fancied himself normal all these years, what could be more joyful than knowing his precautions had been so entirely correct?

The wind blew away countless fallen leaves and dust from the ground, as a tall and majestic griffin descended from the sky.

Polly looked at this magical creature with a mixture of excitement and fear.

"Sister Dasha, are we going to ride this?"

"Why not? Parker is strong enough, come on up!"

Dasha jumped down from the griffin, named Parker, and patted its furry back.

"Besides, it's so cold right now, and the griffin is very warm."

While Polly was still hesitating whether to climb up, she saw her old man had already scrambled up eagerly.

"Chirp~"

The griffin let out a low cry to signal its dissatisfaction with this human grabbing its wing feathers to climb up.

"Hee..."

Dasha couldn't help covering her mouth and laughing.

"Thud..."

Doctor Albenson, who was struggling to climb onto the griffin's back, was so stunned he tumbled straight down.

Polly felt utterly embarrassed by her father's unseemly performance in front of her idol.

Then, at Dasha's signal, the griffin lowered its body to make it easier for Albenson and his daughter to climb aboard.

In the night sky, the griffin flapped its wings, flying at high speed toward the coastline...

The live-action performance, arranged ever since Polly finished school, could only be described as magnificent.

Wu You, who was merely watching the show, found it utterly thrilling and thoroughly enjoyed it.

That father-daughter duo from the Albenson family was truly one of a kind.

The daughter was at an age full of fantasies; though her reactions were a bit exaggerated, they were still acceptable, but her father was being just as hyperactive.

Hopefully, this persecutory delusion wouldn't develop into full-blown psychosis; let's just hope he was merely a mad scientist overly excited by ultra-scientific novelties.

However, judging by the results, this operation was a massive success, even giving Wu You the urge to participate in future performances just to put on airs.

There was a wonderful feeling to artificially orchestrating such special events rich with historical heritage and mission.

Adding more joy to the world—as the mastermind behind the scenes, Wu You felt a great sense of accomplishment.

...

Through a brief chat with the female knight to gather information, Albenson and his daughter gained a rough understanding of the world's hidden side.

Beneath the veneer of an ordinary, harmonious, and stably developing surface world, there existed another cruel world filled with crisis, evil, justice, and sacrifice.

In the brutal battles, many factions fighting for humanity had vanished in the river of time, but new pillars always emerged to hold up the sky for the world.

The Gloom Sanctuary was merely one of the ancient factions silently guarding humanity through the long currents of history.

The griffin flew even faster than the Albenson father and daughter had imagined, and even after taking a detour, the coastline soon appeared ahead in their field of vision.

A gorgeous yacht was already waiting by the shore.

...

Three days later, the Albenson father and daughter arrived at a large private experimental facility located in the western part of North America.

Dasha temporarily departed under the pretext of tending to her injuries, leaving them in the care of peripheral personnel.

The original owner of the building was a puppet of Dasha, and it was currently undergoing regular channels for capital injection, expansion, and renovation.

This private building, publicly claimed to be a pharmaceutical antibody research institution, actually retained a massive space deep underground, which happened to be repurposed as Wu You's scientific research base.

Ever since entering the research institute, Polly's eyes had been darting around, only to find that it was a thoroughly modern-looking research facility.

This was vastly different from the classical and sacred secret architectural base she had imagined, bringing her a tiny wave of disappointment.

No one understood a daughter quite like her father; seeing his daughter's expression, Xisur chuckled helplessly and shared his deductions with her.

"Polly, you didn't think the place where I'd be conducting research would be a classical castle, a gloomy mystic realm, a sacred cathedral, or some other dilapidated building dripping with historical weight, did you?"

"Uh... shouldn't the Gloom Sanctuary be in a place like that?"

"Please, my daughter, this is the twenty-first century. Times are progressing, and a research facility requires complete amenities, sufficient energy sources, and sterile laboratories—things that are hardly attainable in the kind of places you're imagining."

"The places in your fantasies certainly exist, but like the pyramids of the Egyptians, they are sancturies of symbolic significance. Could you expect modern Egyptians to still pull that sort of thing off after death?"

True to being a father, Polly thought about it and realized he was right; she had simply been rigid in her thinking.

When Xisur Albenson and his daughter reached the underground section of the research institute, Martin Wilson, who had arrived two days before them, came forward very warmly to shake their hands.

"Haha, you must be Doctor Albenson. I am Martin Wilson; before retiring, I taught physics at MIT."

Although Xisur sometimes suffered from persecutory delusions, at his core, he was still a scientist. Martin Wilson had once published important papers in the famous journal *Science*, while he himself was just a disillusioned, laid-off employee from an arms company.

This left him feeling a bit flattered.

"Professor Wilson, it is a pleasure to meet you in person. You are my idol!"

"Don't be modest, Doctor Albenson. If it weren't for something extremely significant, 'those things' wouldn't have targeted you, and the Gloom Sanctuary wouldn't have brought you here to protect you."

"I am already aware that they have their own set of evaluation methods—that is the other side of science, involving magical powers."

A few simple words made Xisur Albenson feel as refreshed as if he had just gulped down chilled strawberry juice.

Years of persistence had not been in vain after all.

...

Since both parties already knew they would be cooperating for a long time to come, their mutual greetings appeared very sincere.

"Professor Wilson, how did you end up getting here?"

Polly waited until her father and the old professor finished exchanging pleasantries before asking this question.

"Ah, that's a long story. I can only say that to save me, the Gloom Sanctuary sacrificed an outstanding knight and two heroic warriors..."

"Pardon me, I don't really feel like bringing it up right now."

At that exact moment, Karl the vampire was squatting in the corner of the floor, using his extraordinary vampire hearing to eavesdrop on the conversation while drawing little circles on the ground with his finger.

Why did the knight I played have to "sacrifice" on his very first appearance? I loved that feeling of putting on airs so much.

Dasha gets to act cool for this long, so why did I only get to live for "one episode"?!

I heard that in the Master's script, I'll be the villain next time. Hopefully, this villain won't last long—I'm aiming to play a righteous character again!

On the other side, seeing that the old professor was feeling somewhat dejected, Polly felt terribly embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I didn't mean to. I was just, I was just..."

Professor Wilson waved his hand. "It's fine, young lady. I know someone your age is quite curious about these things; I'll tell you about my past experiences later."

"Come, let me show you a 'miracle'."

Led by Professor Wilson, the Albenson father and daughter quickly passed through a glass corridor and arrived at a large, heavily guarded laboratory.

Standing at the entrance were two men dressed in classical battle robes.

They stared straight ahead like two statues, and only their slow, deep breaths every dozen seconds or so revealed that they were living humans.

Seeing them made Polly's breath catch for a brief moment; she recognized the silver gauntlets on their hands—those were the sacred silver weapons spoken of by the vampires.