Chapter 97: The Disappearing Proxy
Mornings in Blazewood usually kicked off with the deafening roar of modified engines, the heavy scent of exhaust fumes, and the chaotic shouting of the Sons of Calydon gearing up for the day. Today, however, a suffocating, tense silence choked the settlement.
The heavy metal door to the guest quarters assigned to Wise and Belle hung wide open. The room inside was completely empty.
Just last night, the atmosphere had been warm and relaxed. The legendary Proxy siblings had sat by the roaring bonfire, sharing drinks and laughing with the gang. Yet, when Burnice cheerfully kicked the door open this morning to deliver a tray of hot breakfast, her greeting was met with dead air. After rushing inside, she found nothing but slightly rumpled bedsheets.
Their personal belongings were still neatly arranged on the desk. The heavy HDD system sat untouched in the corner. Even their utility vehicle remained parked right outside the doorway. Only the people were missing. Calls to their phones went straight to a dead signal.
This sudden, ghost-like disappearance sent immediate shockwaves through the camp. The Outer Ring was a powder keg of shifting power dynamics, and the true identity of the legendary Proxy 'Phaethon' was a prize many would kill for. Was this retaliation from Lucius after the recent clash at the Lake of Fire? Or had some shadow syndicate moved in, coveting their advanced Hollow navigation technology? Dark, violent speculations churned in the minds of the gang members.
"You still haven't found them? Search the perimeter again! Do not miss a single blind spot!" Caesar's voice cracked like a whip across the courtyard, carrying the absolute authority of the Overlord. Her brow was knotted in deep frustration.
They had been turning the settlement upside down for hours, yielding absolutely nothing.
Caesar paced heavily in front of the siblings' room. The messy sheets proved they had definitely slept there. With their gear and vehicle left behind, they wouldn't have just wandered off into the Outer Ring without a word. So where did they go?
Lucy marched back into the courtyard, her boots striking the dirt heavily. "I've interrogated every resident in Blazewood, including the night watch. Nobody saw a damn thing. No suspicious movement, no vehicles leaving, and definitely no sign of Wise and Belle walking out." She let out a frustrated breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It's like... it's like they're still in the room, but we just can't see them!"
Lighter leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms with a baffled scowl. "We tore this place apart. Three times. I even pried up the loose floorboards just in case!"
Lucy knelt by the windowsill, her gloved fingertips brushing lightly over the undisturbed layer of fine Outer Ring dust. "No signs of forced entry. No scuff marks on the floor to indicate a struggle or dragging..." She paused, her eyes narrowing behind her sunglasses. "They just vanished into thin air. Like they opened a spatial rift straight into a Hollow and stepped right through."
A sudden thought struck her. Lucy looked up. "Wait. Could they have gone to meet up with Dan Heng and his crew? Think about it. Their technology is absurdly advanced. Maybe they have some kind of direct spatial teleportation."
Caesar's jaw locked, the heavy mantle of the new Overlord feeling like lead across her shoulders. "I know that possibility exists. But we cannot afford to be blindly optimistic until we have visual confirmation."
An ally vanishing from her own heavily guarded territory was not just a massive security failure—it was a direct insult to the prestige of the Sons of Calydon.
"Notify every gang in the Motorcycle Alliance. Tell them to keep their eyes peeled for Wise and Belle!" Caesar ordered, her voice dropping to a dangerous, commanding octave that ensured everyone heard her. "Expand the search grid. Center it on Blazewood and push out to a twenty-kilometer radius. Dig three feet deep into the dirt if you have to. We are finding them!"
Her command left no room for argument. The courtyard erupted into motion as gang members scrambled toward their bikes. The tension in Blazewood had reached a boiling point. Caesar raised her hand, preparing to issue the final mobilization order—
Creak.
The sound was soft, but in the dead silence of the courtyard, it echoed like a gunshot. The heavy door to Wise and Belle's room—the exact same room that Lighter, Lucy, and a dozen others had practically dismantled—slowly swung open from the inside.
The entire courtyard froze. Jaws practically hit the dirt. Wise and Belle casually strolled out, one after the other, looking completely refreshed and utterly normal.
"Ah—!!!" Burnice's shriek shattered the silence, her hands flying to her cheeks in explosive, unbelievable joy. "They! They're back! They came out of the room!"
Total chaos instantly consumed the scene. The Sons of Calydon stood paralyzed in sheer disbelief. Lucy pushed her sunglasses down her nose, staring blankly. Lighter rubbed his eyes. They had scoured every inch of that space. Yet here the siblings were, perfectly intact, looking as if they had just woken from a pleasant nap.
Belle blinked, taking in the sight before her. The entire Sons of Calydon roster was packed into the courtyard, weapons drawn, engines idling, looking as if they were preparing for an all-out war. She leaned sideways, nudging her brother's ribs with her elbow.
"Brother... what exactly is going on here? Did we miss a welcoming ceremony?" she whispered.
Wise clearly hadn't anticipated walking into a military staging ground. The usual calm, analytical composure on his face cracked for a split second. A faint flush of guilt crept up his neck as he quickly pieced together the situation. He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and offered a deep, formal bow to Caesar and the anxious crowd.
"I am incredibly sorry," Wise said, his voice carrying genuine remorse. "We caused you all unnecessary worry. It was a massive oversight on our part to leave without informing you beforehand."
He straightened up, his gray eyes meeting Caesar, Lucy, and Lighter. These three had been front-row spectators to the absolute absurdity of Dan Heng's group.
"We didn't encounter any danger. We simply took a temporary detour to meet up with them using a type of... spatial warp technology provided by Dan Heng's organization." He deliberately chose terminology that sounded somewhat plausible within the framework of their world's technology.
"Spatial warp?" Lighter repeated, scratching the back of his head.
"Exactly," Wise nodded, maintaining a perfectly steady tone to sell the technical truth. "It is a highly specialized teleportation system that allowed us to instantly reach Dan Heng's coordinates. The situation developed rapidly, and we were so focused on making the appointment that we completely forgot to leave a message. We caused a massive misunderstanding, and for that, we truly apologize."
The moment the words 'Dan Heng's organization' left his mouth, a silent look of deep understanding passed between Caesar, Lucy, and Lighter.
Memories flashed through their minds. A floating, chattering little sprite. A silver wrench that miraculously reversed terminal Ethereal Corruption. A ridiculous little bamboo-copter that had somehow allowed Caesar to literally fly over the Lake of Fire...
Compared to those reality-breaking phenomena, a machine that simply teleported people from one room to another sounded almost... boring.
The rigid tension in Caesar's shoulders finally melted away. She let out a long, helpless breath, a relieved smile breaking through her stern facade. "So that's it. Honestly, considering the kind of tech those guys throw around, spatial teleportation sounds... pretty ordinary."
She wiped a thin layer of cold sweat from her forehead. "Just glad you two are safe! You nearly gave us a collective heart attack!"
Seeing the Overlord accept the excuse, the heavy atmosphere in the courtyard evaporated. Wise and Belle let out simultaneous sighs of relief, though they continued to offer apologetic smiles to the crowd.
Fortunately, the people of the Outer Ring were as straightforward as they were fierce. Once they confirmed the legendary Proxies were safe and the whole ordeal was just a high-tech misunderstanding, the gang members quickly lost interest. Engines roared back to life, jokes were shouted across the dirt lot, and the crowd naturally dispersed to start their day, leaving only the core members behind.
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