A moment later, Aria and the governor turned back and flew towards the city.

They didn't want to stay too close to the northern sea.

After all, even a Hero had vanished there.

"Close your eyes," Aria suddenly spoke as she appeared beside Nick in an instant.

Nick did just that, and the next moment, he felt himself getting pulled into the sky.

Naturally, Aria was carrying him back towards Crimson City.

About a month ago, Julian had started negotiations with the governor regarding the information Nick had gathered on his excursion.

Nobody knew why the north was so dangerous, and Julian was sure that this information was worth a lot.

Of course, as soon as negotiations started, the efforts of uncovering why the north was so dangerous increased.

The city believed that they would be able to find out what was happening to the north.

After all, Dark Dream managed to find out about the north.

Why wouldn't they be able to?

So, they had sent more people toward the shore to investigate.

Yet, they hadn't found anything.

Well, that wasn't completely true.

They found out that three researchers mysteriously vanished after they investigated the sea at different places.

Naturally, the governor was very annoyed when he heard that.

How was it that a little Manufacturer like Dark Dream kept coming across such valuable information?!

The governor debated whether or not he should join the research.

But in the end, he decided against it.

It was just too risky.

He had already lost an Expert and two Veterans.

Might as well just pay Dark Dream and avoid the risk.

So, Dark Dream told the governor what Nick had seen.

When the governor had heard about the coral people, he already had an idea of what was going on.

Most likely, the coral people were the minions of a strong Specter.

So, the governor tried to catch some of them.

He kept using people as bait.

And yet, it didn't work.

If anyone went to the shore to the northeast, nothing would happen.

Yet, if anyone went towards the north, they would just vanish without a trace.

The governor had lost another two Veterans like that!

So, he had complained to Dark Dream.

Were they truly telling the truth?

There was no way to verify whether or not what they said was true.

In the end, Nick made an offer.

"Let me lure them out. I did it before. Maybe it'll work again."

The governor had accepted and had told Nick how to do it.

Yet, surprisingly, Nick interrupted the governor and told him that he would do it his way.

The governor was a bit annoyed, but Nick kept insisting that he would do it his way.

Eventually, the governor relented.

Nick told the governor to stay so far away that it was impossible to sense Nick and that Nick would alert them when it was time for them to come.

One thing that Nick demanded was that another Hero would join them during the mission.

The Forbidden Zone had already taken one Hero, which was why Nick wanted at least two.

Of course, Kugelblitz very quickly volunteered.

After all, there was most likely a Specter up north, and if they could get information about it first, Kugelblitz might be able to capture another powerful Specter.

And that was how things played out.

The mission was a success.

"You can open your eyes again," Aria said.

Nick did just that and found himself on a small balcony very high up on the megastructure.

The balcony was just outside the entrance to the upper layer.

Of course, it wasn't really possible to look at the city from here anymore due to the tall wall that had been erected.

Naturally, that was because of the Crimson Sea.

This balcony had been the place from where that one Specialist had destroyed Envy's greater relay.

"Good work," Aria said with a smile.

"Thanks," Nick said with a nod.

Compared to Vernon, Aria didn't seem to view Dark Dream as an enemy.

Of course, she also wasn't viewing them as an ally.

"Thanks for helping us catch these two. Kugelblitz will be sure to remember that favor!" Aria said with a smile as she jumped and flew out of the megastructure again.

She flew up the side of the megastructure and entered through a small entrance near its peak.

That was the same place the governor had entered with the two coral people.

Meanwhile, Nick jumped onto the Shweeb railway and ran down.

After about a minute, Nick reached Dark Dream and entered.

Naturally, while Dark Dream had been involved in uncovering the mystery of the north, they were not part of the investigation.

The governor would not tell them what they had found out.

The city had paid for the information, and they had the right to keep it to themselves or to share it with whomever they wanted.

Maybe that was the governor's way of taking revenge on Dark Dream for all the people the city had lost.

But that didn't stop Dark Dream from obtaining that information just days later.

Aria Light had been part of the investigation, and Aria Light belonged to Kugelblitz.

Obviously, she told the other major shareholders so that Kugelblitz could come to a decision about what to do.

One of these shareholders was Vernon Melfion, and Vernon Melfion just so happened to be close friends with Julian.

Sure, Vernon hated Nick, but he didn't hate Julian.

After talking for a while, Vernon told Julian, but Julian had to promise that he wouldn't tell Nick.

"So, anyway," Julian said with a smile. "Turns out, the coral people are people that went missing a long time ago."

Nick didn't show a strong reaction. "I thought that's what was going on."

Julian chuckled a bit. "Just as expected, the corals are controlling the people."

"But what is surprising is that they are still alive. As in, they are not reanimated corpses."

"They've never died."

"From what they found out, the corals enter the nervous system near the neck and completely take control of it."

"This means that their brains have not been touched."

"However, the corals also release a paralyzing agent that destroys every nerve outside the brain, even the ones in the face."

"All the nerves inside them have been dissolved, basically."

"If the city were to remove the corals, their Zephosis would end, and they would die as soon as their Zephyx storage gets empty."

"This means the coral people only have two choices."

"Follow the Specter's command or die."

Julian chuckled.

"Although, I don't think they really have a choice."