Chapter Thirty-Eight: Night Walker

Inside the villa.

Li Xueshu sat on the sofa with her legs crossed, biting a lollipop and playing with her phone. She looked no different from any ordinary girl her age, showing none of the domineering aura she’d displayed moments ago.

Lin Lei, feigning innocence, took a seat beside her. “Are we just going to wait here for the Investigation Bureau’s follow-up team? Shouldn’t we search the villa?”

Li Xueshu didn’t even look up, responding with a simple “Mm.”

Lin Lei couldn’t help but say, “That Gao Yue is a member of the Freedom Alliance. She should have some extra ‘Source Artifacts’ on her, right?”

Only then did Li Xueshu raise her head, a mischievous smile on her face. “Anything of value Gao Yue had was on her person. I’ve taken everything except what was broken. As for anything else, maybe there’s more, but Gao Yue knows how to conceal source energy fluctuations. Finding them would be difficult.”

“Of course, if you don’t mind the trouble, feel free to search. But the source energy radar won’t help; you’ll just have to rely on luck…”

Lin Lei’s eyes flashed, and he nodded.

Immediately, he headed toward the stairs.

Li Xueshu called after him, “Oh, and if you find anything unusual, it might affect your emotional state. Best let me know. If it’s something like a ‘Sealed Object,’ it could be very dangerous…”

Lin Lei nodded again and went upstairs.

Soon, he arrived at the second floor, Gao Yue’s room.

If this woman truly possessed source artifacts, the odds of them being hidden in her private quarters were much higher than anywhere else!

Although the source energy radar was useless, Lin Lei had a more effective method—

His own “Gluttony” talent.

By activating the invisible mouth to “consume” items, anything it couldn’t eat, or anything that required significantly more gluttony energy, would be extraordinary objects.

Lin Lei wandered through the messy room, searching, but found nothing of value.

Until, as he checked the shoe cabinet Gao Yue had overturned and tried to “devour” a pair of small, black shoes, a look of wild joy flashed across his face.

He could “consume” these shoes, but the gluttony energy required was far greater than for ordinary items or anomalies.

He tried activating “devour,” and it worked.

To “devour” these shoes would cost nearly one hundred fifty units of gluttony energy—far more than the Calm Pendant!

“Could this be a higher-level source artifact?” Lin Lei’s eyes glimmered.

Both the Calm Pendant and the Source Energy Radar were merely low-tier artifacts, which meant there were higher levels.

But these shoes appeared utterly ordinary, showing no sign of source energy leakage.

He didn’t immediately activate “devour” to consume the shoes.

Lin Lei tried forcing his feet into the ill-fitting shoes, and indeed, they were uncomfortable. Yet he found no special abilities, nor understood how to activate their power.

“Wait, my source energy fluctuation seems diminished…”

He pulled out his source energy radar, discovering that the central red dot representing himself had vanished from the screen!

He quickly took off the shoes, and the red dot reappeared at the center.

“So that’s it—the shoes’ effect is to conceal ‘source energy fluctuations’! No wonder Gao Yue kept them in the shoe cabinet, and the radar showed no anomaly…”

But for a mere concealment effect, did it really require so much gluttony energy?

Lin Lei raised an eyebrow.

“There’s likely more to this item!”

Unfortunately, by fumbling alone, he couldn’t discern any additional abilities in the short term.

“This is most likely not a ‘Sealed Object’—I felt no abnormality wearing it…”

He took off the shoes, raised his brows, and without further hesitation, activated “devour.”

The shoes in his hands vanished abruptly.

Boom!

As Lin Lei “consumed” the shoes, he instantly felt a surge of source energy flood his body—far more dramatic than what the Calm Pendant had provided.

He’d previously been quite far from the overflow threshold for a first-level source energy user, but now, in the blink of an eye, he was filled to the brim. Any excess source energy roamed restlessly within him, unable to fully integrate.

Like a cup filled to overflowing, the first level could only absorb and refine a limited amount of source energy.

Alongside a ringing in his ears, Lin Lei immediately converted the excess energy into “Calm Power,” forcibly suppressing his rampaging emotions.

And because he’d “devoured” the high heels, he could now passively suppress his own source energy fluctuations. Despite the intense changes within him, he needn’t worry about attracting Li Xueshu’s attention.

After a moment, he let out a long breath.

His eyes burned with excitement.

His source energy was overflowing—the peak of the first level.

“I’ve met the requirement to break through to the second level!”

However, advancing to the second level required two things; Lin Lei still lacked the Mirror-breaking materials. Even with his energy brimming, he couldn’t advance alone.

He smacked his lips. Eating the item, the gluttony feedback was a taste of animal leather, with the texture of beef tendon.

Similar to a ghoul’s taste, but far inferior in flavor.

Then, his eyes blazed as he absorbed the new information in his mind.

The shoes’ ability was called “Nightwalker.” Its effects went far beyond mere concealment of source energy fluctuations.

The concealment was only the surface.

Its true power was revealed only at night.

In darkness, it would passively enhance physical attributes and could actively conceal the wearer’s form.

A “Nightwalker” was equivalent to possessing three abilities.

Although only the energy suppression was always available, and the other two could only be used in darkness, which was a significant limitation, they were still formidable powers.

“These high heels are most certainly not a low-tier artifact!”

Though they had consumed almost all of Lin Lei’s gluttony energy, they had helped him achieve a full first-level energy accumulation and provided such a powerful ability—it was entirely worth it.

Thrilled, Lin Lei searched the room again, confirmed there were no other artifacts, and left, heading for the basement.

…

The villa’s basement door was a heavy metal slab, like the entrance to a vault.

Had it not been open, Lin Lei doubted his own strength could have forced it.

He descended the narrow, dark staircase.

A faint, bloody odor wafted up to meet him.

Though some time had passed since Li Xueshu activated “Absolute Zero,” Lin Lei could still feel the lingering chill.

He couldn’t find the basement light switch, but with his night vision, he could still make out most of the objects inside.