Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Civet Cat

The first level of the basement was exceptionally spacious. Contrary to what one might expect, it was not at all cluttered; instead, it was remarkably tidy, with barely any miscellaneous items stored there. Lin Lei did not notice anything unusual for the moment and soon continued downward.

Upon reaching the second level, a pungent smell of blood made Lin Lei pause in his steps. The sight that greeted him was truly shocking—

On the dim floor, intricate and bizarre patterns were drawn in blood, forming a strange, special ritual circle. The moment Lin Lei saw it, his mind thundered with alarm.

The dark red, unsettling symbols seemed to emit a faint phosphorescence in Lin Lei’s eyes—a light unlike any he had ever seen. It carried with it a sense of distortion and eeriness that made one feel nauseous. At the same time, all the negative emotions that had just been forcibly suppressed by the Power of Calm surged back to the surface.

He also began to hear a low, seductive whisper, at once ethereal and sacred, laced with a bewitching power. The voice seemed unreal, as if coming from a dream, the syllables impossible to distinguish.

“Not good!”

Without hesitation, Lin Lei summoned what remained of the Power of Calm within him, flooding his mind. He immediately averted his gaze, refusing to look any longer at the sinister ritual circle.

The whispers faded into the distance, but a persistent buzzing still rang in his ears.

“Whew! Whew!” Lin Lei gasped for breath like a drowning man breaking the surface, his chest heaving until, after a long moment, he managed to regain his composure.

“This ritual must be the very ‘ceremony’ Li Xueshu mentioned, the one that Gao Yue performed.” Lin Lei wiped the cold sweat from his brow, and, still shaken by the lingering buzzing in his ears, felt a wave of lingering dread.

After all, he was only at the First Rank. A Third Rank Source Adept—especially one from the sinister Dominion Pact—would naturally wield a ritual whose power of corruption far exceeded his own capacity to withstand. If not for the ability of his Calming Pendant, he might well have suffered immediate mutation or mental collapse; at the very least, he could have lost control of his emotions...

He took a deep breath and, though grateful, did not immediately turn and leave. Instead, he turned back, removed his jacket, and covered the disturbing ritual pattern.

Only then did he begin to examine his surroundings.

Compared to the first level, this place was clearly much more chaotic and rife with strange odors. Passageways led in all directions, and scattered white bones could be seen throughout—evidence that this was where Gao Yue kept her ghouls.

Lin Lei even spotted several young ghouls here, whom he dispatched without mercy. It had to be said, this woman’s basement was truly enormous, crisscrossed with secret doors, and even connected directly to the sewers.

“That second-tier monster must have used the sewers to return to the villa…”

In truth, if Li Xueshu hadn’t immediately used her Seal, Gao Yue would have already fled; she would never have chosen to fight Li Xueshu to the death.

“It’s a pity. For all its size, the basement seems to hold no other source artifacts…” Lin Lei shook his head, but then suddenly halted, for he heard the faint sound of sobbing.

“Are there more ghouls?”

Gripping his steel blade, he followed the sound, soon stopping before a wall from which the weeping originated. He tapped the wall with his blade, and the crying abruptly ceased.

Raising an eyebrow, he knocked around the wall, and quickly found a hidden brick.

With a clack, the mechanism engaged.

With a deep rumble, the wall slid aside, revealing a large hollow space.

Lin Lei stepped inside and instantly saw, within the darkness of the secret chamber, a huge iron cage in which a figure was huddled.

A flicker of light in his eyes, Lin Lei quickly realized that this was not a ghoul, but a person—a woman, barely clothed, with a collar and chains around her neck.

He strode forward, stopping before the cage. Inside, the woman knelt and cowered, her body trembling uncontrollably.

“Master, master…”

The trembling, obedient voice shocked Lin Lei to his core.

There was no need to ask; this woman had clearly been one of Gao Yue’s victims, subjected to unthinkable “education.”

Lin Lei’s brow furrowed deeply. He drew his blade.

With a single swing, he brought it down on the cage’s iron lock.

Sparks flew. The metallic clang made the woman inside shudder violently, curling up even tighter.

“Master, please, no... master…”

The lock was nothing special; Lin Lei’s strike deformed and shattered it, and it clattered to the floor.

“Don’t be afraid. Look at me. I’m not the one you think—I’m here to save you.” Lin Lei opened the cage, took off his T-shirt, and draped it over the shivering woman.

He could feel her body tremble again as, with great caution, she raised her head, revealing a face that, though pale and gaunt, remained strikingly beautiful...

In the darkness, she could not clearly see Lin Lei’s features, but he could see hers quite well.

Though clearly weakened and in poor mental state, her visage was almost identical to that of the “Gao Yue” whom Li Xueshu had just killed.

“You’re the real ‘Gao Yue’?”

At the mention of the name, the woman’s body shook violently and she began to sob once more.

...

An hour later.

Inside the car on the way back to the Bureau of Investigation.

“So it really was a case of the impostor taking the mistress’s place. No wonder the young lady of a prominent Biyang family would join a group like the Dominion Pact!” Li Xueshu chewed on a lollipop, unsurprised by the outcome. “Now that we’ve rescued the daughter of such a wealthy tycoon, Gao Yi will have to reward us handsomely!”

Lin Lei nodded with a peculiar expression.

Although the pay for investigators was excellent, it still couldn’t compare to the likes of Gao Yi, whose assets were worth billions.

Lin Lei couldn’t help but ask, “Team Leader, do you think... someone as wealthy as Gao Yi is aware of our ‘field’?”

Even in a world of extraordinary powers, money still commanded respect. Those who could ignore the rules were always few.

Li Xueshu nodded. “Among Source Adept organizations, there are those like the Dominion Pact who worship forbidden evils, but most are neutral or even lawful in nature.”

“In Biyang City alone, there are quite a few such supernatural organizations.”

“In fact, nearly every major tycoon in Biyang has dealings with at least one local extraordinary group.”

She lowered her voice. “Actually, our own Biyang Bureau of Investigation receives funding from quite a few enterprises as well…”

Money doesn’t fall from the sky, nor does it drop from monsters slain by Adepts.

There was, of course, a reason why investigators enjoyed such generous salaries and benefits.