Seeing they were about to continue upstairs, Wei'en suggested, "Um, I think I'll go with you guys..."
'If I'm going to die, I at least want to know why!'
When that wisp of despair's power had pierced through a moment ago, he'd felt it was truly unfair...
He was clearly hiding downstairs, so how did he end up being the first unlucky one?
'Is it just because I'm the weakest?'
"Alright, but wait for us to go in first," Lisi agreed with a nod. "Ariana?"
"No problem. The valiant souls are excited."
The tentacles around Ariana swelled, clearly having been fed to their fill by the recent wave of despair's power.
After speaking, the two of them flashed directly to the second floor and rushed through the iron door.
"Let's go, Wei'en. We'll head over too."
Marco, carrying the Magic Staff, clapped him on the shoulder and smiled. "I was worried you'd be affected. I didn't expect you to recover so quickly."
"No, I'm just afraid of being thrown to the ground again."
Wei'en looked at him expressionlessly, his meaning self-evident.
"Uh, haha..."
Marco let out an awkward laugh and pointed at Lisi, who had stopped by the iron door ahead. "I'll go take a look first. Maybe there's a discovery."
With that, he scurried off.
Wei'en curled his lip as he watched Marco "flee." "Tina, don't you think Marco is a bit unreliable?"
"Tina thinks Wei'en is reliable."
"Oh? What a coincidence. I think so too."
After leading the white-haired girl upstairs, Wei'en saw the others standing motionlessly inside the door. "What's wrong with you all..."
...'The fuck?'
With a single glance, his eyes were locked onto the horrifying scene behind the door.
It was as if time itself had frozen. An icy chill struck him straight in the heart.
The vast, silent room before him was filled with desiccated corpses, hung by ropes from the ceiling like so many links of dried sausage.
Their bodies were unnaturally gaunt, skin clinging tightly to bone, as if drained of their very last drop of blood.
Furthermore, all the corpses held the same pose—
Arms crossed over their shoulders, feet together, giving them a bizarre, ritualistic appearance.
Carved onto each corpse was the pattern of a bright red eye, its crimson color a stark contrast to the grayish-white husks.
Under the dim, yellow light of the oil lamps on the walls, the flickering shadows made the scene exceptionally grim and terrifying.
Wei'en murmured, "Is this... the Hell Abyss?"
Not even that giant eye had delivered as great a shock as this real, tangible scene before him.
"Three hundred and twenty-six."
Lisi's voice had become deep and hoarse, laced with a bone-chilling cold. "It seems we've found the three hundred-plus missing people..."
Ariana's face was ashen. His tentacles thrashed violently, letting out a WHOOSHING sound.
"The Despair Sect... they did this?"
"Most likely. Look at the ground,"
Marco used his Magic Staff to push aside a nearby corpse and pointed at the floor. "A sacrificial ritual. This is a Rune Array commonly used by the Despair Sect."
'A sacrificial ritual?'
'A Rune Array?'
Wei'en followed his gesture and looked.
The floor of the room was covered in complex, twisted runes. Dark red symbols seemed to seep into it like bloodstains, and several grooves connected these runes, forming an intricate pattern.
And in the center of the Array was a statue—a ferocious-looking eye, surrounded by countless carved, twisted arms.
They were tangled together, crisscrossing as they merged into the eye, like vines crawling all over the statue's surface.
These arms were ugly and distorted, withered and gaunt, just like the corpses.
The entire statue was shrouded in darkness, exuding an aura of distortion and madness, as if it were the source of all evil and despair.
"The Despair Sect's Faith Totem... Looks like we were right."
Lisi took a deep breath and walked further inside.
She used her Two-Handed Axe to push aside the desiccated corpses hanging overhead, as if they were truly just links of sausage.
She didn't stop until she reached the statue in the center of the room.
"I'm so jealous of your division's cases. You're going to make a fortune off this one," Ariana remarked sourly, seeing her actions.
'Make a fortune?'
Wei'en secretly perked up his ears. 'How?'
Marco pursed his lips. "Captain Alianna, don't forget, you're getting a piece of the profits this time too."
"These as well,"
Ariana pointed at the desiccated corpses. "They've all been corroded by the power of despair. Sell them to those guys from the Shadow School, and you'll get at least 5 shillings a piece."
"According to the department's rules, assistants on a case get a ten percent cut of the profit."
"You've really got it all calculated out, haven't you?"
Marco shot back sarcastically and then ignored him, turning his attention to Lisi's actions inside.
'So that's how they make money...'
Wei'en glanced around the room again. 'If you make money like this too often, won't you have nightmares?'
Before long, Lisi had dug out the statue and walked out carrying it.
"Lisi, does this mean my mission is complete?"
The tentacles around Ariana retracted into his body, returning him to his normal appearance. "About the profits..."
Lisi shot him a glance. "You'll get your share."
"Does that include the statue?"
"Everything will be done by the book."
Ariana rubbed his hands together, a smile spreading across his face. "Oh, you're too kind..."
"Shut up!"
"..."
Ariana immediately snapped his mouth shut and made a few gestures, asking what to do with the corpses.
Lisi glanced back and said flatly, "Marco, go back and tell the City Guard to come over and help move these 'trophies'."
"You got it."
Marco waved the Magic Staff in his hand. "Roose, Manda." (Gale.)
A whirlwind enveloped his body, and with a single step, he vanished from the spot.
'Magic?'
Wei'en thought, not without a touch of envy: 'When will I be able to use such cool Magic...'
Just then, Lisi beckoned. "Wei'en, Tina, let's go wait outside. We'll leave this place to Ariana."
"Huh? Lisi, I'm just an assistant..."
"Hm?"
Looking at her icy expression, Ariana stammered, "I mean to say, no problem."
Lisi shot him another glance and walked straight out of the room.
"We're counting on you, Captain Alianna." With that, Wei'en led Tina out of the house after them.
"Damn it all!!"
Hearing the roar from the room, Wei'en flinched. "Tina, you don't think Captain Alianna will go crazy, do you?"
Tina was as direct as ever. "Tina says he wouldn't dare."
Wei'en glanced back, and seeing that Ariana hadn't poked his head out, he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Next time, you could try saying something like that a bit more tactfully."
"Tina was being tactful. He wouldn't dare."
"Alright, you're the boss."
Wei'en looked at the expressionless, white-haired girl and shook his head helplessly.
For now, he gave up on teaching Tina about the subtleties of social interaction.
When the two of them stepped out of the house, they saw Lisi leaning against the doorframe, having lit a cigarette. She was staring blankly at the sky.
Seeing her like this, Wei'en guessed that she had been moved by the scene inside.
He hadn't expected someone as carefree as Lisi to have such a tender side.
"Captain, those people inside... it's truly tragic. Don't take it too hard. Even though this is the first case I've been involved in, I..."
Lisi turned to him and asked blankly, "What are you talking about? Take it hard? Me?"
Wei'en froze for a second. "Uh, no?"
"Haha..."
Lisi burst out laughing, slapping his shoulder repeatedly. "I-I was just calculating how many gold pounds we can make from this case..."
Wei'en's expression grew awkward. "Oh, uh,"
After a moment of laughter, the same smile she'd worn when they first met returned to Lisi's face. She looked at him and said, "But still, thank you for trying to comfort me, Wei'en."
"I, uh, you're welcome."
'Who the hell knew you were just doing math?'
Speechless, Wei'en asked, "So, did you finish your calculations? The profit from this case?"
"Not bad. The statue alone is worth 13 gold pounds. If we find the right buyer, the price could go up by quite a bit."
'Thirteen gold pounds?'
Add to that the corpses, at 5 shillings each, that comes out to 80 gold pounds.
'So all together... that's nearly 100 gold pounds?'
'That's so much money!'
Wei'en instantly forgot his embarrassment. "I think you mentioned everyone who participated gets a share? Do I get one too?"
"Of course. As a participant, you get five percent of the profits. However..." Lisi gave him a half-smile. "I seem to recall a certain someone still owes me 2 gold pounds."
Wei'en's expression grew awkward once again. "C-Could you just deduct it from my share of the profits this time?"
'How much is five percent, again?'
'5 gold pounds...'
'It's more than enough to pay her back.'
The smile on Lisi's face grew even brighter, her eyes curving into crescents. "Then it's a deal."
"..."
Wei'en looked at her smile. 'She's totally pushing me to pay her back, isn't she?'
'Whatever. At least I'm making a profit. That's great!'
...
...
Elsewhere, a few members of the City Guard, having finished gathering the corpses, stood to one side, watching Wei'en's group.
"Captain Guiseppi, you're on such good terms with Marco. Could you ask him to open up a few more spots?"
"You want to go too, kid?"
"Hehe, I heard there are a lot of rich girls from the Dumitru District at the party. We wanted to go check it out..."
Guiseppi looked at him, then at the others. "You all want to go?"
"Cap, we want to go too."
"Yeah, Captain, take us with you, please?"
Guiseppi raised an eyebrow and pretended to think. "I'll consider it. Depends on your performance."
"Say no more. First thing tomorrow, I'll bring some cheese from home..."
"Me too..."
Just then, a figure flashed out from the shadows. "What's all the happy chatter about?"
Guiseppi's body tensed for a moment, but after seeing who it was, he cursed with a laugh, "Marco, you nearly scared us to death."
"Sounds like you weren't discussing anything good,"
Marco gave him a wicked smile and walked to his side. "Let me in on it, too."
"Of course we were talking about the party you're hosting. We..."
SHINK!
Guiseppi stared at the short sword piercing his chest and asked numbly, "Ma-Marco, you... Why?"
"The party? I'm not really interested..."
"Captain!! Marco, I'm going to kill you!!"
Marco watched the City Guards charging at him with their weapons drawn, a vicious smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
"Go ahead. As it happens, I've lived long enough."
Eternal life, my return gift!