As Zhang Chen stepped into the private bathroom to wash away the sweat covering his body.
The maid standing at the bathroom door to attend to Zhang Chen, along with the two maids outside Jin Geng and Jia Xin's rooms, stiffened at the same time. They swiftly turned toward a point somewhere down the endlessly stretching corridor and bowed deeply.
A tall, thin Black man draped in a black-and-white striped robe that dragged across the floor slowly approached from the unseen end of the corridor. Regular striped markings covered his face. Every step he took resonated with the surrounding environment. This man was the one who had constructed the sealing barrier around the entire palace—the Black Pharaoh, Nyarlathotep's third and strongest incarnation recorded in Jia Xin's book.
Tip slightly raised a hand, signaling for the maids not to mind his arrival and to remain at their posts as usual.
As the Faceless Man arrived outside Zhang Chen's room, the hand within his sleeve stirred, and the door slowly opened inward. The dazzling chandelier had not been turned off when Zhang Chen left.
The Faceless Man swiftly entered the room, and the door behind him closed on its own. Under the Faceless Man's gaze, the light switch on the wall also clicked off by itself.
Click!
The room's originally brilliant illumination instantly turned into utter darkness. Only the moonlight spilling in through the window provided a faint glow at the center of the room.
Yet at this moment, an astonished frown appeared on the Faceless Man's face as he surveyed the entire room. He walked to the center illuminated by moonlight, then extended an arm from his sleeve for the first time.
The arm was somewhat aged and withered. Its index finger slowly straightened from its curled position, bearing a sharp,