Unexpected Windfall

With his great vengeance finally exacted, it felt as though a heavy burden had been lifted from Rayne's shoulders. His whole body felt light, and he was in an excellent mood.

He glanced at Ramsey's corpse and muttered, "Last time, you took my money. This time, it's my turn."

He stepped forward and searched him, but only turned up a wallet and nothing else.

Without checking how much money was inside, Rayne dragged Ramsey's body toward the river, only to suddenly realize that his strength had increased tremendously.

Ramsey was an adult and not light, yet Rayne dragged him with no effort at all. He could even lift him one-handed, as easily as picking up a brick.

"My strength has increased by at least two or three times!"

Rayne was thrilled. He put all his strength into it and hurled Ramsey's corpse toward the river. It flew six or seven meters before landing in the water with a splash and was quickly carried away by the current.

Once he was done, Rayne immediately headed back while checking his physical condition.

"Holy shit!"

The moment Rayne opened his phone interface, he was startled. "The battery's fully charged? No wonder I got so much stronger."

He had been fighting the entire time and had not paid much attention to his phone's battery. He had only checked it when he killed Esberg. It had surged by more than 50% then. Afterward, he absorbed the souls of three more people, including an Iron Guard, and without realizing it, the battery had reached 100%!

Rayne had suspected that the stronger the soul he absorbed, the more charge he gained. It seemed he had been right.

The first time he absorbed that Fallen One's soul, it had given him eight bars of charge.

The Fallen One had merely been an ordinary person, but two of the four people he absorbed tonight had been Transcendents. Esberg in particular had been a second-level Shadow Dancer. The strength of his soul alone was equivalent to five ordinary people.

With the Iron Guard and the two ordinary people added in, it was almost exactly enough to fully charge the battery.

"I thought my soul had just been elevated somehow. So it wasn't an illusion—my soul strength has truly reached a new stage."

Rayne had long understood that the battery was not only closely tied to his physical condition; it also represented the strength of his soul.

The higher the charge, the stronger his soul.

Now that the battery was full, Rayne's physical abilities had improved along with it. Though he was still not on the level of a Transcendent, he far surpassed an ordinary person. It was as if he had trained continuously for years. He felt as though he had endless strength and would never grow tired.

Moreover, several icons on the phone had been activated all at once, but he had no time to explore them now.

Rayne quickly returned to the carriage, where Esberg's corpse still lay.

The horse, badly injured by the fall, was not dead yet and occasionally let out mournful cries. Two of its legs were broken, and it would never run again. The driver, however, had long since gone cold. He had been the first to die, and perhaps because he had been too far away, Rayne had not absorbed the driver's soul.

Rayne climbed into the carriage and searched it, but found nothing valuable.

Likewise, Esberg had only a wallet on him.

He went over and picked up Esberg's longsword, returned to the carriage, and drove the blade through the horse's skull, ending its suffering.

A soul rose from the horse's carcass and was absorbed by Rayne, but nothing changed.

"Looks like absorbing more souls is useless once the battery is full."

Rayne sheathed the longsword and slung it over his back. With the shotgun in hand, he headed toward the manor.

The manor was quiet. Rayne hid in the grass outside and waited patiently for over ten minutes, but no one else came out. Apparently, there was no one left inside.

Still, he did not let down his guard. Holding his gun, he kept close to the walls and carefully searched his way inside step by step.

The manor was not large. Rayne soon searched most of it and found no one, finally allowing himself to relax slightly.

The manor's furnishings were even more rudimentary than he had expected. Many areas had not been properly maintained, the rooms on the third floor were all empty, the interior decorations were cheap, and the sanitation was terrible. The kitchen stank to high heaven. It did not look like a place where a wealthy man would come to vacation.

Only one room on the second floor was relatively clean. It was probably where Esberg had stayed.

Rayne rummaged through every cabinet and drawer before finally finding a leather suitcase beneath the desk. It felt heavy when he lifted it, as though it was full of something.

The square suitcase was not large and was not locked. It could be opened simply by undoing its two clasps.

Rayne stood farther away, used the longsword to pry open the clasps, and flipped open the suitcase.

"Hiss..."

Rayne sucked in a sharp breath, nearly thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. The suitcase was packed full of money!

All the bills were in denominations of 100 Copper Yuan, bundled into neat stacks that filled the entire suitcase. There were roughly thirty or forty bundles, each containing one hundred notes, or ten thousand Copper Yuan. The total inside the suitcase exceeded three hundred thousand!

"Damn it, I've struck it rich!"

Rayne was beside himself with excitement. For the past half month, he had survived on the small amount of savings he had left behind and had been worrying about how to make money. That was why he had taken Ramsey and Esberg's wallets earlier. He had never expected to stumble upon such an unexpected fortune moments later.

"This must be money Esberg got from disposing of stolen goods, and it's only a small portion. Most of it is probably hidden at his home in the city."

Rayne was not blinded by the money. He had to make sure it was not a trap.

He poured all the money out of the suitcase and inspected every bundle of bills, making sure nothing had been tucked inside. Only then did he find a bag to pack it into rather than putting it back in the suitcase.

"Three hundred sixty thousand in total, equivalent to 360 Gold Shields. That's a massive fortune."

Grinning happily, Rayne carried the bag of money downstairs, ready to leave.

As he came down the stairs, his gaze swept over a small door by the corner, and he could not help stopping.

A small door beneath the stairs usually led to a cellar used for storing wine or food. When he searched the manor earlier, he had not noticed it and had overlooked it.

Now, he noticed a faint glimmer seeping through the crack beneath the door. It was extremely weak; without the Soul Eye, he likely would not have noticed it at all.

"Someone's behind the door?"

Rayne was startled. He immediately threw down the bag of money, aimed his gun at the small door, and backed away step by step to take up the best position.

Yet after waiting for quite some time, there was still no movement behind the door.

The faint glow continued to flicker out from time to time, but there was no sound.

"No one? Or something else?"

Rayne decided to investigate.

He cautiously felt around the door and discovered that it was unlocked. It opened with a hard push. Behind it was a staircase leading underground, with a dim kerosene lamp mounted on the wall. Its wick had burned too short and was about to go out, causing the flame to flicker from time to time.

Rayne carefully scanned the passage several times and found no traps or anything similar. Only then did he lighten his steps and slowly make his way down.

There was a turn at the bottom of the stairs. The moment Rayne rounded it, the sight before him left him utterly stunned.

It was a dark basement, its four walls built from stone blocks and its overall shape rectangular. At its center stood a diamond-shaped altar half a meter high.

A corpse lay on the altar. Its abdomen had been cut open and all its organs removed, arranged along the altar's edge. Its limbs had also been severed and piled together in a grotesque formation. The corpse's head remained, but its scalp had been peeled away, and all flesh had been scraped from its face, exposing stark white bone. Only the skull was still attached to the torso.

An open tome rested on the corpse's chest.

Besides that corpse, skulls were scattered throughout the basement, while heaps of white bones filled the corners.

The floor had been stained black with blood. Chilling gusts of wind swept through the basement, and agonized wails echoed from time to time. Who knew how many people had been murdered here and used as sacrifices?

"A shrine to an evil god!"

Rayne had never seen anything like this before, and his scalp went numb.

The blood on the altar had not yet dried. At last, he understood what Esberg and Ramsey had been doing in the manor earlier. They had been performing a sacrificial ritual for an evil god.

"So the rumors were true. The Shadow Blade assassins really do worship an evil god."

Rayne murmured to himself, but he did not know which evil god Shadow Blade worshipped. This god seemed to be taboo within the Empire. Ordinary people knew nothing about It, and Rayne had never heard anyone mention It before.

"Of course it's true."

A voice suddenly sounded behind him.

The unexpected voice made Rayne's entire body jerk. From the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow approaching from behind. Without thinking, he spun around and fired.

Bang!

The gunshot thundered through the passage.

White smoke filled the air as dozens of steel pellets blanketed half the passage, including the figure.

Only then did Rayne clearly see who it was: Roger, the Legendary Demon Hunter from Basil Inn. Roger clearly had no hostile intent, but Rayne had already fired. It was too late to stop.

A layer of golden light appeared before Roger like a spherical shield. The steel pellets struck it and sent ripples across its surface before bouncing away, causing no harm whatsoever.

Through the golden shield, Rayne could see Roger's left hand formed into a strange hand sign.

When he released the hand sign, the shield vanished.

"This is the gun you made in Zoltan's workshop?" Roger looked at the shotgun in Rayne's hands. A trace of curiosity appeared in his catlike eyes as he praised, "Its power is decent. More importantly, even ordinary people can use it."

"Master Roger, why are you here? You gave me quite a scare."

Rayne casually lowered the barrel, unwilling to say much about the shotgun.

He had not yet decided whether to promote firearms in the future. He did not know what impact it would have on the world if weapons that ordinary people could use, and which could threaten Transcendents, were mass-produced and widely distributed.

Besides, he knew nothing about Roger's character or background. There was no such thing as being too cautious.

As for calling Roger "Master," he had picked that up from the inn's guests.

The title did not refer to Roger's Demon Hunter strength, but to his skill with the Myriad Spirits Card. He had once competed in the Empire's highest-level Myriad Spirits Card tournament and earned the title of "Master."

"I followed you here," Roger replied flatly, making Rayne's heart lurch.