A long corridor stretched ahead, lined on both sides with countless tightly shut doors. An evil aura that did not belong to this world washed over him.
Charlotte drew his short gun, gathered Bloody Glory, opened the Eye of Insight to its fullest, and charged deeper into the estate.
The mansion was unfathomably deep. Charlotte ran for more than ten minutes without seeing the end. There was still only the endless corridor and countless closed doors.
He had not explored any of the rooms along the corridor. The Eye of Insight could "see" that every room beyond those doors was filled with darkness, utterly inhuman.
A strange buzzing sound drew nearer. Charlotte had just raised his short gun when he saw a black beetle fly over and circle around him.
Charlotte hesitated slightly and took a step forward. The black beetle immediately flew several meters away, seeming to be leading the way.
He followed the black beetle without hesitation.
The beetle circled left and right, and the corridor ahead began to change. Countless galleries appeared, with innumerable branching paths.
Charlotte felt a faint pang of regret, but there was no way back now. He was absolutely certain that Anne was trapped in the dream.
As for whether it was worth barging in to save an unfamiliar girl—
It was too late to ask that now.
Led by the black beetle, Charlotte ran for a full half hour. He knew something was deeply wrong. Though the estate was grand, it could not possibly be this vast.
Charlotte grew increasingly anxious. Then he suddenly heard a scream. The black beetle also beat its wings faster, leading him through several galleries.
Charlotte rushed forward a few steps and saw a young maid with only her upper body left, lying on the ground covered in blood. There was a mangled mess beneath her abdomen. When she saw him pass, hope flashed in her eyes, and she cried in a trembling voice, "Save me! Please, save me!"
Charlotte's heart ached. Even if he became a master-level Transcendence, he could not bring back the dead. That was the domain of gods.
Only the young maid's upper body remained. He had no way to save her.
Nor could Charlotte bring himself to put the maid out of her misery. He was not that cruel.
All he could do...
Was cover his face and pass by.
The maid's cries grew ever more shrill, and Charlotte felt terrible as well.
He was certain of one thing: Yang Mills was conducting some kind of evil ritual. This residence had already become something beyond the human world. By now, there were probably not many living people left inside.
I wonder how Miss Anne Brittany is doing. Has something happened to her?
Charlotte had never expected that a simple favor would lead him into such a high-level battle.
He continued charging onward behind the black beetle when an unfamiliar young girl in hunting attire came running toward him. Seeing Charlotte, she was both startled and delighted. "Mr. Mecklen, save me!"
Charlotte was slightly surprised. He raised the eighty-percent-new Magnum Hand Shuttle and asked, "How do you know me?"
The girl in hunting attire flushed slightly. "I'm Anne! Anne Brittany."
Before Charlotte could respond, he saw a monster over three meters tall, crimson all over and seemingly skinless, carrying an enormous spiked hammer as it slowly pursued her.
Faced with such danger, Charlotte instead calmed down. He closed his eyes, raised the Magnum Hand Shuttle, and fired three shots in succession at the girl in hunting attire.
Smoke curled through the air. The girl's figure gradually blurred, transforming into a tall, sinister man. He cried out in disbelief, "How could you shoot me?"
Charlotte's answer was to quickly add two more shots.
At the same time, he was immensely grateful that the first ability he had awakened was Insight.
Charlotte did not understand why Yang Mills had not disguised himself as the real Anne Brittany and had instead taken the form of an unfamiliar girl, but that did not affect the outcome.
He had become wary and used the Eye of Insight once, discovering the true identity of the girl in hunting attire. Five bullets put an end to the man who had tried to awaken an evil god.
Yang Mills fell to the ground, blood gushing from the five bullet holes in his body.
The monster over three meters tall, crimson all over, carrying an enormous spiked hammer and seemingly skinless, did not disappear. It continued to press closer step by step.
Charlotte took a deep breath and reached for the Vampire Hand Axe hidden at his waist. Bloody Glory flowed into the Vampire Hand Axe, and a faint bloody gleam rose from its blade.
Back in university, Charlotte had specialized in government clerical work. He had never intended to become a combatant.
His martial skills were fairly ordinary, his close-combat techniques especially terrible, and he lacked experience in life-and-death fights.
Unless necessary, Charlotte did not want to choose battle.
In these circumstances, fighting was not the best choice either.
Charlotte did not even dare use the Eye of Insight.
What if his opponent was that overseas evil god?
The best possible outcome of looking directly at an evil god was becoming blind.
A slightly better outcome was going completely insane.
The worst outcome was not death, but having one's bloodline cursed, so that one's descendants would be born bearing misfortune.
His predecessor had tried it once. The result was neither good nor bad—he had died cleanly and directly!
There was another possibility.
This monster was—Anne Brittany.
The girl had been transformed into such a ferocious form by some evil power.
Whether he killed a noble daughter of the Brittany family or was killed by Anne, it would be an extremely serious incident.
Why did I have to fight?
In my previous life, I was only a math teacher, not a combatant!
Charlotte stared at the monster rushing toward him, torn between two choices.
The outside of Yang Mills's residence was surrounded by the City Patrol.
Among them were even several familiar faces to Charlotte—officers who had once gone to the Savings Society Apartment to investigate the case. Dobbin, the young and handsome City Patrol officer, looked at the rolling black mist and asked with a headache, "Can anyone tell me what happened here?"
One City Patrol soldier said, "This is Yang Mills's residence. He killed his wife just a few days ago. Who knows whether he regretted it and planned to use some evil magic to summon that lady's soul back so he could keep tormenting her?"
This terrible joke drew no laughter. Instead, it made the City Patrol soldiers who had rushed over feel even worse. If the joke came true, they would be in deep trouble.
Summoning a soul from the underworld was a massive affair!
Dobbin scoffed at the suggestion. Looking at Yang Mills's house, which was pouring out black mist, he had no intention of going inside to investigate.
The young City Patrol officer asked in a low voice, "When will the higher-ups send Transcendence over?"
The City Patrol soldier who had made the joke said, "Transcendence value their lives even more than we do."
Dobbin rebuked him, but he had to agree with the sentiment. Whenever something like this happened, the Transcendence in the military would never "rush over at once." They would only appear leisurely after the situation became clear, then claim all the credit for themselves.
Dobbin prided himself on his swordsmanship, but he was not a Transcendence. In a situation like this, swordsmanship was no help. Charging in recklessly would only mean throwing away his life.
He sighed and said, "Let's wait for orders from above. We only need to guard this place and keep anyone from getting close."
The black mist around Yang Mills's estate grew ever thicker.
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