Blood Demon House

Xia Shou sat in the Containment Bureau's transport truck, swaying from side to side as it bounced along.

He had to admit, the bureau's driver had some impressive skills. His backside was practically being jolted into two halves.

They still had half an hour before reaching their destination. He could use that time to think over his situation.

Right now, he only had three cards to play.

The first was Alice, who could steal other people's sight.

The second was the skill he had gained after devouring the wax figure: [Death Road].

The last was the bottle of special blood Shangguan Yan had given him, which could raise his anomaly level.

Although he also had Dorian Gray's Pocket Watch, he neither knew how to paint a self-portrait nor had the time to do so. The watch probably wouldn't be any use on this mission.

"Things aren't too bad yet. At least [Death Road] gives us one chance to get it wrong," Xia Shou told Alice.

Once activated, Death Road forced him to travel a hundred meters along the most dangerous route. But its ability to rewind an hour upon death made it the perfect tool for gathering information.

He opened the documents Shangguan Yan had given him. The title on the first page read, "Investigation report: Blood Demon House."

The second page held a photograph taken in the middle of a desolate woodland.

It showed a crooked country villa with dark green roof tiles and granite walls. Red ivy covered one side.

The pitch-black front door stood half open, revealing an upside-down entryway. The ceiling had become the floor, and the floor had become the ceiling. A shoe cabinet hovered overhead, while a chandelier hung from the ground, suspended in midair.

Xia Shou stared at the photograph. Gradually, the doorway in it overlapped with the scene from his dream.

That door!

He had seen it in the sea!

Out in the wilderness, a villa stood in the middle of a bare woodland. Yellow police tape cordoned off the area within a hundred meters of it, with dozens of fully armed soldiers standing guard behind the perimeter.

Inside the cordon, several mysterious personnel in matching uniforms stood around the villa, taking measurements with all sorts of strange instruments.

Zhang Zhengde ducked under the tape and approached the person in charge. "How long has Zhou Hongjie been inside?"

"Two hours. Edward's Life Lamp is still burning, though." The man in charge wore a deep frown.

Zhang Zhengde drew in a sharp breath and looked up at the infamous sinister villa.

Ten years ago, this bizarre-looking villa had appeared without warning in the woods on the outskirts of Jiangbo City. Its appearance matched the Blood Demon House described in Dorian Gray's notes exactly.

Given the frequent Blood Demon incidents occurring in the real world, the Containment Bureau had dispatched S-Rank Investigator Edward. Three days later, Edward had vanished along with the villa.

With Edward's disappearance, the Blood Demon phenomena that had periodically manifested in reality had also vanished. A supernatural threat that had long plagued the real world had thus been resolved.

Yet although Edward was missing, the Life Lamp representing him had continued to burn in the bureau to this day.

For ten years, the bureau had waited for the Blood Demon House to reappear.

Today, that sinister house had finally returned.

To handle this special incident, the Containment Bureau had sent Second-Level Cleaner Zhou Hongjie into the Blood Demon House, along with five First-Level Cleaners.

So far, the outside world had received no word from any of them. According to protocol, they should be presumed dead.

"Even Zhou Hongjie couldn't complete the mission?" Zhang Zhengde asked worriedly.

At some point, a masked man had appeared behind Zhang Zhengde. He spoke up in warning. "Edward was a top investigator. Everyone wants to rescue him.

"But the Blood Demon incidents were resolved ten years ago. This villa is now just a mysterious building that appears out of nowhere, like a mirage... It poses no obvious threat to the normal world.

"If you keep sending people inside, you might indeed rescue Edward, but you're far more likely to send them to pointless deaths.

"You know what six Cleaners are worth. You've already lost this gamble. Keep going, and you'll only lose more."

Without a word, Zhang Zhengde took the Anomaly Meter from a nearby technician. Its reading had soared to 1,257.

This measurement was something like nuclear radiation in the supernatural world. Both anomalous activity and the deaths of supernaturally gifted people could drive it up. A reading above 1,000 indicated one of two possibilities.

First, there was an extraordinarily terrifying anomaly inside the house.

Second, the number of supernatural personnel who had died inside far exceeded normal levels.

Either possibility meant that the Blood Demon House was extremely dangerous.

Zhang Zhengde gazed at the Blood Demon House in silence for a long time before finally saying, "Let's try one more time."

"There's no need. Continuing the rescue will only cause more pointless casualties. It might even make the Blood Demon House more unstable. Let it go," the masked man said.

Zhang Zhengde glanced at him, took a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it. "This isn't my decision. The director has already contacted a Level Three Cleaner. He'll be here soon." The masked man shot him a look. "A Level Three Cleaner? The boss contacted him personally?"

Cleaner was an honorary title the Containment Bureau awarded to supernaturally gifted individuals after an exceptionally rigorous assessment.

Promotion through the Cleaner ranks was incredibly demanding. The main criteria were the frequency and difficulty of the anomalous incidents they resolved alone.

Every First-Level Cleaner was an expert capable of handling anomalous threats independently, specializing in incidents that conventional armed forces could not resolve.

Their abilities were mysterious, their strength exceptional. They could often finish missions without a scratch.

Their existence saved the Containment Bureau enormous sums in supplies and death benefits every year. Each First-Level Cleaner reduced the bureau's annual expenditure by nearly five million. Calling them the bureau's money trees was no exaggeration.

Second-Level Cleaners were several times stronger than First-Level Cleaners. They only stepped in when even three First-Level Cleaners could not handle an anomalous incident.

Second-Level Cleaners were the backbone of keeping this world "normal." Their value could no longer be measured in money.

As for Level Three Cleaners... They needed not only an astonishing record, but also a joint recommendation from two Second-Level Cleaners.

In this line of work, no one would recommend someone for promotion unless they had absolute faith in that person's strength.

That made a Level Three Cleaner almost overwhelmingly stronger than a Second-Level Cleaner!

"Deploying a Level Three Cleaner without approval from multiple departments means invoking 'special emergency authority.' If this incident isn't resolved, the boss will get a major demerit. What on earth is he thinking?"

The masked man sounded stunned.

Zhang Zhengde shook his head. "I don't know either. The boss seems very determined to rescue Edward."

"That doesn't add up! Edward's Life Lamp may still be burning, but that only means his body is still alive!

"What kind of investigator could survive ten years in a house where even six Cleaners couldn't stay alive? What do you think the odds are that he's still human?"

Faced with those pointed questions, Zhang Zhengde's expression became ironclad. He remained silent, saying nothing.

Seeing that expression, the masked man knew his questions had touched on classified information.

"All right, then tell me who this Level Three Cleaner is. Surely you can tell me that much?"

"The director didn't go into detail. He only said it was a man with a possessing spirit," Zhang Zhengde said with a sigh.

Just as he finished speaking, brakes screeched behind them. A transport truck came to a stop outside the cordon.

The door opened, and Xia Shou jumped out.