Chapter 59 Incinerator_1

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Ten seconds later, Huai Shi sat calmly in the gatehouse, extinguished the fire in the stove, and pulled the glittering Sacrificial Knife out of the desiccated corpse.

Little Pony wandered in, marveling at the recent knife skills of Huai Shi with a click of his tongue.

Meanwhile, Huai Shi scrutinized the passage behind the gatehouse and asked casually, "Old Liu, what's hidden behind here?"

"Should be their Fasting Circle..." Little Pony replied offhandedly, then jumped up in fright, "Fuck, how did you know it's me?"

Huai Shi glanced back at him, "I just asked randomly; after all, there are not many flamboyant like you among the people I know."

"Cough cough, I was also just saying." Little Pony looked at him innocently, "Who's Old Liu?"

"A baldy."

"Enough already!"

The two of them faced each other in the gatehouse for a long time until Liu DongLi helplessly shifted his gaze away.

"Who exactly are you?" Huai Shi asked.

"As you see, a Cowherd," Liu DongLi shrugged, "also a Fourth-Class Security Martial Officer among a bunch of other fragmented roles for the Astronomical Society..."

"Hmm?" Huai Shi was astonished, "What's that?"

"It's like a double safeguard set up around the rules."

The Cowherd-faced Little Pony sat on the chair and sighed, "In some sensitive areas, the Astronomical Society employs a dual-inspector system, one overt and one covert. The former engages in disputes, while the latter is responsible for accurate recording and covert investigations when the former is indisposed... just like with The Purified People this time.

On one hand, I am Ai Qing's examiner, responsible for reviewing whether she can use the Inspector's power justly. On the other hand, I'm also a bodyguard and hitman. But to avoid the sensitive issue of deploying Sublimators directly, we had to work around it, you get me?"

"So you've gotten yourself into trouble?"

"Pretty much."

Liu DongLi sighed, "Anyway, once this is over, I'm truly out of here. To make sure I pass my annual review, you'll have to pretend you don't know anything. On my end, I'll report that you're naturally strong but know no martial arts— how about we help each other out?"

Huai Shi eyed him warily, "Will I be silenced if I don't help?"

"If you don't help, you'll have to return the gift I gave you..."

"I'll help, I'll help!" Huai Shi immediately broke into a smile, "Really, what's between us that warrants such formality... I'll send you a couple more 'Overlords' later!"

"..."

Liu DongLi struggled to suppress the urge to kill this little son of a bitch on the spot.

"By the way, did Ai Qing pass her exam or not?"

"She passed in the first year, okay?" Liu DongLi rolled his eyes behind the mask, "If it wasn't for the involvement of Depth Hell·Metropolis, I would have been gone long ago, why would I need to suffer this."

"And, what's Magic City?"

"Go ask Ai Qing later! I've said more than enough already."

Liu DongLi got up, unwilling to argue anymore. After getting involved with him, he never encountered anything good.

After spending some time dealing with the surveillance, he took out the keys found on the gatekeeper's clothes to open the door leading to the back. All he saw was a pile of opened boxes stacked in the corner, and the air was permeated with a putrid stench that induced gagging.

It was like the smell of rot.

Upon entering the place, Huai Shi felt countless dissipated Source Substances converging towards him, inflating the bag once used for carrying Apocalypse almost instantly.

The despair floating in the air was almost suffocating him.

The records of death were definitely wafted from here, there were no doubts about it.

To his surprise, there was no one guarding the place.

"Why are there so few people?"

Liu DongLi looked around and said in a muffled voice, "It only proves one thing, they are planning to retreat... Leaving aside the peripheral staff outside, the real higher-ups have probably already fled."

As he spoke, he walked into the deepest part of the room.

It was almost like a plaza.

Threads of Abyss sediment wafted through the air, radiating a potent poison intolerable to most people.

The ground was engraved with incomprehensible patterns, as if it were the site of a sacrifice, and even the Sacrificial Knife in Huai Shi's arms began to tremble excitedly.

Huai Shi stepped into it, and beyond the central platform smeared with blood, there were only gigantic mirrors everywhere. Each one as large as the entrance of a mall, towering complexly within the vast plaza.

But despite being mirrors, they didn't reflect the two of them at all, looking eerily unnatural.

"This is the Fasting Circle."

Liu DongLi's voice betrayed no emotion, "The Purified People's method of breeding Border Variants in the Current Circumstances. See those mirrors? They are actually blessed cages after a ceremony, leading to separate hells called Mirror Worlds.

They bring Border Variants back from Hell through the mirrors, then raise them in the Mirror Worlds. By feeding them flesh and blood, they eventually obtain Predators that obey their commands... Now, all the cages are empty."

Crash!

A cowering shadow in the corner seemed to have knocked over something. Realizing they were looking in its direction, it turned and staggered, attempting to flee. However, it was promptly pinned to the ground by Huai Shi.

"Mercy! Mercy!"

The obese man lay on the ground, quivering, "I know nothing! Honestly! I'm just responsible for firing the boilers! None of their doings have anything to do with me, I just want to survive, please, spare me, spare me..."

Around his neck hung several gold chains of different styles, his arms were adorned with various gold or jeweled bracelets, and each of his fingers was laden with rings of different colors.

Despite being decked with all sorts of jewelry, even his shoes looked like high-quality handmade work, everything about him screamed thief—he didn't match his expensive adornments at all.

Pinned by Huai Shi, he started trembling, and from below an odorous stench emanated; he had already wet himself.

"I really don't know anything, I only know how to fire the boilers, what they do has nothing to do with me, I just want to live, spare me, spare me..."

Huai Shi furrowed his brows, about to question him, but then he noticed Liu DongLi tapping his shoulder and pointing forward.

There was a small door there.

"Don't, don't hurt my family..."

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The fat man's eyes bulged with effort as he struggled, "Come at me if you must, come at me, they're innocent, don't lay a finger on my wife and daughter, I beg you, I beg you..."

Liu Dongli said nothing, briskly stepped forward, and kicked with all his might.

Bang!

The door was kicked open.

It revealed the narrow space behind it.

The first thing seen was a huge boiler, with flames dancing inside, thick smoke continuously rising up the chimney, unbearably hot.

But in the open furnace, apart from the red-hot coal and coke, were a few lumps of char that could barely be made out as limbs, almost burnt to ashes.

When Huai Shi's gaze moved away, what he saw was luxury goods, luxury goods, luxury goods...

All sorts of luxury items were hanging in nearly every corner.

Designer suits cut open and used as bed sheets, brand-name bags stuffed with pots and pans, expensive watches, necklaces, bracelets strung up on the wall, wallets piled up high...

Only in the corner was there a dirty bed with an inflatable doll plastered with tape lying on it, and next to it, two Barbie figurines, dressed intricately and cutely.

The fat man screamed, struggling fiercely, breaking away from Huai Shi's grasp, he crawled up and lunged to the bed, holding the inflatable doll and figurines in his arms, sobbing uncontrollably, and turning back to utter some plea for mercy.

Huai Shi opened his mouth wanting to ask something, but he couldn't speak.

Only Liu Dongli stepped forward, rolled up his sleeves, yanked the fat man up, and kept asking something, even using his own ability. After a while, he let go in disappointment, dropping the fat man onto the ground.

"It's no use, he's gone mad."

Liu Dongli irritably lit a cigarette, "Damn it, nothing good ever comes from getting involved with these lunatics."

"Then let's go, isn't there another path?"

Huai Shi couldn't stand it anymore and turned to leave... unwittingly, he glanced at the fat man's fingers, to be exact, the index finger of his right hand.

And then he froze.

Liu Dongli, walking up front, noticed he wasn't following and turned back in confusion, "Let's go, what's wrong?"

"You... go ahead,"

Huai Shi said after a long silence, "I have something to do, I'll catch up with you later."

Liu Dongli looked at him puzzled, not knowing what he was thinking, wanting to ask, but seeing the expression in the young man's eyes, he couldn't speak.

He had never seen such a calm demeanor on Huai Shi's face before.

Calm in an unsettling way.

As if something chilling was hiding beneath that facade.

"I'll wait at the door."

Liu Dongli turned and left.

In the silence, Huai Shi listened to his footsteps recede, stepped into the incinerator, and gently closed the door.

"That ring..."

He looked down at the fat man's right index finger, at the platinum ring set with tiny diamonds, "That ring, where did you get it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about..." the weeping madman looked at him blankly, instinctively hiding his right hand behind him, shying away, "I found it, I found them all!"

Bang!

His head smashed into the wall, squashing his inflatable wife, his bloated face almost deformed, contorting into a bizarre shape.

"I'm asking you—"

Huai Shi lowered his head, looked into his eyes, and asked word by word, "Where did you get that ring!"

In the violent collision, the madman screamed incoherently, "I don't know, I know nothing... I'm just a boiler stoker, spare me... spare me..."

Huai Shi closed his eyes.

He covered the madman's mouth with his palm.

When he opened them again, his eyes were filled with frantic bloodshot veins. Soon after, dark Apocalypse smoke rose from the palm of his hand, pouring into the man's body.

One last time, he bent down, staring at the madman's face, "The ring, where did you get it?"

The man's eyes bulged with tears streaming down, mouth opening to scream but no sound came out, until Huai Shi picked up his two 'daughters' that had fallen to the floor and crushed them one by one.

Right before his eyes.

"I don't know! I truly don't know!"

The man finally broke down, sobbing inconsolably, "Why did you have to kill them! Why! I was just honestly stoking the furnace! Those things, those things... they all said they didn't want them... I just wanted... just wanted to give them some gifts..."

Huai Shi let go of his hand.

The madman lunged at him frantically trying to strangle him, but was kicked away by Huai Shi, and in the end, lay curled up in the corner, clutching the remnants of a few dolls, crying hopelessly.

"I'm sorry."

Huai Shi lowered his eyes, walked up, jerked his hand away, and yanked the ring off brutally, turning to leave.

The door closed behind him.

"Are you okay?" asked Liu Dongli, smoking against the wall in the corner.

"I'm fine," Huai Shi replied, looking at the ring in his palm, slipping it into his pocket.

He said, "Never been better."

Boom!

In that instant, a violent explosion suddenly came from above them, the earth shook, countless fragments fell from the dome, shattering the empty mirrors into pieces.