Chapter 1078: Chapter 47: The So-Called Culprit
[Midnight City – Outer City – Union Street]
[An unidentified phantom spirit occupies an abandoned, unwanted home, crying day and night, disturbing nearby residents who have sought help from the local Police Station. Find the phantom spirit, make it stop crying or deal with it.]
[Task: Ensure residents are no longer disturbed]
[Advanced: Completely resolve this task]
[Hint: The house has been abandoned for a long time, and the origin of the phantom spirit might be related to the former owner]
[Basic Reward: 1 credit; 1 squad point]
A standard task with no anomalies, hopefully able to lure out the presence behind the scenes.
Arriving at the Midnight City academy campsite, the Holy Light Squad headed to Union Street, and were about to approach the unwanted house when they ingested a Sequence Potion.
They quickly saw the dilapidated, windowless little house, its door ajar, the porch showing footprints.
“Where is Professor Chris?”
Yege frowned and whispered.
As the words fell, a faint glow suddenly bloomed behind the dark window, outlining a beautiful, tall, and plump figure.
Professor Chris tilted her wide-brimmed hat elegantly, like she was in the window of an Inner City café rather than a rundown and gloomy little house.
Lu Li stepped into the house and saw Cain, whose body was still thin, sitting across the table.
“Master.”
Cain bowed respectfully.
“Are you the assistant for this operation?” Lu Li asked.
“Think again.” Professor Chris slightly pursed her bright red lips.
Lu Li glanced around; cobwebs and dust covered the dim house, neglected for a long time.
“Has the existence behind the scenes not appeared?”
“Dear, try a different approach,” Professor Chris suggested.
Dear?
The silent Kiluat and others exchanged surprised glances. Could the rumors be true…
Lu Li looked at Cain and thought of the answer: “You are the one secretly handling the task.”
Cain almost crawled on the ground, not daring to look up: “It is the servant’s duty to clear obstacles for the master, though I feel terrified for confusing you…”
“You are not my servant,” Lu Li rejected once more, turning to his team and said, “I once helped Cain, so he came to help me too.”
“Professor Chris…”
Kiluat greeted Professor Chris with restraint, and after a nod of response,” she said, “Fortunately, it’s not a conspiracy.”
“Once again, I express my apologies…” Cain still assumed the stance of a servant.
Realizing they needed privacy, Kiluat pulled Yege and Naxi out of the house. Once they left, Professor Chris softly spoke, “Dear, are you not pleased to have a controller protecting you?”
“No.”
However, Lu Li deemed it unnecessary. The difficulty of mid-grade tasks was limited, and Lu Li wasn’t eager for the task rewards – starting from grade 3, each grade upgrade in each department rewards 10 credits, up until grade 6. Raising Mysticology to grade 6 and the reward in Human Theory were enough for Lu Li to move to the senior grades.
Lu Li only needed to complete the Mysticology upgrade, then enter the senior grades with Kiluat and the others, who were also close to an upgrade.
Only the poor Fudote had just become Lu Li’s teammate not long ago and would have to stay alone for a few more months.
“Have those controllers not arrived yet?” Lu Li asked.
“Don’t tell him.”
Professor Chris whispered, but Cain completely ignored her words, saying, “It will take a few more days; they are hunting an Evil God without servants.”
“Keeping a bit of mystery keeps one excited,” Professor Chris regretfully said.
“Tell them not to take risks. If the hunt fails, I can restore humanity for them,” Lu Li didn’t want these controllers to vanish in vain.
“Please rest assured, the hunt is actually near its end, and no one has died,” Cain answered.
“You smell even more delightful than a few days ago, dear.”
Professor Chris softly whispered enticingly.
After resolving the “Book of Contracts” notes, Lu Li’s humanity neared 3 portions.
His uniqueness had begun to manifest.
“Be careful of anyone approaching you, dear. Your body is becoming delicious, like lethal bait… they will find ways to consume you.”
Professor Chris reminded Lu Li once more. Maybe they wouldn’t now, but as time went on, Lu Li’s allure would become irresistibly sweet, and they would be unable to hold back.
“And those churches, don’t get too close. If they find out, they will do everything to recruit you, control you, alter your will, and harvest your faith.”
The faith refused by Lu Li, like poison, was honey in the eyes of the congregation.
Compared to the former, the latter affected Lu Li more – after all, Lu Li wouldn’t go to the surface or the old sewers. But the congregation was everywhere in Midnight City.
“I have confidence in the master; he won’t be swayed by the congregation,” Cain said like a loyal servant.
Lu Li once again made him stop referring to himself as a servant. Cain reluctantly agreed but obstinately honored Lu Li with respect.
The period of losing humanity made him obsessive and insane, and Lu Li’s salvation reached deep into his soul, hard to forget.
Finishing with the church, Lu Li called Kiluat and the others back.
“Professor Chris, can we leave now?” Kiluat respectfully asked.
“Leave? But your task isn’t complete yet.” Professor Chris raised her tone slightly in surprise.
Kiluat became just as surprised.
“Is the task real?”
“Of course, otherwise how to lure out the perpetrator behind the scenes.” Professor Chris covered her mouth, laughing lightly.
“Master Lu Li, please permit me to solve the problem for you once more.”
Cain volunteered. With Lu Li’s consent, he stepped deeper into the house. The dim light spilled over his body, forming a kind of obscure power like a mist.
In Kiluat and others’ shock, a pair of blood-red, bloodshot beast-like eyeballs connected with nerves and blood vessels emerged behind Kiluat.
“This is my Cursed Title, the Observer.”
[Observer]
[A mother holding a child walks past you, the dust lifted floats in the air, the shoe sole taste adhering to the dust makes you frown, then a gentle breeze carries them away, swallowed by the outline merging with the sky]
[You can observe countless details, they swarm eagerly into your mind. This is a good thing, this is not a good thing]
[—A genius to the left, a madman to the right]
Both a blessing and a curse.
Is this why Cain remained thin and gloomy after regaining humanity?
“After releasing its power, its gaze turns into an attack.”
Kiluat’s voice sounded, the eyeball-like giant eye passed over his front, a hallucination-like scream abruptly halted, the wall crawling with dust slowly seeped blood.
The abandoned house returned to tranquility.
In the envy of Kiluat and others, the eye behind Kiluat vanished into the void.
Lu Li signaled Naxi to chisel the wall, and amidst flying wood shavings, a skeleton appeared between the wooden walls.
“Seems there’s more to this story.” Professor Chris slightly pursed her red lips.
But it no longer concerned them. Reporting the skeleton-in-the-wall incident to the local Police Station, the Holy Light Squad bid farewell to Professor Chris and Cain, who had matters to attend to in Midnight City, and returned to the giant tree.