Chapter 165: Eye Of Kuthuen
Chen Xiaolin first silently downed more than half a glass of wine in one go, then slowly opened her mouth to explain: “I saw similar markings in that place, and I felt they looked familiar long ago. When I came here, I became even more certain that the owner behind this bar is inseparable from Zheng Yu’s death…”
Her words weren’t actually finished yet. The things Yu Lianyun told her in front of the hospital bed were etched word for word in her mind. The background of this Good Luck Bar probably also involved several other organizations related to creating major terror anomaly events: House of Cards, Yellow Sand Truth School, Inverted Sanctuary, and that deeply hidden Eye of Kuthuen.
After getting the names of those organizations, Yu Lianyun conducted an investigation using her own news-gathering channels. At the same time, she was also investigating that rare sight “Rare Sight” she saw in her cave.
Just as Chen Xiaolin was investigating the mysterious society of the “Eye of Kuthuen,” she found a set of photos hidden in the Dark Web. Those photos were of a family extermination massacre involving the organization in the Southern Hemisphere Southern Land. According to the poster who uploaded the photos, this was something she accidentally discovered in the computer of a network user while randomly invading users out of boredom on a filthy live streaming platform she had designed. Because the content was extremely bizarre and interesting, she posted it to the Tieba on the Dark Web to share with everyone.
In this set of photos, Chen Xiaolin saw the deaths of the male master of the house and his young son in the family extermination massacre.
In a blasphemous ritual magic array drawn with blood, in the house corridor covered with sin and blood, the father and son both died miserably at the core of the magic array in the center of the corridor. The father had almost suffered a thousand cuts, tendons pulled and skin peeled, organs emptied, looking miserable, ultimately left with almost only a skeleton and some flesh and blood. He maintained a ferocious death expression, tightly holding his child. The child, with an equally miserable death, had his head chopped off and unbelievably embedded into the father’s rib, replacing the position of the heart.
This miserable slaughter scene reminded her of the encounter in the cave. Wang Kui Shan’s death was almost exactly the same as the child in the photos—his head was similarly replaced as the heart part of the giant skeleton.
Chen Xiaolin could almost immediately be certain that the perverts who committed that family extermination massacre on the Southern Continent and the group that resurrected Kong Mo definitely shared a common “bloodline root,” because they all performed the exact same ritual.
Chen Xiaolin strongly endured the nausea and guilt, carefully observing the content of those photos. Finally, whether it was a flash of inspiration or influenced by some unknown factor, she had a momentary hallucination and actually felt that the scene of the father and son embracing in death was “beautiful” like an “artwork,” just like a bloodstained angel full of wounds in repentance.
It was this instant of hallucination that made Chen Xiaolin unable to shake off such imagination. She even felt that the horrifying scene of Wang Kui Shan dying inside the Empty Demon Shell also carried a cold aesthetic sense.
Chen Xiaolin realized she had probably suffered spirit contamination, but fortunately it wasn’t serious, because at least she could still feel fear from those images and memories. When one day the sense of fear faded to nothing, or even completely disappeared, she might turn into something like Zheng Yu, Wang Kui Shan, and the father and daughter Wang Zijin.
This wasn’t over yet. Chen Xiaolin tried hard to cool her burning reason. When she looked again at the deaths of the father and son in the photos, she felt a rush of familiarity. The longer she stared, the stronger that inexplicable sense of déjà vu became.
It was a feeling of having seen it long ago, even earlier than when she saw Wang Kui Shan’s corpse in the cave before that. She carefully recalled, carefully imagined, carefully associated.
Suddenly, Chen Xiaolin had a flash of insight. She placed high-transparency tracing paper on the electronic screen, then began outlining the rough contours of the father and son corpses. Next, she divided those contours into basic shapes, and finally shockingly discovered that these basic shapes actually outlined the signboard logo of a famous bar in Magic City.
When there was a breakthrough in the matter, Chen Xiaolin couldn’t wait to come to the scene to confirm, and also wanted to probe Drake who worked in the bar, to confirm if he was related to the “Eye of Kuthuen.” If confirmed not an enemy, she wanted to pull him into the investigation camp.
After hearing Chen Xiaolin’s explanation, Drake fell into a long silence.
Chen Xiaolin comforted: “This isn’t your fault. You don’t need to blame yourself too much.”
Hearing this, Drake glanced at her, but calmly said: “I’m not blaming myself. I’m just thinking about how to deal with this organization.”
“Deal with?” Chen Xiaolin was stunned. She didn’t expect Drake’s acceptance ability to be so strong—his reaction was even indifferently calm. But she didn’t mind. Instead, she was surprised and glad that Drake was a companion who could be recruited, so she invited: “Join us. Since both you and I have been to that shop, you should have either some props or some special ability on you. Cooperating with us, we can definitely solve the problem quickly.”
Unexpectedly, Drake regretfully told her: “Sorry, I won’t cooperate with the Mysterious Group.”
“Why?” Chen Xiaolin was puzzled. Although she hadn’t contacted all Mysterious Group members, take Yu Lianyun, with whom she had communicated—she felt the impression was good and trustworthy.
Moreover, the Mysterious Group had many members and was the largest-scale, highest-ability organization in the Shenzhou Region for investigating and eliminating anomaly factors. If they could provide support, uncovering the true culprit behind this incident shouldn’t be difficult.
For such an advantageous matter, she didn’t know why Drake refused.
In response, Drake somewhat helplessly said: “Because I’m currently wanted by the Mysterious Group.”
“…Wanted?” Chen Xiaolin’s heart pounded. She was almost nervously wanting to immediately get up and slip away.
Someone who could be wanted by the Mysterious Group—whether they were even truly human was questionable, and the danger level was obviously to the point where it gave the Mysterious Group a headache. But right now, she was alone in a room with such an extremely dangerous being, and a sense of crisis immediately surged in her heart.
Drake realized Chen Xiaolin might have some misunderstanding about him and said: “Don’t worry, the wanted notice stems from a misunderstanding. It’s just that I can’t explain it to the Mysterious Group, so I’ve been on the run.”
Chen Xiaolin was speechless. She didn’t know what kind of misunderstanding could make the Mysterious Group willing to spend money to pursue him.
Drake smiled and said: “So, I can help you investigate, but only in my own way. I’ll go by myself, and you stick with your companions. Then, when there’s a chance, contact in secret.”
My miserable year-end bonus, pitifully small.
