Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Stone Stele

On the roof of the office building at the Second Waterworks, scarlet flames flashed again and again.

As it turned out, this kind of trial had been useful for Li Changqing after all. At the very least, his speed in chanting spells had become much more proficient.

The power within the four followers of the Morluo Sect had already been nearly exhausted.

Under the ceaseless onslaught, great fireballs swallowed the four of them whole.

Until they were burned to ashes.

"Phew."

Li Changqing let out a long breath. He had just calculated that he had used nearly twenty consecrated talisman spells.

The magic power within him had also approached depletion.

Right—Kelly.

Li Changqing had no time to think of anything else. He hurried toward the basement. Just as he reached the entrance to the basement passage, he saw Bai Chuan coming up, carrying the unconscious Kelly on his back.

"How is he?" Li Changqing hurried forward and took Kelly from him.

"He fainted. The exact condition is still hard to say. Let’s get him into the car first."

They carried Kelly and placed him in the back seat of the vehicle. Kelly turned his head toward Li Changqing and asked, "How were those four people you dealt with just now?"

"They're dead," Li Changqing said calmly.

Seeing his composed expression, Bai Chuan rarely showed a smile. "No discomfort, I hope? This was your first time killing someone, wasn't it?"

"They weren't good people. Besides, if I hadn't done it that way, the one who would have died was me." Li Changqing understood what Bai Chuan meant; he had no saintly notions or impulses at all.

In that situation just now, if those four followers had closed in on him, the one who would have died was himself. It was a very simple choice.

Either they died, or he did.

Bai Chuan nodded at Li Changqing's answer and only said, "With your character, if you entered the demonic path, you would make a qualified devil."

"If you entered the righteous path, you'd make an even more qualified exorcist."

"Along the road of my own growth, I have seen many people hesitate over whether they should kill an opponent they had already defeated, only to die in the other side's final ambush. You understand what I mean, don't you? You did very well."

Bai Chuan's gaze fell on Kelly in the back seat. "Take your friend home first."

...

Kelly was dreaming, a very clear dream.

It was a forest of black mist, with dry, twisted branches scattered irregularly above his head, and darkness and fog roiling all around him.

He had been walking through this forest of black mist for a long time, yet he still could not find its end.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"If anyone is there, please answer."

In the empty forest of black mist, no one replied to his call.

Within the silent woods, there was only the occasional crack of a branch snapping beneath his feet.

At last, a black stone stele appeared ahead of him, an ancient, profound monument two meters high standing before him.

Upon it were carved the ancient characters of the Lamera Empire, which read: The gaze of the abyss is alluring, and temptation always stirs the heart. Before overwhelming power, there will always be those who submit...

Suddenly, two eyes appeared on the pitch-black stele.

These eyes were not human. Their crimson pupils, brilliant as rubies, were enthralling and seemed able to captivate the soul in an instant.

"Kelly Lossedi, you are the unwanted one in the Lossedi family. Your family has always been ashamed of you. Do you really intend to remain lost like this?"

A voice full of seduction and mystery came from within the stele.

It was Zhu Gulas.

"Your family regards you as a disgrace. Don't you want to work hard and make them look at you in a new light?"

"Kelly Lossedi, you..."

"I don't want to work hard," Kelly Lossedi said, blinking at the eyes within the stele. "Why should I work hard? I'm the eldest son of the Lossedi family. If I work hard, I'll have to inherit the title and never be able to be a detective again."

Zhu Gulas: "..."

"Kelly Lossedi, there must be a seed of hatred in your heart. Since becoming a detective, everything has gone wrong for you, and even Li Changqing, that second-rate detective, has done better than you!"

"You are a noble detective. Li Changqing has strange powers helping him. And you? Don't you want power greater than his? So long as you become my follower, I can grant you power—the power to shatter the heavens and earth!!!"

Kelly Lossedi froze for a moment. He tapped the stele and asked, "Huh? Are you inside there?"

"Answer my question first."

"Ahem, this—what would I need such power for, as a detective?"

Yes, that really was a question. This fellow only wanted to be a detective, so what use would power be to him?

"You cannot yet appreciate the allure of power, but you will understand eventually. So long as you become my follower, I will grant you power. In the future, you will come to love this power."

Kelly Lossedi said, "Then let’s wait until I like it in the future."

Although it was only a place resembling a dream, Kelly’s mind was very clear, and he knew full well that whatever was inside that stele was trying to tempt him.

What a joke. He was a noble aristocrat, after all. His family records contained countless accounts of the temptation of evil gods.

"Then do you want to know the secrets of the Lossedi family?" Zhu Gulas’s voice said. "I can tell you, you only need to—"

"My family’s affairs—do I need to ask you? I can just ask my father later, can’t I?"

"Did I trap you in this place? Hey, hey, answer me."

As he spoke, he tapped the stele.

The pair of eyes in the stele showed deep disappointment, and then slowly closed.

...

When Kelly woke again, he was already in his own bedroom. By the bedside stood Li Changqing and a white-clad man he had seen at the detective office.

"My friend, do you know? I was kidnapped."

After waking, Kelly sat up in bed and said excitedly, "We need to call the police right away. Those bastards definitely haven't gotten far."

Li Changqing coughed once and pointed at Bai Chuan beside him. "This is Mr. Bai. He's federal police. He was the one who saved you. Those kidnappers have already been dealt with by him."

Having said that, Li Changqing looked at Bai Chuan, his gaze clearly asking whether Kelly was really all right.

Just now, while unconscious, Kelly had been mumbling to himself as though speaking with someone.

"Please tell me about the dream you just had," Bai Chuan said, coming to the bedside and asking Kelly.

After Kelly saw Li Changqing nod, he said, "I just had a strange dream. I dreamed of an ancient stone stele—hey, and that stele even had two eyes. They were quite beautiful, too, like the eyes of a lovely noble lady, brilliant as gemstones. If those eyes were on a beautiful woman, they would surely be uniquely captivating."

"You've drifted a little off topic."

"I'll continue. Those eyes spoke to me. They asked me..."