abnabooks Chapter 5 Late Night Visit
Chapter 5 Late Night Visit
The lively atmosphere in the private room cooled down after the Demon Suppression Division's interference.
The famous dishes of Shenghai on the table were still steaming, but no one was in a hurry to pick up their chopsticks.
Although Zhao Zimin is usually a reckless person, he is ultimately from a business family and has a keen sense of business acumen.
He was frowning, toying with his wine glass, seemingly processing the shock of what had just happened.
Chen Boran pushed up his glasses, trying to find some lighthearted topics to break the awkward silence, but without Zhao Zimin to provide a straight man, the dry small talk only made things more embarrassing.
Su Changming remained silent.
He casually picked up some peanuts while glancing at the girl beside him out of the corner of his eye.
Only Ling remained unmoved, focused on the plate of Eight Treasure Duck in front of her. The fully armed army from before was far less important than this duck.
Su Changming was making rapid calculations in his mind.
Wasn't this "Sword Princess" a bit too reckless in her actions back on the Victoria?
If the Demon Suppression Division is truly as powerful as Chen Boran claims, they only need to send someone aboard the ship to take a look, and they don't even need sophisticated reconnaissance methods to discover that something is wrong with the cabin.
After all, Su Changming had personally witnessed the mountain of corpses.
The horrific scene stood in stark contrast to the rest of the ship.
"wrong……"
Su Changming tapped his fingers lightly on the table, making an unconscious tapping sound.
He went over every detail of that night in his mind, and suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him.
The quantity is incorrect!
If those water monsters were attacking the entire ship indiscriminately, given the ferocity of those monsters, the Victoria would have been a dead ship long ago. There simply wouldn't have been so many survivors wailing and lamenting on the deck, let alone having the energy to clean it.
The truth is, apart from a few unlucky crew members, most of the passengers were just frightened.
Only his cabin.
The monsters, like sharks that had smelled blood, swarmed into his room like madmen.
Is it a coincidence?
Or was it drawn to the spirituality of the bell before it awakened?
Or... was this a premeditated attack?
Regardless of the reason, Su Changming knew that soon, those officers with black cloth strips wrapped around their necks would know that the person living in that cabin was none other than him, the third young master of the Su family who had returned from studying abroad.
In fact, it won't be long before someone comes knocking on your door.
……
Towards the end of the meal, I found myself losing my appetite.
The dinner party ended at the entrance of Taifenglou Restaurant.
"Brother Changming, we'll leave you here." Zhao Zimin hailed two rickshaws, looking somewhat hurried. "My old man at home is urging me to come back, and I also need to go back and find out what kind of organization this Demon Suppression Division is."
Chen Boran also cupped his hands in a gesture of respect: "I also have to go back and finish a manuscript. Changming, take care of yourself."
Su Changming knew that he had his own ambitions and ideals for returning this time.
Watching the rickshaw disappear at the end of the street, Su Changming tightened his collar, turned around with Ling, and headed towards the inn.
At the front desk of the "Peaceful Hotel," the receptionist with scarlet nail polish was eating sunflower seeds.
Hearing the noise, she raised her eyelids, glanced at Su Changming in his suit and tie, and then at Ling, who was wearing a pure and innocent schoolgirl outfit, following behind him.
His gaze instantly became meaningful, carrying a hint of understanding and ambiguity, but he didn't say anything more.
In this chaotic world, she had seen this kind of "young master taking female student to a hotel room" scenario many times before.
Su Changming pretended not to understand that look and quickly went upstairs.
As soon as he entered the room, he locked the door with a "click," then quickly walked to the window and locked the latch tightly before letting out a long sigh of relief.
Ling stood to the side with her hands behind her back, observing Su Changming's actions with great interest.
Then, a slight smirk appeared on his lips, revealing his signature mocking smile: "You think those fully armed guys can't even break down this crumbling door?"
"You might as well take out that thing you've tied to your pocket; it might be more intimidating."
The girl raised her fair chin slightly, and looked at Su Changming's waist with disdain in her dark eyes.
Su Changming somewhat awkwardly took out the revolver.
He had reloaded the magazine, but after the "Victoria" incident, the "Truth" could no longer give him any sense of security.
Su Changming simply placed the revolver on the table, then turned his inquisitive gaze to the girl who looked like a female student.
"Rin, do you know those people?"
"nature."
The girl pursed her thin lips slightly, revealing an expression of matter-of-fact acceptance.
"It's nothing but a poor imitation."
"Back then, that was..."
As she spoke, Ling's originally arrogant eyes suddenly dimmed, as if she had remembered something.
"Back then what?" Su Changming asked subconsciously.
"It's nothing," the girl said, shaking her head gently.
After a moment of silence, he continued speaking.
"The previous dynasty had the Heavenly Strategy Guard, which was in charge of dealing with demons and evil spirits. Those people... have their aura on them."
Su Changming's attention was focused on the first half of the sentence, and he showed a somewhat incredulous expression.
"So, these demons and monsters existed before?"
Ling looked at him like he was an idiot.
Su Changming scratched his head awkwardly.
Having traveled through eighteen years, he always thought this was just a low-level version of the Republic of China era, where everyone was engaged in warlord conflicts and trying to save the country through industry.
Who would have thought that the underlying nature of this world is actually eeriness and evil?
Clearly, that information was being kept extremely secret. Not only him, but judging from Zhao Zimin's tone, it was also the first time he had heard about it today.
Unlike Su Changming and his fellow novices who had nothing.
When Ling saw the enormous ship shrouded in black mist and the group of people swaggering into the street, she knew that something might be about to burst from its grasp.
However, those things are no longer relevant to her.
"Feed".
Ling looked at Su Changming, who was sitting on the bed deep in thought, and suddenly the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, revealing a somewhat strange smile.
"What's wrong?"
Su Changming looked up and saw the other person's expression.
That smile sent chills down his spine, and a sense of foreboding arose within him.
"Aren't you afraid those people will come knocking on your door?"
The girl extended a slender, pale finger.
"One way."
"Wh-what?" Su Changming swallowed hard.
You'll find out soon.
……
……
Late at night.
The hustle and bustle on the edge of the concession has faded, most of the neon signs have been turned off, leaving only a few dim streetlights, flickering in the cold wind, casting long shadows of pedestrians.
Several tall, imposing figures, all dressed in identical black stand-up collar trench coats, appeared silently downstairs at the "Peace Hotel," like ghosts melting into the darkness.
Inside the lobby on the first floor.
The receptionist was idly flipping through a copy of the "Good Companion" magazine, humming an unknown tune.
Suddenly, a wave of drowsiness washed over me without warning.
The drowsiness came so overwhelmingly, as if someone had forcibly pressed the switch to activate her consciousness.
The next second, before she could even yawn, her head lolled to the side and she collapsed heavily onto the magazine, breathing evenly.
"Squeak—"
A cold wind swept in, and the tightly closed door was silently pushed open.
Several men in black filed in, their leather boots making no sound on the wooden floor.
The leader's eyes flashed like lightning as he scanned the entire hall, then he raised his hand and made a tactical gesture.
The group approached like a silent pack of wolves, climbing the stairs.
It wasn't until we reached the second floor that the quiet corridor was filled with heavy, suppressed footsteps.
"Da, da, da."
The voice was neither hurried nor slow.
Finally, the footsteps stopped abruptly at the door of the only room with a light on at the end of the corridor.
However, through the dilapidated door, a high-backed chair stood with a young man in a suit leaning back lazily, as if waiting for something.
He rested his chin on one hand, while in the other hand, a black Colt revolver twirled on his outstretched index finger.
The boy lowered his head, the lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses reflecting the light, obscuring his expression, except for a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth.