Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 206 - 126: Universal Currency

Chapter 206: Chapter 126: Universal Currency

This building was already in dire straits, apparently even more dangerous than the abandoned construction site in Yunlong City, known as a haunt for evil spirits.

Usually, industry experts would tell you what taboo this place had violated based on feng shui, metaphysics, and other knowledge, but if they saw this building, they would only tell you that if you could walk around inside this building late at night and come out alive, then they should call you an expert.

"Old Duan, what’s wrong with this building?"

Zheng Liu noticed Duan Mingyuan’s unusual behavior and asked.

He couldn’t see anything, only that the building was devoid of people, and the gloom had grown thicker since his last visit. Despite it being early morning, the inside of the building was shrouded in darkness as if something was blocking the light, keeping all brightness outside.

"I’ll go in and have a look."

Duan Mingyuan said, according to intelligence provided by the liaison officer of Siyang City, he felt that this building might have gradually turned into what it was now after the disappearance of 13 people. Hunters from Siyang City had been here on the day of the incident but found nothing unusual.

"I’m going in too."

Zheng Liu took a flashlight from the tool bag in his car, feeling a bit chilly just standing at the entrance; he thought it was more reassuring to stay close to Duan Mingyuan. Looking around, he asked, "Did you see something?"

"It’s better if you can’t see it."

The grotesque objects gathered inside the office building were different from the evil spirits Duan Mingyuan had encountered before. They seemed to have integrated with the building’s decor, and describing them as visual pollution was fitting. Any normal person staying in such a place for a day would be driven insane.

Fortunately, Duan Mingyuan was not a normal person.

With Zheng Liu’s guidance, he climbed the stairs to the eighth floor. Just as Zheng Liu was about to enter, Duan Mingyuan quickly grabbed his collar, sparing him the fate of plunging headlong into a clump of mold.

The faint smell of blood was still lingering in the room, and even Zheng Liu realized something was off. When he looked into the room again, he felt his scalp tingle, as if invisible needles were pricking the skin on his face.

Duan Mingyuan roughly counted, there were thirteen mold clumps about the height of a person, with blood and pus flowing down from the top.

The walls around them were contracting. He retreated down the corridor to the end, and only after seeing the trajectory outlined by the wriggling walls did he finally reach a conclusion.

This floor resembled a stomach; they had entered the body of some creature.

Duan Mingyuan walked back into the office and approached a desk.

The mouth on the computer screen opened and closed, while the eyes on the case stared straight at him.

"I want to ask you something."

"Who? Me?"

Zheng Liu was taken aback but followed Duan Mingyuan’s gaze and realized he was talking to the computer.

The company had long lost power, so the computer was naturally off.

An expert truly is an expert, even able to communicate with a computer that’s turned off, which seemed much more magical than the salt and water rituals seen online.

"Where did the missing 13 people go?"

"Eaten, digested, hee hee, hee hee."

The mouth on the computer screen suddenly started laughing, licking its lips as if it had not had enough, and the eyes on the case bent into crescent shapes.

"What did this computer say?"

Zheng Liu hurriedly asked, with the truth right before his eyes, he was becoming impatient.

Ever since the case occurred, he had been so busy that he had barely slept for days, yet the truth had always been shrouded in mist, leaving him clueless.

But who would have thought to come to the scene of the incident and inquire of a computer that was off?

"It said that the 13 people were eaten, and their bodies probably can’t be found."

There was no residual Life Energy in the conference room either, it seems they were digested by the building as well.

That brought up a question.

Considering the level of decay of the entire building, if one wanted to completely eradicate the evil spirit parasitizing here, they would have to demolish the entire building.

Demolition was not difficult for Duan Mingyuan, especially after he had mastered the Sword Control Technique, which significantly enhanced his demolition ability, but in a modern civilized society, it is hard to demolish a building and still regard oneself as a law-abiding citizen.

"Eaten!?"

Although Zheng Liu had anticipated that the chances of survival for the missing were slim, he never imagined they had died in such a manner.

Thirteen living people, just like that, eaten?

What kind of death was that? What kind of process had it been?

Looking through all the case files in Siyang City, no similar case could be found.

"Why did you eat them?"

"They owed me, 150 years, we had an agreement all together..."

"150 years?"

"Life span, life span is the universal currency, you can use it to buy everything!"

The computer’s voice was shrill and piercing, wavering in volume, the malevolent presence it conversed with seemed to be in an extremely unstable state.

"What did you buy with 150 years?"

"The future! We bought the future together!"

"Where did you buy it?"

"Do you want to know?"

Its mouth curled into a smile again, the eyes on the case unabashedly filled with malice.

This was a malevolence easy to understand; it would honestly write on its face the thought of wanting to harm you, and use lies so blatant that they’d be seen through at first listen to beguile you, "Come find me, I will lead you, when you find me, then I will tell you!"

To this, Duan Mingyuan could only express his boundless gratitude.

The corridors’ writhing tendrils guided them, the path extending all the way to the building’s parking lot, where at the northwest end, a dead-end wall blocked their way, but the black tentacles bored into it.

Realizing something, Zheng Liu asked, "Do we need to call the construction crew?"

"No need."

Duan Mingyuan shook his head, walking towards the sealed wall, a path that shouldn’t have existed opened up for him spontaneously.

"Holy shit!"

Zheng Liu exclaimed in shock.

This wasn’t a hunter, this was clearly a Mage!

Only a Mage could open a path that didn’t exist before.

The path ahead became darker and darker; he hurried to keep up with Duan Mingyuan’s pace. The darkness was anything but ordinary, the flashlight was clearly on, yet they still couldn’t see the path ahead.

The two of them, one following the other, descended an unknowable distance down the spiral staircase until they finally reached a relatively open space.

"This is...!"

Zheng Liu only saw them when he was right over them—two skeletons, nailed to the floor in a most violent manner. One could only imagine the immense pain the victims must have experienced before death.

He had heard from his master that Siyang City used to be very chaotic, and many buildings hid secrets.

Many buildings, when demolished and rebuilt, would have human remains excavated from within.

But what Duan Mingyuan saw was a different scene altogether—in this space, the human features and internal organs were scattered chaotically all around.

He met one of the eyes and said, "Found you. Now it’s your turn to answer my question."

"I told you, life is the universal currency, if you want to buy, buy from me!"

"Then, how do we buy?"

"75 years, for each person! That adds up to 150 years!"

The ribs of a human body closed off the path they came from, and Zheng Liu suddenly tensed up; he couldn’t shake the feeling that the skeletons on the ground had moved.

"Old Duan, what’s happening?"

"It wants to exchange the truth for 150 years of our lives, which I find to be a poor bargain."

"Of course it’s not worth it!"

Zheng Liu jolted; he wasn’t even certain he could live another 75 years, "Just say we’re not selling."

"I’ll try if the price can be negotiated."

Duan Mingyuan nodded, then asked, "150 years is too expensive, can we use a different method of transaction?"

"140 years, I can’t go any lower."

"It’s not a matter of the number; I mean a different method of transaction."

"What method?"

"If you have any last wishes, you can tell me, and I’ll try to fulfill them when I get out."

"150 years, not a year less!"

That statement seemed to enrage the mouth, which roared in a piercing voice, "If you won’t sell to me, I’ll take it myself!"