This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!
Chapter 421 Another Chen Ke

Chapter 421: Chapter 421 Another Chen Ke

Chen Ke stood in front of the mirror, adjusting the buttons of his shirt, while Xu Jing sat on the edge of the bed with one leg crossed over the other.

"Does it fit?" Xu Jing asked.

"Just right," Chen Ke replied.

This was a hotel facing the Taist River, where air mixed with the scent of gas and soil fluttered the green curtains and floated into the room along with the foghorn of the cargo ships on the river.

The incident that had occurred beneath the academy seemed not to have caused any commotion, nor had it alerted the members of the security station and the private detective agencies.

Chen Ke didn’t know how much Xu Jing knew about the Secret Keeper Organization; she hadn’t mentioned it, and Chen Ke couldn’t be bothered to explain.

Finished dressing, he re-fitted his gun holster and began checking the condition of his two pistols.

After firing the Divine Blood Bullet, both the revolver’s cylinder and the Model 67 pistol’s magazine were streaked with blood, with blood also seeping from the crevices of the slide and the muzzle of the gun.

Chen Ke sat down at the small table and picked up a dirty cloth to wipe the blood from the gun, wondering if the Divine Blood Bullets would corrode the firearm...

Xu Jing stood up and began pacing back and forth in the room, apparently deep in thought.

"So... is what happened underneath the academy related to us or not?" Chen Ke asked while wiping his gun.

"It’s still uncertain, but judging from the monster you killed, I think you might have provided them with something... like the corpse of a deity," Xu Jing said.

"What could the academy of this era offer in return? Something worthy of a deity’s corpse?" Chen Ke asked, non-committal.

From the memories in Florence, it was evident that this world already had organizations similar to the Secret Keepers that had long dealt with Spiritual Monsters.

Perhaps, behind the scenes, the ruling classes of various countries had already begun to research and harness Spiritual Power, although it wasn’t officially disclosed to the public until 1910.

In other words, Chen Ke felt that the corpse was something that people of this era had acquired themselves.

"I don’t know. If this matter is related to the birth of the Divine Descent Sect, then the foundation might dispatch more agents to deal with this reality..." Xu Jing shook her head.

All the clues had been severed now, and, to add to the confusion, the history of the Divine Descent Sect was inexplicably involved. Chen Ke was a bit frustrated; he had originally thought this mission could be quickly resolved.

"Do your informants have any other intelligence?" Chen Ke asked.

"Once you’re ready, we can ask at other stations. We might be able to clear up what other interesting rumors have been happening in this reality... Uh, do you smell something?" Xu Jing asked, her brow furrowed mid-sentence.

Chen Ke also smelled a strange scent; it wasn’t unpleasant but rather carried the faint fragrance of jasmine tea.

But along with this scent, an unsettling atmosphere arose.

How to describe it... It was much like the danger response brought on by Chen Ke’s assassin instincts.

As if facing a formidable enemy, like an animal encountering its natural predator, before the adversary even appeared, the body instinctively resisted and continuously stimulated the brain, signaling to flee.

Xu Jing had been standing with her arms crossed. After sensing this unusual atmosphere, she prepared to draw her pistol from her holster, and her body also started to turn towards the door of the room.

But as she pivoted halfway, facing Chen Ke’s direction, she suddenly froze. Her hands, poised to draw her weapon, stopped at the initial movement.

Her left hand had just lifted one side of her coat, and her right hand was on the grip of the gun, motionless.

Chen Ke sensed something was wrong. He tried to stand up, his right hand ready to throw away the cloth he was using to clean the gun, his left hand still clutching the Model 67 pistol.

Huh? His thighs wouldn’t move...

Chen Ke found he couldn’t stand up. Though he exerted force, his body seemed to be frozen in place, full of strength but unresponsive.

The cloth he used to wipe the guns slipped from his fingers, landing on his knee, his right hand still in an open-palm position.

"Paralyzed..." Chen Ke thought to himself. He tried to speak, but his tongue and throat were completely non-functional, not even his eyelids could close.

Xu Jing’s condition was exactly like Chen Ke’s, frozen from head to toe. Yet, it wasn’t time that had stopped, simply their bodies were paralyzed.

More terrifying was the fact that although their bodies were immobilized, the sensory perception that belonged to them as humans remained normal.

This feeling was terrible, completely at the mercy of others. Chen Ke even tried to summon the Holy Relics, to no avail.

At that moment, Chen Ke heard the door of the room creaking, someone was unlocking it with a key. His eyes could only stare straight at Xu Jing, the corner of his eye unable to sweep the doorway, only guessing that it might be the room service staff that had arrived.

But it wasn’t.

An Asian man dressed in a 21st-century black suit walked into Chen Ke’s field of vision. He was of a similar height as himself, around 30 years old, with an imposing hairstyle, looking like a very meticulous person.

He stood between Xu Jing and Chen Ke, shook his head at Xu Jing, then turned his face to size up Chen Ke.

"Hmm... wherever I go, the Foundation’s dogs can always follow the scent," the man slowly said.

He furrowed his brows, bent over to scrutinize Chen Ke closely, as if curious about something.

"But they can’t defeat the change of the times. In the future I promise, there is no place for the Foundation," he slowly said.

The man extended his right hand, unbuttoned Chen Ke’s shirt, and touched his collarbone with his index and ring finger, pulling Chen Ke’s wallet from the inside pocket of his trench coat.

He looked at Chen Ke’s fake ID, then spilled several Holy Diamonds onto the table, picked up an orange one, and examined it against the light from the window.

Chen Ke’s pupils constricted – that was the Blasphemous Dagger.

"You’re insulting my name," the man said.

The orange light flickered, and the Blasphemous Dagger appeared in the man’s hand. He toyed with the ornate dagger handle, swiped his left index finger along the blade, and then pressed it against Chen Ke’s throat.

The blade slid down Chen Ke’s neck, across his collarbone, along the split of his pectoral muscles, cutting through the remaining shirt buttons.

"You’re not from the Foundation; you don’t have that disgusting smell on you. What did Xu Jing promise you? A prosperous future? Technology not from 2009? Or her body?" the man’s tone was filled with mockery and scorn.

The edge of the Blasphemous Dagger traced along Chen Ke’s body, drawing shallow threads of blood. The man straightened up, turned, and faced Xu Jing.

Chen Ke had guessed that this person was very likely another Chen Ke.

"In my future, there is no place for the Foundation," the man said to Xu Jing, his words tinged with complex emotions.

He unbuttoned Xu Jing’s shirt, one by one. Then, with ease, he thrust the Blasphemous Dagger into Xu Jing’s abdomen.

The blade cut through as easily as tofu, plunging just above Xu Jing’s navel. Blood flowed out like tomato sauce, splashing all over the floor.

Xu Jing’s expression remained unchanged, but Chen Ke could see from her bloodshot eyes that she was in excruciating pain.

The man twisted the knife by its handle, creating a ghastly noise as the blade crunched through Xu Jing’s innards. He angled the blade upward, lifting towards her upper abdomen and carved out a horrifying gash. Blood spurted from Xu Jing’s lips, splashing onto Chen Ke’s face.

"I will not let you leave again, Xu Jing. You will stay by my side, witness the realization of my vision. In time, you will see that everything I’ve fought for is right," the man said.

He pulled out the Blasphemous Dagger and dropped it on the ground. A flash of white light, and a scythe appeared in his right hand.

Chen Ke knew that was one of the Holy Relics he had brought himself...

The man embraced Xu Jing’s waist, and with one swift movement, he chopped off her limbs, bones and all. Xu Jing’s pupils dilated drastically, her eyes becoming lifeless.

She must be in unbearable pain, Chen Ke thought; she must have passed out from it, her body immobilized, which is why her eyes were still open.

The man held Xu Jing, her body emitting a pale green glow. The light swirled around Xu Jing’s wounds, and in a short while, it forcibly stopped the bleeding.

This was unexpectedly a healing-type Skill... Chen Ke felt amazed.

The man gently laid Xu Jing on the bed and took out a small black bag from his embrace. He unfolded it, and the small bag was unexpectedly as big as a snake skin sack.

He stuffed Xu Jing into the bag, then sealed the opening. The size of the bag was like a large trash bag, but from the bulges and contours, one could still make out a human shape.

The man propped the bag beside the bed, turning to look at Chen Ke.

"As for you... I’m sorry, you’re involved in something you can’t understand. I’m killing you not out of hatred but because I must," the man said indifferently.

He picked up the Blasphemous Dagger, approached Chen Ke, grabbed the back of his head, and sliced into Chen Ke’s neck. He twisted the knife with his wrist a couple of times.

Chen Ke felt as if something foreign was being forcefully crammed into his throat, the intense pain bringing a numbness as if his head was being severed. The Blasphemous Dagger cut through his spinal cord within the mass of flesh, the pain was subtle.

"Click... click..." Chen Ke’s spine was completely severed, and he immediately lost all sensation in his body.

Blood uncontrollably spurted out like a fountain, but the man did not find it dirty, instead meticulously handling the task at hand with professionalism.

He lifted Chen Ke’s head and gently placed it on the table, then turned the Blasphemous Dagger back into the small orange diamond, setting it in front of Chen Ke.

After finishing these tasks, the man picked up the bag containing Xu Jing and slung it over his shoulder as he walked out the door.

In that instant, the paralysis was lifted.

Chen Ke breathed intensely for a dozen seconds, swamped by a surge of emotions that culminated in one exclamation: "Fuck."

After a few seconds of entanglement, his vision darkened, and he drifted away from the world.