This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!
Chapter 455: Meeting Again

Chapter 455: Chapter 455: Meeting Again

Langdon had only one orphanage, which was located in the suburbs of South Langdon. Crossing the bridge over the Taist River to the outskirts of the Lower District, one could see that white building next to the circular railway tracks.

Chen Ke had never personally visited the orphanage, but during his college years, he had participated in volunteer caregiving activities at a nursing home. He could never forget the sorrow and despair emanating from those elderly people.

As he stood in front of the orphanage’s main gate, that familiar feeling of sadness and despair hit him full force. The old double wooden doors were tightly closed, and the entire building radiated a strange aura.

Chen Ke scanned the building with his Spiritual Vision, and dense human silhouettes filled his sight. A rough count from top to bottom of the four-story building estimated about sixty or seventy people.

While he hesitated about how to slip in, he noticed that all these human silhouettes remained motionless, in peculiar poses.

Some were walking, some were at their desks, raising their hands to grab something, others were drinking coffee by the window, and still, some were conversing, with their arms frozen mid-air.

The state of these shadows was as though everyday life was brutally halted, frozen in an instant.

Chen Ke looked left and right; the orphanage was in the parish, and not many carriages usually passed by. The muddy road extended into the distant woods, and all was eerily quiet around him.

He pulled out his revolver, his thumb gently cocking the hammer while his index finger rested on the trigger. Viscous blood dripped from the muzzle of the revolver as if eager to move.

Chen Ke walked up to the tightly closed double doors and gently pushed them open.

A cold breeze blew out from inside where staff members dressed in black robes stood motionless in the hall. Although their bodies were immobilized, Chen Ke could still feel that they were conscious, still alive.

He walked past them, their eyes fixedly staring at him, almost as if they were begging for rescue. Chen Ke didn’t know what had happened here, but there was no doubt that the temperature inside was much colder than outside.

Chen Ke approached a lady and scrutinized her skin and hair closely. There were no pop-ups in his vision, the blue lines following her body’s contours, outlining her accurate silhouette—she was an unmistakable human.

Chen Ke checked a few more people and realized it was not an Illusion Technique, but indeed something had entered the orphanage and immobilized them.

"Complete the task/Competitor." The Black Gun conveyed its message.

"Is he... here?" Chen Ke quietly inquired.

The Black Gun didn’t respond.

His muscles tensed, and he took a deep breath. Even without an answer from the stone, Chen Ke was prepared for the worst.

Perhaps before, he had already clashed with another Chen Ke, only to end in failure. What would happen this time if it really was him?

Xu Jing had said that although the other Chen Ke was of the Clan, he didn’t possess much combat strength. The threat came entirely from dangerous ideas, meaning, that guy had an incredibly strong brainwashing ability!

He didn’t know what the other Chen Ke wanted, but as long as he didn’t let him speak and ended it with one soul-targeted shot at first sight, he should be completely safe.

He returned the revolver to its holster, then spread open his right palm. With a thought, a sleek black handgun materialized in his hand.

Chen Ke gripped the Black Gun, a weapon formed from the Symbiotic Stone that could kill members of the Clan.

Every pull of the trigger required a sacrifice of 90% of his life limit; if it wasn’t for killing a Clan member, Chen Ke would not use it.

Did those who had used it before, humans and gods alike, also lack hearts? What price did they pay each time they used it? Chen Ke was puzzled—did they also face a life countdown?

"Ammunition/life, insufficient." The stone conveyed its message.

Chen Ke snorted coldly, and his left hand displayed a fragment of a tormented soul, which he crushed with a snap. His life limit returned to its full value and rose to 200 hours.

The last time Chen Ke assassinated Corrigan, was his lifespan limit 156 or 157? He couldn’t remember.

Every time he used this gun, the lifespan it consumed had to be more than the last. Therefore, the consumption of the gun increased with the increase of the upper limit.

90% of 200... Chen Ke stood still and counted on his fingers for a moment, it was 180 hours. This time, if he fired again, his lifespan would drop to 20 hours.

"Hope it’s worth it, once I finish this job for these two foundations... I’ll never be an assassin again," Chen Ke vowed to himself.

Killing for others was an act of desperation. In the world of adults, resources were exchanged on an equal basis. Chen Ke needed the Symbiotic Stone provided by Lin Yaying and the legal federal identity provided by Xu Jing.

These were the two cornerstones for his peaceful life in the future.

How long would the Symbiotic Stone last? Did it even work? Would Lin Yaying truly give it to him? Chen Ke was only fifty percent sure.

But what of it? It was still better than not having any chance at all. With no other options available to him, these two foundations were his only reluctant choice.

Carrying Black Gun, he explored the upper floors of the orphanage. He avoided all the people frozen in place. Strangely, although this was an orphanage, there wasn’t a single child in sight.

Perhaps this was what Jacob was worried about, the director named William, using his position to collude between the orphanage and the factory, luring the children to do strange things underneath the academy.

Chen Ke scanned the surroundings with Spiritual Vision, watching for any moving figures. He held the gun in front of his chest with his right hand while his left hand guarded the cylinder, sidestepping as he quickly checked every room.

Eventually, he reached the fourth floor, which was very spacious with only three rooms and a semi-open balcony on the left — the director’s office.

Chen Ke edged step by step closer to the director’s office, where two figures were suspended mid-air, their feet about an arm’s length from the floor.

"Tell William for me, I won’t come looking for him again," a man’s voice came from inside.

Chen Ke quickly moved to the wall, slightly lifting his head, and leveled Black Gun. The two figures inside were definitely victims, and the person speaking had no silhouette.

The room fell silent. Chen Ke waited outside for a while, staring at the doorknob, thoughts churning in his head.

The life countdown in the upper right corner of his vision kept ticking away, second by second, and there remained no sound from inside the room.

Has he gone?

Chen Ke grew anxious. It was hard enough to find someone, and Xu Jing might still be in his clutches... he couldn’t let him get away...

Chen Ke extended his left foot slightly, shifting forward, and reached out his left hand to turn the doorknob.

In the next second, he yanked the door open and sprang to the threshold, scanning the room in a Z pattern.

Bottom left, center, top right – no third person. Floating above the desk were an old man and a woman, facing the ceiling, twisting uncomfortably as if something in mid-air pulled at them.

"Gone...?" Chen Ke thought to himself. Just like Lin Yaying had vanished before the professor, was this Chen Ke also capable of disappearing into thin air?

"Hey," a man called out softly from behind.

Chen Ke’s hairs stood on end. He took a step back, twisted his waist to the left, and immediately aimed to his left, instantly spotting an Asian man in a black suit.

In Chen Ke’s vision, a frame suddenly popped up:

Clan of Faith.