Above the villa, an invisible door tore through space, outlined in phantom form.
The door swung open, and an elegant, mature, handsome man stepped out. His golden eyes quickly locked onto the two people below.
"Hmm?"
Sensing the intense aura of depravity and madness emanating from Silas, the man's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
His figure suddenly became incredibly tall, like a mountain peak, pressing down heavily.
His lips parted, about to pronounce solemn words like a judgment, but then he saw that among the two people below, the black-haired girl pulled out a strange pea and forcefully crushed it between two fingers.
The pea immediately emitted a strange light.
Countless mysterious symbols spiraled around them both, making their figures rapidly become transparent until they disappeared from sight.
A hint of surprise crossed the handsome man's face as he watched the two escape in this peculiar manner.
"Whoosh!"
A roaring gale swept in, and a figure rode the wind, approaching at extremely high speed.
This was an old man wearing a black soft hat with silver eyes.
His black robe was embroidered with storm symbols, his expression solemn, like a high-ranking clergyman.
"You're late."
The handsome man said to the old man, his voice echoing in the night sky.
---
The dead were wailing.
Layer upon layer of consciousness crowded Silas's mind.
They were in pain, they craved, they wanted to live, they made endless noise. Extremely cacophonous, extremely clamorous!
Silas's spirit felt as if it would be drowned in an ocean of consciousness. He wanted to open his mouth and cry out, but he couldn't even sense his own body.
Just then, a long, ethereal song gently sounded in his ears. The voice seemed to carry bewitching magic, calming those chaotic consciousnesses. Silas finally felt relief and wanted to just fall asleep like this...
Wait, where am I right now?
Silas's eyes snapped open and he sat up abruptly.
He found himself in a palace made of pea vines. The vines were hard and cold, making his bottom slightly uncomfortable.
A beautiful mermaid girl swam beside him, moving through the air as if through water, her figure ethereal and beautiful.
She had been singing happily until she noticed Silas had awakened, then immediately became shy and flustered, quickly fleeing to hide behind the throne at the upper end of the palace.
"Awake?"
A pair of long legs in riding pants dangled from the throne, and the Queen's voice echoed through the palace.
The mermaid girl peeked out from behind the throne, looking down at Silas with curiosity and timidity, her light blue eyes carrying a pure, innocent light.
The Queen reached out to stroke her, and she broke into a happy smile before disappearing with a pop, like a bubble in sunlight.
How did I get here?
Silas tried to recall his previous experiences in confusion. He quickly remembered that at Capim's villa, he had seen...
"Ugh!"
Crazed thoughts surged up like a vast sea. Even the slightest ripple brought him tremendous pain.
"It seems you absorbed a large amount of human flesh and blood in a short time. The residual spirits in the flesh have had a significant impact on you." The Queen's tone carried some wonder.
"If your soul hadn't remained unclouded, I would have almost mistaken you for being polluted by the True Creator and becoming His fanatic."
"Tell me, what happened?"
What happened?
Silas was silent for a moment, then calmly shook his head. "Nothing much, just witnessed the complexity and distortion of human nature, that's all.
Also, Your Majesty, regarding the human trafficking case, I think I've obtained some leads."
Then he began telling her what had happened tonight.
Including how he followed the trail of missing girls and found Capim's villa, where he witnessed high-ranking officials colluding with evil organizations, trafficking people for profit and pleasure.
"So you're saying the human trafficking case is connected to Military Intelligence Division Nine?"
The Queen's voice became serious.
"That's right."
Silas reached into his chest, rummaged around, and pulled out a head with eyes that refused to close in death.
The head had a thin, elongated horse-like face with a cold expression. It was Herras, whom he had devoured alive.
"This is the leader among the Beyonders protecting Capim. He should belong to Military Intelligence Division Nine.
He just died, so his spirituality is still very fresh and can be investigated by your means."
So far, he had only devoured everyone in the hall. Of the four Beyonders among them, he had only temporarily killed and wrapped them up, not yet grazed them.
Originally, he hadn't planned to replenish his flesh with humans, but fate, full of malice, played a huge joke on him.
In his madness, he merged into a river of blood and obtained in one breath the flesh resources that an ordinary Rose Bishop would find difficult to acquire.
Silas sensed the potion within his body and discovered the Sequence 6 potion had already been mostly digested.
So the acting method for this sequence really was just as Ma'am M said: offering roses to the True Creator...
Twisted enough.
The Queen summoned invisible servants to receive the head.
The invisible servants busied themselves ceaselessly, creating countless strange and mysterious symbols around the head.
Soon, a transparent shadow filled with pain floated out from the head. Its appearance vaguely resembled Herras.
"Put the 'Lying Nose' on him."
The Queen ordered.
The invisible servants opened the treasury door and respectfully retrieved a long nose made of wood from inside.
The nose floated up and was attached to Herras's spirit body.
To be honest, with Herras's thin, elongated horse-like face, already wearing a curled white wig, now fitted with a long nose, he looked somewhat comical.
Fortunately, Herras himself was already dead and had no opinion about it.
"Tell me, who ordered you to protect Capim?"
The Queen asked.
The spirit hesitated for a moment, seemingly wanting to fabricate a lie, but the nose extended in reverse, piercing into his body and causing him tremendous pain.
"It was our deputy director of Military Intelligence Division Nine, Qonas Kilgor!"
He wailed, and the long nose retracted slightly.
So it really is Military Intelligence Division Nine... But for the deputy director to directly issue orders, their level of attention to this matter seems very high.
Silas thought silently.
"Why were you protecting Capim?"
The Queen continued asking.
The long nose stirred restlessly. Herras's spirit body could only answer honestly.
"To have Capim capture people for us. We need many people to complete a task."
"What task?"
"I can't say..."
"Speak."
The Queen ordered.
The wooden long nose extended, piercing Herras's spirit body and causing it immense pain.
"Ahhhhh! I'll tell! They were taken away, to..."
Before Herras could finish his words, the head containing his spirituality suddenly collapsed without warning, turning into filthy yet pure flesh and blood.
The flesh spurted upward, as if trying to shoot into the sky and transform into bright fireworks in the night to attract attention.
The invisible servants quickly pounced forward and swallowed it down before the fireworks could escape the palace.