This was a novel experience that Citalopram never had before.
She didn’t maneuver with her legs but relied on mind power to levitate off the ground.
Citalopram realized that she could still pretend to walk with her legs.
She could even stand still and yet keep moving forward. Likewise, she could move forward even if her posture was sitting or lying down. Anyway, her movement speed was constant. It was just that she didn’t find it natural and her field of vision was limited.
…Is this what being a ghost feels like?
For some reason, this thought popped into Citalopram’s mind.
She silently phased through the wall and entered the interior of No. 35 Rusty Water Street.
After that, she did not act rashly but avoided the people around her at the first moment as she carefully observed the internal environment of the objective area.
—Indeed, No, 35 Rusty Water Street isn’t a residence either.
Rather, it is a relatively big warehouse.
The interior space spanned around 400 meters in radius. One-third of the place starting from the entrance was filled with huge wooden boxes; each at the height of about one meter. Some were stacked together with several layers up to three. The three-layer stacked boxes were all covered with a thick cloth, while the two-layer ones were not.
There was no doubt that these boxes were all a facade.
The blockade made with several boxes stacked on top of each other had perfectly blocked the line of sight from the entrance. After traveling halfway through the warehouse, the place further down was empty.
There was no back door but a few peepholes blocked by iron rods.
Citalopram’s pupils shrank suddenly.
She saw a couple of peculiar things in the open space in the back half of the warehouse!
The most conspicuous structure was an altar similar to a three-layered Tower of Hanoi. The top layer was engraved with blood grooves as wide as a finger. In addition, there were dark residues that were thick and sticky, like sediments.
She also saw a few runes carved on the ground with noticeable dragging marks.
Around these runes, there was a square area with no traces of dust. Obviously, they removed the boxes that were put on the rune previously and piled them up elsewhere.
In addition to this, there were many strange parts that Citalopram didn’t know what they were used for.
Luckily, her knowledge from graduating from a medical university allowed her to roughly figure out what they were:
1. A bull’s skull with all its flesh removed. The horns were kept aside.
2. The spine and the ribs were separated. Also, there were three rows of large canine skeletons hanging on the wall.
3. The hearts of rats, bats, frogs, and birds soaked in several containers filled with embalming liquid.
4. Fermented feces in copper containers.
In addition to these items of animal origin, there were pulverized crystals, rubies, sapphires, lead, and silver. Citalopram figured out those items because there were labels on each container. Moreover, she seemed capable of comprehending those texts.
After all, these containers were opaque. Therefore, it was impossible to tell what was inside without a label.
In addition to this, there were some strange and apparently hand-made “tools”.
For example, a triangular frame made of glass or crystal; male and female dolls with their chest and abdomen cut open to reveal the cotton inside; a strange scale composed of two weights of different weights and two ropes of different lengths…
What’s happening here?
After seeing these items, Citalopram became warier.
She huddled in the corner and counted the number of people here quietly.
There’s a total of 17 people.
Luckily, Suuankou didn’t charge into this place directly.
— He was right.
“Okay, it’s time.” The skinny old man standing in the middle of the crowd said in a low voice. He put the pocket watch back into his sleeves, “It seems that Bobby won’t be coming.”
“Then, shall we retreat immediately?”
A bald man about two meters tall, with firm muscles and a mustache, asked in a deep voice, “I’m afraid that Bobby’s group have either betrayed us or been caught. The Crows may have noticed us.”
“Hmph, they probably fled.”
The brown-skinned woman with a scary scar on her face and dark green tattoos on her shoulders sneered, “The Bobby brothers are cowards. They looked reluctant at the start as if we were going to force them to die.”
“Shush, I understand why you would say Old Mike and Joseph have betrayed us and fled, but Bobby isn’t that kind of person. He’s Joseph’s cousin, but not like him.” The bald man retorted in a deep voice, “Bobby is ambitious. He has the talent to embark on the path of transcendence, unlike us. He wouldn’t have fled.”
“Not necessarily.” The woman laughed derisively, “The path to transcendence… It’s not just us who can provide it. Maybe he will take our information and go serve the Crow.”
“—There are indeed Transcendental paths available everywhere.”
The skinny old man spoke slowly, interrupting their conversation, “But besides us, who would lead the son of a felon on the path of transcendence?”
“Yes, Father.” The strong man nodded respectfully to the old man and said nothing more.
“Father, you have the final say.” The rebellious brown-skinned woman also chose to give in to the old man.
The skinny old man known as “Dad” said slowly, “Also, I want to correct your mistakes. It isn’t that you all are unqualified to embark on the path of transcendence… but it is just unnecessary.
“Transcended power isn’t only limited to Transcended and priests. In fact, some Transcended could barely get a hold on Transcended power until they died.
“Since they can only utilize it a few times anyway, then taking the path of the ritual is the same.”
As he spoke, he strolled to the cabinet and took down 2 ceramic bottles.
Citalopram noted that the bottles were marked “Silver” and “Pearls.”
It made her a little uneasy.
Then, the old man poured some powder from the bottles onto the altar.
The strong man was quite tacit. He dragged a short, thin, snarky-eyed short man beside him to the altar — his hand grabbed the poor soul’s neck directly.
Then, like killing a chicken, he used the short man’s dagger to slash the short man’s wrist.
Citalopram suddenly realized something.
She stepped back without hesitation and got out of the warehouse through the wall.
With the blood gushing out, the silver powder and pearl powder were soaked in the blink of an eye.
The old man put his hand in front of one of the runes and chanted in a low volume, “Silver opens my eyes…”
At the next moment, a silver flame erupted on the altar.
The fire had a strange metallic luster, dancing like mercury.
The fire only lit up for three seconds, then went out again.
Nothing came up. The old man frowned deeply.
“Was it an illusion?” He murmured.
The old man was silent for a while, then walked to the bottles that contained the metal powders and commanded in a low voice, “Get me a mouse’s heart, a cat’s heel, and a frog’s heart.
“I’m going to summon something.”
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Credits to MindMatrix for editing this chapter and improving the readability.