Chapter 13: New Information

Entrance hall.

Above was a shoe cabinet; ahead hung a pendant light.

Time rewound.

The moment Xia Shou returned to was when he had just entered the House of Blood Demons.

“Looks like I’ve gone a bit over an hour, but it’s not a big problem,” Xia Shou muttered to himself.

“Master Xia Shou, we’ve returned.”

“Alice?! You’re still awake, even though time has rewound!” Xia Shou exclaimed in surprise as he took out a mirror and looked back at Alice. For the first time, her sculpted, serene face showed expression.

“Perhaps it’s due to the contract? Or maybe my soul is bound to yours? I’m not quite sure,” Alice replied politely and gently, her tone carrying a hint of reverence, as if she were a maid nurtured by a noble aristocratic family.

“That’s fine; this should be considered a good thing,” Xia Shou quickly accepted the unexpected reality and dashed toward the living room ahead.

“The skill you obtained last was quite powerful—why not try fighting that monster now?”

Xia Shou patiently explained, “The limit of time rewind is one hour, and the ‘Seeking Death Path’ skill was gained by devouring shadows. I believe its priority is certainly lower than the shadows themselves.

Furthermore, since I can retain my memory after time rewinding, it means some things about me don’t reset with the rewind—like memories, costs already paid, used rewind chances, and you, who are still awake now.

If I consider conservatively, even the ‘depth’ consumed by using skills probably doesn’t reset with the rewind.

If that assumption holds, fighting immediately is essentially exhausting resources meant for the next battle.

Although I might win at once, then I’d be powerless for the second fight and unable to save Su Weiyu.”

“So that’s how you’re thinking,” Alice sighed in admiration.

Xia Shou delved deeper: “Of course, that’s not the only consideration. When Su Weiyu threw the compass at me, telling me to run, she should still have been alive.

That means the Blood Demon doesn’t necessarily kill its prey. For certain interesting targets, it keeps them like trophies, preserving them alive for now.

The trigger for death rewind is actual death. I worry that if I lose, I might become one of the Blood Demon’s trophies, unable to die immediately, thus unable to rewind.

The worst case would be that even if I triggered the rewind later, I’d just return to the time I already lost.”

“So there’s that reason too.”

“Yeah. Also, I wasn’t at my best condition then. During the devouring, Su Weiyu moved me abruptly, causing some backlash from the shadow. My body was actually very weak. Fighting directly just now would have been hopeless. Better to rewind, arrange my actions carefully, then fight at peak condition!”

“...As expected of Master Xia Shou, to think of so much in such a short time,” Alice sincerely admired.

As they spoke, Xia Shou had already reached the initial living room, where the corpse lay overhead.

While driving the black shadow to devour the corpse, he rapidly considered his next tactical moves.

The complex, chaotic spatial maze arranged itself in three-dimensional form within Xia Shou’s mind. He marked the positions of six corpses and the mysterious charred body within the maze, and based on the maze’s structure, calculated the shortest route.

Having already paid the cost for ‘Seeking Death Path,’ he no longer needed to detour. He could head straight to the classroom to devour three corpses, then proceed directly to the ruins to devour the other three.

This streamlined plan would save him a tremendous amount of time!

Moreover, the ‘Death Path Navigation’ from ‘Seeking Death Path’ still functioned. He could always sense the Blood Demon’s whereabouts; the chance of accidentally encountering it was very low. So now, ‘Seeking Death Path’ should be called ‘Seeking Life Path’!

...

Outside the House of Blood Demons, Zhang Zhengde had just watched the beast tamer enter.

“Is this beast tamer a freelance closer? Is it really okay to have a freelance closer handle our Control Bureau staff like this?” asked the man in the mask.

Zhang Zhengde glanced at him expressionlessly and replied, “Shangguan Yan sent this kind of person over deliberately to die. If we don’t act, the Blood Demon will devour him anyway. The ones threatened then will be the staff who take over this project later and the unaware civilians.”

Before the words finished, a shrill buzzing came from the official liaison device held by the person in charge nearby.

Everyone on site was startled, looking toward the device. This particular buzz sounded only when a temporary emergency order arrived from headquarters, carrying the highest authority. If any orders conflicted, headquarters’ orders took precedence!

Zhang Zhengde hurried over and answered the call.

“Lock down the perimeter of the House of Blood Demons within one kilometer. No one is allowed to enter. Await the arrival of the execution squad!” The command was brief but carried an unyielding will from the top echelon.

Still stunned, Zhang Zhengde saw a file arrive on the liaison device’s computer.

“What’s going on?” the masked man asked, puzzled, stepping forward.

Zhang Zhengde read the file, his face pale: “Just now, someone at the Control Bureau deciphered parts of the ‘Dorian Gray Notes’ related to the House of Blood Demons. They speculate the Blood Demon may parasitize intruders and emerge from the house!”

He showed the computer’s contents to the other:

[Literal translation of the notes: Regarding what follows this house, I heard from a local sorcerer that those who enter cannot come out; those who do are people parasitized by the Blood Demon.

People parasitized look no different from ordinary humans. Their memories, personalities, everything remains unchanged. But over time, their bodies slowly decay. They must consume the blood and flesh of their kind to maintain their bodies.

I asked him, “Is there no way to destroy it directly? Can’t you burn it?”

The sorcerer said, “No. The Blood Demon can only be destroyed inside the House of Blood Demons. Once outside, the Blood Demon is immortal—or rather, what comes out is not the Blood Demon itself but its evil desire.”

“I said, ‘Then I will go destroy the Blood Demon.’

Due to the portrait, I am immortal. I thought if I entered the house, I could surely destroy the Blood Demon.

But the sorcerer stopped me. He said people with higher spiritual power are more favored by the Blood Demon because only powerful spiritual beings can bear such evil desire. Parasite possession is not a physical alteration but a spiritual domination.

█▊■█▊■█▊████■ (undeciphered)

The Blood Demon possessed Jeffrin’s body. He fled like the wind. I have no plans to chase him; I will go to the next capital city.]

After reading, the masked man immediately understood the reason for the lockdown.

The Control Bureau had a sealed item called [Jeffrin’s Blue Tear Ring], a level four containment item. Although Jeffrin’s own anomaly level was unknown, if the Blood Demon had possessed Jeffrin’s body, the Blood Demon’s anomaly level was likely above four!

The beast tamer who just entered was a level three closer, and his possessing spirit was also level three.

In other words, before the Blood Demon, the beast tamer was just an ordinary person without abilities. His possessing spirit couldn’t harm the Blood Demon and might even be possessed, allowing this extremely dangerous monster to return to the mortal world!

A buzzing rang in Zhang Zhengde’s ears. He knew exactly what this document implied.

If the Blood Demon’s anomaly level exceeded four, at least a level five extraordinary would be required to handle it.

But when a level five extraordinary intervenes, a small-scale curse power leakage inevitably occurs. If handled poorly, it could cause nearby civilians to suffer mental illnesses, leading to social unrest!

The way to prevent such outcomes is to let worthless, heinous criminals absorb the leaked curse power first instead of ordinary people.

“Everyone, retreat one kilometer. Prepare to establish the death prisoner barrier!” Zhang Zhengde ordered over the radio.

The masked man read the file and gasped, “I wonder if the bureau’s death prisoner count is still sufficient this year!”

At the same time, inside the House of Blood Demons, Xia Shou had reached the classroom with three corpses, arriving ten minutes earlier than before.

Five minutes later, all three corpses in the classroom were devoured.

Xia Shou began to move again...