In the end, this death row inmate could not control his will to survive.
To live is always better than to die.
His emaciated arm was lifted and held by two guards. In front of him was the center of the secret rite—
The starting point of the three clock hands, a circular, black hole.
It was pitch black inside.
"Quick."
Under urging, the death row inmate bit his cheek, tightly closed his eyes, and slowly put his finger into the hole, little by little, extending it further... A sound of oral cavity opening and closing appeared in their ears.
As if long-dry lips and tongue, upon encountering deliciousness and desire, opened an organ that had been sealed for years—
Pfft.
The death row inmate's hand was yanked in just like that.
Immediately, a huge chewing sound!
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!"
He struggled, his intact right arm forcefully pushing away the guard's restraint, grabbing his left wrist, and desperately pulling outwards!
"Save me!! Save me!!"
"I changed my mind! No!!"
Frantic screams and roars!
Except for Sakai Takashi, who showed unbearable pity, the rest of them watched him indifferently.
The loud swallowing and chewing continued.
"Based on the ritual energy level and the amount of mystery we detect, the price it requires also differs."
Taking advantage of the clock's feeding, the middle-aged researcher casually found a chair and sat down. He had a thermos cup in his hand, though no one knew when it appeared.
Waves of tea aroma wafted from it.
"During testing, White Torch led several small teams to simultaneously perform mysteries, and the price detected for them was only three fingers. Of course, detecting an ongoing ritual requires more, which cannot be equated with simply scanning a Ritualist."
Sakai Takashi looked at the noncommittal White Torch, then at the death row inmate struggling like a fish out of water, and a chill ran through his entire body.
The secret rite was still devouring.
It was like a greedy creature that had come alive, biting onto the wrist and beginning to consume his forearm.
"Save me!! Save me!!"
The forearm disappeared, and the upper arm gradually approached the hole.
Crunch, crunch.
The greedy clock hole didn't let a single drop of blood escape, sucking up tissue fluid and the sweetness within the blood vessels, even crushing bones into dregs, chewing and swallowing them.
The upper arm also disappeared.
At this point, the death row inmate was like a naive child who had accidentally gotten his arm stuck from playing too much—his entire upper arm had vanished before the giant clock, his face pale, his body trembling from time to time.
"...Save...me."
His voice gradually lowered, almost inaudible.
"So, the more it devours, the more it represents..."
Usami Reiko frowned, a little confused.
"Exactly." Taking a sip of tea, the researcher pointed to the minute hand: "The higher the energy level, the farther the distance, the more flesh and blood we need to find the target with the secret rite."
"Don't look at me like that, I'm not a pervert either."
With a wry smile, the researcher spread his hands towards Sakai Takashi, his narrow eyes expressing his helplessness: "We tested it, and only human flesh and blood work. What do you think we used at the very beginning?"
"Of course, we started with pigs and cattle."
If this big baby didn't work, who would use humans as fuel?"
"Those are human beings."
A long silence and... swallowing sounds.
White Torch felt something was wrong.
"Why is it still continuing?"
The middle-aged researcher also stood up, his composure finally gone.
He nervously put on his glasses, like a strange uncle, peering up and down at the two-story tall clock face, putting his ear close to it.
"This shouldn't be happening..."
By this time, the death row inmate was long dead.
After his arm was devoured, the unsatisfied clock continued to eat. It sucked away the death row inmate's flesh all at once, like sucking marrow.
The shape hanging outside was now just a human skin.
Everything inside had disappeared.
Including the bones, and even... the brain and eyeballs.
He finally stopped struggling and begging for help.
"No... look." White Torch reached out. In his line of sight, the minute hand had crossed the second marker, stopping precisely at 'three'.
"Third Level... this is trouble."
The middle-aged researcher frowned, the wrinkles on his face deepening with his solemn expression.
"The Third Level requires two or three field teams to act together. White Torch, you..."
White Torch shook his head.
"We don't have enough manpower. They are all executing missions in their respective positions."
The man adjusted his camouflage combat uniform. "We can't just stand by and watch the Chaos Ritual proceed—"
"It would be interesting if those bastards managed to summon something."
The middle-aged researcher nodded in agreement, turned around, and muttered softly, "It would be great if they succeeded in summoning something. We still don't have a research sample..."
Cough.
Just as he spoke, the living clock started operating again.
A strange white and red liquid slowly flowed out of the bottomless hole, tracing the clock face all the way down to the ground.
It stopped right in front of the three people's toes.
Is this... a map?
"I know this place!" Sakai Takashi shouted. "I've been there! It's a school!"
A school?
White Torch nodded, subconsciously touched the cold weapon at his waist, and then turned to thank the researcher.
"That's all for today. We need to hurry over. Afterward, please write up the report for me."
These words made the usually calm researcher's face fall. "Hey, what do you mean? You were the one who used it, why should I write the report!"
"Let's go, Sakai. Check your ammunition." White Torch ignored him.
"Hey! White Torch! You bastard!"
Usami Reiko chuckled, turned, and followed White Torch and Sakai Takashi.
So this is C-001: secret rite?
An instrument for detecting large-scale mystery energy fluctuations?
In this precarious city, where order and chaos intersect, having a light that can pinpoint targets at any time is indeed crucial for handling and controlling major events.
Before this, all staff members within the official Ritual Institute felt as if they were in the dark—relying solely on Ritualists with strong perception to constantly search for fluctuations in mystery energy.
This was undoubtedly like a blind man feeling an elephant.
Usami Reiko, deeply aware of how much convenience the [secret rite] would bring to the Ritual Institute, quickly pondered the future direction.
With the secret rite, the fluctuations of chaos and order could be easily distinguished by observers.
Second, all individuals holding a ritual would be constantly exposed beneath the secret rite.
Third, assuming there are wild Ritualists from the order/Chaos side who release a large amount of mystery during combat—the officials can detect it in time.
This offers immense benefits for recruiting and capturing Ritualists from both the order and Chaos sides.
Hopefully, there are enough death row inmates.
----
special item:
[SMC-C-001: secret rite]
[Appearance: Large clock.]
[Ability:]
[After the dial sets the range.]
[When a large amount of 'mystery' string waves appear, the secret rite will capture it.]
[The cost increases as the range widens and the string wave energy level increases.]
[Theoretically, if allowed to feed enough, the secret rite could even reach the level of detecting mystery string waves across star systems.]
[More and more flesh and blood...]
[More and more greed.]
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