"Though I don't know how you did it, I must say you're quite impressive. Could you tell me what you relied on to find us?"
Donald looked at the four women in front of him—each clearly wanting to purify him from this world—and a drop of cold sweat involuntarily rolled down his face.
The primary reason was that their collective presence was simply too overwhelming; most people wouldn't want to encounter any one of them, let alone all four. On his end, he could feel their boiling murderous intent. Especially that silver-haired woman in black—even just standing there, she gave off an extremely ominous feeling.
It felt as though he had been discovered by a ferocious demon, or perhaps as if the vengeful souls of those who died by his hands had specifically come to claim his life. Although he was a scientist and shouldn't believe in such unscientific things, the moment he saw Jeanne, those thoughts involuntarily flooded his mind.
"Do you really think we'd explain everything to an enemy? Did you dissect so many people that you accidentally dissected your own brain into stupidity?"
Jeanne, shouldering her black dragon flag, retorted sharply the moment the man spoke. In truth, Jeanne didn't want to deal with this man for even a single second. From the moment she saw this scholar-like figure, the vengeful spirits surrounding her immediately began to seethe.
In life, these souls had been nothing more than ordinary people. Their spirits had been nearly exhausted during the time since their deaths, to the point where even their rationality no longer existed. Yet, they had not forgotten who the enemy was that caused their deaths. Even though their souls were now so weak that only a sliver of emotion remained, they lunged forward the instant this man appeared.
Unfortunately, being composed entirely of spirit, they had no way to directly harm him. They could only huddle in the realm invisible to him, coiling around him and perpetually making biting motions. This behavior, of course, had no effect on him. These weak, remnant souls could do nothing; their biting was merely an act following the hatred in their hearts.
Mr. Donald, surrounded by these entities, felt nothing more than a sudden chill down his spine. Any other sensation was likely non-existent.
"It's been a while, Rhine Gold Supervisor, Mr. Ivanov. I truly didn't expect our next meeting to be in a setting like this."
Ch'en looked at the Ursus man before her with an expressionless face, projecting the aura of a professional police officer. It seemed as if she had suppressed her emotions and was merely here to perform her official duties.
However, if one looked closely, the hand she held on Chi Xiao and her tail were both trembling uncontrollably. This was the result of exerting maximum effort to control her emotions—a sign that she was on the verge of losing control. If she weren't wearing the uniform of a Senior Superintendent of the LGD, Ch'en would have already drawn Chi Xiao and used it to hack him into pieces—the kind of pieces so small they could never be put back together.
But she couldn't do that yet. Even if the person opposite her was a criminal destined for death, he could not die until all information had been thoroughly interrogated out of him. Yet, even as she cautioned herself, feeling the rage constantly surging from within, Ch'en couldn't be certain if her next move wouldn't be a strike from Chi Xiao that sent a head rolling.
"Indeed, I didn't expect it either. To have everything I own destroyed in a single day... at this point, all I can say is that fate makes fools of us all."
Ivanov, seeing the grim expressions on their faces, immediately looked for topics to talk about, attempting to divert their attention. The gate behind him used for escape hadn't fully opened yet. He needed to stall for time to complete the final step of his escape plan. He could not fail in a place like this!
Hurry up, hurry up! Why is this damn gate opening so slowly?! I shouldn't have installed something like this just for the sake of 'security'...
Inwardly, he cursed the gate that seemed to be in no rush at all, secretly fuming at how much "water" must have been in his brain when he decided to install such a useless piece of junk that failed him at a critical moment. He forgot that this room, besides being an emergency escape, also handled the daily transport of Infected. To ensure the Infected wouldn't use the pipes to escape during transport, this gate-style design was specifically chosen to prevent anyone from easily opening the escape door.
At the time of design, they never imagined someone would find the secret room so easily. If anyone else had come, they wouldn't have found it in ten days or even half a month. No matter the method, this secret room constructed of special alloys shouldn't have been discovered. Combined with the emergency food and water... one could say that unless the entire underground structure was dug up from above, there was no way to find them.
Who could have guessed that their opponent would be a character like Jeanne, who essentially had "heavenly vision"? She didn't need investigation or research; she could break through their arrangements based on intuition alone. Against this extremely unscientific and unreasonable ability, even knowing the specifics would be useless, as such an ability couldn't be predicted with common logic.
Ch'en looked at the Ursus man and furrowed her brows again. She saw no fear in his eyes. Did he have some other trump card? Was it the person slumped behind him whose purpose was unknown? Or were there special traps in this secret room?
Faced with the man's abnormality, Ch'en was momentarily undecided. This was his home turf, and it wouldn't be surprising if they had a hidden ace. Ultimately, Ch'en chose to move in directly. Regardless of what underhanded tricks he had, he would be forced to use them once she acted.
Seeing Ch'en move, the other three followed suit. Regardless of the circumstances, even without counting the officers outside, it was four against three. The advantage was firmly on their side.
As they stepped forward, Ivanov rushed to meet them. Objects resembling shields condensed around him—likely his Originium Arts. Ch'en did not draw Chi Xiao, primarily because she still couldn't perfectly control the sword's power. Using Chi Xiao in such a confined environment was not a good choice.
At that moment, Swire's meteor hammer, Ch'en's standard-issue sword, and Hoshiguma's fist slammed simultaneously into the protective circle, attempting to shatter the shield formed by Originium Arts.
To their surprise, even though all three hit the shield nearly at once, it didn't shatter as expected. Instead, it remained firmly around him.
This shouldn't be possible! Based on his use of Originium Arts when he fell earlier, this man shouldn't be this strong. How had he improved so much in such a short time?
"Ugh... AH!"
Ivanov let out a scream of agony. He had barely managed to block the three attacks, but the pain he felt was far worse than simply taking a beating. In their eyes, Ivanov's face suddenly split open, and black Originium began to sprout from within. That terrifying growth speed was more than a hundred times faster than a normal Infected!
He had relied on the Originium inside his own body to constantly reinforce his Originium Arts so he could withstand their combined strike.
Donald looked at the Ursus man with an expression of "heartache." Look at you, why did you insist on taking my medicine earlier? See? Now you're having another flare-up!
"I didn't expect you to have become an Infected as well. But don't you plan on surrendering? I recall the Ursus nobility's attitude toward the Infected is quite abysmal. You won't have a good ending if you go back."
Seeing their strike fail, the three of them backed off half a step simultaneously to prevent being caught in a passive position during a stalemate. Ch'en sheathed her sword as the aura around her began to shift. As she spoke, Ch'en was steadily accumulating her momentum, preparing to cut through the opponent's defense with her next attack.
The burly man didn't reply; he was currently suffering the backlash of Oripathy. His infection was already exceptionally active, and his proactive use of Originium Arts had only made it worse. He could clearly feel the fire of his life gradually turning into Originium. Perhaps there were less than ten minutes left before he turned into a literal Originium bomb.
At that moment, Donald—with extreme reluctance—threw a sealed canister of clear water to him. That was three-quarters of his remaining stock!
"Drink it quickly! I'm telling you, if you drink this and still can't hold on, then you might as well just go ahead and die."