The Ritual

Su Mian followed closely behind Jiang Xun as they turned into another living room.

This side was very close to the outside, separated only by a single window.

However, that small piece of glass felt like an insurmountable chasm, firmly dividing two different worlds.

At least the scenery outside was still visible through the glass.

The young girl glanced at it before looking away, only to discover several people lying on the carpet!

There were five or six of them, both men and women.

“I just let them sleep for a while; it is at least better than them walking into that restaurant.”

Seeing Su Mian’s gaze fall on the unconscious people, Jiang Xun offered an explanation.

He then found two bottles of water from somewhere and instinctively moved to toss one over, but froze midway.

He opened one bottle and took a gulp, just as the girl asked curiously: “Speaking of which, what is going on with the restaurant? Why are those people acting like they are crazy?”

“It is a ritual.”

“A ritual?”

Seeing Jiang Xun find a sofa to sit on, Su Mian sat nearby, blinking her curious eyes at him.

However, the man did not answer immediately.

His gaze was quite strange, making Su Mian worry he had noticed a flaw.

She unconsciously touched her face and asked guiltily, “W-what is it?”

“…It is nothing.”

Jiang Xun remained silent for a moment before shaking his head.

After all, he could hardly say that this conversation did not feel like he was talking to a demon at all.

‘In fact, I feel like the child across from me is not that same succubus from before!’

If it were not for the fact that her appearance and faint aura could not be faked, he might really doubt he had the wrong person.

The difference was quite obvious.

When they first met, every smile and frown from this succubus was filled with extreme danger, making one fear they would fall for her with just one more glance.

Yet meeting her again now, there was a sudden sense of purity and simple-mindedness.

‘Could this be some kind of disguise?’

He could not figure it out.

But now was not the time to dwell on such things.

The situation was urgent.

Even though he did not know why the succubus before him was trapped here and acting so soft and harmless, Jiang Xun could sense she harbored no ill intent.

He was exceptionally sensitive to killing intent or malice, and he truly could not smell anything like that from this strange girl.

However, the man was not too surprised by this.

Demons were like that; sometimes what they were thinking was truly beyond human comprehension.

Since the girl seemed to have no malice and her actions suggested she had no connection to what was happening here, they could try to communicate for now.

Although he did not know if it were true or false, it was worth a shot.

After thinking in silence for a while, Jiang Xun finally spoke in response to Su Mian’s curiosity.

“Based on my observations and experience, this building is currently covered by a certain ritual.”

“The people in the restaurant are acting abnormally because they are influenced by it.”

“Furthermore, this ritual is not only affecting ordinary people but is also causing this place to gradually overlap with the Abyss!”

A Shadow Realm, then.

Hearing a knowledge point she had just learned, Su Mian nodded slightly with a thoughtful expression.

“So the ritual is in the restaurant?”

“No, they gathered in the restaurant simply because they are hungry, and the restaurant has the most food.”

The man immediately denied this.

He took another sip of water, crushed the empty bottle in one hand, and tossed it accurately into a trash can in the corner before speaking again.

“The ritual covers the entire building; it is impossible for it to be set up only in a small restaurant.”

“Then can we just knock out the people in the restaurant, like these people here?”

The girl pointed to the men and women lying unconscious on the carpet nearby.

But Jiang Xun shook his head without a second thought.

“The people in the restaurant have already been deeply contaminated.”

“Only by ending the ritual can we truly save them, and interfering blindly now will only make the situation worse.”

“After all, what they are eating now can still be considered food.”

The young man paused slightly.

“There is no guarantee what they will eat once they go completely mad.”

“…”

This reminded Su Mian of that gluttonous demonic person from before.

He had looked like a normal person during the eating competition, but when someone tried to stop him afterward, he went mad and bit the owner’s neck!

That savage scene had left a deep impression on the young girl.

The diners in the restaurant were clearly in the same situation.

Leaving them alone was actually the best way to handle it.

Moreover, the most critical issue was not how to stop them from eating, but how to block the ritual to save everything.

Realizing the severity of the problem, Su Mian looked up at the man with her slightly pinkish eyes.

“Then do you know how to stop this ritual?”

“…”

Jiang Xun fell silent again.

It was not that he did not know, but it was just too strange to have a high-ranking demon ask this question.

‘A succubus asking me how to stop a ritual that is summoning the Abyss…’

‘It is too weird!’

Even as Officer Jiang, who was experienced in handling many incidents, he wondered if he had drunk too much.

Besides, these were very basic things; why would a powerful high-ranking succubus act so simple-minded?

The man found it very strange.

Furthermore, even if the Abyss descended, it would not really affect a succubus; at most, it would just waste some of her time.

Yet she seemed even more anxious than he was.

Because his suspicious look was so obvious, even Su Mian could tell that Jiang Xun was deeply doubting her.

There was nothing she could do about it.

It happened so suddenly that she was unprepared, and since she was not the other version of herself, it was natural for flaws to be noticed.

Thus, the girl could only adopt a sincere posture and look directly at Jiang Xun.

“I want to destroy the ritual because my friend is also here, and he is an ordinary person, so…”

“I understand.”

The man nodded slightly.

As for whether he truly understood, only he knew.

He continued to explain, “Anyway, to stop the ritual, we must find it first.”

“A ritual does not appear out of nowhere; it must have an anchor, and those items must be hidden in this building!”

An anchor?

Su Mian only half-understood, mainly because she did not know much about rituals.

She looked up, but Jiang Xun seemed to know what she wanted to ask and immediately shook his head.

“It happened too suddenly, and two of my companions are missing.”

“I am looking for them and have not found anything suspicious yet.”

“Something suspicious…”

Mumbling, Su Mian immediately began to recall if anything had felt off during the day.

After thinking for a few seconds, she suddenly froze.

The man sitting across from her naturally noticed the change in her expression.

“Did you find something?”

“The exhibits!”

The young girl thought back to the morning.

At that time, she felt that a few exhibits from the Fourth Era in the upstairs gallery were very strange.

But since items from the Fourth Era were already very abstract and she could not touch them through the thick glass, she had assumed it was just her imagination.

Yet recalling it now, that feeling of wrongness became increasingly obvious!

Jiang Xun paused as well, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Exhibits? That is a strong possibility. Which exhibits felt wrong to you back then?”

He looked at the girl.

Then he suddenly stood up.

“Forget it, let us just go and see.”

Jiang Xun was a man of action; as soon as he decided, he moved, and Su Mian had to quickly stand up to follow him.

While heading to the second floor, she did not forget to ask another question she was very concerned about, even though she basically already knew the answer.

“By the way, do you know who caused this?”

“Yuan Sheng.”

Jiang Xun’s answer was extremely firm, without the slightest hesitation.

He then added, “Or to be more direct, it is Yu Fu.”

“It really is him…”

Su Mian was not surprised at all.

Thinking about it carefully, it made sense.

A ritual could not appear out of thin air.

It was common knowledge that this exhibition was hosted by Yuan Sheng, the time was arranged by them, the venue was provided by them, the guests were invited by them, and even the exhibits were Yu Fu’s own collection!

With all these factors combined, who would believe it had nothing to do with them now that something had gone wrong?

Even a ghost would not believe that.

So Su Mian was not really surprised, but she was confused about why Boss Yu Fu would do such a thing, and…

“Then if we just go and kill Yu Fu, would that solve the problem?”