Going Upstairs

A total of three problematic exhibits were found in the second exhibition hall.

As they were found one by one and eventually reduced to carbon residue by Jiang Xun’s fire along with the flesh inside, the changes in the surrounding environment became more obvious.

The blood-red color that had previously been flickering in and out of existence began to appear frequently.

Dense black lines manifested on the floors and walls from time to time.

A faint white mist floated in the air, carrying a vague scent of blood.

This scene seemed to go against common sense.

Why did the changes in the environment become more pronounced the more anchors were destroyed?

However, this was not actually difficult to understand.

Originally, when the anchors were firm, the ritual was naturally in a very stable state.

It would continuously affect the space here and eventually cause the Abyss to descend.

Now that the vessels were destroyed, the ritual had lost its anchors and begun to become unstable or even collapse, which naturally led to the environment becoming more chaotic.

But this chaos was only temporary.

Once the ritual was completely destroyed and lost its effectiveness, the Abyss would lack the anchors to descend, and this space would naturally return to its original state gradually.

All in all, after clearing the second exhibition hall and confirming nothing was missed, the two immediately rushed to the third floor.

There were four exhibition halls in this building, two on the second floor and two on the third floor.

Now that the ones downstairs had been cleared, the mission was basically halfway complete.

“Furthermore, it is not strictly necessary to pull out every single anchor.”

“If a ritual loses too many anchors, it will begin to collapse on its own.”

“Based on my experience, clearing just one more exhibition hall will make it basically impossible for this ritual to maintain itself.”

Jiang Xun shared his experience with Su Mian on the way to the next hall.

Although he did not know why he was sharing such experience with a demon, as the saying goes, one might as well do something while idle.

This atmosphere did not last long.

Just as they turned a corner after reaching the third floor, they saw someone waiting for them ahead.

Jiang Xun habitually prepared to pull his gun and blast him.

Then he realized a handgun would not kill a human.

It was this moment of hesitation that saved the life of the person opposite them.

“Wait! Do not shoot!”

Seeing the tall young man draw his gun without a word, the man opposite panicked and shouted loudly.

“I am a normal person! Really! I have something to say!”

Actually, Jiang Xun had already seen that he was a normal person, otherwise he would not have let him talk so much nonsense.

Even Su Mian recognized this person; it was the host and auctioneer who had taken the stage when the auction started.

His name seemed to be… Shen Junying?

The auctioneer named Shen Junying saw that the two nearby did not immediately take action.

He unconsciously wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and hurriedly spoke again.

“I mean no ill will, Mr. Yu sent me here.”

“Mr. Yu invites you two to the fourth floor!”

Yu Fu?

Su Mian and Jiang Xun glanced at each other, immediately realizing that the other party could finally no longer sit still.

However, he still did not appear in person but sent someone to invite them.

One did not know whether to say Boss Yu held himself in high regard or was simply fearless.

Though it was not hard to guess where the other party’s confidence came from—it was nothing more than the hostages upstairs.

Jiang Xun stood in place and did not respond immediately.

Half of the ritual had been destroyed by them, and the remaining half was right before their eyes.

At this time, there was actually no need to waste words with these people.

But if he truly ignored everything and eventually caused Yu Fu to go mad, the consequences would have to be considered.

After a moment of silence, the man finally nodded.

“Lead the way.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Junying clearly breathed a sigh of relief.

Without a word, he led the way for the two, heading toward the fourth floor first.

Su Mian had no objection to this.

However, she thought of something else on the way.

She leaned slightly closer to Jiang Xun while walking up the stairs and whispered with some confusion.

“Speaking of which, since these anchors are so important, why did Yu Fu not hide the ones upstairs while we were downstairs?”

“Anchors cannot be moved casually.”

The man first moved a bit to the side to put some distance between them unnaturally before continuing to explain.

“The effectiveness and stability of the ritual are directly related to the anchors.”

“For instance, when placed in the exhibition hall, basically everyone who came today would come into close contact with them, so the effect is best.”

“Once an anchor is fixed, moving it randomly will not only affect its performance but might even cause the ritual to become unstable.”

“The ritual is already very unstable now.”

“Moving those anchors at this time will only make this place collapse faster.”

In the end, once things started, many elements were beyond even the leader’s full control.

This was exactly why Jiang Xun had not been very anxious before.

After listening to him, Su Mian nodded in realization.

It made sense; if anchors could be placed anywhere, Yu Fu could have just dug a big hole under the villa and stuffed everything inside before filling the dirt back in.

That would certainly be a hundred times safer than displaying them in the hall.

But that clearly would not work because nobody would get close to them.

Then whether the ritual could successfully operate would be a problem.

After all, the contaminated people were also part of the ritual.

The guests who came here were contaminated and simultaneously became the fuel for this ritual.

It was like a rolling snowball, eventually making the ritual’s effect stronger and stronger.

If they could not even achieve the initial contamination of others, then everything would naturally be for nothing.

“These rituals are quite interesting.”

Su Mian was indeed quite interested in this special knowledge.

Her eyes unconsciously emitted a bright luster.

She originally wanted to ask the man beside her more, but unfortunately, the distance was too short.

After just a few casual remarks, they had already arrived at the large doors of the auction hall.

It was currently past five in the afternoon, more than an hour since the previous auction ended.

When they were approaching earlier, they could vaguely hear sounds inside, but now it was dead silent.

As the doors were gently pushed open by the leading Shen Junying, the scene inside was revealed to the two.

What first drifted out was a faint mist.

In fact, the interior of the auction hall was currently filled with an eerie fog.

Combined with the flickering, dim lighting, it had an indescribably sinister feel.

However, the overall appearance had not changed much from before.

Even the guests were all still in their seats.

Su Mian immediately located Qi Chuan among them.

Like everyone else, he was sitting in his chair with his head lowered, appearing as if he had fallen into a deep sleep.

Aside from that, no other abnormalities could be seen on his body.

At least in Su Mian’s line of sight, his condition seemed normal.

Aside from the guests who were unconscious for unknown reasons, there were five or six men in black suits holding firearms distributed around the room.

They were expressionless, and even their eyes were an eerie, solid black with no trace of white.

These were undoubtedly demonic people.

Therefore, in the entire auction hall, only one person was currently awake.

When the doors were pushed open, the old man standing on the auction stage also looked up.

However, because he was somewhat far away and there was a faint mist, his expression could not be clearly seen.

He spoke slowly.

“Jiang Xun… is it not?”