Chapter 296: Terrifying Secret

Guzman’s only demand of Cton Police Department was simple.

If they discovered Caelum’s whereabouts, they had to notify him immediately.

The police were not to act rashly under any circumstances.

Otherwise, they would bear the consequences themselves.

The king’s seal still carried great force.

The chief of Cton Police Department had no objection at all. On the contrary, he nearly let out a sigh of relief.

He had been praying for someone to take this burden from him.

A short while later, Geraldine followed Guzman to Caelum’s front door.

Clearly, Guzman had made proper preparations before arriving. At the very least, he had a basic understanding of Caelum’s information.

They stood in the street.

Click.

A familiar sound rang beside Geraldine’s ear.

She froze for a moment, thinking it was Caelum. When she turned, she found Guzman lighting a cigarette for himself.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

Guzman quietly looked at the remaining bloodstains on the ground, then at the hole in the third floor wall across the street. Something deep moved behind his eyes.

As a member of the Secret Investigation Bureau of the United Kingdom of Stars, Guzman was unquestionably a Sequence user.

Stage Three of the Fraudster Sequence.

Since he was also of the Fraudster Sequence, and at Stage Three no less, he was naturally stronger than Toru Yamamoto.

And because he had spent years dealing with Sequence users, the Sequence paths he could use were far more varied.

Investigator, Novelist, Beast Tamer, Night Watcher Sequence, Prophet Sequence.

He could use all of their powers.

To maintain this ability, Guzman had invested a great deal of effort.

Even in the entire Secret Investigation Bureau, his strength could be considered top tier.

After all, by himself, he could equal an entire investigation bureau.

Of course, the flaw was obvious.

Each time, he could only use the power of one Sequence path.

Standing there, Guzman activated the ability of a certain Sequence path and witnessed the entire process of Caelum’s killing, as if the scene were replaying before him.

The more he watched, the heavier his face became.

"Miss Geraldine, you must have had unusual contact with Caelum. If possible, I hope you will tell me the truth."

"Since you are a professional in investigating this sort of thing, there is nothing I cannot say. He once tied me up in his basement and stabbed me in the chest. At the time, I thought I was dead for certain. I never expected nothing would happen at all."

Geraldine told him the truth.

After that, she asked in return, "My intuition tells me you and he are the same kind of person. Are there many people like you in the kingdom?"

"Very few."

Guzman rubbed his dry eyes, turned, and pushed open Caelum’s door.

He walked straight toward the basement.

"This is the capital, after all. All sorts of monsters and ghosts love running here. Because of that, we never get a peaceful day. We are always busy."

Creak.

The iron door of the basement was pulled open, letting out a sharp, grating sound.

The two went down the stairs.

The instant they entered the basement, Geraldine felt nothing in particular.

Guzman, however, felt his skin crawl.

His face changed sharply, and fear broke through before he could suppress it.

Geraldine grew curious.

"What is it?"

"Here..."

Guzman drew in a deep breath.

His heart still pounded hard, and a trace of pallor cut through his grave expression.

"Something extremely terrifying must have happened here."

The mission he had accepted was to deal with Caelum as soon as possible.

But before fighting Caelum, he had to understand Caelum’s strength.

Anyone who charged blindly without knowing the target’s ability had long since fed the grass growing over their grave.

Even if Guzman was very confident in his own strength, he would not do that.

"Let me see what happened here."

Guzman had a premonition.

Caelum must have done something terrifying in this place.

And the level of danger involved was probably far beyond imagination.

Once again, he used the ability of another Sequence path, attempting to witness something that had once happened in the basement.

But this replay was especially difficult.

Only after Guzman used his full strength did he barely glimpse a few scenes.

Silence.

The basement was so quiet that only breathing could be heard.

Geraldine stood to the side and watched sweat pour down Guzman’s face, unable to tell what he was doing.

Then, abruptly, Guzman opened his eyes.

Red spread through the whites of his eyes, and blood flowed from his sockets.

His face twisted as he let out a cry of pain.

"Ah!"

Disordered, chaotic, distorted whispers echoed inside his skull.

The pain was so intense that Guzman wanted to smash his own head apart.

The instant he glimpsed certain information and images, an ancient, deep, eternal aura followed his gaze and forced its way into his mind.

Just one glance.

Guzman’s reason and spirit were corroded and warped by madness.

He struggled on the floor in agony, rolling like an insect.

His pained cries kept echoing through the basement.

A long time passed.

Guzman was completely exhausted.

The tide of pain finally receded, and his tenacious will pushed the madness back down.

Only deep fear remained in his eyes.

"Madness..."

He murmured.

Geraldine asked, "What?"

"He was making a deal with an ancient god!"

"An ancient god?"

In that instant, Geraldine understood everything.

She finally knew why Caelum had asked her those questions when they first met.

Those great existences were not merely content from her novel.

This was the first time Guzman had encountered such a situation.

Anything connected to those great existences was absolutely a major matter.

And this was a madman who had directly made a deal with an ancient god.

Even more absurdly, he had actually succeeded.

The ancient god had responded to his transaction.

Such great existences as ancient gods viewed humans as ants.

Forget one person’s call. Even if all humanity called out to Them, They might not bother to respond.

Who knew how Caelum had done it?

"No."

Guzman had completely lost his earlier composure.

Fear stood clearly on his face.

"I have to notify headquarters immediately. This matter is even more serious than I expected."

A madman capable of making a deal with an ancient god.

He truly did not dare provoke such a person lightly.

Most importantly, this madman was very likely still in Cton.

This was the capital of the United Kingdom of Stars.

If something happened here, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Seeing his reaction, Geraldine quietly grew pleased. With the attitude of someone watching chaos unfold from a safe seat, she asked, "Mr. Guzman, it seems the matter is very serious?"

Guzman did not answer.

Serious was far too mild a word.

He quickly left the basement, escaping that oppressive discomfort.

Then he lit another cigarette to steady himself.

"Miss Geraldine, next I will have to trouble you to help me find Caelum."

"Me?"

Geraldine was surprised.

"Unfortunately, I do not know where he is."

Guzman said, "No. You do."