Chapter 1874 - 1873: Carefully Orchestrated Encounter

Anke instinctively wanted to turn around and avoid that gaze.

"Don’t turn," He Ao’s voice sounded in his ear, "Just nod politely to him."

Anke was taken aback, his body froze for a moment, just as the man’s gaze landed fully on him.

Anke looked at the man, smiling and nodding slightly at him.

The man stared at Anke, seemingly quickly recalling if he’d met Anke before, but still politely nodded in response.

"Turn your head back, and now walk into the crowd, find a staff member and chat with her."

He Ao’s voice sounded again.

Anke naturally turned his head and moved into the crowd.

"Sir, is that person someone important?" Anke asked in a low voice.

"Looks like it," He Ao replied.

"Why did you want me to greet him?" Anke said in a low voice, "That guy looks so fierce; if I provoke him, I might end up dead here."

"Oh," He Ao said calmly, "It was just to make you more alert, don’t lose face. In our time, even if you couldn’t beat someone, you shouldn’t embarrass yourself."

Hearing this, Anke was slightly stunned.

"Are you joking, sir?" he asked softly.

"Make contact; maybe it will lead to an unexpected development," He Ao said calmly.

Anke seemed to accept this reason, sighed slightly, and said, "I hope I don’t encounter him. That guy looks frightening, reminds me of the Mercenary Corps Leader; those veterans kill without hesitation."

As they spoke, a beautiful young girl in a pink miniskirt, holding a tray, seemingly a server, walked through the crowd.

Anke saw the girl, "Sir, there seems to be a staff member there, what should I ask?"

"Ask anything," He Ao said, "Just get her to stand by your side and chat with you for a bit."

"Hello." Before He Ao’s words were finished, Anke reached out his hand to stop the girl in the pink miniskirt.

"Hello," the girl put down the tray, looked at Anke, and asked with a smile, "Sir, is there anything I can help with?"

"I just wanted to ask where the restroom is?" Anke pointed to his clothes that had been spilled with some wine and asked softly.

"Sorry." The girl looked at Anke’s clothes, quickly took out a white silk handkerchief from her skirt pocket, and began wiping the water stains on Anke’s clothes.

Her movements were very gentle, like curling feathers brushing across the skin, a faint fragrance wafting into Anke’s nostrils, momentarily blurring his awareness.

All stimulants, all stimulants.

Anke forcibly suppressed his emotions, looking at the nervous girl in front of him, seemingly somewhat at a loss, hurriedly helping him wipe his clothes, shaking his head, "It’s not your fault; I just accidentally spilled it. Just tell me where the restroom is."

Hearing this, the girl was slightly stunned, then turned her head, pointing to a brightly lit pink section of the crowd, and whispered, "Sir, just head that way, that lit area is the restroom."

She quickly folded the silk handkerchief in her hand and handed it to Anke, gently saying, "There are no towels in the restroom, hope this helps you."

With that, she picked up the tray, turned around, and walked into the crowd.

Anke didn’t expect the girl to leave so decisively, feeling a bit dazed for a moment.

He glanced at the silk handkerchief in his hand, only to feel a faint fragrance emanating from it, a surface layer of light plant perfume scent, but with a deeper hint of subtle, almost skin-seeping fragrance, like the girl’s body scent.

"The staff here can all be brought to the rooms, you know." A slightly mischievous voice sounded from behind him.

Anke turned around and saw the uniform of the Rockville Energy Group Mercenary Corps.

A mercenary was standing behind him, one of the ’companions’ of the mercenary who had just led him in.

Anke instinctively looked up, looking for other mercenaries.

"No need to look," the mercenary shook his head, "The others went off to have their own fun, I’m just here alone to find some excitement."

He then looked up, in the direction the female server had left, smiling, "I just asked, the girls here, as long as they’re staff, can enter the room. It’s just a matter of price."

He smiled mischievously, "If you like, you can ask her about the price."

Then he glanced at the silk handkerchief in Anke’s hand, reached out to pat Anke on the shoulder, and laughed, "Sometimes don’t take things too seriously, buddy. You haven’t visited places like this often, have you? The girls here are the best at deceiving men. If you show too much interest, it’ll cost you."

"I’m not—" Anke tried to deny, but saw the mercenary turn away, waving his hand as he walked into the crowd.

Anke looked at the white silk handkerchief in his hand, momentarily bewildered.

But soon, he shook his head, dispelling the complex and confusing thoughts in his mind, and asked softly, "Sir, how is it? Do you still need me to chat up the next server?"

"We’re good," He Ao said calmly, "But I wouldn’t recommend engaging another staff member."

"Huh?" Anke was surprised, "Why?"

"If you enter the room," He Ao laughed, "We might be delayed until tomorrow morning."

"Sir, you’re teasing me like a child again," Anke sighed, "Where are we heading next?"

"To the restroom," He Ao said directly.

Hearing this, Anke was surprised.

"The very restroom you asked about," He Ao repeated, "We should head over."

"Perfect timing, I needed to use the bathroom." This time Anke made sure he hadn’t misheard, turned around, and quickly made his way to the restroom.

He quickly navigated through the crowd and reached the area bathed in pink light.

The restroom’s signboard flickered within this pink glow.

But Anke was somewhat puzzled that the restroom had only one door, without any male or female indication.

Anke paused for a moment but still pushed open the door and entered the restroom.

What greeted his eyes were two rows of narrow stalls.

Each stall was marked with signs for both males and females.

Is it a unisex bathroom? This place is quite peculiar indeed.

Anke shook his head, walked inside, randomly opened one of the stalls, and relieved himself.

But with his actions, he vaguely heard strange sounds from the adjacent stall.

He turned his head, looking at the gap at the bottom of the stall partition.

The person in the adjacent stall seemed to have four legs, two wearing golden high heels, painted with red toenail polish, and the other two wearing black leather boots.

At this moment, seemingly aware of Anke’s ’change’, more intense sounds emanated from the neighboring stall.

Anke remained silent for a moment, then quickly finished up, fastening his pants, and left the stall in quick steps.

"The world is declining, morality is degenerating!" he couldn’t help but grit his teeth.

He turned around, heading towards the door.

"Don’t go out, move inside." At this moment, He Ao’s voice sounded in his ear.

Anke hesitated for a moment, then turned around and walked toward the farthest part of the bathroom.

"Do you see the door to the innermost storeroom?" He Ao continued to ask.

Anke raised his head to look forward. At the far end of the right row of bathrooms, there was a small white door with a small sign saying storeroom.

"Push it open," He Ao continued.

Anke stepped forward, gripped the doorknob, and tried to push it, but it remained shut. "It seems locked," he said.

He glanced at the smart lock on the door. "It doesn’t seem to have a mechanical keyhole either."

"Do you still have the crystal card on you? Try swiping it directly," He Ao continued.

Anke reached into his pocket, took out the crystal card, and swiped it on the door.

Beep—

With a slight sound, the door to the storeroom opened in response.

"How did you know that?" Anke asked, somewhat surprised.

"Someone told me," He Ao responded directly.

The truth was, it appeared in the thoughts of the server just now when Anke mentioned the bathroom. She naturally thought of this door and how to open it.

Every ’staff member’ in this building had a crystal card. Although the permissions of different cards varied, the cards were similar and represented identity in this building.

So He Ao speculated that the crystal card from the witch cultist they killed earlier was an identity card with certain permissions.

Since they arrived at Ilotan quickly, the news from the wilderness hadn’t returned yet, and the permissions of the crystal card shouldn’t have been revoked.

"Sometimes, Grandpa, you can be quite mysterious," Anke remarked with some emotion.

He didn’t think much and simply pushed the door open and entered the room.

Behind the door was indeed a narrow, dimly lit storeroom filled with cleaning items like mops, disinfectants, and incense.

However, at the far edge of the shelves in the storeroom, there were places on the wall with subtly mismatched colors.

This time, without He Ao’s reminder, Anke walked over directly and scanned the entire wall with his crystal card.

Sometimes, without needing to forcefully deduce the mechanism, trying with a key randomly might trigger the effect.

Though brute force, it works.

Beep—

As he swept by the switch next to the shelf, a crisp sound rang out.

Immediately, Anke felt the ground under his feet move. The walls on both sides also rotated ninety degrees with the ground, revealing a wide space and a huge wall in Anke’s field of view.

The entire wall was hung with screens, each displaying a perspective from the hall.

This seemed to be a surveillance room.

A woman with a high ponytail, wearing jeans and an orange leather jacket, stood in front of these monitors, watching every move in the hall.

At this moment, she also heard the sound behind her.

She turned her head to look behind, her gaze meeting Anke’s somewhat confused eyes.

"Ask her where the ’K’ believers are," He Ao prompted.

"Hello," Anke greeted awkwardly, raising his hand. "Do you know where those ’K’ believers are?"

But the high ponytail woman merely glanced at Anke without answering. Her movements weren’t sluggish, as she swiftly darted forward, kicking towards Anke.

Anke quickly dodged to the side.

This woman’s physical fitness seemed superior to his, and her speed was far greater.

As Anke dodged, the woman swiftly adjusted her movements, leaning to the side.

Then—

Bam—

With a sharp sound, Anke hadn’t yet reacted when the high ponytail woman crashed into the edge of the metal wall, falling backward.

Anke turned and glanced at the dented metal wall, then at the woman bleeding from the forehead and passed out, silently asking in a low voice, "Are you okay?"

But the woman clearly wouldn’t respond anymore. It seemed she had been completely knocked out.

Anke glanced at the dented alloy wall and sighed. "Incredible."

He looked again at the high ponytail woman. "Miss, you’re really out of luck."

"Use your handkerchief to soak up the blood on her forehead, try to wet the handkerchief," He Ao instructed.

Anke hesitated for a moment but still raised his silk handkerchief, placing it on the woman’s forehead, soaking it with blood.

At the same time, he observed the high ponytail woman in front of him, lamenting, "Grandpa, after staying here long enough, I’m getting a bit tired of seeing beautiful women everywhere."

He carefully looked at the high ponytail woman’s face, pausing slightly. "But these beauties all seem to resemble each other, so strange."

By now, he had soaked the handkerchief in his hand.

"Good, that’s enough," He Ao interrupted. "Hold that handkerchief and look to the left."

Anke turned his head to the left, looking at the wall next to the display screen.

"Go over and check," He Ao continued, "if there’s a rune relief on that wall."

Anke walked over, using the overhead light to examine the wall closely, and soon he discovered some markings. "It seems there is, it’s a bit complex."

"Like a twisted ’heart-shaped’ pattern?" He Ao asked.

"Yes," Anke nodded.

"This is one of the emblems of the Witch Church," He Ao quickly said. "Take the silk scarf, and with the blood, trace along this relief design, covering every stroke."

"This pattern is quite complex," Anke said, looking at the intricate relief.

But he still raised his hand, applying blood to the relief bit by bit.

At first, his action was slow, and soon the blood on the handkerchief began to dry. He pressed harder, quickening his pace.

Soon, a light layer of blood coated the entire emblem.

"It’s done," Anke said, stepping back, studying the pattern.

Yet, the entire wall remained silent, nothing seemed to change.

"Put your hand on it," He Ao instructed abruptly.

Anke hesitated but then reached out and pressed his hand on the emblem.

As his palm touched it, a faint purple glow slowly seeped from the blood-stained emblem.

Then, almost instantly, these rays filled the entire room.