Lord of Prayer - Chapter 176 135: Advent into Reality

Upon entering the villa, the group quickly began their investigation.

In less than two minutes, they detected the recent traces of four women in the villa. After analysis by their instruments, they were identified as Liu Ying, Sun Shan, and the other “god-daughters” financially supported by Qin Xu.

The women were now missing. After checking the chat logs between Qin Xu and the women, as well as the residential complex’s security footage, it was confirmed that they had arrived at Dr. Qin’s home one by one about an hour ago, after which all contact was lost.

The security footage showed that no one had entered or left the villa since Dr. Qin’s last “god-daughter” arrived. Now, with the entire building empty, the only explanation was that there was a secret room hidden somewhere inside.

The team used their detection instruments to conduct a detailed search, finally locating a suspicious area in the library on the second basement level of the villa.

“This bookshelf has been converted into a secret door. There’s a hidden room below it, and an isolation Matrix has been set up. If our instruments hadn’t detected the anomaly, we would’ve been searching for a long time.”

Fujiwara Shunsuke put on his gloves and approached the bookshelf. After fumbling with it for a moment, he pressed a book, and the shelf silently swung open.

He looked down at the device in his hands and reported, “No life signs detected. Electrical signals detected. Residual Power from an Abyssal Curse Technique detected. Residual fluctuations of a Desire Demon detected. About an hour ago, some kind of evil ritual was performed here. The traces have now mostly dissipated.”

Residual fluctuations of a Desire Demon…

Hearing this, everyone tensed up, their vigilance instantly on high alert. They all activated the anti-contamination Artifacts on their persons—before the mission, Zhou Chen had equipped a piece of Alchemy Equipment that resisted mental pollution.

“Minister Zhang, can you tear open the ground here?” Captain Xu Li asked over the communication channel.

“Leave it to me,” a steady voice replied.

Outside the villa, a man with greasy, messy hair, a dirty white lab coat, and deep, dark circles under his eyes, looking utterly exhausted, extended a hand toward the villa. A massive Alchemy Matrix materialized in the air, its layers overlapping as it covered the entire structure.

Suddenly, a loud RUMBLE erupted.

As if casually opening a cardboard box, the villa’s roof was effortlessly torn clean off, followed by the walls and floors. The furniture and decorations inside remained perfectly still, regardless of their angle, like a frozen frame of animation.

Invisible Alchemy tore open the ceiling of the second basement level, allowing the harsh Sun to shine down. The next second, the bookshelf, walls, and floor in front of the team were ripped away in one piece, completely exposing the dark, subterranean secret room to the sunlight and to everyone’s view.

Zhou Chen’s eyelid twitched.

The most conspicuous things in the secret room were the Inverted Pentagram Array carved into the floor, and the bedframe and Rehabilitation Pod placed within the Matrix.

There was nothing on the bedframe, but inside the Rehabilitation Pod…

A misshapen, bright red mass of flesh floated in a viscous, blood-red nutrient fluid. Human limbs, such as arms and legs, extended from it. If someone with poor eyesight took off their glasses, they might mistake it for an oversized meatball bristling with toothpicks.

Human organs like eyes, noses, and mouths were scattered irregularly across the mass of flesh. A quick count revealed the thing had eight eyes, eight pairs of ears, four noses… You could even see internal organs like a heart, two lungs, and a liver visible on its surface.

A malevolent, unsettling chill filled the air—the eerie, residual aura of the Demon, enough to give one goosebumps.

At that moment, in Zhou Chen’s field of vision, certain parts of the grotesque flesh mass were glowing with a conspicuous golden light.

‘The good news is, they’ve found Liu Hanyan.’

‘The bad news is, they’ve only found *part* of Liu Hanyan.’

This grotesque flesh mass was clearly pieced together from the bodies of several people!

“No life signs, no contamination fluctuations… it’s not a corruption, just a pile of fused, rotten flesh…” Fujiwara Shunsuke swallowed hard. “This guy, Qin Xu… did he succeed or fail?”

Now, having witnessed it firsthand, everyone agreed with Zhou Chen’s speculation. Qin Xu had undoubtedly made a pact with a Demon in an attempt to resurrect his daughter. The lump of rotten flesh before them, fused from several bodies, was the best proof.

“I’d say he succeeded. The facial organs on this pile of rotten flesh are short by one person’s worth… But where did Qin Xu go?” Zhou Chen stroked his chin, pondering. “The security cameras didn’t capture anyone leaving the villa. Maybe the Desire Demon took him and the resurrected Qin Duoduo away?”

“There were indeed spatial fluctuations here, about twenty minutes ago,” Fujiwara Shunsuke said, frustrated. “But they’ve become very faint. I can’t track the coordinates.”

‘I hope they’ve left Jinzhu…’ Zhou Chen sighed internally. ‘As long as they don’t cause trouble in Jinzhu, it’s fine.’

Five minutes later, the Special Operations Team arrived with research personnel. They cordoned off the surrounding area and began to conduct strict examinations of the residents.

The investigation yielded some startling results. For more than half a month, residents in the vicinity had been having wonderfully vivid erotic dreams every night. The object of their dreams was, without exception, a flawless man or woman.

What was even stranger was that when they woke up in the morning, they didn’t feel tired at all. Instead, they were full of vigor, possessing an unprecedented amount of energy. Their efficiency, whether in studying or working, had increased severalfold.

Many of them had already become addicted to these erotic dreams. They couldn’t fall asleep without having one, and would be listless the next day if they didn’t.

Because having erotic dreams was such a private matter, no one had ever mentioned it. It wasn’t until the Star Association conducted its large-scale inspection that this strange phenomenon came to light.