A long corridor, with tless closed doors oher side, exuding an evil aura that does not belong to this world.

  Charlot Meburg drew his shun, eling the Blood Glory, and activated the Eye of Insight to its fullest. He advanced into the depths of the mansion.

  The mansion was incredibly vast and deep. After running for over ten minutes, Charlot still could not see an end. All he saw were endless corridors and tless closed doors.

  He did not explore the rooms oher side of the corridor. Through the Eye of Insight, he could "see" that the rooms were engulfed in darkness, a realm that did not belong to the human world.

  A strange buzzing sound grew louder, and as Charlot raised his shun, he saw a bck beetle fly toward him and circle around him.

  Charlot hesitated for a moment, then took a step forward. The bck beetle immediately flew a few meters ahead, seemingly guiding him.

  Without hesitation, he followed the beetle.

  The bck beetle circled in the air, and the corridor around Charlot began to ge. tless new hallways appeared, with an endless number of brang paths.

  Charlot felt a pang ret but khere was n back. He was certain that Annie was trapped in the dream realm.

  As for whether it was worth resg a stranger...

  That question was irrelevant now.

  Uhe beetle's guidance, Charlot ran for half an hour. He realized this situation was far from normal. The mansion, though grand, was not supposed to be this vast.

  Growing more anxious, Charlot suddenly heard a scream. The bck beetle sped up and led him down several more corridors.

  Charlot took a few strides ahead and saw a young maid lying on the ground, her body covered in blood, her lower half a mangled mess. Upon seeing him, the maid’s eyes fshed with hope, and she trembled, calling out, "Save me... save me!"

  Charlot's heart ached. Even as a master-level transdent, he could n the dead back to life. That was the domain of gods.

  This young maid had only her upper body left. He owerless to save her.

  Charlot could n himself to end her suffering.

  All he could do was...

  ast, c his face.

  The maid's cries grew monized, and Charlot's mood worsened.

  He was certain of ohing: Yanmills was dug some evil ritual. This mansion had transded the human world, and he feared there were no living souls left inside.

  "I wonder how Miss Annie Bretagne is... Has she met with misfortune?"

  Charlot had never anticipated that what seemed like a small favor would turn into such a high-level battle.

  He tio follow the bck beetle, when suddenly a young girl in hunting attire sprioward him. Upon seeing Charlot, she was both shocked and delighted, calling out, "Mr. Meburg, save me!"

  Charlot was momentarily stunned. He raised his nearly-new Magnum Mauler and asked, "How do you know me?"

  The girl in hunting attire blushed slightly and replied, "I’m Annie! Annie Bretagne."

  Before Charlot could respond, a creature more than three meters tall, its body glowing a deep red, like a monster without skin, appeared. It was wielding a giant spiked mad sloroached them.

  In the face of such danger, Charlot surprisingly remained calm. He closed his eyes, then raised the Magnum Mauler and fired three quick shots at the girl in hunting attire.

  As smoke filled the air, the figure of the girl began to blur and transformed into a tall, menag man. In disbelief, he shouted, "How could you shoot at me?"

  Charlot's response was simple—he fired two more shots.

  At the same time, he felt a surge of relief. His first awakened ability had been the Eye of Insight.

  Charlot did not uand why Yanmills had not disguised himself as the real Annie Bretagne, but instead chose to take the form of a strange girl. However, this did not affect the oute.

  His suspi grew, and he used the Eye of Insight once more. He saw through the illusion and revealed the true identity of the girl in hunting attire. Five bullets ehe life of the orying to awaken the evil god.

  Yanmills fell to the ground, five bullet holes in his body, blood p out.

  The creature, over three meters tall, still had not disappeared. Its red, skinless body tio approach step by step.

  Charlot took a deep breath and reached for the Vampiric axe hidden at his waist. Blood Glory surged into the axe, and the bde glowed faintly with a blood-red light.

  Ba his uy days, Charlot's primary focus had been on gover administrative work, and he had no iion of being a batant.

  His martial skills were average at best, and his close bat teiques were particurly g. He had little battle experience.

  If it were not for y, Charlot would have preferred to avoid fighting.

  In this situation, fighting was not the best option.

  Charlot eveated to use the Eye of Insight.

  If the oppo was that fn god of chaos...

  Staring directly at the evil god would likely leave him blind.

  A slightly better oute would be plete madness.

  The worst oute would not be death, but a bloodline curse that doomed future geions to misfortune from birth.

  The former had tried ond met a swift and decisive end!

  Another possibility existed.

  This monster could be... Annie Bretagne.

  The girl had been transformed into such a monstrous form by the corrupting power.

  Whether he killed a noblewoman of the Bretagne family or was killed by A would be a severe i.

  "Why must I fight?"

  "I was just a math teacher in my past life, not a batant!"

  Charlot watched the approag moorn by indecision.

  The perimeter of Yanmills' estate was surrounded by city patrol guards.

  Among them, Charlnized a few familiar faces. Some were officers he had entered during his iigation at the Savings Union apartments. Young, handsome patrol officer Dubin looked at the swirling bck fog and asked with a headache, " someoell me what's happening here?"

  One of the patrol officers replied, "This is Yanmills' estate. He killed his wife a few days ago. Who knows, maybe he's so remorseful that he's trying to use some dark magimon her soul bad tiormenting her."

  This grim joke did n ughter. Instead, it darkehe mood of the patrol officers. If the joke turned out to be true, they would be in serious trouble.

  Summoning souls from the underworld was no small matter!

  Dubin scoffed at this expnation. He looked at the Yanmills estate, which was covered in thick bck fog, and had no iion of iigating further.

  The young patrol officer muttered, "When will the transdent e?"

  The officer who had joked earlier said, "Transdents have a lot more lives to lose than we do."

  Dubin reprimanded him, but couldn't help agreeing with the remark. Every time something like this happehe transdents never "rushed to the se"—they only waited until the situation became clear, then appeared casually, taking all the credit for themselves.

  Dubin prided himself on his swordsmanship, but he was not a transdent. In such a situation, swordsmanship would be useless, and reckless a would only lead to his death.

  He sighed and said, "Let's wait for orders from above. Our job is to guard the perimeter and prevent anyone from approag."

  The bck fog around Yanmills' mansiohicker.