Chapter 470: Broken Finger Compass

“…That’s about it, Golden Horn. Giving you a severe warning this time isn’t too much, is it?”

A psychic criminal died in Yunkang Psychiatric Hospital. As the temporary supervisor, Golden Horn had to take responsibility.

Listening to Xing Yuan’s cold voice on the other end of the phone, Golden Horn nodded, “You’re right, Leader. This was my oversight.”

“But, since there’s something fishy about this, I’ve helped you hold off the punishment for now. If you can get to the bottom of this within three days, the severe warning can still be reduced to a regular warning.”

“Understood. Thank you, Leader. I’ll do my best!”

“Mm, that’s all for now. Report any updates at once!”

“Beep-!”

Putting down the phone, Golden Horn rubbed his face with both hands, then stared into the corner of the wall, his gaze deepening as he fell into thought.

He kept saying he was terrified of dying, but that guy had planned to kill himself from the start!

Whether it was stirring up trouble in the cell or constantly trying to escape, it was all just a smokescreen to cover up his real intentions.

Causing chaos and attempting to escape would make people think he was rebellious and had a strong will to live, thus lowering their guard against his suicide.

And there were only two possible reasons for his suicide.

First, he had some core secret of the Eclipse Society on him. If it fell into the hands of The Midnight Watchers Society, it would be tortured out of him sooner or later, so he might as well end it himself early to prevent leaking secrets.

You know, when it comes to traitors who leak secrets, the Eclipse Society’s methods are cruel beyond human imagination.

Second, he had some backup plan prepared from the start, some way to come back to life after death.

But could he really pull that off?

Even with the Eclipse Society’s technical support, the chances were slim, right?

After all, resurrection is something that, aside from certain psychics with special Spirit Patterns, is difficult even for catastrophe-class beings.

Even hauntings, after being hunted, need a long time to descend again from haunting legends, and from a certain perspective, they’re not the same haunting as before.

Maybe the Eclipse Society really did master some technique to resurrect dead psychics. If it were Silver Horn, one of those technical-type operators from The Midnight Watchers Society, he might be able to analyze some clues.

But every field has its specialty. As a combat-type operator, Golden Horn wasn’t good at analysis and investigation.

“Knock knock knock-!”

A knock at the door interrupted Golden Horn’s thoughts.

“Come in!”

A member of the special task force pushed the door open, bowed slightly to Golden Horn, and said, “Secretary, Operator An Qing has finished the dissection.”

“Got it, I’ll head over now!” Golden Horn replied, getting up and leaving the office.

—

To be honest, Yunkang Psychiatric Hospital is a pretty terrifying place by most standards.

Nestled deep in the mountains, the psychiatric hospital is only accessible by a winding mountain road. Beneath the hospital are several basement levels built as prison cells, along with a morgue, dissection room, interrogation room, and a warehouse for psychic creature organs-everything you could imagine.

If some clueless civilian stumbled in and saw all these facilities, they’d probably be scared into checking themselves in on the spot.

When Golden Horn arrived at the small lounge next to the dissection room, An Qing was still wearing protective gear from the autopsy, latex gloves stained with blood, and was solemnly fiddling with a conical flask.

At the bottom of the flask, a clump of dark red, fibrous flesh was slowly wriggling, as if it still had some vitality.

“Ahem!” Golden Horn coughed lightly twice, drawing An Qing’s attention and asked, “Operator An Qing, what’s the result of the dissection?”

“Ah, sorry, I was just distracted.” An Qing snapped back to himself and smiled at Golden Horn. “I’ve already checked carefully. From a purely human perspective, Berses is indeed completely devoid of any signs of life.”

“So, it’s confirmed he’s dead?” Golden Horn’s face was full of worry.

That means he most likely had some core secret of the Eclipse Society on him, and killed himself out of fear it would be tortured out of him.

But if that’s the case, to get his punishment reduced, he’d have to uncover the secret Berses was hiding.

This is a bit tricky… Golden Horn thought, rubbing his slightly throbbing brow.

“No, he’s still alive.”

A cold voice came from outside the lounge. Golden Horn looked over and saw Jiang Li pushing the door open and walking in.

“Much as I hate to admit it, he’s still alive.”

“You…” Golden Horn was stunned for a moment, then immediately recalled the relationship between Jiang Li and Berses, and suddenly understood.

The reason the Eclipse Society is the most troublesome illegal psychic organization for The Midnight Watchers Society, aside from its tangled connections with the society’s predecessor and the vast resources and network it’s built up over the years, is mainly its series of psychic research achievements.

Among them, the Eclipse Society’s symbolic black solar totem is one of its most important psychic research results.

This tattoo, similar to a familiar’s mark but not directly tied to any haunting, was developed by the Eclipse Society by combining Spirit Patterns, familiar marks, and key features of totem belief.

Although the practitioner’s control over the recipient with the black solar totem is far less than that of a true familiar’s mark, it’s extremely versatile.

Almost any Eclipse Society member who knows how to draw the black solar totem can use it on any target.

Even though the success rate is low on high-tier psychics, and some psychic artifacts can suppress the black solar totem’s effects, it still gives the Eclipse Society a much more efficient way to expand and control its members than other illegal psychic organizations.

The caster of the tattoo on Jiang Li’s back was Berses. If he were already dead, her tattoo should have lost its effect.

However, at this moment, she could clearly feel that the tattoo on her back was still affecting her.

This suggested that Berses might have escaped prison by committing suicide.

But even after figuring this out, Jin Jiao still had a doubt in his heart. “But, can the Eclipse Society really pull off something like bringing someone back from the dead?”

“That’s right, the vast majority of hauntings and psychics can’t come back to life, but…” Jiang Li said calmly, her gaze drifting to the conical flask in An Qing’s hand. “But if you add the flesh and blood of the Beast of Inheritance, it might be possible.”

Researchers within The Midnight Watchers Society had made a bold conjecture based on recent data from psychics and hauntings.

They believed that as the night grew longer, some special individuals had begun to emerge among psychics and hauntings-beings that surpassed their previous understanding.

Hauntings like the Beast of Inheritance and Plague Taisui, which only appeared after the night grew longer, were likely to possess unimaginable abilities.

Although this hadn’t been confirmed yet, it didn’t stop An Qing from hypothesizing about the connection between the Beast of Inheritance and Berses based on this conjecture.

Following Jiang Li’s gaze, Jin Jiao looked at the flesh in the conical flask and exclaimed, “You mean, that bastard had the flesh and blood of the Beast of Inheritance in his body?!”

“That’s impossible! Before I captured and sent him to prison, I took a blood sample for comparison, and there was no trace of the Beast of Inheritance’s tissue in his body!”

If they had discovered the presence of the Beast of Inheritance’s tissue in that bastard’s body earlier, his danger level would have been raised by at least one class, and he would have been sent to Jinguan City for trial long ago… Jin Jiao added silently in his heart.

“I’ve seen the blood sample comparison data too,” An Qing nodded slightly. “There really wasn’t any Beast of Inheritance tissue in his body, not even this thing…”

She glanced at the flesh in the conical flask, curled her lip, and her eyes openly showed her disdain and disgust.

“When I dissected that guy and took out this flesh, I noticed it had some external similarities to the Beast of Inheritance’s flesh, but the psychic energy fluctuation didn’t match.”

“It was only after Operator Jiang Li reminded me that I tried putting the special substance extracted from those Nocturnal Syndrome samples together with this thing. Guess what happened?”

“Did it show characteristics similar to the Beast of Inheritance?” Jin Jiao ventured.

Jiang Li nodded slightly, confirming Jin Jiao’s guess. “Exactly!”

“Now…”

An Qing had just opened her mouth when Jin Jiao cut her off, “I’ll go apply to use the [Broken Finger Compass] right now. In five hours, we should be able to locate that bastard!”

With that, he hurriedly left the lounge.

The [Broken Finger Compass], also known as the “Eldritch Destroyer’s Broken Finger Compass,” is a Class A psychic artifact. It looks like a large brass compass, with its pointer made from the left index finger bone of some unknown Eldritch Destroyer.

This compass can’t be used for normal Feng Shui geomancy, but it can use blood to track down the vast majority of living beings.

It is currently kept at The Midnight Watchers Society in Jinguan City.

Since Berses was most likely still alive, they could use his blood to track and lock onto him.

Although using the [Broken Finger Compass] comes with strong side effects-after finding the target, the user must kill the target and sacrifice its blood to the compass.

If the target is already dead or the sacrifice can’t be completed with the target’s fresh blood, the user will suffer a severe backlash.

But Jin Jiao couldn’t care about that anymore. All he wanted now was to kill Berses, even if he failed in the end…

The backlash wouldn’t kill him anyway, just bring a streak of bad luck.

Watching Jin Jiao’s departing figure, An Qing smiled and teased, “Looks like this Secretary is very eager to teach that escapee a lesson!”

Jiang Li glanced sideways at An Qing and said calmly, “That’s a good thing.”

“Exactly!” An Qing agreed, nodding, then stretched lazily. “In that case, I should start writing my report.”

The flesh of the Beast of Inheritance loses most of its original properties after copying a power, and once it loses its host, if it comes into contact with other flesh from the same source, it can be reactivated…

This was already a brand-new discovery about the Beast of Inheritance’s abilities, and it was necessary to write a report and upload it to The Midnight Watchers Society’s archives in a timely manner.

“Mm, let me know when you’re done,” Jiang Li nodded. “I need to start preparing on my end too.”

With that, she turned and left the lounge.

Although Jin Jiao was already risking the backlash from the [Broken Finger Compass] to launch a new round of tracking on Berses,

it would still take at least four or five hours for his application to be approved, for Berses’s flesh to be sent back to Jinguan City, and for Berses’s general location to be locked down.

In those four or five hours, Berses, who had successfully escaped, would have enough time to do many things-like starting another outbreak of Nocturnal Syndrome in Hua City.

As the saying goes, better safe than sorry.

Before that, Jiang Li planned to make some contingency plans for emergencies. That way, if Berses really pulled something again, they wouldn’t be caught off guard like last time.

Just as the golden horn submitted the application to use the Broken Finger Compass, carrying Berses’s blood sample, and rushed back to Jinguan City in a great hurry.

Deep within a cave hidden in the southwestern mountains, before a metal door sealed by a special spell formation.

A pale, listless man and a woman with snow-white rabbit ears atop her head stood in the clearing before the door.

Ms. Rabbit stood to the side, arms crossed over her chest, glancing sideways at Shu E as he continuously infused psychic energy into the metal door, curling her lips.

“I’ve been with you long enough to see through it-there are actually two factions within the Eclipse Society, aren’t there? Some are loyal to the president, and some to the Council of Elders.”

As she spoke, she glanced up at the metal door before them, complaining, “This so-and-so-sis, isn’t he from the president’s faction? Why are you, a member of the elders’ faction, helping him?”

“Orders from the Council of Elders. I don’t understand either, I just carry out their instructions.” Shu E said blandly, “The Council of Elders also said, since we’re all members of the Eclipse Society, mutual support is our duty when necessary.”

“Council of Elders, Council of Elders, all you ever talk about is the Council of Elders!” Ms. Rabbit rolled her eyes, a bit exasperated. “When will you ever think for yourself?”

After spending some time with Shu E, she found that this guy was either completing tasks for the Council of Elders every day or on his way to complete them.

As one of the rare familiars in this world who, in pursuit of freedom, successfully rebelled against her master, Ms. Rabbit couldn’t understand such a tool-like existence-not only did she not understand, she even found it hard to watch.

She stayed in the Eclipse Society only because her deal wasn’t finished, but what about Shu E?

“……” Shu E looked at Ms. Rabbit in confusion, puzzled. “Think for myself? The Council of Elders provides me with plenty of core entities of hauntings for my daily needs. When my psychic energy level reaches a certain standard, I can immediately receive Spirit Pattern advancement. What else do I need to consider?”

“For example…” Ms. Rabbit’s eyes spun around, “For example, your lifelong happiness?”

“Oh, no need for that!” Shu E gave Ms. Rabbit a meaningful smile, his eyes curving into two crescent moons, as if to say, “You know what I mean!”

Why is he looking at me like that? Could it be… Ms. Rabbit grumbled inwardly, a blush suddenly spreading across her face.

“The Council of Elders said, as long as I work hard, in a few years they’ll assign me a wife!” Shu E said, his face full of pride and anticipation.

Ms. Rabbit, “……”

What exactly was I expecting?

What kind of ridiculous organization is this, even assigning wives?

Isn’t this objectifying women? Can you not?

—

Half an hour later.

As Shu E finished charging the special sealing spell formation on the metal door and, following the information left by Berses, activated the spell formation, the metal door finally opened.

With a thunderous boom.

“Boom-!”

Accompanied by the dull sound of the metal door opening, a vast, pitch-black space appeared before Shu E and Ms. Rabbit, and the outlines of some large machines could be vaguely seen.

The two, one human and one haunting, exchanged a glance, nodded slightly at each other, tacitly forming a mutually protective stance, and walked together toward the depths of the cavern.

“Buzz-!” As soon as they stepped into the cavern, a faint buzzing sounded in their ears.

On either side of the path carved from the rock, specially made crystal pillars emitted a cold light, stretching all the way to the end of the road, illuminating the entire space.

In the vast space, beneath each massive stalactite pillar, murky liquids of various sizes, under the effect of incantations carved into the stalactites, condensed into spheres and floated in the air.

Under the cold light from the crystal pillars, one could vaguely see all sorts of twisted, bizarre beings gestating inside-some still recognizable as human or animal, some utterly unidentifiable, so disturbing to look at that they induced both physical and psychological discomfort.

“This guy is really a pervert.”

As a vicious haunting who had once devoured countless hauntings and psychic potential bearers, Ms. Rabbit couldn’t help but complain at the sight.

And she secretly felt lucky that the one responsible for her experimental modifications wasn’t Berses.

At least that old man had strict standards for the appearance of his test subjects.

The difference between the two, Ms. Rabbit thought, was probably “usable” versus “aesthetically pleasing and usable.”

Just as she was grumbling inwardly, Shu E rummaged in his jacket pocket for a while, pulled out a palm-sized dark-gold octahedron, and infused it with psychic energy.

As the psychic energy activated the dark-gold octahedron, Shu E raised his hand and tossed it into the air.

The dark-gold octahedron floated in midair, vibrating continuously, then each face burst forth with intense golden beams, like searchlights, sweeping every corner of the cavern meticulously.

Then…

The light gradually dimmed and it began to fall.

Seeing this, Shu E reached out and caught the dark-gold octahedron, tucked it into his chest, turned to Ms. Rabbit and said, “Let’s go. The avatar Berses prepared for himself is at the very end.”

“Mm, okay.” Ms. Rabbit nodded, but as she stepped forward, she fell half a step behind, then rolled her eyes at Shu E’s back.

That’s why I can’t stand those old immortals in the Council of Elders!

It’s obvious they’re coveting this so-and-so-sis’s research results, yet they claim it’s all about mutual support among Eclipse Society members?

Only a fool like Shu E would believe their nonsense! Ms. Rabbit thought, feeling a wave of exhaustion.