Lord of Prayer

Chapter 232: Chapter 170: Artwork

—Eternal life for all of humanity.

It was indeed a grand ideal. Charles and Howard truly wanted to change the future of humanity.

Unfortunately, they were wrong from the very beginning.

The “Eternal Life Formula” they conceived originated from an evil book containing ancient knowledge of the Abyss. The very essence of the Abyss is Darkness and Twist. It doesn’t take a genius to know the “Eternal Life Formula” was anything but good.

Charles and Howard believed they were fighting for the future of humanity. In reality, their minds had likely long been corroded by the Abyssal Evil Book.

“…I don’t know how far the experiment has progressed, but during the family’s annual meeting, I did hear the elders complaining. They said hundreds of millions had been burned on it with zero results. Many of the elders tried to persuade the old men to stop wasting money on it.”

Li Xiye racked her brain for a moment before shaking her head. “That’s all I know.”

“That’s enough,” Zhou Chen said with a nod. Now he understood why Li Xiye was one of the clues…

’Wait, that’s not right!’

He suddenly realized it. Li Xiye wasn’t the only one in the Li Clan who knew about the Eternal Life Machine!

If “knowing about the Eternal Life Machine” was the condition for being a clue, then the elders of the Li Clan should have been clues as well. But the Wish Bottle had only listed Li Xiye as a person of interest…

’She must have another secret.’

Just then, Li Xiye’s phone, which was sitting on the workbench, started to vibrate. She walked over and glanced at it. “It’s a call from the Star Association.”

She picked up the phone and answered, “Hello?”

“Hello, Miss Li Xiye. Please come to the Hong City Star Gathering at noon today. It’s regarding the Corrupter case. We have the latest investigation results and would like to verify some details with you again,” said a gentle female voice on the other end.

’Corrupter…’ Li Xiye paused. “I understand. Do I need to bring any documents?”

“No, just get here as soon as you can.”

After hanging up, Li Xiye looked at Zhou Chen. “The Star Association has the latest results on the Corrupter investigation. Do you want to come along?”

Zhou Chen shook his head. “I have something else to investigate.”

·

After breakfast, Li Xiye rode her motorcycle to the Star Association. Without its master’s supervision, the dog grew bold, darting upstairs to play video games.

Meanwhile, Zhou Chen retrieved a few sheets of A4 paper and a pencil from the study. He closed his eyes as if recalling something. After a long moment, he opened them and began to sketch rapidly on the paper with the pencil.

In just five minutes, he had sketched out three portraits with fluid lines, rich detail, and distinctive features. They were so lifelike they looked as if they had been taken with a camera.

’My drawing skills seem to have improved quite a bit… Oh, right. It must be the blessing from the King of Music.’

As the supreme being of the human Art Realm, the King of Music could turn an ordinary person into a top-tier artist with a single blessing. They would instantly grasp and master the skills of numerous artistic fields without any practice—more of a cheat than any cheat code.

The three portraits Zhou Chen drew were of the three Crimson Sect members he had encountered the previous night. He had secretly made a wish to see their true appearances, preparing to investigate them later.

The men named Xia Bo and Xia Qi were likely brothers. They looked largely similar, with sunken eyes, sparse eyebrows, and thin lips. They had a savage look about them, and had probably killed before. They seemed to be around twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old.

The Crimson Sect Steward codenamed “Mandala” was a woman in her early twenties. She had her hair in a ponytail, a beauty mark near the corner of her eye, and rather delicate features, making her quite a beauty. No wonder she wore a mask; if even a small part of her face was revealed, she would be easy to recognize.

Zhou Chen took photos of the three portraits to save them, then went to the bathroom, burned the papers to ash, and flushed them down the toilet.

He then logged onto the dark web and found a hacker with over eight hundred five-star reviews. He sent Xia Bo’s picture first, asking the hacker to dox him remotely.

In less than ten minutes, the hacker sent back a block of text and a photo from a resident ID card.

“Xia Bo, Hong City native, age twenty-nine, middle school education. Went to work in a factory after graduation. Has a younger brother named Xia Qi; their education and work history are identical. They co-own a fast-food restaurant and also have an antique shop in Hong City’s black market.

Shop address: …

Home address: …

Phone: …”

Next, Zhou Chen sent Mandala’s photo. The hacker doxed her in under ten minutes as well. With such professional skill, it was no wonder he had over eight hundred positive reviews.

“Xie Yan, age twenty-three, graduate of Hong City University. Her family owns a renovation company. She herself is the deputy leader of the Hong City Police Department’s Seventh Squad. Since joining the force, she has been on fifty-eight field missions, five of which involved Extraordinary Power and were ultimately handed over to the Star Association. Three months ago, while on patrol, she encountered a knife-wielding robber, shot him, and saved several children, for which she was awarded a medal of honor by the department.

Home address: …

Phone: …”

’A deputy squad leader in the Hong City Police Department…’ Zhou Chen couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. ’Talk about an ultimate mole!’

The police department is mostly filled with ordinary people. Who would have thought that a ruthless Steward from the Crimson Sect, a woman who killed as easily as breathing, was hiding among them? The woman even had a medal of honor, maintaining the public persona of a tough, heroic cop. If he hadn’t met her himself, Zhou Chen would never have guessed she was a Cultist.

However, he was already familiar with the infiltration and concealment abilities of the Abyssal Cultists, so he wasn’t too surprised.

After leaving the hacker a five-star review, Zhou Chen deleted the pictures and went to the game room. He saw the husky, wearing a headset and a look of intense concentration, operating a pair of mechanical hands to play a game.