Chapter 274: Shawn’s collection

All these different and unfamiliar-looking men were the ones who had been staying inside this safehouse.

Unlike Shawn and the five men who had been in the previous warehouse, these people had no idea what had happened for them to behave like this.

They didn’t know how their Boss had lost his arm, nor did they know why he had suddenly become so docile in front of the young man—now acting like a frightened subordinate.

But even though they didn’t know everything, the fear and obedience in the Boss’s actions were enough, and they could understand that the man standing before them was clearly someone above their Boss.

And if he was above Shawn... then he was now above all of them as well.

Just like their Boss, they had no choice but to listen to their new leader.

Lucian, however, didn’t even glance towards either of them or care what they were talking about.

Walking freely across the room like he owned the place, he opened one of the doors slightly before peeking inside.

"You didn’t keep any other captives in here, did you...?"

He said it casually, but the Boss, along with the five men from the previous group, immediately felt their bodies tremble.

"No! Nothing like that, Boss!"

One of them answered immediately, but Lucian glanced towards Shawn, not looking too convinced.

"Speak the truth."

Shawn lowered his head, then spoke quietly.

"No, Boss... we haven’t kept any women or kidnapped anyone here. A few days ago, we had taken them from this place and shifted them to the warehouse in Bellamy."

Bellamy... that was the city where the captives had been.

Lucian continued walking, briefly glancing at him with a slightly confused expression.

"Why take them there?"

"I-It’s... it’s just..."

"Speak, or I’ll take your other arm as well."

The cold words rang throughout the safehouse, instinctively sending a chill through everyone present.

Shawn’s body immediately lowered.

Then... he lowered himself even further, going into a kneeling position... stunning all of them.

Everyone could see the trembling in his shoulders.

"We... were about to sell them."

"Hm...?"

Lucian finally turned towards him, momentarily looking at his kneeling state before asking uncaringly.

"Sell...?"

Shawn’s lips quivered, but despite the urge to stop, he continued... hoping he would live after completing.

He couldn’t even lie about this, because just yesterday, one of them had tried to, and just like that day, their privates went through another unimaginable pain, making them feel even more fear just by looking at the man’s face.

Even when he spoke, their legs trembled in fear.

"Those women... those women... they were sold to become m-merchandise... sex toy—"

"Stop!"

Lucian’s voice suddenly exploded through the room, causing all of them to shiver at the same time.

Lucian’s breathing grew heavy, and his pupils constricted for a moment.

"Haahh... hahhh..."

He instinctively placed a hand over his chest, feeling his heart beating rapidly, and along with that... a feeling of disgust spread through his entire body.

An absolute, pure, unimaginable disgust filled him...

’What is happening...?’

His fingers tightened against his chest.

Shaking his head, he took deep breaths, slowly feeling his body return to normal.

’Akasha... what happened...?’

[...]

This time, there was no answer from her, which made his brows furrow.

But after a few seconds, that feeling instantly vanished, surprising him as he no longer felt that overwhelming disgust... at least not to that extent.

Blinking a few times, he turned towards the frozen men, along with the Boss, who was now trembling almost a bit too much, scared out of his shit, feeling that Lucian might snap at any instant.

"Continue," he said, his voice once again calm, though a faint threatening edge leaked into his voice.

"Wha—y-yes, yes!"

The Boss immediately nodded and continued, being very, very careful not to use any words that might tick off this monster again.

"The Black Market has some people who can turn them into slaves or something, so selling those wo—respected ladies... that gave us a huge amount of money and monster cores."

"So that means... I came at the perfect time, didn’t I...?"

"..."

Nobody answered immediately.

Shawn’s lips trembled.

"Y-Yes..."

’A perfect time to wreck our lives! You fucking monster!’

The Boss held back his tears, keeping them in just like the curses he wanted to speak aloud, not wanting to further humiliate himself before his underlings.

After learning about what had happened, Lucian began exploring the safehouse more deliberately, as he had plenty of time now.

His mother was probably sleeping peacefully in the hotel they were currently staying in.

Or... maybe she was stubbornly absorbing the monster cores despite his words.

’She’s getting too stubborn...’ Lucian sighed inwardly.

’Who knows where she got that from...’

[Maybe from someone I particularly know?]

Lucian’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"So now you speak."

Shawn looked at him with confusion while following him from a very considerate distance.

But he didn’t dare say anything, seeing that the scary man wasn’t speaking to him.

After walking for a while, they eventually reached another section of the safehouse, a part that looked particularly clean compared to the rest.

The Boss seemed to be somewhat hesitant about coming in here, and that made Lucian frown.

Without a word, he opened the door, and the moment he did... his eyes widened.

But for a reason that one might expect.

No, there wasn’t a kidnapped person inside or anything.

But instead, there was a legit—

"Bike Collection...?"

Lucian slowly turned towards the Boss, who lowered his head.

"Really...?"

Lucian looked back towards the bikes, seeing the multiple vehicles—

Before he could even think much—

All of a sudden, a strange distortion appeared in front of him, a circular portal slowly forming right before his eyes.

"D-Dungeon?!"

Shawn stumbled backwards, his eyes widening in horror as he saw the portal appearing right before him.

Here?!

How?!

How had a dungeon portal suddenly appeared inside their safehouse, and even if it somehow had...

Why had it appeared directly beside his favourite—robbed—bike collection...?!

Shawn’s face twisted in despair.

But before he could curse his fate even further—

"Hm, hm... did I get it right...?"

A voice came from the other side of the portal, and after a few seconds... a woman casually walked out of it.

The moment the woman noticed the crimson-eyed man standing before her, her eyes immediately brightened.

"Oh! So I did get it right!"

Nodding to herself, she looked at Lucian more properly.

"Mast—"

She suddenly paused, and unconsciously, she couldn’t help but take a step back as she saw the current look in his bright crimson eyes.

"Heh... we meet again, you fucking maid!"

"Kyaahh...!"