Chapter 207: Preparations for Speaking with the Dead

Deep within the long-sealed and abandoned underground passage, the silhouette of the Black Forest—a scene that should only exist in nightmares—was reflected on the walls. The moment this appeared, Yu Sheng knew his wavering spiritual intuition was not a false alarm.

Moments later, he had already brought Erin and Hu Li to the underground passage mentioned by Little Red Riding Hood.

Located slightly west of the orphanage's center, directly beneath the outdoor activity area, this entire passage zone had been abandoned for many years, and the air carried a distinct smell of mildew.

The lights on the passage ceiling appeared somewhat dim, obstructed by various pipes running along the ceiling, casting uneven shadows; the walls on both sides were mottled and filthy, with much of the paint peeling off, and in some places, one could still see messy graffiti—obviously the masterpieces left behind by children who occasionally sneaked down here to "explore."

By the time Yu Sheng and his group arrived, those suspicious tree shadows were no longer visible on the walls.

"The photo was taken right here," Little Red Riding Hood said, pointing to a wall on the left, "At that time, the lighting in the passage suddenly dimmed slightly, with a texture just like the 'twilight' of the Black Forest; I sensed something was wrong and subconsciously turned on my phone camera, managing to capture the suspicious tree shadows appearing on the wall—the whole process lasted only a few seconds before the shadows disappeared."

Yu Sheng frowned, carefully examining the wall surface, then lifted his head to look at the light tubes between the drainage pipes and the empty spiderwebs in the corners of the roof.

"What place is directly above here?" he asked casually.

"A corner of the outdoor activity area—according to the planning maps from back then, before the renovation, this area above should indeed have been part of the courtyard," Little Red Riding Hood nodded, "Although we haven't found clear 'traces' yet, since abnormal phenomena have been observed, this must be the location where the glowing object seen by 'Squirrel' fell back then."

Yu Sheng hummed in acknowledgment, lowering his head to look at his own feet.

"... You aren't planning to dig downward, are you?" As soon as Erin saw Yu Sheng's movement, she knew what idea was turning in his mind and quickly reminded him from the side, "Let me tell you, this is no joke; this is the building's foundation. Those plots in TV shows where people dig in a basement and accidentally unearth an evil spirit are just for entertainment; in reality, if you dig down, you'll collapse the building first—the Council's Housing and Safety Department will arrive even faster than any evil spirit..."

"I know, I know," Yu Sheng waved his hand to interrupt the little puppet's chatter, "I do have that much common sense."

Pausing there, he added thoughtfully, "Moreover, setting aside the foundation issue, digging down would likely be meaningless... According to Squirrel's account, that fallen object immediately 'merged' into the earth, so Anka Ela likely has no physical form at all, or perhaps it fell into another dimension; digging won't uncover anything."

"Then what do you think caused the scene I captured?" Little Red Riding Hood asked with a frown, "Although that thing lasted only a few seconds, for some reason, I feel extremely... uneasy."

Yu Sheng remained silent for a moment, pondering for a long time before breaking the silence as if talking to himself: "Some kind of 'leakage'?"

"That doesn't sound like anything good," Erin muttered.

Little Red Riding Hood's expression turned grave; after a moment of contemplation, she suddenly lowered her head to look at the tabby cat diligently licking its fur: "King, keep a closer watch on the underground passage during this period; if possible, it would be best to station an 'Adventurer Squad' here—not the group with the warrior, mage, and priest, but the one with three assassins."

The tabby cat immediately let out a sigh followed by a low, magnetic voice: "Sigh, life is too cruel to a little cat like me..."

"I'll buy you cat treats."

"Deal."

Yu Sheng watched with considerable surprise, gaining a new understanding of how members within the "Fairy Tale" organization interacted; just as he was about to ask this "King Cat" whether it usually needed to go out on missions and how it communicated and settled accounts with outsiders, the ringtone from his pocket suddenly interrupted his train of thought.

Pulling out his phone, he saw that the caller displayed on the screen was unmistakably Song Cheng.

"I need to take a call," Yu Sheng quickly waved to the others, taking his phone and stepping aside, "Hello, ah, this is Yu Sheng... What?!"

Instantly, several pairs of ears in the passage perked up—Hu Li's ears perked up the highest.

A moment later, Yu Sheng hung up the phone, turned his head with a strange expression to glance at the few people stretching their necks to eavesdrop, and said: "I have to go to the Special Operations Bureau—Erin, Hu Li, you two come with me."

Little Red Riding Hood subconsciously stepped forward: "What happened?"

"They found the accomplices of those two Angel Cultists from before—but by the time they were discovered, they were all dead."

Moments later, Yu Sheng had already led the fox and the puppet to Song Cheng's office.

Song Cheng was already accustomed to Yu Sheng's operation of "hanging up the phone and instantly refreshing at your doorstep"; he merely glanced up at the trio from the hostel being guided in by staff, then calmly put away the documents on his desk, stood up, and said: "Follow me; I'll take you directly to see the bodies of those Angel Cultists, and I'll explain the specific situation along the way."

Yu Sheng led his two followers behind Song Cheng, beginning to weave through the Special Operations Bureau headquarters building once again, which felt like a labyrinth of space and time; while recording coordinates everywhere, he listened to the other party explain the current situation: "After you finished 'interrogating' that Angel Cultist last time, we arranged for professionals to conduct a second surprise interrogation; this time, we employed stronger mental intervention and hypnosis techniques, and finally managed to pry open that guy's 'mouth'...

"From his subconscious, we unearthed some clues and finally discovered the hiding place of other Angel Cultists lurking in the city—of course, limited to the 'Anka Ela' faction—they were hiding near an old industrial zone, actually right under the Council's nose the whole time."

"The arrest operation began this morning; the intelligence was accurate, and the location was accurate; everything went according to plan, except that those cultists were already all dead..."

Song Cheng stopped before a white door, raising his hand to signal Yu Sheng to enter with him.

Inside the door was the morgue; apart from the numerous surveillance devices visible on the ceiling and some strange symbols embedded in the walls, it looked no different from an ordinary morgue.

Of course, the fact that there were several fully armed Special Operations Bureau agents with loaded guns both inside and outside the room was quite uncommon in an ordinary morgue.

Yu Sheng walked in curiously, then turned back to glance at the entrance, noticing a piece of paper posted near the door listing precautions for the morgue, such as avoiding physical conflict with the deceased as much as possible and prohibiting the deceased from leaving the room at will.

In any case, these were all very normal precautions within the Special Operations Bureau; Yu Sheng no longer felt surprised seeing similar notices in this building—after all, in this place, if someone spent more than thirty minutes in the toilet, a team of fully armed security guards would go to the stall to fish them out...

At this moment, the Angel Cultists brought back by the arrest team lay quietly on several tables in the center of the room; there were six corpses in total, arranged neatly.

"There are no wounds on their bodies, and preliminary examinations show no signs of internal injuries or poison ingestion," Song Cheng continued explaining the situation from the side, "They collapsed in the living room, roughly forming a circle; on the floor was drawn a spirit-summoning array used to communicate with 'Anka Ela'; clearly, this was a sacrificial ritual, but the sacrifices were themselves—without any internal or external injuries, they directly 'dedicated' their lives to their master."

Watching those pale corpses, Yu Sheng muttered: "... Self-sacrifice, indeed fitting the style of cultists."

!. Read

Song Cheng shook his head: "No, in fact, quite the opposite; among the Angel Cultists we have encountered, 'self-sacrifice' is actually a rare occurrence—they mostly tend to sacrifice others rather than themselves."

Yu Sheng was stunned: "Is that so?"

"Because they truly have a 'master,' and this 'master' directly influences their rational thinking abilities," Song Cheng explained, "Most Angel Cultists have a clear 'objective'; even if this 'objective' is driven by madness, it equates to having something they must accomplish; therefore, most Angel Cultists will not easily give up their lives, unless..."

"Unless?"

"Unless they believe their master currently needs them to die very urgently."

Listening to Song Cheng's low-voiced narration, Yu Sheng's brows gradually furrowed; then he glanced around at the six corpses surrounding him and took a gentle breath.

"I need to have a 'chat' with them."

He said in a low voice.

Song Cheng, of course, knew about Yu Sheng's ability of "Speaking with the Dead," so he immediately waved to the armed guards at the morgue entrance, signaling unrelated personnel to evacuate the scene; then, looking at Yu Sheng with a serious expression, he asked: "What ritual materials are needed? The Special Operations Bureau can prepare the best conditions for you; as long as you can make these cultists 'speak after death,' just name it."

Yu Sheng subconsciously wanted to wave his hand and say that his "Speaking with the Dead" relied entirely on instinct and required no materials, but before the words reached his lips, his peripheral vision caught Erin beside him, and immediately an idea struck him: "In that case, write this down—"

Song Cheng immediately pulled out his phone and opened his notes app.

"Ritual rose oil, extra-large bottle; tea powder for spirit summoning and alchemy, the four-jin bucket kind; also purified incense and crystal dust, prepare plenty of that... Oh, and ritual candles; since there are six corpses, prepare six bundles..." Yu Sheng spoke while thinking, then his peripheral vision caught Hu Li again, and he continued, "Also bring two roasted chickens, eight grilled sausages, twenty lamb skewers, twenty chicken skewers, thirty skewers of chicken skin, and two bags of steamed buns..."

Hu Li raised a hand: "Al-so, also grilled mushrooms!"

Yu Sheng nodded: "Right, and twenty skewers of grilled mushrooms."

Song Cheng silently lifted his head: "... Nothing to drink?"

"Drinking alcohol is inappropriate during the ritual process," Yu Sheng waved his hand, exuding the demeanor of a reclusive master, "However, you can bring a few cans of cola."

(End of Chapter)