Soul Trigger

Chapter 638 Breaking a promise
The ice cubes crackled in the glass as they were handed to Sika. The moment they touched, the rising smoky mist resembled the liquid nitrogen vapor released from an ice coffin.

The color of perilla plum wine mixed with acid resembles the spreading patterns of lividity, while the popping candy under burning wormwood glows like will-o'-the-wisps.

The first thing you smell is camphor smoke and a faint fermented, fishy odor, mixed with the sweetness of the fruit.

A round of applause and cheers came from the side; it was Anya and Sally, along with several onlookers.

They didn't understand bartending, but this drink looked cool, and they were particularly excited because they didn't know Ji Li had this skill.

Sika solemnly raised the glass, inhaled the rose scent, looked intently at Ji Li, and gently sipped the wine:
The stench of decay is fresh and delicious; it's the metal of death.

He abruptly put down the cup, covered his mouth, and coughed repeatedly.

"This trade doesn't count, and the Knights' rules are crucial to me. Captain Angelica has treated me very well, so I can't just reveal any of her rules..."

Ji Li raised an eyebrow:

"Want to regret it?"

Jessica tapped the cup solemnly and shook her head:

"Just drinking it isn't enough; we need to add a special ingredient."

Ji Li smiled broadly:
"make a deal."

Living blood and dead blood, the spirits of beasts and humans.

Ji Li thus learned about Angelica Laurent's blood-drinking rules, as well as her current blood-drinking urge, and the two special cases:

"Is Ms. Laurent doing well now? Is that why she didn't attend the party?"

"I guess so. She's gone to the slaughterhouse in town to find live animals; she seems to be really getting impatient. And just between you and me, I heard the captain's eating raw blood is quite horrifying..."

"But there's something I'm curious about," Ji Li suddenly said.

"If the blood that Ms. Laurent ingests is primarily about absorbing spiritual essence... then has she ever tried directly ingesting sedatives?"

Ji Li actually meant to say "evil spirit," but among the terms Angelica Laurent revealed to the people involved, "evil spirit" had not yet appeared, so he said "peaceful object," which sounded a bit strange.

However, Sika certainly knew that the Evil and the Restless were the same thing, and she was somewhat stunned by Ji Li's question:
"Your question is... very interesting. Should I have the captain try it during the next training session?"

Sika left satisfied with the recipe and the "Corpse Fruit" drink.

Strictly speaking, the vampire rule can't be considered the captain's real weakness. Anyway, the captain has confirmed that Pulitzer is not an Awakened but a credible insider. Changing the bartending recipe is worth it!
After all that, Anya and Sally both clung to Ji Li, asking him to make them another drink. The three of them, making a ruckus, ran off to the back of the room—

The adults are busy with work these two days and will be leaving soon, while the students can start secretly indulging in a drinking spree.

After all, drinks are so boring. When your parents aren't around, don't you still chug down alcohol like crazy?
At the same time, Ji Li certainly didn't forget about Clementine.

The tomb keeper's magical arts have come to a complete end.

After repeatedly confirming that there were no problems, he used another psychic tool to set up a concealment spell and then left the scene.

Under Ji Li's command, Clementine used its own properties to penetrate the ground and reach the core communication artifact.

The severed limb was covered with tadpole-like crawling spiritual circuits, which Ji Li could see clearly through Clementine's perspective:

"It can be triggered in a wide area, at a set time, or manually. It also possesses evil techniques such as spiritual proliferation and malicious expansion."

It can instantly pollute the surrounding seawater, corrupt some marine life, extract some of their spiritual essence, and use the severed limbs to create a completely new, monstrous creature… its strength is at least that of a Dominator.

Ji Li was identifying the effects of those spiritual circuits:
"The person who created this highly complex psychic artifact is extremely skilled, no less so than me."

"What should I do?" Clementine asked.

[It's very simple. The more complex the spiritual circuit, the easier it is for loopholes to appear and for other powers to become embedded. A mere day is definitely not enough to perfect it. Follow my instructions and operate with precision...]

Hearing Ji Li's voice in her ear, Clementine nervously operated the device, quickly failing once—

[Failure is okay. Unless a large amount of spiritual energy is injected or physical damage occurs, failure simply means that a new circuit cannot be formed, and the spiritual energy dissipates, so you can start over. Just continue, as long as you inject the characteristic spiritual energy of the copied gravedigger at the end.]

【good……】

As Clementine made her attempts, the party on Ji Li's side gradually entered its second half.

Anya, her face flushed from drinking, pulled him into the private bathroom, pushed him onto the toilet seat, straddled him, and kissed him passionately.

Then the bathroom door was suddenly kicked open, and Sally rushed in, staggering as she pushed Anya aside and clung to Ji Li, refusing to let go.

The two sisters, who were drunk, were about to start fighting, so Ji Li separated them and dragged them to the sofa outside first.

However, one said "I won't," while the other said "She won't allow it."

In the end, Ji Li carried one of them in his arms, and another person carrying him on his back. They arrived at a random empty reception room on the second floor of the manor and threw the two of them onto the sofa.

But they weren't so drunk they were completely unconscious; they were just a little dazed. They were pulling and tugging at Ji Li, one wanting to be hugged and the other wanting to be ridden.

She wasn't allowed to hug one of them, nor was she allowed to ride on the other.

Just then, a soft exclamation of surprise came from Clementine's side:

【alright!】

Ji Li pried open Sally's face in front of him:
[Has the spirit successfully entered, or have you completed the infusion of the Guardian's spiritual essence?]

[Injection complete!]

[Very good, leave the scene immediately.]

【clear. 】

Clementine began to rapidly lift off the ground:

But will this really work?

【Of course it's useful. The spirit artifacts made by the gravedigger using the remains of malicious derivatives have an explosive spiritual energy that comes from the spirit energy of the resting place upstream.】

If the knight squad eliminates it, they will most likely consider it the end of their mission and leave Red Maple Town.

However, after I injected the copied spiritual energy, the bursting spiritual energy became the spiritual energy with the characteristics of the Gravekeeper... The effect of the psychic item after detonation was still the original effect, but the spiritual energy felt like the spiritual energy of the Gravekeeper.

Therefore, the gravedigger will inevitably be regarded as the mastermind behind everything... The knight squad will not only continue to investigate from this point, but will also directly point to the gravedigger himself.

Under their pressure, the tomb keeper's actions will inevitably accelerate, and it may even draw out the person behind him...

Ji Li said: [That's it, I don't need to explain any further to you.]

【But I've encountered a little problem right now…】 Ji Li glanced at Anya straddling him, and Sally lying between him and Anya.

The former wanted to hug him, while the latter wanted to push the latter away and kiss him at the same time.

Ji Li: [Is there an abnormal reaction in the spiritual energy circuit?]

No, I'm on the shore now, no longer underground. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but it seems like I'm being locked onto by a spiritual force.

Ji Li frowned:
Leave immediately.

There was a hint of panic in Clementine's voice:
My movements are becoming sluggish... There's a woman!

Ji Li said: [Don't be nervous. Because of your rules, she shouldn't be able to see you. She probably detected you using special methods. Once you confirm her features, just leave...]

Clementine Scream:

No, she's looking at me! She's staring at me!!!

Then a scream erupted.

Ji Li suddenly stood up, knocking both blonde girls to the ground, their long legs sprawling out on their backs.
"Clementine?!"

seaside.

A silver-haired figure with bloodshot eyes stared intently at Clementine.

She was wearing a women's suit. She gently put down the live fish, which was covered in blood and had been gnawed on, wiped the blood from her mouth, and then suddenly parted her lips in a wide grin—

The cleft spread from the corner of the mouth all the way to the side of the head, and thorny hooked teeth grew out of the teeth inside, covering the area in an instant.

Clementine's body seemed to be locked in place by a crimson light, making it impossible for her to move. In a flash, she saw the other party suddenly attack her and bite down on her neck.

puff! ! !
Clementine let out a heart-wrenching scream.

She could feel her soul being compressed, drawn away, and drained away little by little.

The vivid sensation was excruciating, causing her to struggle frantically. In an instant, she transformed into the form of a demon nun, her claws tearing at the woman before her, but all to no avail.

In that indescribable pain, she felt her soul being completely absorbed by the other person, her skin began to age and fade, and finally turned into dust and disappeared completely!
After completely absorbing the energy, the silver-haired woman raised her head and roared, then gradually regained her normal appearance amidst the roars, transforming into a cold and aloof European beauty.

It was Angelica Laurent.

She stared blankly at the sea before her, glancing left and right, when she saw the fish still wriggling around beside her—fish that she had sucked half of but hadn't died yet.

"I... just went berserk?"

No, that's not right. How could the rampage have only lasted this short time? What happened during that time...? What did I do?!

Sensing the explosive surge of spiritual energy within the Well of Souls, she was gripped by extreme shock and lingering fear:
No… I just drained an Awakened One dry?!

Is it Sika... or Volier?!
No, that's not right, these spiritual substances are... storaxes?

A malevolent entity... I consumed a malevolent entity?!

Suddenly, she frantically tried to unleash the spiritual energy that didn't belong to her, but it seemed that something had gone wrong.

She felt a cold, lonely feeling envelop her, along with extreme pain and sorrow.

She suddenly collapsed to the ground, weeping bitterly, and uttering words she couldn't even understand herself:

"Why...why...you clearly said you wouldn't let me die...you lied to me!!!"

In the bathroom of the reception room in the manor, Ji Li looked at Clementine, who appeared before him, bursting into tears and roaring, and fell silent for a moment.

Consider the idea of ​​the other person returning to the cross after death, and the rule that time flows at different rates within the cross.

He crouched down and gently grasped the other person's shoulders:
"Calm down, how are you feeling?"

Clementine looked at him, tears streaming down her face—

Of course, she didn't start crying the moment she reappeared; rather, she appeared with a blank expression, and only started crying the instant she saw Ji Li.
"You lied to me! You said you wouldn't let me die this time! You promised you wouldn't break your promise!!"

She cried so hard that Ji Li began to wonder if she was just too fragile, or if this death had slowed down the flow of time for him on the cross.

Odin never goes back on his word... But if you make a promise too firmly, things can easily go wrong...

Ji Li's lips twitched as he tentatively asked:

How long did you spend on the cross?

"Three months... I was inside for three months!!!"

She burst into tears, her heartbreaking sobs shattering the bathroom glass and nearly drowning out the party music below. Her eyes were filled with helplessness, and she was completely out of control.

Ji Li sighed helplessly, reached out and pulled her into his arms, gently patting her back:

"It's alright, don't be afraid, you're out now and safe. It was my fault this time..."

The tears that transformed from spiritual energy instantly soaked Ji Li's clothes. Clementine hugged him tightly, as if he were her last refuge in the world, her fingers sinking deep into his embrace.

Then the crying suddenly stopped, and she abruptly raised her head and bit down on Ji Li's neck, tearing at it wildly—

In a fit of intense emotional outburst, the Devourer also activated.

On the beach, Angelica was also sobbing uncontrollably, finding herself saying strange things.

What exactly is going on! ?
Just as she was completely bewildered and even somewhat terrified, her crying stopped, and she was able to resume normal movements.

"Damn it... what happened during my rampage? What... did I eat?!"

She absorbed it so thoroughly that she even absorbed the remnants of the other party's spiritual essence as her own.

She looked around and began calling out to the other two squad members.

He originally went to the butcher to suck the blood of live poultry, but then changed his mind.

Fish have lower intelligence, which means they have less spirituality. The consequences of drinking fish blood are not so severe, so they come to the seaside.

But what no one expected was that the urge to suck blood had actually escalated into a rampage...

"Emergency situation! Get to my current location immediately. I may have eaten a vile monster..."

Jessica, who was at the party, was instantly dumbfounded:
"what???"

(End of this chapter)