Relax, I'm not some troublemaker from a role-playing game.

Life is always so unpredictable.

While enjoying hotpot and singing, the group was excitedly discussing business and even jokingly debating whether to kill the lawyer next door who was jumping around too much.

Suddenly, a message came in saying that they had dug up the ancestral graves of their business partner.

Surprised? Unexpected?

That's pretty jarring.

This is how Bai Xi feels right now.

At this moment, looking at Stoffey's outstretched hand, he felt a lump in his throat, unsure of what to say.

You can't exactly say, "Excuse me, I'm going to take a moment to explain. The people downstairs just dug up your family's ancestral graves. I'm going to see what good stuff they have in there," can you?

On the contrary, Stoffey seemed quite understanding, glancing at Bai Xi before suddenly realizing something:

"What's up?"

Bai Xi nodded slightly, and thus, the business negotiation ended briefly and hastily.

"Yes, it was quite sudden. But the collaboration is easy to discuss."

He withdrew his hand and said calmly:

"But you'd need to show some sincerity for this to qualify as a collaboration, wouldn't you?"

"certainly."

Stoffey nodded slightly and replied, "After the cooperation is reached, I will do my best to meet your requests as your heir."

"Or rather, you can tell me right now what your needs are."

"The basement. For now, I need to know what's in there. Besides that, I need an inventory of old Mansfield's belongings."

Bai Xi spoke quickly, and Stoffey's expression turned playful.

"Well, this is both easy and difficult to solve."

"The basement is under the control of the eldest brother; he doesn't allow anyone to get close. Of course, if you secretly follow him and sneak in, there's nothing he can do about it."

"As for the inventory of belongings, guess where this thing is?"

"At Layton's place, right?"

Bai Xi interrupted Stoffey's words expressionlessly, and then let out a sigh.

That was exactly what I expected. After all, it's perfectly normal for a lawyer to keep such things safe.

But this brings us back to the very beginning: how exactly do we get rid of Layton?

The manor is closed off, and Bai Xi and the others won't be staying here for many days. The law in Daiying is far away, so the plan can be a little bolder.

(Please remember the website ①⓪①ⓚⓚⓢ.ⓒⓞⓜ for the fastest chapter updates)

So Bai Xi looked up at Stoffey, but Stoffey shook his head.

"Leave the planning for this matter to me. Now that Mr. Bai is busy, I won't bother you any longer."

After finishing speaking, Stoffey politely took his leave. Bai Xi watched him for a while, making sure he had really returned to his room, before leaving herself.

But still feeling uneasy, he applied to KP for a stealth test.

Stealth check = 88/80, failed.

The mission has not yet been accomplished.

Bai Xi twitched the corner of his mouth, then pondered for a while whether he had any remedial measures. Finally, looking at the Serpes Divine Spell, he twitched the corner of his mouth again.

After a moment, he reluctantly looked away.

Forget it, there's no need to use this thing at a time like this.

Let's talk about it when we get stuck. Bai Xi isn't really willing to face this Outer God yet.

So what should we do now?

Of course, it's gurgling!

[Bai Xi: Don't rush me, wait a moment, let me refresh my stealth cooldown before I come back]

Jiang Lingyi: ?

Ignoring Jiang Lingyi's question mark, Bai Xi sat calmly in the room until fifteen minutes later, when he spoke to KP again.

"KP, go stealth."

Are you fucking a dog?

Stealth check score = 7/80, extremely difficult to succeed, damn it!

Looking at the KP that was swallowed in his mouth, Baek Hee couldn't help but chuckle with pleasure. Then, he walked out of the room into the dark night.

Only Stoffey, standing by the window, gazed at the pitch-black night in vain. After a long while, he sighed and looked away.

"They're really cautious."

........................

In the pitch-black night, Bai Xi broke out of stealth mode and hurriedly arrived at the cemetery. There, he immediately saw Jiang Lingyi holding a shovel and with a large pile of soil beside her.

And, beside Jiang Lingyi, there was a huge coffin.

You actually dug up someone's grave!

Bai Xi walked up in a daze, touching the coffin lid that had been torn open and thrown aside, and even felt a pang of sorrow for old Mansfield.

Jiang Lingyi rolled her eyes at this.

"Stop dawdling. It wasn't easy for me to get this clue. Hurry up, I still need to reconstruct the scene after I get the clue."

"What specific takeaways did you gain?"

Bai Xi then got into the mood and walked towards the coffin.

"Look inside for yourself. There aren't many burial objects. The only thing you could call a find is this corpse."

Jiang Lingyi shook her head, seemingly still somewhat dissatisfied with these gains.

Bai Xi then peered into the coffin and saw the remains of old Mansfield.

He looked serene, with almost no injuries on his body.

Bai Xi skillfully flipped open the clothes and found the mark of the Serpes Cult on the back of his hand.

However, after searching through the locations of the markings commonly found in other religious groups, no markings from other religious groups were found.

"It seems that apostasy doesn't just mean changing employers."

Bai Xi scratched his head, made a conclusion, and then looked at Jiang Lingyi.

Jiang Lingyi gently shook her head:

"There were no signs of suicide or homicide; it was a natural death."

This is troublesome. For a moment, Bai Xi couldn't think of any other clues about this thing.

You can't exactly go to Serpes and ask for a salt resurrection spell, then lift old Mansfield out of his coffin and ask him what happened, can you?

He hesitated for a moment, trying to examine Mansfield's body again, but then heard the clattering sound of dice.

[Detection check score = 55/70, successful]

In an instant, Bai Xi felt her vision become clear in the darkness.

Then, on the back of the deceased's hand, Bai Xi caught a glimpse of pitch blackness, like blood vessels gradually decaying, and for a moment, he was stunned.

It felt strangely familiar.

In Jiang Lingyi's view, Bai Xi fell silent for a moment, and then drew the long sword from his waist.

Then, carefully, he made a cut on the deceased's wrist.

Then, thick, dark blood flowed from his wrist. It was definitely not poison or anything else; it seemed to be naturally occurring.

The pitch-black blood seemed to emanate endless malice and despair.

Bai Xi prayed frantically in his heart, then reached out and lifted old Mansfield from the coffin, staring at the coffin lid beneath the corpse.

Then, Bai Xi saw the intricate black ritual implements and the traces of black blood still flowing within them.

In an instant, Bai Xi went numb.

He took a half step back and gasped.

"Holy shit, you son of a bitch, get out here! You're telling me this is a Shoggoth-class? First Nyarlathotep, and now this!"

"What did you find?"

Jiang Lingyi asked in confusion, only to see Bai Xi turn around with a deathly pale face and utter that name to her, word by word:

"The Ritual of Transformation of the Formless Child—Return to Abhos".