Once the affection level is maxed out, the rivalry begins!

The band's performance went well.

At first, people were chatting casually, and the light reflected from their phone screens flickered and danced in the darkness.

But the whistling of the guitar swept in, drowning out all the noise; the melody that followed, signaled by this, flooded the venue like a rising tide.

Even Xia Xingzhi, who is afraid of crowded places, stood on tiptoe halfway through, her eyes sparkling as she stared at the stage, perhaps feeling proud of her younger sister.

Although Bai Ze could enjoy their performance, he was still bothered by the fact that he had encountered someone who seemed to be a witch.

In situations involving Lu Xingyao and Lin Tingwan, the parchment scroll would include their information in the so-called hostile list.

However, there was no response this time, and it's unclear whether further contact is needed.

Or perhaps the premise of the inference is wrong—he can see more than just the witch's "favorability rating".

Bai Ze leans towards the former.

After the performance ended, cheers and applause surged onto the stage like waves, and calls for an encore were endless.

"Aze...did you see that? That's...sob...my little sister..."

The detective sniffled like a clueless parent.

There should be a chance to meet her and her sister later, and we can confirm things further then.

Among the enthusiastic audience, a particularly excited man, holding a bright red bouquet, jumped over the rope barrier and onto the stage.

A die-hard fan?

Security personnel at the stage immediately grabbed the intruder's arm, but he was surprisingly strong. Even when held down by two adult men, he struggled and handed the flowers toward the guitarist.

She's a huge fan of Xia Xingzhi's younger sister... no, wait.

The plant, as vibrant as blood, unfurled filamentous petals with a hint of orange at the tips; it was nothing like the usual bouquets of roses used to express the emotions of fans.

It is actually Lycoris radiata—or, more accurately, the red spider lily or Manjusaka.

What normal person would bring this thing to a band performance?

Xia Xingzhi's ability, [Chain of Sins], will frequently entangle her in abnormal events.

—Even if it's just to listen to my sister play!

As Bai Ze had just sorted out his thoughts, he pushed through the crowd and took a step forward;

The man holding the spider lily threw it away, shouting like a fan sincerely blessing their idol—

"You will be offered to the god of the underworld, and a covenant of eternal happiness will be made with Him!"

The blood-red flowers shattered in the air, but the scattered petals did not fall to the ground. Instead, they fluttered like butterflies, with the largest and densest cluster surrounding Xia Xingzhi's younger sister. In an instant, the rest spread throughout the entire area, like a rain of flowers.

The next moment, the floor disappeared.

As the words suggest, the underground performance venue suddenly turned into a pitch-black void, swallowing the screaming crowd.

Having already mastered the ropes, Bai Ze grabbed the detective beside him, waiting for the scene of reality to be rewritten.

Another phenomenon of being transported to another world!

It's just unclear who the perpetrators are, and what the meaning is of offering people up to the god of the underworld.

Does the fact that Xia Xingzhi's younger sister is being targeted mean that she is indeed a witch?

When the distorted world returned to its original state, what appeared before them was a land blooming with spider lilies.

It was like a carpet woven in bright red, swaying gently in the howling wind.

A crystal-clear river meanders past, with petals occasionally drifting down its surface, swirling as they flow downstream.

To be honest, the scene is so distinctive that it's hard to miss.

"The River Styx, the River of Three Crossings, the Underworld... these are basically images of the afterlife."

Bai Ze has now gained considerable experience in analyzing anomalies.

All anomalies are distorted reflections of human perception of the world; what is appearing before us is probably a product of extracting the nature of the realm of the dead.

The missing detective girl, who was not lost, swayed unsteadily beside him and fell onto him with a thud.

He could feel the weight of the girl's head on his shoulder; she spoke weakly:

"I'm sorry... I guess my abilities kicked in... I even dragged Yun Li into this..."

Although the anxiety in her voice was palpable, Xia Xingzhi still displayed the qualities of a member of the Detective Association, apologizing and immediately filling in the gaps that Bai Ze had missed:

"...Because of the location of the band's performance venue, we can be considered to have 'entered the underground,' and the perpetrators must have used this connection to summon the abnormality that was eroding reality."

In the myths of many civilizations, the underworld or the land of the dead is described as being located deep underground—as evidenced by the fact that Hades, the god of the underworld in Greek mythology, not only possessed the divine status of a god of the dead but also controlled all underground mineral resources.

Therefore, in a mystical sense, entering the underground can also be seen as stepping into the afterlife.

That's how people who come to the underground venue to watch the band's performance are drawn into this other world.

"The most urgent thing is to find your sister and the others."

Bai Ze concluded, "Since this place is an anomaly related to the afterlife, it might have characteristics such as [being unable to leave after eating local food] and [being assimilated if you stay too long]."

"Could it be in the village to the west?"

Xia Xingzhi pointed in a direction.

Downstream, the silhouette of an ancient village faintly emerges.

Everything in this other world must have its meaning; this is clearly not just a village for show.

"Since the detective has spoken, I, as his assistant, will certainly not object."

Bai Ze, wanting to ease her anxiety, deliberately joked in a lighthearted tone.

"Um……"

The girl clenched her fists and raised them to her chest as if trying to muster her strength.

"Before we catch the phantom thief, we must first settle accounts with the sins committed by that so-called god of the underworld!"

This is her first time partnering with someone, and whether it's to rescue her sister or for commemorative purposes, she absolutely cannot afford to fail!

Xia Xingzhi's fighting spirit was rekindled after a long time.

The concept of distance in this other world is quite elusive. Even though Bai Ze estimated that the village was still quite a distance away, the actual time it took to move was extremely short, as if the village had appeared in front of them on its own initiative.

The white mist surged like milk, or like a thin curtain veiling the entrance to the village.

An old man, with dry, cracked skin, who looked like a living dead, sat in the pavilion at the entrance, counting the pile of coins in front of him.

Upon seeing the two, he narrowed his long, thin eyes and cast a malicious glance at them.

"You are not guests; you need to pay two silver coins to enter Hirasaka."

Xia Xingzhi whispered in Bai Ze's ear: "It should be the 'guide' role commonly seen in the myths of the dead."

Collecting the wealth of the dead and ferrying people into the cycle of reincarnation—Charon, the ferryman of the River Styx in Greek mythology, is such an example.

"We didn't bring any money," Bai Zezhi said.

The old man, who resembled a living dead, coughed twice mockingly, revealing a greedy expression: "Then hand over one-third of your soul."

That's obviously impossible to give out.

Bai Ze sighed and took out something he had been hiding behind his back.

It was a spider lily he had picked from the riverbank.

"How about this, you accept this small token of your appreciation and let us in?"

The old man accepted the flowers, his expression shifting from doubt to sneer.

"A living person might be shaken to their core upon encountering the Yellow Spring Flower, but you think it would work on me? Pathetic and foolish mortal, you're just—ughhhh!"

His threat instantly turned into a scream.

The blood-red flower he held in his hands withered and died in an instant, centipedes and maggots crawled out of the flower's pistil, and pale holy light spread out afterward.

In the cruel white light, the shadows of poisonous insects enveloped the entire body of the Guide to the Underworld, gnawing at the bodies of the dead.

Even though he was already dead, he experienced, for once, the feeling of his soul being dismembered and corrupted.

"Ah! I'll let you in! The entrance is open—please forgive me—Knights of the Apocalypse!"

The screams gradually faded away.

Finally, the pale film faded away, leaving only a pool of writhing blood, in which maggots writhed.

—The White Knight's powers are really quite useful.

That was all Bai Ze thought.

The fighting style that utilizes the Blade of Judgment is too deeply intertwined with the identity of the Executor of the Eternal Serpent;

He's now acting as an unofficial employee of the Disaster Management Agency, and he wants to try something different.

After defeating the Envoy of the Indigo, he gained the ability to summon the Pale Knight to possess him.

But even without complete reliance, it can exert its power in a way that is similar.

What killed the guide was nothing more than a terrible plague that could even kill the dead.

He stepped over the pool of blood, and the detective followed without changing her expression.

Although she is a socially anxious person who is afraid of people, she has been used to such abnormal events since childhood.

So, Bai Ze stepped into the thick fog.

"Sorry to bother you."