Why is my anime art style so weird?

Xu Ming absolutely did not believe the claim that she could save money. Her job was the kind where she rarely made any business, but when she did, she could live off it for three years. If she could just set aside a little bit of her earnings, renting a decent studio would be no problem at all.

As for hiding from someone, that's even more absurd. If you're going to hide, you should go deep into the mountains and forests. With today's technology, finding someone in a big city is incredibly easy.

Perhaps it can only be described as her personal hobby?

Xu Ming searched around the unfinished building and finally found a narrow door in an inconspicuous corner, only wide enough for two people to pass through. There wasn't even a sign on any side.

Xu Ming shook his head, his lips twitching, and squeezed through the narrow doorway.

Deep inside the passage, there was an old security door with painted decorations, rusty edges, and peeling paint.

dong dong!

Xu Ming knocked twice, and the security door made a dull sound.

"I'm coming!"

A slightly flirtatious female voice came from inside. After a while, the door opened, and Aozaki Touko poked her head out.

"Yo~ young man! You've come!"

Aozaki Touko smiled and raised her hand in greeting.

"Hello, Miss Orange."

Xu Ming replied.

After greeting him, Aozaki Touko led Xu Ming into the studio.

"Miss Ryougi, we meet again."

As soon as Xu Ming entered, he saw Ryougi Shiki leaning against the window and greeted her with a smile.

Ryougi Shiki's presence is just too strong.

Ryougi Shiki, dressed in a light blue yukata, leaned quietly against the window, resembling an Edo-era scroll painting, exuding a classical elegance.

The Ryougi family truly lives up to its reputation as an ancient family with a history spanning hundreds of years. Just by looking at Ryougi Shiki's demeanor, one can tell that she is definitely not someone that an ordinary young lady from a wealthy family could imitate.

Ryougi Shiki turned her head, glanced at him, and nodded slightly.

Xu Ming sighed inwardly.

Ryougi Shiki did indeed join Aozaki Touko's studio.

That makes sense. When it comes to understanding Mystic Eyes-type abilities, Aozaki Touko is probably one of the most qualified people to speak on the subject.

After exchanging greetings, Xu Ming began to observe the situation inside the Hall of Garan.

However, his eye twitched slightly shortly afterward.

The place was a mess, with all sorts of antiques and documents piled haphazardly on the coffee table and desk, giving it a bit of a private detective agency feel.

The TV, placed opposite the sofa, was a secondhand item that I don't know where it came from. Irregular color blocks flashed on the screen from time to time, and the signal seemed to be poor, with the picture flickering every now and then.

A news report was playing on TV at that moment.

A female host in a gray suit, with a serious expression, held a news report and read it aloud.

"A murder occurred at Tufang Apartment this morning."

Deceased: Kazuya Ishihara, male, 33 years old.

When the deceased was discovered, his entire body was twisted in agony.

The following is a notice from the Warning Hall: We hope that enthusiastic citizens will actively provide clues, and the Warning Hall will provide certain rewards.

If you have any information, please call 110 or 23333.

The police warning center reminds everyone: This perpetrator is extremely brutal and uses extremely cruel methods. If you discover any trace of him, for your own safety, please call 110 immediately and do not make contact with him!

Has Tokyo become that dangerous?

Xu Ming couldn't help but sigh.

On his way there, he encountered a female ghost haunting the Wutiao Building, constantly luring people to commit suicide.

Now another ruthless killer has emerged.

The people of Tokyo are living in utter misery, almost as miserable as the enthusiastic citizens of Gotham City.

"Young man, may we begin?"

Miss Orange crossed her arms and looked at him with a half-smile.

Xu Ming quickly put these trivial matters out of his mind.

"I'm ready to start anytime. I'm leaving everything to you, Miss Orange."

Aozaki Touko led Xu Ming to a small room next to the studio.

The room was completely covered up; the windows were covered with thick cotton cloth, preventing even a sliver of sunlight from getting in.

There were shelves on the side, filled with glass bottles of all sizes, containing all sorts of strange creatures or organs soaking in a brown liquid.

Chapter 227 Midnight, Heavy Rain, Unfinished Building

Xu Ming looked around the room, his heart pounding.

The more he looked, the more he felt that this was simply the laboratory of a mad scientist.

"You should lie down on the operating table first."

Aozaki Touko casually remarked and then began to swing the surgical instruments such as scalpels, tweezers, and hemostats on the cart next to her.

Xu Ming watched with his heart pounding.

He nervously lay down on the operating table as Orange had requested.

Miss Orange fiddled around for a long time, but it was unclear what she was doing.

After a while, she turned around, holding only a small crystal medicine bottle in her hand, walked to Xu Ming's side, and then reached out to his eyes.

Then she used her fingers to pry open his eyes and dripped the fluorescent liquid from the crystal bottle into his eyes.

'This is an anesthetic...?'

Xu Ming thought to himself.

However, what he never expected was...

"All right."

Aozaki Touko suddenly patted him on the shoulder and said something.

"Huh!? That's it!?"

I took a bottle of eye drops, put two drops in his eyes, and that was it!?

Xu Ming stared at her, completely bewildered.

Miss Orange said in an annoyed tone:

"What kind of look is that? This is a carefully concocted potion that can maximize the potential of magical eye abilities."

Ultimately, elixirs have their limits; they cannot directly increase the level of the Demon Eye, but only improve the efficiency of developing potential.

Once Aozaki Touko explained it that way, Xu Ming understood.

For example, the level cap for the Magic Eye is 50, and its current level is 40. Orange's Elixir can accelerate the Magic Eye's leveling speed, helping it quickly reach the level cap of 50.

However, this elixir could not allow the Demon Eye to break through the level cap and reach level 51.

Simply put, this elixir is like an experience-boosting potion in a game.

Thinking about it, that makes sense. If Aozaki Touko had a way to raise the level cap of the Mystic Eyes, she could still stay here peacefully, running her studio while collecting antiques in a rather bourgeois way.

They were captured by those powerful forces long ago, either brainwashed into tools or trained to become weapons.

Ding!

—The host's 'eyes' are baptized by unknown energy, and their spiritual vision ability is enhanced by one level!

The information from the system is the most intuitive.

Aozaki Touko's elixir had an immediate effect, directly raising his spiritual vision level by one level, bringing it to level 4.

Xu Ming sat in the Hall of Garan for a while before taking his leave.

After leaving the Hall of Garan, Xu Ming did not go home immediately.

He eventually returned to the Wutiao Building and began wandering around the unfinished building.

The crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle had dispersed, leaving only the bright blue police tape in front of the building, the chalk figure encircled by the tape, and a large patch of blood that had turned dark red.

Xu Ming walked around the Wutiao Building and quickly discovered some problems.

In general, there are bound to be some wild cats and dogs around unfinished buildings like this, but Xu Ming wandered around and didn't find a single trace of living creature.

Forget about stray cats and dogs, we didn't even see a single mouse.

Animals are more sensitive than humans; they are clearly afraid of something in this building!

Upon returning home, Xu Ming immediately sent a message to Kato Megumi, inquiring about the situation at the Wutiao Building.

Kato Megumi replied to him quickly.

Xu Ming carefully reviewed the information and compared it with his own memories, and soon discovered that some things had changed.

One of the most significant changes is:

The eldest daughter of the Wujo family, Wujo Kirie, passed away a year ago due to organ failure...

Xu Ming knew very well that in this world, death was not the end but the beginning.

Clearly, after Wujou Kirie died, she transformed into an even more terrifying 'monster,' luring innocent girls to the Wujou Building to commit suicide.

Freed from the constraints of a human body, she became even more dangerous!

Perhaps because Xu Ming discovered an important clue, the system updated its status accordingly.

Ding!

—Please go to the Witch Tower and destroy the Soul Gathering Array on the roof.

(Note: The Soul Gathering Array will reach its maximum power at 1 a.m., but at the same time the array will also become the most vulnerable.)

"...Damn system, you might as well just say you can only destroy the magic circle and complete the mission at 1 AM."