Chapter 169

One hundred and sixty-nine Detection

During dusk, between the vast fields of Alster, a steam train slowly accelerated after leaving the station not far away.

Inside the first-class carriage, in a cabin slightly swaying with the train’s movement, a pale arm pierced through the solid wall of the cabin, reaching out toward the password suitcase calmly placed on the sofa.

Just as the arm was about to touch the suitcase, hurried footsteps echoed outside the cabin, followed by the door being violently pulled open.

“Who is it!”

Sodod appeared at the doorway, holding a g*n and pointing inside the cabin, shouting. However, there was nothing unusual or any sign of anyone inside the cabin. Seeing this, Sodod’s brows furrowed slightly.

“There’s no one… Is it just an illusion?”

With a frown, Sodod walked forward, picked up the password suitcase from the sofa, and then stepped out of the cabin, heading towards the dining car.

After his figure disappeared at the end of the carriage aisle, a pair of eyes opened silently atop the iron roof, coldly watching the direction Sodod had gone.

After finishing his meal in the dining car, Sodod did not linger, carrying his suitcase back to his cabin. He sat in a single chair, placing the suitcase in front of him on the table, and stared motionlessly at the suitcase and the rapidly passing scenes outside the window, sitting quietly.

Gradually, the twilight and sunset faded, and night slowly approached. Both the light outside and inside the carriage gradually dimmed.

Seeing the dimming light, Sodod turned on the gas lamp on the table and took out a book from his pocket, reading it under the lamp’s glow.

As the night deepened, Sodod felt a bit drowsy. He closed the book over the suitcase, shut his eyes, and started dozing off in the chair.

Just as he began to fall asleep, a shadow suddenly appeared from the floor behind him, and a figure in black clothes and a black mask slowly rose, standing behind Sodod.

Then, the human-shaped figure reached for the suitcase on the table, trying to remove the book covering it to carry the suitcase away. As he lifted the book, a small bell underneath rolled to the side and fell to the ground, making a clear tinkling sound.

Immediately, Sodod opened his eyes, stood up from his seat, and pointed his g*n behind him.

“Don’t move!”

Looking behind, Sodod shouted loudly, but his alert expression turned to astonishment because there was no one behind him, and the suitcase he had just lifted was now lying on the floor beside his feet.

‘An Extraordinary Being… an Extraordinary Being with some concealment ability!’

Seeing this, Sodod realized that he had been targeted by another Extraordinary Being who possessed the ability to quickly conceal themselves!

Realizing this, Sodod focused his mind. Gradually, a faint halo appeared around the edges of his pupils, making everything in the cabin incredibly clear and concentrating his mind significantly.

Sodod was an Apprentice-tier “Lamp” Extraordinary Being, a very experienced Illuminator. Thus, he knew that there must be another Extraordinary Being causing trouble, likely a “Shadow,” so he intended to use the extraordinary detection vision of “Lamp” to find the intruder!

Apprentice-tier “Lamp” had excellent vision, could maintain high mental focus, and after consuming Spirituality, could activate extraordinary vision, seeing objects up to a kilometer away and noticing extraordinary traces within eight meters. They could distinguish whether someone was ordinary or an Extraordinary Being.

Focusing his mind, Sodod activated his extraordinary vision and began to survey the cabin, attempting to find the hidden Extraordinary Being. However, after a long search, he found no trace.

At this moment, shadows emerged on the wall behind Sodod. A black-clothed figure, holding a dagger, suddenly emerged from the wall and lunged at Sodod. Sensing the movement behind him, Sodod quickly aimed his g*n in that direction.

However, the black-clothed figure moved much faster than Sodod. The sharp dagger swiftly sliced off the fingers of Sodod’s g*n-holding hand, causing the g*n to drop to the ground, and Sodod cried out in pain.

“I didn’t plan to k*ll anyone, but you brought this upon yourself.”

Muttering, the black figure gripped the dagger tighter and stabbed at Sodod’s vital points. Sodod widened his eyes and wiped his left thumb over the ring on his left index finger.

Inside the ring, a delicate mechanism triggered, releasing a “Cup” Spirituality storage item and a small piece of concentrated micro-engraved bl**d-Eating Sigil. After triggering, the storage item and sigil were imprinted onto Sodod’s finger, activating the bl**d-Eating ability.

After activating bl**d-Eating, Sodod’s physical abilities instantly increased several times. He quickly dodged the dagger aimed at his vital points, though he wasn’t hit, his chest and abdomen were slashed, bl**d spurting out.

“Ugh!”

Covering his wound with his injured hand, Sodod tried to counterattack with his other hand, but the black figure was too fast. After landing a blow, it vanished into another wall.

The space in the train carriage was cramped, with narrow gaps between walls. For such an Extraordinary Being capable of disappearing into walls, this terrain was highly advantageous. Under these conditions, Sodod had no chance of winning.

The counterattack failed. After witnessing the opponent’s abilities, Sodod realized that danger could come from any direction. He decisively pulled out something from his waist and threw it to the ground.

It was not an Extraordinary Item but a smoke grenade.

With a “bang,” thick white smoke immediately spread throughout the space and into the aisle outside. The cabin filled with smoke, making it impossible to see anything.

Sodod knew that only by blocking the opponent’s vision and making them unable to find their target when exiting the wall would he have a chance to escape.

Using the dense smoke, Sodod immediately escaped his cabin, running down the corridor with the enhanced strength from bl**d-Eating. Eventually, he hid in the onboard restroom.

“Huff… huff… huff…”

Closing the restroom door, Sodod leaned against the wall, looking at himself in the mirror above the washbasin. His face had turned purple, and he was feeling dizzy. He tore open his clothes, taking out his emergency bandages and external injury medicine to stop the bleeding, but noticed that his bl**d was turning dark.

‘The kn*fe… is poisoned…’

Understanding his situation, Sodod felt a surge of despair. He realized that he might not survive.

Right now, he could still move instead of lying on the ground waiting to d*e, mainly due to the “Cup” enhancing his body with bl**d-Eating.

His bl**d-Eating was customized, lasting longer than usual, but not indefinitely. Once its effect wore off, he would probably be dead.

‘Goddamn… I can’t let that guy get away with this… Even if I d*e, I’ll take a chunk of flesh with me!’

At this moment, Sodod was filled with hatred. Now, he wanted to make one last desperate attempt against the clearly higher-ranked Extraordinary Being.

To fight, he needed to find the location of his opponent!

With weakened strength, Sodod pulled out a paper charm from his clothes. The charm depicted the symbol of “Lamp.”

Attaching the charm to his body, Sodod activated it with his Spirituality. Instantly, his sensing ability surpassed physical barriers!

The Region Manifestation Charm, this was the name of the charm. It could ignore physical barriers and forcibly detect all Extraordinary traces within fifty meters, regardless of person or object!

Sodod closed his eyes, consumed his “Lamp” Spirituality to detect, but sensed nothing. Sodod knew this was normal; “Shadow” Extraordinary Beings could consume accumulated “Shadow” Spirituality to resist Extraordinary detection. To detect them, their Spirituality had to be depleted.

Thus, the dying Sodod poured more of his “Lamp” Spirituality into breaking the concealment, but seemed to achieve nothing. Sodod still detected nothing, the opponent’s Spirituality seemingly richer.

But Sodod did not give up. He invested more Spirituality into detection. Finally, after consuming an unknown amount of “Lamp,” he detected an Extraordinary trace within his range.

Unexpectedly, this trace… did not seem to belong to a “Shadow.”