Chapter 195: Important stronghold
Lin Ye casually moved through the massage parlor holding Night Blade, completely unnoticed by the staff.
Night Blade's effect was far better than he had anticipated—truly worthy of being a mid-tier spiritual energy item.
This massage parlor had many guest rooms. Considering the possibility that the enemy might have hidden their base in a secret room connected to one of these rooms, Lin Ye had to carefully inspect each one individually.
Some rooms still had customers and technicians inside, but as long as he held Night Blade, even if Lin Ye stood right beside the bed, they couldn't detect him.
Wang Minghui shivered, his gaze unfocused as he stared at the ceiling, but he suddenly noticed a human figure standing at the edge of his vision.
"Ah! Who are you!"
Wang Minghui nearly jumped out of his skin in fright. He glared at this young man who had suddenly appeared in the room, hurriedly wrapping himself with the blanket.
"Huh? You can notice me?"
Lin Ye looked curiously at the panicked Wang Minghui—this was the first person in the massage parlor who had detected him.
"Of course! Who are you? Why are you here?" Wang Minghui grabbed his pants from beside the bed and put them on, finally relaxing slightly.
"I'm the operations captain from the precinct. I'm here on official business, of course."
Lin Ye casually made up a story.
"Operations captain? Which department are you from? How come I've never seen you before?"
Wang Minghui looked suspiciously at Lin Ye, secretly reaching toward his coat pocket.
"Of course you don't know me—I'm not from around here. Don't move."
Lin Ye turned to speak to the technician who was trying to sneak out of the room.
"Not from around here? Then you're..."
Wang Minghui only felt slightly reassured after getting his service weapon. Lin Ye was putting tremendous pressure on him.
"Someone reported to headquarters that cultists are running rampant here, and that even the precinct has been infiltrated by the cult."
Lin Ye stared at Wang Minghui, looking directly into his eyes as he asked word by word:
"Are you a cultist?"
"Of course not! How could I possibly be a cultist? There aren't any cultists in this city!"
Wang Minghui exclaimed excitedly.
"Oh? But I've already taken down two cult bases. Are you trying to deceive the operations captain from headquarters?"
Lin Ye asked with a frown.
"What? There are really cultists in the city?"
Wang Minghui looked utterly shocked.
Lin Ye shared the information he had gathered. He didn't think the other's surprise was feigned, so he wanted to hear the perspective of someone from the precinct.
"Ah? Massage parlors? These cultists are so brazen? Could this place also..."
Thinking about his personal preferences, cold sweat broke out on Wang Minghui's forehead. Since Lin Ye had appeared here, it likely meant this place was also connected to the cult.
"Exactly, this is also a cult base. It's probably an important one, which is why the entrance is so well hidden."
Lin Ye looked at the wall separating the two guest rooms. The room dimensions were off—there was a missing space between the two rooms.
"One of my colleagues suddenly resigned, but she never mentioned anything about quitting before, and her phone goes straight to voicemail..."
The technician standing to the side suddenly spoke up.
"I'll find her... though the outcome might not be good."
Lin Ye carefully examined the wall. He could punch through it, but that would create too much commotion. Since this was an important base, he wanted to gather some information before killing anyone.
Soon, Lin Ye found a hidden button behind the bedside table.
Pressing the button caused the wall to flip around, revealing a passageway leading underground.
"Are you coming down with me, or should I knock you out?"
Lin Ye looked at the two of them as he asked.
"As a law enforcement officer, of course I'm going down. She should probably stay behind though—it's too dangerous for a civilian down there."
Wang Minghui responded.
"No, I'd rather go down than be knocked out. If cultists come by while I'm unconscious, I'm dead for sure."
Liu Xin wasn't stupid. If fighting broke out below, someone would definitely come to investigate, and whether she survived would depend entirely on their mood.
"Then follow behind me. Don't get too close, and don't try to run. I'll scout ahead."
Lin Ye gripped Night Blade and entered the passageway, quickly disappearing from their view.
"Aren't you scared?"
Wang Minghui held his service weapon. It had been a long time since he'd dealt with a case requiring him to draw his gun, so he was terrified.
"I am scared, but I'm more afraid of disappearing like my colleague. The precinct won't help us. Whatever his motives, he's willing to help us, so I shouldn't hold him back at the very least."
Liu Xin completely disbelieved that Lin Ye was from the precinct. She had met many men and heard many lies—she could tell that man genuinely wanted to help her find her colleague.
"Alright then. These damn cultists—massage is my only hobby! You're forcing my hand!"
After mentally preparing himself, Wang Minghui entered the passageway with Liu Xin following behind him.
Lin Ye followed the passage down into an underground space that connected to a narrow, long corridor. On either side of the corridor were cramped prison cells. Some cells were empty but covered in bloodstains so dark they appeared black, while other cells held people whose conditions were clearly abnormal.
Moving along the corridor, Lin Ye didn't alert the citizens imprisoned in the cells. There were too many people here needing help—he had to deal with the cultists first before he could release them.
But Wang Minghui and Liu Xin couldn't move 'invisibly' like Lin Ye could, and soon noises came from behind them.
A cultist who heard the noise came to investigate but was stabbed in a vital spot by a suddenly appearing short sword.
Lin Ye covered the cultist's mouth and nose, stabbing several more times before dragging the body into a nearby cell.
More than one cultist had heard the noise. Lin Ye stood in the middle of the corridor, stabbing each one that approached until the nearby cell was filled with corpses. He had to move forward a few steps and use another cell to continue disposing of bodies.
Lin Ye went through five different cells before finally dealing with all the cultist corpses, and the cultists finally stopped their suicidal approach.
To Lin Ye's surprise, he actually obtained two cards from these cultists.
One white unlock item card, and one green skill card.
[Green Card--Skill]
[Set up a rune node. Spiritual energy bullets will change direction and increase speed and power when passing through the rune node (1/1)]
[Note: Which direction the bullet is fired doesn't matter—what matters is where it hits]
'Damn, I can actually draw this skill? Too bad I didn't get Deadly Joke or Trump Card.'
Lin Ye crushed the white card, and a No. 3 Salted Fish appeared in his hand.
"Crap! Why this!"
Lin Ye quickly let go. Fortunately, the No. 3 Salted Fish was much less powerful than the original, otherwise he'd need to change hands.
"Really dangerous."
Lin Ye stripped a piece of clothing from a cultist's corpse to wrap the salted fish. He hadn't figured out how to use this thing yet.
After dealing with the salted fish, Lin Ye continued deeper into the cult base with Night Blade. The corridor was long, and he had no idea where it led.