Chapter 15

Entering the basement, I felt a heavy burden in my heart.

This basement was just as Zhou Lao had described; the pale lighting made everything look even colder, and the deep corridor seemed endless, hiding who knows what at the other end.

Actually, the first reason for my heavy heart was quite normal—I was worried whether Zhou Lao's remaining soul was really here.

The second reason was a bit amusing—I wasn't afraid of any supernatural beings, but I was afraid of corpses, which is a common human reaction.

I consoled myself as my footsteps echoed in the empty corridor. I didn't forget to set up the last two arrays and held the array seal in my hand. Sweat dripped from my forehead. Setting up arrays might seem easy, but it was quite mentally draining, and even the slightest mistake couldn't be tolerated.

I had deduced countless arrays in my mind before, but this was my first real experience. Even a simple soul-binding array made me feel tired.

Unlike the last time with Zhou Lao, this basement didn't bring any supernatural occurrences, and I didn't encounter any ghostly phenomena. I walked very smoothly to the room where the corpses were kept.

When I carried Zhou Lao back home in the morning, I took the keys from him, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to open his front door. I thought the key to the basement was among them.

After all, with the skills I had learned, I could easily open and restore a large iron lock. But if I opened this lock, I would be destroying it, which could lead to endless trouble. If I were wrongly accused of having a special interest in corpses, that would be terrible.

Thinking this, I put on gloves and started sorting through the keys. Fortunately, Zhou Lao's key structure wasn't complicated—front door key, house key, car key, office key. The remaining one should be the key to the basement.

As I had guessed, this key smoothly inserted into the lock and turned without any effort. But as I grabbed the doorknob and was about to push the door open, I suddenly felt a chill down my back and a heavy, gloomy feeling.

I've said before that my spiritual senses are not outstanding, but now I could feel this. What did it mean? Was there something extremely dangerous or a 'trap' inside? I couldn't say, but in that moment of clarity, I suddenly became very sure that Zhou Lao's remaining soul was in this basement.

With this thought, I wiped the sweat from my forehead, took a deep breath, and pushed open the basement door.

Zhou Lao had once brought me here. He knew I was afraid of cold corpses, especially their lifeless eyes. He joked with me, "Old Three, this is a rare opportunity. Medical students and doctors don't get to see this, let alone ordinary people."

"Leave this opportunity to you," I said, pretending to be cold and turning to leave, but in fact, I was drenched in cold sweat. I really didn't dare to look.

Now, I was here alone, and I sighed at the irony of fate. As soon as I pushed the door open, a cold draft hit me. It was dark inside, and the darkness made me imagine even more. It was a pure cold air, mixed with the smell of formaldehyde, making it hard to breathe.

It wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it wasn't pleasant either.

Yes, it was pure cold air, like the cold air from a freezer when it's opened, filling the entire room. I felt along the wall for the light switch, but I wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do.

For example, if I was just looking for Zhou Lao's remaining soul, whether the light was on or off didn't matter. In fact, without the light, I might find it easier to locate Zhou Lao's soul.

But I felt I had to turn on the light because I was afraid of bumping into the formaldehyde pool in the dark, where the corpses were kept.

This worry made me uncomfortable, so I had to turn on the light. My hand found the switch, and I pressed it without hesitation.

The entire dark room instantly became bright. In that moment, I saw the formaldehyde pool, with some oddly colored corpses floating in it. There were several large freezers around, used to store corpses, and one of them seemed to be open. Even in the hot summer, the cold air from the open freezer was noticeable, forming a mist when it met the warm air, making the basement even more eerie.

I didn't expect the freezer to be open when I entered. My heart sank, but this was just a momentary feeling. Before I could think or even take my hand off the switch, something happened.

If this had happened under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but in this time, place, and environment, it was enough to scare anyone to death.

It was that my hand on the switch was suddenly joined by another hand, also gloved, but with a cold, sticky feeling. In that instant, I realized the glove was covered in blood. Then, with a stronger force, the hand turned off the light.

The room, which had been briefly bright, was plunged back into darkness.

No one spoke, and time seemed to stop. In that incredibly short moment, I only managed to turn my head and saw a tall, thin figure and a strange mask. The mask was unlike anything I had ever seen—a cat's mouth open in a sinister grin, with glowing, slightly green eyes that didn't look human at all, but more like a cat's.

My breathing became heavy. I didn't expect to encounter this mysterious person here.

Strangely, his breathing also became heavy, and he seemed a bit nervous. We were like natural enemies who suddenly met, not knowing what to do.

In just a couple of seconds, a special cold aura, characteristic of spirits, began to spread. I was familiar with this aura because it had appeared in Zhou Lao's room an hour earlier—the cat demon!

Was the cat demon here too?

At this point, I calmed down. I don't know why, but with this calmness, my usually unreliable spiritual senses started to work. The dark basement suddenly became blurry, and I saw Zhou Lao's remaining soul standing beside the open freezer, his eyes dazed and his soul almost shattered.

My heart tightened. His remaining soul was constantly exposed to fear and torment. During the day, doctors and others would come and go, and their profession naturally brought a protective aura, which could harm his soul.

After all, the way of heaven is fair. Doctors, who save lives, are given a bit of protective aura to suppress evil. Otherwise, in a place like a hospital, where evil spirits are easily attracted, doctors who save lives would be haunted by evil spirits, which would be unfair.

My thoughts were chaotic, but I felt sorry for Zhou Lao. During the day, his soul was affected by the protective aura, and at night, he endured fear. The fact that his soul hadn't dispersed was due to his strong will.

As for other reasons, I couldn't know now. Actually, one of my actions had unintentionally saved Zhou Lao.

The thought of my brother and the need to protect my friend gave me boundless strength. Without turning to look at the tall, thin figure, I suddenly raised the seal in my hand and said, "You're not weak, and you must have felt the array's vibrations. If I drop this seal on the ground, the array can be activated at any time. It's not a powerful array, just a simple soul-binding array. I'm confident that once the array is activated, you won't be able to leave. If you harm my friend's soul, I will fight you to the death. If we make too much noise and attract unwanted attention, I'm sure you wouldn't want that."

Actually, who were these "unwanted people"? I didn't even know if there were any other cultivators in the world besides the three of us from my powerful sect.

I was just reminding him that we each had our own business tonight, and it would be better to put aside our grudges and do our own things. Otherwise, it would be a lose-lose situation.

Moreover, I wasn't lying. The array seal in my hand would work anywhere in the building once the array was completed. This was the strength of my sect's array. I added coldly, "You can try, and I'm not afraid to fight you."

The person remained silent. At this moment, a piercing cat's cry echoed, and Zhou Lao's soul showed signs of pain. My anger flared, and I shouted, "Fine, then let's fight!"

As I spoke, my soul power erupted like boiling water, and the fear in the basement was completely forgotten.