A long corridor stretched out before him, with countless closed doors on either side, and an overwhelming sense of otherworldly evil filled the air.
Charlotte drew his handgun, focusing his Blood Glory and fully activating his Insight Eye as he advanced deeper into the mansion.
The mansion seemed endless, with Charlotte running for over ten minutes without reaching an end, only to be met with more corridor and closed doors.
He didn't bother exploring the rooms, as his Insight Eye revealed only darkness behind each door, a darkness that clearly wasn't of this world.
A strange buzzing sound grew closer, and just as Charlotte raised his gun, a black beetle flew up to him, hovering nearby.
Hesitating briefly, he took a step forward, and the beetle immediately flew a few meters ahead, as if leading the way.
Without hesitation, Charlotte followed the beetle.
The beetle weaved through the air, and suddenly the corridor began to change, with countless hallways and endless branching paths appearing.
Charlotte began to regret his decision but knew there was no turning back now. He was certain that Annie was trapped in a dream.
As for whether it was worth it to save a stranger by entering this place, it was too late to ponder.
Led by the beetle, Charlotte ran for what felt like half an hour, realizing something was definitely wrong. Despite the mansion's grandeur, it couldn't possibly be this vast.
Growing more anxious, Charlotte suddenly heard a scream, and the beetle sped up, guiding him through several more corridors.
Rushing ahead, Charlotte saw a young maid lying on the ground, bloodied, with only the upper half of her body remaining. Her eyes glimmered with hope as she saw him approach, trembling as she pleaded, "Help me, save me."
Charlotte felt a pang of sorrow. Even if he were a master-level superhuman, he couldn't bring the dead back to life—that was the domain of gods.
With only the maid's upper half remaining, there was nothing Charlotte could do to save her.
And he couldn't bring himself to end her suffering.
All he could do...was walk past without looking.
The maid's cries grew more desperate, and Charlotte's mood darkened further.
He was certain of one thing: Yang Meier was performing some evil ritual, and the mansion had already become inhuman. There were likely few survivors inside.
"I wonder how Annie Brittany is faring, whether she's met a terrible fate."
Charlotte had never anticipated that helping with a small favor would lead him to such a high-stakes battle.
Following the beetle, Charlotte pressed on until a strange girl in hunting gear came running towards him, her face lighting up with both surprise and joy as she cried out, "Mr. Maclen, save me!"
Charlotte was taken aback, raising his eight-shot Magnum revolver as he asked, "How do you know me?"
The girl in hunting gear blushed slightly, saying, "It's me, Annie! Annie Brittany."
Before Charlotte could respond, he saw a creature over three meters tall, completely red and skinless, wielding a massive spiked hammer as it slowly advanced toward them.
In the face of such danger, Charlotte grew calm. Closing his eyes, he raised his Magnum and fired three shots at the hunting-clad girl.
Smoke curled from the gun as the girl's form slowly faded, revealing a tall, sinister man who cried out in disbelief, "How could you shoot at me?"
Charlotte's response was to fire two more shots.
Inside, he felt immense relief that his first awakened ability had been Insight.
Charlotte still didn't understand why Yang Meier hadn't disguised himself as the real Annie Brittany but instead chose to become an unfamiliar girl. However, that didn't change the outcome.
He had sensed something was off and used his Insight Eye to reveal the hunting girl's true identity, finishing off the man who had been trying to awaken an evil god with five bullets.
Yang Meier fell to the ground, blood gushing from five bullet wounds.
But the towering, red-skinned, skinless monster, still wielding its massive spiked hammer, hadn't vanished. It continued to advance on him.
Charlotte took a deep breath, reaching for the blood-drinking axe hidden at his waist. As Blood Glory flowed into the axe, its blade began to glow faintly red.
In college, Charlotte had majored in government administration and hadn't planned on becoming a combatant.
His combat skills were mediocre at best, with his close combat abilities being particularly weak, and he lacked real fighting experience.
Unless absolutely necessary, Charlotte preferred to avoid combat.
But in this situation, fighting wasn't the best choice.
Charlotte didn't even dare to use his Insight Eye.
If the creature was indeed the overseas evil god...
The best-case scenario from staring at an evil god was going blind.
A slightly better outcome would be complete insanity.
The worst fate wouldn't be death, but a curse on one's bloodline, dooming future generations to be born under a curse.
His predecessor had tried once before, with a middling result—he had died on the spot!
There's also the possibility that this monster is...Annie Brittany.
The girl had been transformed by evil forces into this monstrous form.
Whether he killed the Brittany family's noblewoman or was killed by Annie, either outcome would be a disaster.
"Why do I have to fight?"
"In my previous life, I was just a math teacher, not a fighter!"
As Charlotte watched the creature charging towards him, he found himself at a crossroads.
Outside the Yang Meier mansion, the perimeter was swarming with city guards.
Among them were several familiar faces to Charlotte, officers who had previously investigated the Savings Club apartment, including the young and handsome Officer Dupin. Staring at the billowing black smoke, he asked in exasperation, "Can someone tell me what's going on here?"
One of the city guards replied, "This is Yang Meier's estate. He killed his wife just a few days ago. Who knows, maybe he's feeling guilty and trying to use some dark magic to summon her soul back so he can torment her some more."
This grim joke didn't elicit any laughter; instead, it only worsened the mood of the gathered city guards. If the joke turned out to be true, they'd be in serious trouble.
Summoning a soul from the underworld was a huge deal!
Dupin scoffed at the idea, staring at the dark smoke rising from Yang Meier's home, with no intention of investigating further.
The young officer muttered, "When are the superhumans going to show up?"
The guard who had joked earlier replied, "Superhumans value their lives more than we do."
Dupin scolded the man but couldn't help agreeing with him. Every time something like this happened, the military's superhumans were never "quick to arrive." They would only show up once the situation was under control, leisurely taking all the credit.
Dupin prided himself on his swordsmanship, but he wasn't a superhuman. In situations like this, his sword skills were useless, and charging in recklessly would only get him killed.
Sighing, he said, "We'll wait for orders from above. For now, let's keep people away from here."
The black smoke around Yang Meier's mansion grew thicker.