Chen Ke put on his clothes and sat on the sofa, somewhat gloomily looking at the messy floor.
The corpse of the mixed-race woman and the blond man's body lay just a few steps away from him, their pools of blood merging together, forming a heart-shaped pattern that, surprisingly, seemed somewhat romantic...
He had only been here for an hour or two, and already four people had died directly or indirectly by his hand. The pace was too quick. He felt like he needed to slow down, but the life countdown was like a curse that wouldn't let him stop.
Not just the life countdown; he was certain that he was in the middle of a huge conspiracy, like those amnesiac secret agents in Hollywood movies, fighting against mysterious enemies and searching for his past without any leads.
Looking at the body of the blond man on the ground, Chen Ke fell into contemplation. Was his predecessor like this man?
How many people had I killed?
Chen Ke didn't feel any psychological pressure because those weren't his deeds. Whatever the previous occupant of his body had done had nothing to do with him; he didn't need to be responsible for someone else's actions.
Chen Ke's every motive was driven solely by one thing: to strip the life countdown from his mind and become a normal person.
He took some time to think carefully, combining the information he had in hand, trying to figure out the connection between the life countdown, Spiritual Energy, Transcendents, and this world.
Firstly, Chen Ke knew he must belong to the same organization as the blond man; he was also one of the professional Assassins. Combining what the Black Person he first encountered had said, Chen Ke guessed that he and other Assassins were executing a mission tonight.
Then, he died... stabbed by a Holy Relics dagger.
Although he wasn't clear about who had killed him, Chen Ke was certain that his death was part of the plan. Because the Black Person had said, "...we're all acting according to the plan, and you, damn it, didn't die according to the plan..."
Hmm...
Chen Ke intertwined his fingers, his thumbs rotating over one another, thoughts swirling in his mind.
If his death was part of the plan, it meant something would be triggered after his death, allowing the mission to proceed. What would that be? Chen Ke didn't continue his speculation because he lacked other clues to deduce what followed.
But at least he was certain that his transmigration had caused some paradoxes to occur. It had triggered the scenarios envisioned in the original plan and also resurrected him.
Now, the issue was the life countdown. From the beginning of Chen Ke's experience here, the countdown had already existed. In other words, Chen Ke didn't believe the countdown only started after his transmigration.
He glanced at the blond man's corpse and began to theorize—did that man have a life countdown too? He suddenly slapped his thigh as if an epiphany had struck him.
That would explain it!
Maybe, like himself, these Assassins were also bound by a life countdown, forced to obey the organization's arrangements. Depending on the success rate of their missions to extend their life expectancy?
Regardless of how the organization infused people with the shackles of life, in a world filled with Transcendent monsters, Spiritual Energy... all sorts of chaotic things, it didn't seem entirely impossible. Perhaps only such a thing could ensure that a group of people with astonishing killing Skills would comply.
However, after going in circles, Chen Ke began to question this deduction—if the motive for Assassins to carry out missions, or rather the means by which the organization controlled the Assassins, came from the life countdown, then why would he, knowing that death was part of the plan, still go through with it without hesitation?
It didn't make sense.
Thinking back to the taxi driver's populating of the basic worldview, the Spiritual Power Industry was the hottest industry in this world, its products covering civilian and military purposes, and the products' sources were very singular, all coming from "Spirit Explosion areas."
He had escaped from exactly such a place.
The national forces would deal with the sudden Spirit Explosions immediately, turning them into black boxes to provide hunting grounds for the Spiritual Power Industry. The industry itself nurtured and appointed investigators to explore, a very straightforward relationship.
But this involved the distribution rights of "Holy Relics" and "Monster Corpses."
From what was known, it seemed that "Holy Relics" were monopolized by national power, and the only things the Spiritual Power Industry could take from the black boxes were "Monster Corpses." Combining the true form of diamonds: melee weapons with various special effects, Chen Ke surmised that these items were, in a sense, "munitions" more powerful than "Spiritual Guns."
Although Chen Ke didn't think melee weapons could be more effective than firearms, extensive national collection and restrictions surely had some sound reasoning.
But every industry has its grey areas; it's a worldly norm. Wherever there are people, there will be colliding interests, and for interests, people can do anything.
Rules are set to maintain superficial harmony, while exchanges and struggles for benefits are always dark, direct, and dirty.
Chen Ke believed that many of the spiritual oligarchs must also have such Holy Relics. Although unclear about the purpose of stockpiling such things, he figured these consortia must have their plans.
Chen Ke himself used Holy Relics by sacrificing life. So could Spiritual Energy investigators use these Holy Relics?
Perhaps, the use of such Holy Relics indeed required the consumption of life, hence the national ban on their circulation?
When he transmigrated, he had lost all Transcendent Skills, which meant his predecessor should also have been at the level of a D-class investigator.
What were these Transcendent Skills supposed to be? Emitting electricity from fingertips? Making fireballs with bare hands? Yet Parker, apart from having a Spiritual Gun, didn't seem to have any special abilities. He didn't seem to have any Extraordinary Ability at all?
Even a few dogs couldn't cope with him, whereas he, a mere mortal without any transcendental powers, had managed to escape alive. This made it seem like professional training might be more useful than Spiritual Energy.
Could it be that these large consortia were secretly nurturing Assassins like Chen Ke, infusing them with life countdowns, allowing them to use Holy Relics?
But what's the ultimate goal?
There's no motive without benefit. Using Holy Relics by consuming life to acquire more Holy Relics? So what was the use of these Holy Relics? Since the applications of the Spiritual Power Industry already covered the military, then why the need to collect Holy Relics?
It made sense for the state to collect Holy Relics, but why would the big consortia also want to collect them?
Chen Ke shook his head, the tide of his thoughts surging through various possible channels, finally crashing into the dam called "logic" and coming to a halt.
It simply didn't add up.
The waters were much deeper than Chen Ke had imagined; it seemed that the only way to get answers was to personally visit that "Mr. Lan Mei."