Tonight, the Killing Begins

At nine o'clock in the evening, the seaside town was engulfed in complete darkness.

In a room on the fourth floor of the inn, Luo Wei sat at the table, quietly flipping through a magic book under the glow of a kerosene lamp. Several magic crystals used for research were scattered on the table.

Helena stood by the window, vigilantly observing the movements in the town.

Her shoulders were tense, and she had been restless all evening, knowing that something was bound to happen tonight.

"Brother, why hasn't she returned yet..." Helena asked with concern.

Luo Wei silently closed the book and smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, the night is Evelyn's domain. As long as she doesn't want to be discovered, no one will find her in the darkness."

Helena nodded quietly, trusting Evelyn's abilities, but her face still showed signs of unease.

In contrast, Luo Wei appeared much calmer, even continuing his research on crystal magic.

After all, he had already sent out Evelyn, the top scout. In the darkness, Evelyn, as a seasoned vampire, was far more adept at reconnaissance than he was. There was no need for him to go out and cause trouble. All he had to do now was wait patiently.

Luo Wei waited quietly for a while longer.

After some time, a crimson shadow flashed by, and Evelyn nimbly flipped in through the window.

The entire process was almost completely silent, as agile as a cat. When she landed, Luo Wei and Helena immediately turned their attention to her.

"How did it go?" Luo Wei asked.

Evelyn gently closed the window and tightened the curtains, then frowned at Luo Wei.

"The townspeople are active at night, and there are many times more people out now than during the day. The streets are filled with them, and they've blocked off all the roads leading into the town."

"They don't plan on letting us leave..." Helena's voice was filled with confusion. "What are these sneaky people trying to do?"

"Maybe they want to kill us to silence us, or maybe they just want to scare us away," Luo Wei shrugged. "From the rumors about Heglais Town, the townspeople have been deliberately hiding some kind of secret..."

After all, on an official level, the town's administrative status had been revoked, and to outsiders, it appeared abandoned. However, for the past decade, the townspeople had secretly continued to live here. Those unfortunate enough to stumble upon the town rarely made it out alive, leaving behind only bizarre and eerie legends. The fact that no one knew what had truly happened here was a testament to how well the townspeople had kept their secrets.

As the three of them conversed, Evelyn's nose suddenly twitched.

She frowned at Luo Wei, "I smell something strange..."

With that, she immediately walked to the window and slightly pulled back the curtain.

All three of them saw that a large bonfire had been lit in the center of the town, with many townspeople holding torches gathered around it. The firelight cast their hunched, black shadows onto the ground, creating an eerie atmosphere.

Evelyn sniffed the air, her senses highly attuned to such smells.

"It's... the smell of burning corpses."

Luo Wei gazed at the distant flames. It seemed this was the "bonfire performance" the innkeeper had mentioned as a welcome for outsiders...

Except that the unfortunate outsiders were part of the bonfire.

Just as Luo Wei and the others were peering outside, suddenly, all the townspeople on the street turned their gaze toward them.

Their ugly faces were filled with dark expressions, and being stared at by so many of them created an unnerving and oppressive atmosphere.

Evelyn's expression gradually darkened. She turned around and sharply looked toward the room's door.

"They're coming."

As soon as she finished speaking, a series of hurried and chaotic footsteps could be heard from downstairs.

There were many of them, and they quickly surrounded the room's entrance. The locked door immediately began to shake under the force of their violent pounding.

At the same time, the sound of eerie climbing could be heard from the walls below the fourth floor. The townspeople had completely cut off any escape routes.

Luo Wei's expression remained unchanged. He glanced at Evelyn and Helena, and both of them nodded silently.

The moment the door was broken open, the flickering light of torches illuminated the room as a horde of ugly figures wielding pitchforks and shotguns rushed in.

A howling townsman charged straight at Luo Wei, who calmly picked up the cane he always carried and elegantly deflected the pitchfork. With a swift motion, he brought the cane down on the man's head.

In an instant, the townsman's head was smashed to pieces, blood and brain matter splattering across the wall.

The sheer brutality of the attack surprised even Luo Wei, who hadn't expected the low-level skill [Bartitsu] to be so effective.

But upon reflection, while the martial art itself was impressive, the reason for such a violent outcome was that most of the 20 attribute points he had earned in Chapter 2 had been allocated to strength.

[Investigator: Luo Wei]

[Attributes: Strength: 50, Constitution: 25, Agility: 50, Charisma: 100, Inspiration: 49, Sanity: 45]

When each attribute reached around 50, it was a qualitative leap in ability. Luo Wei hefted the lightweight wooden cane and suddenly wished he had an iron one instead—it would have made the carnage even more brutal.

Luo Wei moved agilely, dodging the townspeople's attacks and systematically targeting their heads. The townspeople who had just charged in quickly fell in droves. Watching this, Evelyn felt that her own intervention might not even be necessary.

"You're getting more and more impressive..."

She pulled back the curtain and looked down at the crowd of townspeople below, her eyes gleaming with a thirst for blood.

A loud gunshot rang out, shattering the chandelier on the ceiling. The townsman's double-barreled shotgun had been aimed at Luo Wei, but Luo Wei's [Command Mode] had already locked onto him. The moment the command was issued, Helena's black tendrils instantly pierced through his chest, causing the gun to misfire.

Under Luo Wei's [Command Mode], Helena obediently targeted the townspeople with guns, rendering their numerical and firepower advantage completely useless.

The heavy stench of blood filled the room, and mangled bodies lay scattered across the floor. The townspeople, who had initially seemed to have the upper hand, suddenly realized that these three outsiders were far more dangerous than they had anticipated.

So, they changed their tactics.

The townspeople, with their grotesque, inhuman faces, turned their gaze to the night sky. As if performing a ritual, they let out a unified, ear-piercing howl that sent shivers down the spine and caused hearts to race.

[Sanity Check in Progress...]

[Sanity -5]

[Sanity -5]

...

Luo Wei struggled to suppress his increasingly chaotic thoughts, his cold eyes locked onto one particularly ugly figure in the crowd—the innkeeper.

The innkeeper stared back at him, a sinister grin spreading across his face.

Luo Wei quietly said to him:

"Nice welcoming ceremony..."

"Heglais Town is indeed hospitable."

"But..."

Luo Wei sneered, and suddenly, his entire face began to twist and contort.

The innkeeper's grin faded as if he was witnessing something horrifying.

The young man's head seemed to melt like wax, his eyes sliding down and then floating back up, his mouth stretching wider and wider until it reached an unimaginable size. All sorts of grotesque features combined together, and his body began to writhe, gradually transforming into an indescribable monstrosity...

Then, a wave of mental corruption far more terrifying than the townspeople's collective howl was unleashed.

The townspeople all clutched their heads, screaming in terror, completely losing their ability to think rationally.

The twisted monstrosity that was Luo Wei slowly walked toward the ashen-faced innkeeper.

With black claws, he lifted the innkeeper, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and grinned eerily at him. Luo Wei couldn't help but think that Helena's abilities, though seemingly simple, were incredibly effective when combined.

Holding the nearly broken innkeeper, Luo Wei coldly surveyed the room, his gaze sweeping over the ugly townspeople.

Though you may find it terrifying...

We are far more fearsome than you could ever imagine.

[Helena: Free Attack Mode]

[Evelyn: Free Attack Mode]

Luo Wei glanced back at the two of them. Evelyn's eyes gleamed with a bloodlust she could no longer suppress. Gripping her crimson scythe, she smashed through the window and lunged toward the crowd below, laughing maniacally.

Tonight, the slaughter begins.