Yuanxin Matchmaking Agency (13)

The nanny led An Shu and the young investigator to the stairs on the west side of the villa's first floor that led to the basement.

“Officers, just head down from here. It's at the very bottom.”

“I've never been inside myself. The master said the basement is his personal space and doesn't let anyone near it. He always keeps the key himself, so we don't even clean that area.”

After she pointed out the way, the two sent the nanny back to the main hall before returning to head down the stairs.

The mentor investigator remained in the main hall on the first floor to question the staff further. This was also to keep an eye on them and prevent any potential accomplices among them from taking the opportunity to escape.

The lights in the stairwell were off, leaving it dimly lit. The air was thick with a faint, musty odor and an elusive, bone-chilling cold. The further down they went, the more pronounced the chill became.

The young investigator reflexively gripped the emergency weapon at his waist and whispered to An Shu beside him, “Sister Shu, is this temperature normal?”

An Shu signaled for him to stay quiet and replied in a low voice, “Don't talk. Be careful.”

As she spoke, she adjusted the portable device in her hand. Its needle flickered, pointing toward the direction of the anomalous energy fluctuation—straight down the stairs.

A moment later, following the directions previously given by the nanny, the two arrived at the basement entrance.

It was a heavy alloy door with a smooth surface and no handle. There was only an embedded combination lock and a keyhole.

An Shu stepped forward, turned on her flashlight, and crouched down to examine the combination lock and keyhole. “I should be able to pick it.”

With that, she pulled a small set of tools from her gear bag, deftly inserted them into the keyhole, and began to work them, gently twisting her wrist.

Before long, a few soft clicks echoed, and the alloy door successfully unlocked.

The young investigator stepped forward, pulled the alloy door open, and entered with his shield raised.

There were no lights on in the basement. Only a few candles burned in the corners, their flickering flames casting shifting shadows across the room. Fine black dust floated in the air.

In the center of the basement, a massive blood-colored array was drawn, its lines outlined in a dark red liquid.

A bronze tray sat at the center of the array. The dagger resting on it still bore traces of wet blood, and a few black feathers and unknown talismans were scattered nearby.

To one side of the array, a man lay collapsed on the ground, his eyes wide open and a large amount of black blood oozing from the corners of his mouth.

His hands were curled like claws, suggesting he had struggled before his death. Scattered on the ground around him were books and scrolls related to the cult, along with a small clay jar containing a dark red liquid.

“He's dead,” the young investigator said. He stepped forward, crouched down, and carefully felt the corpse's carotid artery before examining the livor mortis on his body.

He might lack experience, but he certainly possessed the professional knowledge.

“Livor mortis has already set in, dark purple in color and distributed across his back and limbs. My preliminary assessment is that the time of death was between late last night and the early hours of this morning.”

An Shu slowly walked around the basement with her detector. Finally, she stopped beside the blood-colored array and carefully examined its patterns.

“This is a sacrificial array of the Guiling Cult, used to sacrifice living people to an evil god in exchange for so-called good fortune. This kind of array requires long-term maintenance. Looking at the setup, it should still be in its maintenance phase.”

Generally speaking, to avoid detection by the Bureau of Investigation, these arrays would be set with a maintenance phase. By extending the duration of the sacrifice, the resulting energy fluctuations would be diluted, keeping them at a frequency that wouldn't trigger the detection devices.

It could be understood as dividing a glass of water into countless tiny droplets; to an observer looking with the naked eye, it would no longer seem like there was a glass of water.

Since the maintenance phase was essentially still part of the sacrificial process, the array could not be fully activated during this time. Furthermore, small amounts of materials had to be added at regular intervals to keep it running.

The investigator asked in confusion, “Then how did he die? There are no obvious wounds on his body.”

“I don't know, but I do know where the energy fluctuations we detected today came from,” An Shu replied.

“When adding materials to maintain the array, someone has to monitor the entire process and guide the materials into the array in a timely manner.”

“Without that guidance, these newly added materials would cause a blockage in the array. This would make the energy—which should have been dispersed—constantly pile up. Once enough of it accumulated, it reached the critical threshold that triggered our monitoring devices.”

As An Shu spoke, she used her camera to take photos of the basement scene, including the blood-colored array, Wa Yeyao's corpse, and the surrounding cult items, documenting the scene.

The two then began their preliminary investigation of the basement, gathering evidence from the scene.

Meanwhile, the captain and the glasses-wearing investigator had already searched the rest of the villa.

After confirming there were no other dangers inside the villa, the captain and the glasses-wearing investigator pretended they had just arrived as backup and walked through the front door in broad daylight.

After exchanging a few pretense-filled words with the mentor investigator, they entered the basement.

The captain scanned the basement and listened to the preliminary findings An Shu presented.

After a moment of thought, he pulled out his phone and requested a more specialized detection team.

The cult items and the array at the scene required professional testing and handling to prevent any residual anomalous energy from causing secondary hazards.

After hanging up, he organized the team's tasks. “An Shu, organize the evidence collected from the scene and hand it over to the detection team when they arrive.”

“Xiao Wen, you and your mentor stay on duty to guard the scene. Don't let anyone near the basement, and don't let the staff leave the villa. I'll stay with you.”

“Glasses, return to the Bureau first, compile the current clues, and complete the preliminary case registration.”

The team members acknowledged the orders and set to work on their respective tasks.

Meanwhile, Bai Ci's leisurely day lasted until the afternoon, when she went to the cafe as scheduled to meet her fourth blind date.

Just like the previous three times, Cheng Yin accompanied her with great enthusiasm. After introducing the two with a smile, she tactfully took her leave, leaving Bai Ci and Zhai Laiyi alone.

Zhai Laiyi wore a clean white shirt and gold-rimmed glasses. He looked highly cultured, spoke in a soft, gentle voice, and exuded an elegant aura, making it difficult for anyone to associate him with a scumbag.

He took the initiative to introduce himself to Bai Ci, mentioning that he was a preschool teacher working at a local kindergarten. He said he usually enjoyed reading and growing flowers, and he occasionally complimented Bai Ci on being quiet and beautiful.

But from the moment Bai Ci sat down, her face remained cold, and she didn't say a single word.

The moment they met, she had opened her Rain's Message panel. The information displayed on it instantly drained her of any desire to converse, even if only to exchange pleasantries.