A Core Ship From The Start

After absorbing Cthugya, Duanmu Huai was already itching for a fight, just waiting to battle Nyarlathotep for five hundred rounds.

In a game, this would be the final level, just waiting to knock out the boss and clear the stage!

However... reality and games are completely different.

For Duanmu Huai, it's like... being stuck!

Reaching the last level in an RPG and unable to find the key to open the Demon King Castle's door, with no hints for the quest—this is Duanmu Huai's current state.

Right now, apart from searching aimlessly, he really has no other way.

But despite searching till now, nothing much has come up, and Yog Sothoth only manifested once...

Seems like people still have to rely on themselves.

"Sigh..."

Sitting by the window, looking at the autumn scenery outside, Duanmu Huai silently sighed, crumpled the report by his hand into a ball, and tossed it into the trash can. Half a month had passed since that day. This time, Nyarlathotep might have been too scared by Cthugya's arrival to appear. However, Duanmu Huai couldn't rely on the enemy's cowardice, and unfortunately, he didn't have a better plan...

Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai looked at Abigail, who was currently taking care of a small panda while seriously looking at the cult flyers. If it were anyone else, Duanmu Huai might worry about them being brainwashed, but with Abigail, he wasn't worried at all.

You'd have to ask if Yog Sothoth agrees to brainwash her.

Today was a school day, so Shajuye, Nemume Satori, and Inaba Tsukuyo were not around. This allowed Duanmu Huai to breathe a sigh of relief; Nemume Satori was troublesome and couldn't be controlled. Previously relying on Shajuye alone was not enough, as Nemume Satori was one of the Five Swords and had quite a status at school. Shajuye was just a normal student and couldn't manage much.

Fortunately, Inaba Tsukuyo was there to keep an eye on things; the two could barely manage to restrain Nemume Satori together.

"Ring... Ring..."

Just as Duanmu Huai was about to take a breath and look again, his phone rang. He picked it up and answered the call, hearing Xie Sita's voice from the other end.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think?"

"No progress, right?"

"Still the same."

Looking at the scattered waste paper on his desk, Duanmu Huai silently sighed.

"No progress, come over and help. I found something interesting."

"Oh?"

Hearing Xie Sita's words, Duanmu Huai perked up. Unlike him, Xie Sita didn't investigate those cults. Instead, as a detective, she often took on tasks. Simply put, Xie Sita used the Duanmu Family as a hotel, staying there when she came back, sleeping, eating, and then heading out to work. Duanmu Huai didn't ask what tasks she took on, but it was obvious Xie Sita was also conducting her investigation through her own channels.

He still remembered the time with Xie Sita in the small Western European town to eliminate a cult base. Unfortunately, it was just a research facility and not the main base—a bit of a loss.

Now that Xie Sita was looking for him, could it be she found a clue about the Light of the Universe Church?

"Where are you? I'll come right over."

While speaking, Duanmu Huai stood up and gestured to Abigail.

"I have to go out for something, you're in charge of the house. If anything comes up, contact Yuko."

"Okay, uncle."

Abigail obediently nodded and reached out to stroke the small panda beside her—having this cute pet around, she wasn't afraid of loneliness.

Duanmu Huai acted quickly. After leaving the office, he drove to the location Xie Sita mentioned. However, to Duanmu Huai's surprise, the place Xie Sita mentioned was a hotel.

Hmm, a love hotel.

"So, we shouldn't be tracking some love affair murder case, right?"

Looking at the corpse in front of him, Duanmu Huai was speechless. He stood at the door of a room in a love hotel, and inside was an ordinary hotel room, with a bathroom and a large bed. On the bed lay a girl, but her body was pierced by dozens of bloody holes, long dead.

"What killed her?"

As a Judge, Duanmu Huai had seen many dead bodies and could tell at a glance that this was definitely not the work of a human.

"Here."

Xie Sita stood by the bed and waved Duanmu Huai over. He walked over and saw, on the other side of the bed, a man lying on the floor.

Both were naked, so it was obvious what they were doing. However, the man didn't look normal; sharp bony spines protruded from his back like tentacles, and his face was contorted, appearing to be a mix of human and dog.

"What's the situation?"

Duanmu Huai took a photo with his phone and then asked. Xie Sita shrugged her shoulders and explained.

"I previously took on a commission from a girl. She suspected her friend was killed by this man and asked for my help. I've been tracking him since, but didn't expect him to suddenly go berserk on the bed, transforming into a monster. By the time I noticed something was wrong and rushed in, he had already killed the girl... It's a pity I was a step too late."

"And then you killed him?"

Duanmu Huai stared at the bullet wound on the man's forehead, a clean headshot—Xie Sita had good marksmanship.

Duanmu Huai didn't have that skill level.

"That's right. What's your take?"

"Let me have a closer look."

While speaking, Duanmu Huai examined the man's body carefully.

Soon after, Duanmu Huai frowned.

"He was a victim."

"What do you mean?"

"I assume you think this man is like that idiot who attacked us on the plane, correct?"

Duanmu Huai talked about the hijacker they encountered on the plane when he and Xie Sita first met, who was a member of the Light of the Universe Church. He had transplanted parts of the Ancient Dominator's body into his left ear. However, for Duanmu Huai, such things didn't pose any threat, and he directly tore him into pieces.

Seeing this man's ghastly appearance now, Xie Sita also suspected whether he might be one of them.

However, Duanmu Huai could tell her he was not.

Because when he saw the man's corpse, he threw an identification on it straight away.

Two states caught Duanmu Huai's attention.

[SAN value: 0]

[Infection state]

Like Mianmu Zuoniao, whose SAN value is 0 yet can pretend to be normal, it is purely abnormal, and Duanmu Huai didn't think this man possessed similar abilities. So it's certain his SAN value kept dropping to 0, and the fact he turned into a monster is also related to his SAN value dropping to 0.

Aside from that, there's that [Infection state].

This is also why Duanmu Huai said he was the victim.

The previous guy with tentacles transplanted on his ear showed [Parasitic state], while this man showed [Infection state], which is quite telling. Clearly, he must have encountered the Ancient Dominator or Ancient Followers and got infected by them, causing his SAN value to continuously drop until it hit 0, turning him into a monster...

Hmm, now it's unclear when he started getting infected or what he encountered.

"Do you have his identification?"

"Here it is."

Xie Sita took out his wallet and phone from the nearby clothes and handed them over. Duanmu Huai opened the wallet and took out a business card to look at it.

"A department head of an IT company, quite young indeed."

After looking at the business card, Duanmu Huai put the wallet away.

"I'll have Yuko investigate his identity and situation. How will you handle this?"

"I'll let the police take charge."

As a famous detective, Xie Sita had quite strong connections with the police, perhaps due to her frequent dealings with these odd cases.

"Okay, I'll leave now."

Duanmu Huai glanced again at the girl's corpse on the bed before turning and leaving.

It was up to Yuko to handle the following matters.

Yuko Shionji was indeed quite fast.

When Xie Sita had the police come to deal with the case, and she returned to the office, Yuko had already managed to obtain most of the information regarding the man—since the phone was right there, the mere phone password wouldn't be a problem for the genius hacker, Yuko Shionji.

"This man's name is Akagi Take, 38 years old, Director of Development at a private IT company, with a nice résumé, high salary, married, no criminal record."

"Married?"

Upon hearing Yuko Shionji's report, Xie Sita paused, exchanging a glance with Duanmu Huai.

A married man, what's he doing at a love hotel?

"Hehehe, it gets interesting next."

Yuko Shionji waved the phone in her hand.

"According to my investigation, this man has a hobby he's really invested in—Daddy activities."

"Oh? Very invested?"

"Yes, I found on his phone that it's almost a weekly thing, and he's contacted quite a few people, spending quite a lot of money."

"I see."

Duanmu Huai nodded. With this, their presence at the love hotel could be understood.

Now that you mention it… Hmm, talking about this, Duanmu Huai remembered Aiko and Tachibana Rui. It was similar to the same kind of deal back then. He wondered how Aiko was now, while Tachibana Rui went off to university… Anyway, the money he gave them at the time should be enough for them to live well…

However, the issue is, this man was not the perpetrator but the victim.

So… Was he infected during Daddy activities?

Who could the opposing party be?

Xie Sita clearly thought of the same question, directly raising her head to look at Yuko Shionji.

"Yuko, can you investigate those transaction partners he had before?"

"That'll be difficult, but I can give it a try, though don't get your hopes too high…"

While the two chatted, Abigail, sitting nearby with a panda, glanced at one then the other.

"What are Daddy activities?"

"Uh..."

Hearing Abigail's question, Xie Sita and Yuko Shionji found themselves speechless for a moment. They exchanged looks, then turned their gaze to Duanmu Huai, who was caught off guard.

Me?

"Uh… It's when girls seek someone to act as their father."

"Seek someone? Do they not have fathers themselves? Why seek someone to act as their father?"

"............"

When you put it like that, it's not entirely wrong…