Chu Tian raised his head slightly. Above the street hung a sign that read “Spiritual Healing Center.” This was the place.
They had thought it would be a single club, but unexpectedly, it was an entire district.
Just as the group stopped to consider where they should go, they saw several people approaching them from the opposite direction.
The man at the front wore a formal suit from before the apocalypse. His clothes were immaculate, and his hair was neatly combed straight back. He looked exactly like a typical butler.
Ten people followed behind him, all dressed in identical black suits and looking like bodyguards.
Although Chu Tian couldn’t tell what abilities the four men possessed, his instincts told him with certainty that they were ability users.
As his abilities had grown stronger, Chu Tian had developed the ability to sense other ability users. So far, his almost instinctive judgments at close range had never been wrong.
“Honored guests, my master would be delighted if you would grace his residence with your presence. He would like to invite you over for a visit. May I ask whether you would be willing to do him this honor?”
The butler-like man approached with a beaming smile and gave the group a proper bow. Although his words were phrased as a question, there was an unmistakable hint that refusal would not be welcome.
Here it comes!
Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi exchanged a quick glance.
Everything was unfolding exactly as expected. They just hadn’t anticipated that someone would approach them so quickly. Chu Tian had thought they would need to make a spectacle of themselves for quite some time before anyone came forward to invite them.
Chu Tian curled his lips into a slight smile and accepted the butler’s bow as though it were only natural. He had no intention of returning the courtesy. Instead, he simply smiled and said, “We’ve only just arrived, so naturally, we should pay a visit when an esteemed person invites us. However, may I ask who your master is?”
Several unreadable glimmers flashed through the butler’s eyes, but he maintained the same courteous and refined expression as before. Smiling, he replied, “My master’s surname is Gu. He is the second-in-command of Liming Base.”
That was certainly straightforward. He hadn’t bothered with any roundabout explanations.
Only then did Chu Tian’s attitude soften a little. He inclined his head slightly and extended a hand in a gesture of invitation before smiling and saying, “In that case, may I trouble you to show us the way?”
The butler bowed again. He seemed somewhat pleased by the change in Chu Tian’s attitude.
“Of course. This way, please.”
As he spoke, he also extended a hand to indicate the direction. The four bodyguards behind him immediately stepped aside, clearing the way.
Chu Tian turned his head slightly and nodded at Bai Mingxi and Quan Xiaoyu. Then he took the lead and walked forward.
On the way, while no one was paying attention, Bai Mingxi quietly moved closer to Chu Tian and asked, “Does it get tiring, constantly changing your face like that?”
Chu Tian immediately turned his head and mouthed a single word at him without making a sound.
“Fuck off!”
The place they were heading to wasn’t far away. They arrived after just five minutes of walking. That made sense. Given those people’s airs and pretensions, if the destination had been far away, they probably would have sent a luxury car to pick them up.
The residence of the so-called second-in-command, Mr. Gu, was right inside the Spiritual Healing Center district. It was an ornate European-style building with a distinctly Shanghai-inspired aesthetic, something rarely seen in northern cities.
However, with the streets now awash in bright lights and extravagance, a luxurious European-style mansion amid all this indulgence and debauchery didn’t seem out of place.
Beyond the building’s main entrance lay a neat garden courtyard planted with various harmless mutated plants. It was quiet and beautiful, almost as though the apocalypse had never happened.
Guards in white uniforms stood at the entrance, while several gardeners moved through the courtyard, pruning the plants.
It was a scene of peace and tranquility.
Quan Xiaoyu secretly clenched his fists.
He remembered the women and children outside the city, scrambling on the ground for food. He remembered how delighted they had been when someone bought them for just a few flatbreads…
At that moment, Chu Tian seemed to sense the change in his emotions. His pace slowed slightly. Without turning around, he reached one hand backward and accurately caught Quan Xiaoyu’s tightly clenched hand. He gave it a gentle squeeze before letting go.
Feeling Chu Tian’s body heat, Quan Xiaoyu found that the anger rising inside him had eased a little. His mind gradually began to clear.
Bai Mingxi, who had only just noticed the little exchange between the two, finally turned his attention to Quan Xiaoyu. Remembering that this was probably the first time Quan Xiaoyu had dealt with people like these, he hurried back to his side and gave him a firm pat on the shoulder to reassure him.
By then, Quan Xiaoyu had already regained control of his emotions. He gave Bai Mingxi a faint smile.
The next moment, they arrived at the entrance to the main reception hall. At the butler’s signal, two bodyguards pushed the doors open slowly.
The moment Quan Xiaoyu saw what lay inside, the heart that had only just settled began churning again.
There was no bloody or horrifying scene, yet Quan Xiaoyu felt as though his head were about to explode.
Even Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi, who had prepared themselves mentally in advance, were shaken by the sight before them. Both stopped abruptly at the entrance.
“Oh, I forgot to inform you gentlemen that my master is currently entertaining guests. It happens to be dance time. After greeting my master, you may also join the dance.”
The butler’s smile instantly turned suggestive, with a trace of mockery at the corners of his mouth.
It seemed he had finally found an opportunity to retaliate for Chu Tian’s earlier discourtesy.
Only then did Quan Xiaoyu snap out of it at the sound of his voice. The first thing he did was turn around, scoop Li Nan into his arms, and flash a long distance away.
“Come here!” Quan Xiaoyu shouted to Xie Mingxuan.
Xie Mingxuan flashed over to his side in an instant.
Seeing this, the two little ones hurried after them as well. Naturally, they had no idea what all those groups of naked humans inside were doing. They simply followed because Xie Mingxuan and Li Nan had gone over there.
Quan Xiaoyu’s entire sequence of movements had taken no more than the blink of an eye—just one or two seconds. He and Xie Mingxuan had already flashed more than ten meters away.
The butler was momentarily stunned. He immediately wiped the mocking expression from the corners of his mouth, having instantly realized that there were two high-level speed-type ability users and a Beast Tamer among this group.
High-level ability users like these were not people an ordinary man like him could afford to offend lightly.
However, when he turned toward Quan Xiaoyu, his expression had already changed to one of difficulty.
Quan Xiaoyu’s expression was exceptionally firm as he held Li Nan in his arms.
“He’s still a child.”
The butler was at a loss.
In his heart, he no longer considered children to be beings who needed protection. But this child was different. He was a Beast Tamer—a Beast Tamer, an extremely rare ability user!
That left the butler genuinely caught in a dilemma. His master’s order was to invite these people in for a meeting, but Quan Xiaoyu seemed absolutely determined not to enter.
“How about this, Mr. Butler?”
Chu Tian’s voice was unusually gentle now, and his smile seemed to have returned to its former warmth.
“Please arrange another place for them to wait. Bai Mingxi and I will go meet your master. We have a child and pets with us, so it really isn’t convenient for everyone to go inside together. I’ll personally explain the situation to your master later.”
Only when he heard the final sentence did the butler breathe a sigh of relief.
Given the speed those two had just demonstrated, and the presence of a Beast Tamer accompanied by two mutated tigers, they really had no confidence that they could forcibly drag anyone inside.
Since Chu Tian was willing to explain the situation to his master, that was naturally the best possible outcome.
The butler immediately followed Chu Tian’s instructions. He arranged a room on the floor of the neighboring building where the group could rest temporarily, then led Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi into the hall.
There really was a “dance” taking place inside.
The banquet hall covered more than three hundred square meters and was filled with music and dancing.
The only difference was that neither the dancers nor the musicians, nor even the guests, were wearing a single stitch of clothing.
In the center of the hall, a group of naked women danced gracefully. The guests stood or sat around them, each with someone in their arms. It was obvious what they were doing.
From time to time, servers carrying trays weaved through the hall. Both the men and women were exceptionally attractive.
Compared with the cold outside, the hall was wonderfully warm.
Unfortunately, the fragrance permeating the heated air was utterly nauseating.
Of course, Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi were probably the only ones feeling sick to their stomachs. Everyone else seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. Even the butler couldn’t help letting his gaze dart quickly from one person to another.
The four bodyguards had been left outside the door. Apparently, they weren’t qualified to enter this place. As a result, the three people who were still fully clothed stood out particularly conspicuously.
The butler led the two men forward. Every step they took attracted countless gazes of all kinds.
Some people even looked at Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi with lecherous expressions when they caught sight of their faces.
Inside Bai Mingxi’s mind, countless alpacas were stampeding wildly. He wanted nothing more than to throw several spatial rifts at those people, slice them all into pieces, and feed them to the zombies!
In the end, he forcibly held himself back.
Suppressing his anger and revulsion, the three of them spent a full five minutes weaving their way past the people in the reception hall. At last, they reached the staircase at the back and went up to the second floor, where the second-in-command, Mr. Gu, was located.
The butler led them to the door. Before he could even announce their arrival, the guards standing outside stopped him.
One of the guards gave him a meaningful look, and the butler immediately understood.
He turned around and addressed Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi with his usual respectful manner.
“My master has something to attend to unexpectedly. I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you two to wait a little.”
As he spoke, he instructed someone to bring chairs over and invite the two men to sit down.
This time, the butler’s respect was genuine.
Based on the information reported by the gate guards, he had initially assumed that the group’s refusal to register their ability-user information meant that some of them were ordinary people. He had guessed that the leader and perhaps one Beast Tamer were the only ability users among them.
But Quan Xiaoyu had demonstrated his abilities at the entrance. That had practically confirmed that both he and Xie Mingxuan possessed speed-type abilities. The two mutated beasts had followed the child away, which meant that the Beast Tamer was actually a child.
Moreover, the group clearly regarded the two young men as their leaders. The butler now believed that these two were undoubtedly even higher-level ability users.
Naturally, he no longer dared to entertain thoughts of petty revenge.
Even though he was the butler of this place and appeared to hold a high-ranking, powerful position, he was still just an ordinary person. If ability users wanted to retaliate against him, they had plenty of ways to do so.
Besides, he knew his master well enough to understand that the man would never offend several obviously valuable high-level ability users just for his sake.
Chu Tian and Bai Mingxi sat outside the door and waited patiently. They could tell that this wasn’t some excuse to deliberately keep them waiting. The second-in-command, Mr. Gu, really was “occupied.”
No matter how good the room’s soundproofing was, it couldn’t block their increasingly sensitive hearing.
They didn’t even need to use their abilities to hear the faint sounds of panting and crying coming from inside.