Black Phoenix Heir

Chapter 195: Chapter 195 — Breaking In

Chapter 195 — Breaking In

Victor disappeared for nearly ten minutes.

When he returned, Lyra didn’t even recognize him at first.

She was still standing near the meat market with Nala when a strangely dressed figure approached from down the street. Victor had removed his outer shirt, leaving only his undershirt, and a ridiculous mask covered his face.

Lyra stared.

The mask looked like something made for a little girl. A smiling woman’s face with bright features and exaggerated eyes covered Victor’s own, making the rest of his attempt at a disguise considerably less intimidating.

Victor stopped in front of her and gave a small nod.

Lyra’s eyes narrowed.

”...Victor?”

He nodded again.

Before she could say anything else, Victor turned and walked directly toward the meat market.

Lyra watched him go.

Victor entered the shop.

Jimmy looked up from behind the counter.

”Welcome—”

He stopped.

His eyes settled on the smiling face covering Victor’s.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Jimmy’s expression slowly shifted from confusion to suspicion.

But Victor didn’t give him enough time to process what was happening.

Spiritual Energy surged through his legs.

Flash Step.

Victor vanished.

Jimmy’s eyes widened as Victor crossed the shop in an instant and appeared beside the door leading into the storage area.

”What the—”

Victor threw the door open and stepped inside.

Cold air washed over him.

It was a freezer.

Large cuts of meat hung from racks throughout the room, some suspended from heavy hooks while others had been left to dry in the cold air. Shelves covered the walls, packed with containers and different cuts of meat.

Victor quickly searched the room.

Nothing.

No blood beyond what he would expect from a meat market.

Nothing resembling the cellars he had encountered before.

Did I get this wrong?

Footsteps rushed toward him.

Jimmy stormed into the freezer.

”I already alerted the guards!” he shouted. ”They’ll be here any moment!”

Victor paused.

That didn’t make sense.

If Jimmy really was responsible for the disappearances, why would he willingly call the guards into his own establishment?

Unless he was completely confident they wouldn’t find anything.

Victor glanced around again.

Then why had Jimmy looked toward this room when they’d questioned him earlier?

Something was wrong.

Victor decided to call his bluff.

Even if Jimmy had contacted the guards, Victor doubted the first ones to arrive would be strong enough to stop him from escaping. And if the situation became serious enough, he could always contact Elder Benton and attempt to explain himself.

For now, he wasn’t leaving.

Victor crossed the distance between them and grabbed Jimmy, pressing him against the wall.

Jimmy’s eyes widened at the ridiculous smiling face inches from his own.

Victor intentionally lowered his voice.

”What are you hiding in here?”

Jimmy stared at him.

”Nothing! There’s nothing in here but what you see!”

Victor kept his grip on him.

”Really?”

”Yes!”

Jimmy’s eyes shifted.

Toward the far corner of the freezer.

Victor followed his gaze.

Jimmy immediately looked away.

You’re really bad at this.

Victor released him and headed toward the corner.

”Hey!”

Victor ignored him.

As he approached, he noticed something he’d missed during his first search.

Another door.

It blended into the freezer wall, partially concealed behind hanging meat and stacks of storage materials.

”Get away from there!”

Jimmy rushed forward and grabbed Victor from behind.

Victor barely moved.

The difference between them was simply too large. Jimmy seemed to be somewhere around Rank Three or Four of Body Tempering. Against Victor, his strength was almost meaningless.

Victor pulled free and continued toward the hidden door.

”Stop!”

Jimmy grabbed a knife from one of the nearby tables and lunged.

Victor turned.

His hand moved once.

The knife flew from Jimmy’s grip and clattered across the floor.

A pulse of Spiritual Energy followed.

Jimmy flew backward and slammed into the wall.

Victor’s expression changed beneath the mask.

Jimmy wasn’t simply protesting anymore.

He was desperate.

There was something behind that door.

Victor stepped forward and pulled it open.

Then he froze.

Another freezer lay beyond it.

Smaller.

Colder.

The air was still.

Two bodies hung from chains.

Victor’s eyes hardened.

A man and a woman.

The man appeared to be around twenty-five years old. The woman looked closer to forty-five.

Victor recognized both of them from the missing-person pictures.

But it was the markings on their bodies that confirmed everything.

A sideways eye had been carved into each of their foreheads.

Their stomachs had been cut open, ritual markings carved across the surrounding flesh.

Victor had seen enough.

There was no mistaking it.

Evil God sacrifices.

Victor slowly turned.

Jimmy was already scrambling away.

Flash Step.

Victor appeared behind him and struck the back of his neck.

Jimmy’s body immediately went limp.

Victor caught him before he hit the floor and lowered him beside the wall.

Then he returned to the hidden freezer.

Something still wasn’t right.

Two.

There were supposed to be four missing people.

Victor searched the room more thoroughly.

Nothing.

Only the twenty-five-year-old man and the forty-five-year-old woman hung from the chains.

Where were the other two?

Had Jimmy killed all four?

If so, what had he done with the others?

Victor searched both freezer rooms again but found nothing.

After making sure Jimmy was still unconscious, he stepped outside and signaled to Lyra.

She entered moments later with Nala.

Victor led her through the first freezer and opened the concealed door.

Lyra stopped.

Her expression hardened the moment she saw the bodies.

Victor removed the ridiculous mask.

”Lyra.”

She turned toward him.

”There are only two bodies.”

Lyra looked back into the room.

”Four people disappeared from this area,” Victor continued. ”If he’s the one who killed all four, where are the other two?”

Lyra remained silent.

She didn’t have an answer either.

They returned to Jimmy.

Victor grabbed some water and splashed it across his face.

Jimmy coughed and jerked awake.

His eyes darted around the freezer before settling on Victor and Lyra.

Fear immediately filled them.

Even in the freezing room, sweat began to form across his forehead.

”What... what do you guys want?”

Victor stared at him.

”That should be pretty obvious by now.”

Jimmy swallowed.

”You’ve been worshipping the Evil God.”

”I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Victor almost couldn’t believe him.

”Really, man?”

He pointed toward the concealed freezer.

”There are two bodies in there that have already gone through sacrificial rites.”

Jimmy’s face went pale.

”What? I—what are you talking about? What are you going to do?”

Victor stepped forward.

He grabbed Jimmy by the throat and lifted him against the wall.

Jimmy’s feet barely touched the floor.

”You’re going to tell me everything.”

Jimmy stared down at him, trembling.

”As long as you don’t hurt me.”

”Start talking.”

Victor released his killing intent.

The pressure crashed into Jimmy.

His face immediately drained of color.

His entire body went rigid.

Then an unpleasant smell entered the freezer.

Victor’s expression slowly changed.

He looked down.

Then back at Jimmy.

The man had soiled himself.