The small villa before him gave Qin Lun an extremely ominous feeling. This wasnât vague; it was a physical sensation.
Even though he was high on the hillside, hundreds of meters away, when he focused his calm mind, it felt like the building was collapsing towards him like a mountain. Qin Lun felt as if he were in the suffocating deep sea, surrounded by bone-chilling water. Everywhere in the darkness seemed filled with malicious stares.
Qin Lun rarely hesitated. He didnât know whether to move forward or wait where he was.
âSwitch with me?â Joeyâs consciousness asked in his mind. Joey sounded increasingly excited, clearly stimulated by the building ahead.
âNo!â Qin Lun firmly refused Joeyâs offer. Though entering this âHunterâ world served mainly to enhance Joeyâs fighting skills, fleeing in terror from an inanimate object was a blow to his pride.
Denying Joey, Qin Lun retrieved a spherical item from his Storage Space. It was a magical item called âGannettâs Left Eye.â Its central pupil was made of alternating black and red rings, resembling a tiny target.
Gannettâs Left Eye (Mystical Item)
Quality: Bright Gold
Material: Indecipherable Lifeform
Weight: 12 grams
Perception: +5 points; Spirit: +3 points
Item Laws: Target, Radiation
Target: This equipment emits a shockwave similar to ultrasound. Upon hitting obstacles, the reflected waves create a concrete image in the userâs consciousness.
Radiation: Enhances certain Perception-based Eye Techniques of the Apostle. It increases perception distance by reducing perception density, or increases perception density at the cost of reducing distance.
Equipment Note: Highly penetrating shockwaves grant excellent perspective ability. Duration depends on Mana Value stored. Reusable with energy replenishment. A detection-image class mystical item. Due to law restrictions, only two skills are available.
Requirement: Apostle Perception above 30 points to use âTarget.â Must have Perception-based Eye Technique to use âRadiation.â
Gannettâs Left Eye was the image-detection gear Qin Lun acquired. Despite being only the lowest Bright Gold tier within Dark Gold quality, it cost him over one hundred thousand Shattered Crystals.
Simple and practical, it consumed minimal Mana Value. It automatically emitted shockwaves even when Apostles rested, providing the best defense against night raids. This filled the weakest link left by the Heavenly Insight Eye and passive Detection Aura.
Its extreme penetration even allowed it to spot invisible enemies with stealth skills bypassing the Detection Aura. Worth far more than one hundred thousand Shattered Crystals, it had one major flawâit emitted sonic waves.
Activation severely interfered with the userâs senses, potentially causing hallucinations and mental irritation. Thus, though usable constantly, almost no Apostle would endure wearing it constantly, reserving it purely for scouting. Its previous owner had discarded it in a semiplane shop after acquiring a slightly inferior item, unable to bear its flaw.
To Qin Lun, however, this offered a temporary solution. Accustomed to tormenting mental illusions, he possessed strong resistance to such disturbances. He could even shield some physical senses through self-hypnosis.
Naturally, Qin Lun didnât wear it 24/7 either. He used it situationally, relying also on other detection methods.
Pressing Gannettâs Left Eye against his eye, its liquid form melted into his left eye socket.
This equipment could only fuse with the left eye. Using it blocked left-eye Eye Techniques, forcing him to rely solely on his right eye for the Clock Eye skill. Fortunately, as a Perception-based Eye Technique, Clock Eye didnât affect visual distance perception.
With Gannettâs Left Eye equipped, Qin Lun left eyeâs pupil manifested a small black-and-red target. Against the white sclera, it became a deep vortex. His right eye pupil revealed a silver clock face diagram, its three hands slowly pulsing.
The contrasting eyes, paired with Qin Lunâs gentle smile, turned his otherwise plain features bizarrely enchanting.
Using Gannettâs Radiation skill, Qin Lun successfully doubled Clock Eyeâs perception range, though at a significant cost to intensity. Still, extending about 150 meters, his perception finally brushed the villaâs alert zone.
Seeing the entities swirling around the villa, Qin Lunâs eyes widened. His heart raced faster. Unparalleled curiosity struck him.
âWhat are those? Ghost mist? Or actual ghosts?â
Around the villa, black smokeâlike intelligent entitiesâchurned violently, nearly engulfing the whole structure. At the perception lineâs touch, Qin Lun felt intensified suffocation and malice, as if a malevolent spirit breathed down his neck.
Gannettâs Left Eye was unaffected by darkness. Qin Lun made out a wooden signboard before the villa. It declared the mercenary selection had started. Carry your identity insignia into the villa and pass the test to join the syndicate as a hired hand.
The sign resolved Qin Lunâs last doubt about the Guidance Mission.
The âLeave Meteor Streetâ Guidance Mission difficulty was Lieutenant Rank, meaning heâd encounter high-level, second-tier Apostles. Yet its rewardâonly a few thousand Shattered Crystalsâwasnât proportional to its challenge.
Now, seeing the villa, he understood. This place wasnât for ordinary people. The Lieutenant Rank difficulty made sense. With no life-threatening danger, focused purely on innate Apostle strength, compensation couldnât help but be modest.
âNot spirits⊠more like some sort of⊠aura!â Qin Lun rubbed his nose helplessly. Although only hundreds of meters separated him from the villa, the information he perceived confirmed he absolutely couldnât traverse that space.
Shattered Starry Sky never assigned an impossible Guidance Mission. Qin Lun realized now this test wasnât designed for himâit belonged to Joey.
Instantly, the abnormality in Qin Lunâs pupils faded, replaced by vivid blood-red.
Joey calmly descended the hillside towards the villa. Thick, malevolent energy swirled around him. When the Dissector entered within 100 meters of the villa, he physically touched the churning smoke clusters.
Strangely, the aura terrifying Qin Lun encountered Joeyâs brutality and melted like snow against fire. Hastily, it parted to lay a path towards the villa door for the killer.
Unbidden hunger stirred within Joey. Contemplatively, his gaze swept the black smoke.
âHah!â The Serial Killer blinked. His tongue licked his lips hungrily. With a light step, he made a zigzagged dash towards the door, straight into the thickest smoke on purpose.
As Joey moved, the villa-enveloping smoke visibly thinned. An even more astonishing event soon followed: Joeyâs previously undetectable bloodlust began materializing, transforming into a faint red smoke aura ordinary eyes couldnât see.
âApostle 70053, you have made initial contact with this worldâs Nen Ability. The Heart of Slaughterâs killing aura has begun transforming into a Nen Ability aura. This transformation is incomplete. To form your own complete Nen Ability system, further study of this worldâs Nen Ability Laws is required.â
âNen Ability?â Joeyâs eyes flashed brightly. He halted.
âHmph, you passed. Get inside! Stop damaging the test illusion!â A furious voice erupted from the villa, clearly furious that Joey was damaging the surrounding Nen Ability aura performing as a barrier.
Simultaneously, the tightly shut villa doors creaked open. Interior light spilled out onto the entrance.
Shrugging, Joey strode towards the villa. Crossing the threshold, a lightness washed over him. Indoors, the Nen Ability aura surrounding the building was absent.
The blood-red in the killerâs eyes rapidly receded. Qin Lun regained control of their shared body. This wasnât Joey losing interest in what followed, but the Laws governing his Homing Slaughtering Heart had demanded immense mental energyâso taxing it felt like fighting an epic battle. He needed rest.
As separate personalities, Qin Lun couldnât feel Joeyâs mental fatigue. But he saw the Law Bodyâs Stamina/Energy Points were near empty. Even their Health Points had noticeably droppedâmaking Qin Lun secretly flinch.
âSir, please present proof of identity,â greeted a beautiful, blonde maid dressed in black and white standing in the front hall. She held out a tray. After Qin Lun placed his badge inside, the reasonably attractive maid turned to lead him upstairs to the living room.
Three people already occupied the sofa: a one-eyed older man with a scar shaped like a centipede over his missing eye; an expressionless, petite teenage girl; and a blue-faced, wrinkly man whose hair and beard were entirely white.
Seeing Qin Lun enter, their eyes flickered faintly. Through individual abilities, each had plainly âwitnessedâ Joeyâs display outside the villa.