Rowan’s corpse was no longer intact—or, more precisely, it resembled a puddle of blood more than a human body.
Fresh blood had spread across the center of the room and was still steadily flowing. In the middle of that pool was a grotesque mixture of flesh, organs, shattered bones, and brain matter—forming a scene of utter horror and revulsion.
Several people who arrived later couldn’t help but frown at the sight.
"There are large, consistent blood splatters on all the walls," Susan suddenly said, then clasped her hands and mumbled sothing under her breath as if offering a prayer or blessing for Rowan’s death.
"Why would it be like this? Was he tossed around like a ball before he died?" Fiona tried to reason through what had happened.
"What’s so hard to understand? Maybe the house simply shrank and crushed Rowan into mush," Jessica tossed her hair and offered flatly.
Though Jessica’s theory sounded far-fetched, the others felt it plausible.
"A room suddenly shrinking... but we didn’t even hear a sound from downstairs!"
Soone expressed doubt.
"The clock is a bit strange."
At that mont, Drake spoke up.
Luis, who had been inspecting the room, imdiately handed the clock to Drake when he heard that.
Like the bottom of a bottle, Luis wore extrely thick glasses and was always silent and alone. Even when he moved, he resembled a robot. Among The Association of Espers, he was known as the strangest one.
Drake examined the clock, then said coldly, "The ti on this clock is thirty minutes behind the ti outside."
His words caused murmurs to ripple through the group—suspicion mixed with a growing sense of fear.
"Damn it, it’s you! You must’ve tampered with the clock to make Rowan late!"
A loud voice erupted. Chaos broke out at the back of the group as a dark esper grabbed the collar of the freelance esper and shouted in fury.
There wasn’t much camaraderie among the dark espers, but they still needed to protect the reputation of their kind. They would never let one of their own be bullied or die without retribution.
The freelance esper, now being choked, began struggling, his face pale as he stamred, "No—I didn’t do anything! He suddenly started yelling at , and we had a small argunt. Then he kicked out of the room. I really don’t know anything!"
He spoke quickly, terrified that the dark esper would snap his neck on the spot if he didn’t explain fast enough. The physical and power difference between them was obvious.
"Let’s calm down a little, okay? We can talk this out peacefully."
Bella hurriedly stepped forward, her expression full of concern as she tried to diate. A kind and sweet girl like her didn’t want any argunts to break out at a ti like this.
The dark esper leaned back slightly and stepped away, seemingly not wanting Bella to co closer.
Bella remained where she was, smiling awkwardly at him. "You can let him go now, right? Strong people shouldn’t bully those weaker than them."
She put her hands on her hips and spoke firmly.
The dark esper frowned and threw the freelance esper to the ground. However, he still kept his distance from Bella, as if the cute, petite girl in front of him were so kind of fearso beast.
After all, he didn’t want to beco one of Bella’s "sweet candy warriors." That small girl possessed a power that utterly overwheld him.
[Hahaha, a man nearly two ters tall acting timidly in front of adorable Bella—this is pure cody gold!]
[Princess Bella is still as cute—and badass—as ever.]
[Loli wins!]
"A guest who violated the villa’s rules—this was rely a fitting punishnt."
Just then, the butler’s voice rang out. Everyone turned to see the butler approaching, and two maids followed behind. He looked over the crowd as if savoring the expressions on their faces, then said,
"Sana, Nana, clean this place up. We can’t let our guest stay in such a ssy room—that would be impolite."
The maids still retained a human appearance but made no effort to hide what they truly were.
Upon hearing his command, the two maids stepped forward. The butler continued,
"Until Sana and Nana finish cleaning up, everyone, please return to your rooms."
"No, I don’t want to stay in that room alone!"
The freelance esper suddenly shouted.
The butler turned his gaze to him and said coldly, "But we don’t have any other rooms available, sir. Each room accommodates only one or two people—that’s the rule. Unless... you’d like to violate the villa’s regulations?"
Faced with the butler and his words, the freelance esper trembled. Of course, he didn’t dare defy the villa’s rules—but the thought of staying in that room alone terrified him. Who knew if he’d be the next one crushed into pulp?
"Is anyone willing to switch rooms with ? Please..." he pleaded, his eyes turning toward Drake and the child clinging tightly to his hand.
That’s right—it was just a child. Useless and with no chance of survival. If the kid died so he could live, wasn’t that only natural?
They had already been ushered out of the room by then, and Saphen had opened his eyes. Feeling the freelance esper’s gaze, the boy instinctively shrank back and struggled as if trying to escape. Drake hadn’t yet earned the boy’s trust either.
"Shing!"
The sound of tal slicing through the air echoed.
Drake’s massive blade appeared in his hand in a flash. The tip of the blade pointed straight at the freelance esper, the edge brushing against his neck and imdiately drawing a thin cut—warm yet chilling blood trickled down.
The freelance esper opened his mouth but was too terrified to speak.
"Stop those pathetic thoughts of yours. And stop looking at him like that—otherwise, you’ll die before the monsters even get to you."
Drake spoke slowly, his voice steady and commanding, so convincing that the esper nearly dropped to his knees.
The others also looked at Saphen differently now. Maybe they needed to reconsider the boy’s position in Drake’s heart. This wasn’t just sympathy from a stranger—there was likely sothing deeper going on that they didn’t yet understand.
Drake withdrew his blade, but the freelance esper remained paralyzed by fear, his head lowered and his legs trembling.
"Return to your rooms. Team leaders, co to mine."
With that, Drake turned and left.
The others followed shortly after. The freelance esper snapped out of his daze and quickly ran after them.
Before long, everyone had gathered in Drake’s room.
Present were: Susan, representing the group of believers of the Archangel Gabriel; Zara, an outstanding believer under the Archangel Michael who was temporarily acting as team leader for Michael and Raphael’s groups; Jessica and Drake’s team; the freelance esper; and one other dark esper.
As soon as the door closed, the freelance esper blurted out:
"I really didn’t do anything! Sothing else must’ve tampered with the ti on that clock!"
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