Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat! Chapter 199: The Paper Trail

To dodge Dr. Aldric’s attack, Ethan leaped back like a monkey, his movents quick and exaggerated. Everyone stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. Feeling the weight of their gazes, he awkwardly rubbed his nose.

"Uh… it’s nothing. Let’s go—we should follow them!" he said, grabbing Victor’s arm and pulling him along. They trailed the trio from a distance, keeping a full block between them.

Ethan’s mind raced as he replayed the scene in his head. The apprentice had sniffed the residue on the golden needle, then exchanged a look with Dr. Aldric. Ethan’s sharp instincts told him the apprentice had noticed sothing. Why else would he glance outside with that thoughtful expression? And why would he nod at Dr. Aldric, as if confirming sothing?

A suspicion crept into Ethan’s mind. Is that apprentice a mutant? Does he have a nose like a dog’s, able to track soone based on the scent left behind?

With his Soul Sense locked onto the trio, Ethan wasn’t worried about losing them. But as they walked, he suddenly turned to Victor and asked, "Where’s Leo?"

Victor blinked, clearly caught off guard. "I… I don’t know. Did he leave with Williams?"

Ethan frowned. "No, Williams and JJ left from the ICU area. I don’t rember seeing Leo there."

Thinking back, Ethan realized Leo had disappeared as soon as they’d arrived at the hospital. Even when he’d expanded his Soul Sense to cover a large area earlier, he hadn’t detected Leo’s presence.

Victor pulled out his phone and dialed Leo’s number. A robotic voice responded: "The number you have dialed is out of service. Please try again later…"

"Not just turned off—out of service," Victor muttered, puzzled. "How is that even possible with 6G coverage? It’s almost impossible to be out of range these days."

Still, neither of them was too worried. Leo was more than capable of handling himself. If anything, he was probably off doing sothing on his own.

So the two of them continued trailing the trio, keeping a safe distance. They walked for over an hour, and Ethan couldn’t help but wonder, ’Why aren’t these people just taking a cab? This is ridiculous.’

Just as the thought crossed his mind, sothing strange happened. The three figures he’d been tracking with his Soul Sense suddenly vanished.

Ethan froze. "What the…?" He broke into a run, Victor close behind, heading toward the spot where the trio had disappeared.

When they arrived, they found themselves in a dead-end alley. The three people Ethan had been so sure he was tracking were gone—vanished into thin air.

"Ethan, look at this," Victor called out, crouching down. At his feet were three small paper figures.

Before Ethan could kneel to examine them, the paper figures burst into flas. Poof! Poof! Poof! Three tiny fires ignited, reducing the paper to ash in seconds.

Victor jumped back, startled. "What the hell was that?!"

Ethan, however, let out a bitter laugh. We’ve been played. Those paper figures had carried the sa aura as Dr. Aldric and her apprentices. Whoever they were dealing with, they were skilled enough to mask their presence from his Soul Sense and lead him on a wild goose chase for nearly two hours.

And they did it with paper dolls, Ethan thought, both impressed and annoyed. How the hell did those things even walk this far?

They’d been completely outmaneuvered.

Ethan sighed inwardly. ’My Soul Sense is still too weak!’

The truth was, his Soul Power wasn’t weak at all—he just didn’t know how to use it properly. Pulling the business card from his pocket, he realized their only lead was the address printed on it. The question was, was it real or fake?

Probably real, he thought. If they’re scamming patients with incurable diseases, they’d need a real address to keep the money flowing. And judging by what he’d seen so far, the trio—Dr. Aldric and her apprentices—were no amateurs. They clearly had so skills. But they also seed… well, really fond of money.

’If they love money, that makes things easier. If they have any useful information, I can just buy it.’

With that thought, Ethan and Victor left the alley. They flagged down a taxi, and Ethan handed the driver the business card with the address.

Just as they were about to leave, Victor grabbed Ethan’s arm. He’d received a ssage from Williams—a location pin with a voice note: "Ethan, why’s your phone off? I’ve got the address. Get here ASAP!"

Ethan checked his phone and realized it had died. After a quick discussion, they decided to head to Williams’ location first. Ethan showed the new address to the taxi driver.

"Oh, you’re going to The Den? That place isn’t open during the day," the driver said, raising an eyebrow.

Ethan perked up. The driver seed familiar with the place. "What’s The Den all about?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "You don’t know?"

Ethan shook his head.

"Then why are you going there?"

The question caught Ethan and Victor off guard. "Uh… our friend just sent us the location," Ethan stamred.

"Ah, first-tirs, huh? Well, I don’t know much about what goes on inside, but I’ve heard it’s run by so folks from the Serpent Isle. And, well… you know how those people are." The driver gave them a knowing smirk, the kind that suggested sothing shady or illicit.

"Oh…" Ethan nodded, pretending to understand. But his mind was racing. Serpent Isle? That caught his attention.

Back at the hospital, when Greg had briefly woken up, he’d shouted sothing like, "Those damn Serpent—!" before passing out again. At the ti, Nobody’s mind had been able to grasp what he was talking about. But now, hearing the driver ntion the Serpent Isle, Ethan wondered if Greg had actually been trying to say, "Those damn Serpent Islanders!"

Why would Greg be so worked up about them? Ethan thought. Maybe his mory’s stuck in so past event, and he blurted it out without thinking.

The car fell silent after that. Ethan borrowed a charger from the driver and plugged in his phone. Forty minutes later, they arrived at the location. As soon as Ethan’s phone powered on, he received a voice ssage from Leo.

He tapped to play it, but all he heard was static—zzzzz…

’Probably an accidental pocket dial,’ Ethan thought, dismissing it. He paid the fare, and they got out of the taxi.

The car had stopped right in front of The Den. Ethan took a mont to study the building. The exterior was sleek and luxurious, with a distinctly Serpent Isle aesthetic. But the location was odd—it wasn’t in a busy comrcial area. In fact, it was sowhat secluded.

Who opens a place like this in the middle of nowhere? Ethan wondered. Either they’re not here to make money, or there’s sothing else going on.

The building’s doors were tightly shut, and the security gate was pulled down, locking the place up tight.