Chapter 114 - Too Strong

Chapter 114 - Too Strong

The iron door clanged open. Gazing into the dark basement, the woman hesitated, but after a moment's pause, she followed Cassius inside.

Click! Click!

The lights on both sides of the basement switched on, and the soft yellow glow quickly chased away the darkness.

The woman looked around. The basement appeared to be quite spacious and seemed fairly well-decorated. Cabinets, desks, sofas, and other furniture, along with a few white vases filled with fresh flowers, were placed in the corners. The walls were painted light blue, with two landscape paintings framed in gold—one of a forest and the other of a sunset river scene.

Everything looked normal. His taste in furniture seemed decent. The woman didn't know what Cassius wanted to show her in the basement. Perhaps it was some special information about the Shadow Demons?

"Mr. Li Wei, why did you bring me to the basement?" she asked Cassius curiously.

"To show you something good," Cassius said expressionlessly. Something seemed to occur to him as he added, "Miss Teresa, you should mentally prepare yourself. And try not to get too excited."

Something good? Could it be some kind of treasure? Teresa was puzzled, but she figured Cassius wouldn't harm her. He was a combat expert, and if he really wanted to do something to her, he would've already done so. Why go through the unnecessary trouble of taking her to the basement being all cloak and dagger?

"Over here, come on." Cassius pointed to a pale yellow curtain on one side of the basement. This was part of the renovation company's design layout: a rod attached above for the curtain to hang from where it could divide the vast space of the basement into one side for leisure and the other for training.

As they walked over, Teresa seemed to catch a faint whiff of blood in the air. She sniffed around; she was right, and the closer she got, the stronger it became.

At that moment, a deep curiosity arose in her heart. Was there something behind the curtain?

"Over here." With a swish, Cassius pulled back the curtain and walked in. Teresa took a deep breath and stepped inside.

As soon as she did, she felt a pair of evil eyes fix on her. Her heart skipped a beat, and an indescribable fear surged within her. It felt like walking through the forest alone at night and suddenly seeing a pair of blood-red eyes full of animalistic killing intent floating in the darkness.

An instinctive fear flooded through her, sending a tingling electric sensation from her soles, up her spine, and straight to her brain. Teresa froze in place, her neck turning inch by inch, like gears without lubrication, as she slowly looked over.

A pair of dilated light-red pupils met her own. She stood in place, everything around her blurring and fading away until all that remained in her vision were those pupils.

Beside her, Cassius frowned slightly at the scene. Teresa seemed to be experiencing some kind of stress response, like how some animals in nature freeze when encountering a predator. Their minds go blank and their muscles stiffen, rendering them unable to move; the automatic fear that comes from their natural predator was too strong.

In the eyes of Shadow Demons, ordinary humans were just food that could move. As a member of the Shadowless Clan, Teresa had naturally undergone some training and could also use firearms. Her willpower and physical fitness were certainly much better than the average person's. And yet, after having the Shadow Demon watch her, and only her, she still showed a stress response, freezing in place like a fish on a chopping board and at the mercy of others. If it were an ordinary person, it would likely be even worse; they might have even wet themselves as soon as they laid eyes upon it.

In that case, even humans armed with guns might not pose a threat to Shadow Demons. Only those like Cassius, who surpassed human limits and reached a pugilist or higher stage, could suppress such fear. This was the natural hierarchy of life.

Cassius looked at the petrified Teresa. He had no choice but to walk several steps forward and give the Shadow Demon a solid slap.

Smack!

A crisp sound instantly echoed throughout the basement.

Teresa seemed to snap back to reality, her whole body jolting as cold sweat soaked her back, drenching her black undergarments. She couldn't stop gasping for breath, her words tripping over themselves.

"Sh-Sh-Shadow Demon! R-Red Eye-level!! Oh my god!" Teresa nearly screamed.

In those few seconds, she felt as if she had traveled to hell and back. When she came back to her senses, her heart almost jumped out of her throat. It was terrifying!

"Miss Teresa, please don't shout. I might not live near anyone, but I can't guarantee that there won't be people passing by. It won't do me any good if there's a misunderstanding here. I don't want the police knocking on my door in a few days to search my house," Cassius said as he yanked the Shadow Demon's hair back.

"Behave!" He kicked it again.

It cost about two million Hongli Federation dollars for the Steel Claw-level and ten million for the Red Eye-level. As tempting as it was, Cassius rejected the initial request, and only agreed to sell one of them—namely the Steel Claw-level Shadow Demon that couldn't communicate.

As for the other Red Eye-level one that could, he felt it still had a lot of information about the dark world it had yet to disclose. Since Cassius wasn't short on money, he saw no need to sell the Shadow Demon for a little cash. To be honest, he hadn't sold the Steel Claw-level Shadow Demon for money either. He just wanted to do this favor for the Shadowless Clan since it would be easier to work together in the future.

With the ball in Cassius's court, Teresa had no choice but to acquiesce. If he had any inclination to sell, he would've. She couldn't force him.

"Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Li Wei. Have a good night." Teresa shook hands with Cassius in the courtyard. As the evening breeze blew, she was about to say some other pleasantries when faint voices came from outside the wall.

"Hugo, is this the place?"

"Yes, it is."

"Teresa should have gone in to talk by now. Let's go in too. Oh, should we ring the doorbell at the entrance?"

"What's the point of that? Let's just climb over the wall."

"That wouldn't be right though. This is someone else's home."

"What's wrong with it? Five Steel Claw-level Shadow Demons, and a Red Eye-level are still skulking around Baichuan City. That Li Wei guy may know some combat moves, but he'd die if he encountered a Shadow Demon. We're here to protect him!"

"Alright."

Immediately, there was the sound of people climbing over the wall. The four elite members were agile and leaped onto the wall with ease.

"We're up. Now let's get down." Hugo was the last to come up. The other three seemed rooted in place. They did not respond.

"What's wrong?" He turned his head in confusion and froze on the spot. In the courtyard, shrouded in the shadows beside the car, a man in a black coat with white gloves stood, quietly looking over.

Silent, eerie, mysterious. Especially those intense blood-red eyes!!! They were cold and indifferent, with a strong oppressive aura and killing intent. And... and! There was even an inhuman tint in those pupils, pointing to an inhuman, bloodthirsty brutality.

A Shadow Demon! Red Eye-level!! Oh my god!!!

Hugo was so scared he could hardly breathe, feeling the aura crushing his chest inch by inch. He, like the other three, were so terrified they couldn't move.

In that moment, the scene at the residence was a bit eerie. It resembled a frozen black-and-white painting, with the man in the coat standing quietly in the shadows, while the four men perched stupidly on the wall, each with a dazed expression like a statue.

"Run!" someone broke free and shouted.

Immediately, the air exploded with the sound of feet landing outside the wall. Then three more thumps followed, one of which sounded different. One unlucky fellow had apparently fallen in fright, accompanied by a pained grunt.

"Damn! My shoe came off!"

"Run! It's a Red Eye-level! What's more important, your shoe or your life?"

"What about Teresa?!"

"The organization will remember her brave sacrifice!"

"Oh no, my shoe came off too!"

"Stop dawdling... Ugh! Just grab it and run!"