The Divine Armor of the Old Century（Book 1）

Chapter 98

It was an indescribable feeling, as if a horrific monster had just left, and the lingering madness and grisly remains gnawed at everyone's nerves.

Press stood frozen at first, then his stomach churned violently. He couldn't suppress the feeling and doubled over, retching painfully, his face contorted as if something inside him was trying to claw its way out.

Lloyd helped him outside, then walked back in with a solemn expression. The entire room was drenched in blood, like it had been through a storm. Furniture was overturned and everything was stained red. It was hard to imagine that this much blood could come from one victim, and it wasn't the type of blood spatter you'd see from slashing wounds.

Lloyd stepped over the blood and moved deeper into the house. The once-white bedsheets were completely soaked in red. The twisted corpse lay in a shallow pool of blood, torn open from the throat to the abdomen, ribs snapped apart, and the entire body hollowed out. The victim's appearance was unrecognizable, her eye sockets sunken with shattered eyes reduced to bloody pulp. Her mouth was wide open, as if she had been screaming in agony until her final moment.

"Can you make anything of this?"

Press, his face pale, came up from behind. As a seasoned detective, his earlier reaction was unprofessional.

"It was a complete act of torture, not for money, just for inflicting pain."

Lloyd glanced around the room, noting the pervasive blood.

"The killer deliberately smeared the blood like this. Look at the bedsheet."

He pointed to the woman's hands, which were clenched tightly around the sheet. When Lloyd tried to pry them open, he found her nails embedded deeply into the flesh. It was unimaginable how much pain she had endured.

"She was tortured to death, not killed and then mutilated. She clung to the sheet in agony, screaming until she died."

Even Lloyd felt a pang of discomfort, wondering what the killer was thinking while doing this.

The silence was profound, with the clock's ticking growing louder and slower until it stopped. Along with the ticking, the concept of time ceased, and all the light vanished, leaving Lloyd alone in the blood-red room.

"What a gruesome sight."

A woman stood by the dead body, gently caressing the bloody flesh with a light laugh.

"Well, Lloyd, you really look like a proper detective now, even changing your name to Holmes."

Lloyd's face tightened. He felt an unprecedented sense of dread and tried to summon his secret blood, but it was silent.

"It seems my connection with the darkness has deepened, enabling me to have visions even without consuming herbs."

Lloyd regretted not bringing his nail sword. He never thought he would encounter the woman again under such circumstances.

"No, to be precise, my restraints have loosened enough for me to slip out and breathe some fresh air."

The woman smiled as she walked around Lloyd, her blood-stained hand lightly touching his cheek.

"No need to be so afraid of me, Lloyd. In essence, aren't we in a subtle symbiotic relationship? I need you to maintain my existence, and you need me to avoid the connection with the Stagnant Temple. We're actually on the same side."

Lloyd looked at her, hatred and complex emotions in his eyes.

"You're not her. You're just something using her body."