Chapter 27 : Capture (1)

Arriving at the factory entrance, Rachel turned to look at the three people behind her.

“Just like that, we go in?”

Yuhui first nodded, then said, “You three go in through the main entrance. I’ll go in from over there.”

He pointed upwards with his finger.

“Be careful. This place has been in disrepair for a long time. The building might not be stable,” Rachel reminded him.

Yuhui made a gesture and walked around the main entrance towards the back of the courtyard.

Rachel pulled open the rolling shutter door, lifting it high above her head.
Andrew and Diana then entered the factory workshop.

It was noon, and sunlight streamed through the second-floor windows into the workshop, illuminating the dust-covered floor, the verdigris, and the abandoned equipment for the three to see.

“There are traces of magic here, from the same person as in the Sinhe Church. It’s the ‘Arsonist’! He’s definitely been here.”

Andrew waved his hand, splashing the transparent liquid from the glass bottle onto the ground.
The transparent liquid evaporated and liquefied rapidly, as if it had touched a hot iron, turning into wisps of mist that floated up.

“He must still be here, right in this workshop!”

Rachel was not infected by Andrew’s tense mood.
She craned her neck and looked around, searching for something.

Ever since her calls to Rick went unanswered, Rachel had a bad feeling.
She now wanted to confirm Rick’s safety, whether he had met with an accident or not.

“What’s that?” Rachel noticed a figure hanging about ten meters away.
“Is that a person?”

“Rachel,” Diana grabbed her, “it might be a trap. Don’t rush over.”

“No, that seems to be a person,” Rachel kept staring ahead.
“I have to go and see.”

“We’ll go with you,” Diana said.

Rachel’s attention was fully focused ahead.
She didn’t hear anything, just walked forward on her own.

Diana and Andrew followed her closely.
They soon reached the hanging figure.
It was indeed a person.
His legs were tied together with wire, and his whole body was hung upside down, his back to them.
He was wearing a brown flannel jacket, and there was a gray beret on the ground, perhaps his.

Rachel reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him a gentle push.

The person’s body slowly turned around.
The moment she saw his face, Rachel couldn’t help but turn her head away.

“Tsk, damn it.”

“Is he your friend?” Andrew asked.

“Yes.”

Rick’s chin had been torn off by something, and his tongue was gone.
His pupils were dilated, his eyes lifeless, and his face still bore the twisted expression of fear from before his death.

Rachel turned her head back.
She looked at the body hanging in the air, without breath or heartbeat, and felt a little dizzy.

It was a strange feeling, difficult to describe in words.
A perfectly fine person, who was often with you, talking to you, doing things with you, naturally by your side.
Such a person was suddenly gone, completely disappeared from this world, and from then on entered a boundless world of darkness, unheard and untouched, deprived of all perception and thinking ability.

The world of death.

It all happened so suddenly that her brain couldn’t accept it, and it fell into a state similar to a crash.

Rachel and Rick’s relationship was not very good, just a normal business relationship, limited to being acquaintances.
She didn’t even feel the slightest pain or conflict over Rick’s death.
But when she saw the man’s body in front of her, she still felt a touch of sadness deep inside.
This sad emotion turned into an invisible weight, pressing on her heart, making it hard for her to breathe.

This was sadness for death, and fear of death.

This world was not a game.
People really died.

Rachel suddenly felt that she had been spoiled by the psionic ability and body she had acquired after transmigrating.
She always looked at everything around her with a condescending attitude, but she didn’t know that she was just a human being of flesh and blood.
No one could guide her, and she could only make any choice by herself, and the consequences must be borne by herself.

Today, the one who died was this man named Rick Lewis.
Perhaps one day in the future, in some stinking gutter in some city, there would be a rotting, stinking female corpse covered in rats, named Rachel Ronald.

Andrew and Diana made the sign of the cross on their chests.
“Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.”

“Amen.”

“Amen.”

A round of applause came from the distance.
Blake Morton strolled towards Rachel and the others in the slanting sunlight.
His red coat fluttered gently, and he smiled.

“Amen.”

Rachel looked straight at Blake with a deadpan expression.
She waved her hand, and the wire hanging Rick’s body was cut in mid-air.
Rick’s body fell, and Rachel caught him.

“It hasn’t been long, how come you’ve brought two new friends? I can’t entertain you all,” Blake spread his hands.
“Have you eaten? I just finished.”

“You wait, I’ll kill you right now,” Rachel said coldly.

“Rachel, calm down,” Diana reminded her softly.

Andrew took a step forward.

“‘Arsonist’ Blake Morton, surrender. You have nowhere to run.”

“Is that so? I don’t think so,” Blake snapped his fingers.
The shadow under him instantly detached from his body and moved quickly along the ground towards the three of them.
At the same time, three spherical fireballs appeared in the air and shot towards the three of them.

Rachel directly used her psionic ability.
Black Dirty Ice spread from under her feet, then rose up instantly, forming a black ice wall that blocked all the fireballs.
The fireballs flew at the ice wall, and the collision and explosion produced a loud noise.

Andrew, hiding behind the ice wall, quickly took out a glass bottle containing a pale yellow liquid and poured the liquid onto his axe.

The fireballs didn’t cause any damage to the ice wall, but the stand-in passed right through it.
It flew quickly to Rachel and thrust its hand towards her eyes.

Just as the stand-in was about to touch Rachel’s eyes, Andrew stepped forward, his axe rising and falling.
The sharp blade of the axe met the solidified stand-in, like a knife cutting through butter, easily and neatly, instantly cutting it in two.
At the same time, Rachel dispelled the ice wall, ensuring her side’s vision.

“You don’t think you can finish off my stand-in just like that, do you?” Blake sneered from a distance.

The severed stand-in lay messily on the ground, then quickly wriggled.
Its two halves slid together, their severed ends meeting, and reattached.

But just as the stand-in was about to stand up, an invisible pressure pressed down on it, forcing it back to the ground.
The stand-in tried to get up, but was pushed down again by the invisible force.

“What’s going on?” Blake actively used his psionic ability, trying to make the stand-in virtual, but he failed.

“That bald man’s axe, does it have some kind of ability? Or does the pee-like liquid he poured have an ability? Or both?”

The stand-in struggled frantically, but could no longer get up.
Instead, its struggles became more and more sluggish, and finally it stopped moving altogether.

“Uh… alright,” Blake sighed.
“You win.”