It’s the literal feeling of urgency—death!

"Why doesn’t the commissioner come to me for help? If I could help him with the research, the speed would definitely increase a lot."

Feng Ju really wants to contribute his wisdom to the commissioner.

He’s willing to swear on his beloved daughter’s life that this time he’s genuinely, selflessly wanting to do something for the commissioner from the depths of his soul.

Moreover, Feng Ju is certain that the commissioner will eventually need him.

Despite not knowing why the commissioner is so obsessed with the [Evil Sacrifice], whether he wants to become a monster or study monsters, or perhaps...

Feng Ju cannot fathom the commissioner’s intentions.

But regardless of the commissioner’s purpose, once he gets hold of the sheepskin scroll, he will definitely find a way to perform the [Evil Sacrificial Ceremony] to verify the authenticity of the scroll.

Of course, with the commissioner’s elevated status, he will surely find someone to help him verify it.

"That person is me!"

"I can help the commissioner find offerings for the ceremony, one, ten, or a hundred; I can get them for him at the fastest speed."

"Even if the commissioner needs me to become the offering, it’s not impossible!"

Feng Ju’s mind spins wildly, filled with determination:

"I must participate in the [Evil Sacrificial Ceremony], whether in preparing the offerings or becoming one. As long as I can be involved, I’ll have a chance to see the content on the sheepskin scroll. At the very least, I can witness the entire [Evil Sacrificial Ceremony] process with my own eyes."

Feng Ju’s thoughts seem insane, but in reality, his mind has never been clearer.

In his eyes, if the sheepskin scroll is a ’recharge window,’ then perhaps the [Evil Sacrificial Ceremony] process is the ’recharge procedure.’

For someone with only 4 days of balance left, this might be his last chance to recharge; he absolutely cannot miss out.

"If the commissioner continues to ignore me..."

In Feng Ju’s eyes, despair and madness intertwine,

"Then I can only take a dangerous gamble, risking my life on it!"

Just then, the heavy iron gate of the villa district slowly slides open to the sides.

A black luxury car smoothly drives out.

Feng Ju’s pupils suddenly contract, and he instinctively buries his body deeper into the shadows of the bushes, revealing only a pair of terrified eyes.

The back window of the car rolls halfway down, and a young, calm face wearing rimmed glasses comes clearly into Feng Ju’s view.

Inside sits the very filial son he has wanted to see but dared not meet in recent days.

"Feng Mu?! How... how can he be here?!"

A massive wave of shock and suspicion crashes over Feng Ju’s mind.

In an instant, Feng Ju feels plunged into an ice cave, wrapped in a suffocating sense of a massive conspiracy.

It’s no wonder Feng Ju is so suspicious; anyone in his current situation would have similar thoughts.

Looking from his perspective, namely:

Knowing that the daughter is a monster wearing human skin, most likely linked to [Mask], or possibly the second [Mask];

Then highly suspecting the son is also a monster, even having planted a countdown to death on him;

The sheepskin scroll documenting the [Mask]’s secrets is currently in the commissioner’s villa;

And finally, the son appears strangely at the same place!!!

So what can be deduced from this...?

Feng Ju’s mind is like an overloaded old machine, its CPU running madly, various clues entangling, breaking, and regrouping in his mind...

"It’s too difficult... truly too difficult..."

Feng Ju’s fingers deeply dig into his hair, pulling at his scalp, and he uses all his detective power, killing all his brain cells, yet cannot untangle this mess of clues.

Cannot deduce! Cannot deduce it at all!

If it were a true detective, perhaps they could deduce the truth~

Feng Ju’s mind is a jumbled mess, but a near-instinctual, vague yet strong intuition tells him that none of this could be mere coincidence.

In the dark, there must be an invisible thread connecting all these events.

The vehicle smoothly merges into the main road’s traffic, quickly disappearing at the edge of sight.

Feng Ju still crouches in the shadows of the bushes, his mind replaying that familiar yet incredibly foreign face.

An indescribable sense of sorrow and absurdity churns in his chest:

"My daughter has been acting all along, tricking me until death, and my son is also acting, and he’s hidden the deepest, so in the end, am I the most genuine fool in the family?"

Inside the car, Feng Mu, sitting in the back seat with eyes closed, barely curls the corners of his mouth downward.

He detected Feng Ju at first instance, not needing his eyes to pinpoint him, capable of mapping Feng Ju’s exact position just by perception.

Feng Ju’s remaining life is his gift; as soon as Feng Ju appears nearby, he perceives it instantly.

He simply isn’t bothered to care, or even spare an extra glance.

"With only 4 days left, yet not even a decent splash has been made, it’s truly disappointing."

Feng Mu’s thoughts no longer linger on the old father; he has certainly fulfilled his duties to the utmost for him.

Currently, his feelings are roughly akin to when Feng Ju abandoned the original master.

"My dear father is utterly inferior to my sister, truly too useless, no longer worth wasting life or emotions on him."

Feng Mu collects his thoughts, deciding to completely abandon Feng Ju, letting him fend for himself.

......

The heavy mahogany door is bolted from the inside, and the world seems to have had its mute button pressed, leaving nothing but the commissioner’s coarse breathing in the overly silent study.

The heavy velvet curtains are drawn tight, letting not a single ray of light through.

Only the desk lamp, turned to its brightest setting, casts a cone of ghastly white light upon the spread-out sheepskin scroll.

The commissioner nearly sprawls over the desk, his nose touching the yellowing parchment, inhaling greedily the unique rancid scent of aged corpse oil.

The lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses reflect the glaring lamp light, yet fail to conceal the flame of intense excitement and blatant greed in his eyes.

"It’s real... can mostly confirm it is real..."

His chapped lips move, twelve hours of not having a drop to drink leaving his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping.

What led him to this judgment was not any meticulous academic verification, but the complexity of the ritual steps recorded on the scroll, their harsh demands, and the process’s bloody cruelty, all far surpassing the moral boundaries of normal humans, even challenging the logic of life and death.

The death scenes depicted, and the demand for the sacrificial victim to remain conscious in extreme pain...perfectly matched his innermost twisted and frenzied imagination of the "Evil Sacrificial Ceremony."

Moreover—the [Mask] is real!

This undeniable fact, like an iron-cast cornerstone, offers the most compelling credibility to the [Evil Sacrificial Ceremony] recorded on the sheepskin scroll.

Bear in mind, there exists thousands upon thousands of Evil Sacrificial Ceremonies worldwide, but few truly succeed.

The vast majority are mere delusions, deceitful lies of the self-deceived, or tragedies staged and produced by madmen.

Yet the specimen at hand... directs to a known successful case—Mask·Zheng Hang!

Thus, the commissioner’s insistence on [Mask] is precisely to seize an evil sacrificial host, then bring it back to the Upper City, back to his family to earn merit.

Remember, for family members like theirs, the competition never ceases.

Outsiders only see their glamorous appearances and assume they’ve been perched in the clouds since birth. However, only they know how brutal the arena within the clouds is.

Not just the position of Young Family Head requires competition; every position within the family demands it.

For a position of Young Family Head, his status is insufficient, and he simply dares not think of it.

His goal is simply to become an outstanding member recognized by the family, enter the main training sequence, and become a part of the Young Family Head’s future team.

Even if it’s an unremarkable role within the team, as long as he can hold a real position of power within the family, able to truly mobilize some of the family’s resources, he would be content!

Yet even such a "humble" ambition is as difficult as climbing the sky to achieve.

The primary condition is to break free from Lower City’s foul-smelling quagmire, returning to the bright world of the Upper City.

And to earn this ticket back, he must...