Lord of Prayer-Chapter 165 - 126: Demon’s Temptation

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"Sir, this villa is currently on the market for 3.4 million. It will be ready for move-in this March. The original owners were a recently married couple who divorced due to relationship issues. During the division of assets, the villa was transferred to the wife's name.

Due to the incident in Jinzhu over a week ago, the wife has decided to sell the house and move away. The young couple's backgrounds are both clean, and the property transfer can be processed on the very day the deal is confirmed."

The young saleswoman was giving Zhou Chen a tour of the villa, her soft voice highlighting its various advantages. She wore a white blouse, a black form-fitting skirt, and black stockings. Whenever she opened a window or a cabinet, she would intentionally arch her back slightly. Going up the stairs, she would sway her hips, deliberately putting on a show, blocking the way and walking as slowly as she possibly could.

Zhou Chen felt a bit numb. He'd long heard that people in sales would sometimes get handsy with clients for the sake of performance and commissions, but he never expected to encounter it himself. 'I wonder how much commission they get for selling one house,' he thought. 'Is it really worth all this?'

After a tour of the villa, he nodded. "This place is nice. Please contact the seller for me. I'd like to get the property transfer sorted out this morning, if possible."

The saleswoman was taken aback for a moment. She hadn't expected this client to be so decisive—buying a house worth millions just like that, and without her having to sleep with him. Although she felt a strange twinge of regret, a professional smile returned to her face. "Please wait a moment, sir. I'll contact the owner right away."

She took out her phone and dialed the seller's number. Meanwhile, Zhou Chen was already forming a plan for renovations. It was a three-story villa—two floors above ground and one below. He planned to convert the basement storage room into an Alchemy Room.

'Living in the Star Association dorms offers no privacy. Now that I have the money, I might as well buy my own house. Then I can conduct whatever research I want.'

Star Association employees weren't required to live on-site. The vast majority of them, including those in the Special Operations Team, had their own homes in Jinzhu and just commuted to work. In fact, Jiang Che had also been assigned a house, but she never had time to live in it. She was basically pulling all-nighters every day. It was only because things had finally wrapped up recently that she'd gotten some time off.

The saleswoman hung up the phone and turned around. "Sir, I've contacted them. The seller can be here within half an hour. Did you bring your bank cards and ID?"

"I have everything," Zhou Chen nodded.

A little over twenty minutes later, the seller arrived. The owner was a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties, dressed in designer clothes. She even had a low-level Alchemy Tool on her for self-defense. Accompanying her was a middle-aged man around forty, with graying temples and a weathered face that gave him a mature, masculine charm.

'Relationship issues...' Zhou Chen recalled the piece of gossip the saleswoman had mentioned earlier. Keeping his expression neutral, he said, "I've set my sights on this house. Can we handle the transfer today?"

"We can. Did you drive? If not, I can give you a ride to the property rights registration center." The middle-aged man offered a friendly hand and shook Zhou Chen's.

"I drove. Let's head over there now."

An hour later, the property transfer was complete. The middle-aged man seemed to have other matters to attend to and left in a hurry with the young woman.

"Huh, that man just now looked so familiar. Wasn't that Dr. Qin?"

"It was, it was! I knew he looked familiar! It really was Dr. Qin! I can't believe I didn't recognize him... Ugh, if I'd realized sooner, I could have asked for his autograph..."

Nearby, two female employees groaned in frustration after realizing who he was, attracting the attention of their colleagues.

"Who's Dr. Qin?" another female colleague asked.

"He's a short-video creator focused on Mysticism who's gotten really popular in the last few months. Every video he posts gets over a million views. They're only a few minutes long, but they're well-produced and packed with shocking revelations. Because he has such a deep understanding of the field of Mysticism, everyone calls him Dr. Qin. Rumor has it he's genuinely encountered a lot of terrifying incidents."

"For real? I'm gonna look him up..."

'Dr. Qin? A mysticism expert?' Zhou Chen recalled seeing the man's ID while they were handling the paperwork. The name on it seemed to be Qin Xu.

He took out his phone and searched a video website. Sure enough, he found the man's account. The videos were all educational content and horror stories related to Mysticism. Glancing through the comments, it seemed this Dr. Qin really knew his stuff.

But Zhou Chen didn't have time to look closely. He turned off his phone, took the property transfer documents, and left the registration center. He drove back to the Star Association and bought a large pile of Alchemy-related tools from the Alchemy Department.

Crucibles, furnaces, an Anvil, alchemy cauldrons, a centrifuge, a chemistry workbench, scales, flasks, beakers... He basically bought all the equipment needed for fundamental Alchemy.

Even with the internal employee discount, it still cost Zhou Chen a full 9.5 million. Adding the 3.4 million for the house, he had burned through 12.9 million in a single morning, spending money like water.

After moving everything to his car, he paid a visit to Jiang Che's office.

"I bought a house by the shore. Want to come check it out after work?"

"No. I need to sleep," Jiang Che refused bluntly.

"Then how about I take Xiao Ju for a walk?" Zhou Chen crouched down and scratched Xiao Ju's chin.

"Go ahead and take her. Make sure she gets a lot of running in. She's gained a pound these past few days," Jiang Che said.

"You got it."

Beaming, Zhou Chen left the office with Xiao Ju in his arms.

Returning to the villa's private parking garage, he brought Xiao Ju down to the spacious storage basement: