"Big sister, big sister—" Xiao Tao was very anxious. Why wasn't her big sister moving at all?

Yan Qing didn't actually not want to move, but there seemed to be something very strange about this air-raid shelter. The bracelet on her wrist was flashing red light wildly, which meant that there was something very dangerous ahead.

But Xiao Tao seemed a little impatient. Seeing that Yan Qing didn't move, she simply said, "Big sister, wait for me!" and ran inside without looking back.

Yan Qing was a step too slow and didn't have time to grab her.

"Oh! This child!" She was filled with helplessness, but she couldn't just leave Xiao Tao unattended. In the end, she stamped her foot and stepped into the air-raid shelter.

The moment Yan Qing stepped inside, she heard the howling of the wind from all directions, a sound so shrill and mournful that it seemed as if someone was crying in her ear.

Yan Qing covered her ears, focusing her attention on her surroundings, completely undisturbed by the noise. She carefully followed the direction Xiao Tao had run, but it was so dark that even with lighting, she struggled to move.

There seemed to be many hard objects under her feet, each one causing her feet to ache. So she had to carefully place each foot firmly before daring to continue.

After walking slowly for about ten steps, a very intense noise suddenly came from the spatial ring on her hand, as if something was trying to escape uncontrollably.

Yan Qing subconsciously checked her spatial ring and discovered that the invitation, which had disappeared immediately after she entered, had reappeared.

Moreover, this time, the invitation was flashing with an extremely crazy light. Instinctively, Yan Qing took it out.

Before it even felt warm in its hands, the invitation suddenly glowed red and began to spontaneously combust without any wind.

In the blink of an eye, it turned into a pile of ashes.

Yan Qing was dumbfounded. The invitation was gone. How could she prove Xiao Tao's identity?

Oh, right, Xiao Tao!! Where did that child go?!

Thinking of this, she disregarded her fear. She knew very well what was under her feet—human bones. She didn't have time to distinguish them and started running forward, stepping on the bones scattered on the ground.

Fortunately, the air-raid shelter had a relatively simple structure. She only ran about ten steps before spotting Xiao Tao at the small opening at the end of the road.

"You silly child, if you run off again, I'll get angry!" Yan Qing was terrified and grabbed Xiao Tao's hand, afraid that she would get lost again.

Xiao Tao looked up, and Yan Qing saw the tears on her face. "Xiao Tao, why are you crying?"

Xiao Tao clenched her teeth tightly, her whole little body trembling uncontrollably. Yan Qing held her tightly, and after a long while, she heard Xiao Tao speak in a voice filled with extreme hatred.

"Big sister, I'm going to kill them!! I'm going to make sure they all go to hell after they die, and never be able to ascend to the afterlife!!"

What? ! !

Yan Qing's heart sank to the bottom. For Xiao Tao to say something like that meant there must be someone here connected to her. Yan Qing sighed, took out a high-powered flashlight from her backpack, and shone it directly at the spot where Xiao Tao was standing.

But the scene before her eyes made even her feel a pang of heartache.

Directly in front of Xiaotao was a skeleton, which looked like it had been dead for many years. The skeleton's clothes had been dried into pieces, making it impossible to discern any shape.

What pained Yan Qing most was the skeleton's condition at death. Its bones weren't the normal grayish-white color of a dead person; instead, the entire skeleton was covered in countless dark blue-green needle marks. She had once seen a similar explanation of this torture in a museum.

Legend has it that during the ancient Shang and Zhou dynasties, there existed a cruel form of torture called "Soul Devouring," which made people wish they were dead. It involved using specially crafted tools to pierce the entire body, bleeding the victim while simultaneously pouring in various poisons and tonics, repeatedly torturing the victim in this way.

It is said that this soul-devouring spell is closely related to the soul-devouring secret techniques of the Xuanmen sect. Those subjected to this torture are often tormented for months before gradually dying.

She had also heard Yue Qi say that those who die from soul-devouring are never allowed to be reborn. Even if their souls remain, they are mostly controlled by others and cannot be freed for countless lifetimes.

The dense, bluish-black spots on the skeleton before him were the most obvious sign of the Soul-Devouring Spell. Compared to this person, the more than a thousand people in the white room on the eighth floor seemed to have died peacefully.

Yan Qing looked at Xiao Tao, who was still crying incessantly, and understood. This person must be one of her relatives, right?

That's true. No one could bear to see their loved one suffer such a tragic torment, let alone Xiaotao, who is just a child.

Yan Qing took a blanket from her ring and covered the skeleton. She turned to Xiao Tao and said gently,

"Xiao Tao, do you know him?"

Xiao Tao nodded, her eyes already red from crying. She pointed to a red protrusion on the top of the skull, where there seemed to have once been some kind of mark, but it had been weathered and was no longer visible.

“This is our family mark, a mark that every member of our family is born with. It cannot be removed even by death. I recognized this person by it—my eldest uncle, Xiao Boqian.”

What?! Xiao Boqian?! She couldn't have misheard, could this be the Dean Xiao she was looking for?

Xiao Tao wiped away her tears and turned to Yan Qing. "Big sister, can you help me? Uncle is still here; I can feel it. He's just trapped by some evil thing. Can you help me find it?"

Xiao Tao's gaze fell on the ball in her hand. Yan Qing understood what she meant and immediately took off the ball and handed it to Xiao Tao.

As a result, Xiaotao seemed extremely afraid of the sphere, waving her hands repeatedly in refusal and retreating a considerable distance in one breath.

"No, no, no, big sister, I can't control it. You are its master—it only recognizes you."

Seeing how frightened Xiaotao was, Yan Qing had no choice but to figure it out herself. To be honest, she was completely baffled by this round ball; it didn't really obey her commands!

She tried to activate it, and the sphere reacted instantly.

The metal sphere, originally only the size of a palm, suddenly grew rapidly. Shedding its metallic outer layer, she saw the sphere's true form for the first time.

What appeared before her was a pure white cube with six faces, each inlaid with a red gemstone of the same size, which looked extremely expensive.

But why does this thing look so familiar?

Just then, the white cube spun around and stopped in front of her, with a bright red dot on top, looking exceptionally proud and reserved.

Yan Qing's vision went black. Had she gone blind?!