His face stung with a burning heat.
Elias felt as if someone had wound up their arm and delivered two massive slaps right across his cheeks.
What kind of luck was this?
Just a second ago, he had been confidently calculating that Wayland Capital was the faction least likely to contact him right now.
Even though he was technically still their employee...
Ms. Cecil had just finished leading a team to scrub the scene. There was no way they could trace the matter of the pendulum back to him.
And yet, the very next second, these people from the company’s Security Department had pulled open his carriage door!
Talk about the devil and he shall appear.
“Is there something I can help you with?”
Elias’s gaze was dark, his tone carrying an unmasked edge of annoyance.
He could swear to the heavens.
At this moment, he had achieved a perfect alignment of thought and action.
There was absolutely no need to act.
The disgust and impatience radiating from him were one hundred percent natural.
Half of it was because Wayland Capital had treated the original owner of this body as an expendable asset, shoving him into a lighthouse and directly causing Elias to brush with death repeatedly after his transmigration.
The other half was thanks to that psychopathic son of a bitch, Luke.
Even though, logically speaking, he and the man in front of him were technically colleagues.
This extreme sincerity was clearly and accurately conveyed to the security personnel across from him.
In this day and age, anyone who could maintain such a sour face in a private carriage was either wealthy or noble.
The uniformed man in the lead frowned imperceptibly, but quickly adopted a restrained, professional demeanor.
“I am terribly sorry, sir.”
The man bowed slightly, his tone apologetic, but his eyes continued to scan the compartment.
“I apologize for disturbing your rest.”
“I would like to ask if you saw a small-framed male pass by here just now?”
A small-framed male?
Elias’s eyelids twitched slightly as he instinctively assumed a thoughtful expression.
In reality, his senses had already detected something amiss.
From these men...
There was a faint spiritual fluctuation.
Transcendents?
No.
“Old man, don't play dead,” Elias said in his mind.
“Check these guys out for me. What’s their deal?”
Old Ed let out a yawn and replied sluggishly, “Just a few ordinary people. What deal could they have?”
“Have you developed persecution mania from that dream demon?”
Elias sneered inwardly.
“Are you getting senile in your old age?”
“They have spiritual fluctuations on them!”
Hearing this, Old Ed paused.
“Hmm?”
Soon, the old man figured out the situation and let out a disdainful scoff.
“A Mercury Compass.”
Old Ed began his explanation.
“It’s a low-grade supernatural item that even ordinary people can use.”
“The principle is simple: it uses the principle of spiritual resonance.”
“The user only needs to place a personal item belonging to the target into the compass’s groove.”
“It could be hair, blood, or even a frequently worn button. The compass will then use the faint residual spirituality on the item to create a resonance effect with its owner.”
“Then, it can help the user find the corresponding person like a hound.”
“This doesn't even qualify as a spell.”
Old Ed gave his final evaluation.
“Just a little trick.”
Understood.
Elias realized what was happening.
As he communicated with the old man in his head, the atmosphere grew a bit strange.
The security personnel at the door watched Elias, who had been lost in thought for a long time without speaking.
Why did this wealthy merchant look so dazed?
“Sir?” the lead security man called out tentatively.
“Hmm...”
Elias snapped back to reality, dragging out the sound as if he were hesitant.
Then, he shook his head with absolute certainty.
“No.”
Elias spoke decisively, his heart steady and his expression unchanged.
He wasn't lying.
He was being perfectly honest.
The man had asked if he had seen a “small-framed male.”
And he certainly hadn't seen one, had he?
He had only seen a woman in disguise who had burrowed under his seat like a marmot.
Logically, his answer was airtight.
Moreover, compared to that woman who had no sense of boundaries, he hated these company people even more.
However, the moment the words left his mouth, a member of the security team in the back holding a compass suddenly stepped forward.
Elias keenly perceived the device activating.
An invisible line of spiritual resonance, catchable only in a state of Spirit Vision, extended from the needle of the Mercury Compass and probed straight into Elias’s compartment.
How could Elias let them have their way?
His spiritual tentacles instantly reached out from his body like invisible scissors.
The moment they touched that faint line of spiritual resonance, he violently snapped it!
It was a complete, effortless crush.
“Ah!”
The team member holding the compass in the back suddenly let out a cry of surprise.
“What is it?” the leader barked, turning his head.
“Sir, the compass... it stopped spinning...”
As the men in the back began to whisper among themselves, the lead man’s expression shifted several times.
If the compass lost the connection, it either meant the target had moved out of range or the compass itself had malfunctioned.
Regardless, the target was not in this compartment.
“Forgive us, sir.”
The lead man turned back and gave a deep bow.
“I am truly sorry for interrupting your journey.”
With a wave of his hand, he led the group away, hurrying toward the other end of the train.
Click.
The carriage door was tightly shut once again.
Elias withdrew his gaze and sat back down.
He crossed his legs and threw out a cold sentence.
“You can come out now.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a commotion beneath his seat.
Thump.
A muffled sound rang out, as if a head had bumped into the solid wood leg of the chair.
The lady from before struggled out from under the seat like a loach just pulled from a mud pit.
That oversized, poorly stitched man’s suit was now covered in dust and coal soot from the carriage floor.
She finally managed to stand up with great effort, brushed the dirt off her knees, and plopped down onto the seat opposite Elias.
Her movements carried the exhaustion of someone who had just escaped a brush with death.
“I am terribly sorry, sir.”
The woman panted heavily as she tore off the heavy scarf, revealing a delicate face covered in dust.
“I really had no other choice.”
As she apologized, she reached into the inner pocket of her suit.
Elias’s gaze sharpened instantly.
However, she didn't pull out a weapon.
Instead, it was an identification card in a leather cover.
She held the card out in front of Elias.
A line of text was clearly written on it:
【Ophelia Moore】
【Landon Post】
A journalist!
Elias looked at those words, and the tension in his mind eased slightly.
That explained it.
In the supernatural world, the profession of a journalist was basically synonymous with being a “pioneer of seeking death.”
Being chased like a dog was practically a daily occurrence for them.
While Elias was thinking, the woman across from him spoke again.
Though her voice was still trembling, her eyes held a stubborn fervor.
“I am a journalist for the Landon Post.”
Ophelia lowered her voice.
“I have been investigating some of Wayland Capital’s dark secrets lately.”
“I just managed to find a lead, but they discovered me.”
Ophelia continued to explain at a rapid-fire pace.
“So they started chasing me frantically.”
“Kind sir, could I stay here with you...”
“No.”
Elias didn't hesitate for a single second as he brutally cut her off.
Was she joking?
Better to avoid trouble than to look for it.
Get lost, now!
However, Ophelia didn't seem to hear his refusal at all.
Or rather, she didn't care about Elias’s attitude.
She took a deep breath, her gaze becoming incredibly determined.
Then, before Elias’s shocked eyes, she began to unbutton her clothes.
She was actually starting to undress!
“What the hell?!”
Elias jerked back, his back pressing hard against the carriage wall.
His eyes were wide as saucers.
“What are you doing?”
Elias’s voice was filled with sheer panic.
“Don't!”
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