Chapter 1388: Chapter 1388

The Doomsday Illusion was not a place one could enter at will, which meant they couldn't deal with the matter any further that night. Magic Miss and Jenkins parted ways after splitting the money. She gave Jenkins her planned itinerary for the week so that once he brought the corpse out of that world, he could find her at any time.

He returned to Ruen just in time for dinner, where the ladies, who had been busy all day, were gathered around the table. They shared the day's events with Jenkins. After destroying the Corpse Gentleman's body, Alexia found herself with little to do, so she decided to focus on fully advancing to the eighth level in the near future. Dolores was still plagued by her political duties. The arrival of diplomatic envoys from two kingdoms had created a host of new problems, as the parliament was now planning to budget for war—a highly complex matter that would put an even greater strain on the already understaffed finance department.

The next day, a Thursday, Jenkins set out for Nolan early in the morning. After sorting through the personal mail Hathaway had collected for him, he went for a stroll in the public square in front of the clock tower.

For the past half-month, he had often wandered the area wearing different faces but always with the same cat. He was intimately familiar with his surroundings, knowing where to find shelter from the wind and where the sun wasn't too harsh. This time, it wasn't until nearly noon that he was finally lucky enough to enter the illusion. He immediately rushed to the clock tower, traded with the old man for the ninth ritual, then quietly slipped to the base of the tower and dug up the severely decomposed body from its simple grave. After carrying it away from the tower, he found a safe corner and returned to the real world.

By the time he met up with Magic Miss, the sun was about to set. Seeing a strange man approaching with a cat, she immediately understood that the body had been successfully brought out. After exchanging a few pleasantries with the owner of a tailor shop, she joined Jenkins on the street.

She whispered. It was the end of the workday, and the streets were crowded. The two of them moved against the flow of people, heading toward the city's outskirts.

"You didn't actually expect me to carry it into the city, did you? I left it in the abandoned cemetery—the same one where we fought the Tree House demigod, Mr. Clark, last winter."

The cemetery belonged to Jenkins, a small gift left to him by Viscount Augustus before his death. Though it was called a cemetery, aside from the few people Jenkins had killed or who had been turned into gears, there were actually no bodies buried there. The original remains had been moved more than a decade ago.

He had temporarily placed the rotting corpse in the cemetery. After he and Magic Miss arrived, she immediately began preparations for a séance. Although Jenkins's own spiritualist abilities were not particularly strong, Magic Miss was an expert in the art.

Unfortunately, because the man had died in a Mysterious Realm, the quality of the summoned spirit was extremely poor. It had almost no self-awareness and could only respond with simple phrases, and even those were incoherent and worthless.

Before the spirit disintegrated, all they managed to learn was his name: Perot Spenser.

"Since the spirit was useless, let's try another ritual."

Magic Miss said, eager to try.

Since they had ample funding for this operation, she had already purchased a large quantity of potential ritual materials while waiting for Jenkins to retrieve the body. As questioning the spirit had yielded no results, they would have to rely on tracing the bloodline.

Although the corpse's blood had decayed, it wasn't unusable. It just needed to be treated with an expensive revitalizing agent.

Once a small cup of wine-red blood began to boil in a silver goblet, Magic Miss had Jenkins hold it, pinching his nose, while she dipped a quill pen into the blood and began writing runes all over the corpse.

By the time the last rune was finished, the blood in the goblet was completely used up. Magic Miss let out a long breath and then had Jenkins assist her in performing the ritual to activate the runes.

The moment the sun disappeared completely below the horizon, the corpse lying on the ground twitched violently and then stiffly rose to its feet. The blood-red runes on its body were glowing faintly; it was these runes that allowed the corpse to move again.

"This is what they call..."

"I know. It's the notoriously illegal ritual, 'Bloodline Regression.' It uses the deceased's blood as a driving force to make the corpse seek out its closest living relative... You actually know a ritual ?" The source of this content ɪs n0velfire.net

Jenkins scooped up his cat, which was trying to flee the stench, and asked while helping Magic Miss clean up the area.

"It may be illegal, but you have to admit it's useful... You're not going to report me, are you?"

Under the cover of night, Jenkins found some clothes to dress the corpse up like a normal person. He put gloves on it, a wide-brimmed hat on its head, and even sprayed a large amount of perfume on it to mask the smell of decay. Only then did he and Magic Miss begin to follow it in search of its family.

Although the corpse walked with a lurching gait, it moved at a surprisingly fast pace. A little after eight o'clock, it stopped at an intersection in a residential area in northwestern Nolan and then headed straight for the gate of a house on the right.

Jenkins's heart leaped with joy. He quickly followed behind the corpse and smudged the rune he had deliberately left exposed on its neck. The corpse immediately lost its ability to move, and Jenkins had to grab it firmly to keep it from falling, supporting it like a drunken man as he walked toward the house's gate.

Vanilla had bolted the moment Jenkins touched the corpse. Magic Miss, a step ahead of them, reached the door and rang the bell. A moment later, a middle-aged man opened the door and peered out at the three people standing on the street.

He asked with a frown, looking like he had no intention of opening the gate for them, or even stepping into his own yard to speak with them.

"You might know this man."

Jenkins said, still holding up the corpse, and gestured for the man to come closer. The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment before walking into the yard, peering through the gate at the body, which was bundled up tightly in clothes.

Jenkins quickly reached out and tipped the corpse's hat back slightly. Once he confirmed the man had seen the horribly decayed face, he pulled the hat back down.

The man couldn't help but cry out. Despite the severe decay of the facial skin, he still recognized who it was.

"I think it's best we talk inside. This is hardly a good place for a conversation."

Jenkins suggested. The man immediately opened the gate, then carefully took hold of the corpse, helping Jenkins carry it into the house.