This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!

Chapter 145: Chapter 145: Three Lives, One Door

Hainerd stared at Chen Ke, his face frozen. Chen Ke could feel his anger and killing intent, but the man ultimately controlled his emotions.

Robbing a bank was inherently a high-risk affair. Even with meticulous planning and thorough preparation, an unexpected incident could lead to a disastrous failure.

After all, Chen Ke and his team had succeeded.

If it hadn’t been for the sudden intrusion of Yasla’s freak at the last phase, the four of them should have been celebrating with champagne and counting money in the safe house.

The root of the robbery traced back to a deal a year ago between Hainerd and Lin Mo—Hainerd, a member of the Postmen, formed a secret alliance with Lin Mo, an assassin for Si’s consortium, initiating the operation to save his wife and sister.

“They want the diamond, no doubt, but we can’t give it to them,” Hainerd said.

His words left the four somewhat perplexed. They had assumed Hainerd would be desperate to exchange the diamond for his daughter.

“It looks like you don’t care that much about your daughter,” Chen Ke looked at Hainerd.

“I think you’re not aware of how much I just wanted to twist your head off,” Hainerd replied coldly.

Chen Ke shrugged his shoulders.

“I will definitely save Lucina, but the Holy Diamond cannot be given to Yasla. You probably still don’t understand the relationship between Yasla, Si’s consortium, and us,” Hainerd said, shaking his head.

Chen Ke and the others looked at Hainerd—they were indeed clueless and unaware of their current situation.

“Tell me then, why did you rob that bank?” Hainerd asked.

“You might not believe it, but it’s all because of you,” Pihom said.

“Yes, you disappeared from the operation, then sent us a car bomb. If it weren’t for Chen Ke… or rather… Lin Ke’s help, we wouldn’t have made it this far,” Hall said.

“Your informant, Parchi, led us to this diamond, but he died from the curse of the Silent Witch. You know how powerful that magic is, right?” Chen Ke asked.

“You rashly stole this diamond just to find out who had bombed you with a car…? Had I known earlier, I should have told you the facts sooner,” Hainerd said helplessly.

“If you had told us earlier, I would have stopped you from doing something stupid,” Pihom spoke gravely.

“What if that stupid thing was for family? Old Pi…” Hainerd retorted.

Pihom gave no clear response.

“So, what exactly happened?” Chen Ke looked at Hainerd.

Hainerd sighed, pulled up a chair, sat down slowly, and narrated the details of the previous operation.

It had been a robbery targeting Si’s consortium on Raffi Road, a long-distance route leading out of the city, involving four target vehicles, two guards, two transport cars, and just six armed guards—simple and pleasant.

Four members of the Postmen were in charge of this operation, led by Hainerd. But he had other plans.

Before deciding to hit this job, Yasla had already set its sights on the target but preferred not to act directly. Offering the return of his wife as payment, Hainerd decided to “borrow” the power of the Postmen to conduct the operation.

But he did not realize how high the cost of serving Yasla would be. After the score, the other three Postmen were silenced, and he was forced to leave behind his phone.

The relationship between Yasla and Si’s consortium was not as simple as cooperation. As a member of the “Company,” the consortium had been dedicated to secretly researching and uncovering the mysteries of the Great Void. Moreover, they brought some artifacts, aside from the Holy Diamond, out of the Great Void to sell to Yasla or keep for themselves.

If Holy Relics were weapons and equipment endowed with mystical power from an unknown era, then artifacts were the incarnations of miracles beyond the explanation of words…

“In the end, did they fulfill their promise?” Pihom asked.

“They failed to fulfill their promise,” Hainerd said.

“It seems… that’s pretty normal… Villains in movies never keep their promises,” Hall added.

“No, that’s not it. Yasla is cruel, but they also have a strong sense of contract… They failed to restore my wife because someone killed it,” Hainerd said faintly.

“Hmm… Restore? What exactly happened to your wife and Lin Mo’s sister? Were they locked up somewhere, or…?” Chen Ke asked, puzzled.

“There is a Holy Relic called the Blasphemous Dagger. Its purpose is to open a door,” Hainerd slowly explained.

The Blasphemous Dagger…

In the bank’s diamond parcel, he had seen the Holy Diamond of a Blasphemous Dagger hidden among the diamonds, which the Si’s consortium intended to smuggle out of Opportunity City amongst the stones.

He had picked up a few at the time, not counting exactly how many, and he hadn’t had the time to look up the entry for the Blasphemous Dagger.

“What kind of doors can that dagger open? Like a master key?” Priskin asked.

“No, it is an evil Holy Diamond that can be used as a weapon, but its greater function is to open a door to the Great Void in our world,” Hainerd explained.

“The Great Void…” Priskin fell silent.

“I have some knowledge of what this dagger does. Si’s consortium has stockpiled a lot of these things, but to use this dagger to open a door, it requires the sacrifice of three human lives,” Hainerd added.

Chen Ke remained silent, listening intently, knowing full well what Hainerd meant, having experienced it himself.

“This type of dagger must be used in pairs and requires a ritual, binding a soul as a contract, sacrificing two lives as the first offering to open the door. One life is the key, one life to open the entrance, and another to open the exit.”

“The ritual requires the power of the Silent Witch, so the Si’s consortium and Yasla have always maintained a balanced, cooperative relationship. Once the dagger has bound the three offerings, the person who is the contract will become a contract demon…”

Contract demon…

“You owe me a soul…” Chen Ke remembered the contract demon’s words.

“The contract demon will be exiled to the corresponding Great Void of that dagger. Then, the two additional bound lives will open the doors to that Great Void, one for entering and one for exiting. The dagger will pierce the hearts of the offerings, hooking away their souls and presenting them to the contract demon exiled in that Great Void.”

“After the entire action of opening and closing the door is completed, the two daggers and the contract demon become a stable Great Void transport system, allowing the Si’s consortium to sacrifice lives to send people into the Great Void to seek what they desire.”

“Your wife… became a contract demon?” Chen Ke asked.

“That’s correct… and so did Lin Mo’s sister,” Hainerd said.

Chen Ke looked up at the ceiling. If he wasn’t mistaken, Hainerd’s wife was pierced through the heart by Faralis’s Unyielding Fury and then fell off the cliff with Chen Ke, now presumably lying at the bottom of Fan Hede Valley…

That meant, aside from the Blasphemous Dagger that Chen Ke used to kill the Black man and left at the West Gold Building, the consortium still had another…

“Is the dagger a one-time use?” Chen Ke suddenly asked.

Hainerd shook his head and replied, “If it’s the ritual you’re talking about, then it’s one-time use, but the door opening and sacrificing are permanent. However, after a complete ritual, this pair of daggers can only open the door to that one Great Void.”

“But what if they only have one dagger? Does that mean they could only enter and not exit?” Chen Ke asked.

“I don’t know about that. Theoretically, the daggers bound in the same ritual are not meant to be used concurrently. My understanding of these things is quite limited.”

Chen Ke vividly remembered the dagger initially plunged into his own chest had three empty entries. Used… would likely mean the ritual was complete. But what did the other two entries, already extracted, signify?