Chapter 573: Soul Trade and the Enigma of Hell
by xennovel“Soul trade?”
“Hell?”
Lu Xin, Gecko, and Han Bing listened intently to Xia Chong, but none of them had expected that his opening statement would leave them a little puzzled. How can souls be traded? And what does it mean to forge a real hell?
After a brief pause, Gecko asked curiously, “Are you using that as a euphemism for something?”
Xia Chong shook his head. “No, I mean it literally—a trade in souls.”
“And hell, as you understand it, isn’t any different. It’s a place of utter darkness, where chilling winds howl, anguished cries echo endlessly, and mysterious beings emerge one after the other. It’s where you can encounter the departed and face the final judgment—the inevitable fate that no living soul can escape…”
“……”
Suddenly, the expressions on the faces of the people from Qinggang grew even stranger.
“How can souls be traded?”
“And how is hell forged?”
“Hasn’t Center City ever taught you basic physics…?”
“There’s no such thing as a soul.”
Although the Red Moon Incident confirmed the existence of mental entities, they are still very different from souls.
“……”
“……”
“This matter is incredibly complicated to explain,”
Xia Chong explained, “All I suggest is taking it literally—souls are souls, and hell is where you go after you die. This mission was my first assignment from the Research Institute after my involvement with the Black Table case in Water Buffalo City.”
“After that mission, my performance earned me a promotion to join the Special Investigation Department under the Research Institute. My rank went up, and I can now work directly for them. So from now on, don’t call me Xia Chong, Squad Leader. You should address me as Investigator Xia Chong—a mid-level investigator.”
“……”
Both Lu Xin and Gecko instinctively showed a measure of respect.
Lu Xin suddenly realized that Xia Chong had joined the Research Institute and become a mid-level investigator…
“…A two-rank jump?”
Han Bing, with a thoughtful tone, asked, “Does the Research Institute have different ranks for investigators? Low, mid, and high?”
Xia Chong replied flatly, “No. The Research Institute only has mid-level and high-level investigators.”
Lu Xin couldn’t help but feel impressed.
But then he realized—if that’s the case, then Xia Chong is at the entry level?
Considering the Research Institute’s special nature, even a directly affiliated mid-level investigator is formidable…
“…But it’s only a one-rank increase.”
“This first mission is to investigate the soul trade.”
Xia Chong continued, “After encountering some related materials, I learned that somewhere, a mysterious organization has been dedicated to forging hell—a place where the dead continue to exist, even live—and they’ve already built a substantial operation…”
Han Bing frowned, feeling that what he was hearing was growing increasingly absurd.
Instinctively, she asked, “How did the Research Institute come by such information?”
Xia Chong glanced at her and said, “It was a tip from the public.”
“……”
Han Bing was momentarily stunned, unsure of how to respond.
After a brief pause, she finally remarked, “So you really believe such a place exists?”
Xia Chong, with a grave expression, answered, “The Research Institute has always been skeptical. But when we uncovered a series of ongoing soul trades, it indirectly proved that this place might indeed exist. That’s when we began our investigation.”
“After receiving the assignment, we tracked a mysterious organization involved in the soul trade from Center City all the way to here. We planned to capture them to obtain more detailed information. In fact, about twenty days ago, we almost succeeded—but interference from an organization called the Red Heart Knight Order ultimately foiled our capture.”
At this, Xia Chong’s already cold expression grew even colder, as if the mere mention of it infuriated him.
“Red Heart Knight Order?”
Lu Xin listened, his curiosity piqued.
The Knight Order is a band of robbers in this wasteland, infamous for their motorcycle raids.
Xia Chong and his team, on the other hand, are mid-level ability users under the Research Institute—a formal military unit.
How could a Knight Order possibly disrupt their mission?
“Even a Knight Order has its strongmen,”
Xia Chong, seeming to read their minds, explained, “The Red Heart Knight Order we encountered is reputedly a famous organization in the South. Its leader is a woman known as ‘Seven’. She herself is a powerful ability user who recruits several others, though she always keeps her number at exactly seven.”
“Each member has formidable skills, and the Research Institute suspects that a secret lab backs them up—a lab that enhances her abilities and those of her recruits. Frankly, they likely have the strength to easily overthrow, or even completely control, a city. So it’s no wonder our mission was disrupted so suddenly.”
“……”
“We didn’t exactly call it a miracle, though…”
Gecko mumbled softly, wary of speaking too loudly as he sensed Xia Chong’s sensitive attitude toward the matter.
The leader of the Red Heart Knight Order is known as “Seven.”
They, along with Xia Chong’s team, had appeared near Heichao City.
At that moment, Lu Xin felt a stir in his heart.
He was nearly certain he recognized the true identity of the leader of that Knight Order…
“Who would have thought…”
The children from the orphanage have all taken very different paths.
Some joined the underworld at Black Table.
Some established orphanages in Qinggang.
Some, like me, found respectable jobs—and did pretty well.
Strangely enough, there are even those who became bandits in the wasteland…
As Lu Xin pondered this, a slight smile crept onto his face—a mix of superiority and a touch of reluctant satisfaction when hearing that former classmates hadn’t turned out so well.
Noticing the smile on Lu Xin’s face, Xia Chong grew even more uncomfortable.
Shifting slightly, he added, “If given the chance, I would still capture that Knight Order.”
“But our priority remains the mission—capturing that organization involved in soul trade is paramount. That’s why we sought help from the Negative Zero Unit to track the mysterious group. Unfortunately, just as we were about to encircle them for the second time, one of their members performed a bizarre sacrificial ritual.”
“They transformed into Mental Monsters.”
“……”
“?”
Everyone from Qinggang looked up at her in unison.
Their expressions were indescribably odd.
People can be contaminated and turn into Mental Monsters—it’s nothing new.
But willingly undergoing a sacrifice to become a Mental Monster?
In some ways, it’s a concept that completely challenges conventional understanding…
“Yes.”
With a serious expression, Xia Chong nodded firmly and stated, “We forwarded the details of that sacrificial ritual to the Research Institute, though we’ve yet to decipher its mechanism. From what we can tell, those individuals essentially relinquished their lives—and even their sanity—to become independent Mental Monsters, capable of moving freely. Their psychic power is estimated at roughly one hundred thousand.”
“That tier of Mental Monster is not weak, but it isn’t exceptionally powerful either.”
“It’s just that due to its unique nature, it’s extremely difficult to capture. To ordinary eyes, it appears as an invisible phantom, leaving no physical trace. Yet, wherever it goes, people experience slight contamination—causing memory lapses, emotional breakdowns, and other issues. We track it by following these traces.”
“Once we capture it, we plan to interrogate it for information and study its form, so we can’t simply eliminate it. We can only trace its remnants and set a trap to corner it.”
“But that is proving incredibly challenging.”
“We are critically short on both manpower and resources.”
“……”
At this point, he looked at Lu Xin and said, “That’s why we need your help.”
“After all, your abilities are formidable and can guarantee our safety. Besides, I recall you have some kind of…”
“…an ability that lets you see Mental Monsters directly?”
“…”
“I see.”
Only then did Lu Xin and the others grasp the true purpose of Xia Chong’s appearance.
For a moment, they were taken aback by the details—a monster invisible to the naked eye, roaming the wasteland and contaminating countless people, triggering various mental disruptions…
It all felt absurd and mysterious.
“A creature that crawled out of the abyss, a roaming contamination source in the wasteland, a being that steals sleep from the Forbidden Zone…”
Listening to this, Lu Xin began to feel an inexplicable sensation.
It seemed that the number of monsters in this world was increasing.
“We thought of asking for your assistance not only because we couldn’t find someone more suitable around here.”
Xia Chong looked at Lu Xin and said, “There’s one more thing.”
Lu Xin, now curious, looked up.
Xia Chong explained, “Previously, while tracking it, we predicted its route—it should have been heading straight for Heichao City. That’s why we rushed here to set a trap. But unexpectedly, four days ago, as the monster neared Heichao City, it suddenly halted without warning and veered off to the South.”
“Curious about its abrupt change in course, we collected the residual mental radiation at its turning point and reconstructed the scene. We discovered that just as it was about to reach Heichao City, it seemed to sense something and prostrated itself before the city…”
“……”
The group listened intently and, with concern, asked, “And then?”
Xia Chong replied, “After prostrating, it grumbled and headed south…”
“……”
The people from Qinggang were rendered speechless.
With a serious look, Xia Chong turned to Lu Xin and said, “Chronologically, this should coincide with when you were handling the special pollution incident in Heichao City.”
“So we concluded that the monster is afraid of you.”