152-154

Chapter 152: Perfect Blood 

【Ding! You've obtained Sultana Rivera's Conquest Treasure Chest! Wanna open it?】 

【Ding! You've obtained Amy's Conquest Treasure Chest! Wanna open it?】 

The fight was over. The evil dragon had single-handedly taken down the Valkyrie and the Moon Goddess. 

Roy let out a relaxed breath. For the past few days, because he was healing, Roy had only been getting taken care of by Heather, Penny, and Dahlia. 

Being waited on was pretty great, but it just didn't have that same exhilarating feeling. 

Today, his body was about eighty percent recovered, and he finally had a good three-way session, feeling totally refreshed. 

But Sultana dropping another Conquest Treasure Chest kinda surprised Roy. 

That meant Roy now had five unopened treasure chests. He quickly rubbed his hands together like he was petting a cat to wash off the bad luck, getting ready to open the chests. 

He decided to start with Sultana's Conquest Treasure Chest. 

【Opening Sultana's Conquest Treasure Chest...】 

【You gained 1 point of Strength!】 【You gained 1 point of Agility!】 

No surprise there, just the guaranteed minimum rewards. Roy had no choice but to move on to Amy's Conquest Treasure Chest. 

【Opening Amy's Conquest Treasure Chest...】 

【You gained 1 point of Memory!】 【You gained 1 point of Willpower!】 【You obtained one bottle of Perfect Blood!】 

Hold on a second, what the heck is this Perfect Blood? 

Could it be like that stuff from Underworld? 

Roy's expression turned weird, and he quickly checked out the description of the Perfect Blood. 

【Perfect Blood: A magical blood that can fuse different bloodlines together. If a regular human with no other bloodlines uses it, it can even help them live longer.】 

It really is the Perfect Blood from Underworld! 

This Conquest Treasure Chest can even drop stuff from alternate versions of people in other worlds? 

That's awesome! 

Roy took the Perfect Blood out of his inventory. The bottle was about the size of a Coke bottle, so around 16 ounces. 

That should be plenty for one person, and maybe even enough to share with others. 

But he definitely couldn't use it tonight. If fusing bloodlines made any noise or anything, that wouldn't be good. 

Getting something from an alternate world version of someone out of Amy's Conquest Treasure Chest got Roy's wheels turning. 

A lot of these lead actresses from American horror movies have been in tons of other roles after they got famous. Could he get items from their alternate world versions too? 

Like, for example, Sultana's alternate world version includes the Invisible Woman from Fantastic Four. If he could get the Invisible Woman's invisibility and energy projection powers, that would be pretty sweet! 

Looks like he needs to get some more "action" in the future so he can rack up more Conquest Treasure Chests. 

Rubbing his hands together, Roy felt like his luck was good today, so he petted the "kitty" again and kept opening treasure chests. 

Next up was the Slender Man's Fate Treasure Chest. 

【Opening Slender Man's Fate Treasure Chest...】 

【You gained 3 points of Agility!】 【You gained 3 points of Spirit!】 【You gained the special ability Dark Touch!】 

Another new special ability! 

【Dark Touch: A special ability from Slender Man. It lets you turn fear energy into tentacles made of dark stuff that can go right through physical defenses to hit enemies.】 

So it's Slender Man's tentacle ability. This ability had really messed Roy up before, and it's pretty effective. 

But Roy was actually hoping for Slender Man's teleportation ability more. 

Oh well, getting one special ability is already pretty lucky. Now Roy has officially leveled up to a tentacle monster. 

【Opening Mapa's Fate Treasure Chest...】 

【You gained 2 points of Agility!】 【You gained 2 points of Willpower!】 

Alright, looks like his luck ran out a bit. Mapa's Fate Treasure Chest just gave him some stat points. 

Feeling a little bummed, Roy kept petting the "kitty," getting ready to open the last treasure chest. 

"Mmm~ Roy, cut it out! Let me sleep, I have work tomorrow!" 

The owner of the two "kitties" couldn't help but roll over in her sleep. 

【Opening Marbas's Fate Treasure Chest...】 

【You gained 4 points of Strength!】 【You gained 1 point of Memory!】 【You gained the special ability Eye of Truth!】 

Boom! Another special ability! 

【Eye of Truth: Marbas's unique ability. Marbas can see the truth, whether it's hidden treasure or secret stuff, nothing can hide from him. Now you can do that too.】 

Whoa, this also seems like a pretty powerful ability, just as good as the Eye of Judgment he got from Michael. 

It might even be more useful! 

Getting three good things out of five treasure chests made Roy pretty happy. 

Looking outside, the sun was just starting to peek over the eastern horizon. It was time to get some rest. 

Just as Roy was cuddling with the two beautiful women, a Greyhound bus slowly pulled up on the eastern outskirts of Los Angeles. 

This is an American intercity bus service that's been running since 1929. 

A beautiful woman in a white nun's habit and a black eye patch got off the bus, holding a black leather book in her hand. 

"Ms. Elise, if you go a little further down the road, you'll see a motel where you can get some rest." 

Elise turned and bowed to the bus driver who had reminded her. 

"Thank you." 

The Greyhound bus quickly drove off, while Elise stood there, staring at the distant City of Angels in a daze. 

"Such a sinful and messed-up city, yet it's called the City of Angels." 

Letting out a sigh, Elise started walking towards the city. Her eyes had already seen where the person she was looking for was. 

Sleeping until noon, Roy got up and found that Sultana was long gone, with only Amy still in the living room. 

"Roy, are you hungry? I made you some food. Sultana said you eat a lot, so I made extra." 

After last night's fun, Amy looked radiant, like she'd gotten years younger, really giving off that English rose vibe. 

"Then let me give it a try!" 

Roy sat down at the dining table and started eating lunch. Amy, being a married woman, was definitely good at making home-style food, second only to Keller's cooking in Roy's book. 

Amy rested her chin on her hand, sitting at the dining table and smiling as she watched Roy wolf down his food. 

"Amy, don't you need to look for a job?" 

"It's not a rush. Finding a job isn't something that needs to happen in a day or two." 

Roy and Amy chatted for a while, when suddenly his phone rang. 

He picked up his phone and saw that it was Gerald's number. 

"Hello, Mr. Black, I've arrived at the Dolphin Hotel." 

"Mr. Orlin, I'm actually out having lunch right now, but I'll be back soon." 

"Alright, I'll wait for you in the conference room." 

Hanging up the phone, Roy sped up his eating and then said goodbye to Amy. 

He took a taxi back to the Dolphin Hotel and went straight to the hotel's conference room, where he found quite a few people. 

Sultana, and Terence Kaufman, the guy Roy had slapped yesterday. 

"Mr. Black, you've finally arrived. Let's go ahead and start the meeting." 

After Roy sat down, Gerald had Sultana lead the meeting. She explained the information the FEA currently had, including the issue with Jack Del and the fact that the hidden cult behind him was plotting something. 

After she finished explaining the intel, everyone in the room looked serious. Gerald then turned to Roy. 

"Mr. Black, I imagine you also have some additional intel." 

"What's the going rate for intel?" 

Gerald had known Roy's personality for a while, so he was already expecting this question. 

"Regarding the situation in Los Angeles, I've already requested special funding from headquarters, and it should be approved soon. In short, you won't be disappointed." 

Since Gerald had said that, Roy didn't push it any further. 

"Last night at Stage 13 in Disneyland, I took down two demons. From them, I learned that the mastermind behind all of this is the King of Greed, Mammon." 

Everyone in the room gasped. The name of the Seven Princes of Hell was a big deal; anyone who knew anything about Christianity would know it. 

Even Gerald's face got darker. 

"Mr. Black, are you certain?" 

"I'm certain!" 

Some murmuring started in the conference room. Gerald slapped his hand on the table. 

"Quiet! Mr. Black, what do you think the King of Greed is planning?" 

"No doubt about it, the King of Greed's goal is definitely to come down to Earth and rule all of humanity, so he needs a ritual to make that happen. And the person in charge of this ritual should be that TV show host, Jack Del. I had Sultana look into him before. This Jack Del claimed he was traveling abroad, but he actually never left the States. He's still in Los Angeles getting the ritual ready!" 

Hearing Roy's assessment, Gerald nodded repeatedly. 

"That's a very logical conclusion! It looks like the key player in this whole thing is this Jack Del. We have to find him!" 

At this point, Roy thought of something else. 

"Oh yeah, last night when I went to Warehouse 13, the demons inside said it was a trap, originally meant to ambush the FEA's forces. But I was the only one who found it. This Jack Del guy is pretty sneaky, so we need to be careful when we move." 

Hearing this, Gerald's expression was pretty grim. Not falling into the trap at Warehouse 13 was both good and bad. 

The bad part was that Jack Del had overestimated the FEA's capabilities, which also showed the FEA's incompetence. 

Gerald stood up and looked seriously at all the agents present. 

"Did you all hear that? This is a top-level supernatural event. If we don't stop Jack Del, the consequences will be unthinkable! From now on, we're on high alert. All agents, cancel your vacations. We're on 24-hour shifts. We have to find where Jack Del is hiding!" 

"Yes, sir!" 

All the agents stood up to show their commitment. 

"Alright, get to work! Ms. Rivera, and Mr. Black, please stay behind." 

The other agents filed out of the conference room, leaving only Gerald, Roy, and Sultana. 

After everyone else was gone, Gerald let out a deep sigh. 

"Mr. Black, about last night, I have to apologize to you. I haven't been in charge of the FEA's Los Angeles branch for very long, and I haven't completely dealt with the problems left by the previous director." 

Roy could tell that Gerald didn't have a strong grip on the FEA's Los Angeles branch, so he had to handle a lot of things himself. 

It was only after Sultana was reinstated that he had people he could really trust. 

"It's no biggie. I'm usually pretty laid-back. I definitely wasn't thinking about secretly putting a bag over Terence Kaufman's head and giving him a beatdown." 

This made Gerald's face fall, but he quickly realized Roy was joking. 

"This isn't the time for jokes, Mr. Black!" 

Roy shrugged. Actually, he wasn't as worried as Gerald. 

If things go south, someone else will handle it. Hellish demons have been trying to mess with the human world for ages. When have they ever succeeded? 

When push comes to shove, someone will definitely step in, like Isabella! 

"Mr. Black, you don't seem too worried?" 

Gerald noticed Roy's lack of concern and was curious why he was so calm. 

"It's simple. Where there are demons, there are angels. Since the King of Greed is causing trouble, don't you think an angel might show up to stop him?" 

This surprised Sultana a bit. 

"Are there really angels in this world?" 

Roy looked at Sultana. 

"You've seen demons, so why wouldn't you believe in angels? In fact, I've met a real angel, and not just any angel, but the Archangel Michael." 

Gerald had a thoughtful look on his face. 

"Looks like I need to talk to the local bishop about Jack Del." 

Anyone who can be a director is sharp. Gerald quickly thought of getting the church involved to share the load. 

At that moment, someone knocked on the conference room door. 

"Director, the FBI representative is here." 

"Let them in! Mr. Black, we have another meeting to attend, so I'll have to ask you to leave for now." 

"No problem." 

Roy headed towards the conference room door. Just then, the FBI representative pushed the door open and he immediately saw those tempting, full lips. 

Iliana Scott? 

Did Sultana actually get Iliana to come? 

Roy was a little surprised. 

Iliana also noticed Roy. She really wanted to say hi, but there were colleagues around, so she just gave him a wink. 

Roy walked out of the conference room and closed the door behind him. 

When it comes to finding people, Roy definitely couldn't compete with the FEA, which had more resources and could call on other departments. So, Roy didn't want to worry about where Jack Del was hiding. 

The most important thing right now was to find a place to use the Perfect Blood to fuse his own bloodlines. 

Where would be a good place to do that? 

Right now, Roy's stats are: 

Roy Black 

Human (Hybrid) 

Strength: 41 Agility: 38 Constitution: 49 Memory: 31 Spirit: 40 Willpower: 43 

Abilities: Mike Tyson's Boxing Skills, Bob Munden's Shooting Skills, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin's Charisma, Son of a Demon, Sawyer Family Chainsaw Skills, Key of Solomon, Master Thief, Realm of Fear, Trap Master, Realm of Desire, Nightmare, Angel Blood, Eye of Judgment, Dark Touch, Eye of Truth 

Items: Smith & Wesson M625 Revolver, Smith & Wesson M629 Ivory Edition Revolver, Ghostface Mask, Used Yellow Chevrolet Camaro, Chainsaw Sword, Cursed Daggers, Mason's Digital Camera, Cursed Hair, Baron Samedi, Remington M870, Perfect Blood 

Chapter 153: The Defiant One 

Late at night, a guy and two girls showed up at a warehouse in the San Fernando Valley. 

These three weren't there to film some Valley flick; they were there to perform a ritual. 

"Roy, are you sure you want to do this ritual in a place like this?" 

Heather looked around at the surroundings with a bit of a disgusted look. There were all sorts of sports pads and gear thrown in the corners, and it smelled faintly of heather. 

Clearly, this warehouse wasn't used for storage; it was more like a set for some low-budget adult movies. 

Roy nodded. 

"This is the perfect spot. If we make any weird noises here, nobody's gonna think twice about it." 

Penny also frowned a little. She'd spotted some needles too. 

"Yeah, I guess, but it's still kinda gross!" 

"Then let's just get this ritual done and get outta here. I don't want to hang around here any longer than I have to." 

Under Roy's direction, the three of them started cleaning up the place, moving the questionable mattresses and chairs and stuff like that into the corners, making a somewhat clean space in the middle of the warehouse. 

"I'm gonna start getting the magic circle ready. You two stand by the door and keep an eye out." 

Roy gestured for the two women to step back. Heather suddenly raised her hand. 

"Can I record this with the digital camera?" 

Hasn't Heather given up on her dream of directing? 

But recording it isn't a bad idea. Bloodline fusion rituals are pretty rare, and if it works, it could be a good example. 

Roy officially started drawing the magic circle. 

The Key of Solomon had a bunch of magic circles for bloodline fusion. After all, back in those mythical times, legends were everywhere, and demigods were a dime a dozen. 

You could just bump into someone on the street, and they might be some god's illegitimate kid. 

So, some black magic users figured out how to off demigods and fuse the divine bloodline from them to make themselves stronger. 

This ritual was called the Pact of the Defiant One. The original ritual was super complicated and would even make the person doing it turn back into a fetus. That was the best outcome, as it could keep all the good parts of both different bloodlines. 

Of course, Roy definitely couldn't turn back into a fetus, so he decided to use a simplified version. 

The simplified version definitely wouldn't be as effective. It would make the two bloodlines unstable, and he'd have to do a ritual every so often to stabilize his body. 

But Roy had the ultimate fusion agent, the Perfect Blood, which could ignore that negative effect, so the simplified Pact of the Defiant One would be good enough. 

First up were the materials for drawing the magic circle. This time, Roy was prepared, so he didn't need to go for the cheap version. 

He mixed his own blood, silver powder, gold powder, and diamond powder in a certain ratio, then drew a magic circle on the ground. The center part was the design of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. 

Originally, it also needed blood from the veins at the base of angel wings and the heart's blood of a demon as fusion materials. 

But Roy himself already had the virgin blood of the Archangel Michael and the demon lord's blood given by the King of Sloth, Belial. The materials he had were way higher quality than the original recipe. 

Sitting cross-legged in the center of the magic circle, Roy took a deep breath and officially started the ritual. 

He took out two small bowls. In one bowl, he put sulfur, elderflower powder, and red crystal powder. In the other, he put sulfur, oak powder, and blue crystal powder. He lit them separately, making a dark red flame and a light blue flame. 

Then, he took a swig of the Perfect Blood, maybe around 3 or 4 ounces. 

Right after that, he used his mental power to get the magic circle going. 

Instantly, the Pact of the Defiant One magic circle gave off a mix of gold, silver, and red light. 

The three colors kept swirling around, eventually flowing into Roy's body. 

At that moment, Heather and Penny, who were watching, thought they saw a ghostly image of a golden tree appear on Roy. This was the image of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. 

According to the Book of Genesis, Chapter 2, verses 8-9, the Tree of Life was in the middle of the Garden of Eden. In religion and philosophy, it usually represents the path to God. 

And in alchemy and ritual magic, this symbol generally means ascension and purification. 

Roy fusing human blood, angel blood, and demon blood together was basically challenging God's authority and was also a kind of upgrade for his life form. 

After the ghostly image of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, Roy reached his hands into the small bowls in front of him that were burning with dark red and light blue flames. The flames followed his arms and spread to his whole body, covering his skin. 

This scene made Heather and Penny gasp in surprise. It was way more intense than any movie special effect. 

But the two women had been told by Roy beforehand that unless he said something, they shouldn't interfere no matter what happened. 

The two flames merged together, slowly turning into a bright golden flame. This flame just covered Roy's body and didn't hurt him at all, not even singeing his hair. 

Right after that, a cloud of blood mist rose from Roy's body. The blood mist formed images of angels, demons, and humans above Roy, blending together so you couldn't tell them apart. 

Finally, this blood mist went back into Roy's body. 

"Aaaah—" 

Roy let out a painful scream. The bloodlines of angels and demons had started to fuse, and two opposing forces were changing his body. 

This was incredibly painful, but Roy had to stay conscious to finish the ritual, or he could end up in a coma. 

Luckily, Roy's 43 points of Willpower came in handy. Even though the pain was awful, he never lost consciousness. 

This scene really worried Heather and Penny. They both wanted to stop the ritual several times, but they remembered Roy saying that if the ritual was interrupted incorrectly, it would cause irreversible and terrible accidents. 

Finally, after Roy roared for a whole hour, the golden flames on his body gradually faded away, and he heard the system notification. 

【The special ability Son of a Demon and the special ability Angel Blood have fused into The Defiant One!】 

The magic circle dimmed, and the warehouse went silent. 

It was a good thing they were in the San Fernando Valley. If Roy had screamed that badly anywhere else, the cops would have shown up ages ago. 

"Roy, are you okay?" 

Seeing that the ritual was over, Heather and Penny quickly ran over to help Roy up, but they found that his body was giving off terrifyingly high heat. Just getting close to him felt scorching hot. 

"Don't, don't touch me! You'll get burned. Just let me chill for a bit." 

Roy sat on the ground, constantly breathing out hot steam from his mouth. 

At this point, Roy's appearance had changed a lot. His original black hair had turned white, not like an old person's white hair, but a white that shone with a faint starlight. 

He had a pair of huge, slightly curved black horns on his head, which had a powerful kind of beauty. 

One of his eyes had turned into a silver-blue pupil with a white eyeball, and the other had become a dark golden pupil with a black eyeball. 

This special heterochromia, different from normal people, had a captivating charm that made Heather and Penny stare in amazement. 

At the same time, some glowing patterns had appeared on Roy's exposed, toned body, as beautiful as artwork. 

Penny looked at Roy, stuttering, seeming a little hot under the collar from his good looks. 

"R-Roy, will you always look like this from now on?" 

"What do I look like now? Do you guys have a mirror?" 

How could girls not have mirrors? Heather and Penny both pulled out small mirrors from their bags so Roy could see himself. 

"Not too bad! I just finished the bloodline fusion, so this is my bloodline's manifested state. It'll go back in a little while." 

Heather licked her lips, a lustful look on her face. 

"Actually, looking like this all the time doesn't seem so bad! I really like it!" 

Penny quickly agreed. 

"Yeah, totally!" 

Yep, it's not just guys who are horny; girls are too. That's why they say food and sex are human nature. 

"Ahem, it's still a little inconvenient to go out looking like this. If you guys like it, you can check it out more later in private." 

Heather's eyes lit up. 

"Roy, you said it!" 

Roy nodded, then went into the system to check out his changes. 

First, in the attribute panel, where it used to say Human (Hybrid), it had changed to Nephilim, showing that Roy's race had completely changed. 

Then, for his stats, all of them had increased by 3 points, pushing Roy's Constitution past 52 points, making him less and less human. 

Wait, Roy didn't seem to be human anymore. 

Next was the fused ability, combining the two major special abilities into The Defiant One. 

【The Defiant One: You have obtained the forbidden bloodline after the fusion of angel and demon, destined to face hostility from both Heaven and Hell, but at the same time, you possess the power of both. However, this is only the first step of ascension! 

Passive ability: You can now fuse the positive and negative energy within your body into chaos energy. Chaos energy can be used as the energy cost for all abilities. 

Active ability: You can now freely transform into either a demon form or an angel form.】 

The new ability didn't seem to have changed much on the surface, just turning the different kinds of energy in Roy's body into a bigger energy pool. Whether it was fear energy, desire energy, or justice points, they all came together to become chaos energy. 

This did improve energy usage. For example, the previously scarce justice points were no longer an issue. 

Even the desire energy, which he didn't use much, could come in handy now. 

It was just this active ability… 

Roy got ready to try it out. 

"You two step back a little, I want to try out my new ability!" 

Heather and Penny quickly backed up against the wall and then saw Roy's entire skin turn dark red. A pair of huge bat wings sprouted from his back, and his whole body expanded several sizes, his height going over ten feet, almost as big as a car. 

Looking at his stats again, his physical stats had temporarily increased by 20! 

Holy cow, this transformation effect was just as crazy as the blessing Elizabeth had given Roy during the House of Wax incident! 

Compared to the Son of a Demon form, his temporary stats had doubled! 

This made Roy happy, and then he switched to angel form. 

With almost no feeling of resistance, Roy's body started quickly shrinking back to its normal size, and the bat wings on his back folded back in, turning into two pairs of white wings of light. 

And Roy found that his three mental stats had also gotten a temporary boost of 20 points. 

This level of power was definitely different! 

"Roy, you were so hot just now!" 

Heather and Penny walked up to Roy, who had returned to his human form, with their mouths hanging open. 

"Hmm? Not hot now?" 

Penny looked down at the nightstick that she both loved and hated. 

"Hmm—you'd be even hotter if you put some clothes on." 

Alright, transforming into a giant demon over ten feet tall had caused Roy's clothes to rip. 

At this point, Roy really envied the Hulk's shorts. No matter how he transformed or fought, those shorts always managed to stay on and protect the Hulk's privates. 

Man, he wanted a pair of those! 

"Ahem! Give me my clothes!" 

Luckily, Roy was worried about something going wrong with his consciousness, so he had prepared some clothes in advance. Otherwise, it would have been awkward when they left the warehouse later. 

Heather and Penny took out the clothes and helped Roy put them on. The three of them tidied up the place, destroying any evidence of the magic ritual, and then left the warehouse. 

Just as the three of them left, a nun dressed in white with her eyes covered walked into the warehouse. 

The strange smell in the warehouse made the nun frown involuntarily. 

"The scent of an angel, and the scent of a demon! Could there be other angels who have come down? Why are there no signs of a fight here?" 

The nun slowly walked around the warehouse, finally stopping at the spot where Roy had drawn the Pact of the Defiant One magic circle. By this time, the magic circle had been erased, and some junk had been placed on top of it. 

But this couldn't stop the nun's gaze. Her eyes seemed to be able to see right through the black cloth and the junk on the ground. 

"Traces of a magic ritual! Let me see what happened." 

The eyes beneath the nun's black cloth gave off a dazzling silver light, looking through the black cloth to see another world. 

But a moment later, the nun frowned deeply again. 

"Still can't see it? Could it be that the person who put Michael to sleep was here before?" 

The nun closed her eyes and remained silent, analyzing the possible information in her mind. 

At this moment, the warehouse manager received Roy's message and came back to check things out. 

"Huh, who are you? Are you an actress? Didn't you guys finish up?" 

Speaking of which, the nun's loose white habit, plus the black cloth covering her eyes, did have a pretty unique vibe that would probably really appeal to some people. 

The warehouse manager's eyes lit up. 

"Tsk tsk, what's the name of this movie you're making? I'll definitely buy a copy to support you when it comes out!" 

Although she had only recently come down to the human world, the Angel of Wisdom already had some understanding of modern human society and knew that the warehouse manager wasn't saying anything proper. 

So, the nun picked up the black leather book she carried with her and started flipping through it. 

"Fallen one, remember that desire is a demon that eats away at the soul! You must abstain from pleasure for a week!" 

"Hahaha, your acting is really good! I just love this kind of… Wait, what did you do to me?" 

The warehouse manager suddenly realized he couldn't find his "little buddy" anymore, which scared him a lot. His first thought was that this weird nun in front of him had done something to him. 

"In a week, you will naturally return to normal! Now, tell me who used this warehouse before." 

[Image of a Nephilim] 

Chapter 154: The Haunted Mirror 

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are now in the second round of the Santa Monica Cup Heavyweight Amateur Boxing Tournament, the fourth elimination match of the Sweet Sixteen! Let's take a look at the competitors: in the blue corner, 'The Bomber' Bentley Fleming, and in the red corner, 'The Grim Reaper' Roy Black!" 

The announcer's introduction drew deafening cheers from the audience. 

The Santa Monica Cup had entered the elimination stage, with a match every other day. Five matches in nine days meant the intensity was definitely high. 

Because the tent's soundproofing was terrible, Alan Berg, acting as Roy's temporary coach, had to get right up to Roy's ear and speak loudly for Roy to hear. 

"That 'Brown Bear' Bentley Fleming is also a USC student. Show him what's what! But this time, you don't need to get too fancy, just about enough is good enough!" 

Yeah, a fight every other day was a huge test of a fighter's stamina, so Alan didn't want Roy to waste a lot of energy trying to put on a show. 

Alan didn't know that Roy's physique had just broken through 50 points. Not only had all his previous injuries healed, but his stamina had also greatly improved. 

Every ten-point breakthrough in attributes led to a greater increase in the attribute's effect, not just a simple numerical addition. 

However, Roy had indeed passed the stage where he needed to perform; cleanly taking down his opponent was enough. 

"Got it." 

"Alright, go get 'em, champ!" 

Alan patted Roy on the shoulder, and then Roy walked out of the tent. 

The surrounding audience wildly shouted Roy's nickname, and some even tried to touch him for good luck. 

After all, it wasn't a formal competition venue, and the 선수通道 was really too narrow. The walk to the ring was more tiring for Roy than the fight itself. 

Once in the ring, Roy saw a short, stocky man with brown skin. He was a head shorter than Roy, probably around five-foot-eleven. 

This was a bit of a novelty. Roy had been boxing since last year, and this was the first time he'd encountered a boxer who was so much shorter than him. 

And he was a heavyweight boxer! 

Looking at this short boxer nicknamed "The Bomber," he was a good bit wider than Roy. It seemed like the four-inch height difference had all gone into horizontal development. 

This guy was probably an aggressive fighter similar to Tyson, with a very similar height and build. 

While the referee was reading out the rules and prohibitions, Roy, unusually, didn't say anything to taunt his opponent. But Bentley Fleming suddenly spoke up. 

"Are you the one who defeated Blair?" 

Roy looked completely bewildered. "Who are you talking about?" 

Bentley Fleming got a little angry. "Damn it, how can you be so disrespectful to your opponent?!" 

But Roy really didn't remember that name. Remembering the names of losers was a waste of memory space. 

"If he needs respect, then beat me! Respect isn't something you just talk about." 

Roy spread his hands, his face full of mockery. 

This made Bentley Fleming even angrier. "His name is Blair Perez, and he's my friend! And my name is Bentley Fleming, the guy who's going to defeat you!" 

Oh, right, that USC black guy from the second preliminary round. Roy finally remembered. 

"You've got a pretty big mouth. Let's hope your skills are as big as your talk!" 

The referee announced the start of the match, interrupting Roy and Bentley's friendly pre-fight exchange. 

Just as Roy had guessed, Bentley was indeed an aggressive fighter. As soon as the match started, he quickly approached Roy with left and right feints. 

This action made Roy smile. He was usually the one dodging other people's punches, but he didn't expect it to be his turn today. 

Then, Bentley's nightmare began. 

No matter how Bentley dodged, Roy's punches always accurately hit his guard, pushing him back. 

After a few consecutive hits, Bentley started to pant a bit. 

The reason Tyson's style declined so quickly after his peak was that this style required very strong explosive power and also consumed a huge amount of stamina. 

Bentley's explosiveness was good, but his physique was far from Tyson's, so only halfway through the round, his stamina began to decline under Roy's precise control. 

At this point, Bentley hadn't even touched Roy, let alone made Roy move a step. 

"You wanted respect, right? Come and get it!" 

Roy's taunt was the last straw that broke Bentley's composure. He suddenly abandoned his defense, took a step forward, and prepared to go toe-to-toe with Roy. 

Perhaps in this guy's eyes, Roy, with his pretty-boy looks, wouldn't dare to fight him head-on. 

Roy and Bentley each landed a punch on the other, but the result wasn't what Bentley had hoped for. 

Bentley fell heavily to the ground, entering a peaceful slumber, while Roy didn't even wobble, standing as steady as a mountain. 

The referee immediately began the count, and even after counting to ten, Bentley didn't open his eyes. 

Young people really do sleep well; they fall asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow. 

So, the referee announced Roy as the winner by knockout, successfully advancing to the next round, which would be the day after tomorrow. 

Coming down from the ring, Roy first hugged Heather and Penny, then took Cici from Dahlia's arms and lifted her high up. 

This little girl had been particularly clingy to him since Roy saved her from the Slender Man. She always wanted "uppies" whenever she saw him. 

After holding Cici, Roy hugged Dahlia again, and the only one left was Mary. 

Mary blushed. After taking care of Roy during the days he was seriously injured, she was no longer completely resistant to physical contact with him, so she also gave Roy a symbolic hug. 

After hugging the four beauties, Roy noticed three unexpected spectators that night. 

"Roy, I didn't expect you to be so popular!" 

It was Keller, Molly, and Amy who had come together to watch the Santa Monica Cup match. 

"What are you guys doing here?" 

Amy shrugged. As a mature woman, she didn't care about the other women around Roy. "Saltana told us to come and support you in her place. But I think you could easily win even without our support." 

Poor Saltana was still working overtime. The FEA agents had been swamped these past few days, searching for Jack Deal in Los Angeles like trying to find a needle in a haystack. 

This included not only the FEA but also Elena and the other FBI agents who had come from Texas. 

Elena and her team had originally come to investigate the Los Angeles Police Department, but they had been roped in to help. 

There was nothing for it; Gerald didn't trust the local FBI and LAPD in Los Angeles, so he had no choice but to have Elena and her team join the search. 

Unfortunately, almost 48 hours had passed, and there were still no leads. 

Keller looked at Roy with a smile. "Looks like what you said in Waterfall Town wasn't just bragging. Maybe I'll be looking for an exclusive interview with you soon." 

"Ahem! If it's the great reporter Evans, I'm available anytime!" 

Roy gave a cheeky smile, making Keller playfully punch him in the chest. Then, she was surprised by Roy's solid pectoral muscles. 

So, the playful punch turned into a light caress. 

Dahlia coughed, reminding them that there was still a child present. Keller's behavior was really not very proper. 

"Ahem! Alright, I'll do an exclusive interview with you another day!" 

Roy's eyes lit up. The Los Angeles Times, for which Keller wrote, had extremely high sales in California. If Keller interviewed him, it would definitely give him a huge reputation, no less than Austin's. 

"Great, I'm ready whenever!" 

After chatting for a while, the group dispersed. 

When Roy and the girls returned to the Dolphin Hotel, they ran into Saltana. 

"Roy, I need to talk to you!" 

"Sister Saltana, aren't you off work yet?" 

"Just come with me, and you'll find out!" 

Saltana pulled Roy to Gerald's office. Besides Gerald, there was also a young agent in the office who looked terrified. 

"What happened? Did you find Jack Deal?" 

Gerald's face visibly darkened, and white hairs even appeared on his head. Clearly, the stress of the past few days had taken a toll on him. 

"We didn't find Jack Deal, but we found something else." 

Roy raised an eyebrow and looked at the young agent who looked flustered, as if he had seen a ghost. 

Well, maybe this guy really had seen a ghost. 

"What is it?" 

Gerald gestured for the young agent to speak, and the young agent began to speak tremblingly. 

"Today, my colleague Jess and I searched an abandoned shopping mall on the outskirts of Los Angeles and saw a particularly clean mirror inside. When we saw this mirror, we felt a strange sensation. Jess touched the mirror..." 

Well, America's land area is particularly large, and inside, you can buy anything from armored vehicles to nails. 

So, unlike Dongda, large shopping malls in America are rarely in the city center and are usually in the suburbs. 

However, Roy felt a sense of familiarity as he listened to the young agent's description. 

"Then Jess was completely sucked into the mirror. I saw Jess struggling in pain inside the mirror, calling for me to save him! But I didn't dare to touch the mirror, so I immediately notified the bureau. Ever since then, I always see some terrifying images in the mirror." 

Huh, isn't this the story about the haunted mirror that Jack Deal mentioned on the "Night Prowler" show? 

This was a bit outrageous. Out of the five urban legends Roy saw on the "Night Prowler" show, four had already appeared: the Yellow-Clothed Clown, the Midnight Cannibal Train, the Slender Man, and now this haunted mirror. 

As for the Box of Sorrows mentioned by the folklorist, Roy knew it was from "Hellraiser," meaning all five urban legends were real. 

This wasn't urban legends; it was urban documentary! 

"Where is that haunted mirror now?" 

"I've already sent people to move that mirror over here, but it hasn't gone smoothly. The mirror seems to be fused with the shopping mall; it can't be moved at all." 

As he spoke, Gerald stood up and took a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet behind him, pouring a glass and handing it to the young agent, hoping the liquor would help him calm down. 

What Gerald didn't expect was that as soon as the young agent took the glass, he seemed to see something terrifying, his mouth wide open as he clutched his neck. 

This situation surprised both Saltana and Gerald. The chocolate big sister reacted very quickly, immediately drawing her gun and firing a shot at the glass. 

But it was already too late. The young agent knelt on the ground, struggling in pain. 

One of Roy's pupils turned dark gold as he used the Eye of Truth, derived from Marbas. He immediately saw a shadowy figure emerging from the spilled liquor on the ground, grabbing the young agent's neck. 

Taking a cursed dagger from his inventory, he threw it. The shadowy figure was pinned to the carpet by the cursed dagger and was absorbed by it before long. 

Only then did the young agent survive. 

Saltana asked Roy curiously, "Was that a ghost just now?" 

Roy nodded. "It was indeed a ghost." 

Saltana crouched down, observing the spilled whiskey on the floor. "Can that ghost attack anyone who has seen the mirror through any mirror-like object?" 

"I think so. Anything smooth and reflective will do." 

This ability was quite terrifying. After all, not looking in a mirror was still possible, but if all reflective objects, including the surface of water, could become carriers, it would be truly terrifying. 

Gerald rubbed his temples, feeling like he would lose all his hair if things continued like this. "Mr. Black, I'd like to ask you for a favor." 

"Please, Mr. Olin." 

"Theoretically speaking, that mirror isn't very dangerous. The FEA wants to contain it. Do you have a way?" 

Roy looked at Gerald. This guy really dared to think big. He probably got a taste of the good life from the Slender Man's corpse before, so that's why he was thinking this way. 

"If I'm not mistaken, that mirror is actually the carrier of a地縛靈 (j缚灵 - a spirit bound to a specific place). It's probably the vengeful spirits of those who were burned to death in the fire that entered the mirror, causing it to become like this. If you want to contain the mirror, you must get rid of the地縛靈 inside. But without the地縛靈, the mirror will lose its research value." 

Gerald frowned. "Mr. Black, how do you know that the mirror contains the地縛靈 of those who were burned to death?" 

"I heard Jack Deal talk about this story last week when I was watching 'Night Prowler.' There was a big fire in that shopping mall that killed hundreds of people. You might want to check out Jack Deal's past episodes. So far, this guy has mentioned five urban legends on the show, and all of them have come true!" 

As soon as Gerald heard this, he immediately instructed Saltana, "Rivera, have someone find all the recordings of every episode of 'Night Prowler' later. I need to take a look!" 

"Yes, Director." 

Gerald then looked at Roy. "Mr. Black, I believe you must have a way to minimize the danger of that mirror without losing its research value." 

"Well..." 

Gerald said a number. "Five million dollars!" 

So generous? 

But Roy still wanted to haggle a bit. "Eight million dollars!" 

"Okay, it's settled then! Eight million it is!" 

Gerald agreed so quickly that Roy instantly felt like he'd lost out. 

Damn it, this guy didn't feel any pain spending other people's money! 

"Oh, right, Mr. Olin, my studio has been set up. You can transfer the money to the account." 

"That's a small matter. Just give me the account number, and the bureau will transfer it over quickly." 

The Haunted Mirror