Shadow's Hand-Chapter 24: Sewer

Karl's face turned bright red when he thought the contract had somehow caused his strength to increase tremendously.

Alas, the reality was harsh, and it was merely because the manhole cover's magic was shattered already.

Embarrassed, Karl quickly moved the manhole cover aside and was instantly ambushed by a foul odor emitted from the sewer. The stench was so bad—to the point he nearly vomited on the spot.

"My colleague really wasn't lying." He coughed a few times and scooted to the side. Although it was said the bad odor smell was resolved, it appeared that only the surface was cleansed. Within the sewer though, the foul stench actually remained inside.

While Karl felt like dying from the smell, he became surprised when he shifted his gaze to Damien and noticed the latter was unaffected.

'As expected of the Master. This kind of smell is nothing to him.' Karl thought, feeling ashamed of his behavior.

In reality, though, Damien was also affected by the stench. It could be said that the stench was worse than the ones at the crime scene. However, he remained composed because there was a tinge of a familiar smell.

The smell was very faint and hard to distinguish, but Damien was capable of perceiving the difference.

'Indeed, the culprit had gone over to the sewer.' Damien thought. This distinctive smell was the same one that lingered around the crime scene.

Since the clue led to here, Damien knew he had to personally go through the sewer to investigate. He couldn't possibly rely on others, given they were more often or not, incompetent.

"You can head back, Karl. Just tell the guards in the entrance that you had permission to leave from me." Damien calmly said.

Startled, Karl didn't expect to be sent away. 'Could it be that Master was displeased by my reaction earlier?'

The stench was just too strong that he failed to control his emotions. He seriously wanted to do his best to endure and resist, but ultimately failed in the end.

"Please, Sir." He quickly went on his knees and pleaded, "I can handle this smell. Let me accompany you."

The opportunity to work with a TI and earn their impression was extremely difficult to gain.

How could he just give up halfway?

R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freewebnovёl.ƈom Only.

"Enough, this is also a plan," Damien said, lifted him up, and whispered something to him.

Upon hearing the task, Karl's eyes widened. His expression also turned solemn.

"So, do you get it?" Damien questioned.

Karl nodded and clenched his fist. "Rest assured, Sir. I'll accomplish the task."

"Good, then make haste. And take this insignia to be used as proof." Damien uttered and took off his insignia with the label Seventh.

A TI insignia was considered sacred and any replication of it was deemed impossible. Therefore, it served as the greatest proof that Karl was under instruction from him once he went to spread the word.

Without the insignia, it would have been difficult for Karl to convince the police officers otherwise.

Karl held the insignia with a heavy heart, swearing to protect this sacred item with his life. He proceeded to bow slightly, turned around, and made his exit.

Gazing at his silhouette, Damien wondered if he could really succeed. Others might treat the insignia as something special, but Damien knew it was just a deterrence for the weak.

For those who had power or those who couldn't care less about the consequences, the insignia held little to zero value to them.

'The TI are still human at the end of the day.' Damien thought. Humans—even when holding power, were still vulnerable and could be defeated or killed.

He shook his head and no longer bothered to think too far ahead. Whether the TI was something to be idolized or not, would be answered once the case was solved and he could explore the unknown world further.

His gaze shifted to the opening of the sewer, completely filled in a gloomy and eerie darkness. Despite the supposed darkness, Damien was baffled by the situation. His eyes were able to completely perceive the scene as if it had been illuminated.

Not only was he able to see the ground level, but he was able to even see the tiny bugs that were crawling around the sewer.

For some reason, he remained rather calm. Usually, people would have frowned or even be afraid of thinking about venturing the inside of a sewer unless they were a professional.

'Maybe something did change within me.' He placed his hand by his chest, feeling the beating of his heart. It was beating at a normal pace. Yet he still had a sense of loss somewhere.

In the end, he exhaled slowly and leaped down to the sewer. The impact sent a muted splash through the filth-ridden water, but he paid no heed to it. He didn't even bother to use the rusty ladder that loomed beside him to climb down.

Ignoring the rusty ladder, Damien focused his attention on the interior. Without much surprise, the sewer was like a labyrinth of damp. It was filled with moss-covered stone and had its striking feature of arched tunnels that stretched into the supposed darkness.

Except, there was no darkness in his eyes. However, he could tell the air was thick with the stench of decay. Additionally, he occasionally heard the distant sound of sluggish, murky water that echoed like whispers from something unseen lurking in the depths.

Damien narrowed his eyes and tried to find any traces of the cat or some human footprint.

Unfortunately, the environment here made it difficult to trace them down. Most of the traces were either washed away by the sluggish flow of murky water or distorted by the thick layers of moss and grime clinging to the stone.

'Are there not going to be the appearance of a Diamond 3 card?' He wondered silently. It was moments like this when the clues and hints should appear themselves to make things easier for him to resolve.

Having waited for a few minutes, Damien got the gist of the situation.

"Okay, maybe the Shadow Contract used up some fuel so now the hints aren't granted to me." He murmured.