Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 200: The Den

Ethan scanned the area and quickly spotted Williams and JJ standing across the street. They waved at him, and Ethan and Victor hurried over.

"Ethan, we just asked around. This place doesn’t open until after 9 PM," Williams said as they approached.

"What time did Rowan and the others get here?" Ethan asked.

"The taxi driver said it was around 6 PM, but he couldn’t remember the exact time," Williams replied.

Ethan nodded. It was only a little past 2 PM now, so they had some time to kill. He suggested they look around the area to see if they could find anything unusual.

But something didn’t sit right with him. The Den looked like an upscale place, the kind of spot that would be way out of budget for most of their group. Except for JJ, whose family was well-off, the rest of them were pretty frugal. They’d hesitate to splurge on something as simple as burgers and fries, let alone a high-end establishment like this.

When Ethan asked JJ about it, JJ just shrugged. "I have no idea why they’d come here."

That was strange. The five of them were practically inseparable—they slept, attended classes, and hung out together every day. It was only on that particular day, when JJ wasn’t with them, that the other four had gotten into trouble.

Since they were here, Ethan’s first move was to use his Soul Sense to scan The Den’s building. He swept the area but found nothing suspicious. He wasn’t surprised—if it were that easy to find clues, things would’ve been resolved by now. After being outmaneuvered by Dr. Aldric and her apprentices earlier, he knew better than to rely solely on his Soul Sense.

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Williams, aware of what Ethan was doing, continued filling him in on what they’d discovered so far. As mentioned earlier, Rowan and the others had come here as their final destination. What happened after that was still a mystery.

However, they’d managed to pull up some security footage from the school. At 3 AM, the four of them had been seen entering the school’s east gate—barefoot. They’d walked into the dormitory building in the same state, their movements sluggish and dazed, as if they were sleepwalking.

The footage showed them entering the dorm, but nothing after that. What was odd was that JJ had asked around, and none of the students in the dorms near the hallway had received any notifications from their Ethereal VR headsets that night. Normally, the headsets would alert players if someone came within 15 meters of them, especially since the beds near the hallway were just a wall away from the stairs. But that night, no one got any alerts.

So how had the four of them gotten upstairs? Had they found a way to bypass the Ethereal headset’s detection system? Or worse—were they no longer considered living beings? The Ethereal headsets were designed to detect life forms, so if they hadn’t triggered the system, it raised some disturbing questions.

But if that were the case, how did they still have heartbeats and pulses now, lying in the hospital?

Williams summed it up: "Right now, we’ve got three big questions. First, why did the four of them come here? Second, did they go somewhere else after they left this place? And third… are they even still alive?"

Ethan chuckled. "Well, we’re here to figure out what The Den is all about. Tonight, we’ll—" He paused, glancing at Victor with a teasing grin. "Hey, Victor, you gonna ask your wife for a hall pass?"

Victor shot Ethan a look but didn’t respond to the jab. Ethan chuckled and moved on. "As for the second question…" He recounted what Greg had shouted when he briefly woke up at the hospital.

Everyone agreed that if there was a place connected to the Serpent Islanders, it had to be The Den. Whether the group had gone anywhere else after that didn’t matter—this was clearly the spot where things had gone wrong.

"And as for whether they’re still alive… I think someone here can tell us," Ethan said.

"Who? Where?" Williams asked.

"Over there," Ethan replied, nodding toward the street.

Williams and JJ looked puzzled, but Victor’s eyes widened. "It’s them…"

Ethan grinned and nodded.

A taxi had just pulled up across the street, and three people stepped out—two men and a woman, all dressed in trendy, modern clothing. They were young, with the men looking to be in their mid-twenties and the girl no older than eighteen or nineteen. It was the same trio from the hospital—the so-called "Dr. Aldric" and her apprentices.

As they got out of the taxi, they noticed Ethan and the others. Ethan waved at them cheerfully.

The trio exchanged a few words, clearly surprised, but they quickly crossed the street and approached.

"What are you doing here?" the girl demanded, glaring at Ethan.

"Oh, so you can talk!" Ethan feigned surprise. "I thought you were just going to keep pretending to be some ancient master."

The girl’s face flushed red, a mix of anger and embarrassment. She opened her mouth to retort, but Ethan quickly cut her off. "Look, there are too many of us standing around out here. Let’s grab something to eat and talk."

Before the girl could protest, JJ chimed in, "Yeah, I’m starving!"

The girl shot Ethan another glare but reluctantly nodded. The group of seven found a nearby restaurant, secured a private room, and sat down.

As soon as they were seated, the man Ethan suspected had a nose like a dog’s—the one who had sniffed the golden needle, leaned in and asked cautiously, "Are you guys from the Ninth Division?"

The question caught Ethan, Victor, and Williams off guard. Victor and Williams stayed silent, but Ethan glanced at JJ and said, "Hey, JJ, why don’t you go order some food?"

JJ, quick on the uptake, stood up immediately. "Sure thing, Ethan. But you’re paying for this one!" He dashed out of the room before anyone could argue.

Once JJ was gone, Ethan turned back to the trio. "So, are you from the Ninth Division?"

The girl snorted. "Of course not. But only someone from the Ninth Division would be so brazen with their Soul Sense, spying on people like that."

The man with the sharp nose quickly interjected, trying to smooth things over. "We’re not with the Ninth Division. I just assumed you were because, well… only they would use Soul Sense so openly."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. So, the Ninth Division has a reputation for being reckless, huh?

The man, sensing Ethan’s thoughts, quickly changed the subject. "I’m Leeroy Chase. This is my brother, Ryan, and my sister, Evelyn."

"You’re siblings?" Ethan asked, intrigued.

"Enough small talk," Evelyn snapped, clearly still annoyed with Ethan. "How did you find this place?"

Ethan ignored her and turned to Leeroy. "If you’re not with the Ninth Division, why are you mixed up in all this? Just for the money?"