Black Market (3)

The inside of the Thousand Poison Sect was cleaner than I expected.

A tiled roof made of reinforced ceramic.

Thick alloy-reinforced walls, and industrial ducts installed haphazardly.

It was a building that reeked of suspicion from every angle, but its appearance wasn't the only thing that mattered.

"...It's quiet."

"It sure is. Not a soul in sight."

There was no one inside the Thousand Poison Sect.

There wasn't a person, an animal, a plant, or even an insect—not so much as a common security robot.

The only moving beings were Lilith and me.

In a place where there should obviously have been people, all traces of them had vanished unnaturally, as if they'd evaporated...