In Igwinte, in the afternoon, the sky was overcast. At the Buck Mansion on Silver Riverbank, the atmosphere was tense and heavily guarded at this moment.
The Hunters who had tracked them from the Sunken Wharf had now completely sealed off Buck's mansion. They aimed their guns at all entrances and exits, and the high ground of the surrounding houses had also been seized. Facing the mansion before them, all the team members held their breath, ready to deal with a battle that could break out at any time.
At this time, the two Hunters present, Grego and Turner, along with Eilina, who was dispatched by the Church, had already led several team members into the mansion, continuing to search upwards. Nothing unusual was found on the first two floors; the only anomaly was that almost all the glass was cracked to varying degrees.
"The window glass is cracked... Is this some kind of mystical phenomenon?" Turner said doubtfully, his brows slightly furrowed as he examined the fine cracks on the second-floor windows. Grego, who was standing beside him, then spoke.
"I don't know... Perhaps these guys were conducting some kind of ritual. There was a strange noise coming from here earlier on the way... Anyway, be careful and continue upwards." Grego replied, tightening his grip on the blade in his hand. After that, the three of them continued to explore upwards. They had only glanced at the lower floors without a thorough search, as the direction of the bloody smell was from above.
The higher they went, the stronger the smell of blood in the air became. Even Grego and Eilina could smell it. With the pungent smell of blood, their nerves became even more taut.
Finally, after stepping onto the third floor and moving forward along the corridor, they saw the source of the blood, a study.
They exchanged glances with each other, then continued to move forward cautiously. They quickly entered the study door, spread out, and after quickly scanning every corner, confirmed that there were no living people inside.
Although there were no living people, there were quite a few dead ones.
At this moment, what was presented before Grego and the others was a bloody, chaotic scene. Corpses that had been cut in half were scattered everywhere, pieces here and there. A large amount of blood flowed out, completely soaking the carpet, and the pieces of the Corpse had now become shriveled and withered.
Yellow and white book pages were scattered everywhere, covering the Corpse pieces and the bright red carpet, which was stained red. Furniture was overturned, and fragments of glass and porcelain were everywhere. There were bullet holes on the walls, and all the window glass had shattered into dust, with nothing left.
This scene was even more tragic than the situation at Burton's house, causing the people present to take a deep breath. It was obvious that a fierce battle had taken place here.
"Heh... This scene feels somewhat familiar. It seems we've seen it somewhere before, Grego." Looking at the scene before him, Turner slowly spoke, and Grego also nodded solemnly before speaking.
"Hmm... The Burton case last time was also in the study, and it was also very tragic, but this one is definitely even worse..." Grego said thoughtfully, while Eilina, who was next to him, observed the scene carefully before speaking.
"Obviously, an Extraordinary battle took place here... But it feels a bit exaggerated. These guys are clearly servants of this mansion. Judging by their appearance, they were fighting back against the invaders, and they all had Life Devour attached. Even so, they were quickly cut in half by the invader and this place was destroyed to this extent... It doesn't feel like something an ordinary Extraordinary could do. It feels... even beyond the scope of an Apprentice..." Seeing the scene before her, Eilina sighed.
"Hey, hey, don't talk nonsense yet. Beyond an Apprentice? Could it be that a Black Rank Extraordinary appeared here? Although the current situation is a bit exaggerated, it hasn't reached that level yet."
Turner corrected sternly. The Black Rank he mentioned naturally referred to the rank above Apprentice, "Black Earth." This is the White Stone Craftsmen's Guild's classification term for Extraordinary ranks, using alchemical terms as reference. Due to the widespread activity of the White Craftsmen's Guild, many of their Extraordinary terms have been widely promoted in the hidden world.
The appearance of a Black Rank Extraordinary in Igwinte would be a big deal.
"Anyway... it seems those guys encountered enemies again at this stronghold and a battle broke out. This is very likely the work of the same group from last time. In short, let's quickly search the entire mansion and see if we can find any clues, especially this study, which needs to be thoroughly checked."
Grego continued to speak. Listening to his words, Turner and Eilina also nodded and began to instruct their team members to search the mansion, while the three of them focused on checking the study.
...
And when Grego announced the task arrangement, a voice also shouted intensely in her heart.
'Thoroughly check your sister! There's nothing in this study, this house is so big, can't you check elsewhere!'
At this moment, behind the seemingly normal bookshelf in the study, Dorothy was sitting by the wall of the dark secret room, leaning against the wall, complaining loudly in her heart.
Upon seeing the Hunters enter the room, the panicked Dorothy quickly hid in the secret room of the Buck family, then pulled a mechanism to close the bookshelf door, which served as a disguise for the secret room, thus temporarily avoiding being directly found by the Hunters. She absolutely did not want to stage a reunion with her brother in this place.
Dorothy was now completely trapped in the secret room. Just a wall away, her own brother was leading his team to investigate the crime scene. There was no telling when they would discover the mechanism in the study and open the door to the secret room.
At this moment, Dorothy's heart was pounding. She had never been as nervous as she was now, not even when she was being hunted by Edrick and held hostage in the carriage by the Holy Communion Society, because the current situation couldn't be solved by killing people. She really wished she had an Extraordinary ability to become small and then find a place to get out.
However, this was impossible. She had to find a way out immediately.
'Phew... Calm down. Now is not the time to panic. There must be a way to escape, even if the outside is completely surrounded. Think quickly, Dorothy. If you don't want to have a parent-teacher conference, then think quickly...'
Dorothy thought quickly, and after a while, she finally thought of something.
'That's right, according to what those guys said, there is a secret passage in this mansion. Since it's a secret passage, it's likely connected to this secret room. As long as I find the entrance to the secret passage, I can escape.'
Thinking this, Dorothy began to stand up and search the secret room she was in. At the same time, she used the Corpse Puppet Ring to control Brandon nearby to search together. To avoid any further complications, she had Brandon come in with her.
Dorothy and Brandon searched non-stop in the secret room. Fortunately, as a secret room of a hidden society, the soundproofing here was very good. Dorothy had verified this with Brandon outside when Buck and the others were collecting things inside, so she didn't have to worry about footsteps being detected from the outside.
Finally, after a while of searching, Dorothy finally found a heavy iron door behind a curtain.
Seeing this iron door, Dorothy was overjoyed, thinking that she could finally leave. But just as she was about to open the door, her expression couldn't help but sink again.
'Is there a password for this?'
That's right, this iron door had a rolling mechanical combination lock like a safe, and it was a five-digit combination lock! There was no key. It was obvious that the door would only open if the entire password was entered correctly.
'What the hell, where am I supposed to get the password now? That guy has already been taken away!'
Dorothy complained again in her heart and started scratching her head, trying to find a way. After carefully observing the combination lock in front of her, her eyes suddenly lit up.
Among the five metal password wheels in front of Dorothy, four from left to right were stained with blood, and the bloodstains were slightly viscous and had not dried yet, which proved that the bloodstains had just been stained recently.
What does this mean? It means that Buck was entering the password when he was in the secret room before. He killed a bunch of Corpse Puppets and had a lot of blood on his hands, so the bloodstains got on the wheels when he entered the password.
Buck definitely knew the password, and generally, with this kind of rolling combination lock, you turn one wheel after another before moving on to the next. There were four bloodstains on this five-digit combination lock from left to right.
This means... Buck had at least entered the first three passwords and was entering the fourth when the secret room door was opened. Dorothy controlled Edrick to shoot inside the secret room, and Buck had to turn back to fight back...
Looking at the four bloodstains on the password dial, Dorothy smiled slightly.
'If my deduction is correct, at least the first three digits of this combination lock have been entered, and only the last two are missing... There are only a hundred combinations for two digits at most. It will take some time, but I can always try them one by one. This secret room is quite hidden. It will definitely take some effort for my brother and the others to find it, and it will take some effort to open it after they find it. I should have enough time!'
Thinking this, Dorothy began to turn the wheels and slowly try the password.
...
Outside the secret room, Grego was carefully checking everywhere. After looking around slightly and not finding any good clues, Eilina stood in the middle of the room and took out a compass.
Then Eilina injected a trace of Spirituality into the compass in her hand. The compass began to rotate and then slowly stopped.
Finally... the needle pointed towards the direction of the bookshelf in the study.
...
In the secret room behind the bookshelf, Dorothy began to try the password, and not far behind her, Clifford, who had turned into a dry Corpse, lay there with a terrifying, almost skeletal expression. He was killed here.
Beneath Clifford, the completely suppressed Beacon Sigil, which was undetectable, was still silently functioning.