Chapter 183

One Hundred Eighty-Three Query

Time flew by, and soon several days had passed. As September approached, Saint Crown University, which officially started classes in late August, had already been in session for some time.

Clear and Sunny, bright sunlight fell upon King Campus, illuminating the towering spires and weathered tiles, with stone carvings weathered by the elements resting on the eaves, basking in the gentle sunlight.

As the oldest campus of the Royal Sacred Crown University, buildings in King Campus were nearly a century old, exuding a classical and solemn atmosphere, sometimes even a dark, castle-like ambiance. Yet, these atmospheres could not overshadow the vibrant youthful energy of students in their teens and twenties.

Between the corridors, students in groups of two or three carried books, discussing as they walked. On the lawn, one could occasionally see pairs of young men and women chatting happily. The school’s own tall bell tower chimed loudly, and students with classes hurried down the hallways.

This was a vibrant campus, nurturing the kingdom’s elites; to enter here required both family background and talent. They were future pillars of Prit, and their families took pride in having a member studying at such an elite institution.

In the spacious library of King Campus, rows of bookshelves stood in orderly arrays. Sunlight poured in through large windows, and many students navigated between the shelves searching for books. Others sat quietly by the windows, flipping through the books on their desks. Dorothy was among them.

“If Gregor knew I was already in this university, he would be so excited he wouldn’t sleep for days. Unfortunately, going to college at thirteen is a bit far-fetched, so it’s better not to tell him.”

Wearing a brown jacket and plaid skirt, Dorothy sat by the window in the library, gazing out at the campus scene. In front of her lay a stack of thick books of various sizes. Upon closer inspection, they were all about Saint Crown University itself.

“Records of the Royal Sacred Crown University,” “Biographies of Saint Crown University,” “The Origin of Saint Crown University,” “Student Miscellany,” “Crown University Weekly Report”…

These were the materials Dorothy was truly investigating, hoping to find traces of the ruins.

She had been in this university for several days now, thanks to Beverly’s help. At thirteen, Dorothy was now a college student, with her own student records and complete identity, free to roam around unrestrictedly.

To make it easier for Dorothy to have ample time searching for the ruins and studying mysteries, Beverly granted her special privileges. She was registered in her major and class but wasn’t required to attend any mandatory classes; she could attend any class if she wished.

Thanks to Beverly’s help, Dorothy hadn’t attended a single class since enrollment. Her focus was entirely on finding the hidden entrance to the ruins within the school. However, her efforts had yielded little success.

Initially, Dorothy had planned to use her small zombie puppets to investigate the building structure, track members, and locate the hidden entrance to the ruins, just like she did in the Cedar Shirt Building when finding the Igwent An Yin Bureau.

However, the King Campus was enormous, much larger than the Cedar Shirt Building. It was too vast for Dorothy’s small zombie puppets to conduct thorough investigations. Moreover, the ancient and complex architecture made the task even more challenging. There weren’t as many An Yin Bureau employees frequenting the ruins here, leaving Dorothy without a target to track.

After two days of fruitless searches using the small zombie puppets, Dorothy decisively abandoned that approach and decided to try another direction.

Now, Dorothy was focusing on investigating the school’s records, looking into its history and anomalies. She hoped to uncover something unusual from the seemingly mundane occurrences. Given the size of the ruins underground and the fact that this place had once been a base for multiple societies, it was impossible that it didn’t affect the current state of the school.

Therefore, she shifted her investigation to the library, spending a day poring over extensive literature about the Royal Sacred Crown University’s King Campus. Eventually, she uncovered something.

Through the documents, Dorothy discovered that there were indeed numerous peculiar phenomena in the King Campus, ongoing since its establishment.

Strange cries, bizarre paintings, sudden student madness or disappearances… These odd incidents occurred every few years and continued until today. Although these events were not recorded in official school histories, they appeared in student-written magazines, both true and false.

Initially, Dorothy felt excited seeing these anomalies, thinking the students might have encountered the entrance to the ruins and been influenced by some extraordinary factors inside. She personally checked the sites of these anomalies but found no abnormalities.

Disappointed after a day of investigating these anomalies without results, Dorothy began to doubt whether these stories were fabricated by students.

However, after secretly reviewing the student records, she discovered that some students had indeed gone missing or dropped out due to madness, symptoms resembling poison contamination. This confirmed the possibility that some extraordinary factors were affecting the students.

Dorothy believed these factors could come from two sources: one from within the ruins and the other possibly from secret societies within the student or faculty body of the school.

“The Royal Sacred Crown University gathers many elites from Prit here. The school’s predecessor was a base for several extraordinary societies. Under such circumstances, the likelihood of a secret society emerging internally is very high…”

“If there really is a secret society within this school, then the recurring anomalies every few years make sense. Accidents in extraordinary research are inevitable, and with hereditary secret societies, these anomalies persist…”

Sitting at the desk, Dorothy thought to herself, considering the possibility of a secret society existing within the school. After reviewing so much material, this was her conclusion. And facing this possibility, she had a method to verify it.

As she pondered, Dorothy pulled out a gold coin marked with “Lamp” and prepared to perform a divination.

If the divination succeeded, she could confirm whether there was a secret society within the school as she suspected.

“The Royal Sacred Crown University, King Campus, has a secret society among its students and teachers.”

Muttering the incantation in her mind, Dorothy tossed the coin, ready to cover it with her hand.

But unexpectedly, her action faltered, and the coin slipped, falling to the floor and rolling twice before getting stuck in a gap in the floorboards, losing its luster as it stood before Dorothy.

Dorothy understood that her divination had failed; she had encountered a counter-divination target. The resources she invested were insufficient to break through the counter-divination defense, and a system prompt sounded in her mind.

Dorothy’s first divination attempt had failed, but it didn’t matter much. She picked up the dull coin from the ground and whispered,

“The divination failed… I encountered a counter-divination. Indeed, the secret society within the school built on the ruins of the Star Number Repair Association would naturally have some form of ‘Enlightenment’ counter-divination…”

Dorothy’s purpose in divining was to confirm the existence of a secret society in the school. If the divination succeeded, she could confirm it. If it failed, the presence of a counter-divination indicated the existence of a society.

Regardless of the outcome of the divination, Dorothy could achieve her goal.

“Now that I’ve confirmed the existence of a secret society within this school, I need to find them. They must know about the ruins given how long they’ve been here.”

Putting away the coin, Dorothy looked at the quiet library, silently contemplating.