Chapter 86

Chapter 86: Code

Igewent, in the afternoon, the sky was overcast. The Buck Mansion by the White Silver River was currently under strict guard with a tense atmosphere.

The hunters who had been tracking from the flooded dock had completely sealed off Buck’s mansion. They were holding guns at all the entrances and exits, and the high points of the surrounding houses had also been seized. Facing the mansion, all team members were holding their breaths, ready to deal with any potential battle that might erupt at any moment.

At this moment, two hunters, Gregor and Turner, along with Elena, who had been dispatched by the Church, had already led several team members into the mansion, continuing their search upward. There was nothing unusual on the lower two floors except for the fact that almost all the windows had varying degrees of cracks.

“The window glass is cracked… Is this some kind of mysterious phenomenon?” Turner frowned slightly as he inspected the fine cracks on the second-floor window. Gregor responded.

“I don’t know… Perhaps they were performing some kind of ritual. On the way here, there were strange noises coming from this direction… Anyway, be careful and continue upward.” Gregor gripped his sword tightly and answered, then the three of them continued their exploration upward. They only took a quick look at the lower floors without a thorough search because the source of the bl**d smell was upstairs.

The higher they went, the more intense the smell of bl**d became in the air. Even Gregor and Elena could smell it. The acrid scent of bl**d made their nerves even more taut.

Finally, after stepping onto the third floor and moving down the corridor, they saw the source of the bloodshed—a study room.

They exchanged glances, then cautiously moved forward. After quickly entering the study room and positioning themselves, they rapidly scanned each corner to confirm that no one was alive.

Although there were no living people present, there were plenty of dead ones.

At this moment, what Gregor and his companions saw before them was a scene of bloody chaos. Severed corpses lay scattered about, large amounts of bl**d flowing out, staining the entire carpet red. The pieces of the bodies had become dry and shriveled.

Yellow and white pages of books were scattered everywhere, covering the body parts and the bl**d-stained carpet. Furniture was overturned, and fragments of glass and porcelain were scattered everywhere. b*llet marks were visible on the walls, and all the windows had shattered into pieces.

This scene was far more brutal than what they had seen at Burton’s home, causing everyone present to take a deep breath. It was clear that a fierce battle had taken place here.

“Hmm… This scene seems somewhat familiar. Have we seen something like this before, Gregor?” Turner slowly spoke as he observed the scene, and Gregor nodded seriously before responding.

“Yeah… The last time at the Burton case, it was also in the study, and it was quite gruesome. But this time, it’s even worse…” Gregor pondered, and Elena, after carefully observing the scene, said.

“It’s obvious that an extraordinary battle occurred here… But it feels a bit exaggerated. These guys seem to be servants of this mansion, fighting back against invaders. Even so, they were swiftly decapitated by the invader, and the place was destroyed to such an extent… It doesn’t feel like something ordinary extraordinary beings could do; it’s beyond the realm of apprentices…”

“Hey, hold your horses. Beyond apprentices? Could there possibly be black-tier extraordinary beings here? Although the situation is a bit exaggerated, it hasn’t reached that level yet.”

Turner corrected him seriously. He naturally referred to the “Black Earth,” the tier above apprentices, which was how the White Stone Craftsmen Guild classified extraordinary beings. Using alchemical terminology as a reference, since the White Stone Craftsmen Guild was active everywhere, many of their extraordinary terms had gained widespread use in the secret world.

If a black-tier extraordinary being appeared in Igewent, it would be a major event.

“Regardless, it seems these guys encountered enemies in this stronghold, leading to a battle. This is likely the work of the same group from before. In any case, let’s thoroughly search the entire mansion to see if we can find any clues, especially this study room, which needs to be checked in detail.”

Gregor continued, and upon hearing his words, Turner and Elena nodded and began instructing their subordinates to search the mansion. The three of them focused on inspecting the study room.

…

After Gregor announced the task assignment, a voice shouted loudly in his mind.

‘Check this study room? There’s nothing in here! Search somewhere else, please!’

At this moment, inside the seemingly normal bookshelf behind the study, Dorothy was sitting on the wall of the dark secret room, leaning against it, and loudly complaining inwardly.

Upon seeing the hunters enter, Dorothy hastily hid in the secret room of the Buck family, pulling the mechanism to close the hidden bookshelf door to temporarily avoid being found directly by the hunters. She did not want to have a sibling reunion here.

Dorothy was now completely trapped in the secret room, just a wall away from her brother and his team investigating the crime scene. Any moment, they could discover the mechanism in the study room and open the secret room door.

At this moment, Dorothy’s heart was pounding. She had never felt so nervous, even when she was chased by Edric and kidnapped by the Holy Communion on a carriage. The current situation couldn’t be resolved by killing someone. She desperately wished she had an extraordinary ability to shrink and escape.

But this was impossible. She must think of a way immediately.

‘Phew… Stay calm. Now is not the time to panic. There must be a way to escape, even if the area is surrounded. Think fast, Dorothy. Don’t want to attend a parent-teacher meeting, hurry up and think…’

Dorothy quickly thought, and soon she came up with an idea.

‘That’s right. According to what those guys said, there is a secret passage in this mansion. If it’s a secret passage, it is likely connected to this secret room. As long as I find the entrance to the secret passage, I can escape.’

Thinking this, Dorothy stood up and began searching the secret room. To avoid drawing unnecessary attention, she used the corpse puppet ring to manipulate Brandon to search together with her.

Dorothy and Brandon continued searching the secret room. Fortunately, as a secret society’s hideout, the soundproofing here was excellent. Dorothy had verified this by testing it with Brandon outside while the Buck family was collecting things inside.

Finally, after a while of searching, Dorothy found a heavy iron door behind a curtain.

Seeing this iron door, Dorothy’s heart leaped with joy, thinking she could finally leave. But just as she was about to open the door, her expression sank again.

‘What the hell, there’s a password lock on this door?’

Indeed, this iron door had a safe-like rolling mechanical lock with a five-digit password. Without a key, it was clear that the door would only open if the correct password was fully entered.

‘What the heck, where am I supposed to get the password now? That guy has already been taken away!’

Dorothy complained inwardly again, starting to scratch her head for ideas. After carefully observing the password lock in front of her, she suddenly brightened up.

Among the five metal password wheels in front of Dorothy, four from left to right were stained with bl**d, and the bl**d was still slightly sticky and not dried. This indicated that the bl**d had been recently applied.

What did this mean? It meant that Buck was inputting the password in the secret room, having killed a bunch of corpse puppets with his hands covered in a lot of bl**d, so the bl**d had gotten on the wheels when he was entering the password.

Buck definitely knew the password, and generally, such a rolling password lock required turning each wheel one by one before moving to the next. On this five-digit password lock, four of the wheels from left to right were stained with bl**d.

This meant… Buck had at least entered three digits of the password and was in the process of entering the fourth when the secret room door was opened. Dorothy controlled Edric to sh**t inside the secret room, forcing Buck to turn around and fight back…

Looking at the four bloodstains on the password dial, Dorothy smiled faintly.

‘If my deduction is correct, the first three digits of the password are already set. Only the last two digits are missing… With only two digits, there are only a hundred possible combinations. Spending a little time, trying one by one, I should be able to figure it out. This secret room is still quite hidden, so my brother and his team will need some time to find it and open it. I should have enough time!’

As she thought this, Dorothy began turning the wheels slowly, trying the password.

…

Outside the secret room, Gregor was carefully checking everywhere. After a brief look around and finding no good clues, Elena stood in the middle of the house, taking out a compass with her hand.

Then, Elena infused the compass with a hint of spirituality, and the compass began to spin, eventually coming to a stop.

Finally… The needle pointed toward the direction of the bookshelf in the study.

…

In the secret room behind the bookshelf, Dorothy started trying the password, and not far behind her, the desiccated corpse of Colif lay with a nearly skeletal expression, having been killed there.

Under Colif’s body, the landmark sigil that was completely pressed down and barely noticeable was still silently playing its role.