Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Bait

In the afternoon, in the silver city by the White Galaxy River, inside Buck’s bloodstained study, Gregor Turner and Elena were searching for useful clues. When their search yielded no results, Elena once again used her compass, which had the meaning of “Lamp,” and it pointed towards the bookshelf in the room. She then walked towards the bookshelf, step by step, following the direction indicated by the compass. However, even when she stood before the bookshelf and began to rummage through the books, she found nothing.

Elena looked down at the direction indicated by the compass, but there was no change. Frowning slightly, she spoke.

“Hmm? Strange…”

“What’s wrong, Elena? Did you find something?”

Hearing Elena’s voice, Gregor turned his head and asked with confusion. Elena then looked at the bookshelf before her and said,

“The compass shows that the Sigil should be on this bookshelf, but after flipping through all the books, there’s no sign of it. I think… the Sigil might be behind here.”

Elena said with a hint of speculation. Hearing her words, Gregor nodded in understanding.

“Are you suggesting a secret room? Indeed… those guys love setting up secret rooms at home. If there’s a secret room nearby, there should be a mechanism to activate it… We can look for it.”

Gregor said. His words were overheard by the zombie puppet, which relayed them to Dorothy, causing her heart to skip a beat.

‘cr*p… How did they find the secret room so quickly? The Sigil? Could it be that Colif had some kind of tracker on him? d*mn! This guy actually died in the secret room…’

As Dorothy thought, she glanced at the mummified Colif not far behind her. According to Gregor’s words, she deduced the main culprit was likely Colif, who had been tagged with a Sigil-like device at the dock, leading the hunters straight to this place. Now, ironically, he died in the secret room, inadvertently revealing its location.

This string of bad luck was unforeseeable!

At this moment, Dorothy’s anxiety grew. She was still trying different combinations to unlock the password lock, which required turning the doorknob to confirm the correct input. This greatly increased the time needed to try each combination. So far, she had only tried a few dozen combinations.

‘But the good news is, getting into this secret room isn’t easy. They need to find the candlestick mechanism first and turn it correctly to open it. That would take more than an hour. I still have time.’

Dorothy thought, but then a rough voice echoed in the study.

“Looking for mechanisms? Hmph, that’s too slow. Those guys might be hiding inside. Taking your time to find mechanisms will take too long.”

Gregor and Elena turned towards the source of the voice and saw Turner, who had somehow acquired a large hammer and was carrying it as he approached the bookshelf.

“Turner? Where did you get that hammer? What are you doing?” Gregor exclaimed in surprise seeing Turner like this. Turner stood in front of the bookshelf and laughed.

“Heh… What am I doing? Of course, I’m opening this secret room faster.” As he spoke, Turner picked up the hammer with both hands and smashed it directly onto the bookshelf, causing the ground to shake. With a loud crash, a dark gap appeared in the bookshelf.

“Huh… There really is something behind here, Elena. You guessed right.” Turner laughed as he looked at the gap, leaving Elena and Gregor stunned.

“Uh… You just smashed it open?”

“Although the method is a bit crude, it seems to be faster… ”

Seeing Turner’s actions, Gregor and Elena felt somewhat embarrassed. Indeed, compared to meticulously searching for mechanisms, this approach was much more convenient.

“Hmph, of course. Now that there’s a gap, let’s make it bigger.”

As he spoke, Turner swung the hammer repeatedly, enlarging the existing gap. Each strike caused the surrounding floor to tremble, making Dorothy’s heart quiver even more.

‘F*ck! Just focus on solving the puzzle! This ruins the game experience!’

Dorothy, hiding behind the curtain, was anxious and complained. She hadn’t expected Gregor’s group to find the secret room so easily.

Of course, despite her complaints, Dorothy’s heart was pounding. She knew that if things continued like this, Gregor and company would likely enter soon. Although the bookshelf was reinforced, it couldn’t withstand such smashing.

‘There’s no other choice. I’ll have to activate that plan…’

Facing the crisis, Dorothy took a deep breath to calm herself, then linked the spiritual thread from the zombie puppet ring to the attic.

There, a hidden zombie puppet slowly stood up.

…

In the study, Turner continued to smash the bookshelf, rapidly widening the gap. Gregor and Elena waited behind him, ready to enter once he created a suitable entrance.

Just as the gap widened, a hunter team member rushed in, urgently reporting,

“Captain! Something’s happened!”

“What’s going on?” Gregor patted Turner, who was hammering the bookshelf, to stop the noise, then turned to the team member seriously and asked.

“On the roof… we found someone suspicious on the roof. We don’t know where they came from. He was even smiling at our sniper hidden in the shadows! Without instructions, we didn’t act rashly. Captain, please come and check!”

The team member urgently reported to Gregor. After hearing the report, Gregor, Elena, and Turner exchanged glances. Then Elena said,

“It seems there’s a problem. Let’s go check it out. Have someone guard this place.”

“Alright, let’s go…”

Gregor nodded and arranged for two team members to guard the study door. Then, he, Turner, and Elena followed the reporting team member up a ladder to the roof of Buck’s house.

The roof of the mansion was triangular and sloped, making it difficult to stand steadily. Only a small pavilion provided a stable spot. Climbing up to the pavilion, Gregor, Elena, and Turner surveyed the roof and spotted a figure standing near the gable overlooking the river.

Under the gray sky, the black trench coat fluttered in the wind. The figure stood firmly even on a small patch of ground, holding a low hat to prevent it from being blown away. The lower third of the face was obscured by a scarf, while the eyes under the hat glared at Gregor and company from about ten meters away.

“Hello, hunters of Igewent.”

Facing Gregor and company, Edric greeted with a smile. Hearing Edric’s greeting, Gregor and the others became wary, gripping their weapons tightly.

“Who are you? Why are you here!” Gregor asked sternly, then Edric replied casually,

“I’m just someone fulfilling destiny. As for why I’m here, it’s because I should be here now.”

‘Destiny fulfiller… Should be here now… What does that mean?’

Listening to Edric’s words, Elena frowned, pondering the meaning. Meanwhile, Turner shouted,

“Hey! Speak clearly. Aren’t you one of the remnants of the Holy Communion?”

Hearing Turner’s words, Edric chuckled, adjusted his hat, and looked coldly at the person before him. Then, in a deeper, more dangerous tone, he spoke slowly.

“If I were from the Holy Communion, everyone here would share the same fate as the corpses in the study below.”