If planting coins could really grow a golden tree, then what about planting children, what would they grow into?
Just thinking about it made his scalp tingle.
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Dock District, Sunrise Almshouse.
Lecturer Fron was staying inside the room where Professor Wayne had lived the night before his disappearance, with two police officers nearby investigating various suspicious areas.
"Teacher, where exactly are you? Are you joking with me, or have you really gone missing?" Lecturer Fron felt deeply uneasy.
He only received news from the police on the second day after his teacher's disappearance, reportedly because someone from the Almshouse went to the police station to report it, after which the police informed him.
Upon receiving the news, he quickly rushed to the Almshouse. After fully understanding the information the police had, on the third day he hurriedly sent a letter to Mr. Hastur.
As a lawyer, he often dealt with the police and knew that in cases like disappearances, if the missing person was not found within five days, the chances of survival were slim.
Now, there were only two days left before that five-day deadline, and he hoped everything could still be in time.
In the distance, the sunset gradually sank, and darkness began to cover the entire Almshouse.
Several officers in charge of the case left two officers behind to investigate the Almshouse, while the rest returned to rest.
At night, the breeze was slightly cool. Lecturer Fron stayed alone in the room, locking the door tightly and not daring to go out, fearing he might suddenly disappear too.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The door was knocked. Inside, Lecturer Fron immediately stood up from the bedside, gripping a silver-plated cane, watching the door with both caution and fear.
Trying to calm himself, he asked in a trembling voice, "Who… who is outside?"
Knock knock knock!
The other party didn't speak, just knocked three times again, making Lecturer Fron shudder with unease.
He dared not open the door at all.
Just as he was about to call out, someone outside said, "Lecturer Fron, it's me, open the door."
That voice, Mr. Hastur?
Lecturer Fron's tense nerves finally relaxed, and after taking a couple of deep breaths, he hurriedly opened the door.
Outside, besides Mr. Hastur, there was another man with a pale face and cold eyes.
"Mr. Hastur, you finally came!"
Lecturer Fron was almost moved to tears; being alone here had been torture.
"I was waiting for a friend, so I came a bit late."
"Ahem, well, there's a reason for everything."
Maric looked away a little awkwardly; he had arrived two hours later than the scheduled meeting time.
"Come inside first; let's close the door and talk."
Lecturer Fron stepped aside. After Hastur and Maric entered, he closed and locked the door again.
Hastur sat on the bed, his expression solemn. "I've already got the basic information from the police. I want to know, did Professor Wayne mention anything to you in advance?"
"Five days ago, when I was discussing law at home with my teacher, he mentioned he wanted to come to Sunrise Almshouse to take a look, to see under Deputy Dean Bard's leadership whether things here were improving."
"Just that?" Hastur frowned slightly.
"Teacher is a very decisive person. The next day, he came here alone, and that night he even wrote me a letter."
"The letter? Let me see it."
"Here, I've been carrying it with me and haven't told anyone else."
Lecturer Fron carefully took out a piece of folded paper from his coat pocket.
Hastur took it, unfolded it, and Maric leaned in to read as well.
...
"Fron, my good student, I am now in a room at Sunrise Almshouse, writing to you under the dim light.
Things have changed a lot here. Deputy Dean Bard, now elected Dean, treats the children very well. Whether in food or clothing, everything is much better than before.
I was warmly welcomed by Dean Bard, who showed me many places. Everything seems to be moving in a good direction.
But I deeply feel uneasy. It is too quiet here, and the children's faces are gradually losing their natural and innocent smiles. The way they look at me makes me afraid.
Their gaze is so calm and indifferent, as if they can see through everything, as if another mature soul resides in their bodies. In short, those are not children's eyes!
I began to realize there might be something strange here. I also considered pretending nothing was wrong and leaving as soon as dawn came.
Fron, my good student, but you know my character, I won't just run away easily, even if it means a fight.
Hmm, I mean, if anything changes, go ask Hastur for help. He should know how to solve the problem."
"Your Teacher, Wayne."
...
Hastur finished reading and read it again twice to avoid missing anything important.
The abnormalities mentioned by Professor Wayne were something Hastur had already suspected last time; this only confirmed it.
What puzzled Hastur was that Deputy Dean Bard, now Dean Bard, didn't seem to show any problems.
Even this time, it was Bard himself who reported the professor missing.
"Tsk, your teacher sure is reckless. Something strange enough to affect an entire Almshouse, and he, a scholar, thought he could handle it."
Hastur agreed with Maric's words; if it were him, he would never have let things get to this point.
Knowing there was something strange, of course, one should leave first and then find a solution, rather than getting oneself disappeared.
Professor Wayne was definitely a master at courting death!
Hastur put aside his other thoughts and asked, "You stayed here last night. Did you hear the sound of bells at night?"
"Yes!" Lecturer Fron's expression changed, and he quickly lowered his voice, "At almost the same time!"
"You didn't secretly take a look?"
"No, I didn't dare to take risks casually."
Lecturer Fron shook his head and sighed. He hadn't dared to sleep at all last night, especially after hearing that bell sound.
"Bell sound?"
Maric became interested. Hastur asked Lecturer Fron to explain it to him while he himself took out a pocket watch and checked the time.
It was still early, eight forty-three, and there was still quite a while before the time when the bell sound usually occurred.
Perhaps they couldn't just sit and wait any longer but instead needed to actively go investigate.
If Professor Wayne had only been imprisoned, then where could he be?
In two days, the police should have searched the entire Almshouse several times, yet there were still no findings.
A secret passage? The one in which Dean Darn had died?
Hastur pondered seriously for a long time and finally made a decision.
"I might know where Professor Wayne is. Let's head out now."
"Now, at this late hour?" Lecturer Fron was startled by Hastur's sudden decision.
"Hmm, it's hard to catch creatures hiding in the dark during the day. They only come out at night."
"Should we call Dean Bard and the others?"
"No, just the three of us."
...
Heading toward the strange clock tower, Maric immediately noticed the issue, and his expression grew much more serious.
"You can have your good friends come help now."
"No problem, they've been waiting for a long time already."
After a brief exchange between Hastur and Maric, Maric left for a while and then returned, leading four Zombie creatures.
Before entering the Almshouse, Hastur had already instructed Maric to place his Zombie squad nearby.
With dense woods around, hiding a few Zombies without being discovered was quite easy.
This was also why Hastur didn't want to alert the police or Dean Bard.
With the Zombies, they could clear the way.
Hastur and Lecturer Fron both carried kerosene lamps and followed behind.
The Zombies opened the basement door, and under the dim light, they entered the basement, then had the Zombies close the door, leaving one Zombie behind to guard it and prevent outsiders from entering.
The twelve confinement rooms here had already been emptied, and there were no longer any people locked inside.
The group quickly reached the central lounge, which was the room where the secret passage had been discovered.
The secret passage that had originally been well hidden had already been blown open by the police using explosives, revealing a short section of tunnel. The end of the tunnel was blocked, and Dean Darn had died clutching a chest of gold coins here.
"There's no path here anymore. How could the teacher be here?" Lecturer Fron voiced his doubts.
Hastur held up his kerosene lamp and walked toward a wall, the yellow light illuminating the dark stone wall.
After observing for a while, he said, "Don't you think this secret passage is too short? Building such a short secret passage has no real purpose except hiding a few people."
"There's a secret room inside the secret passage!"
Lecturer Fron's breathing quickened instantly. This kind of exciting plot from adventure stories was playing out right in front of him, did that mean he was a protagonist in an adventure story too?
"A secret passage leading to a secret room, that's a very reasonable guess."
"Let me try."
Hastur stepped aside, and Maric examined the area repeatedly, instructing his Zombies to knock and tap around the surrounding walls as if sensing something.
"Something's off here."
After repeatedly probing, Maric finally found a relatively unusual spot.
The stone wall here was very cold, much colder than the surrounding walls.
Ordinary people wouldn't detect this temperature difference, but he could.
"Can it be broken open?"
"Your strength should be greater than mine now, right?"
Maric turned and looked at Hastur, signaling him to give it a try.
The Zombies were strong, but Hastur, being from the Barbarian sequence, was even stronger.
"There are no suitable tools here."
Without a proper tool, Hastur didn't want to use his bare fists to punch through stone walls.
Maric had no choice but to make his zombies work harder, using stones from the broken wall on the ground to smash at the wall.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
After dozens of strikes, a hole the size of a human head was smashed open in the stone wall.
A disgusting, foul stench drifted out from the dark hole.
It was the smell of severely rotting corpses!
Maric was most familiar with this kind of smell, so he quickly had the zombies take the lead while Hastur and Lecturer Fron retreated to a safe distance behind.
Lecturer Fron exclaimed, "There really is a secret room! Mr. Hastur, it's truly a pity you're not a detective."
"This was just a very reasonable deduction."
Hastur would never say that before arriving at the Almshouse, he had already glimpsed a bit of fate.
That glimpse had shown him this very stone wall, right here.