Chapter 281: Lorne: Damn it! Gas!
To read Taiwanese novels, go to Chaotiaoxin.
The process of infiltrating Capin's villa was much smoother than Lorne had imagined.
"Even Danitz knows to set up some occult traps for early warning, but there's nothing around this house."
"Are they this confident?"
This unusual laxity revealed an unsettling confidence.
Taking advantage of the chaos inside the villa, Lorne effortlessly dealt with two perimeter guards and silently slipped into the backyard.
"Judging by the layout of this villa, the trouble should be in the dining room—"
"It's definitely Beyonders fighting."
—
"Rescue the people first." Lorne made up his mind and decisively bypassed the direction of the dining room, where the Premonition of Disaster was strongest.
He took out a short staff he had prepared beforehand and used divination to locate where the kidnapped children were being held.
"The basement—as expected."
"It seems something has happened—"
Beris, sporting a full beard, had been monitoring the changes in a certain order, but he dared not abandon his post.
He feared this was an enemy feint. If he left, the intruder's accomplice might seize the opportunity to break into the dungeon.
"Who is it!"
Suddenly, illuminated dimly by the gas lamp, Beris saw a long, slanted silhouette flash past the corner of the nearby corridor.
Hearing Beris's challenge, the figure did not speak but retreated quickly backward.
"Intruder!"
Beris's heart tightened. He quickly raised the massive High-Pressure Steam Rifle in his hand and aimed the muzzle at that spot.
"Bang!"
When the figure reappeared, he pulled the trigger without hesitation!
A thick cloud of white mist erupted from the muzzle, and a sharp, pale gold bullet shot forward at astonishing speed!
"Bang!"
What answered him was a web carrying peculiar mucus.
Because the web bullet's speed was slower, Bezos easily dodged it by stepping aside.
"Clack, clack, clack."
Hearing the steady footsteps drawing closer, Beris's eyes narrowed, and he decisively fired continuously!
Steam, dust, and white mist instantly filled the entire underground passage, severely obstructing vision.
"Damn it." Beris spat. Although these things blocked normal sight, through Spirit Vision, he clearly "saw" that the intruder had not left.
Trying to use these scattered attacks to feign weakness and trick me into going out to capture him? Naive!
As long as I hold out, as long as I guard this spot, once Heras and the others resolve the trouble outside, you'll be finished!
Just as he was fully focused on the front, an item of peculiar shape, flickering with unstable light, was lightly tossed in from another angle, rolling to a stop not far from his feet.
Subconsciously, he raised his rifle and fired!
Buzz!
Before the bullet could reach the target, a strong light, intense enough to resemble the Sun, suddenly spread out, instantly enveloping the area!
Beris only saw a blinding white light. His vision was instantly stripped away. Even with his eyes tightly shut, the intense light piercing his eyelids stung his eyeballs, and tears streamed out uncontrollably.
"Damn it!"
"Trying to ambush me using the strong light? Impossible!" Beris roared internally.
As a Sequence 7 Beyonder, even without relying on his eyes, he could roughly confirm the enemy's direction through his sharp hearing and spiritual intuition!
He endured the discomfort, raised his rifle, and instinctively unleashed a frantic hail of bullets toward the last position he remembered the intruder occupying, the shell casings clattering onto the floor.
Gunshots boomed, and steam permeated the air.
When the blinding light finally faded, Beris reluctantly opened his stinging, sore eyes and warily scanned his surroundings. The steam and dust gradually settled, and his vision returned.
Nothing was there.
Whether in normal sight or spiritual vision, all traces of the intruder had vanished, as if he had never been there.
"What's going on—did he run away?" A hint of doubt arose in Beris's mind, and his tense nerves slightly relaxed.
He completely failed to notice that, at some unknown point, an unremarkable playing card had appeared near his feet.
Mental Storm!
The sudden mental impact instantly blanked Beris's mind. He felt a brutal force slam into the depths of his consciousness, and he froze on the spot.
He groaned, his hand fell open, and the heavy High-Pressure Steam Rifle clattered to the floor.
"Goodbye."
"Bang!"
Accompanied by a dull gunshot, a massive bloody hole erupted in Beris's chest. He was blasted away by the tremendous force of the shotgun and died instantly.
Lorne stepped forward, bent down to pick up the seemingly ordinary playing card, and skillfully put it back in his pocket.
This move truly works every time—Lorne sighed, feeling a bit helpless at the same time.
If only I had abilities like instantaneous movement, even short-range teleportation would be much more convenient than this.
Thinking of Sherlock and Sharon's abilities, he couldn't help but feel a little envious.
He glanced at the High-Pressure Steam Rifle, which was connected to a massive backpack on the floor, a flicker of disdain crossing his eyes.
"Outdated garbage!"
However, even so, this item is strictly controlled. Could it be—
He didn't dwell on it, instead moving forward to the heavy iron door of the underground area. He raised his shotgun and fired several shots directly at the lock.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The metal lock twisted and broke under the close-range shots. Lorne raised his foot and kicked.
"Clang!"
The dungeon door was violently opened.
Inside the dark, damp dungeon, which reeked of mold and despair, the young girls, including Daisy, trembled with fright at the sudden loud noise and raised their heads blankly toward the open doorway.
Could it be—is someone else going to be taken away—
Thinking of the miserable state of the sisters who had been taken away and returned earlier, everyone in the dungeon shivered, none daring to move.
A figure walked closer, approaching from the distance.
The girls lowered their heads one after another, afraid to look.
"Freedom is right in front of you, yet you're this terrified."
A voice, carrying a hint of mockery but devoid of any malice, drifted over.
Freedom—the moment they heard this word, a few braver girls raised their heads and saw a figure holding a long gun in the dim light.
Lorne, wearing a black trench coat and a mask covering most of his face, stopped at the cell door. His gaze swept over the ragged, numb-eyed girls, and he chuckled softly, "Ladies, you are free."
Silence fell over the dungeon, followed by faint, disbelieving sobs that began to sound intermittently. Daisy suddenly raised her head, looking at the figure in the doorway, and a weak light ignited in her eyes for the first time.
"Thank you for saving us!"
"May the Lord bless you, Sir!"
"Thank you—"
"Remember, after you leave, head towards the church. You'll see it if you walk west.
—
Don't go to the police station, don't go."
The girls from the East Borough already distrusted the police, so they didn't have many reservations about Lorne's instructions. They all sobbed and acknowledged that they understood.
After leaving the dungeon and watching the girls safely exit the villa grounds.
Lorne took a deep breath, turned around, and walked back into the villa.
He wanted to confirm a few things.
Listening to the gunshots nearby, he searched cautiously.
Relying on the intuition of a Calamity Priest, Lorne skillfully bypassed the combat area where spiritual fluctuations were intense and gunshots were frequent.
He chose a circuitous route, and following his divination, he successfully found a room resembling a study.
Perhaps everyone's attention was drawn to the dining room, as Lorne didn't encounter many guards on his side.
—
"Capin's evidence of crime."
"Capin's evidence of crime."
Through divination, he successfully found some clues in the study.
Including some letters and a simple ledger.
He quickly scanned them.
The situation was similar to what he had guessed. Although Capin was just a small fry, he clearly had his own agenda, attempting to secure a fallback plan in case the power behind him completely abandoned him.
Judging from these scattered pieces of information, Capin seemed desperately eager to whitewash his identity as a slave trader, dreaming of joining high society and becoming a "respected" Baronet.
At the same time, his wife and children had clearly become leverage for the power controlling him, being held under house arrest somewhere.
Baronet—that's no simple promise.
Even if it was just a pipe dream, it still revealed something.
—
He had originally thought that perhaps some corrupt elements had appeared among the police in Backlund, colluding with wild Beyonders and gangs, but now it seemed—
At this moment, Lorne regretted his actions; he seemed to have learned things he shouldn't have known.
Curiosity killed the cat!
"Damn it!"
Lorne clenched his hand. Since he was already involved in this mess, he decided to go all the way, taking out a camera from his Portable Space and quickly snapping several photos of the documents.
He knew he probably couldn't shake off this matter, so he might as well keep some leverage. The reason he chose not to take the items directly was his fear that Capin and his associates could use the documents to divine his identity.
Although the probability was low, he still had to guard against it.
After quickly returning the documents to their original position and confirming once more that no obvious traces were left, Lorne quietly withdrew from the study.
He chose not to return the way he came. The guards he had knocked out during the infiltration were likely discovered by now, making that route unsafe. He chose another, relatively quiet path leading to the side wing of the villa, planning to leave from there.
Damn it—I shouldn't have gotten involved in this mess.
Lorne's mind was currently chaotic, and his spiritual intuition kept buzzing, constantly irritating his nerves and making him increasingly agitated.
"Wait! This smell—" His nose suddenly twitched, catching a familiar and unpleasant odor.
"Gas!"
"Could it be!" Lorne suddenly realized something.
"Damn it!"
Disregarding the possibility of being discovered, he immediately took off, running desperately toward the exit.
However, just as he had rushed forward a few steps, with the nearest window still about ten paces away, a heatwave carrying the aura of destruction swept over him from nearby.
"Boom!!!"
Accompanied by a tremendous explosion, Lorne's vision instantly went black.
Clearly, he had been caught in the blast caused by a certain like-minded, unscrupulous detective—