nagpurpolice Chapter 127 The Final Location and the Exorbitant Compromise
Chapter 127 The Final Location and the Exorbitant Compromise
Chapter 128 The Final Location and the Exorbitant Compromise
The heavy oak gate of Evans Manor closed slowly with a dull thud, completely shutting out the departing figures of the Arnold family apprentices.
Old Evans did not turn around immediately.
His seemingly old and hunched body stood silently in front of the door, his cloudy eyes seemingly able to penetrate the heavy door panel, scrutinizing the faint traces of arrogance and prying left in the air after the young people had left.
The manor's front yard fell silent for a moment, with only the faint whistling of the wind blowing through the withered branches, adding to the desolation.
"Five days left————"
The old man's low murmurs were almost inaudible in the empty courtyard, carrying a deep sense of weariness and heaviness.
The Arnold family lingered here for two whole days.
On the surface, the reasons were impeccable: to rest the troops and gather information about the mysterious men in black (the old man already knew they were Hick's men), and even their words and actions were considered polite.
But old Evans had lived so long and seen so many storms; he could clearly sense the undercurrents surging beneath the calm surface.
Especially the young man named Kyle, although he was well-mannered and spoke cautiously, the anxiety and urgency hidden deep in his eyes could not be hidden from the old man's worldly eyes.
It was an eagerness to obtain something or accomplish something, forcibly suppressed by good upbringing, yet it always inadvertently flowed out from the gaps in his eyes.
They came not just to gather information and rest.
Old Evans slowly turned around, his gaze sweeping over his increasingly desolate and lifeless manor, finally settling on the silhouette of the silent forest in the distance, perpetually shrouded in a light gray mist.
A thought flashed through his mind like lightning in the dark night, instantly dispelling the previous confusion.
"So—their two-day rest here is not only to gather clues, but also to avoid suspicion—they are deliberately avoiding—the Silent Forest's gaze!"
A sharp glint suddenly flashed in the old man's eyes, and his previously hunched back straightened up a bit.
That's it! That makes sense!
Kyle's barely concealed anxiety—and the obvious avoidance of the Silent Forest region in their words and actions—
These fragmented clues seem to be connected by an invisible thread.
"This wizarding social gathering! There's definitely something wrong with it! Five days—only five days left—"
The old man muttered to himself again, his withered fingers unconsciously rubbing the cold tip of his cane, his knuckles turning slightly white.
He remained silent for a moment, as if weighing the pros and cons, before finally speaking softly to the empty air beside him, his tone decisive: "Sean, tell Hick everything I just said about my deductions and the unusual situation of the Arnold family."
Remind him that the social gathering might cause serious problems, and that he should make plans in advance.
After the old man finished speaking, a very subtle energy fluctuation was felt in the air, and a calm, even voice quietly responded: "Understood, Lord Evans."
At the same time, deep within the Silent Forest.
Over the past two days, Lilith and Hughes, who not long ago disguised themselves as second-level wizards and acted arrogantly as third-level powerhouses, have been conducting an extremely frustrating and restrictive search operation, accompanied silently by a pure white figure.
Hughes' attitude underwent a complete 180-degree turn. He fawned over the white figure named "Sean" and searched for it with extra "effort"!
Or rather, they were extremely cautious, always using detection techniques with utmost care, afraid of causing too much noise or energy fluctuations, which might lead to unnecessary misunderstandings and terrible consequences.
Lilith maintained a cold expression throughout, feeling incredibly frustrated and angry, but she didn't really relax her search efforts.
Her mental power was like the finest comb, carefully sweeping over every inch of the area where they were allowed to move, leaving no stone unturned.
However, after two days of almost non-stop searching and energy probing using all sorts of methods, they still found nothing.
In the end, the two had no choice but to stop in front of a dark canyon entrance, their faces grim.
"As you've seen, it's not that we didn't try our best."
Lilith pointed to the dark canyon ahead, filled with dense negative energy that seemed to devour all light, and spoke to Sean, who was floating quietly to the side, with a hint of helplessness and frustration in her voice.
"All the clues, all the findings, ultimately point to this place! If that thing is truly in this area, it can only be in this canyon!"
Sean's face, devoid of features, turned toward the dark canyon and remained silent for a moment, seemingly conveying the latest news to the master of this place through some unknown means.
Deep in the canyon, inside a modified, hidden cave.
Hick was sitting at the stone table, his fingers lightly tapping the surface. Upon receiving the message from Sean, his expression turned very strange, and he muttered to himself, "After searching for so long, I ended up at my own doorstep? This is truly—"
This is his lair, the deepest part of the dark canyon! Is the item really with him? How come he doesn't know?
He searched almost every relic and hidden compartment left by his mentor, but found nothing particularly noteworthy that would warrant such a great deal of effort from two level-three wizards as to find "outsider items".
"Tell them!"
After a moment's thought, Hick gave Sean a command through telepathy.
"Since they're so certain the item is with me, the previous 'limited cooperation' agreement is null and void. They can come in to look for it, but the conditions must be as I initially proposed: each department's meditation method and five hundred experimental manuals. If any one of these is missing, there's no point in discussing it."
A short while later, Sean sent another message.
The other party—actually agreed?!
A genuine surprise and intense interest flashed in Hick's eyes: "You'll agree to these conditions? It seems that thing is far more important than I thought—I'm even more curious now."
Afterwards, the two parties quickly finalized the details of the deal through Sean, the middleman.
After the agreement was reached, Hughes and Lilith were finally allowed to enter Hick's territory—that daunting, dark canyon.
The Dark Canyon, now deliberately arranged by Hick and influenced by Kabu's power, is no longer what it used to be.
It was like a hideous, terrifying scar, deeply torn open the earth. The dense, almost tangible negative energy surged forth from the depths of the canyon like a black tide, emanating a chilling aura and a cacophony of mental noises like the wails of countless dead souls.
Even ordinary creatures, if they only approach the edge of the canyon, will feel their souls tremble and their life force will drain away uncontrollably at a rapid pace.
Lilith and Hughes stood at the edge of the canyon, their expressions extremely solemn.
Even though they were experienced level three wizards, they dared not be careless in the face of this naturally formed and deliberately enhanced undead wasteland.
"Your Excellency the Envoy."
Hughes' voice trembled slightly, and this time it wasn't entirely feigned; he was genuinely a little scared.
"Are you sure—His esteemed Lord Hick's residence is right below here?"
The aura of death in this place was so intense that even he, a wizard specializing in necromancy, felt oppressed and uneasy, as if some terrifying being slumbered below, capable of easily devouring his soul.
Although Lilith did not speak, her tightly pursed red lips and the increasingly solid pink spiritual energy field unconsciously gathering around her revealed her high level of vigilance.
The pure white figure of Sean gave no response, but silently drifted forward, disappearing first into the surging dark energy mist, his figure instantly swallowed up and vanished.
Lilith and Hughes exchanged a glance, both seeing deep helplessness and apprehension in each other's eyes.
Now that things have come to this, they have no way out.
The two had no choice but to grit their teeth, raise their strongest protective spells, and then leap into the dark canyon that seemed capable of swallowing everything.
The descent felt like traversing a cold, viscous sea of death.
Countless chaotic mental distractions and violent negative energy, like icicles, continuously assaulted their protective shield, hissing and corroding as they tried to penetrate their souls.
All around was an eternal, dim darkness, with only the occasional pale green phosphorescence or the twisted, tormented phantoms of the dead providing a few eerie and unpredictable lights.
I don't know how long I descended, but then my feet touched solid, cold ground.
They landed on a narrow, obviously man-made rock platform.
At the end of the platform is an opening embedded in a huge rock wall. The edges of the opening are covered with thick, constantly writhing black moss, which seems to absorb all light and sound, making it awe-inspiring.
Sean floated silently at the cave entrance, like a silent guide, waiting for them.
Upon arriving here, the suffocating, violent death energy has weakened considerably, replaced by a purer, more restrained, and orderly aura of dark stillness.
The air was still bone-chillingly cold, but the chaos and frenzy had been replaced by a heart-stopping calm.
"Come with me."
Sean's calm, unwavering voice echoed directly in their minds once more, before he turned and drifted into the deep cave entrance.
Lilith and Hughes took a deep breath and followed again, their mood growing heavier with curiosity.
They couldn't imagine who could establish a base in such an extreme environment and modify the interior to be so "suitable" and unsettling.
After passing through a downward-sloping, somewhat oppressive passageway, the view suddenly opens up.
A huge underground cavern, clearly the result of extensive artificial expansion and reinforcement, appeared before them.
High in the cave's dome, there are exotic crystals that emit a ghostly green or pale light, providing dim but sufficient illumination and casting eerie shadows.
The cave walls were polished to a relatively smooth surface, covered with intricate and mysterious runes, most of which were associated with shadows.
Death and the soul are related, and they emit faint but stable energy fluctuations like breathing, which obviously form a powerful protective array.
The cave is divided into several clearly defined functional areas.
On one side is the living area, which is so simple that it is almost rudimentary, with only a stone bed, a stone table and a few necessary storage containers, offering no comfort whatsoever.
On the other side was what resembled an experimental area, displaying various crystal-clear vessels, complex distillation and cooling devices, and specimens of biological organs immersed in an unidentified pale yellow liquid. The air was filled with a faint, pungent smell of preservatives mixed with strange herbs.
The most striking feature is a circular stone platform in the center of the cave that rises above the ground.
On the stone platform is an extremely complex magic circle deeply engraved into the stone. At the center of the magic circle are some ash-like charred marks, indicating that it was frequently used and emanating a faint spatial fluctuation and negative energy aura.
In the shadows not far from the stone platform, a tall, silent skeleton, draped in a tattered black robe, stood quietly.
Two crimson lights flickered faintly in their eye sockets, like a sleeping beast—the very same one they had seen before.
The "Kabus" that terrified Hughes to the extreme!
Beside the stone table, the young black-haired wizard, Hick, had his back to them, seemingly intently observing something on the table, completely unaware of their arrival.
Hearing footsteps, Hick slowly turned around.
His face remained calm, but deep in his eyes was a hint of strangeness and inquiry that he couldn't hide. His gaze swept over the two of them, as if he were assessing something.
"Welcome to my laboratory."
Hick's voice echoed in the empty and silent cave, plain and unremarkable, yet it made Lilith and Hughes involuntarily tense up, their internal energy quietly accelerating to prepare for any possible emergencies.
Their self-light swept rapidly across the entire cave, their spiritual perception cautiously probing outwards like invisible tentacles, trying to find any clues or residual energy that might be related to the "outsider" or that crucial "item".
However, apart from the omnipresent, pure and cold dark and deathly energy, some experimental devices that looked extremely dangerous, and magical items that emitted different fluctuations, they found nothing.
What about the item? That "item" that made them work so hard, even agreeing to those astronomically demanding conditions?
Lilith couldn't help but speak first, her voice slightly low due to the eerie and oppressive atmosphere: "Lord Hick, we have arrived as promised. You promised that as long as we pay the price, you would let us examine that item—"
Hick's gaze slowly swept over the two of them, finally landing on Lilith's anxious and scrutinizing face, a subtle and enigmatic curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"thing?"
He repeated the word softly, then stretched out his finger and rhythmically tapped the hard stone tabletop, making a soft, tinkling sound, his tone tinged with amusement.
"You keep saying the item is with me, and you're pressing me so hard, but the problem is, even you yourselves can't explain what it is, so how am I supposed to know what you're looking for?"
Upon hearing this, Hughes and Lilith exchanged glances, both seeing the speechlessness and frustration in each other's eyes.
You dare to ask for such an outrageous price without even knowing what it is?!
And they act like they've got us cornered?! Have they no shame?!
Looking at Hick, who seemed completely unconcerned and indifferent, the two were at a loss.
Hughes had no choice but to take out the old compass again, take a deep breath, and carefully inject energy into it, while carefully sensing the extremely subtle changes in the energy flow around him, trying to make one last precise location.
This time, the compass seemed to react more strongly than ever before!
The pointer trembled violently, finally pointing firmly in a clear direction!
"Little brother~"
Lilith's eyes suddenly lit up, and her voice, filled with excitement and a hint of her usual allure, returned as she pointed in that direction.
"Looks like we've finally found it! It's right there!"
Hick looked in the direction of the compass needle and Lilith's finger, and when he saw that direction, he was stunned.
Because in that direction, there's only one that can be considered special!
That was the original owner of the Moon White Fox! The murderer who killed Kurt! — Ralph!