Chapter 62: The Secret Passage and the Secret Chamber, A Corner of Fate

Chapter 62: The Secret Passage and the Secret Chamber, A Corner of Fate

In the dock area, the Sunrise Charity House.

Instructor Frolen stayed in the house where Professor Wayne had lived the night before he disappeared, with two police officers inspecting various suspicious places nearby.

"Instructor, where exactly are you? Are you playing a joke on me, or have you really disappeared?" Instructor Frolen was anxious.

He received the news from the police the day after his teacher's disappearance. It was said that someone from the charity house had gone to the police station to report the incident, and then the police notified him.

Upon receiving the message, he quickly rushed to the charity house and, after fully understanding the information held by the police, he hurriedly sent a letter to Mr. Hastur on the third day.

As a lawyer, he often dealt with the police and knew that in missing person cases, if the person was not found within five days, the outcome was usually grim.

Now, with only two days left until the five-day deadline, he hoped everything was still manageable.

In the distance, the setting sun gradually fell, and darkness began to cover the entire charity house.

Several officers in charge of the case left two officers to investigate the charity house, while the rest went back to rest.

At night, with a cool breeze, Instructor Frolen stayed alone in his room, locking the door tightly, afraid to go out casually, fearing that he might also disappear suddenly.

Thump! Thump! Thump! The door was knocked, and Instructor Frolen immediately stood up from the bedside, gripping a silver-plated cane, wary and panicky as he stared in the direction of the door.

Trying to calm down, his voice trembling, he said, "Who, who's outside?"

Thump, thump, thump! The person outside didn't speak, just three more knocks on the door, sending another shiver of dread through Instructor Frolen.

He dared not open the door anymore.

Just as he was about to shout, someone outside spoke: "Instructor Frolen, it's me, open the door."

Was that Mr. Hastur's voice? Instructor Frolen's tense spirit relaxed, he took a couple of deep breaths, and then hurriedly opened the door.

Outside, besides Mr. Hastur, there was another man, pale-faced with a cold gaze.

"Mr. Hastur, you finally came!"

Instructor Frolen was almost moved to tears; being alone here was torture.

"Waiting for a friend, so I was a bit late."

"Cough, there's always a reason for everything."

Maric shifted his gaze awkwardly, having arrived two hours later than the planned meeting time.

"Come in first, let's talk after we close the door."

Instructor Frolen stepped aside, waiting for Hastur and Maric to enter, then closed and locked the door.

Hastur sat on the bed, his expression grave, and said, "I've already understood 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 with the teacher at home, he mentioned wanting to visit the Sunrise Charity House to see if everything was moving in a good direction under the leadership of Vice Dean Bard."

"Is that all?"

Hastur frowned slightly.

"The teacher is a very decisive person. The next day, he came here alone, and that evening he wrote me a letter."

"The letter, show it to me."

"It's here, I've been carrying it with me and haven't told anyone else."

Instructor Frolen carefully took out the folded letter from his shirt pocket.

Hastur took it, unfolded the letter, and Maric also came over to read it.

"Frolen, my good student, I am now writing to you from a room in the Sunrise Charity House, under the dim light.

A lot has changed here. Vice Dean Bard, who was successfully elected as the dean, is very good to the children here. Both the food and clothing are much better than before.

My arrival was warmly welcomed by Dean Bard. He took me around many places, and it all seems to be developing in a good direction.

But I feel deeply uneasy. It's too quiet here. The children's faces are gradually losing their natural and innocent smiles. The way they look at me makes me afraid.

Their eyes are so calm and indifferent, as if they see through everything, as if there is another mature soul inside their bodies. In short, those should not be the eyes of children!

I began to realize that there might be something strange here. I thought about pretending nothing happened and leaving as soon as dawn broke.

Frolen, my good student, but you should know my character. I won't leave easily, even if it might require a fight.

Well, I mean if, if there's any change in the situation, you go ask Hastur for help. He should know how to solve the problem."

After reading, Hastur read it again twice, to make sure he didn't miss any important content.

The anomaly mentioned by Professor Wayne in the letter was something Hastur had already guessed last time, and this time it was just confirmed.

What Hastur couldn't understand was that Vice Dean Bard, now Dean Bard, seemed to have no issues with his behavior.

Even this time, when Professor Wayne disappeared, it was he who reported it to the police.

"Tsk, your teacher is really reckless. How could an old professor who studies academics possibly solve a mystery that could affect an entire charity house?"

Maric's words resonated with Hastur. If it were him, he would never let things develop to this point.

Knowing there was something strange, of course, the first step would be to leave this place and then think of a way to solve it, not to disappear oneself.

Professor Wayne was definitely courting disaster!

Hastur put aside other thoughts and asked, "Did you hear the bell last night when you stayed here? Around the same time?"

"Yes!" Instructor Frolen's expression shook, and he quickly lowered his voice, "It was about the same time!"

"Didn't you sneak a peek?"

"No, I didn't dare to take the risk."

Instructor Frolen shook his head and sighed. He didn't dare to sleep last night, especially after hearing the bell.

"The bell sound?"

Maric became interested, and Hastur had Instructor Frolen explain to him while he took out his pocket watch to check the time.

It was still early, 8:43 PM, quite a while before the bell would ring.

Perhaps they couldn't just sit here and wait; they needed to take the initiative to investigate.

If Professor Wayne was just imprisoned, where would he be? Two days had passed, and the police should have searched the entire charity house several times, but still found nothing.

A secret passage?

Inside the secret passage where Dean Darn died? Hastur pondered for a long time and finally made a decision.

"I might know where Professor Wayne is. Let's go out now."

"Now, when it's already so late?" Instructor Frolen was startled by Hastur's sudden decision.

"Yes, during the day, it's hard to catch ghosts hiding in the dark. They only come out at night."

"Do we need to call Dean Bard and the others?"

"No need, just the three of us."

…

Facing the strange bell tower, Maric noticed the problem immediately, his expression becoming much more serious.

"Your good friends can come to help now."

"No problem, they've been waiting for a long time."

After a brief conversation between Hastur and Maric, Maric left for a while, then returned leading four zombies.

Before entering the charity house, Hastur had Maric arrange his zombie squad nearby.

With dense forests around, it was easy to hide a few zombies without being discovered.

This was also why Hastur didn't want to alarm the police and Dean Bard.

With the zombies, they would lead the way.

Hastur and Instructor Frolen each carried an oil lamp and followed behind.

The zombies opened the door to the basement, and the group entered the basement under the dim light, then had the zombies close the door behind them, with one zombie guarding it to prevent outsiders from coming in.

The twelve solitary confinement rooms here had been cleaned out, and no one was imprisoned anymore.

The group quickly arrived at the central rest room, which was the room where the secret passage was discovered.

The well-hidden secret passage had been blown open by the police, revealing a short section of the passage, blocked at the end, where Dean Darn had died clutching a box of gold coins.

"There's no way through here, how could the teacher be here?" Instructor Frolen voiced his doubts.

Hastur approached a wall with an oil lamp, the dim light illuminating the dark stone wall, and after observing for a while, he said, "Don't you think this secret passage is too short?

Building such a short passage, other than hiding a few people, has no real purpose."

"There's a secret chamber inside the secret passage!"

Instructor Frolen's breathing became rapid, as if the exciting plot from an adventure story was unfolding before him, making him a protagonist in the adventure story?

"The secret passage connecting to a secret chamber is a very reasonable guess."

"Let me try."

Hastur stepped aside, and Maric observed back and forth, having his zombies knock and tap against the surrounding walls, as if sensing something.

"Something's not right here."

After sensing for a while, Maric finally found a relatively strange spot.

The stone wall here was very cold, much colder than the surrounding walls.

Ordinary people could not detect this slight temperature difference, but he could.

"Can it be broken open?"

"Your strength should be

"Your strength should be greater than mine, right?"

Maric turned to look at Hastur, signaling him to give it a try.

The zombies were strong, but Hastur, who belonged to the barbarian sequence, was even stronger.

"We don't have a suitable weapon here."

Without a proper weapon, Hastur didn't want to use his fists against a stone wall.

Maric had no choice but to let his zombies work harder, picking up stones from the blasted floor and smashing them against the wall.

Bang! Bang! Bang! After dozens of hits, the wall was indeed smashed open, revealing a hole the size of a head.

A nauseating, foul stench wafted out from the pitch-black hole.

It was the smell of a severely decomposed body! Maric was most familiar with this scent and quickly had the zombies take the lead, while Hastur and Instructor Frolen retreated to a safer distance.

Instructor Frolen exclaimed, "There really is a secret chamber! Mr. Hastur, it's a pity you're not a detective."

"It's just a very logical deduction."

H

Hastur wouldn't say that he had peeked into the related fate before arriving at the charity house. The place shown by that fate was a stone wall, precisely here.

(End of Chapter)