Shad knew he had found the place.
The chains outside the broom closet hung loosely, suggesting someone had already opened it, but the door remained tightly shut. Shad tried pulling it, and the thin wooden door immediately yielded, opening a crack.
Subconsciously, he reached for the revolver at his waist, but after a moment's hesitation, he reached for the Rhode cards in his pocket instead. This was a school, after all; Shad didn't want to make too much noise by firing a gun. Besides, bullets couldn't turn corners, but his Rhode cards could even trace pentagrams in the air.
Looking left and right to ensure no one was watching, Shad slipped into the broom closet. Perhaps because mops were often put inside without being dried, the moderately sized space smelled of dampness. Its overall area was roughly the same as the walk-in closet at Shad's home.
To prevent the possibility that Henry Wall's secret room lay directly behind the wall, Shad held his breath and slowed his pace as much as possible.
Ignoring the gas lamp switch on the wall, Shad narrowed his eyes to see in the dark, watching as the blood-colored halo vanished directly in front of the wall at the deepest part of the closet.
Shelves stood against the left and right walls, while long brooms and mops were placed against the wall where the red halo had disappeared. That specific section of the wall was the only part left completely bare.
"Is there a secret passage? But where is the mechanism?"
If there truly were a mechanism, it would certainly make a loud noise, so Shad opted for a simpler method
"Felianna's Witchlight!"
A golden glow ignited in his right palm. Then, as if plunging a red-hot iron poker into a block of ice, Shad thrust his right hand into the stone wall before him. Just as the tip of his arm entered the wall, he faintly heard voices coming from the other side.
"Very good."
He withdrew his arm and pressed himself against the wall, aligning his ear with the hole that had nearly penetrated the stone to listen to the sounds below
"Praise death..."
It was a prayer. Because the sound was distorted by the layer of stone, he couldn't tell who it was. However, Shad could at least discern that the voice came from far behind, not just a single wall away.
Thus, he extended a finger toward the hole, using it to melt through the final layer of the wall. Peering through the opening to confirm there was a narrow passage behind, he melted out a gap wide enough for him to squeeze through sideways, then used [Breath of Ages] to restore the wall to its original state.
"Are there traces of elements?"
【None.】
On both sides of the passage behind the wall were gray stone brick walls. Five or six steps forward led to an iron door; the red halo led there, and the praying voice originated from there as well. Simultaneously, Shad caught a whiff of a foul stench—the smell of decaying corpse materials.
"I hope the scene I'm about to see doesn't ruin my appetite for dinner."
He thought of Mia, imagining the cat sprawled on the windowsill with its front paws tucked in, napping in the sun, to dilute the mental image of something disgusting. Controlling his footsteps and timing them with the continuity of the praying voice, Shad approached the iron door.
Pressing his hand against the door, the failure of [Key of Doors] indicated that the door was unlocked. After confirming there were still no traces of elements, he closed his eyes and imagined the source of the praying voice in the space behind the door. Holding a card in his left hand and drawing the revolver he didn't intend to use in his right, he opened his eyes, stepped back two paces, and suddenly burst through the door
"Nobody move!"
He crashed through the door, his muzzle pointed at a young man kneeling on the ground, seemingly praying to a bronze jar before him.
The man wore a black robe. The bronze jar was suspended in the air by several iron chains, and beneath it sat a small coal stove used for heating in the countryside; the stench emanated from the bronze jar. It seemed there was a ventilation shaft here, otherwise, he would have succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning long ago.
Candles standing on the floor served as the light source for the secret room. Henry Wall stopped praying, stood up in silence, and turned to look at the detective holding the gun behind him. The space here was slightly larger than the broom closet outside, but aside from Captain Lades lying by the wall, and a bookshelf and desk, there wasn't much else.
"You found me?"
He asked, staring at the muzzle.
Shad glanced at the bronze jar
"What are you boiling?"
The young man smiled
"What do you think?"
"The serial killings in the city—you did them?"
"Yes."
He actually admitted it.
"Why? Don't tell me you have a fiancée in the countryside who is gravely ill or has died, and you want to use this method to extend her life."
Shad looked into the other man's eyes. Henry Wall was indeed an ordinary person, and the ritual-like scene before him possessed no power whatsoever. But the indifference toward life and the complete lack of panic he displayed made Shad realize this guy was likely a lunatic.
Come to think of it, the evil deeds committed by the Ring-wielders he had met in this world seemed fewer than those committed by ordinary people; perhaps the outsider simply hadn't seen enough of the world.
"No, no, I would never take such a risk for someone else's life."
Henry Wall looked back at the jar boiling the concoction
"I am dying. A brain disease. But I cannot die."
"Why?"
"Isn't it obvious? Someone like me, destined for greatness, how could I die so young?"
Shad had suspected the man was a lunatic, but he hadn't expected him to be so shameless.
"So you believe your life is more important than others'? That using other people's lives to extend your own is a worthwhile endeavor?"
Shad asked. The young man in the black robe looked at him with surprise
"Oh, you actually understand that? Yes, a month ago, through an introduction, I met a miraculous boy who could accurately predict a person's manner and time of death. The boy told me that I would die of a brain disease during the first snow of this winter. Therefore, I spent a great deal of money to purchase ancient documents, and after translating them, I obtained the recipe for this life-extending potion. I have always believed that I can grasp my own destiny."
"Hmm... you actually didn't need to be that detailed."
"No, no, I've been holding these words in for a long time. Before, I could only tell them in my diary, then to the corpses that contributed their lives to me. Now, I can finally tell a living person."
Shad confirmed the man was indeed a lunatic
"The Captain's gun is in your hand, right? I guess it's in your sleeve. Now, put your hands up above your head. I'll count to—"
Henry Wall raised his gun to aim at Shad. Prepared for this, the moment the other man moved to raise the weapon, Shad flicked the card in his left hand.
He didn't hold back; the card sliced directly through the finger attempting to pull the trigger. Because the speed was so great, Henry Wall didn't realize his finger was gone until he had pulled the trigger several times without the bullet firing.
"Ah—!"
The scream had barely left his lips when Shad strode forward and landed a punch on his face
"Psychic Blast!"
The power of Psychic Blast depended on the target's mental strength, and the closer the hand was to the head, the greater the impact.
With one hit, Henry Wall's head didn't explode like a watermelon, but he was sent flying backward as if struck by a high-kinetic shell. The back of his head slammed heavily into the bronze jar with a "thud," and his body slid limply to the floor, completely unconscious.
Shad shook his hand with a look of disgust, noticing that under the candlelight, blood was flowing from the man's eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Although he was still breathing, he likely would never wake up.
"So [Psychic Blast] has such a strong effect when used on ordinary people."
【That was quite ruthless.】
"She" chuckled in his ear.
"Anyway, he said he has a diary, so I don't need to ask for more details. And what would I keep a person like this for?"
Shad asked, pulling Captain Lades' pistol from the man's hand and thrusting the fingerless hand into the furnace beneath the bronze jar. After burning it for a while, he withdrew the hand.
This was partly to confirm if the man was truly unconscious, and partly to mask the wound caused by the instant cut of a sharp blade. He still intended to use the criminal's body to claim the bounty.
Finally, he looked at the wraith "perched" behind the young man. She had become more transparent, and her pale green spiritual form was gradually fading
"You may leave now."
He spoke, staring at the soul. His right hand drew a vertical line in the air, and the black trace left by his fingertip expanded into a pitch-black rift. From behind the opening, extreme cold and the light of the Dark Moon penetrated through; beyond lay the Land of the Dead.
Most souls in Midhillburg were sucked away by the [Interval of Life and Death], so Shad opened the gate to true death, allowing this poor soul to leave directly.
Affected by the black wind blowing from the Land of the Dead, the pale green light on the already weak wraith gradually vanished.
She slowly returned to the appearance of a normal human woman. Lowering her slightly youthful face, she looked blankly at her hands, then at Henry Wall on the floor, and finally at the young detective before her
"Thank you."
Bowing slightly to Shad, she turned into a streak of white light and entered death.
The opening vanished, and Shad breathed a sigh of relief
"Did another good deed. I can reward myself by taking Mia to eat something delicious tonight."
As he thought this, he was about to check on the bound Captain, but he suddenly stopped
"Wait a minute. Henry Wall was hit hard by my [Psychic Blast], and the back of his head just slammed into a heavy object. He definitely won't wake up. Given these injuries, he will likely die completely this winter due to brain death."
【And so?】
"She" chuckled.
"Although the potion recipe Henry Wall bought was flawed, that so-called 'boy who predicts death' was right; he indeed will die in winter due to a brain condition. But not because his brain was originally diseased, but because he killed people thinking his brain was diseased, and thus was [dealt with] by me..."
Shad narrowed his eyes. Accurately predicting the time and manner of one's end was something that even the occult arts provided by Priest Augus couldn't achieve.
"There's actually a prophet in Midhillburg who can predict death? It seems I should keep an eye on this."
【I have a very interesting idea.】
"What?"
"She" chuckled, as if her lips were opening right next to Shad's ear
【The other party predicted Henry Wall would die during the first snow of this winter.】
"That's correct."
Shad looked at the young man collapsed by the furnace.
【Then, why don't you try—killing him right now?】