Volume 2 Chapter 1: Master and Servant

Qin Lun’s eyelids fluttered slightly, and he slowly opened his eyes. He felt like he had just woken from a very long dream. A voice as faint as the whispers of ants had drifted in and out of that dream, but it was also incredibly clear, as if deeply carved into the depths of his consciousness.

That voice did not belong to any known language, yet Qin Lun somehow understood all of it, as if it acted directly on his soul, needing no translation at all.

“Hic… hic…” Just as Qin Lun was trying to think more about the contents of the voice, a crying sound as grating as a broken gong started up right beside his ear.

This time, Qin Lun was certain it was definitely not the law explanations from Shattered Starry Sky, because this sound was too unpleasant, too piercing, comparable to an owl’s cry, and it made it impossible for him to lie quietly any longer.

“Shut up!” Qin Lun could bear it no longer and let out a low shout.

“Ah…” The crying sound as grating as a broken gong abruptly stopped, replaced instead by a high-pitched shriek.

Qin Lun, somewhat annoyed, pushed aside the thin thing covering his body, sat up, and looked expressionlessly toward the direction of the shriek. Under the bright, high-hanging moon, he saw a hunchbacked man with an ugly face and ragged clothes sitting on the ground, his face full of terror as he scrambled backward in panic.

“Young Master Wellington, I know you are very dissatisfied with this kind of funeral, but poor Frank really has no money to prepare a coffin for you!”

The hunchbacked man’s hair was unkempt, the whiskers on his chin covered in dust, his coarse linen shirt stained everywhere. Perhaps due to years of labor and being covered in grime, it was hard to tell his exact age, but a rough estimate suggested he was not yet fifty.

A funeral?! Qin Lun turned his head to look around, then curled his lip expressionlessly. The place he was in was a gloomy, dark forest graveyard. Besides the cold moonlight filtering through the branches onto the ground and the ghostly shadows of numerous dark grave mounds, there was not even the sound of insects or rodents.

The thin thing Qin Lun had just pushed aside was a worn-out straw mat. Half a meter beside him, there was a rectangular pit over a meter deep, clearly a grave prepared for him.

After calming down a little, Qin Lun’s mind immediately filled with information about the plot identity from the Death Notice. After leaving Shattered Starry Sky, the Death Notice seemed to have lost some of its suppression and was easier to summon now.

Wellington Stan, human, twenty-four years old, occupation: folk doctor. His family had practiced medicine for generations but had never obtained an official medical license.

A folk doctor without an official license! Qin Lun’s face twitched slightly. In other words, the original owner of this body was a quack doctor with terrible medical skills.

Qin Lun turned his head to look at the hunchbacked man. Wellington’s remaining memories immediately surfaced with the man’s related information.

Frank ?, human, thirty-two years old, unemployed drifter, private servant of Wellington Stan.

He is only thirty-two? Qin Lun was a bit surprised. From Frank’s wrinkled ugly appearance and the skinny, vein-covered back of his hands, he looked to be at least in his fifties.

Wellington’s remaining memories showed that Frank was originally an abandoned infant, picked up from the wild and raised by Wellington’s father. Originally, they intended to sell him to a city workshop as a child laborer, but because Frank was just too ugly—not only hunchbacked but also somewhat disabled in his legs—they simply couldn’t sell him and ended up keeping him as a servant.

However, Frank was extremely grateful to the Stan father and son for taking him in and was very loyal to the Stan family. As a child, he had often taken beatings for young Wellington from other children, and as an adult he worked uncomplainingly, contributing greatly to Wellington’s “medical research.”

For example: going to the graveyard to help Wellington steal fresh corpses for him to dissect and study…

“Young Master Wellington, you’re not completely dead?”

By now, Frank had somewhat regained his composure and ventured to ask in a small voice. After all, this was his own master, and coupled with his years of dealing with corpses in graveyards, he could still tell dead people from living ones.

What do you mean, not completely dead! The faint habitual smile on Qin Lun’s face vanished instantly, red glints flashing repeatedly in his eyes, and he had a strong urge to kill Frank right then and there. However, realizing that this loyal servant could still be of great use to him, the red glints in the serial killer’s eyes slowly faded away.

Qin Lun silently stood up and brushed the dust off his body. He then noticed he was wearing a pair of old leather gloves and a black velveteen coat that reached his knees. Underneath were a black gentleman’s vest and a white lace-trimmed shirt, with black formal trousers below and a pair of long riding boots.

This outfit was actually somewhat passable; aside from the clothes being rather old, the white shirt a bit yellowed, and obvious wear at the cuffs and lining, he could barely be considered a respectable person.

“Young Master Wellington, you really aren’t dead!” Seeing Qin Lun stand up, Frank finally showed great joy. Using both hands and feet, he crawled a few paces on the ground, grabbed his master’s leg, opened his big mouth to reveal a set of rotten teeth covered in black and yellow tartar, and started wailing like a ghost. His ugly face was immediately streaked with snot and tears.

“I…” Seeing his trouser leg smeared with Frank’s tears and snot, Qin Lun finally couldn’t hold back his breath and kicked this loyal servant to the ground.

“How many days have I been dead… oh no, how many days have I been unconscious!” Qin Lun covered his face, took a deep breath, and tried to calm the anger Frank had stirred up.

“Young Master, you’ve been dead… oh no, unconscious for almost three days!” Frank wiped his face, cautiously stealing a glance at Qin Lun as if still trying to confirm his master’s state.

“Is there a water source nearby? Take me there!” Qin Lun ordered expressionlessly.

“Young Master, are you thirsty? I have water here!” Frank hesitated for a moment, then pulled a flat, small aluminum flask from inside his clothes.

“No, I need to clean my body!” Qin Lun frowned as he took the flask. Even though these clothes seemed to have been cleaned once before burial, they now reeked of corpse rot and couldn’t be worn to meet people.

“Cough, cough, cough! What is this?” Qin Lun brought the flask to his lips and, after one sip, was so stimulated by the pungent, spicy taste that he coughed repeatedly, his pale face turning the color of an eggplant.

“This… this is that wine… alcohol from the Young Master’s workshop, but I didn’t take much, and I added some water to it!” Frank rubbed his rough big hands together and muttered somewhat sheepishly, “It’s cold at night; drinking a little can ward off the chill!”

Diluted medical alcohol! Qin Lun’s eyes widened, a crimson glow rising in his pupils, and once again he had the urge to strangle Frank outright. The serial killer had roamed freely until now and had never been tricked like this before.

Closing his eyes and taking several deep breaths, he barely suppressed the murderous impulse inside. Qin Lun then bellowed expressionlessly again, “Lead the way, take me to the nearest water source!”

“Oh!” Frank ducked his head and agreed, but he didn’t start off immediately. Instead, he crouched on the ground and felt around, picking up two items and handing them to Qin Lun.

Qin Lun took the two items and raised an eyebrow. They were a small wide-brimmed formal hat and a walking cane. By the moonlight, he could see that the brass handle at the top of the cane was mostly worn away; it looked extremely old and was probably an inheritance from Wellington’s father.

Seeing these items, Qin Lun automatically reached into his coat pocket, and immediately his expression changed. This wasn’t his habit; it was the habit of that already-dead young master Stan, Wellington.

“Where is my pocket watch?” Qin Lun’s face showed a warm smile, but red glints flashed once more in his eyes. From Wellington’s remaining memories, he sensed that the young man should also have had a brass pocket watch inherited from his father, the most valuable item on his person.

“Young Master’s pocket watch…” Frank’s face showed a trace of guilt, his eyes shifting as he replied, “I thought the Young Master had passed away, so I pawned the watch!”

Qin Lun remained silent, the red glow in his eyes growing brighter. But when he noticed the direction Frank occasionally stole glances, he paused slightly. At one end of the grave pit, a small square stone tablet lay peacefully in the soil.

Qin Lun felt a stir in his heart, stepped forward, and raised the stone tablet. He then let out a soft sigh. Carved on this tablet was the name Wellington Stan—this was that young man’s tombstone! Frank hadn’t taken the pocket watch for himself; instead, he had chosen to erect a tombstone for him.

Thinking it over carefully, although Wellington had no coffin before his death, the clothes on his body were neat and tidy, at least much more respectable compared to Frank, whose clothes barely covered him.

If this ugly-faced, disabled servant weren’t so loyal to his master, he could have stripped Wellington’s clothes long ago to wear for warmth. As for the money from pawning the watch, it probably only covered the cost of this tombstone, not enough to buy the young man a coffin.

Imagining the disabled Frank carrying Wellington’s body and the tombstone, sneaking into this eerie, terrifying small forest late at night. Using diluted medical alcohol to fend off the cold night wind, digging out this grave pit for his master, shovelful by shovelful.

The smile on Qin Lun’s face did not lessen in the slightest, but the red glints in his eyes slowly faded away.

“Let’s go, while it’s not yet dawn, to the river to clean up.”

Frank’s left and right feet were not symmetrical, so he walked with a hobbling, limping gait and at a very slow pace. Under the moonlight now, Qin Lun noticed that this servant, with his head lowered, was actually as tall as he was, with broad shoulders and a large skeletal frame. If not for the hunchback, he would probably have been a huge, burly man.

Qin Lun did not urge Frank further, following behind him with a calm expression, occasionally looking with interest at the broken tombstones and exposed skeletal remains by his feet, as composed as if strolling in his own backyard.

Not far from this forest graveyard, there was a small stream. Qin Lun quickly stripped off his clothes, stood naked in the stream, and washed his body and clothes. Only when the stench of decay had faded considerably did he climb back onto the bank.

Frank had started a small bonfire by the stream. Seeing Qin Lun come ashore, he immediately took his clothes and hung them on branches beside the fire to dry.

“Young Master Wellington, have another sip of wine to warm up?” Frank, utterly lacking in perception, once again offered that flat flask containing diluted alcohol to Qin Lun.

“You! Get down there and wash up too!” Qin Lun’s smile vanished as he accepted the flask expressionlessly, then kicked the hunchbacked servant into the stream.