Volume 2 Chapter 14: The Coffin

“Young master, over here!”

A large dark figure peeked out from the woods beside the mountain path and waved at the figure that had just run across the stone bridge.

The figure that came out of the castle late at night was naturally Qin Lun.

He had deliberately given the castle residents the impression that he jogged in the morning over the past few days, all in preparation for this moment. Even though he was more than an hour earlier than usual today, if any servant from the castle spotted him, they would just think he couldn’t sleep and started his jog earlier, avoiding any suspicion.

“Did you find the place?” Qin Lun glanced back at the castle and pulled Frank into the woods.

“I found it, young master. Actually, I came back yesterday and stayed in the woods all day. No one spotted me!” Frank said quietly.

“Take me there. We’re short on time. I need to return right after daybreak!” Qin Lun rushed into the small woods on the side of the mountain path with Frank, and the two gradually disappeared into the darkness.

Not long after Qin Lun and the other left, a small whirlwind slowly spun up where they had just stood. A faint white figure appeared on the spot. The figure seemed to look up, then drifted slowly in the direction they had gone, like a ghost…

The location of Albert Castle was a steep, sword-like isolated cliff, connected to the cliff on the other side only by a stone bridge. Behind the castle was a deep chasm, facing the Great Forest Maiar across a river.

The cliff in front of the castle, connected by the stone bridge, was actually a large hillside. This hillside was about two hundred meters high with a gentle slope. A winding dirt road ran from the foot of the mountain to the summit, serving as the passage between the castle and several small towns below.

The mountaintop had flat terrain covered with sparse woods. Qin Lun and the other were currently groping their way forward in these woods.

“Young master, here it is!” About ten minutes later, the hunchbacked servant leading the way stopped in front of a stone tablet.

“Dig it up!” Qin Lun glanced up at the sky and was the first to pick up a shovel from the ground.

“Young master, let me do it!” Frank quickly reached out.

“No, we’ll work together. Time is too tight!” Qin Lun shook his head and continued working.

Soon, the stone tablet fell to the ground, and a large pit was dug in the dirt behind it, revealing a coffin beneath.

“Open it!” Qin Lun looked at the coffin, his eyes shining slightly.

“Yes, young master!” Frank responded, spat on his hands, picked up a tool, jumped into the grave, and drove a pry bar directly into the seam of the coffin lid.

“Thud, thud, thud!” The knocking sound, accompanied by the chirping of insects, traveled far in the silent night. Under the hazy moonlight filtering through the treetops, the carved words on the fallen stone tablet became visible.

“Stephen Albert”

“Fennet Calendar 1694-1732”

This was Stephen Albert’s grave! In fact, this woodland was the Albert family cemetery, and the people buried around were all ancestors of the Albert family.

Stephen Albert’s death was no secret; almost everyone in Audiya Town knew about it. The Albert family claimed he died from illness, but they did not reveal whether it was from the epidemic disease.

A few days ago, when Qin Lun first arrived at Albert Castle, he had instructed Frank to ask the castle servants about Stephen’s cause of death and the location of his grave. Of course, Qin Lun prepared all the questions. They were very simple and subtle, such as: casually inquiring about their father and brother—Stephen’s whereabouts—by leveraging his connection with Elizabeth or Laura, and finding out if he was buried in the family cemetery.

Qin Lun knew the Albert family must have had a unified story for outsiders, so these questions shouldn’t arouse the servants’ suspicion. Naturally, they could confirm the graveyard’s location.

In fact, even without the matter of Little Miller, Qin Lun would have had Frank leave the castle at an appropriate time to find Stephen’s grave for him. For a hunchbacked servant who was used to digging up corpses for his master to provide materials for medical research, as long as he knew the general direction of the cemetery, it was as easy as pie.

“Creak!” The coffin made a harsh sound. Frank was very strong and accustomed to this kind of work, so he quickly pried open the nailed-shut coffin lid.

“Bang!” The hunchbacked servant tossed the lid aside.

“How could this be?” Frank was shocked as he looked into the opened coffin.

“Heh heh heh!” Qin Lun’s grim laughter echoed in the dim graveyard.

Just as I thought! Qin Lun’s eyes gleamed, and he cracked his knuckles. Under the hazy moonlight, Stephen Albert’s coffin was completely empty; there was no corpse inside.

“Young master, could it be that this Stephen isn’t dead yet?” Frank asked in surprise, turning to look at Qin Lun.

The hunchbacked servant had originally thought his master, as before, wanted to use Stephen’s corpse for some kind of medical research. With his limited understanding of human affairs, he couldn’t imagine how Stephen’s identity was different from any other ordinary corpse.

“Whether he’s dead or not is still uncertain for now!” Qin Lun shook his head. He didn’t explain anything to Frank; the hunchbacked servant didn’t need to know these things. “Now, let’s… Huh!”

Qin Lun had just started to order the servant to rebury the coffin when he suddenly felt a cold breeze on his back and an inexplicable sense of dread in his heart. He spun around and swung the shovel in his hand fiercely behind him.

“Clang!” The shovel swung through empty air. Qin Lun stumbled forward involuntarily, and the metal shovel head slammed into the ground, sparking.

“Young master, what’s wrong?” Frank hurriedly climbed out of the grave, holding a hammer and pry bar, and stood by his master’s side.

An illusion? No, that’s not right! Qin Lun narrowed his eyes slightly, and a hint of crimson began to glow in his pupils.

“This is the second time!” Qin Lun shouted firmly at the empty woods ahead. “If you have something to say to me, show yourself!”

“Young master…” The hunchbacked servant gripped his tools tightly, watching the eerie, dim woods nervously.

He dealt with corpses in graveyards all year round and was no stranger to situations like this. Every time the graveyard fell completely silent, with no insect sounds, he would see strange things. And now, this cemetery was exactly like that—terrifyingly quiet, as if they were isolated in another space, the world of the dead.

“Sigh… Be careful!” From the darkest shadow in front of them, a faint white figure flickered in and out of view, drifting uncertainly among the trees.

The white figure appeared to be a long-haired woman wearing a white dress. The woman raised a hand toward them, and a black slit opened on her blurry face, roughly where a mouth would be. A barely audible warning drifted faintly toward them.

“Young master, watch out!” Just as Qin Lun was staring intently at the white figure, a hoarse, angry shout sounded in his ear.

Before Qin Lun could react, he felt a strong force coming from his side. His body was shoved hard to the ground. The push was so forceful that he rolled several times uncontrollably.

It was Frank! Qin Lun pulled his arms in to protect his head and face, realizing the hunchbacked servant had pushed him down. If Frank hadn’t been so close and acted, the demon inside him definitely wouldn’t have failed to respond.

What is this thing? When Qin Lun scrambled to his feet, he was startled by the scene before him. The large hunchbacked servant was tangled up with a creature that had bat-like wings on its back and stood nearly shoulder-high to an adult. They rolled and struggled on the ground together.

The creature was completely black. It had wings on its back like a bat’s, a demonic head with a pair of goat horns, and a gaping mouth with two rows of teeth sharp as knives. Its hands had four hook-like fingers, and it had a long, scythe-like tail.

“Is this… a gargoyle?!” Qin Lun raised an eyebrow slightly; he was no stranger to such things. There were many statues of these creatures on the stone bridge in front of Albert Castle.

This is really interesting! Qin Lun’s thoughts raced, but his movements didn’t slow at all. He stepped forward and swung his shovel like a guillotine.

“Clang!” The sharp shovel struck the gargoyle as if hitting hard rock, only managing to knock it off Frank.

So hard! Qin Lun’s arms went numb, and he nearly lost his grip on the shovel.

The gargoyle rolled on the ground, shook its head, and a deep gash was visible on its neck, but no blood flowed out.

“Roar!” The monster was angered by the unexpected blow. It turned and glared furiously at Qin Lun, two faint blue lights glowing in its gray pupils. “Whoosh!” Its bat wings flapped, and it flew low along the ground, pouncing at Qin Lun.

Well come! Qin Lun’s expression changed suddenly. He threw away the shovel, and a strange black dagger slipped from his sleeve into his palm.

A cruel smile appeared on his usually calm face. He stuck out his tongue and licked his lips. A bloodthirsty red glow instantly ignited from the depths of his pupils, filling his entire eyes.

“Young master, run!”

Just as the gargoyle was about to crash into Qin Lun, a figure lunged from the side, arms spread wide, tackling the gargoyle sideways and slamming it hard against a nearby tree.

“Bang!” The tree trunk, over a meter in diameter and requiring two people to embrace, shook violently. Leaves drifted down in a shower.

The hunchbacked servant used his large, thick body to press the gargoyle hard against the tree trunk. The monster snarled in annoyance, opened its mouth, and bit hard into Frank’s shoulder. Its sharp teeth sank deep into his collarbone like daggers.

Hmph! Qin Lun’s usually gentle face twisted. He did not appreciate Frank stealing his prey.

However, seeing the hunchbacked servant and the gargoyle tangled together in their current position, a strange smile curled on the serial killer’s lips. He lowered his head and hunched his shoulders, ran two steps, and with a “thump!” leaped up, crashing into Frank’s back.

“Ugh!” A sweet taste rose in Frank’s throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood involuntarily. But before he could understand what was happening, he felt a sharp, immense pain in his shoulder.

“Thud!” A black dagger tip curved around his shoulder blade, thrusting upward from below, piercing into the gargoyle’s mouth. It pinned both Frank and the monster to the tree trunk.