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Volume 2 – Chapter 14: Coffin

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“Young Master, over here!”

A large shadow appeared from the forest by the mountain road, waving at the figure that had crossed the stone bridge.

The figure that left the castle at such a late hour was naturally Qin Lun.

He deliberately gave everyone in the castle the impression that he runs in the early morning just for this. Although he had left even earlier than usual by an hour, even if the castle servants noticed, they would at most believe that he couldn’t sleep at night and woke up earlier to run. No one would be suspicious.

“Have you found the place?” Qin Lun turned his head and glanced at the castle, then pulled Frank along into the forest.

“I found it, Young Master. Actually, I had already returned yesterday and stayed in the forest for a day. No one found me!” Frank softly said.

“Take me there. Our time is limited. When it’s daybreak, I have to go back.” Qin Lun led Frank and hurried into the small forest by the mountain road. The two men gradually disappeared in the dark.

The two of them had not left for long, when a small whirlwind slowly formed at the place they previously stopped at. A vague white figure appeared and looked around. It was much like a ghost — it slowly faced the direction they had left and floated away…

Albert Castle was located on an independant overhanging cliff like it was carved by a sword, and the only thing that linked the cliff to the other side was the stone bridge. Behind the castle was a moat, separating them from Maize Forest by a river.

And the cliff in front of the castle that was linked by the stone bridge was a great mountain slope. This mountain slope was around two hundred meters high, and it slope was mild. From the top of the mountain to the bottom was a small stone road, it was the road to the small town below the castle.

The hilltop terrain was also leveled, covered in a sparse forest. Qin Lun and Frank were going through this forest in the dark right now.

“Young Master, it’s this place!” About ten minutes later, the hunchbacked servant in the lead stopped in front of a stone tablet.

“Dig it open!” Qin Lun raised his head to check the sky, then started to dig into the ground with a shovel.

“Young Master, you can just leave it to me!” Frank quickly tried to stop him.

“No, we’ll do it together. The time’s too short.” Qin Lun waved his hand and continued to work.

Very soon, the stone tablet was dug up and fell to the side. There was a large hole behind it, showing the coffin underneath.

“Open it.” Qin Lun’s eyes slightly shone at the sight of the coffin.

“Yes, Young Master!” Frank complied and spat into his hands, getting ready to jump into the grave with his tools. He aimed the auger at the edge of the coffin lid.

“Duo duo duo!” The pounding sound spread far in the quiet night, accompanying the cries of the insects. Through the hazy moonlight that penetrated the treetops, the inscription on the stone tablet was revealed.

“Steven Albert”

“Pfenning Calendar 1694-1732”

This was Steven Albert’s grave. This woodland was the Albert Family’s cemetery, and all the graves here were the Albert Family’s ancestors.

Steven Albert’s death was not a secret and pretty much everyone in Odia Town knew. The Albert Family claimed he died from sickness but did not reveal if he had died from the plague.

A few days ago, when Qin Lun had just arrived at Albert Castle, he told Frank to ask the castle’s servants about Steven Albert’s cause of death and where his grave was located. Naturally, all the details of the questioning were prepared by Qin Lun. They were all very simple and obscure questions. For example: using Elizabeth or Laura to casually ask about their father and brother—Steven’s whereabouts. This was to ask if they were buried in the family graveyard.

Qin Lun knew that the Albert Family would certainly be talked about by outsiders so it was best to ask the servants these things without arousing suspicion. And like that, they eventually confirmed where the cemetery was.

Actually, even if there wasn’t the matter with little Miller, Qin Lun would still be able to find a suitable time for Frank to leave the castle and find Steven’s grave for him. For the hunchbacked servant who had dug up corpses for his master to use as medical research material all year round, as long as he knew the general location of the cemetery, it was as easy as turning his hand.

Creak! An ear-piercing sound came from the coffin. Frank’s strength was very high and he was also used to doing this kind of thing, so he quickly opened the securely nailed coffin lid.

Bang! The coffin lid was thrown aside by the hunchbacked servant.

“How could this be?” Frank looked at the open coffin and exclaimed in surprise.

“Hehehe!” In the dusky graveyard, Qin Lun’s dark laughter echoed.

As expected! Qin Lun’s eyes shone and he knead his knuckles. Under the hazy moonlight, they could only see the empty coffin, there was no body at all.

“Young Master, could it be that this Steven hasn’t died yet?” Frank asked in surprise, turning his head to look at Qin Lun.

The hunchbacked servant thought that his master was just doing what he was used to: borrowing Steven’s corpse to conduct some kind of medical research. Just based on his bit of worldly wisdom, he was still unable to imagine Steven’s identity and just how he was different from normal corpses.

“I am temporarily unsure if he is dead yet.” Qin Lun shook his head. He did not explain to the hunchbacked servant. He did not need to know of it. “Take… Eh?!”

Qin Lun was just about to order the servant to close and bury the coffin again, but suddenly felt the wind blow on his back and he felt an indescribable chill. He turned around quickly and viciously waved the shovel in his hands behind him.

“Dong!” The shovel hit nothing but empty air, then the ground as Qin Lun staggered and the shovel smashed into the ground, causing bits of sparks to fly.

“What’s wrong Young Master?” Frank hurriedly climbed out from the grave, holding the shovel and awl as he stood by his side.

Was it his misconception? No, it wasn’t! Qin Lun narrowed his eyes and a hint of scarlet started to seep into his eyes.

“This is already the second time.” Qin Lun faced the empty forest and yelled out in a deep voice, “Since you have something to say to me, then come out!”

“Young Master…” The hunchbacked servant gripped the tools in his hands and nervously looked at the gloomy and dusky forest.

Since he had been dealing with corpses in cemeteries all year round, he was not unfamiliar with this kind of situation at all. Every time, when the surrounding of the graveyard was quiet with not even a peep from the insects, he would see some strange things. And now, this cemetery was quiet, terrifyingly quiet like they had been placed in a separate space in the world of the dead.

“Alas… Be~~careful!” Ahead of the two men, in the darkest area, a white, hazy figure flickered and drifted in the forest.

The white figure looked like a long-haired woman in white. The woman raised a hand at them. A pitch-black hole split open on her hazy face where the mouth would normally be, and a faint warning they could not hear came through.

“Young Master, be careful!” As Qin Lun looked at the white figure, a broken gong-like voice shouted by his ear.

Qin Lun had not been able to react yet when he felt a great force beside him that suddenly pushed him to the floor. This force was very strong, causing him to roll a few times on the ground.

It was Frank! Qin Lun withdrew his arms, covering his head and face as he knew by heart that it was the hunchbacked servant that pushed him over. If it weren’t for Frank being so close to him and acting out, it was impossible for the demon within to not react in time.

What was this thing? By the time Qin Lun stood up, the scene before him put in in shock. His huge hunchbacked servant was going against something with long bat wings; a monster at the height of an adult’s shoulder was fighting him on the ground.

This monster was pitch-black with a pair of long, bat-like wings spread behind its back. The demon head had a pair of goat horns and inside its large mouth were two rows of sword-like teeth. Its hands had four hooked fingers, and it had a long, sickle-like tail on its back.

“This is… a gargoyle?!” Qin Lun slightly raised his eyebrow. He was not a stranger to this thing, there were plenty replications of this sculpture on the stone bridge of Albert Castle.

This was really interesting! Qin Lun’s mind went through thousands of thoughts, but the movement of his hand was not slow at all. He walked forward a step and the shovel in his hand was like a lever as it was brandished.

“Dang!” The point of the shovel cut down into the gargoyle’s body and it was like hitting a hard rock. It only caused the monster to get off Frank’s body.

So hard! Qin Lun’s arms went numb for a moment. Even the shovel almost fell out of his hand.

The gargoyle rolled for a moment on the ground and swayed its head, a deep scar appeared on its neck but no blood flowed from it.

“Ao!” This monster was infuriated by the hit and turned its head angrily to glare at Qin Lun with two dots of blue light that lit up its gray pupils. “Huuuu!” it made a cry and threw itself at Qin Lun, flying close to the ground.

Come! Qin Lun’s face changed and he suddenly threw aside the shovel and a strange black dagger dropped out of his cuff into his hand.

A cruel smile floated up on his tranquil face, he licked his lips and a blood-thirsty, sharp red lit up and filled the depths of his eyes.

“Young Master, run!”

Just when the gargoyle was about to crash into Qin Lun, a figure from the side threw itself forward and wrapped his large arms around the monster, knocking it into a large tree.

Bang! The tree that was over one meter in diameter trembled under the force from the two, and tree leaves slowly fell to the ground.

The hunchbacked servant used his huge and thick body to force the gargoyle against the tree trunk. This monster resentfully howled and opened its mouth to take a bite at Frank’s shoulder. The sharp teeth that were like daggers bit deep into his collarbone.

Hmph! Qin Lun’s originally gentle and refined face twisted. He did not appreciate Frank plundering his prey.

However, observing the hunchbacked servant’s posture while tangling with the gargoyle, a strange smile floated up on the serial killer’s face. He lowered his head and shoulders, dashed for two steps then jumped with a “bang!”, knocking against Frank’s back.

“Oh!” A sweet taste filled Frank’s throat and he spat out blood. However, before he could react to what was going on, he felt a sharp pain from his shoulder.

Pu! A black knife bypassed Frank’s shoulder blade and stabbed through him into the gargoyle’s mouth, nailing both Frank and the gargoyle to the tree trunk.

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