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Volume 2 – Chapter 10: The Fifth Albert
If a normal person were to encounter this sort of mysterious event, they would probably be instantly overcome with both fear and dread.
The stimulation Qin Lun received from the piece of paper was much higher than normal however, as he was someone who’d had to live with horrible illusions for a period of his life. In fact, it was so much higher that Qin Lun was able to sense that a strange aura was present within the guest room.
‘Aura’ was a rather mysterious term.
All living organisms in the universes, no matter whether or not they’re intelligent, have their own distinct auras. Even though these auras are formless and don’t have any nature—even though you can’t see it or touch it—it still definitely exists.
Of course, this aura isn’t like some sort of magical force field. In fact, it’s something that arose from a living creature’s everyday movements, be that their voice, their scent, or even their appearance. And when another living creature on the receiving end of the aura comes into contact with it, both a physical and psychological effect would arise from them.
For example: Even if he’d been in the free society of the modern era, where the idea that everyone was equal was promoted, most ordinary people still wouldn’t have been able to prevent their heart rates accelerating and their palms getting sweaty when they met someone of a higher position than themselves. Their mental and physical actions would naturally have subtle changes. Students would always be afraid of their teacher calling their family, while a criminal that ran into a police officer that wasn’t actively hunting them down would still subconsciously feel somewhat fearful.
If one were to use humans as a baseline for all other creatures that were intelligent lifeforms, there were still some humans that had a monstrous amount of aura. An outstanding speaker could manipulate their words to in turn cause the morals of a group of people to surge, and thus for thunderous cheers to rain from above them. In other words, a remarkable politician could cause the civilians of an entire country to deviate from the right track, and in turn cause people to fall crazily in love with him.
Sometimes, somebody would be able to sense an aura despite both sides not directly being in contact. Higher class people with auras would sometimes be able to use them to affect their environment, and in turn to affect other lifeforms.
For example: A smart employee would be able to determine if their boss was paying attention to their subordinate solely according to the mood in the office where they worked. Another example would be that a sharp student wouldn’t need to turn around to see whether or not the teacher in charge of the class was in the midst of watching the class from outside the window.
Qin Lun’s body also had a certain kind of aura; the only difference was that his was more concealed at certain times.
People who knew about the Qin Lun’s backstory, such as Lin Feng, knew that the youth had two personalities: One was the serial killer Joey who killed for fun, while the other was Qin Lun, who wasn’t willing to hurt anyone without provocation. However, there was a point that the both of them had managed to hide such that the others didn’t know about it.
Back when they’d been in Area 91, Qin Lun had apologized to the nurse Xiao Lian about Joey Foster throwing the beautiful doctor Hu Fei into the zombies when he’d regained control. However, if one truly thought about it, this apology had just been a facade. Did Qin Lun truly feel sad or bad that Joey had done it? Did it truly weigh on his conscience?
No, he didn’t! Even though Qin Lun wasn’t willing to hurt anyone without provocation, it was still a matter of fact that, at least up to this point, he was fundamentally same as Joey: He didn’t care for life. Under his cultured and refined smile—which could cause one to feel as if a spring wind was blowing—was a cold, detached, and merciless heart.
Qin Lun’s detachment towards life came from the serious mental trauma he’d received as a child. When he turned into Joey, this twisted attitude of his turned into the aura of a terrible serial killer.
This sort of abnormal aura, which viewed others as simply prey and mud beneath its feet, had slowly matured over the serial killer’s life. And now, this aura had thoroughly condensed, such that any lifeforms with keen thoughts and feelings would immediately react whenever Joey appeared.
This was also the fundamental reason that someone in the castle had been able to sense Qin Lun’s true colors!
However, the aura that Qin Lun felt in his room wasn’t his. What he’d sensed from it was a strange and novel experience; it had even managed to severely provoke the serial killer Joey Foster.
Qin Lun waited for his frame of mind to calm down a bit, and then turned his sight towards the medical box in the corner of the room. He opened it, and then carefully inspected all of the tools and medical test tubes inside.
Because of the reminder he’d received from the mission, Qin Lun knew that a secret related to the plague existed within Albert Castle. As a doctor that had managed to cure someone with the plague before, it was very likely that he would be monitored and spied on. The medical box he carried was also likely to become an important target for others.
Qin Lun naturally knew that there wasn’t a secret in his medical box, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t use it as bait. This was also the reason he’d chosen to take a stroll around the castle, rather than head straight back to his room after he’d left the banquet. He’d wanted to give the spy time to inspect his medical box.
However, Qin Lun frowned slightly once he’d finished inspecting his medical box. He hadn’t been able to find any fingerprints on his medical tubes, nor on his tools.
Qin Lun arrived at a rather unwilling conclusion: No one had touched his medical box! Perhaps gloves would’ve been able to hide a careful person’s fingerprints, but he’d deliberately covered everything with a thin layer of talcum powder. Thus, as long as someone had touched his medical bag, it wouldn’t have mattered whether or not they’d left any fingerprints, as a trace of their act would’ve still been left behind.
Does a supernatural life form such as a ghost really exist? Qin Lun looked towards the paper sitting on his desk a little despondently.
This wasn’t the first time that Qin Lun had had such a thought. When Catherine had told him that Steven Albert had died more than a year ago, this thought had also appeared in his mind.
His mission required him to save Steven Albert, however, “saving” didn’t always mean saving one’s life; it might also mean that he needed to save his soul. However, as a serial killer that had once endured a torment of illusions, Qin Lun absolutely wouldn’t believe in ghosts unless he saw definitive proof.
The first night that Doctor Stein had arrived at Albert Castle, many people suffered from insomnia, of which Qin Lun was included. The lady boss of the inn from Odia Town that he’d stayed in also suffered from insomnia.
Meanwhile, in another guest room of Albert Castle.
“Huu~~~” A loud and clear wheeze was transmitted from far away. A large shadow that was lying sideways on a spacious wooden bed was illuminated by the moonlight that shone in through the window in the room.
As the shadow continued to wheeze, a white figure suddenly flashed near his bed. The figure’s movements were quiet, and it didn’t produce any sound as it steadily walked around the bed—like it was checking up on the large body. It disappeared back into the darkness once more soon afterwards; it had come and gone like some sort of strange floating specter.
There was one point that Qin Lun hadn’t guessed wrongly: There was a spy hidden in Albert Castle. It was just that this spy was extremely cautious, and hadn’t immediately chosen him as its target to investigate. Rather, it had chosen to spy on his servant Frank first.
As they said, ‘like Master, like Servant’. They’d more than likely be able to obtain quite a lot of information on the servant’s Master if they observed the servant. It was evident that this spy had easily thought of this sort of principle, while a loner like Qin Lun naturally wouldn’t think of it.
Once the white figure had disappeared, the wheezing sound that had been coming from the room suddenly stopped. An ugly, hunchbacked man laboriously stood up from the bed, then looked around with his bright, triangle-shaped eyes.
“What just happened? How could the Baron’s Castle have… this sort of thing is strange!” The ugly hunchbacked man scratched his head in distress as he spoke to himself, “Should I tell Young Master Wellington? Forget it, the young master is busy with something important right now. It would be for the best if I don’t cause him to worry unnecessarily!”
The person that had come to spy on Frank hadn’t expected that the hunchbacked servant would be able to sense it. The reason why Frank was able to sense the spy—which most of the castle’s population couldn’t—was due to an incredibly simple reason. In fact, it was something so simple it was almost unbelievable.
It was as Qin Lun had said before: This was an extremely interesting matter.
……
“Bang, bang, bang!” Qin Lun, who’d only managed to fall asleep in the early hours of the morning, immediately woke up in a daze when the old butler knocked on his door.
“Doctor Stein, did you not sleep well last night?” The old butler asked when he saw the young man’s bloodshot eyes.
“Ah? I just have a hard time sleeping in unfamiliar places.” Qin Lun forced a smile as he gave a half-hearted reason for his tiredness.
“Oh, so it was like that! I’m very sorry. Would you like to sleep a bit more, or would you like to eat breakfast?” The old butler asked with an apologetic expression.
“Hm… Has Sire Baron woken up yet?” Qin Lun muttered to himself for a moment before he asked.
“Actually, it was Master that had me come and invite you to tea this morning.” The old butler hesitated before he honestly replied.
“Sire Baron must have some business for me.” Qin Lun then gently smiled. “Please wait a moment. Let me wash up before I go with you.”
“Sire doesn’t need to be so polite. We’re already prepared for you.” The old butler smiled and then clapped his hands. Once he’d done so, a few female servants holding pitchers and towels walked into the guest room in a line.
Once they’d entered, Qin Lun basically became a puppet for the female servants to arrange, and finally enjoyed the way this world treated nobility. Other than him rinsing out his mouth with water, even wiping his face was done by one of the servants.
This was truly considerate and attentive! Qin Lun finally somewhat understood why, after the experience, he’d just had, that within all those books he’d read before, so many people would seek wealth and power. This kind of noble life really was something that many people would long for day and night.
After he’d been taken care of, the old butler guided Qin Lun to the castle’s courtyard. When they reach the courtyard, the old baron was sitting beneath the shade of an umbrella, and was enjoying a cup of coffee alongside his morning tea.
“Doctor Stein, you’re here! Please, sit!” The Baron smiled at Qin Lun. “I’m sorry for waking you up so early. It looks like you still haven’t slept enough.”
“It’s not a problem, it’s just that my sleeping habit isn’t very good.” Qin Lun smiled and waved his hand. “Besides, I haven’t even repaid a fraction of the hospitality that you showed me yesterday. I assume that Sire Baron has something to tell me. Please, so long as you can use this Wellington’s meager contribution, go ahead and say whatever it is you need Sire.”
“Doctor Stein, you’re too polite!” The old baron muttered a bit to himself before he continued, “Since you’ve said so so outspokenly, I won’t beat around the bush. I didn’t invite you to express our gratitude to you for Odia Town. In fact, there’s a different matter that I’d like to ask of you.”
“Please command me as you wish.” Qin Lun’s eyes flashed as the smile on his face became even more amiable.
“The four members of the Albert Family you saw last night weren’t everyone.” The old baron’s tone was somewhat heavy as he spoke with difficulty. “In fact, there’s one more member of the Albert Family in the castle that you haven’t met yet.”
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