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Chapter 14: Coffin
"Young Master, over here!"
A large shadow appeared from the forest by the mountain road, waving at the figure that had just ran over the stone bridge.
The figure that left the castle at such a late time was naturally Qin Lun.
He had 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 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 along Frank 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 tight. 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 left not too long when a small whirlwind slowly whirled at the place they stopped at. A vague white figure appeared there and looked around. It was much like a ghost, it slowly faced the direction they left and floated away…
The place Albert Castle was located was 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 spa.r.s.e 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 who led 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 tight." Qin Lun waved his hand and continued to work.
Very soon, the stone tablet was dug up and fell to the side, 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 line of the coffin lid.
"Duo duo duo!" The pounding sound spread far in the quiet night, accompanying the insect cries. Through the hazy moonlight that penetrated the treetops, the inscription on the stone tablet was revealed.
"Steven Albert"
"芬尼特历1694-1732"
"Pfenning Calendar 1694-1732"
This was Steven Albert"s grave. This woodland was the Albert Family"s cemetery, 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 it was the plague he died from.
A few days ago when Qin Lun had just arrived at Albert Castle, he had 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 some very simple and obscured questions. For example: using Elizabeth or Laura to casually ask about their father and brother–Steven"s whereabouts. Asking 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 generally where the cemetery was, it was as easy as turning his hand.
"Creak!" An ear-piercing sound came from the coffin. Frank"s strength was very high and also used to doing this kind of thing, so he quickly open 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 emptiness of Steven Albert"s coffin, there was no body at all.
"Young Master, could it be that this Steven hasn"t died yet?" Frank asked in surprised, turning his head to look at Qin Lun.
The hunchbacked servant thought that his master was just doing what he used to, borrowing Steven"s corpse to progress some kind of medical research. Just based on his bit of worldly wisdom, he was still unable to imagine Steven"s ident.i.ty 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 it. "Take… Eh?!"
Qin Lun was just about to order the servant to close and bury the coffin again, but suddenly felt a 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, 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 the insects making a sound, he would see some strange things. And now, this cemetery was like that, terrifyingly quiet like they had been place in a separate s.p.a.ce, the world of the dead.
"Alas… Be~~careful!" Ahead of the two man 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 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"s 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 in to not react in time.
What is this thing? By the time Qin Lun stood up, the scene before him put in in shock. His huge hunchbacked servant was going against a something with long bat wings, the monster that was at the height of an adult"s shoulder was fighting him on the ground.
This monster was pitch-blank while a pair of long bat-like wings spread behind it"s back. The demon head had a pair of goat horns and in the open large mouth, two rows of sword like teeth were there. Its hands had four hooked fingers and behind was a long sickle like tail.
"This is… a stone statue monster?!" Qin Lun slightly raised his eyebrow, he was not a stranger to this thing, there were plenty of this sculpture on the stone bridge of Albert Castle.
This is really interesting! The mind of Qin Lun 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 stone statue monster"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 stone statue monster rolled for a moment on the ground and swayed its head, a deep scar was revealed on its neck but no blood flowed.
"Ao!" This monster was infuriated by the hit and turned its head angrily to glare at Qin Lun, two dots of blue light lit up on 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, his tongue licked his lips and a blood-thirsty sharp red lit in the depths of his eyes that filled his eyes.
"Young Master, run!"
Just when the stone statue monster was about to knock into Qin Lun, a figure from the side threw itself forward and wrapped his large arms around the monster, knocking it to a large tree.
"Bang!" The tree that had a diameter of over one meter trembled under the force from the two, tree leaves slowly fell to the ground.
The hunchbacked servant used his huge and thick body to force the stone statue monster against the tree trunk. This monster resentfully howled and opened its month 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 stone statue monster, 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 avoid Frank"s shoulder blade and stabbed through him to the stone statue monster"s mouth, nailing both Frank and the stone monster to the tree trunk.