Chapter 194: New Discovery
Clark paid close attention to the records concerning Kander. Although he had not met Kander, his intuition told him to take this role seriously.
Kander had obtained the stone sculpture that Valente and Bluebeard the Count used to perform the demon-subduing technique, and he knew how to seal the stone sculpture away and hide it well. From this, it was clear that this person’s knowledge and ability were absolutely not those of an ordinary human.
In addition, these two notebooks in front of him had records about him, which indirectly proved that Kander’s death involved an anomaly.
If Bluebeard the Count and Butler Valente knew that Kander was the culprit who stole their stone sculpture, then Kander’s death should not involve an anomaly. The demon-subduing technique records in Bluebeard the Count’s notebook would have records about Kander, and Butler Valente’s observation records about Kander would not have been crossed out.
But if Bluebeard the Count and Butler Valente did not know that Kander stole the stone sculpture of Shadow of All Things, then why did Kander die?
Thinking of the riddle-like words “not fully understood” that Butler Valente had just said, Clark felt a headache coming on. He had almost turned Butler Valente’s room upside down, but he still could not figure out what exactly he had not “fully understood.”
“Could it be related to Kander’s death?” Clark could not help but think. He stared fixedly at Butler Valente’s observation records, gazing at the crossed-out part.
Suddenly, Clark noticed that the crossed-out part seemed to have overlapping ink traces, but Butler Valente’s blacked-out ink was too heavy and dense to detect at first. So he lit the oil lamp on the desk and illuminated that page of paper with the firelight, gradually making out faintly what else was written above.
“He actually jumped off a cliff to his death… No one can set foot in the abyss ten thousand feet below the old castle. He can’t be found, and even if he is, the corpse won’t be intact and can’t be used as material… Who else can fill this position… Who can come to this remote old castle to help us…” Clark slowly recited the overlapping text, finally learning the cause of Kander’s death.
Jumped off a cliff? Why would someone jump off a cliff for no reason?
Clark felt like he was on the verge of touching the edge of the entire truth, just missing that one key needle to pierce the balloon.
For him now, surviving had become a luxury, so Clark felt that rather than dying confused, it was better to figure out the entire truth before dying, and at least die as a ghost who understood.
Clark scanned Valente’s room once more, hoping to find other valuable clues.
……
“Shadow of All Things, eye of the crevice, recorded in the abnormal god’s document among anomaly beings. This abnormal god’s incarnation image in the New York region has widely circulated in the form of an urban legend. I think if everyone was obsessed with foreign websites in their early years, they should have heard of the existence of Slender Man.” After flipping through a large amount of document information, the Tiger Group member in charge of checking finally found the answer.
“Slender Man?” Yu Lianyun blinked, slightly surprised. “I’ve heard of the urban legend about it. It’s said to abduct children, and anyone who inadvertently senses its existence will suffer its harm. Those people will endure mutilation by mysterious power, damaging their spirit, unable to sleep at night, frequent changes in vision, and various dizziness and other physiological discomforts. When it makes close contact with humans, humans are likely to be affected by its ability and become mentally deranged.”
“Yes, it’s it. Except for the part about abducting children, which is a folk embellishment and fabrication in the story, almost everything else is true.” The Tiger Group member reporting exhaled deeply, saying with a grave facial expression, “In addition, after checking and translating the prayer chant praising Shadow of All Things from the evil cults across the other shore, I discovered that it is actually an exposition in parallel prose of the Yellow Sand Truth School on the lord of yellow sand.”
Hearing this, Yu Lianyun could not help but step forward and snatch the information from the other’s hand to flip through it herself. The shock in her eyes nearly burst forth.
Yu Lianyun only read a few lines before she closed her eyes, trembling restrainedly while taking deep breaths, and said with a grim facial expression: “Bu Gaojun, you have made a great discovery, but at the same time we have run into big trouble.”
Bu Gaojun nodded and said: “Yes, the lord of yellow sand in the Shenzhou Region is also an incarnation of Shadow of All Things. This abnormal god has long been our enemy. I now strongly suspect that the people of the Yellow Sand Truth School in the Shenzhou Region have joined forces with the extremists on the west coast of the New York region who worship Slender Man. Dr. Clark’s disappearance is inseparable from them.”
Yu Lianyun and Bu Gaojun fell into a state of being at a loss.
Knock knock.
Just as Yu Lianyun and Bu Gaojun were racking their brains thinking of countermeasures, a member of the second team led by the Rabbit Group knocked and came in to report: “Captain Yu, we have a new discovery. Captain Yu thinks everyone should come over to hear it.”
Hearing this, Yu Lianyun and Bu Gaojun exchanged a glance, then followed the mystic investigator dubiously to the second team’s temporary office.
The Rabbit Group Captain stood in front of a transparent board filled with various interpersonal relationships networks. Yu Lianyun looked at that heavy back, her heart sinking slightly as she asked: “Captain Yu Mao, what discovery do you have here? Coincidentally, I also have…”
“No rush, let him speak first, Captain Xiao Yu.” Before Yu Lianyun finished speaking, the tall and slender Rat Group Captain Leng Qiuzi appeared behind her and walked to her side to stop.
Yu Mao slowly turned around, revealing an ugly facial expression, pale complexion, and face covered in cold sweat.
Seeing Yu Mao like this, the two zodiac group captains both felt their hearts sink.
Yu Mao slowly spoke: “Just now, we received a report from the members assisting our Mysterious Group in the investigation. While investigating Dr. Clark’s interpersonal relationships and past on native soil, they discovered an anomaly point on Dr. Clark…”
Yu Lianyun and Leng Qiuzi both listened attentively and quietly.
“Dr. Clark’s current parents are not his birth family. He once briefly lived in an orphanage, but not long after, he was adopted by a kind couple, who are Dr. Clark’s current parents. We found that Dr. Clark was originally named Enus, living on the west coast, the child of a mad couple. Before being sent to the orphanage, he had often suffered persecution and beatings from his birth parents.
On another night when the mad couple fought each other, they accidentally started a big fire, which ultimately led to their unfortunate deaths. But the young Dr. Clark at the time luckily escaped alive… However, after some special means were used to investigate that fire, they discovered that the fire was not an accident, but deliberately set by someone.
Guess who set the fire?” Captain Yu Mao took off his glasses, rubbed his brow, sweat dripping down his pinched fingers. “Right, it was the young Dr. Clark.”
