Chapter 196: Necessary Action
Miss Mireille’s boudoir was somewhat different from what Dr. Clark had imagined. He thought that even if Mireille’s room wasn’t a cute girl-style room, there would at least be one or two cute objects inside. However, in fact, the room was very ordinary, with unremarkable furnishings, and basically all the supplies needed for life were present.
Clark opened the wardrobe in the room, all of which were castle maid uniforms and the like; there wasn’t even a single piece of civilian casual clothing. He couldn’t help but recall that Miss Hera had mentioned Mireille had only joined the castle’s maid team a month ago, so Miss Hera must have been quite destitute before and had no decent clothes.
The things in the wardrobe were very clean. Clark searched every possible place in the entire wardrobe where things could be hidden but didn’t find the memory object.
Clark turned to search other places but still found nothing. Mireille’s room was as plain and frugal as she was; she didn’t have Miss Hera’s heavy makeup, only plain-faced, pure cuteness.
In the end, he could only find a can of cheap foundation in Miss Mireille’s room; the other party didn’t even have a lipstick that could make her lips look gorgeous and charming.
Both were maids like Miss Hera, yet the gap in their living standards was enormous. Clark couldn’t help but secretly pity Miss Mireille for a second.
“If it’s not here either… then it seems Miss Mireille’s memory object might be on her person.” Clark thought, but he carefully recalled Miss Mireille’s appearance; the other party wasn’t wearing any jewelry either, so her memory object was probably not something very conspicuous.
At this thought, Clark’s mind jumped again, but it was a jump in place, landing on himself. He frowned and thought, “If everyone in this world has a memory object on them, then do I have one too?”
The reason he hadn’t discovered it was likely because he was too involved to see clearly.
But upon careful thought, Clark realized he had already checked his personal items before arriving at the castle, and the most anomalous thing on his entire body was the pocket watch he carried with him.
Clark patted his chest; the pocket watch was hidden in the inner pocket of his clothes. Regardless of whether it was truly his memory object, it was best to keep it safe.
Leaving Miss Mireille’s room, Clark began trying to find traces of Miss Mireille, praying in his heart that Miss Mireille was still alive.
In the corridor, although Miss Mireille had left no traces, the fused monster formed by Butler Valente and Miss Hera had left obvious marks. Perhaps after he left, their bodies underwent even more eerie anomalous deformities; their weight and size had become much larger, with dents from stepping or bumping on the ground and ceiling of the corridor, and even claw marks on the walls.
The fused monster had become even more ferocious and powerful; Miss Mireille’s situation was dire. Clark could only silently pray for Miss Mireille in his heart.
Following the trail left by the fused monster, Clark soon heard the eerie cry of the fused monster again.
“Those two people… gagakuku… ran to… clhuclhuasa… where.” The voice mixed with male and female tones and unintelligible language whispers came from somewhere on the second floor near the corridor entrance. Clark tensed up and sneaked a peek, immediately shrinking his head back upon seeing a massive black figure.
Just one glance was enough to make him imagine the fused form of Butler Valente and Miss Hera at this moment, but it was definitely not a beautiful fantasy, but a nightmare that brought fear.
Clark stood still, not daring to move, forcibly controlling his breathing to avoid heavy gasps, making his breathing sound as natural and smooth as the wind leaking into the room, almost completely silent.
Only after hearing the fused monster leave did Clark breathe a sigh of relief and head downstairs.
……
“Dr. Clark actually did something like that…”
Looking at the latest investigation results presented by Rabbit Group Captain Yu Mao to everyone, the crowd found it somewhat hard to believe.
After a slight silence, Rat Group Captain Leng Qiuzi said, “That’s understandable though. After all, living in such a family environment, it’s not incomprehensible if he was ever driven to desperation and did something foolish on impulse.”
Hearing this, Yu Lianyun and Bu Gaojun exchanged a glance. After getting Yu Lianyun’s nod, Bu Gaojun, with a complex expression, told everyone the investigation information from their Tiger Group.
“We’ve already found the source of the mutation in those twenty-six headless corpses: an abnormal god called the Shadow of All Things. One of its incarnations, the Eye of the Crevice, is the leader of some madman groups on the west coast of the New York region. And from the information provided by Captain Yu Mao, Dr. Clark’s birth family was also part of that group,” Bu Gaojun said.
Hearing this news, Leng Qiuzi immediately fell silent, his expression grave.
In other words, Dr. Clark might have been contaminated by anomaly factors in his childhood? Then Dr. Clark’s stance was questionable.
“It seems you’ve noticed this too.” Captain Yu Mao nodded, then said gravely, “This is exactly what worries me: whether Dr. Clark is worth saving.”
When Captain Yu Mao raised this point, the mystic investigators at the scene couldn’t help but start discussing it in low voices.
People contaminated by anomaly factors are essentially ticking bombs. They might have performed normally all along, but such people could instantly turn into irrational madmen with just a tiny bit more exposure to anomaly factors.
The Mysterious Group had in the past upheld humanitarianism for many people influenced by anomaly factors but not yet fully manifested, providing them protection. But without exception, those people eventually underwent the changes everyone least wanted to see: they abnormalized, not only harming those around them but even causing heavy losses to the Mysterious Group.
Therefore, even though the Mysterious Group’s upper echelons still held an attitude of humanitarian care toward such people, in reality, they could no longer trust them.
The lives of mystic investigators shouldn’t be wasted on “inevitable and tragic betrayals.” Even dying at the hands of outsider minions was a worthy death, but dying for those humans who would inevitably be forced to betray humanity was truly not worth it.
At this moment, Yu Lianyun raised her voice and spoke slowly, cutting off the rising murmurs before they could grow louder: “First, I must clearly state a regrettable fact: Dr. Clark is very likely to undergo mutation. Our investigation has revealed that another incarnation of the Shadow of All Things is the abnormal god ‘God of Yellow Sand’ related to the ‘Yellow Sand Truth School’ that we in Shenzhou are focusing on combating. They share the same origin, so the probability of Dr. Clark being influenced by the contamination is extremely high.”
“…Then it seems we have no choice but to do that.” After a long stunned silence, Leng Qiuzi said in a regretful tone.
Though regretful, Leng Qiuzi’s voice was very firm.
Yu Lianyun sighed, “Yes, for Dr. Clark, we may need to take some… actions.”
