Book 5: Chapter 9: The Hidden Passage

“Lord Qin Lun, what do you mean…” Cora rested her chin thoughtfully.

“Thump, thump!” Qin Lun stopped talking and showed his intentions through action.

The others watched as Qin Lun tapped here and there in the hall, their eyes lighting up. “Is there a secret room?”

“This log cabin is not only the ranger’s residence, it is also the management office for the campground. There are many rooms and storage spaces. If the previous rangers made modifications, it wouldn’t be strange at all to have a hidden chamber!” Qin Lun explained to everyone while searching for the imagined secret room.

“But… why would the ranger build a hidden room in his own home? I mean, there are plenty of rooms here, enough to store the campground’s supplies!” The centaur girl still looked confused.

“Officer Michelle, believe me, they weren’t storing supplies for the campground, but for themselves!” Sas took an iron poker from beside the fireplace and began inspecting the room with Qin Lun. “They were stealing supplies from the campground!”

“What?” Michelle seemed unable to believe it.

“This area only has Crystal Lake and this cabin that I can’t monitor. Hansen was drinking at the bonfire in front. If Hill was dragged into the lake, Hansen would have seen it, and I would have noticed.” Qin Lun whispered with certainty. “Only this cabin is our blind spot. The attacker must have used some mechanism behind the house to kidnap Hill and lock him in an underground hidden room.”

“Thud!” When Hansen checked the thick wall between the hall and the kitchen, the wall made a hollow sound.

“Let’s find that bastard!” Sas threw the poker in his hand to Hansen, then pulled another one from beside the fireplace. The two muscular men began demolishing the wall violently.

A few minutes later, a deep, dark hole appeared in the wall. In the orange firelight, a narrow passage could faintly be seen deep inside the black hole.

“Heh, it seems my judgment wasn’t entirely accurate. This isn’t a secret room, but a passage-type cavity wall!” Qin Lun fiddled with the bangs on his forehead. Ever since his elf bloodline surfaced, he often unconsciously pulled his silver hair when thinking.

“Incredible!” Michelle stared at the narrow passage inside the wall, looking utterly amazed. “Did the senior officers from the city police department not find this back then?”

“No, they couldn’t detect it. At that time, the wall cavity was filled with supplies, like animal pelts, flour, and such!” Hansen lifted an oil lamp to illuminate the hole, wiped his finger on it, and sniffed it.

“After Crystal Lake Campground was closed, something returned here, emptied the supplies from inside the wall, and then this place became its nest!” Qin Lun sneered coldly. “It seems we’ve delivered a feast to it this time!”

…

“Officer Castro, are… are you really going in?” Michelle looked at Qin Lun worriedly, her eyebrows knitted together.

“Heh, if I don’t go in, who will? Detective Rowling is female. Sas and Hansen are too broad. As for you… I’m afraid you wouldn’t even be able to turn your body around inside!” Qin Lun glanced at the centaur girl’s rounded bottom and teased her with a laugh.

“No, you know that’s not what I meant!” Michelle’s face reddened. “I mean, that monster can easily tear a person to shreds. Maybe we can seal the passage and stick together. After dawn, we can find Sheriff Marov to search this place again and find Consultant Hans!”

“That won’t work. If that monster… is just a normal beast, then my gun can kill it. If it isn’t… then even if we stick together, I’m afraid we won’t last until dawn!” Qin Lun smiled reassuringly. “Maybe we’ll all die here, but before that, we must at least uncover the truth.”

Cora and Sas exchanged a look. Sas hesitated for a moment, then spoke in the Team Channel: “Um… Qin Lun! Maybe we can work together to dismantle this cabin, or burn it down, force that thing out. There’s no need for you to take the risk!”

“No, believe me, burning the cabin is definitely not a good idea. I have a feeling that perhaps… this is only the beginning!” Qin Lun’s eyes flashed. He crouched and turned into the large hole in the wall, gave everyone one last look, nodded, and said, “Keep in touch, I’m going in!”

The passage inside the wall was very narrow. Even with Qin Lun’s “slim” elf physique, he still had to turn sideways to feel his way forward.

“Creak!” The passage floor was made of whole wooden planks, likely connected to the floorboards inside the cabin rooms. But the planks here were somewhat rotten, feeling soft and unstable underfoot.

“Cough! I should have worn a mask!” After turning a corner, a strong rotting smell gradually filled the passage, making him feel nauseous.

Qin Lun tore off a piece of his shirt to cover his nose and mouth, but he still felt tightness in his chest. Squeezing through another section of the passage, he found a dead end ahead. A thick brick wall blocked the way.

“Was my judgment wrong? No, it can’t be. Since the cabin has this passage, it shouldn’t need a spatial barrier.” Qin Lun frowned and muttered to himself. “I passed three sections of passage just now, covering about ten square meters. With the wall height, it’s at least thirty cubic meters in volume. There can’t be any other passages in the cabin, otherwise the load-bearing capacity wouldn’t be enough, and the structure below would collapse!”

“If not a passage in the wall, then… underground!” Qin Lun tore off the cloth covering his nose and mouth. “The rotting smell in the passage earlier…”

Qin Lun closed his eyes, sniffed, and slowly backed up a certain distance. “The smell is strongest here!”

“Thud!” Qin Lun crouched down, his right hand turning over as the Dagger of Sin dropped into his palm, and he stabbed downward fiercely.

“Found it!” Qin Lun reopened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing within. The Dagger of Sin pierced through the wooden planks in the passage as if cutting through something. After a few motions, he carved a round hole in the passage floor.

“So smelly!” A much stronger rotting stench rose from the dark hole, making him gag. “I should have agreed to Sas’s suggestion to burn this place down. We could have found this hidden hole anyway!”

Qin Lun made a pained face, enlarged the hole a bit, gripped the edge, and jumped down. The space inside was large, about three meters high from the ground. The cabin’s architectural structure automatically came to mind.

“This… should be next to that basement!” Qin Lun sighed. “I actually didn’t think of it. I’ve been a digging rodent for nothing!”

“Crack!” After just two steps, a crisp breaking sound came from under Qin Lun’s feet.

“What are… these things!” Qin Lun looked down, a green light glowing in each of his eyes. His elf bloodline’s Night Vision Ability allowed him to see the entire hidden hole clearly.

“Qin Lun, did you find it?” Cora’s inquiry came through the Team Channel.

“Yes, I think I found that thing’s… kitchen!” Qin Lun looked at the blood-stained fur and bones covering the ground and frowned slightly. He circled around, picked up a large thigh bone of an unknown creature from the ground, and flipped over a wet, messy lump. “Perhaps… and the missing body parts of that couple from the villa!”

“You mean… their internal organs!” Cora said with a grim expression.

“Yes, although only a small part remains, I’m quite sure this belongs to a human!” Qin Lun curled his lip. He had dissected many people himself and was very familiar with this kind of wet mass.

“Did you see Hill?” Hansen asked solemnly.

“No, he’s not here, but I found his jacket. Maybe that thing dragged him somewhere else!” Qin Lun examined Hill’s jacket carefully, a trace of surprise and doubt flashing in his eyes.

Apart from one sleeve, the rest of the jacket was almost undamaged, as if Hill had been taken here without resistance, or perhaps…

“Ah…” While Qin Lun was thinking, Cora’s scream and the others’ angry shouts came from above him.

“What’s happening up there?” Qin Lun was startled and asked urgently.

“Qin Lun, come up quickly, it appeared…” Hansen urgently yelled in the Team Channel.

“Damn it!” Qin Lun couldn’t help but curse, dropped the bone in his hand, and ran toward the hole.

When he squeezed back out through the wall passage, he found the cabin empty, and his heart sank.

“Qin Lun, we’re in the forest behind the cabin, tracking that thing. Hurry over!” Fortunately, Hansen’s reminder quickly came through the Team Channel. “It must have dug a tunnel between the forest and the cabin. That’s how it avoided your Perception.”

Qin Lun drew Burial of Light and Darkness from his waist, rushed outside in a few steps, and ran toward the forest.

“Huh, fog is rising!” After running out of the cabin, Qin Lun noticed the bonfire in front had gone out somehow. A vast white mist shrouded Crystal Lake in front of the cabin, and even the forest was enveloped in this fog.

Qin Lun frowned, pressed his palm against a large tree, but found that Elf Whispers was greatly affected. It was as if the fog completely blocked the forest’s whispers, preventing him from getting information from afar.

“Be careful!” A sense of unease rose in Qin Lun’s heart, and he warned through the Team Channel.

“Mm, hurry over. We’re at the three o’clock direction from the cabin!” Hansen quickly reminded.

Qin Lun stopped talking, ran through the forest for a while, and finally saw Sas, Hansen, and the others again.

“Where is that thing?” Qin Lun looked around and asked, puzzled.

“That thing is too agile. We lost its trail. Can you sense anything?” Hansen punched the nearby tree in frustration.

“No, this fog blocks my Perception. Even the elf’s Night Vision Ability is affected!” Qin Lun frowned. “We’d better return to the cabin first. Staying outside is too dangerous!”

“Damn, we almost caught it!” Sas gnashed his teeth fiercely.

“Where are Michelle and Cora?” Qin Lun turned and asked.

“They were right here… Where are they?” Hansen and Sas turned and pointed behind them, only to find empty space. There was no trace of the centaur girl and Cora.

“Cora!” Sas’s shocked and angry shout echoed through the foggy forest.

“Swish, swish…” As the tree branches and leaves rustled, a chill ran through the hearts of all three men.