Chapter 94: Chapter 094: White Apricot Tree Camp
“What on earth is this woman doing?”
Roger edged forward quietly, his muscles tensing, ready to launch an attack at any moment.
In the Transcendent World, reanimating a corpse wasn’t anything unusual.
Until Roger was close to Travis, the corpse lying in the wicker chair remained motionless.
As he got closer, the foul stench of the body began to drift over, showing that his mother had done some unknown treatments to the corpse.
But this was Swamp Town, the weather was hot to begin with, and Travis had been dead for a while.
After a careful examination, Roger confirmed that the Travis lying on the lounge chair was indeed just a dead body and not some kind of Voodoo Zombie or something similar.
There were a few items on the table beside him, and having looked through Travis’s information, Roger could guess that these were his beloved possessions while he was alive.
On the other side, a dark-colored mat lay on the floor amid white candles, with an eerie Array Pattern drawn on it. It seemed that Travis’s mother would pray here every day.
And what she just said…
Travis’s eyes had already rotted, and an indistinctly colored fluid flowed out of his sockets. Roger, holding back the stench, flipped through the items on the table next to him.
Soon, one of the photo albums caught his attention.
Upon opening the cover, a line of text came into view.
“To my dearest treasure, Travis*…” The surname after was deliberately scratched out.
This photo album was obviously made from the perspective of Travis’s mother, from the moment Travis was born to when he started to learn how to walk.
At every stage of his life, his mother left shiny memories for Travis, with a sentence beside each photo.
Either blessings or expectations.
The lines overflowed with the happiness of a mother.
Roger quickly flipped through the album.
Suddenly, his fingers paused slightly.
On a separate page, there was a passage written by his mother, “The first time you left me to attend summer camp, although it was just a short month, it felt like an entire year to me.”
Below this phrase was a group photo taken in front of the summer camp entrance.
Judging by the date at the bottom right corner of the photo, it was taken three years ago. Travis’s face beamed with a radiant smile, and Roger’s pupils contracted slightly.
Because in the photo, he also saw Judd’s figure!
Startled, he began searching rapidly and soon found Allen and Jonathan in the photo as well.
“They had once attended a summer camp together.” Roger vaguely felt he was onto something.
Just then, the sound of a door opening came from downstairs. Without the time to think further, Roger swiftly tore off that page.
He returned everything to its place as quickly as possible and then, opening the room door, melted into the darkness along the path he had come.
Not long after Roger had left, Travis’s mother returned to the room, looking affectionately at her son lying on the wicker chair, “Don’t worry, the Prophet told me he has found your soul, you are the chosen one.”
“Mom is proud of you.”
After saying that, she gently pressed a kiss on Travis’s forehead.
In the flickering light, more substance oozed from Travis’s eye sockets.
Roger’s figure carefully concealed itself in the darkness as he quickly left the gathering area and made his way back to where he had hidden the car.
Starting the car, Roger headed straight for Danielle’s house.
Now that it was certain Danielle had a significant connection to this case, Roger decided to confront her directly.
Though lacking direct evidence, his aim was not to solve the case after all, and using somewhat crude methods was excusable under the circumstances.
The photo showed four young people in close proximity, their expressions suggesting they got along well, but police investigations revealed no contact between them whatsoever.
Even the three who attended the same school, including Judd, were seemingly strangers to one another.
Noticing the discrepancies, Roger felt that as long as he continued his investigation, he would definitely uncover the truth.
“If you say Judd’s death is connected to Danielle, it’s plausible, but Danielle had a perfect alibi during Travis’s death.”
“And the death occurred during the day…”
“Aside from the very special daytime Monster Spirits, other Spiritual Bodies would struggle to move without possessing someone…”
He thought of the peculiar Ritual Array in Travis’s home, as well as the bizarre manner of death of the manor servants from his last mission.
“Could it be Voodoo Skill again?”
The night road was pitch black, but Roger’s speed did not slow, and it didn’t take long for him to arrive at Danielle’s house.
The house was dark inside. Roger parked his car at a distance and stealthily infiltrated the premises.
Danielle didn’t have any close relatives; her only father had passed away, leaving the girl to work and study part-time since the age of 16.
Half an hour later, Roger left the place with a puzzled look on his face.
Danielle was not there.
Out of caution, Roger even secretly set up an Aden Array and activated it, but found no trace of a Spiritual Body.
This puzzled him – so far, apart from the oddity at Travis’s house, this mission seemed too mundane for the Transcendent World.
He tried calling Danielle’s phone again, but it seemed to be out of range the entire time.
After making a call to the police station, he asserted his identity and provided his credentials number; Roger instructed them to help him search for information related to the camp from three years prior.
Meanwhile, he remained hidden, watching over Danielle’s house.
Yet, even as daylight broke on the second day, Danielle had still not appeared, and by then, a message from the police station arrived, asking him to collect the relevant documents.
Roger bought some fast food in town and then began sifting through the documents in his car.
“White Apricot Tree Camp.”
To foster independence and improve social skills, many parents in Armenia are willing to send their children to summer camps.
Though located within Swamp Town’s territory, the White Apricot Tree Camp wasn’t managed by locals.
Every summer, many students would be sent there. The camp had a good reputation and business flourished.
However, one year ago, apparently due to financial issues, the White Apricot Tree Camp was shut down completely, leaving the site abandoned.
By the time Roger drove there, he was greeted by a scene of desolation.
Only a year had passed, but the camp was overrun with wild grass and vines due to lack of maintenance.
The camp was spacious, with various functional areas neatly arranged, showing the manager’s dedication to the place.
“Who are you looking for?”
Suddenly, a deep voice called out.
Roger turned around to see a scruffy old man in dirty denim overalls and carrying a shotgun, shouting from a distance.
“Are you in charge here?”
Roger walked forward.