Chapter 966: Chapter 964: Covert Investigation of the Manor
After the consciousness form dashed out of the room, Richard controlled it to rapidly ascend, reaching several hundred meters in no time. From here, he could take in the entire Saint Louis City below, with the magnificent starry sky overhead imparting an involuntary feeling of insignificance.
However, Richard wasn’t in the mood to feel any of that. He surveyed the surroundings, determined a direction, and flew toward the manor outside Saint Louis City that he had visited before as per his memory.
“Swish, swish, swish—”
The consciousness form moved quickly under his control, and in no time, it arrived above the manor outside the city.
Utilizing the unique vision of the consciousness form, Richard was able to see the manor’s condition in more detail.
The area of the manor was indeed large, previously estimated to be four to five times that of the Blue Lake Estate, but adding in the unintentionally overlooked sunken terrain, it could be six times.
About one-third of this area was a lake’s surface, another third was dense forest, and the remaining third was a wildfield covered in weeds.
Three significantly aged and dilapidated stone buildings stood in the wildfield, swaying slightly in the night breeze, their exterior walls riddled with cracks and occasionally shedding stone debris, looking as pitiful as abandoned orphans.
Yet, what was surprising was that lights were on in the stone buildings.
Richard maneuvered the consciousness form to move to the window where the light was on and saw an old man with a hunched body sitting on a chair, his eyes fixed on the rough wall, muttering something under his breath.
Richard guessed? Then negated.
The man showed no signs of any mana fluctuation, and he was dressed like a servant, definitely not Allen Pamp.
Allen Pamp should be in another part of the manor—a more hidden place.
With a thought, Richard made the consciousness form sink downward, directly into the soil to begin his search.
He strongly suspected that beneath the three stone buildings, there were hidden passages connecting to Allen Pamp’s hideout.
A few minutes later, Richard exclaimed inwardly, entering a dug-out corridor—the entrance of which was in the basement of the stone building where the old servant had been.
Where it led to would have to be explored.
Without hesitation, Richard moved the consciousness form forward swiftly along the corridor.
This journey spanned a thousand meters. Richard estimated that he had reached a depth of several dozen meters underground before finally seeing the endpoint.
The endpoint was a black metal door, standing four meters high and more than five meters wide, its surface engraved with intricate magic runes, clearly extraordinary. Richard speculated that forcibly breaking this metal door with an ordinary Third Circle Magic spell would be futile.
This also indicated that what lay beyond was of great importance.
However, he didn’t need to destroy the door to enter at the moment; he only needed to…
Richard moved the consciousness form closer to the door, gradually merging his hands into it, and then with a slight tug, his whole form passed through, as if moving through a layer of viscous glue, penetrating the metal door to get inside.
Glancing back at the metal door, Richard had a grasp of its thickness—over thirty centimeters—and the weight from just this thickness was beyond what ordinary people could manage to open.
Yet, he merely gave it a glance before withdrawing his eyes, focusing more intently on what lay inside.
Inside, a medium-sized hall spanning several hundred square meters was visible, with numerous wooden shelves standing within. These shelves held an abundance of books and scrolls.
In the deepest part of the hall, roughly one-third of the space was clear, housing various pieces of furniture, such as wooden beds, tables, and chairs.
At this moment, an elderly man with completely white hair and beard was sitting at a wooden table, holding a quill and “scribbling” something on a piece of papyrus. Occasionally, he would stop to glance at the open books beside him, showing a contemplative expression.
On the corner of the table, there was a messy pile of bowls and plates, with leftovers inside—Richard recognized them as the dishes Annie had previously ordered the chef to prepare in the city restaurant for a second time.
His suspicions were confirmed.
Annie had indeed come to deliver the food, which was why she came to this manor.
It was no surprise that the white-haired old man was Allen Pamp.
Judging by his appearance, he probably hadn’t advanced to a Level 4 Wizard; if he had succeeded, he wouldn’t need to eat. Considering his current actions, it seemed likely that after a failed breakthrough, knowing he had no further chances, he was pinning his hopes on the younger Pompo Family members. The things he wrote tirelessly should be some insights meant to help the younger Pompo Family members enhance their powers.
After looking for a few moments, Richard retracted his gaze, refraining from approaching Allen Pamp, since a third-level wizard was still worthy of caution; he might somehow sense the presence of his consciousness form.
The main purpose of his visit here was to find the Void Book. If he failed to find it, he would have to think of another way.
Contemplating, Richard moved the consciousness form to the nearest bookshelf, beginning to browse the book contents. When encountering piles of books, he plunged his head in, skimming with his face close.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes…
In the blink of an eye, more than half an hour passed.
Richard noticed that Allen Pamp, seated at the table, had already started writing on a new sheet of papyrus, yet he had found nothing—neither the Void Book nor anything resembling it.
Seeing the majority of the bookshelves still untouched, Richard adjusted his mood, feeling no anxiety, ready to persist.
At that moment, he heard activity from the black metal door at the entrance of the hall.
Curious, Richard moved the consciousness form, passing through the soil and around to the corridor outside the door. There, he saw the old servant from the stone building earlier, placing one hand on the metal door. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢•𝕟𝕖𝕥
As soon as the old servant touched the metal door, a deep blue hue spread across the surface, resembling an entire ocean flowing out. Then suddenly, the metal door trembled, and a needle tip akin to a mosquito’s proboscis pierced the old servant’s hand, extracting an extremely tiny drop of blood.
The blood merged into the metal door, seemingly verifying something, and the deep blue hue rapidly receded, followed by a creak as it opened.
Unfazed, the old servant, hunched over, carrying a basket, entered.
Richard followed suit, unconcerned about being noticed.
Once inside, Allen Pamp, hearing the noise, had already looked up. Richard shifted to the corner, observing, while the old servant stepped toward Allen Pamp’s position.
The old servant shuffled with faltering steps to Allen Pamp’s table, wordlessly collecting the leftover plates, all of which were packed into the basket for cleaning.
Allen Pamp resumed writing on the papyrus, and after a while, casually asked the old servant, “Fei Qi, has that child Annie left?”
With a soft sound, Fei Qi, the old servant, placed the last plate into the basket and replied, “Yes, master. She has.”
Pausing briefly, Fei Qi added, “She’s been gone for a while now, master. Before leaving, Miss Annie even spoke with me, urging me to retire at the family estate.”
“Is that so.” Allen Pamp squinted, raising his head to ask, “And what do you think?”