The black sun hangs high

Chapter 106 Spiral
Hugh circled Vilin's captive twice, curiously examining the unusual hair and sharp claws on the waitress bound by ice blades.

This is a completely different person from the lively young girl from before.

The thought that the other person had tried to hint at something to him made Hugh feel uncomfortable all over.

"What, there really are rat people?"

He started talking to himself.

Sniggy, perched on Hugh's shoulder, immediately let out a soft protest. After spending so much time with Hugh, the scurrying rat had, with its considerable intelligence, roughly understood what Hugh meant by "ratman."

It was convinced that the "rat people" described by its master must be a great race that possessed wisdom, strength and magic, and that would be its ultimate goal. As for the humans in front of it who showed signs of physical mutation, they were nothing but an insult to the concept of "rat people"!

"Fine, fine, only you deserve to be a rat-man."

Sniggy was making such a racket that Hugh could only offer a few perfunctory replies.

He walked to the body of the male waiter he had killed and carefully searched the body. Soon, he found a faded nameplate on the body's left wrist. It had been carefully polished, but when the light shone on it, it seemed to be absorbed, and no pattern could be seen at all.

"The materials used... seem to match those of the stone statues in the room."

Hughes silently made his judgment. He removed the nameplate, then turned around and, with his back to Virin, activated the power of the Mirror Messenger.

A mist appeared in his eye sockets, and under this special vision, the nameplate in his palm gradually became transparent, revealing the patterns hidden beneath the special material.

He first saw a sun hidden in darkness, and in the very center of that sun seemed to be a slightly open eye.

This is the logo of the Black Sun Society, which Hughes is very familiar with.

There's nothing I can do about it; back when I was at work, I could see this thing on the wall even when I went to the restroom.

Later, as the game's release date approached, the project team's marketing team spread all sorts of resources everywhere. Seriously, even the cats kept at the company knew how to draw the Black Sun Society's logo.

Hughes flipped the nameplate over, and there he saw a short string of numbers on the bottom.

"026."

So Hugh put away the nameplate, then went to the waitress's side, and with Vera's help, rolled up her sleeve and found a similar nameplate on her right wrist.

This time the number is "039".

"Did you find anything?"

Hughes rubbed the nameplate with his hand, looked up at the still struggling waitress, and said, "It's the work of the Black Sun Society, but these waitresses are probably not members of the society, but more like their...experiments, or modified guards. The total number may exceed 40."

Perhaps because Hugh was standing too close, the waitress suddenly turned her head, opened her mouth fiercely, and let out a menacing roar.

Hughes did not flinch. He stared at the distorted face before him and said, "I saw her at the hotel before. At that time, she was still no different from an ordinary person... So I am not sure whether the changes in these people are reversible."

"I might have a way to verify that."

Vera narrowed her eyes slightly, waved her hand, and shooed Hugh aside.

The next moment, her mage hand hovered in front of the waitress's body, and in order to further restrict the target's movements, more ice blades emerged, piercing and fixing the waitress's arms that had just broken free of their restraints.

“Give me a little time… maybe a few minutes, I want to try to ‘interrogate’ her.”

"Spiritual inquiry? Here?"

"Ah."

Vera nodded, then took out a high-quality crystal from her pocket. As she drew magic from it, she explained, "The essence of spiritual interrogation is to create a huge impact on the target's spirit and will. Under such an impact, any ritual that operates based on its spiritual foundation will be forced to stop."

“If this mutation in them is reversible, then under the current circumstances, this method can be used to force the ritual to end… Mr. Hugh, she shouldn’t be your friend, right?”

Hugh shook his head. Faced with this situation, he had no better suggestions, so he obediently stepped aside. Sniggy the Rampaging Rat also darted out again and began to explore and patrol the underground floors.

The scene that had once occurred in Ernst's old mansion was displayed before Hughes once again. He saw Verin's mage hand gently press on the maid's forehead, and then Verin's magic directly "poured" into the other's mental world.

The young girl's severely distorted face froze at that moment, and her constantly writhing body gradually stopped.

Holding the magic crystal, Verine stood in the corridor like a beautiful statue. Hugh saw pale blue magical light flashing in her eyes, as if the mage's hand was constantly extracting memories from her mental world and transferring them into Verine's brain.

Meanwhile, under Hugh's command, the sprinting rat searched in the direction where the two waiters had appeared. When it reached the middle of the corridor, it found a half-open door between rooms numbered 214 and 215. The material of the door looked exactly the same as the wall, and in the dim light, it was difficult to detect its existence by sight alone.

Hugh controlled Sniggy to crawl inside, and they discovered that behind the hidden door was a concealed spiral staircase. Obviously, this staircase connected to other underground floors, and the two waiters had come here through this passage.

"Well……"

Hugh heard a muffled groan beside him. He quickly interrupted his sensory sharing with Sniggy and turned to look in Verin's direction. He saw that she had already finished the "spiritual interrogation" process. The mage's hand that should have been floating in front of the maid had disappeared without a trace. Verin herself took two steps back, leaned against the wall, and frowned as she pressed her hand against her temple.

Meanwhile, the young waitress who had been subjected to the "Spiritual Interrogation" spell was in a state of complete daze. Hugh noticed that the abnormal symptoms on her body were beginning to subside, her hideous and distorted face was gradually returning to normal, and the sharp claws on her hands and the gray-black hair on her skin were gradually turning into a faint magical mist...

"Miss Weilin?"

"It's alright... let me catch my breath." Weilin responded softly, closed her eyes which were still flashing with icy blue light, pursed her lips and began to regulate her breathing. After a while, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and slowly raised her head.

"My initial thinking was a bit too simplistic..."

The magical brilliance in Vilin's eyes finally faded, but she still frowned, clearly her headache had not completely subsided: "The changes in them are different from the normal 'Wolf Disaster' symptoms. The power of the magical ritual is not only affecting her physical form, but also disturbing her mind. I cannot clearly perceive her memories and thoughts; everything is in a mess."

"To figure out their specific experiences and fully restore them to normal, it would probably require specialized healing mages and laboratories."

After saying that, Vera raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

The ice blades that had previously pierced and bound the waitresses immediately vanished.

The next second, a new spell took effect on the spot. Hugh saw several translucent arms with great power appear in the air. They accurately grabbed the limbs of the unconscious waitress and then twisted them forcefully.

A sharp, teeth-grinding sound rang out, and then the arms vanished, leaving the waitress's severely twisted body on the ground.

"The Stream-level Limb Destruction spell... Although the name is frightening and the casting process is very unpleasant, it is a required course for all spellcasters of the Stream level and above. It is used to apply severe restraint to certain dangerous enemies and also corresponds to the 'Limb Restoration' spell in the healing magic category."

Vera quickly offered a brief explanation for her "brutal act," then tore a page from her magic book inscribed with healing magic and gently tossed it onto the waitress. The pale green light, a symbol of life, immediately flowed into her wounds, quickly stopping the bleeding.

"Drag her to the elevator..."

Hearing Verin's words, Hugh nodded, and immediately took action, using the Touch of Calron to bring the already miserable waitress to the elevator.

In terms of "how to deal with prisoners," Vera took a relatively moderate and prudent approach.

Using magic to break a target's limbs is to impose a restraint, ensuring that it does not become a new threat.

Using healing magic to repair bleeding wounds is to preserve the target's chance of survival.

Whether Verine did this out of momentary goodwill or simply out of curiosity about the Black Sun Society's magic is beyond Hugh's comprehension.

However, given the current situation, this is indeed a "merciful optimal solution".

……

The appearance of the two waiters actually revealed a fact: the owner of this "underground mansion" was very likely aware of the existence of the "uninvited guests." Therefore, after finishing their business, the two of them quickened their pace. With the scurrying rats clearing the way, they quickly stepped into the hidden spiral staircase and headed deeper underground.

The walls of the staircase are engraved with numerous magical patterns, which extend down from the highest point of the walls like decorative designs, covering every stone brick and step. The spiral staircase has no handrail, so the area near the center forms a terrifying, dark well.

"The extensive extension ceremony has been completed, and the actual underground space may be larger than we imagined."

Weilin once again offered her professional answer: "The actual height of this underground mansion should exceed six stories, and the thickness between each floor is also exaggerated... probably because ordinary building materials cannot withstand overly complex permanent sealing instruments."

"Ha, it's a waste to have such architectural technology but only use it to build underground nests. If some monarchs or kings who love spectacular architecture knew about this, perhaps the members of the Black Sun Society would be arrested and made full-time architects."

Vera frowned: "Is there such a king?"

"Uh... I think so, but it should be on the other side of the ocean."

Hughes made up a story: "I've heard that some monarchs in the East have a strong desire for magnificent architecture, and sometimes they even launch large-scale wars against neighboring countries because of certain magnificent wonders."

"interesting."

Vera raised her eyebrows. She wanted to question Hugh's nonsense, but before she could speak, a wave of magical energy that made her heart race was transmitted to her.

The two of them shut their mouths at the same time, and then looked up together.

At this moment, Hugh's perception was clearer than Virin's. In the darkness above, he clearly sensed an invisible force closely related to his metal disc. This force felt so oppressive and gloomy, extremely similar to the chilling aura emanating from the ancient creations in the Dream Sanctuary.

"It's troublesome."

Hugh murmured, but before he could react further, a black shadow fell from the top of the spiral staircase. Under the illumination of the magic wall lamp, the shadow landed not far in front of Hugh and the other person, struggled for a moment, and then got up.

That's a rat.

A larger, but equally deformed, blind rat.

Veraine's lips twitched violently, and under the influence of her instincts, her face turned deathly pale again. She opened the spellbook in her hand, intending to cast a spell, but Hugh suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist forcefully.

Then, Vera heard Hugh's voice.

"It's raining! Let's go!"

A brief blank in her mind led her to instinctively trust Hugh's judgment, but before they had run more than a few steps, the strange words Hugh had just shouted were confirmed.

As the dark magic drew closer, a cacophony of sounds began to emanate from above the stairs. Then, a torrent of black shadows poured down the spiral staircase and the stairwell like a flood.

It did rain.

It was just raining mice.

(End of this chapter)