Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 100 Raven's Notes

As mentioned in my bedtime goodnight message to Rebecca, it's quite unusual that the mining company has remained indifferent until now.

It is known that the Solomon gang launched their first interception of Milo and Rebecca on the train. Now that they have entered Solomon territory, they cannot allow Milo and Rebecca to continue their investigation so recklessly.

That's why Rebecca kept telling Milo not to act on his own.

That's why Milo would bring a pistol to bed.

……

It turned out that Solomon’s mining company had been secretly watching them all along.

Now Milo even suspects that the malicious gazes he felt from the surrounding houses as he walked down that alley were not just his imagination, but rather the work of stalkers sent by the mining company to keep an eye on him.

Because the noise I just heard was absolutely real.

There are people outside the hostel.

...

Milo stood in the middle of the alley.

By this time, his pupils had adapted very well to the dark environment, and even though it was late at night, he could see very clearly.

A cool breeze brushed against his neck, temporarily chasing away the last trace of drowsiness.

Milo noticed some broken weeds on the left side of the alley. Based on the angle of the broken grass blades, he quickly determined the direction the pursuer was heading and followed him directly.

The night in Ikham was filled with a sinister atmosphere, and every house looked like a monster with a gaping black mouth, lurking on both sides of the alley.

But at this moment, Milo had no time to indulge in those meaningless, terrifying associations.

The more desolate the place, the more obvious the traces of movement. He was very certain that he had caught up with the mysterious stalker. As long as he kept chasing in this direction, he would catch the person sooner or later.

Next, Milo found traces of people passing by in many places.

The footprints on the ground, the scratches on the alley walls, and the occasional strange noises coming from ahead—more and more clues urged Milo to quicken his pace.

But as Milo accelerated, the fleeing person ahead also quickened his pace.

This quiet chase and counter-chase lasted for a full ten minutes, until the houses in Milo's field of vision began to be replaced by some wild-growing plants.

He had begun to drift away from the town center and into the outskirts.

However, the Ikham region is a chaotic and complex mountainous area. Without the cover of abandoned houses, Milo's field of vision actually shrank, because there were now hardly any roads to travel on.

Milo did not stop or hesitate.

He knew that the person fleeing ahead might be the most direct and valuable key clue in this investigation. He had already chased after them for so long, it would be a pity to give up now.

He decided to continue the investigation.

……

...

Time passed by minute by minute.

Milo began to realize that he had been taken to a mine in the south of the town without his knowledge.

Directly in front of him were dark, towering mountains.

On the left is a row of buildings that have been clearly renovated.

This is the mining company's office.

It was already past midnight, but one of the windows in the mining company's upper floor was still lit by the warm glow of a kerosene lamp.

Just as Milo's gaze was drawn to a light in the distance, a strange dark shadow flashed past in the mountains ahead.

Milo immediately gave chase!

He was certain that this time he saw it very clearly; someone had definitely sneaked into the mine.

……

The initial section of the road to the mine was relatively smooth, as it served as the entrance and exit for horse-drawn wagons.

All around, you can see many small hills piled up with waste ore, which are all waste materials excavated from the mountain rock strata.

However, as he delved deeper, Milo realized that he had underestimated the complexity of the mine's internal environment.

The excavation here is very large-scale. Almost every ten meters, you can see a bottomless mine shaft. The mine shafts are vertically downward, and there are simple ladders fixed to the edges by wooden stakes.

If I'm not mistaken, the mining method involves simultaneously excavating vertical shafts at multiple locations. Once a certain depth is reached, horizontal tunnels or inclined blind shafts are then excavated, layer by layer, downwards.

This indicates that the underground mine shafts are interconnected and that the interior is a three-dimensional geometric framework.

If the tracker goes into the mine, Milo will never be able to find him.

Milo didn't want to go into the mine.

The reason is simple: the only connection between the ground and the bottom of the mine is a lone rope ladder.

If someone cuts the rope ladder above the mine, he's trapped.

"This is suicide, we can't go in."

Milo sighed.

He convinced himself that he absolutely couldn't be stupid enough to go inside.

But coming all the way to the southern edge of the town only to find nothing was really frustrating.

He hid in the rocky mine and waited for a long time, but the dark figure never reappeared.

Left with no other choice, they had to head back home.

……

"wrong."

Milo suddenly turned his gaze to the lit window on the mining company floor. "Since we're already here, let's just go for it."

...

……

The mining company building has security personnel stationed at the entrances and exits.

But when Milo passed by, the guard at the door was huddled in a chair, drooling, and probably would start snoring in a little while.

Milo was still thinking that the safest way to get upstairs would be to climb up the stone pillars from the back of the building.

But when he noticed the sleepy-eyed guard waving at him from a distance, he simply greeted him in return and walked in openly.

As Milo passed by, the guard mumbled sleepily, "Why are you back so late..."

……

Milo tiptoed into the building's stairwell.

He quickly reached the target floor and accurately located the room where the kerosene lamp was still lit.

Because it is a renovated building, no matter how it is decorated, the basic framework of the building cannot be changed. The basic layout of the floors and rooms can be clearly seen at a glance, and the windows of each room facing the corridor are made very low, which seems to be the local architectural style of Galid City.

I tiptoed down the corridor and arrived at the window of the room at the end.

Milo discovered that it wasn't that everyone in the other rooms was resting, but rather that no one else was living on the entire floor at all, because his room's door and windows were wide open, and the night wind could directly sweep across the building from one side to the other, its mournful, eerie sound completely masking the few remaining footsteps Milo could make.

He cautiously approached the window and, through the glass, saw the profile of a man sitting at a desk inside the room.

Because the windowpane was covered with cracks, which happened to obscure the man's profile, from Milo's angle, he could only see the fountain pen in the man's hand, which was constantly writing words under the kerosene lamp.

Judging from the man's vague physique, he was probably around thirty years old.

Although he was sitting, it was easy to see that he was very tall and slender; if he stood up, he would be at least 1.9 meters tall.

Just a window away.

Milo couldn't see the other person's face clearly, but he could vaguely make out the words written by the rapidly moving pen tip.

The problem is that Milo doesn't quite understand what this guy is writing.

"I thought this was a perfect opportunity, but disappointingly, the remnants of the old god buried underground had already decayed. Only a last trace of futile stubbornness remained on its body; the rest was nothing but bestiality..."

"...What I awakened was a lifeless lump of flesh and blood. I was too late, or perhaps I came too early. Its old soul had already departed, and its rebirth was still a long way off."

“My beloved teacher, I, your humble student, yearn for your guidance.”

"No one knows the urgency in my heart. I don't know if this path is right or wrong. The plague has taken away too many lives, and the blood of the church is almost exhausted. Believers need a new god and new blood."

“I long for the fallen leaves to bring a message again, to guide the disciples of Monsis to find the true divine body, to find the blood and flesh that can save all people.”

The last name I wrote down was Raven.

……

This was all that Milo could see before the heavy leather notebook was closed.

He wasn't sure if he could remember everything perfectly, but he noticed something strange: the man's handwriting had two very different styles.

The man wrote very slowly, pausing for a long time after almost every sentence. When he picked up his pen again, the handwriting would change to a different style. This repeated itself, as if two people were taking turns writing.

……

A man's eerie lament echoed from the dimly lit room.

He seemed to be making some kind of low, chanting prayer.

The reason Milo was certain it was a prayer was because he vaguely heard some familiar words in the other person's murmured words, such as "blood of the old gods" and "fear"...

These are all prayers of the Golden Rule.

……

I have to go.

Despite having endless doubts, the sound of the man pushing back his chair and getting up instantly alerted Milo.

He quickly left the floor.

For some reason, even though the strange man inside the room didn't do anything unusual from beginning to end, Milo felt like there were many eyes watching him.

He had a strange feeling, as if his spying had been tacitly approved by the other party.

An invisible sense of pressure made Milo's heart race wildly.

He had never been so eager to escape from any place.

……

...

The cold wind howled.

But when Milo returned to the town of Ickham, he found his entire back soaked in cold sweat.

He was breathing rapidly, and his heart rate remained high for a long time.

Even when facing the undead monsters in that terrifying abandoned containment facility, Milo did not react so violently.

He felt completely exhausted.

……

By the time he staggered back to the familiar inn, the sky was already beginning to lighten.