Though Duanmu Huai had said all that, unfortunately, nothing happened that night whatsoever — a completely peaceful evening.
Early the next morning, everyone gathered in the truck again and began reporting their findings.
"I didn't notice anything obviously strange, but there was an odd sound coming from beneath the floorboards...…"
Mary looked somewhat uneasy.
"A sound?"
"Yes, like something was crawling around underneath the floor. It felt very unsettling. Lorena and I searched the room, and we found...…"
At that, Mary glanced at Lorena, who gave a nod.
"There's a hidden trapdoor in the floor of the room."
"A trapdoor?"
"Yes, under the carpet. If you hadn't told us to check, Mr. Duanmu, we probably never would have noticed."
"Did you open it?"
"We couldn't open it from our side...…"
"Hmm...…"
This was starting to feel more and more like a B-grade splatter horror film.
Of course, if those two old men really were murderous lunatics, Duanmu Huai wasn't particularly worried — it was anyone's guess who would end up killing whom.
Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out outside the window. They looked over curiously, and there in front of the hotel's main entrance, a young man wearing glasses was glaring furiously at the old man William standing in the doorway — the latter just stood there with his arms crossed, looking at him with impatience.
The young man was staring the old man down and shouting angrily.
"You say you don't know whether he stayed here — let me tell you, I know he did, because he told me himself!"
"Please calm down, sir. We have other guests here trying to rest."
Faced with the young man's yelling, William seemed none too pleased himself.
"Rest? Here? What about the sounds coming from beneath the rooms at night? Who could rest with that going on? Now tell me — which room is he in?!"
"I told you, I don't know."
Faced with the young man's pressing, William was visibly growing irritated.
"So stop bothering me, or get out of my hotel!"
With that, William turned and walked back inside, while the young man stormed off fuming toward the side of the hotel.
Everyone in the truck exchanged glances, and Duanmu Huai gave a cold chuckle.
"Looks like there's more than one or two people who've gone missing here."
As he said it, he climbed down from the truck.
"Come on. Let's go have a chat with that young man."
Led by Duanmu Huai, the group left the truck and came around to the side of the hotel, where they found the young man who had argued with William standing and staring out at the distant lake and forest, muttering furiously to himself. Duanmu Huai walked up and tapped him on the shoulder, which made the young man turn around in annoyance.
"Who is it — can't you see I'm...…oh good lord! What kind of monster are you?!"
"Who are you calling a monster?!"
Looking at the young man who had gone completely white and nearly sat down on the ground from shock, Duanmu Huai's expression darkened sharply.
"We're guests staying here as well. We heard you arguing with William just now and thought we'd come over for a chat."
"You...…what do you want to talk about?"
"From what I just heard, you're here looking for someone?"
"This...…"
Faced with Duanmu Huai's question, the young man was visibly nervous, but after hesitating for a moment he explained the situation.
His name was Jacob Trent, staying in room eight. He had come here to meet his friend Abraham Hicks. According to plan, Abraham should have arrived several weeks ago, and the night before Jacob came here, Abraham had already called to say he had checked in.
"But when you arrived, he was nowhere to be found?"
"Exactly. I asked William, and the old man played dumb and kept insisting he'd never been here. I know they must have done something to Abraham! Damn it...…I'm not letting this go. I'll find the proof and get the police to come deal with these bastards! They run a hotel, but you barely see them during the day — they're always holed up in that sealed workshop behind the place. I know they're up to something!"
According to Jacob, he had been staying here ever since, but he had a terrible feeling about the whole hotel. Setting aside how inconvenient it was to have no electricity and no telephone, the lake in the distance gave him the creeps, and the strange sounds coming from beneath the floorboards at night had made him feel for some time that something was very wrong with this place.
"Since you've been here a while, have you seen this person?"
As he spoke, Duanmu Huai reached into his jacket and produced James's photograph. Jacob took it and examined it carefully, then nodded.
"Yes, I saw him on the night I checked in, though I didn't get a chance to speak to him. The next morning I noticed his car was gone, so I assumed he'd left. If those two old bastards told you he never stayed here, they're either stupid or lying. If my friend doesn't show up in the next couple of days, I'm calling the police!"
"Oh ho."
Hearing this, Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow, then took back the photograph.
"Incidentally, do you remember what kind of car he drove?"
"A black Chrysler. Not many young people can afford a car like that these days, so I remembered it clearly."
"Thank you, I have no further questions."
With Duanmu Huai's reply, Jacob turned and walked directly away, and Duanmu Huai turned to look at the others.
"You see — those two old men really are suspicious."
"Well...…just from that exchange?"
"Of course."
Duanmu Huai gave Mary a curious nod in response to her question.
"Don't forget — when we arrived here, we only said we were looking for someone. We never mentioned he had driven, or what kind of vehicle he drove. Yet Jacob stated it clearly, which tells us he wasn't lying."
"So...…Mr. Duanmu, you're saying those two old gentlemen were lying?"
Hearing this, Mary looked rather astonished.
"But they're just two old men. I don't mean to be rude, but all the missing people are young — could two elderly men really manage to overpower young, healthy people?"
"Heh, that's hard to say."
"So...…what do we do now?"
"Now that we've found some leads, let's deal with this commission while we're at it. You two look around the hotel a bit more and find out about the other guests. We'll regroup tonight and you can report back to me."
"Hm?"
Hearing Duanmu Huai's words, Mary was startled.
"Me? You want me to do it?"
"That's right. It's a skill every investigator needs. Consider it practice."
"But...…what should I ask them?"
"Just chat casually. Find out about their background, how long they've been here, whether they've encountered anything strange...…don't make it feel like a police interrogation. Treat it like two hotel guests having an ordinary conversation."
"Ah...…but Mr. Duanmu, what you were doing just now looked pretty much like an interrogation...…"
"Different methods for different situations. Now go!"
"Yes...…!"
Startled by Duanmu Huai's sharp tone, Mary gave a quick nod and hurried off. Lorena followed after her.
"Haah...…"
Duanmu Huai shook his head watching them go, then turned and walked toward the lake. The maid stayed with the truck to keep watch and do maintenance — though if those two idiots were foolish enough to try anything with the maid, they'd find out first-hand what a maid monster was truly capable of.
Though, speaking of which...…
"This place is an absolute dump."
Standing at the lakeside, looking at the scene before him, Duanmu Huai couldn't help but complain. Generally speaking, a place this far from civilization should have had beautiful natural scenery. But it was not so. There was indeed a small wooden dock at the edge of the lake with a few rowboats tied alongside.
Under ordinary circumstances, getting into a boat and drifting gently across a lake while enjoying the natural scenery wouldn't be a bad way to spend time.
However...…looking at the thick, viscous lake water blanketed in green algae, with a layer of oily grime floating on the surface, it looked nothing like a natural beauty spot. Calling this a lake was generous — it was more like an enormous pit of filthy wastewater, and the smell alone was enough to assault your nose before you'd even gotten close.
Who in their right mind would ever come to a place like this?
Walking along the lakeshore and grumbling, Duanmu Huai eventually stopped when he reached the other side.
The reason was simple — in front of him, pressed clearly into the muddy ground, were tire tracks. They led from the car park all the way over, and then...…
Duanmu Huai looked up and followed the tracks with his eyes.
They went into the lake.
No wonder this place was so filthy.
Could it be those two old men were some kind of murderous lunatics, killing people and robbing them out here, then pushing the victims' cars into the lake to destroy the evidence? And the bodies — could they be in the lake as well?
With that thought, Duanmu Huai turned and looked back at the hotel in the distance, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Well, this was getting interesting.
Winter nights came quickly, and when darkness fell, Mary and Lorena returned to the truck and made their report to Duanmu Huai.
"Besides Mr. Jacob, there are two other guests staying here."
Mary spoke as she produced a small notebook — she had apparently taken this quite seriously.
"One of them is a Mr. Bill Dunston. He's not very sociable — we only exchanged greetings and didn't say much. The other is a Miss Sarah Bonner, who seems to be traveling through the area and stopped here temporarily to rest. Neither of them has seen Mr. James. And also...…"
Mary turned a page in her notebook.
"Miss Sarah told me she's not fond of that lake. Ever since arriving here, she's been having frequent nightmares."
"Nightmares?"
"Yes. Miss Sarah said she sometimes dreams of sinking to the bottom of the water, surrounded by seaweed, and beneath the seaweed there's a strange city of spiraling towers, covered everywhere in terrifying, hideous, indescribable corpses. And then she's always drawn toward the center of the city, where she sees a terrible three-eyed creature...…and then she wakes up screaming. She keeps having the same dream, and Miss Sarah thinks it may be because of the lake."
"Hm?"
Hearing this, Duanmu Huai furrowed his brow.
Wasn't this...…hm hm? Could it be he'd hit the jackpot again?
Was his rabbit's luck really that powerful?
With that thought, Duanmu Huai looked at the little white rabbit dozing in his coat pocket, curled up contentedly. He reached out and stroked the rabbit's fluffy little body. The rabbit gave a little kick of its legs, then curled back up comfortably.
Well, it really was quite cute.
"Knock knock knock."
Just then, a light knock came from outside the truck. Duanmu Huai nodded to Lorena to open the door, and there stood the bespectacled young man from before, shifting awkwardly — Jacob, the one who had argued with William that morning.
"This late — what is it?"
"Hey, so here's the thing."
Hearing Duanmu Huai's question, Jacob was clearly nervous, but he spoke up anyway.
"I had another argument with that old fool — well, more of a scuffle, actually. I took his keys. I'm planning to go take a look at whatever those two are doing in that sealed workshop in the back. Want to come with?"
Hearing this, Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow. He certainly remembered Jacob mentioning that morning that those two old men were barely seen during the day and spent most of their time holed up in a sealed workshop behind the hotel — nobody knew what they were doing in there. Well, if this were a B-grade horror slasher film, the answer would probably be some kind of torture device or body — but Duanmu Huai had more or less already guessed that what was in there would be stranger than either of those.
"Sure, let's go."
Duanmu Huai nodded, then looked at Mary and Lorena.
"You two come as well. Be ready to fight."
"Yes, Sir Knight."
Lorena took the order in stride, lifting her heavy holy scripture and giving a nod. Mary looked like she wanted to ask something, but said nothing, and simply picked up her staff with a quiet resolve.
It was a gift Ranni had given Mary upon her "graduation" — a Carian Glintstone Staff.
The staff looked from the outside more like a slender sword, complete with a hand guard, and the grip was inlaid with gemstones. Worn at one's side, it gave the impression at first glance of a decorative weapon for a lady's personal protection — after all, the "blade" was cylindrical, and the overall design was lightweight and unassuming, unlikely to draw too much suspicion in public.
Though Ranni seemed outwardly cold toward Mary, she had apparently been quite considerate of her in the end. After all, something like this wasn't the kind of weapon an ordinary person could obtain even if they wanted to.
After instructing the maid to guard the truck so no one could break in, Duanmu Huai set out with Lorena and Mary, following Jacob toward the sealed workshop behind the hotel.
"...…Mr. Duanmu, are we going to fight?"
Holding her staff, Mary still looked rather tense, and she glanced at Duanmu Huai with anxious eyes as she asked. Duanmu Huai gave a nod.
"Most likely. If your investigation is correct, those two old men aren't ordinary murderous lunatics — they're cultists who worship an Evil God. There's no telling what kind of creature might be in that workshop, so it's better to be prepared."
"Hm? Is, is that so? But I couldn't see anything like that at all...…"
"I guessed because I've read about cases like this before. Either way, stay alert."
"Yes...…"
Hearing this, Mary's expression grew even more rigid, but she gripped her staff tightly and gave a firm nod.
Just then, the group arrived at the workshop door. Jacob produced the key without hesitation, unlocked it, and stepped straight inside.
The entire workshop was dim, with only a single oil lamp sitting on the table. All around were various tools that looked to be for repair work — but unfortunately, there were no visible bodies, and no useful clues in plain sight. In one corner of the room was a stack of cardboard boxes and a pile of clothes. On the table sat several cloudy glass jars with what appeared to be sharp spiny things submerged inside.
"Damn it!!"
But upon entering the workshop, Jacob seemed to spot something. He went over to the heap of old clothing piled in the corner, rummaged through it, and pulled out a jacket. He stared at it, then let out a low, furious growl.
"Damn it, I knew it! Those two old bastards — they're definitely behind this!"
As he said it, Jacob held the jacket up and spread it open for Duanmu Huai and the others to see.
"Look — this is Abraham's jacket! I knew it, something must have happened to him!"
"This jacket belongs to Abraham?"
"That's right — look, there's a label right here. It says A. Hicks. That's all the proof anyone needs. I've seen him wear this jacket more than once — there's no way he'd have just thrown it away. Those two old animals — I will not let this go. They must have killed Abraham. Maybe...…"
As he said it, Jacob's eyes swept the interior of the workshop, and when he spotted two wooden boxes sitting in the corner that looked like coffins, he leaped forward immediately.
"They must have put Abraham in there, damn it...…!!"
Shouting as he went, Jacob charged toward the box and threw it open.
But at that very moment, a skeletal arm reeking of decay suddenly shot out and seized Jacob's arm in an iron grip. In the next instant, a grotesque, putrefying corpse-like creature came lunging out of the box, opened its mouth wide, and bit down toward Jacob's neck.
(End of Chapter)