Chapter 320: Is Will Dead?
"Long time no see, Dr. Allen."
That afternoon, Lorne met Dr. Allen, who looked somewhat haggard from his nightmares. Dressed in a well-tailored black formal coat, his slightly listless complexion made him appear even more melancholic.
"Ah—long time no see, Mr. Scott." Dr. Allen was momentarily taken aback before hurriedly collecting himself to greet Lorne.
It seems he's been suffering quite a bit lately—Lorne thought to himself, observing the other's somewhat sluggish reaction.
"I heard you've been dreaming frequently about Will Auceptin?" Lorne got straight to the point.
"Yes! Exactly!" At the mention of that name, Dr. Allen suddenly became agitated.
"I followed Sherlock's advice and went to the Evernight Goddess's church, explaining my situation to the bishop."
"My streak of bad luck seems—to have dissipated somewhat. But, but—" Dr. Allen covered his head in a near breakdown.
"Those strange dreams have started appearing one after another again!" At this point, he looked up at Lorne. "Mr. Scott, how have you been recently?"
"Me—" After hesitating for a few seconds, Lorne still told the other about the bizarre dream he'd had recently, the one about a Giant Snake chasing a little boy.
"Snake! That's it! That boy was Will!" Dr. Allen said excitedly. "In my dream, Will also cried out to me for help! He said a snake wanted to eat him!"
A snake wanted to eat him? In my dream, I wanted to eat him and that snake together—Lorne sighed inwardly, looking at Dr. Allen's neurasthenic state, then spoke up to comfort him: "Actually, Will might not necessarily be a bad person. Look at me—not only am I fine, I even became a hero."
Although, I was detained for several days and nearly died in a gas explosion.
Hearing this, Dr. Allen's expression softened a little.
"Hmm—today, I just want to get to the bottom of this. Regarding safety, I'll have to trouble you and Sherlock.
"
"Of course, this 'hero' will protect you." Lorne seized the moment to crack a joke, lightening the oppressive atmosphere.
"Indeed, Mr. Scott is the man who single-handedly stormed a Gangster's Villa and saved dozens of young women." Klein chimed in from the side.
In the carriage heading to Green Cemetery, Lorne looked at Klein sitting beside him and asked casually, "Great Detective Moriarty, after we parted in the East Borough that day, you said you were going to search for Daisy's whereabouts. What happened later?"
Is he suspecting that the ghost who appeared at Capine Villa that day is related to me? Klein immediately became alert—
He put on a regretful expression: "I borrowed a hound, but unfortunately, it didn't manage to track Miss Daisy by scent. The trail seems to have gone cold."
"However—" he looked at Lorne, a sincere smile appearing on his face, "Miss Daisy was very fortunate to be saved in the end by you, the 'hero.'"
"What are you two talking about?" Dr. Allen was curious about their conversation.
"Didn't you know? Actually, Sherlock also helped with rescuing those young women." Lorne briefly recounted the incident of encountering Liv and her mother in the East Borough that day.
"I see—" After listening, Dr. Allen looked at Klein with an approving gaze.
"I'm truly ashamed; I didn't really help at all." Klein pretended to be embarrassed.
"No, I believe Sherlock's courage and abilities deserve greater fame." Lorne looked at Klein seriously. "I was thinking that if a reporter interviews me again about the Capin case, I could mention you in passing. That would definitely be a great help to your detective work."
"No, that's not necessary! I don't really like being famous." Klein quickly declined with a smile.
Just kidding! If he really ended up in the newspapers, his relatively peaceful detective life would surely be disrupted again.
West Borough, Outskirts of Green Cemetery.
Lorne and Klein accompanied Dr. Allen, walking through the nearby woods for a long time, searching for the peculiar tree from his dream.
"Cough, cough—there's so much dust here." Allen covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, coughing lightly twice.
"Perhaps—there isn't such a tree. Things from dreams can't be completely reflected in reality." By the end of the search, even Dr. Allen himself began to doubt.
"A Birch Tree with a patch of bark peeled off—" Lorne was also scanning the surroundings, looking for any tree matching the description while simultaneously attempting to sense the area with his spirituality.
"Try over there." Klein pointed in a direction with his silver-inlaid walking stick.
Divination? The Dowsing Method? Lorne watched the other's action but did not object.
"Alright, let's try again." Dr. Allen also nodded, a glimmer of hope rekindled.
After walking for a while, Dr. Allen suddenly halted. He pointed diagonally ahead and exclaimed excitedly, "There! Right there!"
About a dozen meters away, a Birch Tree with a large section of bark peeled off around its middle stood prominently.
"It's exactly the same as what I saw in my dream!" Allen stated with certainty.
"But there's no Will Auceptin here." Klein smiled with a hint of wariness.
"The tree itself seems fine, but underneath—there seems to be something odd." Lorne frowned, pointing to a patch of bare ground near the tree roots with almost no withered grass.
The spiritual energy under this tree feels off. Something must be buried down there.
Hearing this, Dr. Allen approached the tree and examined it closely: "That's right! Will Auceptin was sitting right here at the time!"
Lorne and Dr. Allen exchanged a glance.
"Let's dig it up." The two 'victims' spoke in unison.
"Sherlock, could you please go borrow a few shovels?" Allen turned and said to Klein.
"No, Sherlock and I, the two professionals, will stay here. Dr. Allen, you go borrow them." Lorne stated cautiously in a tone that brooked no argument.
If there really was any danger, the two Beyonders would have room to maneuver.
"Alright." Dr. Allen did not refuse and immediately turned to leave the woods.
A short while later, he returned with three iron shovels, having spent a few suile.
They began digging. But with the first shovel strike, Lorne felt something was off.
"Wait! I have a bad feeling about this!"
Hearing this, the other two simultaneously stopped their actions.
Lorne swept his gaze over the bare patch of ground, then fixed his eyes on Dr. Allen. He reached inside his overcoat and retrieved the 'Ripper' that had been hidden there all along. Then, under Dr. Allen's somewhat bewildered gaze, he handed the gun to him.
"Do you know how to use it?"
"What?" Dr. Allen didn't react immediately.
"It's not much different from a regular shotgun." After briefly explaining how to use the gun, Lorne instructed, "If something unexpected really happens, Sherlock and I should be able to dodge due to our skills. But you haven't had the corresponding training."
"If an accident occurs, just fire to protect yourself."
"What do you say~"
"This—" Dr. Allen initially wanted to refuse, but seeing Lorne's completely serious expression, so different from his earlier joking demeanor, and feeling the grave look Klein also cast his way, he swallowed hard. In the end, he tremblingly took the heavy shotgun, clumsily cradling it in his arms.
..
—Alright.
"7
"Great Detective, let's keep digging."
"Alright." Klein nodded and resumed his work.
As they dug, a foul, familiar smell of decay wafted up from the soil. Lorne's expression grew increasingly serious.
As the surface soil was parted, the object buried beneath gradually became exposed.
It was the body of a child in an advanced state of decomposition!
His skin and flesh, as if about to melt, clung stickily to the bones. Unidentifiable insects crawled in and out of his nose and mouth incessantly.
"Crack." Dr. Allen stared at the corpse's legs, his mouth moving frantically, but not a single word came out.
"Be careful! Don't accidentally fire!" Seeing Dr. Allen trembling all over, barely able to hold the gun steady, Klein hurriedly reminded him loudly.
"Legs! His legs!" Dr. Allen suddenly screamed.
Suppressing his disgust, Klein looked closely and discovered that the child corpse's left leg was clearly missing its lower half!
At the same time, Dr. Allen staggered back two steps, falling onto his backside, and shrieked in a high-pitched voice, "Will Auceptin! It's Will Auceptin!"
As he spoke, he subconsciously raised the shotgun in his hands, aiming it at the horrifying corpse.
"Calm down! He's already dead!" Klein shouted loudly.
"Mr. Scott! Please talk some sense into—" He turned to look at Lorne beside him.
However, Lorne did not speak. He was just staring fixedly at the corpse and the already torn, soil-mixed fragments of tarot cards scattered around it.
A few seconds later, he abruptly picked up his shovel and began digging frantically again.
Nothing—nothing—where exactly is—
He kept shoveling away the soil, increasing the intensity and scope of his digging. The characteristic?! Where is his Beyonder characteristic?! Why isn't it here!
Only after completely turning over Will Auceptin's entire corpse, along with the soil about half a meter beneath him, did Lorne finally stop. Leaning on his shovel, breathing slightly heavily, he cast a complicated glance at the mutilated corpse.
Will is really dead—killed by that snake from the dream?
His characteristic has been taken by someone else?!