Chapter 400
Xia'er gently nudged the ladder, feeling that it could still bear her weight.
If it were a normal adult weighing over a hundred pounds, the wooden ladder might have snapped underfoot.
Under Xia'er’s influence, her personal belongings, like notebooks, were tossed into the dark river by the mice, swept away by the current.
Xia'er climbed the wooden ladder step by step, pushed open the wooden board above her, and with a strong push of her hands, she stepped onto solid ground.
Rain continued to pour down, soaking Xia'er completely. The feeling of "regaining freedom" made her instinctively tilt her head back to gaze at the night sky, savoring the sensation of raindrops on her face.
Now she could somewhat relate to Andy Dufresne's feelings after escaping from Shawshank Prison... but not entirely.
Because she was truly exhausted.
Xia'er glanced around; she seemed to be in an alley, but the surrounding buildings were not dilapidated, and there was no mountain of garbage piled up in the alley... It didn’t look like any part of the East District.
Should she go find Aivina first?
No, if there was a hidden hand at play, they would definitely be monitoring Aivina’s movements, especially since Aivina had been acting very close to her.
Xia'er had no idea what had happened outside the coffin; she needed to find someone to gather information about everything that had transpired while she was buried underground, like who had come over an hour ago to trigger the virus.
By checking who had been there, she could quickly figure out who had made the move.
“Chirp chirp...”
A palm-sized mouse emerged from the sewer inspection hatch, seemingly bouncing up the wooden ladder one hop at a time.
This was the first mouse to understand Xia'er’s instructions.
Find the place where I was buried...
But before that, Xia'er needed to disguise herself a bit...
...
“Is this the place...?”
In the rainy night, a girl with long black-blue hair, dressed in an oversized black trench coat, stood at the edge of Westminster Square.
A pair of pince-nez glasses perched on her nose, a name derived from the Pharos language meaning "clamp on the nose," these glasses used a clip or spring mechanism to hold onto the wearer’s nose.
Her dark purple pupils peered through the lenses, gazing up at the grand church before her.
Before her stood the largest church in the Westminster area, the Church of the God of Order.
This was the traditional burial site of the Ansu royal family, but besides burying royal members, there were also many places for other noble families, divided into "Poet's Corner," "Noble's Corner," and "King's Corner."
The Russell family’s burial site was not inside the church but in a private park on the southern outskirts... It was clearly a place arranged by Aivina.
Perhaps Xia'er had lingered here too long, drawing the attention of the night watchman; one of the guards in silver armor began to approach her.
“Miss, are you lost? It’s quite late now,” the guard asked softly, looking down at Xia'er, the rain pattering against his armor.
The terrifying thorns and bones wrapped around Xia'er’s arm were concealed beneath her oversized coat, and he seemed unaware of anything amiss.
“Thank you for your concern,” Xia'er replied with a smile, nodding. “I was just about to head back.”
“Do you need any help?” The guard seemed a bit worried about Xia'er walking alone in the rain, and he asked.
“No, thank you...” Xia'er shook her head and walked straight toward the Russell family’s private park.
The night watchman was just an ordinary person; Xia'er had no desire to continue the conversation.
A gray mouse crawled out of Xia'er’s pocket, seemingly catching a whiff of something, and jumped out, scurrying off in the direction of a streetlight.
Did it find something?
Xia'er quickened her pace to follow the little mouse, arriving at the entrance of a park.
The night park seemed to have no guards; sensing that no eyes were on her, Xia'er waited for the little mouse to return and confirm it was safe before stepping into the park.
The little mouse always stayed half a step ahead of Xia'er, leading her forward. Soon, a cemetery appeared before her, accompanied by a flickering yellow light.
That was a gravekeeper, clad in a black rain cloak, patrolling the cemetery.
Asking him might yield some information.
Xia'er walked straight into the dark cemetery, following the path toward the flickering flame.
Hearing footsteps behind him, the gravekeeper jumped, spinning around and taking a few steps back, raising his lantern to illuminate the girl before him.
“Whew... you scared me... Miss Aivina, what are you doing out here so late... uh?” The gravekeeper took a few steps forward, noticing the similar height, but when the flame pierced through the rain to fully illuminate the figure, he froze.
Not Miss Aivina?
Though she had the same long black hair and a similar height, the girl before him bore a significant difference in appearance from Aivina, and her expression gave off a gloomy and eerie vibe, especially appearing in a graveyard at this hour...
Could she be a ghost...?
The gravekeeper instinctively took a half-step back.
“Chirp chirp—”
Xia'er looked down just in time to see the little gray mouse stop beside an unmarked gravestone in the corner, lifting its upper body to look at her.
“I’m a friend of Miss Russell, here to pay respects to a mutual friend of ours,” Xia'er turned to the gravekeeper, smiling as she spoke. “I just arrived from out of town... and didn’t get to say goodbye.”
The art of conversation had a profound effect on ordinary people; upon hearing Xia'er’s words, the gravekeeper, who had been trembling, let out a sigh of relief.
“Ah... please accept my condolences, Miss,” the gravekeeper said, sighing. “Once someone has passed, they cannot return; she will surely be well in heaven.”
“Thank you.” Xia'er nodded with a smile, then asked, “Sir, may I ask when Aivina left?”
“She left about two hours ago with her friends,” the gravekeeper replied.
“Oh...” Xia'er nodded slightly.
That was roughly the time she had died.
“Who did she come with? They should all be my friends,” Xia'er gazed at the gravestone, seemingly talking to herself. “The Ironclad Knight Nia... the green-haired maid Tara... Director Lucy from the Dedton Group... the blonde noble lady Amy...”
“They all came, they all came,” the gravekeeper nodded repeatedly, saying, “Besides them, there was also a lady wearing a half-black iron mask. Oh, I think I didn’t hear anything about Miss Amy; it seems she was... yes, called Isabella?”
A half-black iron mask, Seraphine? It seemed that her burial here was a result of Aivina negotiating with her family.
Isabella...
The Stuart Art Exchange controlled the daughter of Edward Stuart, who was also just an ordinary person.
But she shouldn’t be here... Xia'er had only had a brief encounter with her in Buren City... perhaps she had attended Aivina’s housewarming party, but their relationship shouldn’t have been close enough for this.
Not to mention, her father Edward was a puppet of a high-ranking member of a pleasure society...
With her appearance, Xia'er could almost be certain that it was a high-ranking member of that pleasure society who had acted...
Could it be that they were not the “overthrower,” but rather a high-level “poisoner”?
If it was the pleasure society, that was certainly a possibility.
Isabella must have been assigned some tasks, perhaps tasks even she was unaware of.
For instance, carrying something that could trigger the virus, ensuring that they could “finish off” their “corpse.”
The reason that person from the pleasure society dared to do this was that, from their perspective, they had never been exposed, which is why they felt bold enough to send Isabella to carry out the task.
But how could she draw them out...?
“Miss... Miss?” The gravekeeper looked at the girl who seemed to have fallen into deep thought, asking a few times.
The gravekeeper’s voice interrupted Xia'er’s contemplation. She slowly raised her head, looking calmly at the gravekeeper before her.
The gravekeeper felt a chill run down his spine under her gaze.
“You’re a good person,” Xia'er said, a faint smile appearing on her face as she asked, “What’s your name?”
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