Chapter 26: The Mysterious Ringing of Bells, A Different Script

Chapter 26: The Mysterious Ringing of Bells, A Different Script

"Should we set a fire to attract everyone's attention and slip out of the charity house in the chaos?"

"Or hide behind the door, knock out the guard when he comes to check, and then take the keys and escape?"

"Maybe find a place to hide where the charity house staff can't find us, and then look for an opportunity to leave when no one is around?"

These were all suggestions from Instructor Frolen, who clearly reads a lot of detective adventure novels.

Professor Wayne didn't offer any advice but left Hastur to worry about the problem alone.

He believed that since Hastur had made a suggestion, he must have a way to solve it.

"It would be great if we had cosmetics and a wig here, and a set of women's clothes."

Instructor Frolen thought of a very feasible method, but obviously, the conditions here were not suitable.

"Actually, sneaking away is not a difficult task." Hastur quickly shut down Frolen's wild ideas.

He would not dress in women's clothing! "Do you have any good ideas?" Frolen asked Hastur with a happy face.

"I don't necessarily have to leave the charity house in the middle of the night. Tomorrow, when we go out during the day, I can just find an opportunity to slip away. Then it will depend on your and Professor Wayne's performance."

"Right! We don't have to escape tonight! Why didn't I think of that?" Frolen said with a frustrated expression.

"…"

Hastur stopped discussing this topic with Frolen and went to discuss tomorrow's matters with Professor Wayne.

Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling! As the three discussed what might happen tomorrow, three crisp bell sounds came from outside the house.

They had heard this sound at lunchtime too when the charity house manager shook a string of bells a few times and announced the dining rules.

The bell sounds came quickly and dissipated just as fast, only three rings, and then silence fell outside again.

Inside, the three exchanged glances, all with astonished expressions.

Why would there be bell sounds in the middle of the night? It felt eerily strange! "Could it be some child who can't sleep at night, making such a prank?"

"Perhaps the bell sound is a signal for them to plan an action?"

"Or maybe we heard it wrong, and it's just the wind blowing through the bells hanging outside the door?"

Instructor Frolen offered his guesses.

Professor Wayne didn't speak. He stood up, went to the door, listened for a moment, and paced back and forth.

Finally, he said, "Let's go out and have a look; we might find something unexpected."

Hastur firmly opposed Professor Wayne's suggestion.

That bell sound was definitely not simple! It could very well involve extraordinary elements! It was an inexplicable premonition in his heart, and in such a situation, he absolutely trusted his intuition.

"Taking a look shouldn't be a problem, right?" Frolen was also tempted, after all, judging by the volume, the bell sound was still some distance away from here.

"Well, we can just take a look on our way back to our rooms to rest." Professor Wayne agreed with the suggestion.

"Wait a minute."

Hastur stopped them, his face serious, "I think it's not that simple; let's not take any risks."

Frolen said with a smile, "It's okay, we'll just take a quick look from afar."

"Emperor Roselle once said, 'Curiosity killed the cat.' It means being too curious about things can easily put oneself in danger."

Hastur quoted Emperor Roselle's famous saying, hoping to dispel their adventurous thoughts.

"That's a very philosophical statement, worthy of Emperor Roselle."

Frolen agreed with the saying and assured Hastur with a smile that he would definitely not venture out in the middle of the night.

With that said, Hastur had no reason to stop them anymore, and besides, the bed really couldn't fit three people.

The door opened, and Hastur peeked out first, looking around to make sure no patrolling guards were passing by, then he called out to Professor Wayne and Instructor Frolen to come out.

He watched as the two of them left with a kerosene lamp. They really didn't do anything extra, just looked from a distance at the source of the bell sound for a while, then returned to their own rooms.

Hastur breathed a sigh of relief, glanced towards the source of the bell sound, and took a look. The night breeze blew, causing him to shiver.

He withdrew his gaze, closed the door, locked it, and after thinking for a while, moved the table behind the door to block it, then placed the kerosene lamp on the floor near the head of the bed.

After doing all this, he glanced at the time; it was already past two in the morning.

He got into bed, lay on the blanket, hugged his staff across his chest, and yawned.

He was really a bit sleepy.

In a half-asleep state, he dreamed that he had arrived at the Hall of Stars and whipped the Lamp Genie again.

…

In the early morning, Hastur was awakened by a series of loud knocks.

He opened his sleepy eyes, glanced at the staff clutched to his chest, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, nothing unexpected happened last night.

But did he go to the Hall of Stars last night and whip the Lamp Genie? Hastur frowned slightly; he had been clocking in at the Lamp Genie's place for some time now. If he missed one night, he would break his continuous check-in streak.

Bang! Bang! The knocking grew louder, accompanied by Frolen's anxious voice.

Did something really happen? Hastur didn't delay any longer, quickly got up, moved the table aside, put it back in place, and then opened the door.

"Teacher, teacher, he's disappeared!" Frolen's face was full of urgency, his tone rapid, his breathing uneven.

Two charity house administrators were also with Frolen.

"Slow down, how could Professor Wayne suddenly disappear?" Hastur calmed Frolen's anxious mood.

"This morning when I woke up, I wanted to see how the teacher slept last night. When I came to the teacher's door and knocked twice, the door opened by itself, and the teacher was nowhere to be seen inside."

"At first, I didn't pay much attention, thinking the teacher got up earlier than me and had already gone out."

"But after asking around, I found that no one had seen the teacher. I panicked and quickly asked the charity house staff to help look for him. After searching for more than an hour, we still couldn't find the teacher, and no one on the road had seen him either."

Frolen became more and more anxious as he spoke, sweat even breaking out on his forehead.

Has he really disappeared?

Or is it just an act? After listening to Frolen's story, Hastur's heart skipped a beat, somewhat believing yet also doubting.

Last night, the three of them had mentioned using a fake disappearance to give the police department a reason to investigate the charity house.

Early in the morning, Professor Wayne disappeared.

Professor Wayne is a respected law professor at Beckland University and also my teacher. His disappearance has enough weight to involve the police department in the investigation.

Perhaps, Professor Wayne didn't want to trouble me, so he chose to be the one to fake the disappearance.

But thinking of the eerie bell sound last night, Hastur became anxious, and Frolen's expression didn't seem like an act.

"Don't worry for now, Professor Wayne won't have an accident." Hastur reassured Frolen while asking, "Has anyone been sent to the dock area to look for him?"

A charity house staff member replied, "We've sent people to look, but there's no news yet."

"Has every place in the charity house been searched?"

"We've searched more than once, but we haven't seen Professor Wayne, and no one has seen him this morning either."

"I want to see Dean Darn."

"Okay, I'll take you to him."

Led by the charity house staff, Hastur and Frolen soon met Dean Darn.

He also seemed very anxious and looked upset.

Seeing Hastur and Frolen arrive, he put away his angry expression and sighed, "Please rest assured, we will find Professor Wayne and ensure that nothing happens to him."

Hastur's face darkened, and he said sternly, "If we still can't see my most respected teacher by noon, we will choose to call the police and rely on the police department's power to solve this matter."

Whether Professor Wayne has really disappeared or not, taking this opportunity to involve the police department is the best choice.

"This, let's not bother the police department, shall we?" Dean Darn's face looked even worse.

"Can you ensure that you'll find him before noon?"

Hastur's tone grew heavier, and he tapped his staff on the ground twice, clearly suppressing the anger in his heart, "My teacher is a highly respected law professor. He has trained many outstanding barristers, some of whom have become judges!"

"I understand, we will handle this matter well!"

Dean Darn's expression brightened, obviously shocked by Professor Wayne's importance.

Soon, Dean Darn ordered the charity house staff to split up and search for Professor Wayne's whereabouts.

Hastur and Frolen didn't just sit quietly in their room waiting for news but went with several charity house staff to the dock area to search.

Mainly, Hastur was worried that if Professor Wayne's disappearance Especially when noon was approaching, and if the charity house still couldn't find Professor Wayne, they might make Hastur and Frolen disappear too, to prevent the police department from getting involved.

It's not that he wanted to think so darkly of people, but in the mysterious world, it's always right to be a little more cautious.

Even if you don't make mistakes, you might still encounter unknown dangers, let alone if you act foolishly.

By eleven o'clock, the entire dock area had almost been turned upside down by the charity house staff, and many residents also joined in the search for Professor Wayne, but he was nowhere to be found.

What was even more frightening was that among so many eyes in the dock area, not a single one had seen Professor Wayne.

Hastur stood among the crowd, looking towards the charity house with a heavy expression.

If Professor Wayne was forced to disappear, then he might be imprisoned inside the charity house. And if it was a voluntary disappearance, then he might also be hiding there.

After all, there are so many residents in the dock area, many of whom get up to work before dawn. To slip out of the dock area under so many watchful eyes would be too difficult.

On the other hand, hiding in the charity house, one only needs to avoid the first few searches to easily create the illusion of being hidden in plain sight.

Frolen, standing beside Hastur, looked at him with a complicated gaze, hesitating to speak several times.

He really wanted to ask if all this was prearranged by his teacher and Mr. Hastur.

The script they discussed last night wasn't supposed to go like this!

(End of Chapter)