novelraw Chapter 141: Devil's Contract
Chapter 141: Devil's Contract
The prolonged midnight bell of Oberammergau resounded through the valley with an imposing air. They saw the pitch-black, slumbering fairytale town awakening, window after window lighting up with candlelight in succession.
That was a ritualistic, indifferent glow, a signal that countless pairs of eyes were slowly opening from the abyss.
Lin Jie's voice was icy cold. "They're about to begin."
He looked at the smooth, mirror-like wound on William's arm, then at the ghostly scene illuminated by the myriad candle-lit windows.
Julian's expression was grim. "I didn't expect we'd still end up alerting them."
William didn't speak. He just calmly retrieved bandages and a jar of "Holy Salt Ointment" specially made by the I.A.R.C. Medical Department from his personal medical kit, and began meticulously treating the wound on his arm.
His movements were steady and forceful;
that peculiar wound seemed to have little effect on him.
He nodded at the two men to indicate he was ready to face combat.
However, Lin Jie knew that what they lacked most right now was not the courage to fight, but information.
They did not know in what manner the town's residents would assist the UMA in this "hunt" targeting them.They were completely in the dark about the enemy's numbers, weapons, and patterns of action.
To rashly attempt a breakout or counterattack under these circumstances was equivalent to charging blindfolded into a minefield full of traps.
Lin Jie made a decision. "First, return to the inn. After ensuring Professor Schmidt's safety, we'll figure out a plan."
The three men extinguished their lights without hesitation and melted back into the labyrinthine streets woven from eerie candlelight and dark shadows.
Just as they were passing through a narrow alley cluttered with discarded lumber, William's beast-like perception suddenly caught a faint sensation of being watched from the shadows beside them.
He whipped his head around, his grey eyes precisely locking onto the area behind a wooden rack stacked with beer barrels at the alley's corner.
"Come out!" William's low growl rang out, carrying intimidation.
A fearful, suppressed gasp came from the shadows, followed by a small, limping figure stumbling out from behind the rack, trying to flee towards the other end of the alley.
It was the disabled boy from the cemetery. He had been secretly watching them.
"Trying to run?" William cracked his knuckles.
His sturdy frame powerfully pushed off the ground, launching him like an arrow from a bow. He overtook the boy, who couldn't run fast due to his leg disability, in less than three seconds.
His iron-vise-like hand grabbed the boy by the back of his collar, lifting him as easily as one would lift a chick.
"Let me go! Please, let me go!" The boy's body trembled, his mouth uttering desperate pleas. "I don't know anything! Please don't turn me over to the 'Master Craftsman'!"
"We won't hurt you." Lin Jie and Julian quickly stepped forward.
Lin Jie looked into the boy's blue eyes, brimming with fear.
"But we also don't have time to explain things to you slowly here."
"Come with us. You need to tell us everything you know. This isn't just to save yourself, it's to save all of us."
They gave the boy no further chance to resist. William tucked him under his arm like a sack of grain, and the three swiftly returned to the temporarily safe inn.
They first hid Professor Schmidt in the inn's basement. It was not easily discovered and had several small cargo doors leading outside, facilitating escape.
After instructing him not to leave the basement for the time being, the three men brought the boy back to their room.
The boy's once-innocent eyes were now clouded with a gloominess that didn't match his age.
He didn't dare look up, his gaze fixed stubbornly on his worn-out old leather shoes, one larger than the other.
Julian successfully shattered the psychological defenses of this fragile-hearted boy using intimidating methods, extracting quite a bit of useful information.
Julian said to Lin Jie, "The poor little Hans is the one who threw you the note. He also knows all the secrets about this ritual."
"But he doesn't dare speak, because he's terrified of that monster called the 'Master Craftsman'."
Lin Jie looked at the pitiful "inside man" before him, crushed by fear. He walked over, crouched down in front of the boy, and gently placed his right hand on the boy's disheveled flaxen hair, his left hand remaining in his pocket.
A soft, warm white spiritual halo emanated from Lin Jie's palm, carrying a Zen-like quality of serenity and harmony.
That healing power gently enveloped the boy's fragile soul, frozen by fear.
This was precisely the soul-soothing effect from the [Serene Heart] within his pocket.
The boy's trembling body gradually calmed under the pacifying influence of this benevolent, warm power. He slowly raised his head.
Those fear-filled, despairing eyes reflected Lin Jie's gentle, understanding face. That gaze was like a drowning person grasping a lifeline dropped from the sky.
Years of pent-up grievance and loneliness erupted in that moment.
With a loud wail, the boy threw himself into Lin Jie's arms and began sobbing uncontrollably.
After nearly half an hour of intermittent weeping and narration, a devil's contract, passed down among all the adults of Oberammergau, viewed by them as both sacred and the most terrifying "core commandment," was finally revealed by this poor boy who had also been deeply wounded by the "contract."
The truth largely aligned with their previous speculations, but its details were even more bloody and tinged with the tragedy of fate.
That UMA, called the "Limb Collector" but revered by the townsfolk as the "Great Craftsman," had indeed been entrenched in this valley for several centuries, its origins even older than the "Black Death."
It was the "God of the Forest and Handicrafts" originally worshipped by the local primitive Germanic tribes.
It had made a mutually beneficial "devil's contract" with the town's first-generation founders.
The "Craftsman" would use its spiritually charged field, infused with artistic inspiration, to protect this town.
It would bestow divinely-inspired creativity upon the woodcarving artisans here, allowing them to produce exquisite wooden artworks, bringing wealth and glory to this remote, resource-poor town.
Simultaneously, its powerful spiritual field could also act like an invisible barrier, effectively blocking all "calamities" from the outside world, such as the ravages of war, rampant plagues, and harsh weather that would cause crop failures.
In return, the town's residents must dedicate their absolute "loyalty" and "faith" to it.
And they had one even more important obligation: every so often, when the "Craftsman" felt a shortage of materials for creating its masterpieces.
The town's residents must work together to provide it with a perfect "living sacrifice" as raw material.
The selection criteria for the sacrifice were stringent. It had to be an "outsider," because the "Craftsman" did not permit its protection to be tainted by the blood of its own people.
Furthermore, it had to be a perfect "specimen": physically strong, with all limbs intact, and even the skin could not have many flaws.
The boy pointed at his own congenitally atrophied, disabled leg, his face showing a complex mix of relief and inferiority. "My... my leg... because of it, everyone in town sees me as a defective product, a useless person who can never be chosen by the 'Craftsman'."
The boy's voice was full of sorrow. "And my sister... she was the most beautiful girl in town, and the most skilled painter."
"Three years ago, no suitable 'material' had come to town for a long time. The 'Craftsman' began to grow unhappy. That year, the town's woodcarvings didn't win the gold medal at the Munich exhibition."
"So the mayor and the pastor decided... they said my sister's hands, which could paint the most beautiful murals, were the 'Craftsman's' most coveted collectibles. And my parents were outsiders, so we also had the blood of outsiders in our veins..."
Lin Jie's heart sank.
Tears streamed from the boy's eyes. "That night, the town also rang the bells and lit the candles, just like tonight. I saw with my own eyes my father personally tie up my sister, then, along with the other townspeople, carry her towards that damned theater like a lamb to the slaughter."
"The next day, when I saw my father again, he had a large sum of money in his hand. That was the reward the mayor gave him."
After hearing this bloody and treacherous true "fairytale," Lin Jie and Julian felt a chill that emanated from the depths of their souls.
The perfection and harmony of this town were bought with a nauseatingly filthy price.
Lin Jie's voice became hoarse. "...Tonight's bell toll... is it also to offer a sacrifice?"
The boy nodded heavily, his eyes filled with guilt and pity for Lin Jie and the other two.
"Yes. The bell is an edict issued by the 'Craftsman.' It tells all of us that it has found its most satisfactory new material."
"And those candlelights are the 'response.' They represent that every adult in town will put down everything they're doing, take up arms, and leave their homes."
"They will seal off the entire town."
"Then they will... 'invite' the sacrifice chosen by the 'Craftsman' out from their hiding place."
The moment the boy's words fell, a tremendous crash came from directly below the inn. The inn's main door was violently smashed open from the outside!
A chaotic rush of footsteps surged from downstairs towards the third floor where they were!