novelraw Chapter 951: A New Assignment
Chapter 951: A New Assignment
Professor Kris didn't show up.
Claire took her place, leading Lu Li to the Trunk Level.
To Sterling's temporary laboratory.
The corridor leading to the lab was blocked by Gatekeepers.
After passing through the cordon and donning bird-beak masks, Lu Li and Claire entered the laboratory.
Lu Li saw Sterling.
He was sitting on a sofa in front of the fireplace. The fire had long since died out. Sterling's head was tilted back, a piece of charcoal lodged in his mouth, still glowing as it burned through his throat.
"Homicide is ruled out," Claire said quietly.
Their arrival didn't draw the attention of the Gatekeepers. They cleaned up the fallen charcoal remnants and adjusted Sterling's head.
"The head is intact."One Gatekeeper produced an octopus-like mass of soft, writhing flesh and covered Sterling's head with it.
The fleshy mass unfurled, enveloping Sterling's head and pulsating like an ocean wave.
After a dozen seconds, the waiting Gatekeeper removed the now naturally coiled mass, dropped it into a miniature crucible, crushed it, and poured out the resulting slime.
The slime was poured into a birdcage where a black, soft sludge, sensing the scent of food, crawled toward it and was consumed by a seemingly undead formation of rotten flesh.
The formation of rotten flesh, having devoured the sludge, healed its body and condensed into a human figure, like a miniature person jumping erratically inside the birdcage.
The jumping, which bore no resemblance to a dance, continued for several minutes before the miniature person stopped and approached the edge of the birdcage as if a fireplace were there. It reached out, grasped something, and retreated as if holding a piece of charcoal. It sat down as if on a sofa, tilted its head back, and shoved the charcoal into its mouth.
"The deceased died from delirium due to a low Level of Reason," the Gatekeeper concluded.
One Gatekeeper lit an incense stick that resembled a candle. The rising thick smoke, more potent than that from firewood, shot straight up, hit the ceiling, and spread, filling the room.
The smell wasn't pungent; in fact, there was no smell at all. Another Gatekeeper released a black strip from a wooden box, and like scavengers, they consumed the smoke that had filled the laboratory.
"No anomalous aura."
A Gatekeeper walked over to the desk, but before he could touch the scattered and open records, Claire stopped him.
"These are important records. Professor Kris's letter requests that you preserve them."
The Gatekeeper took her letter and, after confirming its authenticity, said:
"Then this case of death is closed."
Before leaving, the leader of the Gatekeepers warned Lu Li:
"Exorcist, we don't want a repeat of this. Keep your dangers away from the Academy of Giant Trees."
They placed Sterling's body in a body bag and carried it out of the laboratory, which, after Sterling's death, had reverted to being just an abandoned storage room.
"Did he have any family?" Lu Li asked before they parted at a fork in the corridor.
"No. Don't be sad. We're all used to death—if you're even sad at all."
Claire bid Lu Li farewell and entered another corridor.
Lu Li headed back the way he came, but just as he was about to enter the Common Area, he was stopped by Gatekeepers.
The Gatekeepers would not let Lu Li pass.
"We need to check your Level of Reason."
In truth, a check of one's Level of Reason was not unusual.
As the safest level in all of Midnicht, the Gatekeepers of the Crown Level forbade any contamination from being brought in.
They made no exception for Lu Li, despite his status.
As their motto goes: they obey only the rules.
Lu Li was led away from the Common Area and into the Gatekeepers' lair—there were no students around, only the strange Gatekeepers in their standard short cloaks.
Before entering a dark hut, he saw a student emerging from the one next to it.
An oil lamp cast a dim yellow light, and after a short wait inside the dark hut, the Gatekeepers appeared.
Two Gatekeepers: one sat across from Lu Li, the other stood in the shadows behind him.
The Gatekeeper in front showed Lu Li a painting: gulls soared in a blue sky above a blue sea where a lighthouse stood tall.
"What do you see in this painting?"
"The sea, the sky, gulls, a lighthouse."
The Gatekeeper flipped the painting over, revealing its other side: a wingless anomaly floated in a sky of rock, while a lighthouse with an eyeball watched over a sea the color of blood.
"A sea of blood, a sky of rock, an anomaly, a lighthouse with an eyeball."
"Which one do you believe is real?"
"The first one."
"Reason?"
"Old Belfast was like that," Lu Li replied.
The Gatekeeper fell silent for a moment, then handed Lu Li a vial containing a potion and asked him to drink it.
"What does it do?" Lu Li asked.
"It induces delirium. Describe the hallucinations you see in detail... Don't hide anything, Exorcist."
"Don't you have any Heartwood branches?"
Lu Li did not drink the potion.
A low, muffled voice, like that of an anomaly, suddenly spoke from the shadows behind him:
"Can you retrieve it, the Heartwood?"
"I don't know its location."
The Heartwood had vanished along with the Exorcist Alliance in the Ancient Era.
"Find it, and you will earn the friendship of the Gatekeepers," the one behind him said, stepping out of the shadows and into the light of the oil lamp.
A bird-beak mask concealed his face, and the patterns on his cloak identified him as an elder of the Gatekeepers.
Lu Li did not refuse. Finding the Heartwood would obviously expedite the Level of Reason check.
But it would take time. Both to confirm its location and to retrieve it.
Lu Li still had much to do.
As payment for searching for the Heartwood, the Gatekeepers provided a portion of the advance: an exemption from drinking the potion and the subsequent Level of Reason check, and Lu Li's release.
Leaving the cold and lifeless lair of the Gatekeepers, he returned to the Common Area. There, he was met by Professor Haig, who was pacing anxiously.
Upon hearing that Lu Li had been taken by the Gatekeepers, Professor Haig had wanted to leave the Crown Level to rescue him but had been stopped by the Gatekeepers themselves.
Lu Li's return made him sigh in relief, and he went back to his office to prepare for his upcoming mysticism class.
Due to Sterling's death, Lu Li's affairs were temporarily put on hold, awaiting further news from Professor Kris.
The new assignment "to investigate the location of the Heartwood" was not for now...
"Mr. Lu Li... Mr. Lu Li?"
Lu Li snapped out of his thoughts. Professor Haig was looking at him with concern from the lectern, as were the strange students around him.
"Mr. Lu Li, please tell us, what was the method for testing the Level of Reason during the Ancient Era?" Professor Haig asked.
"Heartwood branches."
"The Heartwood is..."
Professor Haig resumed his lecture, and Lu Li closed the mysticism textbook he had already finished, confirming what he planned to do.
Take the Level 1 mysticism trials.