Lord of Mysteries: The New Black Emperor

Chapter 69: Official Beyonders

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Somewhat comically, Hobart had drawn his gun on the stairs, while Daniel only had a baton.

Bang, bang, bang...

Little Henry seemed to hear someone coming upstairs, and the door-pounding increased in frequency.

Daniel had thought about calling out Henry's name to calm him down, but for some reason, in this eerie atmosphere, he found himself unable to speak.

Bang, bang, bang...

The sound was like a death knell. Daniel regretted coming upstairs, but they had already arrived at the bedroom door, where the pounding was coming from.

Using the Spirit Vision provided by his "Spirit Necklace," Hobart confirmed that no living person remained in the room. He raised his cane in one hand, holding his gun in the other, and kicked the door open.

This was the third door he'd kicked in today, and he was getting better at it.

The door flew open, and Hobart and Daniel immediately saw a seven or eight-year-old boy with a pale face, cloudy eyes, and long fangs.

It was obvious that this was little Henry. When he saw the two living people at the door, he let out a sound that was somewhere between a cry and a night owl's screech, then rushed toward Daniel.

Hobart, seeing it was just an ordinary zombie, relaxed and smiled at Daniel, saying, "He just wants a hug."

Daniel also realized something was wrong and quickly dodged, but the little zombie was already struck by Hobart's cane, smashing into the wall.

The blow was hard. The little zombie hit the wall like a clump of mud and didn't move.

Daniel's mouth gaped open, "You—you killed him!"

But just then, the little zombie twitched its neck, slid off the wall, and lunged at Hobart.

"Look, he's alive again," Hobart said casually. Then, he fired two shots, blowing the little zombie's head apart. However, no blood spilled, only some brown liquid on the floor. The zombie finally collapsed and stopped moving.

Daniel swallowed hard, realizing that something was deeply wrong with Henry's condition.

Hobart calmly ejected the spent shells and reloaded his gun. "Officer, I think it's best not to mention what happened upstairs to Mr. Polly and the others."

Daniel nodded vigorously, "Right, right."

Hobart glanced around the room where the zombie had been. There was no furniture, and the window was boarded up with wooden planks, reinforced with iron bars on the outside. The walls were covered in scratch marks.

From what they'd seen from outside, the second-floor rooms all had their curtains drawn, with another layer of curtains on the outside of the wooden boards for disguise.

It seemed this room was specifically prepared for little Henry, not for storing a Sealed Artifact.

After a quick inspection, Hobart turned and headed downstairs, Daniel hurrying to follow.

On the way down, Hobart began piecing everything together.

Little Henry had probably died two or three years ago when the neighbors heard he had contracted a severe "sunlight-sensitive illness." Henry's parents, desperate to save him, had attempted a ritual from the Death pathway to resurrect their son.

Instead, they had turned him into a zombie. To Henry and his wife, lacking sufficient occult knowledge, this was likely seen as a success.

After all, their child seemed to have life again.

It's likely that after pulling the curtains closed, Henry and his wife spent all their time performing rituals, hoping to make little Henry return to normal.

The thief who had broken into the Henry house wasn't knocked senseless by Mr. Henry but was likely terrified into madness by little Henry's zombie state.

Finally, about a week or more ago, during one of their rituals, the Henry couple lost their lives. The Sealed Artifact they had been using was left uncontained, which corrupted the dog locked in the basement.

With the artifact gaining "freedom," the dog in the Henry basement had been able to occasionally wander into Mr. Ailey's basement. While out scavenging, it had trampled Polly's flowerbeds and killed his chickens.

By the time Hobart and Daniel returned to the yard, Polly and Ailey had retreated to the gate due to the sound of gunshots.

When they saw Hobart and Daniel coming down, they rushed forward to ask what had happened.

Hobart explained, "Little Henry is dead too. The pounding sound was caused by a bird that flew into the room. I shot it twice to kill it."

Daniel, no longer as confident as before, added, "Yes, yes, that's right."

About half an hour later, a few more police officers arrived, and soon the street in front of the Henry house was filled with carriages. The officers dispersed the crowd, leaving only Hobart, Polly, and Ailey as relevant witnesses.

Around noon, a carriage bearing a black sacred emblem arrived in the small town. Hobart perked up, thinking to himself, The main players have arrived!

The carriage stopped at the gate. The door opened, and out stepped a man with a scarred face and cold demeanor. His amber eyes were as sharp as a hawk's.

Behind him, a woman with emerald eyes, blue eyeshadow, and a hint of blush stepped out, exuding a sensual and almost dangerous beauty.

Hobart froze for a moment. Could this be Ms. Daly?

The woman noticed Hobart's gaze and smiled, saying, "Don't look at me like that. I'm not into little boys."

Hobart twitched the corner of his mouth, confirming his suspicion—it was Daly, no doubt.

He sighed and thought, Lady, I've met Audrey. It takes more than that to get under my skin. What kind of look do you think I'm giving you?

Ms. Daly and her companion began questioning Daniel about the case. During the report, the two official Beyonders glanced at Hobart several times, evidently sensing that he was also a Beyonder.

Then, the two ordered all the officers to wait outside but invited Hobart to join them inside.

The scarred man closed the door Hobart had kicked open and fixed his piercing gaze on him.

Before the man could speak, Hobart preempted, "I am the eldest son of Commander Christian, not some wild Beyonder. I am obligated to assist you, but that's the extent of it. If you intend to arrest me, I will resist. Even if you have legal immunity, I will drag you to court and let the world see how the Church treats military personnel."

The scarred man coldly replied, "Resist? Do you think you can?"

Hobart rested his hand on his gun. "You're welcome to try."

In general, official Beyonders held a lot of hostility towards wild Beyonders. Hobart wasn't threatening them but warning them not to overstep: I'll help you, but if you go too far, I'll make sure this gets messy.

Ms. Daly interjected, "Alright, gentlemen. Let's focus on the task at hand." She gave Hobart a knowing look. "You're quite sharp."

She continued, "Since you're so smart, why don't you tell us what's going on here?"

Hobart began recounting everything from when Polly had first hired him, including his suspicions about the dog and his theories about the rituals performed by the Henrys—details missing from Daniel's report.

The scarred man listened with increasing respect. Hobart's deductions required both extensive mysticism knowledge and a sharp logical mind.

Ms. Deli concluded, "So, there's a Sealed Artifact in the basement, is there?"

Since no artifact had been found on the first or second floor, it had to be in the basement.