My Cell Prison

Chapter 38: Chapter 38 – A Development

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

The basic material used for the frame of the protective goggles was a kind of flexible and lightweight metal, a layer of brass plated the exterior. At the same time, it was fitted with gears and bearings, as well as an adjustable leather belt that allowed users to wear and adjust it easily.

However, the material used for the lenses was something that Han Dong was completely unfamiliar with.

It should not be ordinary glass, and he reckoned it must use a special transparent material that could protect his eyes from being corrupted by a specific waveband of light.

Wearing the goggles, Han Dong had thought of an important question.

Before they began, Han Dong extended his hand out and stopped Kaz from getting started on his search, “I have a question. Why would the ghoul hang the woman by the front door?”

Kaz began to explain what he read from books, “An adult ghoul possesses a certain level of intelligence, and this sort of public behavior illustrates the extreme hatred that it has toward the woman…”

“If I was the ghoul and really wanted to put up such a public display to my enemies, I would randomly hang the corpse by the front door while I escape in the middle of the night… By the time someone discovers the body, I would have been long gone. There’s no need for me to parade it in such a manner.”

Han Dong’s statement was correct.

If the ghoul was intelligent, why would it bother doing something so conspicuous like hanging the victim out by the front door in broad daylight? Would that not end up drawing potential retaliation to itself?

Han Dong continued to venture a guess, “Is it possible that… It has already escaped?”

Kaz denied this, “Impossible! Because the corpse stealing incident came from the cemetery, the security team had spent these last few days investigating the houses in the area. They had arrived on site right away and saw the female victim get hung right by the entrance, even seeing the back of the ghoul as it disappeared into the house. Over 30 security officers holding muskets had this villa completely surrounded in a short while, and no one had yet to see the Ghoul escape.”

Han Dong shook his head, “That’s not necessarily accurate… That did not mean it could not escape from the vicinity of the villa via another route. Didn’t you say before that you suspect that this household might be privately rearing the ghoul? If they could hide it for so long, is it possible that they had managed to modify the basement such that it could extend to another location?”

When Han Dong said this, Kaz was suddenly enlightened, “That’s indeed possible! Crap!”

Hefting his sword and shield, Kaz immediately rushed down to the basement.

His movement speed was not in the least what anyone would expect for someone wearing a set of movement restricting armor… He was quick like the wind, very swiftly locating the hidden entrance to the basement.

Han Dong did not move as fast.

Instead, he intentionally waited till Kaz headed down the basement steps before he secretly released the ‘Cursed Woman, Chenli’ from his portable prison.

“Miss Chenli, please do a thorough search of the first and second floor of this villa! If you discover the ghoul, inform me straight away… Furthermore, if you discover any books pertaining to ghouls, bring it along as well. If anyone else were to break in while you’re searching, immediately return back to Prison. If there’s truly some secret tunnel in the basement, remember to follow us right after. Keep a distance from me of no further than 10 meters… Make sure you are still able to return back to the Portable Prison at any time.”

Han Dong had only hypothesized that it was possible for the Ghoul to escape through a secret tunnel from the basement… He was not 100% positive that it existed, so he needed to hold back and take precautions accordingly. Furthermore, after testing, he learned that Chenli would be able to instantly return back to Prison as long as she stayed within 10 meters of him.

“Understood.”

Chenli had even worryingly asked before leaving to carry out his orders, “I could smell an evil that permeated this villa, will you be fine on your own? If you were to run into any trouble… May I show up and assist you?”

“That depends on the situation. Try not to show yourself as best as you can, plus this Knight I’m partnering with is quite capable… I don’t think there should be too much of a problem.”

“I got it. Do be careful.”

Chenli went upstairs and began her search of the second floor, looking around for the things Han Dong wanted.

Han Dong pulled out his Plague Doctor’s Shortsword and followed Sir Kaz’s footsteps… The instant he stepped into the basement, the smell became overwhelming.

The floor of the basement was strewn with plenty of animal bones, some with gristle still hanging off the end of the bones, still warm… It’s apparent that the Ghoul had only finished feasting on it not too long ago.

“Alan my friend, I must give you credit where credit’s due! There was indeed a secret tunnel!”

Kaz followed the trail that the ghoul left behind on the floor and discovered a loose stone brick on the wall.

Pressing it, a dark tunnel that reeked of putrescent flesh was revealed.

“The direction… Doesn’t it extend all the way out to the cemetery?! That explains why. Even if this is a Commoner’s District, the supervision and management of the cemetery here is very strict as well, and there would at least be three and more night watchmen in every shift that would be allowed to use muskets. All they discovered were corpses being stolen, yet there were no traces of loose dirt. So it turns out the theft had been done underground! That’s going to be trouble!”

Kaz was very experienced, and he turned around to face Han Dong.

“Alan, if we can successfully slay the ghoul, I’m willing to split 40% of the reward to you… Furthermore, I believe the current situation is far more complex than I had first imagined. If the incident had not occurred here in this villa, but the cemetery… Then there’s a high possibility that there are many more ghouls. The moment we run into two or more of those monsters, we’ll need to immediately abandon this assignment and report to the Knights’ Academy to send stronger men over to deal with matters.”

Han Dong nodded, “Yes… If that is the case, then my hypothesis from before isn’t exactly accurate. The Ghoul might indeed have intentionally hung the corpse by the front door. Revenge is a possible reason, but a second reason might be to intentionally lure humans in. If there’s truly a nest of ghouls here, then they must definitely be a little hungry. Once they had their fill, they would very likely flee from another part of the cemetery.”

Kaz smiled, though his expression was ghastly, “You’re pretty weak, physically speaking, so follow behind me… Simply providing support at range will do.”

It was clear that this Kaz person was a fairly righteous Knight. If they were to really run into any danger, he would surely choose to bring Han Dong along and escape.

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The walls of the secret tunnel were filled with black fungus, with many clouds of spores drifting in the air.

Before entering, Kaz had reached out and touched the right side of the frame to his protective goggles.

All they could hear was the sound of gears in motion as the lower half of the goggles released and unfolded a leather mask that instantly wrapped the portion of his face below the goggles, effectively filtering the foreign bacteria.

Han Dong did the same as well, and a black face mask immediately covered his mouth and nose.

“Let’s go!”

Kaz took out a simple kerosene lantern in one hand as he held his sword in the other and sallied forth.

Han Dong intentionally picked up a loose piece of metal from the basement and propped the door of the tunnel up, in the event that it automatically closed behind them.

The two young men ventured deeper into the tunnel, while Chenli, wearing a pair of cloth shoes, slowly made her way down the basement stairs…

————————–

Before they got to the other end of the tunnel, they could already hear the sounds of claws scraping, tongues, and teeth rubbing together a distance away.

At the same time, they could see that the fungus that was growing along the walls was also becoming more and more abundant.

“Hear that? There’s really more than one ghoul!”

Truthfully, Kaz was a little terrified.

But if he needed to report back to the Knights just how many ghouls there were, he would have to collect enough information to back it up. Just his hearing alone would not be enough. In the event that the team of Knights had rushed over, only to find that the ghouls had escaped in advance, Kaz would then have to be held accountable for his false report.

“Alan, wait over here! There’s no way you can outrun a ghoul given your physical constitution… I’ll continue on forward and take a look by myself. We’ll leave the moment we find out where the ghoul nest is located.”

“Okay.”

Kaz continued forward on his own.

Around 10 minutes passed when Han Dong could hear a flurry of footsteps coming from deeper in the tunnel in front of him. At the same time, he could hear a loud bellow coming from Sir Kaz, “ALAN, HURRY UP AND GET AWAY FROM HERE!!! THERE ARE MORE THAN 10 GHOULS THAT HAVE MADE THEIR NEST HERE, WE NEED TO HURRY AND REPORT THIS MATTER TO THE HIGHER UPS!”