"From what you just said, has soone else been here to investigate?"
The white lady was very chatty, "Yesterday the FBI also ca, asking about the Telson Manor."
Luke and David looked at each other, both sowhat surprised, "How many people ca? How do you know they were from the FBI?"
The white lady chuckled, "I rember it seed like one person. He didn't say, but when he took out his money... I saw the FBI badge."
Luke pressed, "What did he ask about?"
"Just so things related to Telson Manor, actually I don't know much. 20 years ago I was in Los Angeles, let tell you a secret, I almost settled down there."
Luke smiled, "Oh, then we're almost fellow townspeople."
The white lady exclaid with delight, "You're from Los Angeles? Oh my god, it reminds of the old days, that crazy age, that crazy city..."
The white lady got lost in the mories of the past, and Luke interrupted her, "Yes, I heard that Haim City is very beautiful, with the delicious 'Kuta' food, so I ca."
The white lady pointed at Luke with both hands, "You're right, you must try it. Our 'Kuta' here is the best."
"I will visit."
Luke asked for the address of the Telson Manor and then said goodbye to the white lady.
They left the restaurant.
David automatically settled into the driver's seat, "You got mixed up with 'Kuta'?"
"If not for 'Kuta,' would we have gotten the FBI's lead? You have to learn to blend in with your surroundings. Don't go around looking like you want to punch soone.
No one else will talk to you except ."
"It's because I'm with you that I have this look."
"Wow, I didn't expect you to make a joke." Luke laughed, then changed the subject, "The FBI has co too, should we tell the captain?"
"Let's not bother about them for now, we'll do our investigation. I'll ntion it when we report back."
Soon, the car arrived near Telson Manor, which was easy to recognize, just like the white lady said: big and dilapidated.
Of course, this dilapidation didn't an that the architecture was falling apart, but that it was in disrepair due to neglect over the years.
Luke's impression of the manor was that it was large, but he didn't realize how big it actually was until he saw it.
The Telson Manor covered at least several dozen acres.
The boundary wall of the manor was built with stones, providing a simple and natural beauty. The downside was that ti had left it in disrepair, adding a sense of ruin and decay.
Out of professional habit, the two did not park the car next to the manor but stopped at a location slightly further away.
They found the manor's front gate, the iron fence was rusty, and Luke pushed the iron gate, getting his hand covered in rust.
In the end, they climbed over the wall to get into the manor.
The manor was overgrown with weeds, so places even reaching half a person's height, which would be quite scary if one were to co here in the middle of the night.
There were three buildings in total within the manor. The main building in the center was the largest, a four-story house, unlike most Arican wooden structures, this house was made of brick.
The buildings on both sides were smaller, only three stories high and made of wood. The wood was beginning to rot, and it looked like it might collapse at any ti, so Luke didn't dare to go inside.
The two n walked around the manor, aside from the pebbled paths, the yard was covered with weeds which blocked the view, so they couldn't make any sense of it.
The two approached the stone house; the door was locked, the windows boarded up with wood.
The manor was in such disrepair, it was unlikely they'd find any new clues, and neither had brought a search warrant, better to mind their own business.
David looked around at the desolate and dilapidated scene, which made him feel uncomfortable, "Let's go."
"You go ahead, I need to take a leak." Surrounded by decay, and with no restroom in sight, Luke was not too picky.
He went to a patch where the weeds were taller to urinate, pulled up his trousers, and turned to leave.
He didn't walk far before Luke stopped, feeling sothing different about the ground beneath his feet.
He stomped on the ground, which felt hard, not like normal dirt.
Luke squatted down to examine more closely and noticed an area the size of a manhole cover that was different from the surrounding ground.
"Luke, where are you?"
David, waiting in vain for Luke, ca back to look for him.
"This way," Luke said, getting up and beckoning.
Seeing him staring at the ground, David couldn't help asking, "What's wrong?"
Luke didn't answer and started fumbling on the ground. In the weeds, he found a gray hemp rope that one could easily mistake for the weeds themselves.
He gave it a tug, and a patch of ground covered in long grass flipped up, revealing a dark hole.
David's expression turned wary as he pulled out his handgun, on guard.
Luke took out his phone to shine light downward. The space below was shaped like a belly jar, the mouth of the hole was less than a square ter, it widened further down, and it was about three ters deep, with a ladder propped up against it.
"Wait," David said. "I'll go get a high-power flashlight."
Luke shook his head. "Narrow at the top, wide at the bottom; a high-power flashlight won't be able to reveal everything below. I'll go down and have a look; you cover ."
Luke shouted into the hole a few tis, but no-one responded.
After that, he stepped onto the ladder and made his way down, back against the ladder, using his left hand for light from his phone and his right hand holding a gun.
Soon, Luke reached the pit's bottom, which was about ten square ters and felt a bit claustrophobic.
Luke looked around with his phone, didn't see any people, but there were so items.
In a corner, there were so beddings and a wooden box, with so mineral water bottles scattered around.
Luke took a few photos.
"How is it down there?" David asked.
"It's fine; I'm searching," Luke replied.
Luke walked over to the wooden box, set his phone upright beside it so its light shone directly on the box, and then with his gun in his right hand, he opened the box with his left.
Upon opening the box, Luke let out a sigh of relief.
Inside, there was a pile of miscellaneous items: a few cans of beer, bread, a dagger, and a loudspeaker.
Luke wasn't surprised by the other items, but what was a loudspeaker doing there?
Luke pressed the play button, and the loudspeaker made a sound.
"Woo woo..." A muffled crying sound erged, fluctuating between high and low, sounding like a woman, yet also like a child.
The desolate sound made one's scalp tingle.
"Luke, what's that sound?"
"I'm coming up," Luke said as he turned off the loudspeaker and made another quick check for any other items before climbing up.
David helped Luke up. "What was that crying about?"
"It was a loudspeaker; probably soone was trying to play tricks and scare people," Luke guessed.
David looked around, "Who would be so bored as to scare people in this rundown manor? What's the purpose?"
"We'll know if we co over tonight," Luke suggested.
"Let's get out of here first," David said.
Then the two returned to the car to discuss and decided to stay and keep watch, to see who would co to Telson manor to play tricks.
Luke, planning to stay up at night, decided to nap first.
However, as soon as he closed his eyes, a voice echoed in his mind, "An adventure experience completed, adventure card activated, and used."
No wonder he had discovered a hole while just going to urinate; he had triggered the adventure card.
Luke opened the system inventory; there were three spare cards remaining.
Adventure Card, 1
Detection Card, 1
Bullet-Proof Card, 1.
Luke thought to himself that he still needed to solve more cases. It's only when you need the cards that you realize you don't have enough.
Had he not had the adventure card, he would not have been able to discover the hole and might have missed an important clue to the case.
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