58: Chapter 46 Hidden Compartnt_1 58: Chapter 46 Hidden Compartnt_1 (This book can probably be classified as…a slow burner, or perhaps better described as an unexciting one…
Those who like this type of novel will enjoy it, those who don’t will never develop a fondness.
Why do I say this?
Actually, I don’t really know, just saying.
P.S., those who happen to stumble upon this, any recomndations or bookmarks are greatly appreciated.
Your support is my greatest motivation.)
“I wonder what this key is for?” Catherine conjectured, “Considering it’s carried around even at a ti like this, it surely has sothing to do with their research.”
“Don’t sweat it, big sis.” Vivian patted Catherine’s back, although she could only reach as high as said back.
“We’ll figure out the particulars the deeper we go.”
“You’re right, at least there’s one thing we don’t have to concern ourselves with.” Lina went through the living room and opened a room leading further indoors.
“At least we don’t have to constantly fear the attacks from magical creatures, like Thomas of the previous rescue team.
Human-transford magical creatures shouldn’t live that long, and the previous team has basically cleared them all.
The remaining ones are not enough to breed a magical creature tribe.
Ahhhhhhhhh!”
Upon hearing Lina’s sudden scream, both Catherine and Pannis rushed towards her.
Vivian anxiously shouted, “Lina, what’s wrong?”
“These, these, these…” Lina’s voice sounded normal, but her words were a ss.
“These…
are all mine…
no one can take them away…
no one can take them from .”
“Alright, I think I know what it is.” Catherine, having already dashed behind Lina and blocked from seeing what lay inside the room, seed to understand after hearing Lina’s words.
“Don’t worry.
No one’s going to steal it.”
“Great, long live big sis!” With a cheer, Lina dashed into the room to announce her intentions.
“I’m taking them all back.”
“It’s books, isn’t it?” After noticing the wry smile on Catherine’s face, Pannis gave a long sigh.
“I bet it’s books.”
“It should be…” Catherine, who had followed Lina into the room, paused suddenly.
It took her a long mont to continue in slightly awkward voice, “Lots of books, lots and lots of books.”
“Let’s go, let’s all go take a look.” Vivian gave Pannis a little push and gestured for Rachel to follow,” Rachel, co check it out.”
Once inside the room, everyone stood stunned.
The room was larger than the living room outside, a rectangular space asuring nearly seven or eight hundred square ters.
On three of the four walls, excluding the entrance, were uniform shelf units stretching from floor to ceiling.
These shelves were packed with all kinds of books, perhaps amounting to tens of thousands in total.
At this mont, Lina was standing in front of a bookshelf, greedily pulling books off for a tight hug before shoving them into her backpack.
As she embraced each volu, she mumbled under her breath, “Hello Helen, long ti no see.
Oh, Martha, still as ssy as ever.
Hey Linda, I’ve missed you so much.
Co here for a hug.
Heh, sa old cold self.
Katerina, oh Katerina, I’m finally ho, I’ve missed you like crazy…”
In seeing Lina, crying and laughing, completely out of control, Pannis gave Catherine, who was watching with a pitying look, a confused glance.
Catherine sighed, “Let’s leave her be for a bit.
Don’t wake her; let’s look for so valuable clues.
Let’s see…fiction on Lina’s side, professional literature on this side, um…this section is history, this is geography, and over here, all sorts of works on magic theory.”
As Catherine casually sorted, she ended up in front of a desk in the center of the room.
Only after making sure that the desk and chair were still sound did she sit down and open several drawers.
“Should we check these account records from the last few years?” Catherine asked for Pannis’s opinion.
“No need for now.” She shook her head, “We can look at it when we need to find clues.”
“Okay.” Catherine put a thick accounting book into her bag from one of the drawers and picked up another pile of reports from another drawer.
“I can’t understand this—Hey, Vivian, this should be sothing for mages, take a look.”
Vivian casually flipped through the report and tossed it back on the desk.
“It’s worthless, just progress reports from various research groups.
All of the theories within are well-established by now, they’re completely aningless.”
“What about these?” Catherine handed over another pile.
“I can’t understand the words inside at all.”
“Hm, interesting.” Vivian was engrossed after only a few glances, only looking up after a few minutes.
“It looks like the director of this research institute was also part of the Naren royal family.
This is written in the secret script of magic.
It’s his letter to the Naren king reporting on the research progress.
He ntioned a secret storage room known only to the Naren royal family in it.
Damn it, he switched to a different cipher, I can’t make out the important parts.
Damn it, I have to bring this back and figure it out.”
“A storage room?” Catherine imdiately brightened.
“Are you sure?”
“That’s exactly what I’m not sure about.” Vivian made a helpless face that said “I knew it”.
“Don’t get so excited.
I’ll let you know as soon as I’m sure.”
“Deal,” Catherine grinned with satisfaction, tidying up the various pieces of paper on the desk.
“It’s a sha though, there seems to be no other valuable clues here.
I don’t understand why such elaborate protection asures were necessary.”
“Safety is one reason.
After all, the director is a mber of the royal family,” Pannis replied, his gaze fixed on a bookcase.
“On the other hand, haven’t you noticed that sothing’s missing here?”
“A bedroom?” Catherine followed Pannis’ gaze towards the bookcase.
“Is there a secret door behind this bookcase?”
“Sister, if you go and touch that cabinet, you’ll understand,” said Vivian, still engrossed in the report she had just received and not looking up.
With a hint of intrigue, Catherine went over to the bookcase, reached out and touched it.
To her surprise, her hand went right through it without any hindrance.
“Is this…
Illusion Magic?” she asked.
“Yes, a simple illusion,” Pannis answered.
“It has absolutely no concealnt purposes, the Illusion Magic is probably cast purely for aesthetic purposes.
Any explorer, thief, ranger, or mage-class professional could easily discover it.”
“So, I’m the only one here who couldn’t discover it, huh?” Catherine grumbled, stretching her hand to test the illusion’s range.
“We’re missing seven or eight hundred books.
Lina is going to be disappointed, ha.”
Upon pushing open the Illusion-covered door, a room of over thirty square ters was revealed.
Intricate carvings decorated the tal walls of the bedroom distinctively.
Thick wool carpet on the floor had rotted over ti.
Potted plants wilted, and even the famous paintings on the walls had started to mold and discolor.
“What happened here?
Why did everything decay?
Don’t we have a Moisture Removal Array?” Catherine frowned.
“Even if we found any valuable clues, they would be unreadable now.”
Pannis pointed at the two tiny umbrella-shaped fountains in the corner, silently operating after hundreds of years.
“It was for comfortable living, probably the director’s privilege.
However, the actual containers where important things are kept likely have a Moisture Removal Array implanted in them to prevent dampness.”
“Okay, regardless, let’s open and see.” Catherine moved to the heavy tal safe by the bed.
“Damn, this shell is so thick.”
“I’ll handle this,” Pannis said.
He took out a few small tools, gently manipulated the complex lock embedded in the safe-door, and easily opened it.
The safe’s space was small, unfortunately, and besides several money bags, there were no other items.
Catherine removed the money bags, throwing them onto the bed and began a thorough search of the empty safe.
“I knew there’d be a hidden compartnt,” Catherine said gleefully as she pulled out a thickly bound book made of loose papers and a single folded sheet from the hidden compartnt.
She first opened the single sheet, skimd through it, and passed it to Pannis, “This should be the complete map of the underground laboratory.” She then opened the bound papers, flipped through a few pages and handed them to Vivian.
“This docunts the research progress, see if it’s useful.”
Vivian quickly skimd through a few pages, her eyes lit up.
After reading seriously for a while, she closed the book.
“No groundbreaking technologies, but it contains so hypotheses that might be worth adopting; it’s quite useful.”
“I suppose there’s nothing else,” Catherine didn’t feel the yield was proportionate to the level of security they encountered at the entrance, but the items in the hidden compartnt were indeed very secretive and important to the lab.
However, the magnitude of the defense used did make sense, she grumbled, “So, I guess this is it, what a pity.”
Pannis crossed his arms and spoke up: “Anyone can beco an explorer, if they’re observant and imaginative.
Just keep honing your ability to observe and sense, Catherine; maybe you could beco a decent explorer.
That’ll solve your problem of needing an explorer without having to invite unreliable teammates into the adventure team.”
Catherine cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows uncertainly, “What do you an by that, Pannis?”
“Nothing, just thinking out loud,” Pannis replied with a rare smile, patting the tallic wall beside him.
“If people want to hide sothing, doing so in the most concealed place is the most basic thod, and placing it in plain sight is not the smartest.
The truth is, the cleverest way is to hide sothing where you think must surely have sothing hidden.
But when you think you’ve seen through the other person’s intention and discovered the hidden item, the item actually isn’t there.
So, the most valuable item should be in this hidden compartnt that was hidden using the most common thod.”
For a mont, Catherine paid no attention to the latent aning in Pannis’ words.
Instead, she and Vivian inspected the wall Pannis had just tapped.
“Why don’t you guys search for it?
I’ll go and check on Lina and Rachel; they haven’t co in yet,” said Pannis with a sigh.
“Alright, go,” Catherine nodded, “I’ll look into it.”
With slow strides, Pannis exited the bedroom.
Not long after he left, he heard Catherine and Vivian cheer.
Pannis involuntarily smiled, but quickly wiped it off and resud his usually indifferent expression.
His eyes, however, flickered with uncertainty and reluctance.
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