Mystery: The Returner of the Stars

Chapter 30 As an arbitrator, it is reasonable to carry a Mitsubishi thorn with you, right?
Hastur felt tired, but not sleepy, quietly thinking about how to solve this matter tonight.

If you plug your ears, can you resist the strange sound of the bell?
When in danger, how can I save myself?

How can I make a rule that can ensure that the three of us can leave the workhouse safely...

Lecturer Furren, who was sitting on the other side of the bed, was not sleepy either, but he didn't have Hugh's big heart, nor Hastur's composure. Sometimes he stood up, sometimes looked at the door, and sometimes took out his pocket watch to check the time. .

Time ticked by, and soon it was two o'clock.

Lecturer Furren rushed to Hastur, stretched out his hand to wake him up, and said in a low voice, "It's already two o'clock!"

Hastur opened his eyes and glanced at Xio on the table, and she also woke up.

"Take your own weapons!"

As he spoke, Xio took out a handful of black triangular thorns from the back of his waist, tried to wave them a few times, and made a howling sound of piercing the air.

Hastur asked curiously, "How did you hide such a pair of triangular thorns behind your waist?"

"It's a secret." Xio raised an eyebrow with a smile.

It must be because I am too short, my hands are not long enough, and it is too disadvantageous to fight with big men, so I always keep a pair of triangular thorns to make up for my congenital shortcomings, right?
Hastur had a guess in his mind, but he wasn't stupid enough to say it.

Lecturer Furren glanced at the triangular thorn in Xio's hand, then at the heavy cane that Hastur was waving, and then at every corner of the house.

There is no proper weapon for self-defense.

He whispered, "I'll be in charge of lighting the lamp later."

"Yes." Xio nodded.

Ten minutes passed quickly, and when the three of Hastur were on alert, the same bell as last night finally sounded outside the door.

Jingle Bell!
"It's now, let's go!"

As soon as the first bell rang, Hugh opened the door and rushed out. Hastur and Lecturer Furren also hurriedly followed.

Jingle Bell!
When the second bell rang, Xio had already locked the approximate location of the source of the bell.

It is indeed located in the area where children live on the inside!

When the three of them rushed along the corridor to the iron gate, the third bell had already rang.

The iron gate that separated the workhouse staff from the living area of ​​the children was so strong that Xio couldn't kick it open with all his strength.

Seeing this, Hastur raised his cane and knocked on the iron door, making a dull sound in the silent night sky.

Seeing Hastur's intentions, Xio also raised the triangular thorn in his hand and knocked on the iron door.

The two irons intersected, making a bang bang sound that resounded through the entire night sky.

Soon, the people who were awakened and attracted by the sound came near the Hastur three.

"What happened?" A police officer in his 30s asked calmly.

"Just now we heard a strange bell sound from over there. When we came out to check, we found a suspicious figure shaking the bell in his hand."

"We don't have a key, we can't go through the iron gate, we can only watch that figure disappear."

"In order to remind you as soon as possible, we have adopted such a simple and direct method."

What Xio said was half-truth and half-false, with a sincere and urgent tone, obviously she was used to this kind of scene.

The police officer looked serious, and immediately sent someone to get the key to the iron door.

Vice President Bard was also woken up by this late-night incident, and was rushing over wearing a black coat and carrying a kerosene lamp.

"The key, I have it here."

Vice President Bard reached out and groped around a few times, took out a bunch of keys, compared them with the dim light, and took out one of the keys that was stained with oil to open the iron door.

Hugh asked the two police officers who came to walk in front, and he followed behind. Hastur, Lecturer Furren, and Vice President Bard walked in the back, and the others stayed where they were.

After passing through the iron gate, in order to prevent irrelevant people from sneaking into the place where the children lived, Vice President Bard locked the iron gate again, and after confirming that it was correct, he left with Hastur and others.

A group of people came to the source of the bell locked by Xio, but they didn't see any figures, but they saw a pair of vague footprints from the ground.

Xio squatted down, stretched out his hand to measure the size of the footprints, frowned slightly and said, "It's a child."

"Here, our management here is very strict. The children have to go to bed when the time comes, and they are absolutely not allowed to stay or play outside.

And we will have special management personnel to lock the door outside, and they cannot open the door from the inside. "Deputy Dean Bard showed surprise and embarrassment on his face.

"The footprints are still very new, that child just left not long ago." Xio gave his professional judgment.

Lecturer Furren also squatted down and looked at the footprints with the kerosene lamp in hand. Why couldn't he see whether the footprints were old or new?
"Let's look around, maybe he's hiding not far away."

Xiu's petite body gradually took over the right to speak at this moment, issuing orders to the two police officers.

Is this the passive talent of the Arbiter?

Hastur was surprised to see that the two police officers obeyed Hugh's arrangement consciously.

The group was divided into two teams, each with three people. Hugh and the two policemen were in charge of searching around to find people, and Hasta, Lecturer Furren, and Vice President Bard were in charge of checking whether the door locks of each dormitory were locked.

"Oh, why are they always disobedient? It's a good thing Dean Dahn is not here, otherwise they will be punished." Vice-President Bard sighed while leading the way.

Hastur asked: "Principal Bard, do you mean being locked up in the basement as a punishment?"

"Locking up in the basement is the harshest form of punishment, and usually only children who are very annoying and behave badly are treated like that."

Seeing that Hasta was interested in these things, Vice President Bard popularized the relevant knowledge to Hasta and the two of them.

In this workhouse, the punishment for children is generally divided into three levels.

If the circumstances are relatively minor, it only needs to be punished by standing outside, slapping the palm of the hand, etc.

If the circumstances are serious, they are not allowed to eat, and they can only watch others eat at the dining table with an empty stomach.

Only in the face of those who refuse to correct after repeated admonitions will there be the most severe punishment.

"Then what if you are locked in the basement and still refuse to admit your mistakes and repent?" Lecturer Furren asked his own question.

Vice President Bard was silent and did not answer this question.

"Isn't this too cruel?"

Lecturer Furren has already realized from his silence, that's how the corpse in the basement should have come from, right?
Even if the child admits his mistakes and repents in the end, in a dark and deserted environment, no one hears his cries, he can only wait for death silently!

It is too cruel to be starved to death!

That kid sure wasn't the first person to die in a basement!

The other bodies were just cleaned up ahead of time!

No wonder Dean Da En didn't even think about staying and explaining anything, but ran away directly. He knew that as long as he went to court, the crimes he committed would never be concealed.

Vice President Bard sighed: "Hey, Dean Dahn did not do very well in some places, but he is very good at raising money, and most obedient children live well here."

The three chatted while checking the door locks of each room.

From the beginning to the end, as for the inspection on the second and third floors, it is easy. You only need to check whether the iron doors at the passages on both sides are closed tightly.

They don't have a lawn as a buffer here. If those naughty children dare to jump directly from the second floor, they will basically fall half disabled.

Before the three of them finished checking, they heard Xio's voice not far away.

They found the kid who was shaking the bell!

"No hurry, let's check everything before going there." Hastur said with a smile.

He felt that it was better to check it thoroughly before he could rest assured. Maybe the person who sneaked out tonight was not just the child?

Vice President Bard also felt that this was better, and patiently led Hastur and Lecturer Furren to check everything.

There was indeed no sign of the door lock being opened, and the iron doors of the passages on both sides were also tightly locked.

After confirming that they were correct, the three went to the place where Xio and the others found the child.

It was a bathroom on the far right on the first floor, and the child was hiding in it.

"Little Amy, why did you sneak out?"

Seeing the child's appearance clearly, Vice President Bard exclaimed, obviously he knew this child who did not abide by the rules of the workhouse.

Hasta is also looking at the little boy named Amy in front of him. He is about eight years old, 1.2 meters tall, has short chestnut hair, wears a thin white monk uniform, and has little bare feet. He is standing with his head down at the moment. On the edge of the washbasin, his hands were restlessly pinching the corners of his clothes.

"Ba, Dean Bud, I, I didn't go back to the dormitory to rest on purpose, I just got locked out because I came back too late, and I didn't dare to disturb Aunt Lisa..."

Amy raised her head slightly, her eyes were flushed, tears were hanging in the corners of her eyes, and her voice was sobbing and choked up. With that immature face that had not yet grown up, she was very cute.

Xio lowered his voice and said softly: "We're not here to arrest you, we just want to know where you got this string of bells from?"

Amy replied timidly: "I picked it up on the road. I thought it sounded nice, so I kept it with me."

"Then why do you ring the bell at night, because you are not afraid of the sound of the bell waking up other people?"

"I, I'm scared to be alone..." Amy lowered her head again.

"Then why did you ring the bell last night?"

"It's not me. My bell was taken away by Simon last night. He said he was going to scare Aunt Lisa."

"Simon?"

Hugh raised his eyebrows, and Vice President Bard explained: "Simon and little Amy live in the same dormitory. They have a stronger personality, and they often grab other people's toys."

"Can we meet this Simon?"

"Of course, this is a necessary question."

As Vice President Bud said, he went with a police officer to ask Aunt Lisa to get the key to open the dormitory door.

Hastur, who had been silent all this time, secretly stroked his middle finger and thumb three times, and turned on his spirit vision.

It is easy to attract others' attention by snapping your fingers, and it is not secret enough.

Hastur looked at the bell that Xio looked at, it was about one-third the size of a palm, and the overall color was dark yellow.
The bells didn't fluctuate at all. This was just a string of ordinary bells without any extraordinary power.

The sound it made was also slightly different from last night's bell.

It should not be the same string of bells.

(End of this chapter)