Build an ancient-level power in the nightmare world

Chris stood still, closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, his spiritual vision had been activated once more.

He carefully scanned every inch of the surrounding woodland, but found no unusual energy fluctuations, no strange black viscous substance, and not even a trace of the black cat or the little snake.

There were only the most ordinary forest scenes and the air currents that he was most familiar with, belonging to the real world.

He really came back.

Chris slowly exhaled, and his tense shoulders and back finally relaxed a little.

He raised his hand and touched his pockets. The Star and Mars cards were still there, the guardian ring on his little finger was also intact, and the pocket watch was still pressed against his chest, its hands moving again.

This unexpected maze adventure ultimately ended without any real danger.

The biggest find was still the fragment of the yellow cloth.

Chris couldn't help but raise his right hand and look at the back of it.

With a thought, a fleeting cool sensation appeared on the back of his hand, followed by a hexagonal mark.

I stared at the mark for a while.

Chris slowly lowered his hand.

Suppressing his joy and many doubts, he did not linger in the same spot.

He estimated that he was still in the private woodland of Constance Estate, but he didn't know his exact location. His immediate priority was to find his way back and rejoin the people in the estate.

Chris activated his airflow perception, picking up on any movement in the distance.

Soon, he sensed two rhythmic footsteps and the sound of people talking in hushed tones on the path not far away.

Chris immediately changed direction and quickly walked towards the path.

Before long, a forest path, smoothed out by wheels and footprints, appeared before him.

At the end of the path, two young men in gray servant uniforms stood by the roadside, their faces full of anxiety, muttering something to themselves.

One of them caught a glimpse of Chris emerging from the woods out of the corner of his eye. He paused for a moment, then his eyes widened suddenly, and he tentatively called out:

"Mr. Chris?"

Chris stopped, nodded slightly to the two of them, and said calmly, "It's me."

The two servants breathed a huge sigh of relief and ran quickly toward him, their anxiety fading and replaced by a sense of relief.

"Great! I've finally found you!"

"Mr. Chris, are you alright? We've been looking for you for almost two hours!"

Seeing the two men panting heavily, Chris already knew what was going on and asked casually, "Did Miss Constance send you to find me? Did you find the Little Black Tower?"

His question was both an inquiry and an attempt to find a plausible excuse for his disappearance.

Sure enough, one of the servants immediately chimed in, "Little Black Tower ran back to the villa by himself and went back around noon."

Another servant quickly added, "Miss was worried you might have gotten lost in the woods since you hadn't returned, so she had us split into several teams and search for you in the woods. I'm so glad you're alright."

Upon hearing this, Chris showed a perfectly timed hint of apology: "I'm sorry to have worried you and Miss Constance."

"I accidentally wandered into the depths of the woods for a while, and then I got lost. It took me a long time to find this path."

He didn't mention the maze, nor the black cat or the little snake, only attributing the disappearance to getting lost.

These matters involve extraordinary areas, and talking to these ordinary servants would be useless and would only cause unnecessary trouble.

The two servants obviously did not doubt his story, assuming that he was unfamiliar with the woodland and had gotten lost inside.

"It's good that you're alright, Mr. Chris. Let's go back to the villa quickly. Something happened at the party, and it's a mess right now."

"Something happened?"

Chris caught the key information, his brow furrowing slightly. He followed up the conversation by asking, "Is it related to that runaway carriage that crashed in at noon?"

He witnessed the entire process of the carriage going out of control at noon, and it seems that something else happened afterward.

The maid looked troubled, but didn't stop walking. As she led Chris towards the villa, she lowered her voice and said:

"We don't know the specifics, but we do know that there were many people in the carriage, all of whom were unconscious. The police have been here for almost two hours and are still in the villa."

"Now all the guests who came to the party are being held on the lawn and not allowed to leave, they say they need to question them one by one."

Chris nodded, having a general idea of ​​what was going on.

The situation inside the carriage was clearly much more serious than he had anticipated.

Otherwise, the police wouldn't have been alerted, and all the guests would have been detained at the manor for questioning.

The group walked briskly along the path.

Before long, they passed through the woods and saw the magnificent white villa in the distance, as well as the figures of people moving about on the lawn outside the villa.

When they were still a dozen meters away from the villa gate, two police officers in dark blue uniforms quickly approached, their hands on their sidearms and their eyes warily fixed on Chris.

"Halt! Who goes there?"

The maid who brought Chris back immediately stepped forward and respectfully explained to the two police officers:

"Officer, this is Mr. Chris Craft, a guest at today's party. He got lost in the woods, and we just found him."

The two officers looked Chris up and down, and the older one spoke up, asking:

"You're Mr. Kraft? Were you there when the carriage crashed through the gate at noon?"

Chris nodded slightly and replied calmly, "It was me. I was there at the time and even helped Mr. Jonathan when he was hit by the carriage."

"That's perfect. We have a few questions that we need your cooperation in asking."

The older officer spoke sternly and gestured for him to proceed.

"Please come with us. It won't take you long."

Chris did not refuse.

Cooperating with police questioning is the safest course of action.

He was a witness to the event, so there was nothing he couldn't say, and no need for him to show any resistance.

"Okay, no problem."

He thanked the two servants who had led the way, and then followed the two police officers to a temporary meeting room next to the villa's porch.

The inquiry process was very simple.

The police officer only asked him a few core questions: where he was when the carriage went out of control, what he saw, whether anyone leaned out of the carriage, and whether he heard any unusual noises.

Chris truthfully recounted everything he had seen.

There was no embellishment or concealment of any details; only the part about using the power of the Wind Avatar to sense the anomaly in advance was omitted.

The entire inquiry process lasted less than ten minutes.

After the questioning, the officer had Chris sign the statement and then let him leave the meeting room, while reminding him that he could not leave the estate until the police investigation was over.

Chris had anticipated this, and after signing the papers, he turned and walked out of the reception room, returning to the lawn outside the villa.

The lawn now lacked the liveliness and ease it had when he left.

The melodious music stopped, and the guests around the dining table gathered in twos and threes, their faces devoid of smiles. Some stood expressionless, while others chatted in hushed tones, their eyes occasionally glancing at the police officers at the villa entrance, their eyes filled with a hint of annoyance.

At the edge of the lawn, two police officers stood with their arms crossed, their eyes scanning everyone present warily, clearly to prevent anyone from leaving without permission.

Chris's gaze swept across the room and soon landed on Jonathan, who was sitting at a long table.

The other person's right foot was wrapped in white gauze, slightly raised, and he was holding a glass of red wine, looking at the dining table in front of him with a slightly gloomy face.

Beside him, a young girl with golden pigtails sat quietly, holding a glass of juice, occasionally glancing at Jonathan as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

Chris was about to go up and greet Jonathan to ask about the details when the villa door was suddenly pushed open.

Constance walked out side by side with a tall, middle-aged police officer wearing a dark blue police cap.

Constance was still wearing that light blue dress, with a polite smile on her face, but there was a hint of fatigue hidden in her eyes. Her composed demeanor seemed to be forced.

As soon as she stepped down the steps, her gaze swept across the lawn and quickly landed on Chris, who had just come out of the meeting room.

The moment their eyes met, Constance's eyes flashed with obvious surprise, which was quickly replaced by joy. He nodded slightly to Chris and turned to walk in his direction.

The middle-aged police officer next to her followed Constance's gaze and looked at Chris.

The officer's gaze was sharp.

With the scrutinizing gaze of someone accustomed to investigating cases, he glanced at Chris from head to toe, then whispered a few questions to Constance beside him.

Constance nodded slightly and responded softly.

Meanwhile, the officer who had questioned Chris earlier also came out of the meeting room next door.

The other person quickly stepped forward and whispered something to the police officer.

Then, the officer looked at Chris again, walked towards him, his face expressionless, and spoke solemnly:

"Hello, Mr. Kraft. I am Riley Hope, the head of the Major Crimes Unit of the Rom City Police Department."

"There are a few more details about this carriage incident that I'd like to confirm with you."