The Great Family

Chapter 667 - The Underground Passage

Onmyoji Saito Nobumi stumbled into the main house, and the lively atmosphere inside abruptly fell silent.

"What's going on?"

Kiyota Jūichirō, the current head of the Kiyota family, immediately rose from the tatami.

"Quiet! Everyone, prepare to evacuate."

While the others were still looking around in alarm and confusion, the Kiyota family's ancestor acted decisively.

A piercing alarm blared throughout Yukizumi Manor. The lights in the estate suddenly dimmed, then came back on.

The bodyguards stationed around the garden outside drew their pistols and fired warning shots in every direction. Taking turns covering one another, they retreated into the main house in groups.

At the sound of the alarm, the nearby estate staff rushed toward the closest safe or concealed locations with practiced efficiency.

In the blink of an eye, everyone at Yukizumi Manor had evacuated except for those in the main house.

One of the maids serving the Kiyota ancestor went to a wooden pillar inside the house and pressed hard against it. A control panel with an LCD screen popped out.

She tapped it rapidly several times. Locks clanked and motors hummed faintly from all corners of the main house.

Glass panels descended over the windows covered with wire mesh. The wooden floorboards along the outdoor corridors rose one by one, sealing off the entire perimeter of the main house so tightly that not even a fly could get through.

Huh?

What was going on?

The Kiyota family's younger generation stared in disbelief. They had never imagined that this most traditional Japanese-style wooden house could conceal such astonishing mechanisms.

Clearly, their ancestor had been prepared for a sudden crisis.

The moment the wooden boards rose, a cacophony of banging erupted outside. It sounded as though something was repeatedly slamming into the wooden