White Ancestral Home

No. 18, Municipal Square Street, the White Ancestral Home.

In a cramped, dim room in the basement, the decor was extremely sparse. A single, not-too-bright oil lamp was the only source of light. Surrounding the room were many long tables filled with bottles and jars, which contained some "experimental materials" that caused physical discomfort.

In the center of the room sat a larger metal table, on which lay a bloody and mutilated humanoid creature. Its eyes were tightly shut, and its body was covered in lumps the size of a human head. These lumps pulsed like hearts, constantly oozing dark red blood.

From its swollen, disfigured face, one could vaguely make out that this was Old White, who should have been dead for months!

Standing before the table was a man in a purple tuxedo, holding a syringe filled with red liquid in his hand.

He was Old White's eldest son—Jack White.

Jack brought the syringe filled with red liquid close to the dim oil lamp, murmuring with a dazed expression, "How wonderful~"

He inserted the syringe into Old White's neck, and the red liquid slowly injected into Old White's body. Something seemed to writhe beneath Old White's skin, the lumps on his body pulsating rapidly. A harsh, guttural roar escaped Old White's mouth as black-red pus and blood spilled from his lips. His face was covered in bulging veins, twisted and ferocious.

Gradually, the pulsation of the lumps slowed, but they were now covered in cracks.

After a moment, some of the lumps on his body shattered like smashed watermelons.

Once these lumps broke apart, human faces were revealed inside!

These faces had their eyes tightly shut, looking very serene.

If Matthew were here, he would recognize one of those faces—it belonged to the Night Watchman.

Then, Jack injected another dose of the red liquid into Old White.

After a short while, Old White's eyes snapped open, emitting a bloodthirsty red glow.

"Go kill my dear brother—Rayne White," Jack whispered softly into Old White's ear. "Then head to 56 Riverside Street and clean out everyone there."

56 Riverside Street was Chris's home, and also Matthew's residence in this world.

That day, at Lady Alsha's Banquet, Lady Alsha had invited Matthew to dance the opening dance, which had filled the jealous Jack with resentment. He had hired two dark wizards to ambush and kill Matthew near Whitestone Manor. To his surprise, this suddenly appearing wild wizard was unexpectedly powerful, and the two hired dark wizards were killed by Matthew instead.

Fortunately, Old White, who was still in the experimental stage, couldn't move freely. Otherwise, Jack would have sent Old White to eliminate Matthew that very night, and perhaps Old White, not yet fully developed, would have been lost to Matthew's hands.

Jack had created too many missing persons cases. Link was already investigating the Mining Brotherhood, and it wouldn't be long before the trail led back to Jack.

Old White was just one of his experimental subjects. Jack planned to push Old White forward as a scapegoat, and the faces on his body would serve as the best evidence.

He needed to move into the shadows, buy some time. He had experimental subjects with even greater growth potential than Old White, with plenty of room for development.

Once he had the strength, he would eliminate all these troublesome people one by one, and all problems would be solved. Then, he would have everything that belonged to Lady Alsha!

"To think that the corpse of an old waste could be strengthened to this extent..." Jack thought of the experimental subject he had high hopes for, and a fanatical smile spread across his face. "This is a divine miracle!"

After leaving Sir Rayne's home, Matthew maintained the Illusionary Body Spell and headed straight for Municipal Square Street. He planned to check out the White Ancestral Home.

Municipal Square was located in the center of Whitestone Town. The houses on this street were all built when the town was founded, and the White family was one of the pioneering families of Whitestone.

Although this street was hundreds of years old, the houses here were not dilapidated, and the White Ancestral Home was no exception.

The White Ancestral Home was four stories tall, covering a considerable area, with small yards in both the front and back.

When Matthew arrived at the White Ancestral Home, he didn't go in directly.

He cast a Runic Magic spell, and an invisible wave emanated from his hand, sweeping over the White Ancestral Home.

This was a detection magic that enhanced perception. An ordinary wizard apprentice using this spell could only roughly sense some magical fluctuations within a small range, but combined with Matthew's magic sense talent, it could detect larger areas and more subtle changes.

Matthew had exchanged several common spells with Link for a batch of potions, and this detection magic was one of them.

Both the front gate and the walls of the White Ancestral Home had hidden trap arrays set up, but the airspace above did not.

Matthew observed the surroundings, found a house without any trap arrays, waved his wand, cast a Levitation Charm on his cloak and shoes, lightly pushed off with his toes, and climbed up the wall of that house.

After reaching the rooftop, he leaped toward the direction of the White Ancestral Home, and his body glided through the air, carried by the Levitation Charm.

Matthew landed on the balcony of the top floor of the White Ancestral Home and walked directly into the house through the balcony entrance.

He had already noticed during his detection magic that the White Ancestral Home had a basement, and inside was a wizard apprentice, likely Jack White. However, strangely enough, there seemed to be some magic creatures down there as well.

"Is Jack White raising some magic creatures in the basement?" Matthew thought to himself.

He looked around the room. It was a bedroom, and he spotted a family portrait. The portrait showed four people: a middle-aged couple and two boys in their teens. He could recognize the youngest boy as a young Sir Rayne. From their features, the others were likely Sir Rayne's father, mother, and older brother.

This bedroom seemed to have been neglected for some time. The floor, cabinets, tables, and chairs were all covered in a layer of dust.

This made Matthew's footprints stand out clearly. He waved his wand and cleaned up the dust.

He pulled open the bedside cabinet, but it only contained some insignificant odds and ends.

He opened the wardrobe, which held some casual clothes. Judging by the sizes, they seemed more suited to the middle-aged man with a larger belly in the portrait.

"This should be Old White's room." Combining this with the information he had gathered earlier—that Old White had been dead for several months—Matthew concluded in his mind.

Matthew casually rummaged through the clothes in the wardrobe, just in case he missed something that might be hidden.

Anyone who frequently hides things should know that a wardrobe is a great place to stash items.

Matthew's expression shifted. He found a parchment-covered notebook inside a long formal robe.

He opened the parchment cover and took a look. He had indeed found something—this was Old White's diary.

Matthew skimmed through the diary entries for a while. Based on the recorded dates, this seemed to be the diary from the last year before Old White's death.

After a moment, Matthew's expression changed. The protection spell he had set up at Chris's home had been triggered!