Gilan looked at the solid-wood workbench. A dent he had punched into it yawned across the surface, cracks spreading out like a spiderweb. He then raised his hand to inspect the edge of his palm. It was only red, with a little skin rubbed raw.
That kind of strength is even more intoxicating than firearms!
He grinned.
With Iridescence, maybe one day I can be like that deputy commander of the Healing Knights in the records—an army all by myself, kicking steel to pieces!
Gilan closed his notebook and put it away in his dimensional space.
The Exorcist's reward bundle also contained two small gold bars, each about as thick as a finger. To his surprise, Iridescence provided a corresponding textual description:
"Rough-refined gold. Weight: 3.8 ounces. A gold bar refined with poor methods and materials. It contains many impurities, but was touched by the ritual 'Consecration,' giving it a hint of mystery."
"Task reward belonging to Orlando Pitt, the Exorcist. It was never delivered to him, and may never have the chance to be."
Gilan weighed the two small gold bars in his hand. They clinked together with a clear ring.
Rough gold I can bring out of the movie isn't bad.
He hadn't forgotten how poor he was in the real world, so he put the bars away in his dimensional space as well.
Gilan then picked up the fallen candlestick from the table and followed the wooden stairs back upstairs. He resumed searching the rooms on the first floor.
Earlier, he had only been looking for the basement entrance, so he hadn't searched very carefully. This time, he found a short-barreled shotgun in the wardrobe of the side bedroom. Unfortunately, it was badly damaged: the barrel was broken, and the stock was badly cracked.
Fortunately, there were also two boxes of 12-gauge shotgun shells nearby, compatible with the double-barreled shotgun he had. He took them with delight.
Besides that, he found a sharp boning knife in the kitchen, intending to give it to Maive for self-defense.
A small, lightweight kitchen knife like this was much easier to carry than the villagers' farm tools or cleavers.
But when Gilan returned to the living room, he found the girl with the twin tails and white dress slumped in a chair, clutching her head and groaning in pain.
"Miss Maive?" Gilan hurried over and helped her sit up. "What's wrong?"
"I... I think I'm hallucinating." Maive's pretty face was pale as she opened her eyes, trembling. "I saw a spiral high tower. There was a man in a top hat on it, and it seemed like he was talking to me."
"A tower and a strange man." Gilan froze.
He remembered that Doctor Brennan had experienced the same symptoms on his previous trip into a movie, seeing a vision of a tower and a strange man.
He hadn't expected Maive to see them this time, too.
Gilan was increasingly convinced that this movie world was shrouded in a thick fog and full of hidden mysteries.
"Can you still walk?" he asked gravely.
Maive looked at the blond young man's expression. For some reason, panic stirred in her heart. She gritted her teeth and said:
"I can!"
Gilan said nothing more, only nodding.
He handed Maive the boning knife, and she thanked him softly.
With the shotgun in one hand, Gilan wrapped his other arm around the girl's waist and lifted her with ease. Maive froze at the sight, then a look of surprise and admiration flashed through her eyes.
But just as they stepped out of the red-brick house, an air-raid siren suddenly blared overhead:
Wooo—wooo—wooo—
The piercing sound made Maive let out a short scream, her face contorting in pain.
Gilan's eye twitched as he cursed inwardly:
Damn it! That siren again! What the hell is it?!
His vision quickly filled with static. The surrounding scene began to flicker and tear apart, and even the girl in his arms grew blurry.
In almost an instant, Gilan found himself ripped out of the movie world.
He was sitting on the warehouse floor. The movie projected on the white wall in front of him had turned into a black screen, and at that very moment, the projector clicked and stopped running.
Gilan turned to look. The Silver Cube connected to the power cord had also been used up.
"Phew..." He slowly got to his feet, removed the Black Film Reel from the projector, and put it away with a sigh. "What a shame. I'd wanted to keep exploring the village... Looks like I'll need to find another Silver Cube before I can go back in."
Gilan shook his head and checked himself over again.
To his delight, the physique he had developed by practicing the White Cross Body-Forging Technique in the movie had carried over into reality. At that moment, he felt full of energy and strength, nothing like the scrawny fellow he had been before.
"In that case, it's time to return the favor... Even Miss Maive praised me as a gentleman with good manners, didn't she?" Gilan murmured.
He first glanced out the window and confirmed that it was around ten in the morning. Then he bent down and picked up the white cloth covering the contraband. He tore it into strips and wrapped them tightly around his hands.
Then he strode toward the warehouse door.
He unlocked it and pushed it open.
Rather than wait for Lucas to send more men to pressure him, he'd better strike first!
In the yard, two gang members assigned to watch over Fortune Well were standing beneath a hornbeam. When they saw Gilan come out of the warehouse, they exchanged a look and hurried to block his way.
Randolph had privately instructed them not to let Gilan leave.
"Hey, Gilan, where do you think you're going?" one of the men, with tousled brown hair, said. "Those Bobbies from the police station are searching everywhere for you. If you don't want to die, stay put in the warehouse."
"I want to see Boss Lucas. I have something important to tell him."
Gilan had his hands in his pockets and spoke calmly.
The two men brightened at his words.
"Fine. I'll go get Randolph, then. Wait here." The brown-haired man spoke quickly, then headed toward the yard's exit.
The other man, a burly fellow, added in a low voice:
"It's for your own good. If the Bobbies find you, even the boss won't be able to protect you."
Gilan didn't answer. He simply watched the brown-haired man go to deliver the message. Only after he disappeared from sight did Gilan's lips curl into a sinister grin.
"Hm?" The burly man noticed the strange expression on Gilan's face and couldn't help but startle.
Instinctively, he raised a hand and reached for the gun holster at his waist.
But in the next instant, Gilan suddenly pulled both hands from his pockets and threw a punch. His fist, wrapped in strips of white cloth, flashed like lightning and slammed into the burly man's chin.
Pfft!!
The man's entire jaw shattered. His eyes rolled back, and his teeth flew out in a spray of blood.
He didn't even have time to react before he collapsed to the ground.
With a savage look on his face, Gilan lunged forward!
His right knee came down like a hammer, smashing into the burly man's neck!
Crack!!
The man's head bent at a ninety-degree angle. His body jerked reflexively, and he died on the spot!
Gilan, who had mastered the White Cross Body-Forging Technique, was no longer what he had been. Even though he had only just crossed the threshold of the first stage, Mucus, he was already far beyond an ordinary person. With his powerful physique and superb fighting skills, he had easily killed the armed brute in a surprise attack.
Gilan expressionlessly pulled the Borchardt Pistol from the corpse's waist and took the two magazines from his pocket. Then, holding the burly man by one leg, he threw the body into Fortune Well.
Splash.