Mystic Place

This was not so much a deduction as an intuition. Li Wei instinctively felt that something was wrong.

The reason was simple: this had been too easy.

They had come here to search, found the safe without any trouble, and then found the notebook. If they had not known Lady Claytie's true identity and had simply come to investigate, this answer might have misled them-Lady Claytie was just another person in the Lower City with plenty of secrets and a few illegal dealings. But that was neither unusual nor abnormal in the Lower City.

That was not the situation, though. Li Wei and Katie had come looking for clues precisely because they knew Lady Claytie's true identity. So to Li Wei, this answer was far from satisfactory.

Was this a decoy? Something meant to conceal Lady Claytie's true identity?

Li Wei pondered this and glanced at the delighted Katie beside him. Indeed, most people would immediately assume that a safe contained important secrets, or that the most valuable possessions would be kept inside it. And this safe was so easy to find that anyone who discovered it would naturally neglect to search elsewhere...

Li Wei inspected the safe carefully, then closed it.

"Keep looking."

"Huh? Was there nothing inside?"

"It might be a decoy."

Seeing Katie's slightly startled expression, Li Wei quietly explained his reasoning. The girl soon caught on, and immediately grew annoyed.

"I never imagined Lady Claytie would be so cunning. But Mother did tell me before that things we get easily often aren't what we really want..."

"In any case, we need to keep searching."

Li Wei looked away from the safe, and the two of them began searching Lady Claytie's office again.

But there was not much in the office to begin with. Lady Claytie clearly had not intended to live here permanently. Apart from some documents, money, jewelry, medicine, and similar belongings, there was almost nothing useful.

"Ugh, honestly! Why can't we find anything?"

Katie plopped down on the nearby bed and complained under her breath. Li Wei was somewhat disappointed as well. They did not have much time to waste here, but now it seemed... hmm?

Li Wei suddenly noticed something. He walked over to Katie and carefully examined the corner of the bed.

"There are signs it's been moved."

"Huh?"

At Li Wei's words, Katie curiously lay down on the bed and leaned over to look underneath. There was a faint scrape mark on the floor, evidently left by repeated movement over a long period.

"This bed can actually move?"

Lady Claytie had placed a heavy single bed here. It looked quite luxurious, and nothing about it suggested it could be moved easily. Li Wei did not know whether Katie could shift it, but he certainly could not.

"Look around. There should be some kind of mechanism nearby."

"Okay!"

With a clue to follow, Katie immediately got moving, feeling curiously around the bed. When her right hand reached the edge on the side against the wall, her expression suddenly changed.

"There's a pull ring here!"

"A pull ring?"

"That's right. Watch this!"

As she spoke, Katie pulled her arm upward. The foot of the bed made a faint sound, then slowly shifted aside a short distance, revealing a concealed door beneath it. It was an ordinary-looking wooden door. Li Wei reached out and opened it, revealing a staircase that descended deep into the darkness.

"What's inside?"

Katie came closer, her eyes shining with excitement as she gazed into the pitch-black passage.

Sometimes Li Wei really envied her innocent enthusiasm. He already wanted to shut the door. After all, in movies, places like this rarely held anything good, but there was always plenty of bad stuff. Unfortunately, he still lacked sufficient evidence to bring anyone here to investigate.

"I don't know either."

As he spoke, Li Wei took a Gas Lamp from the desk and lit it, then drew the revolver from inside his coat.

"But we'll find out soon."

Dim yellow light illuminated the darkness. With his gun in his right hand and the lamp held high in his left, Li Wei led the way. Katie followed, looking curiously from side to side. The two descended the dark, chilly stairs one step at a time.

A damp chill surrounded them. Cold condensation and slippery moss covered the walls, while the stone steps stretched downward in the dim lamplight, seemingly without end.

Strange.

Li Wei stared at the steps ahead, his mind full of questions.

He could tell these stone stairs had been here for a very long time. Although he could not determine their exact age, his [Perception] and [Investigation] vaguely told him they were at least several hundred years old.

In other words, unless the Pink Lady was a centuries-old establishment, Lady Claytie could not have built these stairs.

If that was the case, then... things were getting a little strange.

Finally, after roughly fifteen minutes, the narrow staircase reached its end. A heavy stone door blocked their way.

"What do we do now?"

Katie blinked in surprise at the heavy stone door and looked at Li Wei. He took out the keys he had found on Lady Claytie earlier.

"What else? Try them one by one."

Li Wei's luck was fairly good. When he tried the third key, a low hum came from inside the stone door. Then, with a rumble, the heavy door slowly slid open to either side. Katie instinctively clenched her fists and stepped forward. Li Wei tightened his grip on his gun as well, watching the darkness warily.

Then... light appeared.

"Whoosh... whoosh... whoosh..."

Opening the stone door seemed to have triggered some mechanism. A moment later, flames sprang up one after another, illuminating their surroundings.

"Wow..."

Katie's eyes shone with excitement at the sight.

"This is just like the adventure stories I've read!"

"Adventure stories?"

"Yes! I love adventure stories. A brave knight ventures deep into an underground labyrinth, slays monsters, solves mechanisms, defeats the demon king, and claims the treasure! Maybe some legendary demon king is sealed down here!"

Please don't let an actual demon king turn up.

"Anyway, we'll know once we take a look inside."

After that inward complaint, Li Wei made his decision.

To be honest, he was extremely reluctant to enter.

According to the rules of the horror movies he had watched, once someone entered a place like this, the door would slam shut automatically. Then no matter how desperately they cried for help, no one would answer, and all they could do was wait hopelessly for death.

If he had a choice, Li Wei would rather not go inside!

Unfortunately, he did not.

Li Wei's remaining lifespan had increased to over a month, but he still needed to complete quests to stay alive. Now that this quest had been triggered... well, he had to go in whether he wanted to or not.

So Li Wei could only steel himself and enter.

His only stroke of luck was that he persuaded the eager Katie to wait outside. He reasoned that if he really was trapped after entering, at least Katie could run out and get help. Of course, she was very unhappy about this, but after he promised to call her in once he confirmed it was safe, she finally agreed to his terms.

The space inside was much larger than the passage outside. In the light of the flames along the walls, Li Wei could see that it resembled a church. Well, that was hardly unexpected. They were cultists, after all. How could they call themselves cultists without a sacrifice or two?

But unlike such places in many games and movies, it was not covered in blood, bones, and flesh. It was quite clean. At least on the surface, it seemed to be a perfectly ordinary hall. Apart from the altar in the center, there was nothing strange about it.

Then the problem clearly lay with the altar.

Li Wei turned to look at it-and suddenly jolted in shock!

On the altar sat a woman wrapped entirely in a black robe, her head lowered as she regarded him like a sovereign. She sat high above him, her silver-white eyes glimmering faintly, as though a ruler were looking down upon her subjects!

A shudder ran through Li Wei, and he hurriedly raised his gun. But when he looked closely again, there was no one on the altar at all, only a long stone seat.

A hallucination? Or some kind of omen?

Li Wei frowned and stared motionlessly at the seat. Yet even after a long while, nothing unusual happened. Only when Katie called out from a distance did he collect his thoughts and look away from the altar.

"Mr. Detective, is everything all right? Can I come in?"

Katie's voice rang out again. Li Wei warily surveyed his surroundings once more, then answered.

"It doesn't look dangerous. Come in."

At his reply, Katie rushed inside excitedly like a puppy let out to play. But her excitement soon turned to disappointment.

"Huh? There's no treasure?"

"What did you think would be here?"

"Piles of gold coins, treasure chests, and countless riches?"

Confirmed. This young lady has definitely read too many adventure novels.

"But this is pretty interesting too."

Katie gazed curiously at the altar with her hands clasped behind her back.

"What is this thing? Why is it down here?"

"I'd like to know too. Unfortunately, I'm afraid only Lady Claytie knows what's really going on."

"Hmm..."

Katie circled the altar, looking puzzled.

"I feel like I've seen something like this somewhere before... oh, right!"

She seemed to remember something and clapped her hands.

"The sanctum! That's it. This place is laid out a little like the sanctum, only smaller."

"The sanctum? You mean a church of the Holy Lord Church?"

Li Wei paused, then looked around the hall again. But no matter how he looked at it, he could not see the resemblance. It was not as though he had never visited a church. Churches here were laid out much like those in his own world, with a pulpit at the front and rows of seats. When had he ever seen one like this?

"Not a church. The sanctum."

Katie shook her head.

"The New Year Sermon is held in the Holy Lord Church's sanctum every year. The pope himself walks up onto the platform and prays for blessings in the Holy Lord's name before the throne."

At this point, Katie giggled.

"Whenever I watch, I always think how funny it would be if an old man like His Holiness, who can barely walk without wobbling, fell down the steps in front of everyone..."

"Oh, now that you mention it, I think there is a ceremony like that..."

Katie's reminder finally brought the relevant knowledge to Li Wei's mind: the Holy Lord Church's New Year Prayer Gathering.

But... according to the knowledge he had acquired, only the powerful elites of various countries could attend that gathering... yes, this young lady clearly came from an extraordinary background.

"Then he sits in the chair to pray?"

"Of course not. He kneels in front of it."

Katie shook her head.

"That's the Throne of God. Ordinary people aren't allowed to sit on it at all. Only a god can sit there. That's also why the throne is placed on a high altar. Even His Holiness can only kneel on the third step below the chair and pray for the Holy Lord's blessing."

"Why the third step?"

"That I don't know..."

As for why the Holy Lord Church did not simply erect a statue of its god, Li Wei did not need to ask. In this world, the Holy Lord Church also had a commandment forbidding the creation and worship of idols. Thus, even its omniscient and omnipotent god was worshipped only through the symbol of the All-Seeing Eye, rather than an actual statue.

"Is the All-Seeing Eye carved into that throne?"

"Yes."

"Now that's interesting..."

As he spoke, Li Wei looked once more at the high altar and the table at its summit. He was not sure whether what he had just seen was a hallucination, a vision, or something else. But if this was where cultists held their rites, then the chair ought to bear the symbol of an evil god.

With that thought, Li Wei took a deep breath and climbed onto the altar, making his way step by step toward the summit of the pyramid-like structure.

Nothing happened along the way. Li Wei soon reached the top of the altar, then stared silently at the chair before him.

"Mr. Detective, did you find anything?"

"Nothing."

At Katie's curious question, Li Wei silently sighed.

"It bears the symbol of the All-Seeing Eye."

It seemed he had guessed wrong again this time.