Isaac and Glen stopped in front of an apartment building not far from Deer Lane.
This building is very similar to the place where Li Jiehao used to live, only it's more dilapidated, with gray exterior walls and wooden planks nailed to the windows.
"You wait here, I'll go in and ask for instructions," Glen said to Isaac, adjusting his collar.
Isaac leaned against the wall outside the door, adjusted the position of his revolver behind his waist, and rested his cane and sword beside him.
A few minutes later, Glen came out, his expression slightly more relaxed than before, but only slightly.
"Mr. Halperin has agreed to let you go up," he said. "Once you're inside, behave yourself, don't touch anything, and don't look around."
"What are your plans for me?"
"Stay here for now, next to Mr. Halperin. We'll decide your fate after the Cult's higher-ups finish their discussion," Glen said, turning and walking into the building.
Isaac put his hands in his pockets and followed.
The dilapidated state of the hallway was even worse than that of Li Jiehao's previous apartment. There was a faint, strange smell in the air, lingering in the nostrils. It smelled off, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was a bit like damp cloth, and a bit like meat that had been sitting out for too long.
The third-floor corridor was a bit brighter than the downstairs corridor, but it had no windows and was lit by the oil lamp Glen had lit when he came up.
Glen stopped in front of the door at the end of the corridor. The door was ajar. He knocked three times and pushed it open.
A half-burnt candle illuminated the entire room, and in the center of the room lay an old man on a recliner.
Isaac couldn't make out the man's outline at first glance because the man was so thin that he almost blended into the shadow. He only made out the man clearly after taking a few steps closer.
He wore a dark robe, his skin pressed against his bones, his eyes sunken, his hands resting on the armrests with protruding knuckles, and his skin a waxy yellow, like a mummified corpse that had been stored in a dry environment for a long time. But the man was still breathing, his chest rising and falling very faintly.
Glen walked to the recliner, bent down, and lowered his voice. "Mr. Halperin, this is the one I told you about—the one from the Joint Investigation Bureau."
The old man's eyes slowly moved, looking towards the doorway. His eyes bulged in their deep sockets, the pupils cloudy. He stared at Isaac for a moment, his withered lips moving slightly, almost imperceptibly.
Glen listened for a moment, then turned to Isaac: "Mr. Halperin wants you to stay next door until someone comes to discuss the follow-up."
Isaac thought to himself, "They only moved their lips a few times; did they really achieve any effective communication?"
Glen asked for instructions in a low voice a few more times, then led Isaac out of the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.
He placed the oil lamp on a protruding ledge and gestured with his chin toward the door of the next room. "That's where you live. The door's unlocked, and the key's inside."
"Was that a member of the Cult?" Isaac asked.
"That's right, that's Mr. Halperin, a veteran of the Cult, a true immortal."
"Really?" Isaac's eyes showed disbelief. The old man on the recliner looked so different from the "immortal" that most people imagined.
"Hmph, Mr. Halperin has been having a bit of a... minor problem lately, but nothing serious," Glen said. " The Cult has arranged for people to take turns looking after you. You'll be staying next door, so no one will bother you, but don't move around too much. You're lucky that Mr. Halperin agreed to let you stay. Don't think the Cult is just treating you like a joke because he's watching over you..."
Just as Isaac was about to press further, there was a moment of silence, and then Carlo's voice rang out.
"That guy is indeed a high-ranking member of the Ghoul Cult, Joseph Halperin. I didn't expect him to be in Vista."
"You stay here and see what's going on with this guy."
The stagnation then subsided, and everything returned to normal.
Joseph Halperin, a name that carries weight in Carlo's knowledge base, is probably not someone just any Cult leader would send a message to... Isaac pondered, changing the question he was about to ask into a different sentence.
"There can't possibly be only one Mr. Halperin at this outpost, can there?"
"There are other members living here, as well as people who come to take care of Mr. Halperin, but I can't point out which rooms they're staying in," Glen said with a hint of warning. "Bringing you this far is already an exception. If you're still thinking of figuring out the Cult's secrets, you're mistaken. If you keep asking these questions, I can only assume you have ulterior motives."
Isaac, realizing he was indeed touching him, didn't argue further. "I'll trust you for now."
Glen was taken aback, not expecting the kid to suddenly back down. Based on his previous behavior in the warehouse and Deer Lane, he thought the young man would continue to press for answers, at least until he got a few specific names or address numbers.
"You're much more sensible than before."
"But let's make one thing clear first: if I find anything amiss after I settle in, I'll leave immediately. Don't even think about killing me and then coming back for the ring. The ring is in my possession now, and if I sense anything is wrong, I have a way to make it unusable for anyone else."
Glen scoffed, "Are the Cult the kind of people who would kill someone to steal their possessions?"
"Given your attitude towards that informant, it's understandable that I'm worried about being used and then discarded."
Glen choked, looked away, and said, "Don't talk to anyone in the building, don't try to find out anything, and don't bother Mr. Halperin. Food will be delivered to your door. If you need anything, find me downstairs."
Which room downstairs?
"The first room on the left at the top of the stairs, the one with the patched-up metal door. I'm usually there. If I'm not, don't wander around, just wait."
No one lives on the third floor?
"Apart from Mr. Halperin's room, all the other rooms are empty." Glen gestured with his chin. "Of course, you'd better not wander around just because no one's there."
"You were allowed to stay here because Mr. Halperin gave his approval, and it was also your own request. Didn't you want to see someone in charge?"
In other words, there is only one occupied room and one room for him on the third floor; the other rooms are empty.
Halperin's condition did not look good; in fact, he needed to be cared for, but there seemed to be no place for a caregiver on the third floor.
"Does Mr. Halperin have someone looking after him?"
"I already said we'd send people in shifts, but those people aren't on the third floor."
"But it doesn't seem right that an elderly person who needs care is living on the third floor, where he is the only person on the floor."
Glen chuckled. " The Cult is well aware of Mr. Halperin's condition. We have our own arrangements. You're new here, so there's no need for you to worry. You stayed in that room because you requested it yourself, at least to be near a senior officer and make sure he doesn't run away, didn't you say that?"