Lord of Mysteries: Return of the Stars!

His first reaction: something had happened!

His second reaction: reach for a suitable weapon.

In the end, he tightly gripped his hefty walking cane, eyes alert and locked on the door.

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"Mr. Hastur, are you still awake?"

A voice came from outside the door, it was Lecturer Fron.

"He definitely can't sleep."

Another voice followed, one with a slight hint of amusement, it was Professor Wayne.

"??!"

Hastur froze. It's the middle of the night, why are they not sleeping and coming to his room for a meeting?

"He's probably already resting. He walked quite a bit today. Even if he didn't complain, he must be very tired."

"With an environment like this where even you can't sleep, how could he, someone born into comfort and privilege, sleep well?"

"Then why hasn't Mr. Hastur opened the door yet?"

"Knock a few more times, he'll definitely open."

Knock knock knock!

Suppressing and heavy knocks sounded again.

"You people shouldn't be up so late. You deserve to wait outside a bit longer."

Hastur waved his silver-plated cane a few times, waited about ten seconds, then walked over and opened the door.

Outside stood Lecturer Fron and Professor Wayne, holding a kerosene lamp.

Noticing Hastur's questioning gaze, Professor Wayne said, "Let's talk inside."

Hastur stepped aside to let them in, then shut the door behind them.

Lecturer Fron said sheepishly, "Mr. Hastur, please forgive us for disturbing you so late."Hastur smiled. "It's fine, I couldn't sleep anyway."

Lecturer Fron let out a breath of relief and extinguished the kerosene lamp, muttering, "It was the professor who insisted you were still awake. Otherwise, I wouldn't have dared to bother you."

"Is there something we need to discuss?" Hastur wasn't angry, in fact, he seemed a little excited.

Late at night, with everything quiet, the three of them sat with a single kerosene lamp in the eerie Almshouse, whispering.

It truly amplified the supernatural atmosphere typical of ghost stories.

There were no chairs in the room, so the three had to sit on the bed. Professor Wayne sat in the middle, with Hastur and Lecturer Fron on either side.

Fortunately, all three were rather slim, so it wasn't too cramped.

"There's definitely a reason we came so late," Professor Wayne began. "After observing everything today, do you think there's something off about this place?"

Hastur thought for a moment. "It's too quiet. Other than Director Darn being a bit enthusiastic, the rest, whether children or adults working, were all too well-behaved. There wasn't even the occasional shouting or scolding among them."

Too quiet, so quiet it was unsettling.

That was his takeaway from today's visit.

Professor Wayne nodded without commenting and turned to Lecturer Fron.

"That Director Darn is suspicious," Lecturer Fron gave his assessment. "I've been watching him all day and deliberately spoke to him. From his body language, I could tell he's far less kind than he appears."

Professor Wayne smiled. "Explain in detail."

Lecturer Fron's face grew serious. "When you suggested having lunch with the children, he showed a slight change in expression, but he was calm, too calm. It was as if he already knew what that proposal was really about."

"He arranged for us to have steak at lunch, clearly intentional. He knew we wouldn't eat it and expected we'd use the opportunity to demonstrate our kindness."

"To him, our actions were like a pathetic circus performance. He looked down on us, not just with a sense of superiority, but with intellectual disdain."

These words surprised Hastur. During the day, he saw Lecturer Fron chatting happily with Director Darn, and had assumed Fron was taken in by Darn's charm.

But to think, Lecturer Fron was actually the best actor of the three.

Professor Wayne chuckled. "An aging professor, a lecturer who only knows how to teach, and a young noble who still looks green... Director Darn certainly has reason to feel superior."

Lecturer Fron sighed. "Professor, it's time you tell us what you're really thinking."

"My thoughts are simple. It's fine if Director Darn is greedy or a bit corrupt, as long as this place is genuinely helping the poor and unfortunate, and not hiding sinister deeds behind the guise of charity."

"Professor, what exactly do you know?"

Professor Wayne was silent for a while. Then, with a heavy tone, he said, "I received word that every week, this place secretly buries a few children."

He was far past the age of being idealistic and blindly chasing justice. He could tolerate a certain amount of darkness,

Because he knew that beneath every system of order, shadows always lurk.

There were many poverty relief institutions in Backlund, but among them, probably only the ones run by the Church of the Earth Mother truly fulfilled the meaning of "relief."

Other institutions either embezzled donations, turned the poor into free labor, tampered with meals, or worse, committed hidden crimes against children.

What he could never tolerate was any harm to the children.

People could embezzle funds, cut corners on meals, even exploit labor,

But never, ever target the children.

That was not only a crime, it was a complete abandonment of humanity. Acting no different from beasts.

"Secretly burying children? Professor, do you know what you're saying?" Lecturer Fron was shocked by what Professor Wayne said.

"Jim isn't the only guide I have in the dock district. Last month, Old Jeff, another guide secretly sent me a letter. In it, he mentioned witnessing the evil act of this Almshouse burying children's corpses, twice!"

"After receiving the message, I immediately rushed to the dock district to meet with Old Jeff and ask him about the details, but I could never reach him again. A few days later, I got the news that Old Jeff was dead, found at the bottom of a cliff in the mountains."

"After investigation, the police concluded that Old Jeff had accidentally fallen off the cliff. There was no sign of foul play."

At this point, Professor Wayne said coldly, "Old Jeff was in good health and never had a habit of hiking, let alone venturing to the edge of a cliff. There's no way this was a natural death."

"This was definitely a murder!"

"In order to investigate this matter, I came to this Almshouse twice trying to find evidence of their abuse of children and the murder of Old Jeff. But clearly, I can't do this alone."

"So this time, I brought you all with me to see if we can uncover anything unusual."

After revealing everything in one breath, Professor Wayne looked calm. Hastur remained composed, while Lecturer Fron's expression changed, eventually only letting out a sigh.

After a moment of silence, Hastur asked, "I'm saying if, if Old Jeff was really murdered, and this Almshouse is really abusing children, then what do you plan to do?"

"Of course I'll hand over the relevant evidence to the police department, have them arrest all the criminals and bring them to justice!"

"Then why didn't you seek help from the police in the first place?"

Professor Wayne asked, puzzled, "Without solid evidence, what reason would the police have to come investigate?"

"What exactly counts as solid evidence?"

"Evidence that shows the Almshouse is involved in criminal activity, of course," Lecturer Fron interjected.

Hastur shook his head and said, "Getting the police to investigate doesn't require solid evidence. What it needs is a reason they can't ignore to come and investigate the Almshouse."

Professor Wayne fell into thought and signaled Hastur to continue.

"If a noble were to disappear inexplicably in this Almshouse, then wouldn't the police department be forced to launch a thorough investigation into it?" Hastur slowly laid out his thoughts.

He agreed with Professor Wayne's goal of seeking justice for the children, but not with the idea of secretly investigating like this.

If the Almshouse really was dangerous, then the closer they got to the truth, the more dangerous it would become for them.

Even though he was a Sequence 9 Lawyer, in a real fight, three strong men could easily overpower him. Professor Wayne and Lecturer Fron didn't look like they had much combat ability either.

Moreover, the act of secretly burying children made him even more alert. In occultism, children are considered to have pure, untainted spirituality, making them ideal sacrifices for many dark rituals.

If this Almshouse really was conducting some kind of evil ritual...

Then it wouldn't matter how many ordinary police came. Reporting directly to the major righteous churches would be much safer.

If it were him, he would write a letter directly accusing the Almshouse of possibly conducting horrific evil rituals or even the descent of an evil god!

He believed the major righteous churches would definitely send people to investigate.

Regardless of the outcome, it would be safer and more reliable than the three of them sneaking around by themselves.

Lecturer Fron said blankly, "But isn't that fraud?"

"It's just a different way of handling the problem."

"Then... Professor, what do you think?"

Lecturer Fron threw the question to Professor Wayne.

"Very good."

Professor Wayne laughed, patted Hastur on the shoulder, and said with great satisfaction, "You've already learned to use the other side of the law. You're really something."

"It's all thanks to your teaching." Hastur also laughed.

Before proposing this idea, he hadn't intended to manipulate the law, he just thought Professor Wayne's method was unreliable.

Ahem, it wasn't fear or anything.

"Let's do as you suggested."

Professor Wayne cheerfully left the matter to Hastur.

Lecturer Fron frowned at first but gradually came around.

Loen's laws clearly favored the interests of the nobility. The disappearance of children from a Almshouse might not concern them, but the unexplained disappearance of a noble would prompt an immediate investigation.

In a sense, this was using Loen's laws to serve their own ends.

So, now the question was, how would Hastur quietly leave the Almshouse and create the illusion of disappearing from it?

According to the administrator's explanation during the day, to protect children from harm at night, all three residential areas were secured with large iron gates. Only patrol personnel possibly had keys.

And with more than two thousand residents living here, sneaking out even in the dead of night would be extremely difficult.