Chapter 326 Suffocation
Sol slowly shifted his gaze, his eyes finally landing on the center of the first-floor hall.
“Is that it?”
Sander turned his head, freezing in place.
“Yes, it's my box, but… why? I just walked past that spot.”
As he spoke, he hurried towards the box, running his hands over it, even embracing the entire box.
Sol was also somewhat puzzled.
This box was definitely not there when he came in!
And after his inspection, he found no hidden mechanisms on the ground, nor any supernatural presence.
Then how did the box suddenly appear?
Is the box special, or is there an abnormality in the house that Sol hasn't discovered?
Considering that a wizard's apprentice expelled from the Wizard Tower once lived here, and that apprentices under the age of 30 who haven't reached the third level are prone to mutations, Sol was more inclined to believe that there was a problem with the house.
But when he activated his meditation technique again and looked over, the house was still clean.
What was unclean was the half-person-high rattan box.
An ominous gray mist emanated from it, eventually merging with the arm on Sander's neck.
But to Sol's surprise, the gray mist deliberately avoided Sander's body, merely surrounding him.
It seemed afraid of hurting him.
Confirming that the gray mist was a kind of resentment from a corpse, Sol raised his eyebrows, “It doesn't seem like the murder and body hiding I initially thought.”
He originally intended to have Sander leave with the dangerous rattan box after signing an agreement.
Although the other party might be a perverted murderer carrying a corpse, Sol didn't intend to interfere, and that arm might avenge itself.
But now it seemed that the corpse's death had another story.
A down-on-his-luck man, carrying a corpse everywhere. After the corpse was lost, he repeatedly returned to the terrifying 'haunted house' to retrieve it.
A wraith, tightly缠绕 around the man in front of him, carefully preventing its aura from harming him.
What is the relationship between Sander and the corpse in the box—or rather, the owner of the arm on his neck?
Sol suddenly became interested.
He supported himself on the handrail of the stairs, slowly walking down, “What is your relationship with the person in the box?”
Sander, who was originally embracing the box intimately, stiffened. He turned to look at Sol, who had already walked in front of him, opening his mouth as if to say something, but finally lowered his head dejectedly.
“As expected, you saw through it.”
He extended a trembling hand, placing it on the layers of leather straps wrapped around the rattan box, slowly untying them.
Then, he gently laid the box down and reached out to open the brass clasp.
He took a deep breath and suddenly opened the lid of the box.
Sol calmly looked into the box.
Unsurprisingly, it was indeed a female corpse.
She looked twelve or thirteen years old, hugging her knees, lying on her side in the box. Her face wasn't particularly beautiful, but if she were alive, she could be called cute.
She wore a slightly yellowed and faded light pink dress, and there was a small golden hairpin on her head.
She looked like a corpse that had just died not long ago.
The only special thing was that there wasn't a single wound on her body, nor any signs of decay.
Sol's gaze landed on the golden hairpin.
The hairpin, like its owner, was as good as new, without any traces of corrosion from time.
“This wizarding tool must be maintaining her body from decaying.”
Sol squatted down and examined it, finding that the纹路 on the hairpin was indeed a kind of wizarding symbol, but it was a wizarding script he had never seen before.
Seeing that Sol didn't intend to touch the female corpse, Sander's tense shoulders slowly relaxed.
He began to slowly tell the story of himself and the female corpse.
In fact, the story was simple and commonplace.
In order to prevent his sister from being sold as a plaything to an old man by his stepmother who owed debts, Sander, as her brother, took his sister and ran away overnight. However, that old man was rich and powerful, and even supported a wizard.
For some reason, he relentlessly pursued Sander and his sister, even spending a lot of money and manpower to track them down.
Since young men and women were easily questioned on the road, Sander specially bought this large rattan box, letting his sister hide inside.
With this clumsy method, they evaded the search.
Everything was originally going smoothly until he took a boat from the eastern continent across the bay to Blue Water Bay here at the mouth of the sea.
When he got off the boat, there were some collision sounds from the rattan box. But because his sister had sneaked onto the boat, he didn't dare to move rashly, looking at the laughing sailors around him, and just patted the box to tell his sister to be quiet.
And the box immediately became quiet.
Sander thought that the movement just now might just be his sister being uncomfortable and adjusting her posture.
But who would have thought that when he quickly disembarked and found a secluded place, he found his sister curled up inside, motionless, without a heartbeat or breath… her body was already stiff.
Even though many years had passed, Sander still shed tears when he said this.
These tears were very quiet, silently dripping down his cheeks, rolling over the skin weathered by years, and falling onto the faded and yellowed collar of his shirt.
Sander skillfully wiped away the tears, then wiped his hands dry on his pants before carefully closing the box.
He would reach out to carefully arrange the female corpse's skirt and hair, not letting them get caught in the box.
“I'm sorry for the trouble, sir. This box isn't worth much, but it holds my most precious treasure.”
He even smiled at Sol.
Although Sander tried his best to maintain his composure, Sol could still feel the immense sadness that had been suppressed for a long time from him.
Seeing that Sol didn't look impatient, Sander couldn't help but pour out some more of his feelings.
“Later, I often thought, if I hadn't been thinking about saving that bit of boat fare at the time and immediately opened the box to check on my sister's condition, wouldn't she not have died?”
“I always thought that the rattan box was more breathable, but I didn't expect… it might have been a bit hot that day, and there were a lot of people, crowded around me, making her uncomfortable. She wanted to change her posture to get some air, but because of my instructions, she obediently endured…”
Sol looked at the rattan box that was heavily wrapped again, “Then why do you still keep her in the box?”
“Midorier likes… oh, Midorier is my sister, her name is Miska, my mother and I have always called her that. She doesn't want to leave this box, and once I try to take her out, she will cry.”
“She sheds tears?”
“Yes, sir, I'm not lying.”
Sol rested his chin on his hand, “Then let me see you pick her up.”
“This…” Sander clearly showed a hint of unwillingness, but after struggling for a moment, he still reached out and opened the box.
He was afraid that if he didn't act, this wizard would take matters into his own hands.
As Sander said, when he gently lifted his sister's head, a drop of water oozed from the girl's tightly closed eyes.
When Sander raised the girl's shoulders again, the tears fell like broken beads.
“Sir?” Sander looked at Sol pleadingly, obviously unwilling to raise his sister's body again.
“Alright, I see, put her back.” Sol didn't force Sander any further, but immediately said after Sander put his sister down, “Your sister didn't die of suffocation, she was killed by an evil spirit.”
Two chapters today, not late, asking for monthly tickets!
(Righteously)
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