Odd Containment Specialist.

Chapter 1100 An Gang's Underground House

Xia Shou considered two possibilities.

The first possibility is that Vero, the Time Hound, cannot see spirits. So when he came out of the sealed door, Vero only saw a man standing there, so he attacked him directly.

It's perfectly normal and understandable that a wild beast that has been caged for who knows how long would instinctively attack a stranger as soon as it gets out of the cage.

Besides this, there is another explanation: that Vero can see spirits, so he can see Alice.

However, his relationship with Alice at the time led to a misunderstanding, and she regarded him as an enemy.

If you put yourself in their shoes, this makes perfect sense.

Xia Shou imagined what it would be like if he were imprisoned for who knows how many years, and one day he finally escaped from prison, only to find a stranger standing at the door, with Su Weiyu, in her spirit form, floating behind him, her eyes filled with bloody tears, her hands choking the person's neck.

In that situation, if he could think rationally and conclude that Su Weiyu and that stranger were companions, then he would be mentally unstable.

At that time, the first instinct was that the other party had killed Su Weiyu, but at the same time, Su Weiyu had cursed him, which was a reasonable and understandable conclusion.

Regardless of which of these two speculations is true, as long as Daniel is found and the naming ceremony is completed with his help, allowing him to truly arrive in the real world from the book, the misunderstanding can be resolved.

Alice restricted his head-turning movement as a spirit in order to maintain his current state of being "between the book and the real world".

Once he completely detaches himself from the books and arrives in the real world, Alice should no longer need to maintain the state of possession, and at that time Alice should be able to obtain a physical body.

Xia Shou even has reason to conclude that Alice's physical body is most likely also in "The Fall of the Stars".

If we were to speculate more precisely, Xia Shou felt that since he came from the book to the real world and eventually stopped in the gap between the two layers, then Alice in the real world must have a part that was more inclined to go to the book. One went from the inside out, and the other went from the outside in, so that the two forces were balanced.
Finally, his body and soul were able to remain in a state of semi-entering the mortal world, while Alice remained in the mortal world as a spirit, her body entering the book.

If I'm not mistaken, once he successfully "signs his name," not only will he be liberated, but Alice will also be liberated.

While thinking, Xia Shou wandered around the room following the compass needle, and then suddenly noticed that the reverse zone of the needle had become larger, changing from an angle to a 180-degree back-and-forth stretch.

Just like in the Scar Age, it proves that something he craves is nearby, but he has missed it in terms of location, which is why this pointer bounces around.

"What's wrong?" Su Weiyu stopped when she saw Xia Shou stop.

"nearby."

The place he was standing in was someone's bedroom, and after searching it, the group found nothing of value.

However, the compass does show that the target is nearby, but since the compass only indicates a flat surface, this room cannot be searched. It may be upstairs, or... downstairs.

Xia Shou and Su Weiyu and Su Yue split up. The two sisters searched the room on the second floor, while Xia Shou began to check the area under the floor.

An Gang's house is a bit different from modern mansions. The entire house is supported by wooden stakes, so there is a gap between the house and the ground, which can be climbed in.

Xia Shou went down to the bottom of that house, rummaged around in the corresponding spot, and quickly discovered a hard, flat plate.

Xia Shou's eyes lit up immediately.

There is a play!

He quickly rummaged around for a few moments, and a closed iron plate appeared in front of him. The door of the iron plate was firmly locked. Xia Shou closed one eye and used his other eye to unleash his divine power, directly opening a hole in the iron plate, immediately revealing steps leading to the underground.

Xia Shou crawled inside, bending over as he descended. Gradually, he was able to straighten his back. A strong stench of feces, mixed with a peculiar smell of blood and rotting pus, assaulted his senses.

Even a nose with a poor sense of smell could detect the stench. Xia Shou couldn't imagine what kind of stench he would have smelled if he had his original body.

It was too dark, but luckily I managed to borrow a lantern from the study.

He had long suspected that An Gang's home might contain some secret rooms that could not be shown to others.

The bright electronic lantern illuminated a vast area. After walking down the cement steps for more than ten meters, a series of intermittent chain rattles reached Xia Shou's ears... but the distance was too far to hear clearly.

At the end of the path, there is a straight, branching passageway that can accommodate two people, and not far ahead, you can see paths branching off to the left and right.

"It doesn't seem to be a simple secret room; this underground space is really huge," Xia Shou muttered to himself.

Xia Shou continued forward, first walking to the left. This time, on the left-hand corridor wall, he saw a series of iron gates.

Xia Shouxian used his divine power to cut a small opening in the iron gate and peered inside. He discovered that inside the first iron gate was a room that resembled an office, with a desk, chair, and bookshelves.

After confirming that there was no dangerous anomaly being imprisoned inside, Xia Shou finally cut a round hole in the iron gate and went inside.

Upon entering, all the stench vanished, as if some kind of barrier protected the office from the stench emanating from the corridor.

Xia Shou walked to the desk, picked up a notebook on it, which contained a list of personal names. Behind each name was written personal information, family background, address, interpersonal relationships, and so on.

Among the numerous names, the vast majority were social outcasts, criminals, or gangsters, and none mentioned anything related to the extraordinary.

This thing... is like a statistical list of bad elements in an ordinary society.

After flipping through a few pages, Xia Shou saw the date of death and the cause of death.

[Kiji Goto: Conventional Death]
Kobayashi Yuuken: Due to the corrosive and mutated nature of his cursed power, and the excessive risk of imprisonment, he was executed prematurely.

...]

Xia Shou flipped through a few pages and found their respective numbers.

"Extraordinary experiments?"

No, it doesn't seem like a supernatural experiment. Aside from the fact that they are all ordinary people, there is no description of the current state of the mutations. The focus of the notes is entirely on the risks.

Xia Shou thought about it for a moment, and then suddenly understood.

"A death row inmate barrier?!"

No wonder the others noticed a reduction in the leakage of magical power as soon as they left the house; it turns out that An Gang's family has been maintaining a death row inmate barrier for a long time.

So the sound of chains I heard when I came in was actually the shackles of those death row inmates.

(End of this chapter)