Mr. Rat of the Steam World

Chapter 92 Blood Issues (3k6)

Perez's figure had disappeared around the corner. Lu Ran's small body pressed against the shadow of the dark baseboard, perfectly blending into the dimness of the carpet edge. Like a ghostly wisp of gray smoke, she moved swiftly in the direction of Perez's footsteps.

The noise and conversation in the front hall gradually faded away. Instead of heading towards the master bedroom where the manor owner should have been resting, Perez walked through a relatively quiet side corridor and turned towards the staircase leading deeper into the building.

His pace changed from anxious at the beginning to steady and rapid, with a clear goal.

The stairwell was dimmer than the corridor, filled with a mixture of old wood and dust. Lu Ran didn't dare follow too closely, maintaining a distance of more than ten steps, using his shadow magic to its fullest extent.

Instead of going upstairs to the guest room floor, Perez... went down?
Lu Ran carefully moved down the cold, stone walls of the staircase. This was a section of stairs leading underground. The air grew even colder and damper, and a muffled mechanical hum could be faintly heard in the distance.

There was no other way but to come along. What if that blood was something important, and Perez took a potion and advanced to the next level tonight? Then his trip would have been for nothing.

We need to at least confirm Perez's progress, and... the location of the potion.

The basement was not the messy, dark storage room one might imagine. When Lu Ran peeked out, he saw Perez open a heavy oak door studded with brass nails. Behind the door was a passageway paved with neat stone slabs and wall lamps embedded in the walls. There were several tightly closed iron doors on both sides of the passageway.

Perez was clearly very familiar with the path. Without pausing, he walked straight to a door at the end of the passage that appeared to be heavier than the others. He took out an oddly shaped key, inserted it into the lock, and with a heavy click of a mechanism, the door slid open silently.

Seizing the moment the door opened, Lu Ran, like a shadow skimming the ground, silently slipped inside just before the door was fully closed.

It was precisely because his deception fooled Anthony that Anthony believed Lu Ran was capable of helping him obtain the potion.

Similarly, it was because Lu Ran knew that the guy in front of him was no stronger than Anthony that he dared to accept the commission.

The door closed silently behind me, cutting off the last sliver of light and sound from the outside world.

It was even darker here than in the passageway, with a faint light shining from the innermost basement.

Once here, Perez was a completely different person. Gone was the gentle and self-reproachful demeanor he had shown in front of Mattia. His face was now filled with an almost greedy focus.

He strode quickly to a quartz workbench covered with mottled scratches. On the workbench were neatly arranged several rows of cow bone boxes filled with various colored crystal powders, as well as several slender glass droppers soaking in condensate.

He carefully unfolded the snow-white silk handkerchief stained with Mattia's blood, and with silver-plated tweezers, he held an empty crystal conical dish. Perez cut a small piece of cloth from the darkest stained part of the handkerchief and put it into the conical dish.

Next, he took out a sealed ampoule filled with a colorless liquid. He lightly flicked the ampoule with his fingertip, and the viscous liquid shimmered with a strange iridescent color like mother-of-pearl. He used a dropper to draw two drops of the liquid and precisely dripped them onto the bloodstained cloth in the dish.

"Zi..."

A faint burning sound rang out, and the bloodstains on the cloth suddenly boiled! The dark red blood swirled and condensed like a living thing, reacting violently with the iridescent liquid.

Perez pressed his face close to the vessel, his greedy eyes reflecting the strange sight within: "As expected..." His Adam's apple bobbed, his fingertips trembling slightly with excitement, "The Clinton family bloodline is not the problem!"

When the shimmering light finally condensed into a pinhead-sized golden-amber crystal, he leaned back against the cold metal potion rack behind him with a sigh of relief.

"You can start working on the promotion now."

Lu Ran crouched in the shadows, observing the scene. He looked around and saw bottles and jars everywhere, but he couldn't figure out which one was a potion.

I don't want to snatch this guy's promotion right from his face, do I?

Lu Ran cursed under his breath, then saw Perez tidy up the table and walk out of the basement with barely suppressed excitement.

Should we stay here to search, or go out with them?

Lu Ran stared at the door that was about to close, his mind racing with thoughts. After a moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth and slipped out at the last second.

……

The midday sun streamed warmly through the floor-to-ceiling windows, filling the room, while a gentle breeze carrying the scent of flowers stirred the sheer curtains. The tense atmosphere of the previous day seemed to have been largely dispelled by this gentle light.

Afra nestled comfortably in a large velvet armchair by the window, Professor Al's controversial book, *The Unexplainable History*, open on her lap. Lu Ran, on the other hand, curled up contentedly against her soft belly like a heavy gray pompom.

Professor Al sat in a high-backed chair opposite me, talking animatedly about a passage in the book about ancient architectural wonders, his white eyebrows dancing up and down with his excited words.

"So, Professor..." Afra's slender fingers traced a line of text on the page, and she asked curiously, "It says here that the towers are built with huge stones piled up between them, and the stones fit together so tightly that even a blade cannot be inserted. Professor, have you really seen it with your own eyes? How did the ancients manage to do that?"

As she spoke, she unconsciously stroked Lu Ran's back fur gently, the warmth and softness from her fingertips calming her mind.

"Perhaps it was giants, perhaps it was magic?" Professor El pushed up his glasses, which had slipped down to the middle of his nose, and said with a hint of disbelief, "To build a stone tower hundreds of meters high without relying on modern reinforced concrete, I don't know how people in that era managed to do it. After all, even now, we have to rely on machines."

He paused after speaking.

"Of course I haven't been inside. It's sealed off, although I did try to sneak in, but I was quickly discovered and driven out. The guards there have an incredible nose."

Afra asked, somewhat puzzled, "Then why did you think yesterday that the man's story about his wife coming back to life was impossible?"

Professor Al explained with a smile.

“My judgments about history are all based on assumptions about some irrational phenomena, so how can I help someone else who is making assumptions to make a definitive judgment? Once I actually see it with my own eyes, I can write a new book to give more confused people an accurate answer.” Afra said thoughtfully.

As for Mattia, she sat on a small, comfortable stool next to Afra. Compared to her pale and haggard appearance yesterday, her complexion seemed a little better, perhaps due to the calming tea she drank last night, or perhaps the brief comfort brought by the salon.

A gentle smile played on her lips, and a ribbon tied around the wound on her wrist. She listened intently to Professor El and Afra's conversation, though her gaze occasionally drifted to the quiet little gray mouse on Afra's lap.

Looking at the fluffy mouse carrying a delicate little crossbody bag, Mattia couldn't resist picking up a small, finely sliced ​​fried pear from the exquisite silver plate on the small table beside her and quietly handing it to Lu Ran without disturbing the discussion.

Lu Ran's little eyes lit up instantly. He cautiously peeked out, stretched out his pink little paws, and steadily caught the food that wasn't small for him. He made a squeak to express his gratitude, and then began to enjoy it with smacking sounds.

Last night, he followed Perez out of the basement. The other man seemed to be waiting for the right opportunity and did not intend to take the potion to advance immediately.

Seeing that this guy went to comfort Matia for a while before going back to his room to rest, in order to ensure he got enough rest, Lu Ran finally obediently went back to his room to rest as well.

After all, Lu Ran couldn't bring other mice over to help with 24-hour surveillance for such a high-level task; forcibly bringing them over would only expose him.

"...So, the smooth, crystalline cross-sections on those relic stones could not possibly have been achieved with Stone Age polishing tools...I guess..." Professor El was still gesturing wildly as he explained.

Sunlight, books, soft conversations, delicious food... It was indescribably pleasant. If Lu Ran hadn't been secretly thinking about the mission, he would have even felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him amidst the warm sunlight and Afra's regular breathing, and wanted to take a nap.

"Then what do you think..." Mattia, who was about to interject, suddenly stopped.

Afra and Professor El simultaneously stopped their discussion and turned their gaze to her.

Mattia's smile seemed to freeze instantly, then she looked somewhat bewildered. Her hand, which she had just raised to hand Lu Ran a piece of food, hung in mid-air, and her body swayed almost imperceptibly.

"Matia?" Afra immediately noticed something was wrong. Lu Ran, who was on her lap, also sensed her tension, stopped chewing, and looked up at Matia.

Mattia opened her mouth, as if to say something, but her face instantly lost its previous rosy glow, becoming even paler than when she arrived yesterday. A fine layer of cold sweat instantly appeared on her forehead and the tip of her nose. Her pupils seemed to lose focus for a moment.

"I...I'm a little..." she tried to speak, her voice becoming extremely weak, filled with barely concealed weakness and panic. Her suspended hand fell limply to her side, her fingertips touching the small silver plate with a crisp clinking sound, and a few bread crumbs rolled onto the carpet.

She then pressed her forehead hard, her brows furrowing in pain.

"Dizzy..." The last syllable was barely audible.

Under Afra's astonished gaze and Lu Ran's wary watchful eyes, Mattia's body seemed to lose its support. She swayed and tried to stand up, but stumbled and almost fell forward!
"Watch out!" Professor El exclaimed, quickly standing up to try and steady himself.

Fortunately, Afra reacted extremely quickly. Almost the instant Mattia leaned forward, she reached out and firmly supported Mattia's arm, feeling a distinct sense of weakness in the crook of her arm.

"Matia! What's wrong?" Afra's voice was full of worry. She quickly stood up and let Lu Ran climb down her skirt by himself.

Lu Ran stared intently at Mattia, whose face was pale and whose steps were unsteady, and his heart skipped a beat.

No! Last night was just a fright, and it was only a small cut on my arm. Perez even said he went to call a doctor to treat the wound...

But this reaction is too intense! Was it because he didn't rest well yesterday? Or is it Perez...?

"Quick! Help Miss Mattia back to her room to rest!" Professor El urged the maid outside the door.

Hearing the commotion, the two maids who had been waiting outside the door immediately pushed it open and entered. They were startled by the sight of Mattia. They quickly and carefully supported Mattia, who was almost unable to walk on her own.

"I'm sorry..." Mattia's voice was so weak it was almost inaudible. Most of her weight was in the arms of the maids, her eyes were unfocused, and her consciousness seemed to be fading. "I'm sorry... I... I'm probably just too tired..."

"Don't speak, go back to your room and lie down!" Afra followed anxiously beside her, still supporting her with one hand. "Go quickly and ask the doctor to take another look!"

“Yes, Miss!” a maid replied. The two of them worked together to carefully and steadily support Matia, who was staggering and had her eyes half-closed, and slowly moved her feet.

Afra wanted to follow, but Perez appeared at just the right moment and took her place.

"I'll take over. You stay with Professor Al."

Afra instinctively stopped in her tracks. Seeing so many people supporting Mattia, she felt there was no need to rush in and squeeze in. She watched their figures disappear around the corner of the corridor.

"Ugh."

Afra sighed, losing interest in continuing the discussion. Glancing around, she suddenly lifted her skirt and looked around.

"Are you looking for that gray rat?"

Professor Al suddenly spoke up, and seeing Afra nodding shyly, he pointed to the corner of the corridor ahead.

"It seems they ran that way too."

……

(End of this chapter)