Steam Old Days: The Extraordinary Begins with a Corpse Collector

Outside the wrought iron gate, a luxurious black four-wheeled carriage was arrogantly parked by the roadside.

The two tall horses pulling the cart swung their manes arrogantly, their strong hooves pounding the stone slabs with a thud.

Inside the mansion, the man's roars and the woman's cries pierced through the thick walls, striking Lyndon's heart like a heavy hammer.

"Something's happened!"

Lyndon's heart tightened. He had just agreed to Alastor's plan, and he couldn't afford to let anything happen to Emily and her daughter now.

If something happens to them and the matter escalates, it will be difficult for me to take action.

With this in mind, Lyndon pushed open the half-closed iron gate without hesitation and rushed inside.

In the living room.

A middle-aged man dressed in an expensive velvet suit sat arrogantly on the sofa.

Surrounding the man stood four or five burly thugs with fierce eyes. They wore collarless, coarse cotton shirts with the sleeves rolled up to their forearms, revealing their bulging veins. In their iron-like hands, they held short clubs as thick as leg bones.

Emily and her mother were cornered, and the servants were all driven out by the men.

The mother and daughter were surrounded by this pack of wolves and tigers, powerless and at their mercy.

Mrs. Phoenix was pale, her weak body trembled slightly, and she made suppressed sobs.

Emily stood in front of her mother, her petite frame holding her head high, her lips twitching, but her eyes still fixed on the man on the sofa.

The man glanced disdainfully at the mother and daughter in the corner, then looked around at the decorations of the house, his eyes filled with undisguised greed.

He rubbed his mustache with his fingertips, his lips slightly parted.

"Mrs. Holly, why bother? Sign this agreement, take your daughter and get out of the Phoenix family property, and I'll give you... three hundred gold pounds, enough for you two poor wretches to live on."

The man waved several sheets of paper covered with dense text in his hand, laughing freely.

"No! Carlyle! This is the home my husband left for Emily! We're not leaving! We won't sign!"

"Your brother's body is still lying upstairs. Do you want to kick us out of the house before he's even buried?"

Holly refused to sign the agreement no matter what.

"Yours? Ha!"

The middle-aged man Holly referred to as Carlisle chuckled upon hearing this.

He stood up from the soft sofa, took the wooden stick from the thug's hand, and smashed it hard against the tea set on the table.

boom!

A loud explosion.

Carlisle's violence shattered the teaware on the table, sending crumbs flying.

Holly screamed in terror at Carlisle's crazy actions.

Carlisle, however, was not satisfied. Pointing at the two men with a wooden stick, he angrily shouted, "A second wife with no official status and a bastard of unknown origin, do they even deserve the noble wealth of the Phoenix family? Dream on!"

"Holly, don't think you've become a member of high society just because others call you Mrs. Phoenix. You and your bastard child will never deserve the Phoenix surname. I don't know how my brother could have married you; he must have gone mad."

Carlyle practically forced out the last few words through clenched teeth.

He threw the stick on the ground, then straightened his clothes and beard.

"Of course I don't want to do this in front of my brother's corpse, but I will never allow parasites like you to stay in his house."

Carlisle's voice was flat, but his eyes were full of ill intent.

He winked at the thug.

The thugs, having received orders, approached Emily and her daughter with wooden sticks in hand.

One of the thugs closest to Emily grinned maliciously and suddenly made his move, extending his large, iron-like hand to roughly separate the two.

"Let me go! You bastard!"

"daughter!"

Holly tried to save Emily, but was held down by the other thugs. They then dragged her by the hair to Carlisle and tried to force her to put her fingerprints on the document.

"stop!"

A cold shout suddenly rang out.

The door to the house was kicked open.

Everyone inside the house, including the mother and daughter, stared blankly at the doorway.

"Who are you?"

Carlisle squinted, sizing up the guy in the doorway.

His black curly hair was slightly messy, and his brown pupils were sharp as an eagle's under the light.

Wearing a faded white work uniform looked quite out of place with the clean leather shoes on his feet.

"My name is Lyndon, and I'm the body collector this lady hired."

As Lyndon spoke, he took a step forward.

Carlisle snorted coldly upon hearing this.

"So you're the body collector. You've come at the right time. I'm going to give this house a thorough cleaning today. Take my brother's body away, and don't worry about those two. I won't treat you badly."

But Lyndon shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I can't move the body upstairs right now. Not only can I not move that body, but I can't move those two ladies either."

Carlisle's expression instantly fell.

"Are you trying to help these two parasites? Do you even know my last name? Phoenix, the Phoenix family of the Fog City. Do you know what will happen to this city if I wave my hand?"

Lyndon ignored Carlisle's threats.

He stretched his muscles and assumed a fighting stance.

"I don't know who you are, but I know that lady is my employer. Since she paid for it, I have an obligation to take care of a vulnerable woman who has lost her lover. This is called a social contract."

Carlisle shrugged, and with a wave of his hand, the thugs abandoned Emily and Mrs. Phoenix and rushed toward Lyndon.

Faced with attacks from different directions, Lyndon's eyes sharpened.

He nimbly dodged the oncoming punch, and at the same time, he seized the opportunity, swung his left arm, and his right fist shot out like a cannonball.

boom!

A muffled thud.

The brute force granted by the "Strong Physique" erupts at this moment.

The thug's eyes bulged out, and he screamed in agony, clutching his back as he collapsed to the ground, curling up like a shrimp.

With just one punch, Lyndon intimidated the others who wanted to make a move.

"You, you dare..."

Carlisle was both surprised and furious; he hadn't expected Lyndon to be so formidable.

You have to understand that the thugs Carlisle brought today were all carefully selected from underground boxing rings. They wouldn't be able to take on ten opponents, but they shouldn't be knocked out with a single punch.

In the eyes of the other thugs, Lyndon was like a man-eating beast.

Lyndon's punch just now wasn't top-notch in terms of angle, direction, and body coordination, but it was incredibly powerful.

"Who else wants to give it a try?"

Lyndon clenched his fists, scanned the crowd, and said coldly.

The living room fell silent instantly. The thugs looked at each other, not daring to make a move.

Carlisle knew he had met his match today, and if he didn't leave, he would likely suffer a loss. He took a few steps back, uttered a few harsh words, and said that he would come back in the future. Then, he grabbed his fallen subordinate and the group hurriedly left the house.

After the man left, Lyndon went to the lady and helped her up.

"It's alright, Madam, they've all left."

Lyndon's voice was soft, like a mountain breeze.

The lady's eyes were filled with complex emotions. She looked at Emily, then suddenly covered her face and wept bitterly.

……

Because the lady was too frightened, Emily helped her back to her room to rest.

After Carlisle and his party left, the servants returned to the mansion and began tidying up the house.

Under the dim light of the gas lamp, Emily sat blankly at the dining table, her chin resting on her hand, her eyes vacant.

At that moment, Lyndon walked over, carrying two cups of hot tea.

"Have some tea."

Lyndon placed the teacup in front of Emily, and seeing that she didn't react, he had no choice but to sit down and stop talking.

The atmosphere instantly became awkward.

The two remained silent for a long time before Emily finally broke the silence.

"I am not Holly's biological daughter."

Lyndon paused, then simply hummed in response.

Emily began to recount her experiences on her own.

"I am Mr. Wendell's daughter, of course, an illegitimate child."

"My biological mother had a one-night stand with Mr. Wendell when she was young, and that's how I came to be. But as soon as I was born, she sent me to an orphanage, and then my mother Holly adopted me."

"For years, I didn't know who my biological father was until Mr. Wendell came to me. By then, my adoptive father had passed away from illness, leaving only Mother Holly to take care of me. Mr. Wendell might have felt guilty, or perhaps..."

Emily paused.

"In short, he wants me to go home, but not as a descendant of the Phoenix family. Mr. Wendell believes that my existence is a stain, and if this gets out, it will damage the Phoenix family's reputation."

"So, he made a deal with Holly's mother. He married Holly's mother, and that way, I became his rightful stepdaughter. He promised that after his death, we would have a share of his estate. Holly's mother agreed for my sake..."

As she spoke, Emily's eyes gradually welled up with tears, which silently streamed down her face.

"But I don't want any inheritance, and I don't want to see Holly's mother being bullied by Carlisle."

The truth is like a boulder on a high mountain; once it rolls down, it will cause an earthquake.

Lyndon didn't know how to comfort Emily, so he could only get her a handkerchief and stay by her side silently.

The once luxurious Phoenix mansion has now become the most suffocating place.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Wendell's corpse, lying on the bed, was undergoing a strange transformation.

Something suddenly pushed aside the blanket covering Wendell's face.

puff!

A sharp thorn emerged from Wendell's chest, from which foul-smelling black blood slowly flowed.