Steam Old Days: The Extraordinary Begins with a Corpse Collector

"It's the church emblem! People from the church have arrived!"

"Great! I was terrified these past few days!"

The servants in the courtyard walked happily to the wrought iron gate, waving to welcome the arrival of the rescuers.

Even Emily looked relieved, grasping Lyndon's forearm and exclaiming joyfully, "Lydon, look! The church people are here!"

Lyndon knew, of course; he could see the sign on the carriage from afar.

But he couldn't be happy at all; in fact, he felt quite depressed.

"How could it be so fast?"

Lyndon couldn't help but ask himself the same question.

According to the letter, the church members were supposed to arrive tomorrow night.

According to Alastor's plan, he would create a disturbance at that time to disrupt the church staff's work of containing the nightmare, causing the nightmare to briefly go out of control, so that Lyndon could take the opportunity to attract the nightmare to attack him.

But now the church staff have arrived early, a whole day early!

Lyndon's face showed neither joy nor sorrow; he simply put his hands behind his back in silence.

It seems that Alastor's plan has failed.

"No...maybe there's still a chance..."

Lyndon took a deep breath and began to analyze the situation calmly.

Although Alastor's help was no longer available, Lyndon was the only one in the mansion who knew anything about the Xenomorphs.

The carriage could only accommodate two people.

If they need assistance, the best option is to take charge of them. As long as they can gain their trust, they can still mediate and create chaos.

Linden looked down at the iron basin in front of him, staring at the raging fire inside, and an idea had already formed in his mind.

"Looks like we'll have to put on another show."

Lyndon twitched the corners of his mouth and murmured to himself.

"It's a pity that the pouch couldn't be kept."

The carriage came to a smooth stop in front of the wrought iron gate.

The horses pulling the cart stretched their heads out, like broken bellows, squeezing out low hisses from their throats.

After a long run, the horse was exhausted.

Their two legs were nailed to the ground, like nails.

His lips trembled, and he spat out saliva mixed with white foam.

The coachman jumped down from the carriage, untied the iron bits from the horses' mouths, stroked their heads, and said softly, "Thank you for your hard work..."

Two men got off the train.

The slightly younger man wore a dark blue robe with silver thread embroidered along the edges.

She wore a metal pendant around her neck. The pendant was triangular in shape, with a sun in the center and a crescent moon in the center of the sun.

The other man had a head of flamboyant silver hair, combed back into a slicked-back style. Due to the bumpy journey, a few strands of hair fell down and landed on his forehead.

"God, we've finally arrived! Is this it, teacher?"

White had just gotten off the carriage when he took a breath and stretched out a big yawn.

He looked around, and finally his gaze fell on the iron basin that was smoldering in the courtyard.

"Is this a bonfire party?"

White's eyes were filled with confusion and curiosity.

His teacher, Hughes, however, was very composed. He straightened his dark gray woolen overcoat and strode into the courtyard.

Approaching Lyndon and Emily, Hughes bowed respectfully and then asked, "May I ask which of you is the owner of this house?"

Although Hughes spoke gently and acted politely, he exuded an extremely imposing aura of elite power, which made people feel a sense of fear.

Emily took a step back, trying to hide behind Lyndon.

But Lyndon stopped her, turned to Emily, and leaned down to say, "Don't be afraid. The lady isn't here now. You are, after all, a young lady of the Phoenix family. You can boldly state your identity."

Emily's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. She looked up and met Lyndon's gaze, which was full of encouragement.

His words were like a shot of adrenaline. Emily walked up to Lyndon, straightened her back, bowed first, and then earnestly said to Hughes:

"I...I am Emily Phoenix, the young lady of this house. Are you sent by the church?"

At first, Emily's words were hesitant and stumbling, but she became clearer and clearer as she spoke.

Hughes's gaze lingered on Emily for a moment, then glanced at Lyndon behind her, before returning the greeting with elegance:

"My name is Hughes, and I am a deacon of the church. This is my student, White."

White also bowed.

Hughes continued:

"We received a report that Mr. Wendell had unfortunately died from a nightmare, so we came here to handle the situation."

As he spoke, he turned and pointed to the iron basin.

"Miss Phoenix, what are you burning?"

Before Emily could speak, Lyndon blurted out, "They were insect eggs, taken from Mr. Wendell's corpse."

"It's a Soul-Eating Moth!" White asked anxiously after hearing this. "Where's the mother moth?"

"The mother worm?" Lyndon pondered for a moment, then suddenly slapped his forehead. "You mean that strange purple worm, right?"

"Yes! Where is it?" White took another step forward.

"I'll kill him!"

Lyndon wiped his nose and boasted with great pride.

Seemingly feeling that his words weren't powerful enough, Lyndon then described the scene in more detail.

"I almost died at the hands of that beast! Damn it, I've never seen such a big bug! It even killed one of our maids. Look, I'm covered in that beast's blood. It took me a lot of effort to kill it! As for these eggs, they were pulled from Mr. Wendell's stomach. When I saw them, I thought, 'This is terrible! They must be burned! Burned clean!'"

As he spoke, Lyndon made a fist-throwing motion.

Hughes listened to Lyndon's story with great interest, without offering any comment.

White, adopting the demeanor of an old professor, muttered to himself:

"After laying eggs, the mother insect's energy is almost completely depleted, so she is extremely weak and it is normal for her to be killed by an ordinary person."

At this moment, Hughes suddenly asked:

"May I ask who this is?"

Hughes sized up Lyndon.

"My name is Lyndon, and I'm a corpse collector."

"Oh, I see. No wonder you dared to dig out the insect eggs. You're really bold."

Hughes drew out the last syllable and nodded repeatedly.

"Is the mother insect's corpse still there?"

"Yes, it's in the backyard."

"Then please lead the way."

Led by Lyndon, the group arrived at the small house in the backyard.

When White saw the enormous corpse of the Soul-Eating Beetle, his eyes widened instantly, and his voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"My God! This guy's belly is so huge! Teacher, his waistline is even bigger than that specimen in your lab!"

White squatted on the ground, held up his thumb, and gestured to indicate the size of the Queen Bee's corpse. He really regretted not bringing a pen. Such a large Soul-Eating Mother Beetle must be very valuable. If the corpse were more intact, he could probably have material for his final paper.

Hughes didn't pay much attention to the size of the Soul Eater; his fingers traced the Soul Eater's carapace.

Hughes rubbed the paint between his fingertips and his fingertips, then suddenly smiled and boasted to Lyndon, "The Soul Eater has poor eyesight but an excellent sense of smell. It's quite impressive that you thought of using paint to deal with it."

Linden revealed a simple, honest smile, which made him look like a fat man weighing over 200 pounds.

Suddenly, White, who was examining the mother insect's corpse, exclaimed "Eh!" and frowned.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Lyndon took a step forward, stood on tiptoe, and asked.

White was about to speak when Hughes grabbed him and pressed him down.

"It's nothing. He's just not familiar with the internal structure of the alien species yet, and he saw some things that were different from what was described in the book."

Hughes gestured toward White with his lip and earnestly advised, "That's why I often say that reading a lot of books is not as good as doing it yourself."

White paused for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright, there's nothing to see in this bug's corpse."

Hughes took out a clean handkerchief, wiped his hands, and said to Lyndon, "We want to examine Mr. Wendell's body. You're the body collector, so you should be quite familiar with this. Next, we need to contain the Nightmare, and we might need your help."

Without the slightest hesitation, Lyndon agreed immediately.

The two watched Lyndon's departing figure.

Filled with doubt, White couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, the sac-like structure of the mother worm is gone. Why wouldn't you let me tell you?"

Hughes scoffed.

"What's there to say? It was stolen by that corpse collector."

"Stolen? What would a corpse collector need a pouch for?"

"What for? To sell them on the black market for money."

Hughes always speaks like that, as bland as plain water.

"Then we need to catch him quickly!" White made a move to rush out, but was grabbed by Hughes.

Hughes gave White a hard flick on the forehead.

He scolded him with exasperation, "You! All you do all day is read books. Don't you ever use your brain?"

White covered his head, looking aggrieved, and asked, "Teacher, what did I do wrong? Shouldn't I have told the sheriff about these random tourists?"

Upon hearing this, Hughes received another flick on the forehead, his lips barely moving.

"Of course we should talk about it! But what's the use of just catching one individual customer? If we don't dismantle the entire supply chain behind it, these individual customers will keep appearing."

As he spoke, Hughes's eyes deepened. He looked in the direction Lyndon had left and explained to White with earnestness.

"Lydon, like other body collectors, is greedy and opportunistic. Hiding exotic organs to sell on the black market is their way of survival. And these kinds of people are easier to exploit. If you had spoken up just now, he might have run away. But by keeping him around and making him think he's safe, we can follow him to find those black market dealers and thus destroy an entire supply chain. This is far more valuable than catching a random customer."

His tone was indifferent, as if Lyndon were merely a pawn he could manipulate at will.

"Furthermore, we need manpower to contain the Nightmares. He is a corpse collector, has knowledge of the alien species, and is quite brave. He will be a good helper."

Hughes patted White on the shoulder and solemnly advised him.

"You, hiding under the protection of the church all day long, have no idea what the outside world is like."

"Think things through before you act!"