Steam Old Days: The Extraordinary Begins with a Corpse Collector

The pawnshop was still filled with that lingering, pleasant fragrance.

The gas lamp cast a flickering spot of light.

After hearing Lyndon's somewhat abridged account of his experience at the Phoenix mansion, Alastor was initially taken aback.

He truly hadn't expected Lyndon to be so audacious as to steal the church's potion.

"So after you drank the potion, you suppressed the nightmare?" Alastor asked.

"I think so. I can clearly feel the power of the nightmare weakening within me. But I don't know how long it will last."

Linden looked worried.

"You should contact your friend as soon as possible."

Lyndon nodded, and then that familiar smile returned to his face.

"Don't worry, they'll contact you."

Alastor rubbed his hands together, went back into the inner room, brought out a teapot and teacups, and poured a cup of tea for Lyndon.

The heels of the boots echoed dully on the wooden floor.

To Lyndon, the sound was like a small hammer striking his heart.

"You know, this is my first time containing a nightmare. If something goes wrong, I'll be the one who dies, not you."

Lyndon straightened his back.

"If anything happens to me, you won't get anything."

"I know, don't worry."

"I'm not in a hurry," Alastor said slowly, patting Lyndon's face across the counter.

"But the key point is, we've taken control of the nightmare, haven't we? Now it's inside you, it can't escape anywhere, it's like a bean in our bowl."

He stepped out from behind the counter, walked to Lyndon's side, lowered his voice, and his eyes flashed with the shrewdness typical of a businessman.

"The most important thing now is to find a safe way to extract that wisp of its spiritual consciousness! That's something potion masters and extraordinary individuals dream of! If we can get it, it will be a huge sum of money!"

Alastor's tone was enticing, attempting to dilute Lyndon's anxiety with the promise of enormous benefits.

Lyndon scoffed, "I don't need you to remind me."

Alastor had no choice but to raise his hands, pout, and make a gesture of surrender.

"Okay, I've said too much."

Alastor picked up his cup, took a sip of tea, and suddenly asked Lyndon a question.

"Did the church members see you do it?"

Lyndon thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Probably not. My actions were very discreet; they shouldn't know that I was the one who did it."

"No, no, no!"

Alastor waved his hand.

"I mean, about you secretly drinking the potion."

Lyndon was speechless.

Just in case, he stole a bottle of mental potion and drank it when the yellow mist filled the air.

By then, both Hughes and White had already collapsed.

Logically, it shouldn't be possible to see it.

"Probably not."

Although Lyndon said this, the doubt in his eyes betrayed him.

Upon seeing this, Alastor's expression turned serious.

He made the decision for Lyndon without his consent.

"You can't go anywhere today. The church people are involved. Whether they saw it or not, we have to prepare for the worst."

A glint of shrewdness flashed in Alastor's eyes.

"The church is acting very quickly. If they really saw it, they'll probably make a move tonight, or at the latest tomorrow. I've heard of the silver-haired, blue-eyed guy, Hughes. He's not someone to be trifled with. Tomorrow I'll go out and check things out with the church, see if they're investigating you, and also contact other people. You can stay here with me for now and lay low."

Lyndon did not question Alastor's arrangements; Alastor's shop was indeed a good safe haven where he could rest and recuperate.

Therefore, he nodded and accepted the arrangement.

Early the next morning, Alastor went out to gather intelligence for Lyndon and didn't return until very late.

Alastor told him that Hughes and White had recovered after treatment and were fine except for being a little listless.

As for the church, no news was released, and even the police department did not make any personnel changes; everything remained as usual.

It seems that, just as Lyndon said, they found nothing.

Upon hearing this news, Lyndon couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

That's why Lyndon dared to return to the company.

However, Alastor also reminded him not to cause any trouble recently and to be careful in everything he does.

The memory ends.

On the street, Lyndon stood at the crossroads, watching the passersby. A little bit of frustration in his heart dissipated, and he suddenly smiled, then strode forward.

……

The new urban area of ​​the foggy city, the sacred cathedral.

Inside a laboratory hidden deep within a church.

Hughes sat alone inside, in front of a row of complex experimental equipment used for alchemy.

He was holding a small glass bottle in his hand.

The bottle walls are very thin, and some transparent liquid remains inside.

He found it in Wendell's room.

Hughes stared at it for a while, then put down the glass bottle in his hand and moved one of the glass bottles in front of him forward a little.

He looked at the protruding glass bottle and suddenly smiled.

"Interesting, very interesting, that was quite a clever trick."

The laboratory lights were a cool white, reflecting the turbulent thoughts in Hughes's eyes.

The scene from that night reappeared before his eyes.

Because of the incorrect use of the potion, the water prison that trapped the nightmare shattered, and the nightmare forcibly pulled the group into its dream, intending to kill them in the dream.

Nightmare was also clever; instead of going after the strongest, Hughes, it commanded the ghosts to restrain his movements while it attacked the other two.

Then, according to White's description, Lyndon took the Nightmare's attack for him, and then Lyndon disappeared along with the Nightmare.

Then, a person dressed in black robes suddenly appeared in their dream. With the help of the person in black robes, the two reunited and woke up from the dream world.

When they woke up, Lyndon had vanished without a trace, and even the corpse on the bed had disappeared.

Based on the fact that Hughes saw Lyndon drinking water before he fell unconscious, he had already guessed that Lyndon was behind all of this.

Logically, as a deacon of the church, Hughes should have reported the situation to the authorities, and then the church should have applied to the police to arrest him.

But he didn't; Hughes kept the truth from Lyndon.

dong dong dong.

The knocking interrupted Hughes's thoughts.

"Come in."

Hughes didn't even look up, still staring at the glass bottle in front of him.

White pushed open the door and entered, carrying a stack of documents in his arms.

His eyes were dark and swollen, indicating that he hadn't slept well last night, but his eyes were bright and alert.

He strode over to Hughes and respectfully handed him the documents he was carrying.

"Teacher, all the information you requested about Lyndon Copperfield that I could find is here."

Hughes grunted in agreement, took the document, and turned to the first page.

The document contains Lyndon's basic information, such as age, address, occupation, and family situation.

Hughes's gaze swept across the lines, browsing intently, his fingers following his eyes the entire time.

His expression was calm, showing no sign of emotion.

Upon seeing Lyndon's workplace, Hughes tapped his fingers twice on the paper.

"Vulture Recycling Company..."

Hughes muttered to himself, closed the file, and then gave White another order.

"Go and get me some more information about the vulture recycling company."