CHAPTER 77: THE BODIES WENT MISSING

Four figures approached the mansion. One parked the car and kept watch while the other three infiltrated the place armed with guns, showing a practiced ease and a clear division of roles. The mansion was empty, and only the light in the study was on. The three looked around but couldn't find their target, so they moved to the entrance of the basement.

“What’s going on? There’s nobody here. A house this big should have at least two servants.”

“It’s normal. The owner must have gone on a trip and brought their servants. I’m guessing this brat had found out beforehand and moved in while the owner was away.”

“Well, that makes our job easier.”

The infiltrators didn’t consider Wayne a threat at all. A mage apprentice was less than an amateur. There was nothing he could do. They fearlessly opened the door and went into the basement.

They found themselves in an air raid shelter. There was a reclining chair, a pillow, a bedsheet, and a few literary classics taken from the study.

“The thief dares not stay in any place other than the basement even when the owner isn’t home.”

They became even more convinced that Wayne was nothing but an uninvited tenant. All leads pointed to him being cornered and left with no choice but to hide in the basement of another’s property.

“He’s underestimated mages, thinking he wouldn’t be found as long as he hid and stayed here with everything he needed within his reach.”

“The pillow is still warm. He hadn’t left for long.”

“Let’s go!”

They made their way to the other end of the air raid shelter and saw a wide-open gate. Diving through it, they found a complex sewage system spanning the entire city.

They exchanged hesitant glances.

“What do we do? Give chase? But he could’ve gone far.”

“We chase him. If we don’t get him this time, it’ll be even more difficult for us to find him in the sewers. Master’s going to punish all of us for the failure.”

They clenched their teeth. The rat might not be skilled, but he was certainly clever, escaping their grasp again and again. But as they kept saying, a mage apprentice knew nothing about real magic. He thought crawling into the sewers would help him evade capture, not knowing that in the eyes of a true mage, his hiding method was laughably crude, leaving traceable clues everywhere.

One of them cast a spell, spreading pollen and connecting his mind to the particles, his perception spreading throughout the intricate network of sewers and gaining an extended field of vision.

Two minutes later.

“What’s taking so long? Still haven’t found him?” His two companions urged him.

“It’s not that. There are too few wind elements in this area, limiting how fast the pollen can spread...”

The man defended himself. Easy for them to talk while doing nothing! Just look around, and they would see that if not for the few elemental particles that remained, this place would practically be a No Element Zone.

After a few more minutes, with his companions growing impatient, he finally announced mission accomplished, wiping the sweat from his brow. He had found the rat.

“Let’s go. The rat thinks we’ve left and stopped moving.”

***

Meanwhile, Wayne scratched his head in confusion.

So slow!

“Why aren’t you here yet? Good thing you’re the villains rather than the other way around. If you were the good guys chasing me, I would’ve gotten my way with the hostages in the meantime.”

He had already contacted his trusty hound Do, having her bring him the handgun he’d buried in the detective agency’s backyard. Combined with the brass knuckles he carried, he felt confident about his chances.

The mansion belonged to his master, and his master was the High Reverend of the Church of Nature, said to be the most powerful mage with the highest authority in Londan. Whether that was true or false, he wouldn’t question the claim. She had her... assets, so naturally, her word was law. He’d treat it as truth.

Do had been sighted with the Death Knight, known to be the knight’s pet. Wayne feared that his master might notice, so he had kept Do away from the mansion. Similarly, Julia was also kept outside, prohibited from approaching without his summons.

After getting his gun, he sent Do to scout above ground. Based on his counter-surveillance experience, the three mages wouldn’t be all the enemy had sent—there should be at least one or two more people standing guard. He’d told Do not to alert them. When they didn’t see their teammates return, they’d report back. Then Do could follow them back to their nest.

If there were no lookouts, well, pretend he hadn’t said anything. And this group would’ve failed to meet the low bar of professionalism; they were either useless or were simple thugs receiving outsourced work.

Considering all those possibilities, Wayne decided to leave one of them alive. As for the other two...

The river was lovely at this time of year—perfect for a bath. The bottom of the Thames was spacious if nothing else, and Bo could do with the company.

Footsteps approached from a distance, followed by a faint fragrance. Wayne narrowed his eyes, his super vision catching the subtle air currents and the yellow pollen that would normally be invisible to the naked eye. The pollen fell, some landing on his clothes and face.

He remained calm, slowly slumping against the wall as if collapsing, hiding his gun in his sleeve while waiting for his pursuers to approach.

“There. The rat has run pretty far.”

“That’s him.”

One man pulled a portrait out of his coat and compared it to Wayne’s face. “The pollen’s put him in a deep sleep. Let’s take him. We’ve already wasted too much time.”

“Damn it, the tunnel’s long. I don’t want to carry him all the way.”

“Then drag him. Master said to capture him alive. He didn’t say anything about not injuring him.”

The three men put away their guns and argued about who should do the heavy lifting. They had chased Wayne all the way here, and none wanted to bear the burden on the return trip.

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

Just then, Wayne suddenly opened his eyes, raising his hand and firing three shots at close range. Three sprays of blood erupted, two bullets hitting the chests and one hitting the arm.

One man screamed and fell, while the other two made no sound as their widened eyes went grey. They felt a warmth in their chests, then a chill spread through their bodies, lulling them into an eternal sleep.

“Don’t want to carry me? Then don’t. I’m too nice to burden you.”

Wayne stood up and snapped his fingers. Sparks sputtered to ignite the pollen particles clinging to his body. The resulting vortex of flames swirled around him, growing fiercer and spreading outward. Red walls of fire surged in all directions, burning away every trace of pollen in the tunnel.

The mage who’d been shot in the arm was still screaming. His two companions had been laughing and joking, but suddenly, they went quiet without making a scene. That terrified him.

Most terrifying was how the easy prey had turned into the hunter. He still didn’t understand how a mere mage apprentice could do all this. Wayne had deliberately left behind traces, feigned unconsciousness to lower their guard, and then destroyed the pollen to eliminate all risk factors...

Damn it, they should’ve realized earlier. This wasn’t a mage apprentice, but a battle-hardened hunter.

Bang, bang!

Wayne fired two more shots to ensure the two slumbering men weren’t waking up. Then he pointed his gun at his captive. “Name, gender, who you work for, and why you’re after me. Miss one thing, and I’ll kill you.”

“I-I don’t know—”

Bang!

The captive felt the concrete beside his ear explode, stone fragments cutting his cheek and drawing blood. He screamed in terror, “Don’t shoot! Don’t kill me! I’ll tell you everything!”

Wayne’s stare was too frightening, and his two companions had proved with their deaths how much of a ruthless killer this man was. The captive was too scared not to hurry and explain.

“I’m Wesker, a disciple of the Goddess of Nature. My master, Joey Dobbin, sent us to investigate you. He’s the one who wants to capture you. It has nothing to do with me...” Wesker spoke through tears. “That’s all I know. Please let me go. I promise I won’t do this again.”

Bang!

Wayne pulled the trigger with an expressionless face, shaking his head. “Sorry, I’d like to let you go, but I have to honor my word. You didn’t mention your gender.”

Bang, bang, bang!

Since the man was named Wesker, he deliberately fired more shots. He looted three guns from the bodies and tossed the one he had just fired onto the corpses. He snapped his fingers, retracing his steps back to the mansion.

He didn’t like killing. Even slaughtering chickens made him tremble. But the fight had been brought to his doorstep, and he couldn’t be blamed for not showing mercy.

Behind him, earth elements conjured walls, wind elements brought in oxygen, and fire elements danced in joy. The massive gathering of fire elements quickly pushed the temperature within the earth walls to an extreme heat to erase all traces of the three men’s existence as quickly as possible. Afterward, water elements surged to wash the ashes into the nearby drainage.

Earth, fire, water, and wind. After the elements all did their work, the sewer returned to its normal state. Only the three blackened marks on the ground remained as proof that anything had happened.

***

Outside the mansion, the lookout drove the car away when his companions didn’t return. Something had definitely gone wrong after such a long radio silence. He noted the street and the house number, took several detours to make sure he wasn’t followed, and then headed to his master’s home.

Thick fog swirled. An unseen pair of eyes followed close behind.

***

Late Night.

Wayne summoned Do in the sewers to confirm the enemy’s home address, considering the viability of him going there to eliminate the threat at its root. He might not be able to do it with his own power, but he could do it with ease after putting on the Death Knight disguise. That, however, would link Wayne to the Death Knight. The risk was too great to be worthwhile.

After pondering for a moment, he called his master. To paraphrase, his summary was something like this:

“Wah, Master, your student was attacked by your subordinates at your place. They all had guns! Wah—I almost didn’t live to see you again!”

Before dawn broke, Silvia rushed to the mansion in a panic, heading straight to the basement to find Wayne.

“Are you alright?”

She ran her hands over his body to confirm that he was healthy and not traumatized, finally breathing a sigh of relief. As long as her student was okay!

“What happened? Who were they? Why were they after you?”

“I don’t know, either. They chased me from the detective agency to here, so they must want something. Three armed men infiltrated the house. According to the captive’s confession...” Wayne explained the situation, finishing with an emotional plea: “His name was Wesker. He claimed to be a disciple of the Goddess of Nature and a student of Joey Dobbin, ordered to capture me alive at any cost. Master, you have to make them pay. They weren’t kicking my ass, but slapping your face! They were coming after you!”

(눈‸눈♯)

You’re right, but phrasings. The analogy is so vivid that my face hurts. Please don’t use that analogy again.

Silvia frowned. She remembered Joey Dobbin—one of Sidney’s students. After Sidney’s fall from power, Joey had been suspended along with him, currently jobless at home. According to Wayne’s account, Joey was unlikely to be the mastermind; Sidney was. Sidney had discovered Wayne’s identity and wanted to kidnap her student to threaten her. But...

She was quite confident that she’d hidden their relationship well. Not even her daughter, Veronica, knew that Wayne was her student. How would Sidney know? Could that damn bastard have told him?

No, that couldn’t be. The bastard might care little about morals, but he at least had a bottom line he wouldn’t cross.

Besides, what use would kidnapping her student be to Sidney? What he should have been doing was to hide himself and make everyone forget about him. Kidnapping Wayne and blatantly pulling the strings wasn’t his style.

“Patience, Wayne. The situation in Londan headquarters is more complicated than you think,” she reassured. “Where’s the captive? Take me to him. I want to personally interrogate him.”

“The captive was killed by shock.”

“Killed by shock?!”

“Yes, I was so shocked that I accidentally pulled the trigger, and he died,” Wayne said in a pitiful voice.

...So that’s what you mean. Silvia forced a smile with twitching lips. “It’s understandable for your hand to shake when frightened. It’s not your fault. Where are the bodies then? Let me examine them. I might learn something.”

“The bodies went missing,” he said in the same tone.

...Did they walk away on their own, or did you lose them while walking around?

Silvia covered her face with a hand. Was it her imagination? She seemed to see a shadow of her bastard husband in Wayne. Come to think of it, they did share the same eye and hair color. There was a resemblance between them.

After a moment of silence, she said seriously, “Where did you lose them? Can we get them back? It’s fine if we can’t find them, but the enemy absolutely shouldn’t get their hands on the bodies. The world of magic is complex. They may use the bodies to frame you.”

“Don’t worry, Master,” Wayne said with the same seriousness. “I saw with my own eyes how the bodies got washed away along with the gun. By now, the ashes have probably washed into the Thames.”

“Ah, well...”

Silvia opened her mouth and closed it, feeling conflicted about how she should respond. Should she scold him? But his cleanup was thorough with no faults to be found. Should she praise him? But what would she praise exactly? Tell him to keep up the good work?

She sighed, finding nothing to say. “Even if you weren’t my student, the fact that you were attacked in my house is enough for me to get to the bottom of this matter. Rest well. Don’t stay up reading. I’ll give you an answer in the next few days.”

Wayne nodded and lay down on the reclining chair to rest.

“You’re resting here?”

“Yeah, I’m scared.”

...Well, caution is good.

Silvia had nothing to say. Working overtime for so many days had exhausted her. She planned to rest in the master bedroom.

Then Wayne said, “Master, is there a magic circle that can gather the four elements, making it easier and faster for mages to replenish their life essence through meditation?”

“Yes, but the elements would be gathering too quickly, making ordinary mages unable to distinguish between the four elements. The risk is too high for most mage apprentices. Why do you ask?”

“There... seems to be such a magic circle here.” Wayne was puzzled. This was her place. Why wouldn’t she know?

Silvia’s expression darkened after a pause. “It must be my husband’s doing. It hasn’t affected your meditation, has it? Should we move you elsewhere?”

“It’s fine.” Wayne shook his head repeatedly. He wouldn’t move elsewhere under any condition now that he had found his training heaven. “Master, can you tell me about your husband?”

Silvia didn’t want to talk about it. She turned away and said as she left, “He’s just a bastard, nothing to talk about. When the matter settles, and you come with me to the family dinner, you’ll see the kind of person he is.”

If he’s such a bastard, why don’t you divorce him? Why bring your student to a family dinner?

Master, you’re being tsundere!

He connected her comment about her husband to her suspicious relationship with the big shot and reached a conclusion: if Master hadn’t cheated on her husband, then the big shot was likely Master’s husband!

“What a small world...” he muttered to himself.

So you’re the one who wanted to stuff me in a barrel of cement and sink me into the river. Just wait. You’ll get what you deserve!