Chapter 54

The sky fell dark, the sun set and the moon rose; the city sank into darkness, leaving only drunken patrons entering and leaving taverns, and a few unlucky souls with errands to run.

Two figures in black robes stood before a hostel, their lanterns flickering, their bodies mostly swallowed by the night, as if their heads floated in midair.

After dark, they found the investigation had become considerably easier. With Kraft so busy, he had no chance to arrange long-term lodging, and since he wasn’t staying in the professor’s house, all they needed to do was visit inns with lights still on.

From students who hadn’t yet left, they pieced together Kraft’s daily route around the academy. Thanks to Kraft’s high profile and approachable nature at the Medical College, many had greeted him on the street; for those familiar with Hegang, the search range had already narrowed considerably.

According to Li Si’s plan, all they had to do was enter an inn and ask if there was a young guest with golden hair—no one could fail to remember such a man.

After visiting several inns, Lu Xiusi grew restless, but Li Si remained calm, confident in his judgment—finding Kraft’s lodging was merely a matter of time.

Of course, whether they’d find Kraft himself was another matter, and even if they did, it didn’t guarantee he was alive. As far as he knew, Kraft was meticulous to the point of obsession in such matters, never drank to excess, and even if he broke a leg and lay in bed, he’d at least send someone with a message.

Complete silence could only mean Kraft had lost even the ability to send a message. What had happened was hard to imagine, and Li Si refused to imagine it; both deliberately avoided the question.

A warm light glowed from a door nearby, yet there was no raucous shouting from drunken sailors—another hostel.

Li Si pushed open the half-closed front door and led Lu Xiusi to the counter, tapping lightly to wake the reeking proprietor.

“Accommodation?” The proprietor shook his head, squinting with bleary eyes; his dark attire made him instinctively wary—black was often linked to ill omens, and midnight visitors added an eerie air.

“No, we’re looking for a friend. He vanished all day; everyone’s worried.” Li Si adjusted his black robe, making sure the man saw clearly, “Golden hair, very young, wearing a black robe like ours—any recollection?”

The proprietor rubbed his eyes; his alcohol-fogged brain took several seconds to recognize the academy’s attire, and his drowsiness further slowed his thoughts. Just as Lu Xiusi was about to lose patience and speak, he finally understood.

“Oh, I see what you mean, but we have our rules—we can’t answer such questions. Didn’t your friend tell you where he was staying?”

As a part-time intermediary, the proprietor snapped awake, raising his guard. He’d seen this too often—people pretending to be friends or family, asking about someone. If he talked too freely, his business would suffer.

“＊＊!” Lu Xiusi spat out a word no one understood—likely an insult, probably a dialect from his homeland; its sharp, forceful tone hinted at something related to reproduction. He sat on a nearby chair and handed the negotiation over to Li Si.

The proprietor shrugged, unbothered—he was long past getting angry over petty things; he cared only for his business.

“Alright, the other inns were the same—but take a look at this.” Li Si lifted his collar, revealing his badge.

“I’m a lecturer at the academy, Li Si. I run a clinic near the harbor—you may have heard of me, or you may not.”

“But that’s not important. Someone as well-informed as you must have heard of the man we’re looking for. His name is Kraft—the one who cuts open bellies to heal.”

“So?” The proprietor knew who it was the moment he heard “golden hair” and “black robe,” but since Kraft never drank or chatted in the common room, he’d never realized the legendary healer was his guest. “What’s this to me?”

“He’s been missing all day, skipped something important—we suspect an accident.” Li Si stared into the innkeeper’s eyes, searching for any tell.

The proprietor wavered, leaning toward belief, but he glared back defiantly. “That’s not enough to convince me. I’ve seen plenty of frauds pretending to be acquaintances.”

After a silent stare-down lasting several seconds, Li Si too began to grow irritable. He’d repeated this routine too many times; his patience, honed in his clinic, was exhausted, and he loathed this pointless back-and-forth.

“Of course, I understand your position, and I can’t force you—but let me remind you, this man is a noble, and his fate is unknown.”

Li Si leaned his entire upper body onto the counter. As a typical surgeon, he was tall and muscular, already towering over the proprietor; from this angle, his presence loomed even more threatening. “No offense intended, but if this pointless delay causes harm, the one who suffers when his family comes knocking won’t be me.”

Flickering firelight cast shifting shadows across his features; his anger, unmistakably real, bordered on ferocity. He slammed the lantern onto the counter with a bang, startling the proprietor.

“Now, for our mutual safety, please recall carefully—was there a young man with golden hair staying here, and have you not seen him all day?”

As a doctor who’d dealt with all kinds of people, Li Si understood the innkeeper’s caution—but he couldn’t afford to care. Even if it meant threatening with the vague prestige of Kraft’s family, he had to find him quickly.

“Can you guarantee no one else will hear of this?” When dealing with unreasonable, shameless nobles, the innkeeper chose to retreat—after all, the story made sense.

“I swear by the Heavenly Father.” Li Si picked the heaviest oath he knew—he didn’t care for the Church anyway; it cost him nothing.

“Damn bad luck.” The proprietor pushed himself up from the counter, muttering, “Hope so.”

“If I’m not mistaken, the man you’re describing went to his room last night and hasn’t left since—maybe he just slept all day.”

He climbed the stairs, gripping the swaying railing; the wooden steps creaked beneath their weight, threatening to collapse at any moment. “Come up. See your friend, then leave quickly.”

Lu Xiusi and Li Si hurried after him, following the proprietor to a wooden door on the second floor.

“This is the one?”

Li Si gently pushed the door inward—unsurprisingly, it was locked from inside.

“I told you—he’s been in there all day, never left.” The proprietor leaned against the wall, watching them. “I’ve slept a full day myself after drinking.”

Li Si ignored him, knocking firmly on the door. “Kraft—are you in?”

“Kraft!”

No response. The room remained silent. Lu Xiusi couldn’t help but pound on the door—only earning curses from neighboring rooms.

The other guests had been woken, yet Kraft’s room gave no sound at all—as if its occupant slept deeply, oblivious to the disturbance.

Li Si stepped back two paces. Just as the proprietor thought he’d given up, Li Si handed the lantern to Lu Xiusi. “Lu Xiusi, hold this. Step back.”

“What?” Lu Xiusi didn’t understand, but obeyed, stepping back beside the proprietor.

“Do you think Kraft is the type to drink himself into a stupor?” Li Si loosened his ankles, fingers slipping into his pocket—metal clinked inside, helping him make up his mind.

“Impossible. He barely drinks at all.”

“That’s what I thought too!”

He sprinted two steps, then leapt into the narrow corridor—his body agile, shaped by years of standing and physical labor—and kicked the door near the latch.

The latch snapped clean, splinters of wood flying inward, bouncing and rolling across the floor. The door slammed into the wall and rebounded, its crash jolting every sleeper on the floor; curses erupted, doors flew open, and half-dressed figures stepped out to investigate.

Lu Xiusi and the proprietor stood frozen, crouching in instinctive retreat. Li Si seized another lantern, shoved aside the rebounding door, and strode straight into the room.

The bed was empty, the blankets piled in a heap with a single person-sized depression in the center. Ink, pen, and fresh blank paper lay untouched on the desk—their user vanished. The black robe hung on the wall, its collar pinned with Kraft’s lecturer badge.

The sparse room held no hiding place for a man. Li Si, disbelieving, crawled to the bed’s edge, holding the lantern beneath—only a small storage box lay there.

“What’s going on?”

He rose and turned to the window—secured from inside with a wooden bolt. A space sealed entirely from within: Kraft entered, locked the door and window, lay on the bed for a while… then…

Disappeared?

Li Si circled the room with the lantern, lifting the blankets—his touch felt heavier than the fabric’s thickness suggested.

He pinched a corner with his fingers; the cloth moved sluggishly, as if damp.

“Lu Xiusi, come feel this.” Li Si beckoned to Lu Xiusi, who had just reached the doorway—still stunned, having witnessed two days of lecturers’ violent sides, his mind reeling.

He laid the blanket down, closed his eyes, and let his skin and membranes sense the room. Without sight, the subtle humidity became unmistakable—a thin, invisible mist had settled, utterly unlike the air outside, as if it came from another world.