Chapter 284: Black Umbrella

"Banuto."

"Hmm?"

A familiar call came from behind, seemingly his mother's voice. Before he could think about why his mother, who lived in the old house in the countryside, appeared here, the police officer named 'Banuto' instinctively turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound, seeing nothing.

Hoo~

A cold wind blew silently. An old woman with gray curly hair appeared on the shoulder of police officer Banuto at some point, gently exhaling a cold and bone-chilling breath, blowing out the flame burning fiercely on his shoulder.

With a thud, Banuto's legs lost strength, and he fell to the ground, his pupils instantly losing their luster.

Death is like a lamp going out.

Ning Zhe stuffed the tongue of the blow-out ghost into his pocket, nimbly stripped off Banuto's police uniform and put it on himself, and took away his service pistol, electric baton, and a large black umbrella.

According to Ning Zhe's observation, the police officers standing guard at the entrances and exits of the castle all carried such a large black umbrella. He didn't know what the specific purpose was.

Putting on the police uniform and carrying the pistol, Ning Zhe carried the black umbrella and looked up at the sky. Today the weather was sunny and cloudless.

Ning Zhe hid Banuto's body, used his mobile phone to send one or two greeting messages to Banuto's mother, brother, girlfriend... and other relatives. The moment he received the reply, the facial features on Ning Zhe's face changed, and the police uniform that was originally somewhat restrictive became fit.

"Okay, let's go." Ning Zhe carried the black umbrella and came to the lecture room along the flower-filled path.

Police Chief 'Ebnik' was standing in front of the lecture platform at this time, concentrating on flipping through the 'Apricot Leaf Scripture' covered in dust. Hearing the footsteps at the door, Chief Ebnik looked up and asked: "What's wrong? Banuto, is there any situation to report?"

"I found some situations near the stables, Chief." Ning Zhe said with an unchanged expression: "There are some strange traces at the bottom of the water pool behind the stables, they seem to be human footprints. Do you want to confirm it?"

"Is that so?" Chief Ebnik thought for a moment and nodded: "Call Kamak and John, and take me to see it."

"Okay."

Ning Zhe left the lecture room, called the two police officers named 'John' and 'Kamak' according to the Chief's instructions, and the three of them bypassed the laundry room with the Chief and came to the stables on the west side of the clock tower.

Horses are very precious things and need to be carefully served. The thatched roof built of wood is neatly trimmed, which is even better than the living conditions of some servants. Behind the stables is a square water pool with a wide mouth, connected to the drainage pipes under the eaves, used to store rainwater.

Boiler room workers will move large pieces of red-hot rock into the water pool to boil the pool water for disinfection, and then it can be used for horses to drink. If you mix bean meal with cold water, the horses will have diarrhea if they eat it.

So it's not just living conditions, even the horses' dietary conditions are better than ordinary servants.

However, Vanishing Castle hasn't been lived in for a long time, so naturally, no horses are kept, so there is no water stored in the pool. Chief Ebnik asked his subordinates to move a ladder, climb into the water pool, and thoughtfully examined the black traces at the drainage pipe opening.

"It seems to be traces of coal..." Chief Ebnik squatted down and touched the messy footprints at the bottom of the pool: "The intruder seems to have been to the boiler room in the basement, so the soles of his shoes were stained with coal cinder."

"Kamak, John, you crawl in from the drainage pipe. Banuto, follow me, let's go to the basement to see." The Chief made a prompt decision and quickly made a division of labor.

Ning Zhe dutifully played the role of police officer Banuto, followed the Chief into the clock tower, and while walking, looked at the black umbrella in his hand with great interest.

When the Chief and his two colleagues identified him as 'police officer Banuto,' Ning Zhe obtained some memories of police officer Banuto from the erroneous cognition of several people:

They are all police officers from the Brechet town police station, who went on this field trip under the orders of their superiors. The main task of these town police is to block the roads around Vanishing Castle and assist the special investigation team sent from above to investigate the Vanishing Castle cultural relic theft case.

This black umbrella was not brought here by the police in Brechet town themselves, but was equipment uniformly distributed by their superiors. There is a special note in the action manual that is burned after reading:

【When you hear a sound similar to a woman's scream or crying, immediately open the umbrella until the sound goes away or disappears】

【If the umbrella is lost due to an accident, immediately seek help from the nearest companion. Two people can share an umbrella temporarily】 【Do not stay in Vanishing Castle without an umbrella. Ensure your own safety and leave as soon as possible】

"It seems the previous guess was correct. This 'special investigation team' sent by superiors is probably the manpower of the Freim family." Ning Zhe looked up at the shoulder of Chief Ebnik walking in front, and had a bottom line in his heart:

"There is at least one granted one in this special investigation team, and there is a high probability of an Ascended One. His ghost is related to 'umbrella' and has dangerous lethality. A woman's crying and screaming are signs of danger approaching. But as long as you hold an umbrella, you can avoid that dangerous rule to a certain extent..."

Just one face-to-face meeting, in a few minutes, Ning Zhe figured out the embryonic form of the unknown Ascended One's rule. Although Taiyi's rule lacks the simple and rough lethality of Te Rang, it has unique advantages in information collection.

While pondering, Chief Ebnik passed through the lobby on the first floor of the clock tower, nodded to the police officer standing guard at the door, and the two entered the side hall on the west side, entered a small door that was not eye-catching, and behind the door was a staircase leading down.

Vanishing Castle was built according to the specifications of a war fortress, and the secret passage network is complex. If you don't live here all year round, it is easy to get lost in the secret passage even if you have a structural map.

"Did you find anything inside?"

"We found some scratches on the floor and walls of the boiler room, which should have been left by blunt objects scraping..."

Chief Ebnik and the police officer at the door of the boiler room exchanged a few words about the situation, and then took Ning Zhe into the door.

This is Ning Zhe's first time in the real Vanishing Castle, which is generally the same as in the dream, but very different.

Because it is to be opened to the public as a tourist attraction, the real Vanishing Castle has undergone targeted transformation everywhere. The giant boiler in the center of the boiler room has been dismantled, and the floor has been cleaned up, without any coal cinder, only a few bags of decorative coal blocks are piled up beside the furnace door, so as not to let tourists taking pictures get dirty.

At a glance, look at '

Chief Ebnik simply checked the only few bags of coal blocks in the boiler room and found no suspicious traces.

"It seems the coal cinder on the intruder's soles was not stained in the boiler room." The Chief frowned: "But apart from the boiler room, where else is there coal in the castle?"

"Warehouse." Ning Zhe reminded.

"Right, warehouse." Chief Ebnik clapped his hands: "Well said, Banuto, we should go to the warehouse to see."

But just as the two were about to set off, they were stopped by the police officer standing at the door.

"You can't go over, Chief." The police officer standing guard shook his head: "The adults of the special investigation team are investigating in the warehouse. Before their investigation is over, idlers are not allowed to enter the warehouse."

"I am also an idler?" Chief Ebnik widened his eyes.

"This is the order from superiors..." The police officer standing guard smiled bitterly helplessly.

"I know it's an order." Chief Ebnik hummed and muttered: "I found some clues at the bottom of the water pool, which should be helpful to the investigation team's investigation. Let me go over and report."

The police officer standing guard smiled stiffly: "You really can't go over, Chief..."

"Move aside! I said I can go, so I can go!" Chief Ebnik stubbornly bumped him away and walked out of the boiler room: "Banuto! Follow me!"

Ning Zhe smiled apologetically at the police officer standing guard who was bumped away and followed quickly.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 285 =====