Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic
Chapter 956 - 956 The True Stronghold

After confirming the thickness of the stone wall, Shard did not continue to expend his spirit using "Feliana's Witch Light" to melt the stone wall. Instead, he removed the cloth strip wrapped around the sword scabbard and inserted "Night Watchman" into the hole melted by his arm.

Taking a deep breath, he drew the elements and spirit onto the blade of the "Night Watchman":

"Light of the Witch!"

In an instant, golden light radiated from the blade, and the expanding light melted a large hole in the stone wall. Shard was pleased as he withdrew the "Night Watchman," then bent down and crawled through the unusually smooth opening into the space behind the stone wall.

The space behind the stone wall appeared to be forcibly excavated by some external force. The interior was not a regular shape, suggesting that the initial users only regarded it as a temporary base.

The total area was about the size of three or four wardrobes. Upon entering, Shard immediately crouched down, using the glimmer of the sunset behind him to inspect the ground, and sure enough, he found chaotic footprints in the thick dust.

He reached out and touched the dust on the ground:

"The dust indicates that no one has been here for many years, almost confirming it's the safe house or base belonging to the previous holder of 'Arrow,' Halder Undiba, decades ago. The footprints must belong to the two people who visited Rust Alley fifteen days ago..."

Standing up straight, he squinted towards the space illuminated by the sunset's glow. The footprints on the ground were extremely chaotic, and although Shard called himself a detective, he didn't have the reasoning ability to retrace all actions from such a messy trail.

All he knew was that the footprints belonged to two people, and they had practically stepped across every bit of ground here.

Inside this tiny space, apart from dust, there was a spliced iron bed and a storage rack welded from iron pipes. However, neither the bed nor the storage rack held anything. Based on the dust marks, there should have been a mattress on the bed and seven or eight miscellaneous items on the storage rack.

It seems those two individuals, who arrived before Shard, took all those items away.

They didn't stop there. When Shard illuminated his fingertips, he saw on the side walls of this narrow space there were numerous tiny holes, roughly the size of knitting needles. Upon inspection, he found that these were recent marks, and Shard immediately understood that those two were investigating if there were any other hidden spaces here.

Although he didn't witness the scene, Shard could almost imagine one of them standing at the center of the ground, then waving their hand to shoot spikes around, then confirming whether any of those spikes penetrated other voids.

"Did they have to be so thorough, couldn't they leave me some clues?"

Shard complained inwardly, then proceeded to check the only remaining iron bed and heavy storage rack with a hopeful mindset.

Both are made of metal. Although there were some scratches on the surface, those marks were not any codes. He spent ten minutes conducting a detailed examination, only to admit that there were no clues on these items either. The two who arrived before did not take these items simply because they were too heavy.

"Clue interruption again."

The only thing Shard currently knew was that the materials for the iron bed and storage rack came from the same batch of steel. This left Shard with the option of taking them, and then entrusting Father Nobel to find a blacksmith or specialized steel industry expert in the city to identify the source of the steel, then investigate the specific location these steels were sold over a decade ago, hoping to find the next clue by retracing Halder Undiba's movements years ago.

Just thinking about it, Shard knew that this certainly wasn't something that could be resolved within a few days, and he had so many things at hand that he couldn't afford to extend the second trial of the Lake Goddess for such a long time:

"Even though I'm not an exceptionally skilled detective, I do have other investigative directions."

[What else have you thought of?]

"She" gently asked.

"I'm not sure whether Halder Undiba treated this purely as a warehouse or a temporary base. However, the furnishings here are too minimal. Creating such a secluded and secure space without thinking about utilizing it further seems illogical. For instance, if I were him, I would definitely hide more living supplies here."

Shard looked at the site facing the sunset at the opening:

"Even if they came from the Pantanal Swamp, Circle Sorcerers would not completely disregard their living quality. I can't imagine any reason not to store clothes, food, or even luxurious items like sugar and tobacco here. Originally, what was placed on that storage rack were all bottles and cans, and the bed has not deformed over the years due to uneven stress on the metal, so it certainly doesn't have what I anticipated. Considering that the Church's final battle with Halder Undiba occurred unexpectedly, the other party couldn't have relocated supplies in advance, which means there's a problem in this place."

[What's the problem?]

"This place doesn't seem like a real hideout, more like some kind of disguise, something to make others think it's a safe house."

Shard twisted his neck to look at the glaring sunlight outside the cave entrance. The sunset had already dipped below the horizon, with half of the yellow sun slowly sinking on the riverbank. The dense fog gave the sunset a peculiar hue, and the sun would completely set in about half an hour:

"Those two who arrived before me didn't get this place's clue from Rust Alley. According to that white rat, they already knew about it. This means that Halder Undiba didn't strictly keep this place a secret, and a secret hideout that's not kept secret is worthless."

[You're saying this isn't Halder Undiba's secret hideout at all.]

"Yes, this is just the place he wanted his enemies or even his companions to think of as a 'secret hideout.'

[Knowing this, how does it benefit you?]

"I just have a hypothesis that this place serves as a cover. Then there must be something it's covering up, which is the real secret hideout or safe house."

Shard bent down as he walked out of the cave, took a deep breath, and used the [Breath of Ages] to restore the cave entrance melted by the Light of the Witch.

"I've heard of a peculiar burial method where the grave owner places a fake grave over their real grave to prevent it from being robbed, with some burial goods inside. When the tomb robbers uncover the fake grave and see the burial goods, they believe they've found the real tomb and do not dig further."

Shard thought to himself as he stepped onto the muddy riverbank. The leeches protruded their squirming bodies out of the mud, then disappeared again, and his thick black boots were unfazed by the mud. Wintertime Shard had promptly changed his attire.

"I confirmed earlier, there's no other space behind the walls to the front, back, above, or below of this fake hideout. So let's hypothesize, could Halder Undiba have hidden the real hideout not far from the fake one, using the principle of 'hiding in plain sight' to protect his secret?"

He placed his hand on the restored stone wall and started walking to the left. His palm remained on the stone wall of the riverbank until he had taken 200 steps, confirming nothing was found, then returned to the starting point.

He again placed his hand on the restored stone wall, choosing to walk to the right this time. At the 129th step, "her" voice finally emerged:

[Traces of the element, extremely faint.]

Shard smiled:

"It seems we've truly found it."

He drew his sword and pierced it into the stone wall. The triggered defense mechanism instantly released a curse potent enough to freeze a soul, but the curse couldn't even reach Shard's hand under the power of the Angel-Level Relic Longsword.

The longsword pressed forward, and several green vines shot out like a rapier from the hole melted by the golden glimmer, aiming at Shard's throat. Their appearance was silent and swift. By the time Shard's eyes caught the green traces, the vines had almost reached his skin.

[Night Watchman] actively guided his wrist to spin, shredding the vines hidden within the stone wall. Although the shattered vines still struck Shard, they only left a faint red mark on his neck. However, the toxin seeped into Shard's skin, and as the [Night Watchman] in his hand trembled vigorously, large patches of purple traces spread from his neck across his body.

Simultaneously, the light of the sunset gloam in Shard's vision dimmed, and in his bewildered expression, a massive and terrifying colossal figure emerged from the darkness. The giant figure was made of countless plant debris, slowly reaching out a "hand" towards him in the dim scene, as the Evil Creatures of Pantanal were about to...

Flames roared to life, igniting the giant figure in the dark, which then vanished amidst an ear-piercing wail. Light returned to Shard's vision, and in a daze, he realized he was still standing in front of the stone wall below the riverbank, the warmth of the sunset glow on his back, with a hole large enough for him to pass through in the front.

"Mental toxin?"

He touched his neck worryingly; it had returned to normal, and the toxin had entirely dissipated. The [Fire of the Primordial] didn't offer Shard complete immunity to toxins, but coincidentally, the [Fire of the Primordial] considered the Evil Creatures of Pantanal as firewood, and the toxin, likely extracted by Halder Undiba and related to the creature's true body, had been incinerated.

"This person is indeed cautious."

Shard softly lamented in his heart, bending down to touch the vines shredded by the Night Watchman with his fingers. Upon contact, the amber, resinous sticky liquid that seeped from the vines spontaneously combusted, burning into ashes directly before Shard's eyes.

He kept a small piece of vine containing the toxin, placed it in a bottle, intending to give it to Sister Delphine as a minor find.

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