"It's a Failed Works again." Having experienced the previous encounter, Mila was no longer surprised to see a Failed Works appear in reality.
She drew the katana at her waist, gripping the hilt tightly with both hands, and stared seamlessly at the corroded Failed Works.
"Huh?" In the next moment, she noticed something strange. "Alain, this feels a bit subtle."
Correct. Alain was also observing the Failed Works...
Unlike the 'bodyguard' at the mansion's gate earlier, this Failed Works unit was merely guarding the front of the door, glaring at the two with those crimson eyes.
Aside from that, it made no other movements.
"Then, can I assume that this Failed Works' duty is solely to guard this basement door, rather than to eliminate us two intruders?" Alain said.
"Indeed... there must be something very important behind that door. do you have any clues?" Mila walked forward tentatively, but the Failed Works still made no move.
This confirmed that what Alain felt in his heart was true.
"No." Alain shook his head, but in reality... he had his own guesses.
There were three things that Yang Wanhua would sternly order to be protected...
First, items related to the virus. For example... something like a virus 'Core'.
Second, an object related to Alain. And this 'object', for him, would absolutely be the type that is terrible to the extreme.
Third... would be Yang Wanhua herself.
Thinking about it carefully, up until now, they had encountered a total of two Failed Works, both used for guarding.
And the residence was rented by Yang Wanhua. The surrounding environment was secluded, with very few idlers, making it very suitable for doing some shifty business.
The third possibility flickered in the bottom of Alain's heart.
He secretly glanced at the things around him and quickly found a... broom.
There was no helping it; he really didn't have a weapon, so he would just have to make do.
At this moment, Mila was less than three meters away from the Failed Works. That guy still made no movements, leaning against the door baring its teeth like a house dog protecting its master.
"Then... I'll go first." Mila rushed to the very front of the puppet with a stride, and Alain also grabbed the broom to step forward and help.
Clang, bang, crash... The noisy sounds rang out... piece after piece of parts flew into the air, accompanied by the sounds of the two grunting in pain.
"Wah... N-no more, two in a row, I really can't handle it." At this moment, Mila sat completely paralyzed in front of the iron door.
Her hoodie had a few more tears, revealing the white, smooth skin of her side. Although it didn't leak much bareness, it instead added a touch of mystery.
And all around her were the guard puppets dismantled into parts.
Alain looked at the broom in his hand, which had broken into two sections; even he himself looked somewhat travel-worn.
One leg of his trousers was torn off, and the shirt on his upper body had also split a small opening. Even his forehead carried sweat.
Alain had to admit, a broom was indeed not as easy to use as a fire extinguisher.
"Alright, let's try and see if we can open the door." Alain kicked away the wreckage of the Failed Works and walked to the iron door.
Mila also stood up, observing this iron door together with him.
"Hmm? It's very strange." Mila said, looking at the iron door.
Alain remained noncommittal, observing the sturdy and cold door leaf.
The basement iron door was not like the mansion's room doors which had many lock holes. It was exactly the opposite: it didn't have even a single lock hole.
He tried knocking inward; the hard sensation and cold touch indicated it was just a normal iron door.
An iron door without a lock...
Mila was confused. "If there's no lock, how are we supposed to open it?"
Alain was also puzzled. Perhaps, there was a lock, only they couldn't see it.
In other words, it might be driven by some kind of mechanism. When the mechanism is triggered, the iron door would open naturally?
Currently, they could only arrive at this possibility.
This iron door might have to be explored later.
"Let's go, let's check the other room doors." Alain silently placed a marker on the basement location, then followed the stairs toward the first floor.
Mila also sheathed her katana, following behind the young man.
After reaching the first floor, the two switched to exploring the other rooms.
Yalin Villa was also a large house, with many rooms on every floor. But fortunately, they didn't encounter any Failed Works like before.
But the absence of danger meant the harvest wasn't rich.
Gazing at the sunset gradually slanting downwards outside the window, the dim light could no longer satisfy the needs of exploration, so he simply turned on all the lights in the residence.
"Nothing at all."
Alain said. It was about to become night, and time was running out. If they still wanted to continue exploring, they would have to wait for tomorrow.
Mila was currently rummaging through a bookshelf. She closed a book. "This can't be helped, right? After all, this residence is huge; we haven't even made it out of the first floor in one or two hours."
"Mn." Alain did not deny it. "Perhaps, we have to stay overnight here tonight?"
"Huh? You mean, stay overnight in such a big house?!" Mila stared at Alain suspiciously. "You couldn't be... wanting to do something to me, right?"
"...How is that possible?" Alain's mouth twitched. Ever since coming back from the Dream City, he felt like he had fallen into some kind of Sage Mode; his desire for that kind of thing wasn't that strong.
Perhaps, it was the oppression of a great enemy looming before him that drove him forward, rather than lewd thoughts.
"Hmph~ Who knows about you?" Mila placed the book back onto the bookshelf. As she pushed the book to the end, it let out a sound thin as a mosquito's buzz—Thud—and she planned to continue exploring other rooms.
"Let's verify things a bit more first; I don't want to stay a night in such a terrifying place."
Classical European style looked a bit cozy during the day. But once it became night, that dim yellow light and the woods outside with zero illumination...
It was simply an excellent venue for a haunting.
Smack!
But at this moment, a hand grabbed the young girl's wrist.
"...?" Mila's steps stopped, her thoughts stopped, and her heartbeat also stopped.
She gazed at the wide, long corridor ahead; in the deep distance was a vintage wall lamp emitting an orange-yellow flame.
The young girl swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Could it be... her inner thoughts were actually reflected in reality?
Did this residence really have some... unclean things?
She turned her head stiffly, wanting to see what kind of thing had grabbed her hand.
In her peripheral vision, the young man's serious expression entered her eyes, making Mila let out a long sigh of relief.
How was that possible! This is the real world; it's impossible for those things to exist!
Just as Mila was lamenting her unnecessary worry and pondering whether to give this scary guy a punch...
Alain raised his hand, extended his thumb, and pointed to the bookshelf where Mila had just placed the book.
"?" The young girl was just about to ask, but Alain interrupted her, placing his index finger on the center of his lips, and made a "Shh" sound.
"???" Mila already felt a bit like crying.
The young man saw the young girl quiet down, and didn't have time to care about why the corners of Mila's eyes still carried teardrops...
He walked slowly to the front of the bookshelf, pulled out the book Mila had just placed, and looked at the only gap in the row of books.
The bookshelf was a wooden structure, and the place where Mila had just put the book didn't have anything there, just a simple wooden board.
Alain thought it over again and again, hesitated for a short while, and then made up his mind—
"You can talk now; it's just that you might have to help me in a moment."
"Huh?" Just as Mila was confused, she discovered that Alain had pulled nearly half a row of books from that shelf.
Subsequently, he knocked on the wooden board inside the bookshelf.
Thud, thud—
It was like the sound of knocking on a door, but compared to a solid wooden door, the sound of knocking on the bookshelf was more hollow, rather than muffled.
Alain narrowed his eyes, certain of his guess.
The rear of this bookshelf was not solid.
"Wh-what are you doing? Alain..." Mila silently drew her katana, hiding behind Alain and looking at the bookshelf.
Alain didn't say much; he walked to the edge of the bookshelf and attempted to push and pull it...
Rumble—
The seemingly heavy bookshelf, upon him exerting a little force, was successfully pushed open by a distance of half a centimeter.
And a pitch-black gap was presented before his eyes.
"As expected." Alain looked at Mila and voiced the conclusion he had reached. "Behind the bookshelf, there is a whole different world."
The young girl completely understood something. "Y-you mean, a secret room!!!"
"Hmm? Why are you so excited?"
"No, no, no... isn't it stranger that you aren't excited?" Mila cried out. "That's a secret room! A secret room! An excellent venue for creating the perfect crime in 'Detective Conan'!"
"..." Alain sized up Mila thoughtfully, earning a coquettish complaint from her. "What? That look of yours treating me like a 'girl with brain problems'!"
"It's nothing." After he replied casually, Mila also walked to his side, attempting to push open the bookshelf together with him.
Creak, rumble—
With the exertion of force from the two, the bookshelf left a row of dark scratches on the wooden floor. And the 'small world' behind the bookshelf was also presented before the eyes of the two.
"This is...?"
Entering Alain's field of vision was a small, dark room. The internal layout was simple: a light on the ceiling that wasn't lit, a few chairs, a photo on the wall, and a computer with its screen off placed in the corner.
He walked forward slowly, as if stepping across the boundary between the residence and the secret room—the surrounding air instantly became cold and gloomy.
A faint chill followed Alain's cuffs, spreading over his body, making him feel a bit chilly.
Plus, let alone people, there wasn't even a speck of light in the secret room...
This appeared somewhat shivering.
Mila clutched the corner of his clothes, her face turning slightly pale. "Why... did the mystery drama turn into a supernatural drama?"
"Don't ask me, I don't understand either." Alain finally knew what kind of place the adjective 'underworld-like' was used for.
It was precisely a place like this current 'computer room'.
He walked to the front of the computer. On the desktop, not only was there a monitor, but also a tower case.
Alain was very skeptical whether the computer tower could still be used in this cold and slightly damp environment.
He attempted to press the power button. Following the sound of music, the monitor lit up and a progress bar appeared.
[Computer booting up...]
____
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