Lin Jie released his fingers from the windowsill.
His body plumted rapidly under gravity, the trendous impact completely absorbed by his shoes.
He landed steadily on the muddy ground beside the Weston house, not making a single sound.
The thick morning fog was his best cover. He lowered his hat brim and moved swiftly along the red brick wall.
Two Association covert sentries disguised as cleaners were still loitering across the street, completely unaware of the anomaly behind them.
Lin Jie quickly slipped away from this high-risk area using the shadows of the bushes.
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur stood behind the curtains of their second-floor bedroom, watching the black figure vanish into the morning mist.
Ten minutes later.
Lin Jie returned to the corner park.
William, Julian, and Evelyn were still hidden behind the dense holly bushes.
"How's the situation?" William asked in a low voice.
"Arthur and his wife are safe for now." Lin Jie adjusted his collar. "The Association has them under house arrest. Lily was taken. The target is indeed the containnt ward at St. Mary's Hospital."
Lin Jie's tone was icy cold. He buried the scene he saw on the drawing paper deep in his heart.
Explaining this to his teammates now was pointless. Their only mission at the mont was to infiltrate that hospital.
"St. Mary's Hospital is heavily guarded." Julian pulled out a hand-drawn map of London. "It's one of the Association's core strongholds in central London. Conventional infiltration thods simply won't work."
"A frontal assault is impossible."
Lin Jie shook his head.
"We need a path, a path not covered by the Association's surveillance network."
"But before that..."
Lin Jie pulled a key from his coat pocket. It was the key to the 221B Baker Street apartnt.
"We need to go retrieve sothing first."
Baker Street was located in London's West End. It was the first permanent residence Lin Jie had rented in this era.
Ackerman's purge order had co down very suddenly. Lin Jie speculated that the Association's search teams might not have thoroughly ransacked that hidden apartnt yet.
The four-person team once again lted into London's morning fog.
The massive industrial city was gradually awakening. In the distance, factory chimneys began spewing thick black smoke. Coal wagons made monotonous clopping sounds on the cobblestone streets.
Lin Jie walked at the front of the group, deliberately avoiding the main thoroughfares. The four moved like gray ghosts through the narrow back alleys.
The Curator's Seal proved imnsely useful. The gas lamp monitors along the way remained completely unresponsive.
They successfully passed through several heavily guarded districts.
An hour later.
They arrived at Baker Street. Neat rows of Victorian terrace houses stood on either side of the street.
Lin Jie's apartnt was in a three-story building midway down the street.
Lin Jie raised a hand in a stop signal. He alone walked up the narrow wooden staircase. The stairwell was filled with the sll of old dust.
The door lock showed signs of being forced.
There were faint scratch marks on the edge of the brass lock cylinder. The Association's people had already been here; they had searched the place.
Lin Jie gently pushed the door open. The room was in disarray. Books from the shelves were strewn across the floor.
The wardrobe doors were wide open. The sofa cushions were slashed with sharp blades. The searchers had clearly been looking for any valuable clues.
Lin Jie ignored this superficial destruction and walked straight into the bedroom.
A heavy oak wardrobe stood in the corner of the bedroom. He pushed the wardrobe aside with force. On the wallpaper behind it was an extrely well-hidden seam.
He tore the wallpaper away, revealing an embedded chanical safe manufactured by the German Krupp Armants Factory.
The safe's combination dial was still intact. It was a purely chanical combination lock. Those Inspectors reliant on Aether detection easily overlooked this most primitive form of physical defense.
Lin Jie gripped the cold brass dial. He held his breath, his fingers beginning to spin it quickly and precisely.
Three turns left, stopping at forty-five. Two turns right, stopping at twelve. One more turn left, stopping at thirty-three.
A series of chanical clicking sounds ca from inside the safe. He gripped the handle and pulled hard. The heavy steel door slowly opened.
A faint scent of gun oil mixed with the fragrance of holy wood wafted out.
There, lying quietly, was a long, rectangular wooden box wrapped in black oilcloth, its edges reinforced with brass corner protectors.
Lin Jie imdiately took the wooden box and left the apartnt. He slid down the drainpipe to the alley below, where William and the others were waiting anxiously.
"Got it." He handed the wooden box to William.
The veteran's hands trembled slightly. He took the heavy box, quickly unwrapped the outer oilcloth, and popped the clasps open one by one.
The Church Holy Cannon lay quietly on its velvet lining.
This lever-action rifle, completely modified by Arthur, exuded a heart-stopping aura of authority.
William reached out and grasped the stock.
In that instant, the veteran's entire deanor underwent a dramatic transformation.
He beca once again that top-tier hunter capable of deciding life and death on the battlefield.
William expertly worked the lever. The crisp sound of tal clashing echoed in the small alley.
"Condition perfect." William murmured.
He tossed the ordinary rifle he'd been carrying into a nearby trash bin and slung the Church Holy Cannon over his shoulder.
"Firepower issue solved." Lin Jie watched William's movents. "Now we need to solve the route problem."
"The underground structure of St. Mary's Hospital is extrely complex." Evelyn produced a hand-drawn sketch. "It was originally a large air-raid shelter. The hospital buildings were constructed directly on top of it. All the ventilation ducts and drainage outlets have been welded shut."
"We can't attack from the surface." Julian adjusted his glasses. "If a firefight breaks out, the Association's mobile units will surround the place within five minutes. We need a hidden passage that can bypass all ground defenses directly."
Lin Jie's gaze fell to his feet. He looked at the gri-covered sewer grate in the alley, filthy water slowly trickling down through the gaps.
"We go underground." Lin Jie made the decision.
"The sewers?" William frowned. "London's sewer system is vast, but many areas have long since collapsed. And it's filled with lethal thane gas and unknown parasitic organisms."
"We don't need to find the way ourselves." Lin Jie pulled an extrely oddly shaped copper coin from his pocket.
The edges of this coin were jagged and incomplete. Its surface had been dissolved by so corrosive liquid into a blurry skull shape.
This was a token Marcus had given him when they parted on Dorset Street.
"Marcus recomnded soone to ." Lin Jie stared at the coin. "An old monster who's lived in the London underground for years. He's called the 'King of the Sewers.'"
"Scavenger Pip?" Julian's voice held a note of surprise. "I've heard that na. He's an extrely dangerous fringe character. He doesn't belong to any hunter organization."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Lin Jie put the coin away. "Marcus said Pip harbors a deep hatred for the Association. Those Inspectors often conduct so-called 'cleansings' in the sewers, severely disrupting Pip's territory."
"Does Pip have the ability to get us in?" Evelyn sounded skeptical.
"He does." Lin Jie's tone was very firm.
There was no ti to waste. The four imdiately headed for the nearest main sewer line entrance.
It was a massive sewage outlet near Fleet Street. London's underground drainage system was designed by engineer Bazalgette.
It was a despairingly vast underground labyrinth. The arched tunnels built of red brick were tall and wide. Filthy water rushed through the central channel.
Lin Jie lit a storm lantern. The dim yellow light only illuminated about ten ters ahead.
The air was thick with the sll of high-concentration thane and decaying matter. Breathing beca difficult. They ventured deeper underground along the narrow walkways lining the channel's edge.
There wasn't a shred of light here. Rats scurried in the dark corners.
The sound of flowing water masked their footsteps. William activated Zulu's Gaze. In the spiritual vision, this underground world was filled with dark red remnants of negative emotions.
They traversed the maze for about half an hour.
The tunnel ahead suddenly widened. A massive underground reservoir appeared before them.
This had originally been a rainwater collection hub. Now it was completely abandoned.
Suddenly, faint rustling sounds ca from the darkness.
The four imdiately halted. William raised the Church Holy Cannon.
Several gaunt figures erged from the shadows of the pillars. They wore tattered sacks, their skin an unhealthy pale, almost sickly. They held sharpened, rusty iron pipes.
They were the denizens of this underground world.
Lin Jie showed no hostility. He slowly raised his right hand, displaying the blurry skull coin in the halo of the lantern light.
The denizens saw the coin. The wariness in their eyes faded slightly.
One of them, seemingly the leader, made an extrely odd gesture, then turned and walked deeper into the reservoir.
They were led to the center of the reservoir. There stood a raised platform constructed from various industrial scraps and rotten wood. A person sat upon it.
This was the "King of the Sewers," Pip.
He looked like he could hardly be called human anymore. Years of living in an underground environnt saturated with corrupt spiritual accumulation had caused severe physical mutation.
His skin had an unhealthy grayish-white hue, even semi-transparent in so places, faintly revealing the blue-green veins beneath.
Pip's eyes were completely cloudy and milky white. He had lost normal vision.
"The sll of the surface." Pip spoke.
His voice sounded like thick phlegm was stuck in his throat, each syllable accompanied by gurgling, bubbling sounds.
"You carry the scent of gunpowder, steel, and an extrely pure killing intent. The Association's hounds rarely venture this deep into my territory."
"We are not with the Association." Lin Jie stepped forward, putting away the lantern. "We're here to make a deal with you."
Pip let out a spine-chilling, low chuckle. His white eyeballs turned towards Lin Jie's direction.
"That big fellow Marcus told a bunch of wanted lunatics would co looking for . You've stirred up a hornet's nest in the world above. Now you want to bring that fire down into my domain?"
"We just need to borrow a path." Lin Jie's voice was flat. "We need to get to the underground interstitial space beneath St. Mary's Hospital. The defenses there are too tight. We need you."
"Why should I help you?" Pip's tone turned dangerous.
The surrounding denizens began slowly tightening their encirclent. "You surface lords never cared about whether we live or die. The Association's n just burned three of my nests last week."
"Because we'll blow St. Mary's Hospital sky high." Lin Jie offered his bargaining chip.
"You want revenge on Ackerman, but you don't have the strength. Once we enter St. Mary's Hospital, every Inspector Squad in London will be drawn there. Your sewers will enjoy a long period of peace."
"And, we'll pay."
Lin Jie pulled a pouch of gold coins from his pocket.
He had grabbed it on his way out of Baker Street. In this underground world, gold was more reliable than any promise.
Pip's eyes lit up slightly. His deford head tilted a little, as if weighing the risks and rewards of the deal.
After a long while, he let out a long, slow exhalation of murky air.
"You'd better make enough of a ruckus."
Pip stood up. His body was hunched. He pulled sothing from his ragged coat.
The object looked extrely crude. It was a disc made of a rusty brass casing. The disc's surface had no markings.
A groove was filled with black, churning, foul-slling sludge.
A slender white needle, seemingly carved from so kind of human finger bone, floated within the sludge.
Pip walked to the edge of the platform. Beneath his feet was a large area of thick, black sludge.
"Beneath St. Mary's Hospital." Pip muttered to himself. "The stench there is worse than the dead rats here. They've hidden many unspeakable things down there."
Pip gave the white bone needle a forceful flick. The needle spun wildly in the black sludge, finally coming to a dead stop, pointing firmly northeast.
The mont the needle stopped, the sludge beneath Pip's feet began to boil violently.
The black muck seed to gain a life of its own, rising upwards. It twisted and stretched in the air, finally forming a vertical mirror, two ters high, composed of pure sludge.
The mirror's surface shimred. Through that black mbrane, Lin Jie faintly heard an extrely deep, chanical rumbling sound.
"Go in." Pip pointed at the sludge mirror. "This thing won't hold for long."
Lin Jie hesitated for a few seconds, then took a deep breath, held it, and was the first to step forward.
When his body made contact with the sludge mirror, he didn't feel any stickiness or filth.
It was an extrely eerie, cold sensation, like passing through a layer of frictionless rcury.
Space was compressed to an extre degree in that instant. His vision plunged into absolute darkness. A strong sense of weightlessness caused brief dizziness. Countless pipes, brick walls, and garbage flashed past him.
A soft *plop*.
Imdiately after, he felt his boots land on solid ground.
The sound of flowing water in his ears vanished, replaced by the high-frequency hiss of thick steam pipes.
The surrounding air, though still damp, now carried the strong scent of carbolic disinfectant.
"We're here."
Pip's voice ca from behind. He, William, and the others erged one after another from the slowly closing mud door.
Apart from a few specks of mud on their clothes, everyone was unhard.
"This is directly beneath St. Mary's Hospital."
Pip pulled out his walking stick and pointed upwards.
"About five ters above us is their underground interstitial space."
Lin Jie looked up.
Above them was a thick layer of concrete structure. Faintly visible were so thick copper pipes and cables passing through the walls and extending into the distance.
"Thanks." Lin Jie nodded to Pip. "The deal was worth it."
"Of course." Pip chuckled. "I am the King of the Sewers. My services never co at a discount."
"However..."
His expression suddenly turned serious.
"I can only take you this far. Going any higher, the maddening stench is too strong."
"My gut tells sothing is waiting for you up there."
"And that thing... is very hungry."
With that, without waiting for Lin Jie's reply, Pip simply turned and vanished without a trace.
This was a denizen who understood the wisdom of survival.
He knew when to take the money and when to run.
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