Chapter 27: Unexpected Encounter
Feeling completely ready and prepared with what he was about to do, Morden stood up from the couch and headed upstairs to change into darker clothes that would help him blend into the shadows better.
About five minutes later, he was ready.
He rushed back downstairs and back out of the house; he was heading for the Clodi district.
Might be due to last night’s incident or something else entirely, but Morden could say for sure that there were far fewer people on the street than there were supposed to be at this time of the night.
And that worked in his favor astonishingly well; the fewer people that saw, the better it was.
"I should be able to run without disturbance then," he muttered.
He looked around him to see that the nearest person to him was about 15 meters away, and the person wasn’t even looking in his direction.
He bent his hips slightly and then sprung forward with astonishing speed. He wasn’t using Boost at this time, as he was trying to save his energy for pressing situations.
The district his house was currently located in had a different pattern from the cluttered Clodi district; his district has the houses mostly surrounded by a small yard or a garden, reducing his chances of encountering obstacles.
While Morden ran through the sidewalks in his dark clothes, the occasional vehicles that passed by usually saw a faint dark blur, and in the blink of an eye, he was almost at the Clodi district.
’Need to slow down now,’
He gradually reduced his speed until he was only moving slightly faster than his normal walk speed.
But with his slower speed, Morden was still able to cover great distance; he moved through alleys, jumped over small fences, and passed areas that he cut through instead of going all the way around.
He was quite familiar with this district; it was a district where most children from surrounding areas always came to play, he and his brother included.
But that had long stopped.
Under the cover of night, Morden was like a shadow, easily weaving through everything while remaining almost invisible until he finally arrived close to his destination.
’Beyond this left turn, I should be able to see the building.’
And just like he had expected, he saw the three-story building still standing there with a faint, eerie chill, but instead of a satisfactory smile, Morden’s eyes couldn’t help but widen in shock.
’Where are the officers, or at least where is the yellow tape? Is this how crime scenes are treated in this world? They are just cleaned up and then they are left alone.’
Now that Morden thought of it, his house was also a crime scene; it shouldn’t have been left alone just like that with not even a single officer or something.
"Could it just be due to ignorance, or is there an underlying factor I don’t know of?"
While he was lost in thoughts, Morden slowly passed by the abandoned building with steady steps; he didn’t bother stopping. That wasn’t his destination, at least not for now.
If his trial had only taught him one thing, it would be his need to be courteous and be watchful, especially the incident with the white cat.
So for that reason, Morden wasn’t going to head straight into the building; instead, he started walking towards the end of the street, and then he turned back around.
He did the same thing over and over. If it had been on a normal night, he would have attracted some suspicious gazes, and the officers would be on him by now.
But this time, barely anyone noticed him.
After doing that for about ten minutes, Morden felt a little reassured that there was nothing there at first sight, so he decided to finally head inside.
With brisk steps, he moved towards the entrance to the building, and he immediately slipped inside.
Inside the building, Morden was able to see his surroundings due to the gentle moonlight that was filtering in.
’It looks really ordinary,’
Just like his house was, everywhere looked exceptionally clean with no single sign of blood. He moved from end to end of the first floor and didn’t notice anything.
He moved from the first floor to the second floor and then finally to the third floor, but after searching for minutes, he still didn’t find anything.
"Strange, really strange,"
"There’s no way a crime scene won’t even have the tiniest bit of evidence."
"There has to be something."
Morden returned to the first floor, this time intending to check with even more attention to details.
The moment he arrived back downstairs, his eyes immediately landed on something he hadn’t seen the first time.
"Is that a footprint?" He rushed towards it.
He had made sure to put on a set of footwear that left almost no footprints to avoid any problems. So finding a footprint here meant only one thing.
’Someone else in here,’
"I knew someone else was surely going to be here." Morden suddenly heard a voice ring out from somewhere behind him.
He turned around as fast as he could, hoping to catch a sight of who it was.
"You must be new to the Bearer life, kid; it seems no one has taught you the rules. I think I need to take up the task then."
"First rule, kid: do not interfere in what doesn’t concern you." Morden hadn’t fully heard the words when he caught sight of something rushing straight at him from the side of his head.
An alarm blared off in his head, and his instincts immediately forced him to try to dodge.
He moved his head backwards before hurriedly taking a few steps back; the attack missed him.
"Ohh, good instinct you have there, kid," the voice said again.
Might be lack of actual light or something else, but Morden realized he couldn’t see who was attacking him even while he was almost hit.
"Let’s see if the instinct can save you one more time,"
Morden’s eyes immediately widened in shock. Three knives were heading straight at him from different directions.