If the trap door was open, Shade might have thought someone had left the manor through it. But since it was locked, he took out the time key to the "Ashes River Valley" and inserted it into the hot wood.
In the keyhole of the board door:
"May the World Tree protect me in infinite time."
[Outlander, you have opened a "twisted tree hole". 】
[Tips from the Father of the Infinite Tree:]
[Using the normal time key to open the door will connect to the following time point: 1546, the sixth era of the current world.]
[Note, any life other than you who uses this channel will be cursed by time. 】
[Note that you can enter the past 60 minutes through the abnormal channel here, and you must return through this channel after the time is over. 】
[Note, after using the key to open the door here twice, the passage will completely collapse. 】
Every time Shade solves the Paradox Worm, the time he can use the "Twisted Tree Hole" will increase, but this increase is irregular, and this time it finally came to an hour:
"There are two more chances left."
【Do you want to go and see three hundred years ago now? 】
Shade hesitated for a moment, then held the key and opened the door:
"Of course, I am curious about who touched this door just now. I guess I will meet interesting people three hundred years ago."
He disappeared into the fire in the white mist.
Shade once cast the "Return in Time" spell on those antiques from the past and knew that they came from the night of the fire at Hoy Manor, so he knew that this time's destination was that night.
Speaking of which, he didn't quite understand the proportion of time on both sides of the "Twisted Tree Hole". It seemed that the time conversion was different in each tree hole. Fortunately, when he appeared three hundred years ago this time, the fire was still there.
Not ignited.
Because when Director Kant rebuilt the Hoy Manor, the furnishings and layout on the first floor were almost exactly the same as those of the Hoy Manor back then. Therefore, the location where Shade appeared was still in the kitchen storage room, and the trap door looked like it had just been opened.
Even though it has been painted, it is still in the same state as it was in 1854.
The door of the storage room is closed, the room smells of various vegetables, and there is no one else here.
Shade used "Echoes of the Past" to try to listen to the sounds. After discovering that they were all the voices of the chefs in the kitchen behind the door, he gave up trying. It was obvious that the storage room door was not soundproof.
The exact time now is 8:43 pm. According to local customs, dinner time has long passed, and even the time to prepare food for tomorrow morning's breakfast has ended. Therefore, in addition to guarding the fire, the kitchen is also responsible for preparing tea for the Hoy family at any time.
There is no one except his servants.
Although he knew that a tragedy was about to happen here, Shade didn't think about reversing time to save anyone. He also didn't know if the demon who was in a better condition than three hundred years later was here when the fire broke out tonight.
Therefore, he was very cautious and did not walk around, but went directly under the trap door.
According to Sir Wayne's explanation, the Hoy family's treasure is here, so every time he takes action, he is not discovered by the Hoy family.
And Shade's guess was indeed correct. The person who came to this time and space before him was here. And his identity was consistent with Shade's guess. He was the police chief of Vista City who was now desperate.
Director Kant's condition didn't look good. When Shade found him, he was leaning against the wall of the treasure room in the secret passage, panting, covering his chest while looking at the boxes here.
Shade has been here before, and the vent of the manor's well is connected here. Unexpectedly, this place was also used to store treasures three hundred years ago. It's just that the few simple boxes are too different from the so-called "treasures".
big.
He didn't hide his footsteps, so Director Kant also realized that someone was coming, but he didn't even have the strength to turn around to see who it was.
It's very dark here, and Shade didn't light the torches on the wall or call out the moonlight:
"You're disappointed, right? In your imagination, this place should be like the dragon's lair in the story, full of gold and antiques."
The middle-aged man laughed miserably:
"Now I almost understand that he was able to get the wealth from here not because he discovered this place, but because someone allowed him to get those things from here every time."
Director Kant turned his head with difficulty and tried to open his eyes wide, trying to see clearly who was coming in the dark, but ordinary people couldn't do this in a completely dark environment:
"Who the hell are you?"
"Those who come to arrest you from three hundred years ago will cause a lot of trouble if you die at this time."
Shade said, feeling that the other party might misunderstand that he was from the church:
"It sounds like you know who moved the treasure from this time. According to our investigation, you should know nothing about it. You know that the person you are cooperating with is the devil, right?"
"I know. Of course I know."
"So when did you know the function of that door? Judging from the process, Sir Wayne should have moved the treasure and then distributed part of it to you."
Shade asked. Director Kant laughed at himself, then coughed a few times and answered in a very low voice:
"I discovered it accidentally, about five years ago. Now that I think about it, maybe the devil asked me to discover it, so that I can have no doubt about the so-called 'Hoy family treasure' and I can believe that it has given me
My promises."
Shade originally wanted to ask him how he activated the tree hole, but after hearing this, he asked first:
"What exactly did the devil promise you? Greater power? All the Hoy family treasure?"
"Everything is there. The most important thing is that it told me that after the Hoy family was burned down three hundred years ago, although the distant relatives of the Hoy family left the local area with part of the family's property, most of the treasures they had never left.
Not found.
I have done a lot of things for it over the years, and it promised me a way out: once I am discovered by the church, it will send me back three hundred years ago, and let me leave Vesta City with those real treasures, and even leave Card.
Senrik, restarted his life three hundred years ago."
Shade shook his head slightly. The devil asked Director Kant to discover this tree hole, probably because he wanted to tie Director Kant more firmly.
After that, Director Kant, who thought he was a member of the church, took the initiative to explain what happened today without Shade asking.
The devil once gave him a box and asked him to open it when he was desperate.
When an unknown "out-of-town policeman" came to his door today, he realized something was wrong. Then he found that he could not contact his "son", so he opened the box and brought the lantern and dead branches to the manor.
He used the fire stored in the lantern to ignite the manor in an attempt to destroy all evidence of his cooperation with the devil. Then, following the instructions on the note in the box, he touched the trap door with the dead branch, and then came to three hundred years ago.
.
The dead branches had turned into powder, so Shade could only guess what it was but could not confirm it.
Although the devil "kindly" gave his partner a way out, Director Kant's current appearance of dying was obviously not what he expected. This was caused by the damage of the "time curse" and the desire to start from scratch.
Director Kant's curse in normal life is also very straightforward——
【The body will always be in a weak state, but it will never die from it.】
No one can tell whether the devil had anticipated this in advance, but Director Kant obviously believed that this was also the devil's plan:
"It just wanted me to die here. It made me think that I really had a way out, but when I came here, I could only sit here and look at these boxes but couldn't move. Maybe it was laughing somewhere,
It turns out that it is as greedy as it thinks it is to laugh at me."
"The devil has been defeated by us. I'm afraid it won't be able to laugh anymore."
Shade corrected, and Director Kant laughed, but it was obviously not a happy smile, but a laugh at himself. As the local police chief, he knows best what will happen to him if he is executed by the devil:
"You followed me to this era, do you want to take me back immediately?"
"Yes, I have already said that you will cause some trouble if you die here."
After saying that, Shade walked towards him, but the man said again:
"Can you wait a little longer? Wait another twenty minutes."
"You won't still want to find those treasures even if it becomes like this, right?"
Shade raised his eyebrows, but the man holding his chest shook his head:
"I checked the information about the fire at Hoy Manor. As the chief of police, I can see much more information than the average person. In twenty minutes, the manor will be completely ignited. The story of the Hoy family will go.
The end is reached, and my story only begins from that moment.
The cause of the fire three hundred years ago is no longer important. I think, I just want to know what the devil promised the Hoy family. I am sure that their wealth also comes from the devil. They are just like me.
They're devil worshipers, I want to know, I really want to know what they got."
There was plenty of time this time, and Shade was actually a little curious, so he really waited for another twenty minutes. After confirming that the fire was ignited, he used the "Light of Confinement" to control Director Kant to prevent him from escaping.
He went to the ground himself.
He came back soon. Director Kant, who could not move, looked in the direction of the footsteps in the darkness:
"Do you know the answer?"
This was the only obsession he had left before he lost his freedom and even his life. Even his worry about his son would not exceed his desire for the answer to this question.
Shade spent some time just now because he was worried that the devil was nearby, but he did bring the answer:
"The Hoy family also received a promise from the devil. The promise they received was just like you, a way out."
"The devil said, can they go to another place to change their appearance and start a new life?"
Shade looked at him pitifully and condescendingly:
"The content of the promise is: Once the Hoy family is discovered by the church in this era and cannot survive, the devil will send them three hundred years later to replace the man who also lives in the Hoy Manor who took their treasure.
family.
That is the devil's promise to let them replace you and live a normal life. If you think about it carefully, this matter is really full of black humor."
Director Kant lowered his head, and then laughed in a deep voice. He was laughing at himself and everyone involved in this matter. After all, none of the participants in this story got a good ending.