The others went to their mission locations, heading off to the tasks Butler Adrian had assigned.
Some left without a word, their eyes still dull with exhaustion.
Some glanced back, briefly, but no one said anything.
Qin Yan and I stayed behind.
We hadn't been assigned any specific task. Or may be Qin Yan is my bodyguard.
We exchanged a glance, and that was all, and I understood.
Without saying anything else, we turned and left the lounge, heading down a different corridor.
We had a goal, that was Evelyn's room.
She was supposed to be the owner of this mansion.
Yet from the moment we arrived, she had never once shown her face.
No greetings. No commands. Not even a passing glimpse.
It was as if she ruled this place from behind a curtain or maybe not at all.
When we reached her room, the door was just as we remembered it
Shut tight. Blocked from the inside.
I reached out and gave it a push. No give.
"She's still not responding," I muttered.
Qin Yan scanned the edges of the doorframe. "Same as before. No sound. No movement."
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the master key.
"Let's see if this works."
I inserted the key.
To my surprise, it turned smoothly.
Click.
The door creaked open, just a crack.
No resistance.
We exchanged a glance.
I pushed the door wide open.
There was silence in the room.
No sign of struggle. No Evelyn.
The curtains were closed tightly and there was a hint of dust in the air.
"She's not here," Qin Yan said in a low voice.
I nodded. "Or maybe she was never here."
We took the opportunity to start searching for clues.
The desk drawers are too neatly organised, which looks unnatural.
The wardrobe was empty except for a single pair of unused gloves.
Qin Yan checked under the bed while I scanned the bookshelves.
Then, my hand brushed against something behind a row of books.
At this moment, my hand touched something behind a row of books.
A small brass mechanism hidden in the cracks between the wooden boards.
I didn't think much about it and just pressed it.
Click.
A faint sound came from behind the wall.
Qin Yan stood up sharply. "What did you do?"
"I think I found a mechanism."
We watched as part of the bookshelf slowly shifted to the side.
Behind it, there was darkness.
A hidden passage.
Qin Yan pulled out a flashlight from a drawer and flicked it on.
A row of stone steps led down, damp and narrow.
"This wasn't on any blueprint," he muttered.
We looked at each other once more.
Then, without a word, we stepped inside.