CHAPTER 1623: CHAPTER 1623: CHARCOAL MEN

But upon seeing the rain, He Ao felt an unusual sensation of heat.

It was as if some kind of flame was burning around him.

He looked up and glanced around.

The buildings all seemed normal, just as usual.

He turned his head and looked at Finn, "Do you feel hot?"

"I’m okay," Finn thought for a moment. He looked at He Ao and whispered, "Actually, I wanted to ask, aren’t you hot wearing so much? I’ve never seen you wear these clothes before."

He Ao’s attire was still that of the snowy outdoors, with a thick sweater and jacket.

"I came here in summer, I’ve never worn thick clothes before," He Ao said casually.

He felt that peculiar burning sensation.

It was not the stuffiness caused by his clothes, but rather the air around him naturally burning him.

It was like standing next to a fire pit.

He reached out and touched his skin, which remained normally smooth, with a hint of coolness.

The surrounding environment was actually cool, similar to the outside temperature.

The burning sensation directly affected him ’psychologically’ in a certain way.

Realizing this, He Ao no longer paid attention to the heat but crouched down and slowly opened the door on the left, which operated very smoothly, making almost no sound.

Finn also leaned over, standing next to him.

Through the light shining through the door crack, the two could faintly make out the pouring rain outside.

Between the rear building and the main building, there was a broad passage, with a low building on the far left that served as the kitchen and warehouse.

Bright lights shone from the windows of the low building, and at the moment, all the teachers were there preparing the evening’s welcome dinner.

At this moment, in front of the low building, stood an Ash Man in a blue uniform, similar to the earlier Security at the gatehouse, slowly moving forward in the fierce rain.

Drizzling raindrops fell before the door, accumulating into a broad puddle, vaguely reflecting the silhouettes of gloomy and dark buildings.

"This Security will be patrolling around here all the time," Finn whispered.

"We can wait until he walks past," He Ao whispered back.

"Walking out will make a sound," Finn quickly said, "They can hear everything."

Just as they were speaking, the Security approaching slowly shifted his gaze towards them.

However, all he saw was the empty crack of the door, and he lowered his head and continued along his patrol route.

"Then I’ll go out later, and you wait for me here," leaning against the wall behind the door, He Ao spoke quickly, noticing Finn’s puzzled expression, "I can control my footsteps, he won’t hear me."

"Okay." Finn looked at He Ao curiously but nodded.

Saying this, He Ao glanced down at the door crack, outside there was no shadow obstructing the light.

Then he leaned forward, peeking through the door crack, the Security had already walked past, heading to the other side, his back to the door.

He Ao gestured for silence to Finn, stepping onto the dirty water-absorbing mat behind the door, and slowly opened the door a little, slipping his body out through the side.

He Ao turned his gaze to the departing Security, quickly turned around, and quietly grasped the outer edge of the wall, embedding his fingers into it as he climbed up swiftly.

Actually, he could have just jumped to the window, but that would have made too much noise.

Standing below, Finn leaned against the edge of the door crack, feeling He Ao vanish and letting out a sigh of relief.

Then he lowered his head, his gaze falling before the low building on the far left.

The side door of that low building had somehow opened, and a figure in a grey uniform slowly walked out, looking around, with his gaze soon to sweep over the wall.

Seeing this, Finn couldn’t care about anything else, he directly exited from behind the door, ran forward for a dozen meters, and waved at the figure in the grey uniform, "Teacher, do you need any help?"

The gaze of the figure in grey uniform was instantly drawn over.

But at this moment, a cold voice rang out behind him, "What are you doing here?"

He turned around with difficulty, looking behind him.

The Security in a blue uniform had somehow already walked up behind him, with eyes like sparks staring at him.

"I was arranging the welcome with the students," Finn quickly said, the fierce raindrops hitting his cheeks, "I happened to walk over here and saw a teacher who seemed to need help."

Saying this, he looked back.

The ’teacher’ who walked out of the low building had already led a child back inside.

Evidently, the other had already found a ’child’ to ’help’.

"This is not your concern," the Security in the blue uniform calmly stared at Finn, eyes flashing as fiercely as sparks, "You’re not following the rules."

"Hey, haha." Finn laughed awkwardly, his gaze shifting momentarily to the side window of the classroom, then quickly sweeping past again.

At this time, the Security also raised his head, looking around.

The back wall of the main building was empty, with no figures or traces.

He lowered his head again, looking at Finn once more.

——30 seconds ago——

When Finn exited the side door and shouted, He Ao was outside the director’s office window, looking past the red sofa towards the two ’figures’ standing beside the desk.

They were slender, with long limbs, their entire body like burnt coal, emanating a surging heat.

Cracks crisscrossed their body, filled with thick sparks, as if their figures were still burning up to that moment.

At the moment, they stood on either side of the office door, guarding it from the inside like two guards.

He Ao reached to grasp the long gun on his back, then gently exerted force, opening the window amidst the noisy sounds below.

At this moment, the two figures also heard the sound of the window opening and looked outside, their movements swift, as if illusions, rushing towards He Ao.

He Ao’s body swiftly passed through the open window, the whole person like a sharp sword rushing out, the long gun thrusting forward, instantly piercing the body of the coal figure in front, with a slight sway, and the figure abruptly collapsed.

Immediately, he turned his body, the long gun in his hand twirling in the air, stabbing into the body of the coal figure behind, with a sudden sway.

This coal figure also instantly collapsed, turning into scattered charcoals.

He Ao lowered his head, staring at the two piles of charcoal on the ground.

Under his gaze, the charcoal rapidly turned into scattered dust, drifting everywhere.

These two coal figures did not have any complex consciousness and seemed to be purely driven and controlled by some power.

Could one of them be the former director of the orphanage?

But actually, these two coal figures seemed more like some kind of ’security’ personnel.

And they could ’fight’ and be ’killed’, which didn’t seem to involve any kind of rule-based compulsion.

Re-sheathing the long gun onto his back, He Ao’s gaze swept across the office.

The office was unusually luxurious and splendid, with various exquisite oil paintings hanging on the walls, and a large bookshelf filling an entire wall.

The heavy desk also held several sculptures with a classic touch.

At first glance, this office looked more like the office of a small tycoon than that of an orphanage director.

Loren had never been to this office, so it was also the first time He Ao saw the scene inside this office.

In Loren’s memory, the orphanage director was an elderly man with graying hair, a flat top haircut, and a neatly trimmed square beard.

He appeared to be well-built, quite charismatic, though with a touch of kindness, yet he couldn’t be described as benevolent.

He glanced at the ashes scattered on the ground.

The build and physique of these two fiery figures didn’t quite resemble the director.

In the midst of his contemplation, He Ao walked over to the bookshelf and took out a book.

But before he could open it, the book turned to ashes in his hands.

He picked up another book, and it immediately turned to ashes as well.

He Ao’s gaze swept across the entire bookshelf, taking a quick glance at the contents.

Most of the books on the shelf were on management.

He Ao withdrew his gaze and looked at the red sofa chair behind the desk.

The chair’s surface was smooth and soft, seemingly made of genuine leather, and underneath, there was a swivel allowing it to rotate freely.

He Ao walked over to the sofa chair, sat down, and slightly shifted his body, his eyes scanning the surroundings.

Finding no mechanisms, he lowered his head, looked under the desk, but found nothing there either.

Thud, thud, thud—

At the same moment, faint footsteps echoed from outside the door.

Immediately followed by the shadow of the office door bolt being turned.

In the next instant, the office door was pushed open directly.

A figure in a blue Security uniform emerged from behind the door.

He lifted his gaze, scanning the entire office, finding it empty save for two dark heaps of ashes on the floor, with even the window restored to being tightly shut.

He approached slowly, reaching the edge of the window, opening it, and leaned out to look outside.

Below, only the Security guard in the blue uniform continued patrolling back and forth.

He retracted his gaze, closed the window.

Then moved towards the office door.

Outside, clinging to the fourth-floor wall, He Ao glanced at the closed window below, then down at the patrolling Security guard.

He swiftly moved down along the wall.

Clack—

The Security in the director’s office left the room, closing the door.

He Ao descended past the window, landing in front of the small door, pushing it open, and entered the corridor within.

Clack—

With the small door closing, He Ao breathed a sigh of relief.

Quickly scraping the mud and water off his shoes on the carpet at the door, he then hurriedly moved along the empty corridor, leaving the small entrance area.

After he left, a pair of eyes smoldering with sparks suddenly appeared outside the small door’s window, scanning the corridor from outside in.

The corridor had some damp droplets but no footprints, clean and empty.

After a brief gaze, the eyes withdrew, resuming their patrol.

······

He Ao walked down the quiet corridor, looking towards the edge of the corridor, calling out, "Finn, Finn?"

If nothing unexpected happened, Finn should be waiting nearby in the corridor.

"Why are you shouting? That kid is dead!" The fat man hanging on the wall, after hearing He Ao’s voice, shouted loudly.

"Loren, I’m here!" At that moment, a somewhat weak voice sounded from the other side of the corridor.

He Ao turned around, walking towards the source of the voice.

Meeting his eyes was a blond boy hanging on the wall.

"That Security doesn’t follow the rules," looking at He Ao’s somewhat puzzled eyes, Finn said angrily, "I was behaving normally, why did he catch me?"

"Perhaps, as Security, they gain some kind of special ’sensitivity’." He Ao pondered aloud.

According to his memory, the orphanage Security wouldn’t usually punish Finn for being enthusiastically helpful.

Though some Security in this orphanage did have a habit of punishing children deliberately.

"Huh?" Finn was perplexed by He Ao’s words.

"These Security people might have some sort of special ’intuition’ to determine rule-breaking behavior." He Ao looked at the clasp holding Finn, "Wait a moment, I’ll think of a way to get you down."

This isn’t a real orphanage, but an Abnormality based on an orphanage.

Its operational rules also differ from a real orphanage.

"Oh, okay." Finn didn’t quite understand but he didn’t dwell on it.

He Ao looked up at the clasp holding Finn.

He first raised his gun, poking the clasp with the tip.

The clasp didn’t move an inch, not even leaving a scratch.

The hardness of this clasp far surpassed the C-level.

It seemed to be a creation of the orphanage’s rules.

"Hey, it’s useless, you can’t open it with that toy," From not far away, fat Karto’s voice sounded again, close enough to see half of He Ao’s actions, "You have to press the button on top, it will open in an instant!"

His voice was loud, "Listen to me, you unlock me first, then I’ll teach you!"

Disregarding him, He Ao looked at the button above Finn’s clasp.

After a brief thought, he raised his hand, pulling a folding knife from his pocket.

He focused his Divine Sense on the folding knife, avoiding the fat man’s field of view, and slightly backed away.

Then he gently tossed the folding knife, which gleamed like a stream of light across the sky, striking the button.

Click—

With a soft sound, the clasp holding Finn popped open.

Then in the next moment, a strong suction force pulled the folding knife to the opposite wall, where a pair of clasps extended, seizing the knife.

Falling from the wall and hitting the ground, Finn watched in bewilderment, and then He Ao approached slowly, helping Finn up.

Click—

The folding knife also slipped from the opposing wall’s clasp, falling to the ground.

He Ao reached out and picked up the folding knife.

Indeed, this clasp wasn’t that easily ’unlocked’.

The core of the button is ’exchange’.

The person pressing the button releases the ’punished’ person, but in exchange, he himself replaces the punished, getting hung on the wall.