Chapter 17 : Inside the lair of the beast
Quota 0/270 - Only 3 days left
They had arrived in an entirely new setting. Victor had no idea how this room could have been built several hundred meters below the surface. But this wasn't the first time one of his questions remained unanswered. He simply looked around cautiously.
The darkness of the tunnel had given way to the soft light of a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The stone staircase floor had been replaced by a black and white marble checkerboard. The smell of damp earth had been replaced by the scent of decay.
In short, everything had changed.
There were towering bookshelves filled with books with unknown titles all around them. In front of them stood a massive staircase that led to a balcony on each side of the room, overlooking the entrance.
"Let's get moving," the mysterious man announced in a low voice.
They had already prepared their plan of action beforehand. Victor and Olivia would start their search upstairs, while Shirley and the mysterious man would take care of the ground floor.
They separated in silence. Because of the shelves, Victor didn't see the entire room until he had climbed the stairs. The railings on each side of the room actually led to wooden doors and openings. There were two doors on the right wall, only one opening on the left wall, and a door on each side of the staircase.
"Let's go," murmured Victor as they passed through one of the openings.
Behind it was a room nearly ten meters long without any exit. In one corner of the room was a bookshelf filled with books. Victor approached and chose a book at random.
It had a red cover with no mention of an author or title.
No value.
Victor expected this but opened the book anyway to take a look at its contents.
The pages were perfectly preserved, smooth to the touch, and smelled new. There might have been answers inside about the owners of the place, but Victor quickly closed it.
Foreign language detected – Complete more quota to get the translation.
"Make the effort to translate it into French!" Victor grumbled as he put the book back on the shelf.
The book was written in some sort of runic language, and he didn't even know which language it was from.
But anyway, they weren't here for that.
On the wall opposite the bookshelf hung a painting.
"I can assure you this is the ugliest painting I've ever seen," thought Victor as he waited for the system's result.
One could distinguish a forest in the background and the blue sky in the distance. But as for the rest, it was another story. The lower part of the painting seemed to have been covered with brown paint, making it unrecognizable.
In short, this painting wouldn't even be sold at a flea market.
Yet...
Painting: x1 – value 60
"That's why everyone hates modern art," thought Victor as he took it down from the wall. The painting must have been over a meter long, and Victor had to use both hands to carry it without dropping it.
Olivia had kept an eye on the entrance the whole time. Once Victor had taken the painting, there was nothing of value left in the room. They left the room.
The entrance hall hadn't changed, and the duo entered an adjacent door.
The room they entered was only 2 to 3 meters long and empty. However, there was another opening in the back wall. But it quickly led to a dead end. As they were retracing their steps to return to the entrance hall, Olivia noticed an object hidden in a corner of one of the rooms they had passed through.
In fact, it wasn't really hidden. It was just to the left of the doorway, and neither of them had seen it because they hadn't thought to look back.
"I guess we'll have to remember to look back more often," thought Victor as he approached the object.
It was an old metal cash register. Victor had no idea how old it was, but he didn't really care.
The company would buy it from him anyway.
Cash register: x1 – value 91
"It would have been a shame to miss this one," thought Victor as he tried to lift it.
He pulled with all his might, but it didn't budge an inch.
Victor turned to Olivia.
"Can you take the cash register?" he asked her.
"Is it that heavy?"
"Yes…" Victor finally replied, a bit embarrassed to ask a teenager to try to lift something so heavy.
"At worst, we'll ask the mysterious man or even Shirley to come help us..." he thought, watching Olivia lift the cash register without any difficulty.
Victor cleared his throat.
"Let's forget it. She must have supernatural strength," he comforted himself as he picked up the painting again.
They returned to the entrance hall before placing their two items in front of the entrance door. Shirley and the mysterious man had finished searching all the openings on the ground floor. They had also found only two items. A bottle of perfume that seemed familiar to Victor and a laser pointer. It was much easier for them to recognize valuable items here. Indeed, there didn't seem to be anything else in these places but shelves, books, and valuable objects scattered on the floor.
All four of them returned upstairs to the only two doors they hadn't yet searched.
The mysterious man led the way, and when he tried to open the door, a dull sound rang out. This sound was not a good omen for the rest of the expedition.
"The door is locked," announced the man before turning to the second door.
Unfortunately...
CLICK
It didn't budge an inch.
"I think we won't gain anything more today."
The man remained calm and managed to hide his frustration.
"Bad luck. If only we had a key," thought Victor, looking bitterly at the two doors separating him from fortune.
Shirley suggested breaking the lock with one of Olivia's weapons. The mysterious man accepted the proposal on one condition: if it didn't work, they would leave as quickly as possible with the loot.
The whole group accepted his proposal, and Olivia went to one of the bags they had left by the entrance door. She first pulled out a rocket launcher before changing her mind and taking a shotgun. After loading it with ammunition and removing the safety, she fired at the door lock.
A dull sound rang out, accompanied by a strong smell of sulfur and burnt metal. But in addition to all that, a chilling shiver ran through the four members of the group.
The door didn't show the slightest trace of the previous gunshot.
"Let's go! Now!" shouted the man as he rushed towards the stairs.
The ground beneath their feet had begun to shake, as if an earthquake was approaching.
Olivia grabbed the cash register, Victor the painting, Shirley the two small objects found on the ground floor, and the man took care of the bags they had brought.
After taking everything, the man began to open the armored door.
The tremors were getting stronger and stronger.
It took three long seconds for the door to open.
The team of four rushed outside. The mysterious man had already started to close the door. The immense metal block creaked, and the man began to shout from the effort.
A tremor threatened to make him fall, but he remained standing. After two physically and emotionally exhausting seconds, the steel door was only a few seconds from closing.
However, a dull cry echoed behind the door. The cry was inhuman and distant, but the man showed no hesitation. He pulled with all his might in a final effort, and the door closed. The man then turned the door's helices to reactivate the locking system, sealing whatever was behind.
BOOM
Something had struck the door from the other side. The noise and tremor were impressive, but the door didn't move.
"Let's go back to the hotel," announced the man once he had caught his breath.
He didn't seem the least bit curious about what was behind the door, and his quick thinking and actions had allowed them not to find out.
The earthquake seemed violent, but it only lasted a few seconds before disappearing. It was even questionable whether seismographs would detect it, given its short duration.
Victor took a few seconds to gather his thoughts. He hadn't made any effort during the last seconds, but he still fell to the ground to catch his breath.
"I should probably get back into shape if I ever want to be able to open and close that door on my own," he thought, trying to place the painting in an empty bag.
Unfortunately for him, it didn't fit.
Which meant he would have to climb the stairs with the painting in his arms.
A painting so large that he already had trouble seeing everything in front of him under normal circumstances.
With these mitigating circumstances, Victor finished his climb behind Olivia, who was carrying the nearly 90-pound cash register and her firearm bag slung over her shoulder.
But Victor didn't grumble even when he reached the top, as he was too exhausted to complain.
He placed his painting next to the hatch before checking the time on his phone.
16:32
They had been down there for nearly two hours.
"I guess time seems to pass faster down there without daylight," thought Victor, picking up the painting again.
Thomp - Thomp - Thomp
It was the same sound they had heard in the morning. The mysterious man led the silent march through the forest. Fortunately for them, the closer they got to the vehicle, the fainter the dull noises became.
After 10 minutes of walking, they were back in front of the house. Whatever was making those noises was now far behind them.
However, the man doubled his caution.
He took a drone out of his bag to check the surroundings, while Olivia had already taken a rocket launcher from her bag.
Only Shirley and Victor seemed out of place, holding shovels in their hands.
A few seconds passed in silence.
"Nothing to report," the man announced in a low voice, keeping an eye on the drone's camera to be ready for any eventuality.
They ran out from the cover of the trees before hurriedly getting into the vehicle.
"GO GO GO!" shouted the man to Shirley, who had taken the driver's seat.
The engine roared to life with an apocalyptic rumble before starting to roar. Shirley floored the accelerator, and the several-ton vehicle made a swift U-turn.
The violent acceleration had sent Victor tumbling in the back, as he hadn't had time to buckle up.
The mysterious man, however, took the opportunity to open his window and skillfully retrieve his drone. The vehicle passed through the gate and finally left the perimeter of the property in a strong smell of diesel.
They had made it out, but tomorrow, they would have to return.