Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1436: Chapter 163: The Hand That Invites Death

Luo Qiu didn’t discuss much with Teacher Prin, because at this moment, two female students happened to pass by and enthusiastically surrounded Teacher Prin.

He must be quite popular… in the seemingly mundane academic setting of the Theology Institute.

From the questions these two female students asked, it was clear they were genuinely inquiring, and Teacher Prin answered patiently, in a detailed yet lively manner.

Gradually, it seemed that both Teacher Prin and the two female students forgot there was someone else present.

“Teacher Prin?” The student noticed that Teacher Prin suddenly stopped talking and was looking around.

“Oh… it’s nothing,” Teacher Prin shook his head, “I just realized that the new student was still here, and I hadn’t attended to him. I’m not sure when he left.”

Indeed, Teacher Prin hadn’t even noticed when the new student left his side… it was truly unbelievable—especially since Teacher Prin knew his senses were exceptionally sharp.

“A new student?” The two female students were puzzled, “When we came over, was there someone else with Teacher Prin?”

“It seemed like there was, but maybe there wasn’t?” Another female student thought carefully, then shook her head, “I can’t remember clearly.”

Teacher Prin silently observed the reactions of these two female students and finally confirmed something—that no matter how inconspicuous a person might be, they shouldn’t be overlooked to such an extent; moreover, the new student was supposed to be quite unforgettable.

How could they have not noticed?

The two female students evidently couldn’t fathom what Teacher Prin was thinking at this moment. They became even more enthusiastic, grabbing both arms of the Theology Institute teacher with youthful vigor and laughter, wrapping him up, “Teacher, let’s go over there, we have more questions for you!”

“I have class later, maybe next time… Of course, you’re welcome to ask questions during my classes,” Teacher Prin evidently wanted to extricate himself from the warmth of the students, but he underestimated the enthusiasm of these youthful girls—he almost felt pulled.

Perhaps these two female students were just too enthusiastic… sometimes people do things they don’t realize in the midst of their enthusiasm—under such fervor, the white glove on Teacher Prin’s left hand unknowingly loosened a bit… he believes the girls were unintentional, but as the glove slightly slipped off, exposing his wrist, one of the girls suddenly fell to the ground.

Taking advantage of this moment, Teacher Prin quietly adjusted his glove back into place—he watched as the other girl helped the fallen girl up, showing concern, “Are you hurt?”

“Just a scrape.” The girl checked her knee.

Teacher Prin showed an apologetic look, “You should disinfect and treat your wound now, let’s postpone the questions till next time.”

It was the only option… the two girls regrettably thought, then headed to the campus medical room.

Teacher Prin silently held his wrist, sending off the two girls with a smile until they completely disappeared from view, then he seemed relieved.

He turned and saw a butterfly resting on the railing of the corridor; he paced slowly towards it—the butterfly wasn’t startled, its wings closed, standing still on the spot.

Teacher Prin slowly extended his hand towards the butterfly… the butterfly gently flapped its wings a few times, then flew onto Teacher Prin’s fingers.

“That’s enough, don’t linger on my hand too long,” Teacher Prin suddenly said quietly, “You’re too fragile… it’s too challenging for you.”

Whether or not the butterfly understood… it flew away, fluttering like it was tired.

He glanced at the image of the Holy Mother on the corridor wall, smiled slightly, and then strolled away.

…

Soon after, the butterfly, which hadn’t flown far, suddenly fell from the sky.

Like fallen leaves, the butterfly’s descent path wasn’t fixed—finally resting in a palm… it lay quietly in the palm, never moving again.

This was Luo Qiu’s hand.

This butterfly had actually reached the end of its life—but Luo Qiu knew it had only recently emerged from its chrysalis a few days ago.

It was supposed to live for three weeks.

Luo Qiu sat down on the spot—this was a tree with layered young leaves, somewhat aged… sitting here, Luo Qiu resembled the other students scattered around the campus courtyard lawn, nothing out of the ordinary.

He simply held up the butterfly in his palm, looking at it quietly.

After a while, the maid approached him slowly… with a deep enough rapport that they didn’t need to explain anything, already knowing many things.

He knew You Ye had already taken care of enrollment and even club matters—she was always so efficient.

“What’s wrong with this butterfly?” the maid asked curiously.

“Encountered mortality,” Luo Qiu raised his head, lifting the butterfly in his palm, “Prematurely.”

The maid clasped her hands and carefully received the butterfly’s… its body from her master’s palm, “Do you like it, shall I make it into a specimen?”

“Bury it,” Luo Qiu shook his head, he had no interest in collecting biological specimens… though this butterfly seemed so beautiful—its appearance.

It was really too fragile, inside and out, despite being a beautiful butterfly—the kind people perceive as a lovely thing, yet in Luo Qiu’s black and white view, he could only see this outward beauty… a beautiful shell, but containing nothing.

Perhaps something might emerge from this shell in the future—but it already died, and naturally, under normal circumstances, no future possibilities would exist.

The maid pondered for a moment, then buried the butterfly under the old tree.

Luo Qiu suddenly said, “It should have emerged from here.”

Thus, completing a cycle.

…

After burying the butterfly, Luo Qiu naturally strolled hand-in-hand with the maid through the ancient campus—formal classes could start tomorrow.

According to procedure, Luo Qiu should next head to the dormitory—but evidently, the maid had already taken care of this part as well.

For now, Luo Qiu had no intention of staying on campus.

They stopped at an old school building behind the Theology Institute—this campus had undergone several re-plannings, leaving many rooms in this old school building vacant.

Most of the classrooms here didn’t resemble classrooms at all—they looked more like houses, filled with an old-world charm.

“This was once a place for drama creation,” the Maid pointed to a spot on the left downstairs of the school building and said, “There were a few rooms used as their activity rooms, but later the drama club students moved to a larger place.”

“Let’s go with this place then.” Boss Luo quickly made a decision—almost at the same moment he decided this, the space within a certain part of the old school building overlapped with the Shop.

After overlapping the Shop with the school building, Boss Luo smiled and said, “Since it’s a Club, the hall needs to be arranged too.”

“Indeed,” the Maid seemed quite excited about the upcoming task, “Changing the hall’s arrangement sounds pretty good indeed.”

In this regard, the Maid wasn’t much different from most girls.

…

…

Hua Country.

In the dead of night, workers from certain trades were still working hard—the sound produced by the excavator was able to travel far due to the quiet night.

Luckily, because the nearby streets were currently closed, there was no disturbance to the residents.

The high-intensity spotlights made the surrounding area look like daylight, and the recent end of the rainy season made the nighttime temperatures quite comfortable—at least, the workers didn’t seem overly fatigued at the moment.

They were currently excavating a building that had collapsed due to an earthquake a short while ago.

It was said that this building was owned by descendants of a big shot in the capital—but that was just hearsay. For those working on the construction site, it’s hard to imagine just how wealthy rich people could be… maybe the Emperor’s family uses golden hoes, as many of them thought.

“Why did you stop?”

At this moment, the foreman directing the excavation work picked up the walkie-talkie—the task of clearing the disaster site was an operation the foreman had secured through multiple connections, and the timeline was quite urgent, which is why he chose to work at night… of course, not without some workers’ complaints, which he had temporarily suppressed.

“Seems like I’ve dug through something,” the excavator operator replied at this time, “Looks like there’s another layer… is it a basement?”

“Basement?” The foreman was stunned upon hearing this. He remembered that when he contracted this job, the official blueprints he received didn’t indicate there was anything like a basement at this location.

The foreman then brought a few workers to the excavation site and shone a strong light inside… they found that this basement didn’t seem shallow.

It’s more like a space as large as an underground parking lot—he thought for a moment and then took a few workers down using steel cables.

Meanwhile, a foul stench hit their noses, causing everyone to cover their mouths and noses instinctively.

The area they dug through was indeed much more spacious than imagined—and not at all like an underground parking lot; it resembled an office inside a company shown on TV.

“There’s someone here… looks like, dead, dead bodies! Foreman!” A worker kicked something, turned it over, and was instantly startled.

The place must have had its pipes burst during the earthquake, as the water was ankle-deep… the found corpse appeared to be that of a male, submerged for some time, and had decayed considerably.

They discovered several corpses one after another—these were clearly victims buried in this massive basement during the earthquake that occurred over ten days ago.

“Foreman, should we report this?”

The foreman was already extremely nervous… as someone who frequently worked on construction sites, finding corpses at a site was something highly feared—after all, it’s seen as extremely unlucky.

Although he prepared for the possibility of encountering a corpse when he accepted the excavation job… he even went to a nearby temple to fetch a peace charm to keep on him at all times, but never expected to find so many dead bodies.

“Check further inside.” Suddenly, the foreman said this.

The others were puzzled… this was clearly a big deal.

“Fortune favors the bold, starves the timid.” The foreman, in his forties, with a face full of meat, had swum through the underworld in his early years, and by intuition, decided there might be something hidden in the undocumented massive space—perhaps something that could bring unexpected wealth.

To be honest, he wouldn’t profit much from this project… he just hoped to build ties with local officials for future official contracts—yet, who doesn’t wish for more wealth.

Everything—whether windfall or earned wealth—is still wealth… and wealth can open many doors; this is the businessman’s creed.

Under the foreman’s persuasion, a brave worker quickly stripped watches and necklaces from a corpse.

Seeing this, the others, like mesmerized, began frantically searching the corpses—they discovered these people buried here were carrying quite valuable items.

The foreman discovered some IDs among the found items—it seemed these people were researchers.

“Here’s more!”

“I’ve found some too… this guy has so much cash on him… this could be tens of thousands!”

“Fo—Foreman, gun—gun! This dead man is holding a gun!!”

This discovery instantly alarmed all the workers scavenging the corpses—they snapped out of the wealth-frenzied trance, replaced by a chill.

At this moment, the foreman seemed deaf to the workers’ voices… he suddenly became expressionless, eyes dull, slowly heading deeper into the area.

In the deep end of the location he was heading towards, a thin skeletal face swayed in the darkness.

When the foreman arrived, the beam from his flashlight revealed… this skeletal face’s owner, his body partially embedded in the concrete floor.

He looked like someone who had been thrown into a pit and then buried in concrete, trapped here… 24.

At this point, 24 looked as if he was really nearing death.