Yi Gewen West Suburbs, Saint Amanda School at night.
As night fell and after dinner, the male students who were supposed to attend evening class suddenly heard loud gunshots coming from the distance of the campus. For a moment, curious boys all crowded to the classroom windows, looking at the darkness in the distance that they couldn't see clearly, excitedly discussing what was happening outside, until the strict teacher pressed them all back into their seats.
Lights were still on in the school's classrooms for evening classes, while at this time, in a hidden and spacious basement somewhere beneath the school, it was also brightly lit.
This was a spacious area located beneath Saint Amanda School. Countless hanging large gas lamps dispelled the darkness and illuminated it brightly. In this underground space, there were many tables and cabinets, and these tables and cabinets were all piled high with various stone sculptures.
There were smaller heads, slightly larger busts, and even larger full-body statues. On tables, cabinets, chairs, and the floor, various statues were placed everywhere. Every statue was carved lifelike. Besides the statues, many rough stones of different sizes, uncarved, stood by the walls. Several large ventilation openings were made in the walls, with slowly rotating fan blades inside, the power source unknown.
A layer of white dust accumulated on the basement floor. Various stools were placed scattered. In the corners were various hammers and chisels. Some places also had easels and drawing boards. The drawings on the boards were chiaroscuro sketches and structural quick sketches of various human heads or complex geometric shapes, but none were colored. There were only pencils on the side of the drawing boards, not a drop of paint.
Roughly speaking, this place seemed like a stone carving workshop. At this moment, Dorothy was also standing in the center of the workshop, curiously looking around. Not far from Dorothy, the school janitor Dean was carving a majestic-looking male bust using tools in his hand, referencing several black and white photos from different angles. The sound of clinking echoed in the space.
And in the open space beside Dorothy, five bodies covered with white cloths were arranged.
"Thank you very much, Mr., for saving me in a moment of crisis tonight..."
After roughly surveying the surrounding environment, Dorothy shifted her gaze to Dean, who was concentrating on carving. Dean smiled as he continued working.
"Haha... These henchmen of the Holy Communion Society are unruly, causing trouble around my territory. It's only natural that I dealt with them. Miss Mesi Horse, you should thank yourself for being saved..."
Saying this, Dean glanced at the five bodies to the side, then spoke with some praise.
"Among these five henchmen, you alone took care of four. I just helped you clean up a bit at the end. When I received the message from your puppet, your carriage had already left for a while. If you hadn't forced them all to rush back, I wouldn wouldn't have been able to save you in time even with my speed..."
Then, Dean looked at Dorothy and continued speaking.
"This courage, calmness, thinking... It's truly incredible that a young girl your age possesses these qualities, to be honest. I'm really happy that Saint Amanda has such an excellent student like you, and a girl at that, much stronger than those arrogant young masters who chatter all day long."
"Mr., you flatter me..." Dorothy humbly bowed slightly towards Dean, then continued speaking.
"I am far from reaching the level of excellence yet. I still have much to learn, and many questions I would like to ask you, Mr.."
Listening to Dorothy's words, Dean smiled slightly, examined Dorothy with a glance, then spoke.
"Questions for me? Heh... alright, but before that, you need to answer some of my questions. First, how did you see that I was extraordinary? Do you have any ability to discern the extraordinary?"
Dean said with a smile. After Dorothy got into the Red Communion Society's carriage, she sent the gecko Corpse Puppet all the way to the campus and found the school janitor Dean, who was still building the garden. On the soil in front of him, she directly scratched out the words 'Red Communion Society' and pointed out the direction. This was one of the survival methods Dorothy desperately sought, because she knew this old man was likely extraordinary.
Listening to Dean's words, Dorothy pondered for a moment, then spoke in an analytical tone.
"First, you caught my attention at the very beginning. You fell in front of my brother and me, dropping two stone statues, and then my brother directly caught all the statues. At that time, you praised my brother by saying, 'Young man, you have good skills'... When you praised my brother's'skills' at that time, you already piqued a hint of my attention. Of course, it was just a hint, and at the time, I also thought I might be overthinking things."
Listening to Dorothy's words, Dean also nodded, then spoke.
"Continue."
"Then I became interested in the school's stone statues. Because of that hint of attention before, I chose to go to you to ask. At that time, you were wiping the stone statues. I observed you more then and found that you wiped the statues very meticulously... No, not just meticulously, but also very methodically."
Beginning to pace slowly in the room, Dorothy recalled for a moment, then continued speaking.
"In my observation, it wasn't a rough, haphazard wipe, but rather following the various structures of the statue. Places that could clearly be wiped over with one pass of a cloth, you would wipe several times, each stroke following the not-so-obvious structural lines on the face. Even tiny areas, such as under the eyelids, you didn't miss."
"What's more crucial is that your method of wiping the statues was quite interesting. You never wiped back and forth on one spot like ordinary people do with a cloth, but always wiped in one direction and then started over to wipe a second stroke. This is like... how a chisel can only carve stone in one direction during sculpting. I think, perhaps this is due to some kind of habit..."
"Heh... To be honest, I didn't see you wiping the statues as cleaning them, but rather as reshaping the structure of the statues, recreating the process by which they were carved. I don't think an ordinary school janitor would do this..."
Stopping her pacing, Dorothy spoke to Dean. At this moment, Dean had already stopped his work, smiling and gently applauding Dorothy.
"Haha... Observant and meticulous... Another rare quality..."
Facing Dean's applause, Dorothy didn't stop but continued speaking.
"By this point, I had developed enough interest in you, and proceeded to observe you very carefully. In my observation, your physical fitness is very good. You show no signs of the mobility issues an old person should have. You don't seem at all like someone who could suddenly fall out of nowhere on a flat surface. This made your earlier fall seem suspicious to me, like a deliberate test. Of course, up to this point, these were all my subjective guesses and conjectures."
"What truly confirmed to me that something was up with you was using a little trick. I manipulated my small puppet to sneak into the school's archives and other places to gather information about you. Finally, at the finance office, I found the school staff roster, which included salary distribution information. There, I saw that the school janitor named Dean had never received a single cent of salary from the school."
"So, at this point, I was pretty sure about your identity. You are the principal of this school, Mr. Aldrich. Although I was certain by now that you were unusual, I still had doubts about whether you were extraordinary. However, in that moment of crisis earlier, I couldn't think too much and sought your help."
Dorothy finished her analysis, and then Dean immediately burst out laughing and spoke.
"Hahaha... Very good, very good. You truly exceeded my expectations, Miss Mesi Horse. Excellent... Your analysis is excellent... That's right, I am the current principal of this school, Aldrich..."
Aldrich smiled and walked away from beside the stone statue, put down the tools in his hand, then sat down in a chair and looked at Dorothy as he spoke.
"I am very satisfied with your answer. Your intelligence has impressed me, Miss Mesi Horse. Now it's your turn to ask me questions."
Listening to Aldrich's words, Dorothy's expression was calm, and then she slowly began to speak.
"Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Aldrich... Then my first question is... What was your motive for testing us siblings on the first day? What did you discover on the first day?"
Dorothy asked Aldrich seriously. This was a question she was very concerned about. She wasn't quite sure if there was something wrong with herself or something wrong with Grego that caused Aldrich to notice them.
Hearing Dorothy's words, Aldrich didn't answer immediately. Instead, after taking a sip of the tea on the table, he smiled and looked at Dorothy, then continued speaking.
"What do you think? Miss Mesi Horse, or rather... bold little girl..."
Aldrich's words were not as gentle as before, but turned into another deep and powerful voice. Dorothy had heard this voice before, at the secret assembly she had boldly attended not long ago.
This was the voice of "Gray Hill".
...