Chapter 20: CH 20

Now that the investigation team had been formed, the next steps were to receive the information about the mission tasks, come up with a plan, and complete the investigation.

The next day Zong Yan got up early. He’d packed his luggage the day before. After washing up, he brought his backpack and suitcase to the cafeteria for breakfast and waited for his team.

“Good morning, Yan Ge.”

Not long after, Wang KeMing also came with his suitcase. Behind him was Edward, who was empty-handed. Ada, the black-haired girl who’d changed into a purple cheongsam, also walked over gracefully.

Zong Yan: “Morning.”

According to the rules, during the investigation practice course, students would live near the task site and the school would give them an allowance according to the number of people in their team.

Miskatonic University and the Spire Council had united the activities of Awakened around the world. They had partnerships with official agencies all over the globe, not to mention the fact that Awakened were sponsored by a large number of corporations on the Forbes list. Generally speaking, as long as there were vacancies in a sponsor’s hotel or flights were available, students could check in as soon as their team and assignment tasks were confirmed.

Once the investigation practice week began, there would be no students on campus. A week later, MU would be the venue for this year’s Spire Council, welcoming senior investigators from all over the world.

After the four met up, they left through the Gate of Truth in the center of the auditorium. Because Qingyang High School’s academic year was starting very soon, the Dragon Group had already booked a flight back to China for Zong Yan. When the investigation practice class was complete, he would fly directly from Heathrow Airport to Jiangzhou.

“Excuse me.” Just as they left school, Ada suddenly seemed to remember something. She smiled, opened the folding fan in her hand, and covered half her face. “Something urgent just happened in my family. I might need to say goodbye for a while.”

“That’s fine.” As the head of this temporary investigation team, Zong Yan readily agreed to this small request. “If you need to do something, you can contact us by phone, or meet us later at the front desk of the hotel.”

“Okay.” Ada smiled, threw a wink at him, and left.

“Come on, let’s go to the hotel.” Zong Yan looked down at the screen of his phone and pulled his suitcase as they left Westminster Abbey.

After walking a few steps, he realized that Edward was still standing in the same place. Zong Yan gave him a puzzled look.

Before leaving school, Edward put on a pair of sunglasses and a mask to cover himself up. When he walked, he dodged around and swept his eyes at the people on the street for fear of being recognized.

That’s right, the decision to attend MU was Edward’s alone. He didn’t get the approval of the royal family or mention it to his father the King.

The British royal family hadn’t wanted any reporting on the matter, but many of the crown prince’s scheduled trips were canceled in a hurry, which attracted attention from all sides. London’s major newspapers had all talked about it.

The British royal family was the most famous royal family in the world. Each of its core members were frequently in front of the media. This was especially true of Edward, the reputed crown prince, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. From infancy through his teenage years, he’d been under the camera. His face was recognizable worldwide.

He’d managed to slip out from under the royal family’s eyes and deliberately changed his investigation practice mission at the last second. Naturally, he didn’t want to be caught the moment he left school.

“How will we get there?”

“The Tube.” Surprised, Zong Yan looked at him and lifted the London Underground Oyster card in his hand. “It’s the Piccadilly line. The hotel is only three kilometers from Westminster Abbey.”

The school had booked rooms at the five-star Maybourne Claridge hotel in London. The recent summer vacation was tourism season in the city. It was the only hotel that happened to have vacant rooms.

Zong Yan googled the name and found that it was a very famous hotel known as the annex of Buckingham Palace. Many lesser lights of the royal family stayed there. Audrey Hepburn had also stayed there once.

He suspected that the reason there were vacancies in the hotel was because the prices were so high. All the vacant rooms were premium suites, said to cost over a thousand pounds per night.

“We’re taking the Tube?” The little prince looked like he had a hard time speaking. “In all my life I’ve never been on that kind of civilian transportation.”

“Well, today is your first time.” Zong Yan nodded. “It’s expensive to take cabs in London. I don’t have enough money even if it’s AA.

“And aren’t you hiding from the eyes of the royal family right now? Nobody would guess that the dignified Prince Edward would choose to take the Tube.”

Edward was silent for a long time. After thinking about it, he felt this was probably true, so he pressed down his hat to cover his brilliant golden curls.

He thought they might get away with it, but he didn’t expect that as soon as they arrived at the front desk of the hotel, a motorcade pulled up outside led by a black Rolls-Royce Phantom. Edward’s face changed as soon as he saw it.

As was well-known, the cars of the British royal family were all luxury brands, either a custom-order Bentley, or a bulletproof Land Rover, or a Rolls-Royce.

In particular, the aging king doted on the crown prince. When Edward was seventeen, the king gave him a specially customized Phantom.

The door of the lead car of the motorcade quietly opened, and a large number of bodyguards came out. All wore black suits and had an intimidating aura.

“Your Highness.” 

A white-haired old butler stepped down from the passenger side of the Rolls-Royce. “Please come back with us, Your Highness. His Majesty misses you very much.”

Tourists in the hotel had already begun to exclaim, taking out their cell phones and cameras.

This was what Edward feared most.

There was an unwritten rule for the core members of the royal family. That is, the royal family must never be disgraced in public. This iron rule was the code of conduct for royal family members since childhood and was deeply engraved in their bones.

And this time so many bodyguards had been deployed… that person was determined to make him go back.

The little prince with blond hair and blue eyes gave the butler a sullen look. Suddenly he turned around and walked back to Zong Yan.

“I see. These two are friends of Your Highness, right?” The old butler’s hale and hearty eyes were hidden behind his thick glasses. He measured Zong Yan and the other teenager with hardly a flicker.

Edward had been arrogant and domineering since childhood. The entire Commonwealth knew the crown prince’s personality.

The old butler had served the royal family for many years, but this was the first time he’d seen the little prince treat a stranger with such close affection. He was a bit surprised.

“No,” Edward said coldly. He suddenly grabbed Zong Yan’s wrist and pulled the black-haired boy towards the car. “Just him.”

… What was this?

Wang KeMing was dumbfounded. The little fat man froze in place for a while but quickly followed.

The bodyguards silently pulled their suitcases over one by one. Each had a stern face like they’d come out of The Matrix.

The elite luxury vehicle was almost silent when it started up. Edward skillfully raised the soundproof panel in the back seat as soon as he got into the car.

With the soundproof panel raised, people in the driver’s seat couldn’t hear conversation in the back, which ensured their privacy.

No one spoke.

Even with Zong Yan’s EQ, he felt the current situation was rather awkward. Since he didn’t understand the other person’s private affairs, he chose to be quiet.

On the other side, Wang KeMing, whose family was in real estate, belonged to one of the most prosperous upstart families in Jiangzhou. Several cars of the same brand were parked in his garage. At the moment he didn’t think anything was very strange.

After a while, the little fat man couldn’t help but speak up because of the stagnant atmosphere. “Where are we going?”

“…”

No one in the car paid attention to him until Zong Yan turned his head doubtfully. 

Edward said reluctantly, “Buckingham Palace.”

Holy crap!

Wang KeMing almost jumped up from his seat.

What was Buckingham Palace? It was the residence and office of the British king. It was normally used to entertain heads of state.

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Ordinary people at most could buy tickets to visit the open sections, and in July and August they had to rush to sign up. Only the most important royal family members lived there.

Dad, you never thought your son would be treated like a head of state.

Wang KeMing shakily pulled up the camera app on his phone and began recording through the window.

The Royal Guard guards at the palace gate saw the car. Without blinking an eye they let it through and stood aside to salute in unison.

The black car glided toward the stately gray building like a ghost, passing the famous gilded Queen Victoria Memorial.

Edward’s face grew worse and worse after he saw the flag flying above Buckingham Palace.

Over the years, Lanchester II’s health had deteriorated somewhat, and he normally stayed in Windsor Castle. But obviously the old king was in Buckingham Palace today, because the flag was only raised when the king was personally in residence.

“Your Highness, His Majesty is waiting for you inside.”

When they all got out of the car, Edward had to follow the old butler to the king’s office.

However, it was obvious the prince hadn’t forgotten about his only friend. Before leaving, he specifically instructed the head chamberlain to treat Zong Yan well.

“Yan Ge, when did you become so close to the crown prince?” Wang KeMing watched everything with amazement. “This is Buckingham Palace!”

“Gentlemen, please follow me. I’m very sorry, but photography is not permitted in Buckingham Palace.”

The little fat man was ready to continue filming with his phone. He didn’t expect to be stopped the next second, so he had to put it back in his pocket.

The two young men followed the head chamberlain as he led them through the magnificent corridor.

Wang KeMing couldn’t calm down. He looked here and there. Suddenly he came over to Zong Yan, saying that a portrait on the wall was a real Van Gogh.

Zong Yan glanced at it and finally gave him some attention. “Isn’t Van Gogh an impressionist? I think it looks more like Monet.”

Wang KeMing was suddenly confused. “Oh, really? Yan Ge has also studied art ah. Speaking of which, this purple color really is similar to Monet… Anyway, the style seems like Monet.”

The two straight science nerds began to discuss the portrait seriously, but the head chamberlain stopped in his tracks.

“Gentlemen, this is your room. His Highness specifically requested that we put you in his bedchamber.”

He pushed open the door. In front of him was a very elegant small living room, with various rooms connected on both sides.

The bedroom of a major family was as good as a villa for anyone else. It might be called a bedchamber, but in fact, they had already passed through the corridor to a side hall in Buckingham Palace. The inner four internal floors all belonged to Edward.

“If there’s anything you need, please ring the bell and the servants will assist you immediately.”

The chamberlain smiled. “By the way, the painting just now is the work of Master Picasso. He is His Highness Edward’s favorite painter.”

After the door closed, the two young men were left to stare at each other.

Wang KeMing’s first reaction was odd. “Damn, he actually understands Chinese!”

Zong Yan felt a little embarrassed.

As the head chamberlain of Buckingham Palace, the other party must have received numerous high-ranking figures from all over the world, but he was willing to guess they were the first to confuse Picasso, Monet, and Van Gogh.

Forget it. Anyway, he wasn’t famous. He didn’t have any idol burden. It wasn’t a big deal to be laughed at.

He comforted himself and looked around the hall again.

To avoid attracting a crowd, Zong Yan had released the harbinger bird after he left Miskatonic University and let it follow him.

He went to the side, opened the window, and let the fat bird in.

“As expected of Yan Ge. Even your pet has so much personality.”

Wang KeMing had learned about the existence of this black bird a long time ago from MU’s social app.

The bird of death had become popular after someone posted a video of it fighting with a nightgaunt. Since then, its status had changed and it became a cherished mascot of MU. Everywhere that bird went, people fed it. It led a very relaxing life.

Next door, each college of Cambridge University had its own cat. As the number one university in the occult world, what was wrong with MU having a school bird?

Every student at MU had been persecuted by the nightgaunts when they first arrived, so they were fellow sufferers. When they saw that short video they all applauded.

“En.” He didn’t know why, but after entering this bedroom, Zong Yan instinctively felt cold.

It wasn’t the first time he’d encountered that kind of feeling. Ever since he drew the Night Watchman card, Zong Yan had felt that his psychic ability had been upgraded. In China, it might be said that he had yin-yang eyes.

… He hoped it wasn’t what he thought.

Zong Yan gazed pityingly at Wang KeMing, who hadn’t noticed anything, and quietly made some plans.

He had to use the Night Watchman tonight to find out what was going on.

—

The author has something to say:

In response to some of the questions in the comments, here’s an explanation

Some of the characters in this story are evil gods in Cthulhu mythology. The evil gods in Cthulhu mythology can have many avatars, which means they don’t show up in their original forms or use their real names.

At this stage, it’s normal that readers don’t know which people correspond to which god. The protagonist doesn’t know either ah. The reader reads the text from an omniscient point of view, but the plot advances from the perspective of the protagonist. Eventually the protagonist will solve these questions one by one.

If you know something about Cthulhu myth, you can happily comment and enjoy it; if you don’t know anything about Cthulhu, you can just read it as a mystery. Both ways have different reading experiences.

When I wrote this story, my idea was to share the mythological system with everyone. So don’t read with baggage or feel pressured to figure out on your own who a character really is.

These questions in the story will be answered by the story, thank you all!

TL Notes:

Happy Chapter 2-0! ﾟ･✿ヾ╲(｡◕‿◕｡)╱✿･ﾟ It feels like I posted Chapter 10 just the other day. What a whirlwind! Next chapter has a bit more action. It’s also the last chapter of what feels like an Olympic marathon of very long chapters! (But of course everything is relative….) ヾ(o✪‿✪o)ｼ

AA – The raw literally says “AA”. There’s a taxi company of that name in London so possibly that’s what is intended.

intimidating aura – 声势浩大 – great in strength and impetus; gigantic and vigorous; influential; large-scale; mammoth; powerful and dynamic

EQ – 情商 – emotional intelligence quotient

Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter:

Maybourne Claridge – 梅宝尼克拉里奇 – Méibǎoní Kèlālǐqí – Claridge’s is a 5-star hotel in Mayfair, London, owned by the Maybourne Hotel Group

Audrey Hepburn – 奥黛丽·赫本 – Àodàilì·Hèběn

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