"Barton's telegram also contains a fatal obstacle." Lin Jie directly tore the paper tape from the telegraph machine.

"The Underground City is indeed currently in a state of manpower shortage."

"Most of the elite forces have been dispatched to suppress the riots in the Whitechapel District, but they haven't abandoned the defense of the headquarters."

Lin Jie's finger tapped heavily on a line of text on the paper tape.

"On the contrary."

"To ensure absolute safety, the management activated the 'Fortress Lockdown' before leaving."

"The elevators, passages, and hidden doors leading to the lowest-level archives have all been disconnected."

"The defensive mechanisms there have switched from alchemical arrays to pure physical isolation."

Julian stopped his actions.

As a scholar who once worked in the Paris Branch archives, he understood very clearly what this meant.

"Lockdown."

Julian pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"That door can only be opened with the corresponding key."

William looked up at Lin Jie, a flash of gravity in his eyes.

"Wouldn't explosives work?"

"No."

Evelyn took over the conversation.

Although she had never been to the Underground City, she was intimately familiar with the pinnacle of Victorian-era mechanical engineering.

"An underground vault of that level, once subjected to a powerful explosion, will have its internal pressure relief valves instantly lock down."

"The entire archive will collapse inward like a stepped-on tin can."

The atmosphere in the basement became oppressive once again.

"Don't rush. Barton provided a solution in the telegram."

Lin Jie threw the paper tape into the nearby stove, where it turned to ashes.

"We need a signet ring. It's a symbol of identity worn by the Underground City management personnel."

"It has a key with a specific gear ratio embedded inside. Inserting it into the groove of the archive door can release the lockdown."

"There are no more than five such signet rings in the entire London Branch."

William frowned.

"That's no different from finding a needle in a haystack. Barton is under house arrest; the signet ring in his possession must have been confiscated."

"The others who possess signet rings are either in other countries now or are following the riot suppression forces."

"We can't just charge into the heart of the riot to snatch one, can we?"

At that moment, an extremely faint scraping sound came from outside the basement's heavy wooden door.

William immediately raised his rifle, but Lin Jie pressed down on the barrel and shook his head at him.

He recognized the rhythm of that sound; it was a coded signal of two long and one short.

Lin Jie walked to the door, drew his revolver, and gently pulled back the bolt. Outside stood a man drenched to the bone.

He was one of the contacts Marcus had left in the South Bank factory district, a dockworker dressed in coarse work clothes.

The man warily glanced at the people in the basement.

He pulled a small, oilpaper-wrapped scroll from his chest and handed it to Lin Jie.

"The boss told me to deliver this."

The man lowered his voice.

"It's the latest news relayed from the East End about ten minutes ago."

After saying this, the man pulled down his hat brim and disappeared into the rainy night alleyway.

Lin Jie closed the door and unfolded the somewhat crumpled scroll.

The handwriting on the paper was very scribbled, clearly recorded by someone in a state of extreme haste or fear.

Lin Jie quickly scanned the contents, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"It seems our luck hasn't completely run out yet."

Lin Jie turned to face the others.

"The signet ring has been located."

He spread the note flat on the table.

"Last night's riot in Whitechapel exceeded everyone's expectations in scale."

"The Underground City dispatched a large number of hunters to carry out brutal suppression."

"Among them was a senior inspector in charge of on-site command, codenamed 'Iron Raven.' His subordinates personally saw him wearing a signet ring."

Julian leaned closer.

"He's dead?"

"Dead."

Not a trace of emotion could be heard in Lin Jie's voice.

"But he was killed by a UMA."

"When the riot reached its most intense point, the streets were filled with corpses and blood."

"It attracted some of the 'native inhabitants' hidden in the dark corners of London's East End."

"That senior inspector broke away from the main force while pursuing rioters. He was ambushed in a remote dead-end alley."

"By the time his men found him, he had already been torn to shreds."

A collective sharp intake of breath sounded in the basement.

A well-equipped hunter, silently and instantly killed by an unknown UMA amidst the chaotic battle.

This was enough to indicate the danger level of that monster.

"Did Marcus's intelligence network find out what that thing was?" William asked.

Lin Jie nodded.

"The note mentions several key details."

"There were no signs of a struggle at the crime scene."

"The victim died instantly."

"Deep metal claw marks were left high on the alley walls."

"And the scene was permeated with a pungent smell of garlic and burning phosphorus."

Julian's face changed color.

His vast reservoir of occult knowledge immediately retrieved a matching target.

"Garlic smell, phosphorus fire, high claw marks, and a morbid preference for internal organs and shiny metal objects."

Julian looked up at Lin Jie.

"That's one of the most famous urban legends of the Victorian era, a notorious UMA that has been prowling London's East End for over fifty years."

"Spring-Heeled Jack."

This name was thunderously famous in London of 1890.

Before Jack the Ripper appeared, it had been the most terrifying nightmare in this fog-shrouded city.

"This thing is very troublesome, more troublesome than Jack the Ripper."

Julian rapidly sifted through the information in his mind.

"It possesses an extremely terrifying vertical leaping ability; it can easily leap over three-story buildings."

"Its hands grow sharp metal claws. What's even more frightening is that it can spew a blue-white flame."

"That's a high-concentration white phosphorus mixed with toxic mist secreted by glands in its body; it ignites spontaneously upon contact with air."

"Inhaling that toxic mist not only causes respiratory tract burns but also triggers extremely intense neurological hallucinations."

Lin Jie quietly listened to Julian's analysis.

His fingers lightly tapped on his knife hilt.

"Whether it's an urban legend or some other monster, it now has the key we need."

"We must find it, then cut open its belly."

Lin Jie looked at Evelyn.

"You stay here."

Evelyn was taken aback. "I'm not going?"

"Too dangerous." Lin Jie's tone brooked no argument.

"Whitechapel is now a giant powder keg."

"Crazy rioters everywhere, inspector squads searching all over, and monsters like Spring-Heeled Jack taking advantage of the chaos."

"The environment there is extremely chaotic. We're going hunting this time, not exploring."

Lin Jie pointed at Lily and Silas lying on the bed.

"And people need to be looked after here. Lily's condition is very unstable, and Silas's injuries could worsen at any moment."

"You know medical care. You staying is the most logical tactical arrangement."

Evelyn bit her lip. She knew Lin Jie was right.

Her pitiful combat ability would only become a burden to the team in that kind of hellish battlefield.

"Be careful."

Evelyn put down the tool in her hand.

"If you encounter an irresistible danger, retreat immediately."

"I'll lock down the safe house door. I won't open it for anyone."

"Good."

Lin Jie nodded. He turned to look at William and Julian.

"Take all the usable ammunition and potions. We're going back to Whitechapel."

...

Five o'clock in the morning. The sky over London's East End showed a sickly dark red hue.

That was the color of the great fires reflected on the low-hanging clouds.

Although last night's riot had been forcibly suppressed by Scotland Yard and the I.A.R.C., the scars left by this storm were still shocking to behold.

Lin Jie, William, and Julian moved through the ruined streets of Whitechapel, the [Curator's Seal] still in effect.

The air was thick with the strong smell of blood and burnt wood.

The shop windows on both sides of the street were smashed to pieces.

The road was littered with mutilated limbs, discarded batons, and some half-burnt barricades.

Occasionally, one or two black carriages painted with a scale emblem could be seen driving past distant street intersections.

Those were the corpse collection teams responsible for cleaning up the battlefield, throwing the rioters' bodies into the carriage like garbage.

The trio avoided all main roads, moving quickly along back alleys full of mud and sewage.

"This is the place."

Lin Jie stopped at the entrance of a dead-end alley, only two blocks from the core area of last night's riot.

The light inside the alley was extremely dim.

At the base of the brick wall at the deepest part, a large pool of blackened blood remained. The air indeed held a faint trace of garlic smell.

"The scene has already been cleaned up."

William squatted down, carefully observing the bloodstain.

"The body has been taken away by the inspector squad, but they didn't catch the killer."

The veteran stood up and pointed at the five-meter-high red brick walls on both sides of the alley.

"Look up there."

Lin Jie looked up.

About three meters above the ground, several extremely deep scratch marks were left on the brick wall.

"It jumped up from here." William made a tactical assessment. "This thing's leaping power is indeed astonishing."

Lin Jie approached the wall.

He reached out his fingers but did not touch the scratches, because using [Reverberation Touch] in his current state might disrupt the concealment effect of the [Curator's Seal].

He only used his eyes to carefully observe the edges of those claw marks.

Among the red brick dust, some extremely fine white powder was mixed in.

"Julian."

Lin Jie took a step back. Julian immediately stepped forward.

He pulled out a small glass vial from the potion pouch at his waist. The vial contained some transparent liquid.

Julian used a glass rod to dip a little liquid and carefully applied it to the white powder.

"Hiss—"

An extremely faint chemical reaction sound occurred.

The moment the white powder came into contact with the liquid, it burst into a dazzling flash of blue-white light.

"It's white phosphorus residue."

Julian quickly put away the glass vial.

"Exactly as described in the intelligence."

"When it jumped, due to the violent contraction of its muscles, some toxic mist overflowed from the glands in its body."

"These residues are the marks it left behind."

"Can we track it?" Lin Jie asked.

"Yes."

Julian took out a strangely shaped metal mask from his backpack.

The front of the mask protruded with a filter canister resembling a bird's beak.

This was a simple "scent tracker" he had made at Roscoff Harbor using an ancient book formula.

Julian put the mask on his face.

His breathing made a muffled gurgling sound within the filter canister.

Like a hound sniffing for prey, he looked up along the claw marks on the wall.

"The scent extends northward."

Julian pointed in the direction of the rooftops.

"It's moving on the rooftops."

"And..."

Julian's voice sounded somewhat distorted through the mask.

"This scent is very fresh. It hasn't gone far."

"It might be somewhere enjoying its 'spoils of war.'"

"Pursue."

Lin Jie wasted no words.

His legs suddenly exerted force. The [Gravity Dancer] boots left a dent in the ground as his entire body shot upward like a cannonball.

His hands accurately grabbed the edge of a windowsill three meters high.

His core muscles engaged.

With a clean and neat flip, Lin Jie landed steadily on the roof tiles.

Although William lacked the enhancement of a Grotesque Armament, relying on his veteran climbing skills, he quickly followed.

Julian, with William's help, was the last to climb onto the roof.

The three of them lay prone on the slippery tiles. This was London's rooftop world.

Countless chimneys stood like a black forest, arranged in an orderly yet chaotic pattern across their field of vision.

Thick fog flowed between the rooftops, completely obscuring the streets below.

"That direction."

Julian pointed towards a vast cluster of industrial buildings not far away.

"The scent becomes very concentrated there."

Lin Jie looked in the direction Julian pointed. It was an abandoned brewery.

The massive red brick factory building looked particularly eerie in the fog.

Several huge copper brewing vats stood on the roof of the factory building, like silent metal giants.

This place had been abandoned for many years, overgrown with weeds all around.

In a place like Whitechapel where land was at a premium, such a large abandoned building complex was undoubtedly the best shelter for vagrants and monsters.

"Spring-Heeled Jack has a fetish for collecting shiny metal objects."

Julian explained in a low voice.

"Those abandoned copper vats, and the complex steel framework inside the factory building, are practically tailor-made as a nest for it."

Lin Jie stared at the brewery.

His intuition told him that the monster that took the signet ring was inside.

"William, ready the holy cannon. Although that thing might not be a pure spirit."

"The physical killing power of sanctified bullets is still our strongest firepower at the moment."

William nodded. He expertly worked the rifle lever, chambering a large-caliber lead bullet engraved with exorcism inscriptions.

"Julian, stay close to me."

"When necessary, use your [Discipline] to seal off its escape route."

Lin Jie lowered his body and silently advanced along the shadow of the roof ridge towards the abandoned brewery.

This was a race against time.

They had to get that key before the cleanup forces discovered the anomaly of that mutilated corpse.