The Secret Code of Monsters.

Chapter 5: Planning
Roland's behavior made Nina curse him, from questioning his parents to cursing their offspring, she did everything she could.

He quietly cleaned up the room and left carrying the barrel.

The next day, the two of them chatted as usual, as if nothing had happened.

One tells stories, the other listens to them.

day after day.

Roland felt like a mouse in the dark, exploring carefully bit by bit, step by step, trying to figure out the patterns of action of those puppet-like servants and housekeepers - then, he couldn't wait to tell Nina his idea: he wanted to take her away.

Run far away.

Nina remained silent.

"Because if I leave this room, I will die."

The woman on the hospital bed told Roland in a joking tone: the people torturing her were now sustaining her dying life.

"The ritual began the day I 'came'. My legs were broken, my eyes gouged out, and I was bled every day."

"I tried, suggesting to the new servants of the house to report what happened here to the church."

"But guess what?"

"In the evening, the servant's head appeared beside my pillow. She slept with me for half a month. I smelled and felt her gradually becoming smelly, rotting, full of maggots, and hatching flies."

"There are no ritualists in this remote place, and Thales is very powerful...so no one will care about the 'family affairs' of a wealthy businessman."

"I had already accepted my fate, but you, a little cutie, jumped in without knowing the consequences..."

At this point, she laughed nervously:

"Most of them... have one characteristic."

“We are all people who have died once.”

"Plus…"

"I am especially not afraid of death."

Her strange words made Roland more or less clear that the storytelling session of the past few days might come to an end starting today.

"What can I do for you, Miss Nina?"

"I thought you were going to tell me to 'think positively, everything will be fine'."

Roland frowned: "Why? I know your physical condition. Frankly speaking, nothing will get better. Death may be a relief for you."

"It's just a humorous little joke. You always can't keep up."

Nina repeated the phrase "blind man who doesn't understand romance" several times in dissatisfaction, and then continued:
"I don't want you to end up like that servant. Let me think..."

About half a minute passed.

"Do you have a solution? I need ten grams of snaketail grass, the freshest one. A pure sapphire with a sharp corner. The oil from the oil lamp that accompanied the woman crying all night, ten whiskers of a female cat, and..."

She paused. "And a cup of your blood."

"If you can find it, I'll give you a small gift."

Except for blood, none of these things are easy to get.

Roland sighed: "You don't think you have money."

Nina said nothing.

She knew how difficult it was for a blind child from the workhouse to get hold of these things.

She had never mentioned it before. Apart from waiting for the plot to get closer...I also had some dark thoughts that were difficult to tell others - I couldn't be the only one to endure such pain.

But these days.

This little cutie...

It's really... so good for her.

William Collins.

He had hope of survival.

As long as she doesn't insist on dragging him to death with her.

As long as she is willing to give her hope to him.

What kind of impact will those bizarre stories, which are not in line with the concepts and views of the times, have on a teenager who is between a boy and a man? Will what she conveys be like the dawn sunlight that dispels the haze above his head, or - like oil poured into a flame, make his already twisted mind even crazier.

She never considered it.

She is just an ordinary person, an ordinary person whose vicious and dark thoughts have been magnified.

Now, she has finally made up her mind.

She chose to go alone, leaving this kind-hearted little cat with a sharp tongue to suffer in the world.

"You have another choice, which is simpler and more correct: leave." The woman in the dark kept coughing, and she was getting weaker and weaker: "Find a way, find a way to hide. Don't go to church. There are no ritualists in the town. They can't stop the housekeeper, and they won't believe you. Old Collins also serves as the sheriff..."

The lower half of Roland's face smiled unusually gently in the light, but his deep golden eyes hidden in the shadows were empty, calm, and as dull as water.

"So where do you think I can hide?"

"Where can a blind person with little money in his pocket hide?"

"Everyone in this house smells of human blood, and it gets thicker every day - I don't think they have any legal part-time jobs behind their backs."

"Listen to me, Miss Nina: I will not sacrifice my life for you, or for anyone else. Unless you are sure that you will let me live after the little trick you mentioned."

"I just want to survive, Miss Nina. What else can I ask for?"

Nina didn't say anything for a long time.

After a while, Roland felt someone hit him with a ball of paper.

"You are just a proud person. Don't learn things that will make you lose your environment." She coughed more and more severely, and her voice became intermittent: "I promise, as long as you get these things, you can survive... I promise..."

"Time is running out, those people should be passing by this town soon..."

She began to talk to herself again.

"And Lillian, the plot seems to have mentioned that Lillian also appeared in this town at the beginning? No... No way."

"Be careful... She is not someone you can easily mess with..."

Roland held her bony hand and listened to her silently:

"Running away is definitely not the best option..."

Although Nina also felt that this was equally difficult for a blind person.

Her voice became increasingly quiet:
"But if you can get away with it and go to the stagecoach stop, be smart..."

"As soon as you get to London, go to the church and tell it all that has happened here—

Roland made a sound and interrupted: "Then, come back to collect your body?"

Nina said vaguely: "The blood honey ritual will not leave a corpse. You can build a tombstone for me."

Roland smiled and asked what was written on it.

"'Goodbye.'"

Roland: "...your humor always appears so inappropriately."

Nina snorted. "What did you say? 'Thank you, William Collins. A boy who wiped my ass'?"

Roland was too lazy to respond during her intermittent attacks, and stood up slowly.

"I'll see what I can do. Can you tell me when the 'ritual' will end?"

Nina couldn't come up with a specific number: "...but you have to do it as soon as possible."

"You are a good person, although this word..." Nina still didn't think Roland could find what she needed. "Run, hide outside at night. During the day, go to the station, the farther the better..."

Of course Roland thought about running away.

嗏

Even if good luck allowed him to avoid the butler, servants and even the police and reach his destination safely, could good luck also make those priests who only bowed their heads to gentlemen listen to him?
Roland didn't know and had never dealt with these people.

If he doesn't get a response, he will have to hide like a rat.

Alone in a strange slum...

Still blind.

How long can you live?

His luck has always been bad, and he is not willing to gamble on those people's attitude towards him.

"I'll find a way."

Roland turned and left the room.

He needs help.

Roland returned to his room and quietly took out the full set of clothes that the butler had prepared for him from the closet.

It includes a shiny lacquered wooden cane with the word "Collins" engraved in cursive script on the handle.

Turn over the mattress, open the envelope, and pour out the pitiful coins inside.

Every time after taking blood, Old Collins and the servants in the house would disappear for a while...

So, the blood collection time tomorrow will be advanced.

Roland thought.

(End of this chapter)