Because it is not the first time to travel here, there are horse-drawn carriages waiting for travelers outside the station in advance. The three carriages quickly drove into the town with the young people, their servants, and their luggage, but before Jenkins could seriously observe the rural life of this era, the carriage turned and drove them away from the town.
In front of the bumpy path, an old house was waiting for them at the end of the road.
The house outside this small town belongs to a local "rich man". Of course, compared with the young people who are traveling, the word rich man needs to be quoted. He has a deep business relationship with Miss Lawrence's father, so he is willing to temporarily lend this place to a group of travelers.
The businessman is currently handling business in a neighboring country, so there is only an old butler who is as dull as a zombie in the house to receive everyone. But I have to admit that the dinner served here is very delicious, even those who have a weak appetite from the train journey can enjoy this extraordinary taste.
The house occupies a small area and is divided into two floors. The guest rooms are uniformly located on the second floor, and because they are only staying for one night, there is no need to assign rooms specially. The seven chose a small bedroom each, with the men's and women's rooms separated by a staircase. .
Jenkins was accompanied by only one cat, and this cat slept next to Jenkins' pillow. The room probably has not been used for a long time, so there is a bad smell of damp. This dissatisfied the sensitive chocolate, so Jenkins could only find a clean blanket, prop it up with a spoon, and set up a small tent for it on the other side of the double bed.
Although the train journey did not consume too much energy, everyone went to bed early in order to get up early tomorrow. The same goes for Jenkins and Chocolate, but Chocolate is probably not used to unfamiliar environments, and has been clawing Jenkins' face with his paws before going to bed to prevent him from sleeping.
"Go to sleep, no matter what happens, sleep is the most important thing."
He said so, and the cat immediately became honest.
The quality of sleep was good tonight, but I was unexpectedly woken up by the cold when I slept in the middle of the night. This is almost impossible, because every room in this house is heated, and the housekeeper does not spare the fuel.
He regained consciousness in a daze, revealing that his feet were already stiff from the cold. Something was moving in the quilt on his chest, it was obviously chocolate that got in because of the cold.
"What's the matter, the heater is broken?"
He rubbed his face and sat up from bed, grabbed the cat in his hands, and put on his slippers to find the gas light switch at the door. But no matter how I press it, the light won't turn on.
Jenkins frowned, called out the monocle and looked around, the flame of his finger lit the candlestick on the table, yawned and walked outside the door.
"Hi Mr. Williams!"
Garcia, who lived next door, also came out at this time. He looked strange with a coat wrapped over his pajamas.
"Is it the pipes? I find the steam-pipes and gas-lamps out of order."
Side by side with Garcia, Jenkins knocked on Quick's door, and a few minutes later there were three men in the hallway.
Soon there were noises from the corridor on the other side where the ladies lived, and after a few people got together, they went together to find the servants in the house to inquire about the situation. Among the dozen or so people, only Jenkins was wearing only thin pajamas. Miss Rick suggested that Jenkins add another dress, which delayed everyone for some time.
There are very few servants in the huge house, and the old housekeeper is the one with the most responsibilities. A group of people met him on the stairs on the first floor, when the old man was walking out holding a candlestick.
"It should be that there is something wrong with the gas pipe in the town. You see, there is no light at all over there."
The house is situated on an elevated position overlooking part of the town. At this time, there is no light in the small town, which is unbelievable even at night.
As for the steam pipe, after a simple inspection, it was found that the steam engine in the yard seemed to be broken. And now it was one o'clock in the morning, he regretfully announced that everyone could only maintain this situation until dawn.
While it's very upsetting to experience something like this on the first day of a trip, it's not something human can change. After learning about the situation, everyone could only ask the old housekeeper for more quilts, hoping not to catch a cold due to the low temperature tonight.
Ten minutes after each of them returned to the room, Jenkins walked out of his room silently with the chocolate again, and looked up at the oil painting in the dark in the lobby on the first floor. A few minutes later, Hathaway also came out from upstairs.
After the two approached, Jenkins stretched out his fingers and made a gesture of not speaking, and then walked out from the main entrance together.
Since all the gas lamps were out of order, it was pitch black all around. After making sure that no one could hear the conversation between the two, Jenkins said:
"Come with me, I just saw something was wrong."
"What do you see?"
"A piece of suspicious stuff."
They went around the back of the building, and Jenkins got a crowbar to pry open the large slab of ground, exposing the steam valve beneath. They hadn't checked the underground pipeline through here before, but Jenkins knew it was here.
"careful."
He gave an order, and then held up a candle to illuminate the narrow area underground. I saw a cluster of weed-like things clinging tightly to the pipe wall on the rusty and muddy pipe. Jenkins originally thought it was some kind of thriving bryophyte, but immediately realized that it coincided with the shape of the aura seen by the eyes.
"What's this?"
He asked Hathaway, no accident, this is the culprit that caused the mansion to stop heating.
"I've seen this kind of plant in a book. It seems to be a plant that lives on heat. It grows in extremely cold regions and will spontaneously attach to the warmest objects nearby. If it attaches to a human being, it will Causes rapid hypothermia and death of the human body. The name seems to be... Cold Snake Grass."
The temperature of the steam pipe is much higher than the temperature of the human body surface, so it will appear here. But after learning that the pipeline was damaged, the old housekeeper had ordered the servants to stop supplying fuel for burning. Once the temperature of the pipeline dropped to a certain level, the grass would definitely attack the humans in the house.
"But why is this thing here? I mean, it apparently only appeared tonight. The steam pipes were still working when we got here."
Jenkins asked again, but Hathaway couldn't give an answer either.