Chapter 164: Beastification Syndrome

"You have quite a lot of guts."

Xia Nan looked at the thin curly-haired girl in front of him, his gaze carrying some strangeness.

Although Niumu is a well-known big city, it is only compared to the small towns and villages around it.

The people living in it might have a better average quality than the Hegu Town filled with adventurers.

But it is definitely not as good as the modern peaceful society he lived in in his previous life.

The frequency of events like theft, robbery, kidnapping, and murder is extremely high.

Not to mention, this world also has various strange supernatural powers.

Walking skeletons, hags that drag you out of the house at night to skin and cramp you...

Even if it were himself, encountering such a thing in the middle of the night, if he didn't have this strength right now, let alone going out to investigate the situation, he would at most wrap the quilt on his body tighter, bury his head in it, and pretend he didn't hear it.

And the young woman named "Ha Li Te" in front of him was obviously just an ordinary person, and there was no possibility of her muscles swelling and turning into a two-meter-tall barbarian after a roar.

The Grey Tree Lane she lived in was obviously not a wealthy area with guards patrolling non-stop, and she even lived alone.

Under such circumstances, she actually dared to go out alone in the middle of the night to find the source of the sound that was obviously wrong.

I don't know whether to say she has commendable courage, or that she feels she has lived too long and wants to seek death.

"I'm not usually like this!"

Seeing the sharp adventurer sitting on the sofa in front of her seemed to have misunderstood something.

Ha Li Te waved her hands quickly and said.

"After my parents passed away, I have lived alone for many years, and I still have basic awareness of prevention."

"Sometimes if I get up late, I would rather go hungry for a whole night than go out, and wait until dawn when there are more people to go out for breakfast."

"But I don't know why I suddenly became so careless that night."

"Thinking back on it now, I also feel very lingering fear."

Listening to the other party describe her feelings, Xia Nan frowned slightly, guessing in his heart that it might be the effect of some kind of enchantment spell that affected the girl in front of him.

At the same time, he was also more curious about the encounter of the Ba Ke family next door.

"You should have followed the guards into the house later, right?"

"What was the situation inside?"

Hearing this, Ha Li Te's expression suddenly became uneasy, as if recalling some rather unbearable scene, and even her body trembled slightly.

"Dead, they are all dead."

"It's like being attacked by some kind of wild beast... broken palms, toes, arms, blood everywhere."

"Sorry, I was too scared at the time, I just followed and took a look, and then retreated."

Xia Nan nodded to show understanding and asked further.

"If you say so, including Ba Ke, their whole family died that night, right?"

"No, Mr. Ba Ke... might still be alive." Ha Li Te shook her head, "Later I heard the magistrate say that Mr. Ba Ke's body was not found in the house."

Then things are very simple.

Only two results:

1. Ba Ke is still alive; 2. Ba Ke is already dead.

Regarding the former, if Ba Ke did not die that night, then he is most likely the murderer who killed his own family, and there is also a partial possibility that he was taken away alive by the attacker because of some reason.

And as for the latter, considering what the girl in front mentioned, that his body was not found in the house, perhaps he has also been taken away by the real killer.

But just like the adventurers use the left ears of goblins to exchange for bounties, if someone really received a bounty on Ba Ke and took action for it, there is no need to take the whole body away.

Unless Ba Ke's body has something special.

Clear thoughts flowed through his mind.

Xia Nan suddenly felt that he seemed to have a little talent for detective work, and his thinking was quite comprehensive.

"So... my mission is to find the murderer?"

He raised the small note left by the association with the mission location on it and asked.

"Yes." Ha Li Te nodded.

"But shouldn't this be the business of the magistrate of your West City District?"

Xia Nan couldn't help but feel increasingly confused.

But just as the words came out of his mouth, some extra thoughts popped up in his heart.

"Adventurers" are often seen in the eyes of the world as those who hunt monsters in dangerous forests and caves and maintain their lives by earning bounties.

Xia Nan thought so when he first crossed over to this world.

But as he went further and further in this line, his original thoughts gradually changed.

Just like the "Firefly Garlic Vine" collection mission he took as a transition before, and the caravan escort mission where he met Jeff, and even the bounty for the Spore Druid that had been posted on the association's mission board for more than half a year.

The things "adventurers" can do are, to a certain extent, not limited.

As long as you have enough money to initiate a commission to the association, and the association is willing to accept it and post it on the mission board.

Theoretically, if your pet at home is lost and you want to ask someone to help find it back; or if you feel empty in the middle of the night and urgently need a strong and hot body to satisfy your desire.

You can also hire adventurers who meet the relevant qualifications in the form of a mission.

To say something rebellious, as long as the money is in place, and the Adventurer Association is not worried about causing any trouble.

Even the gods sitting high in the Kingdom of God can be hung with bounties and posted on the association's mission board.

Of course, whether anyone is willing to take the mission is another matter.

With this as a premise, it seems that there is no big problem with him receiving a mission to investigate a murder case.

But...

"I take a carriage from Hegu Town to Niumu, and it takes more than half a month just on the road."

"If something really goes wrong, I'm afraid even the body will stink, right?"

"If it's a serial murder case, this time is enough for the murderer to kill a few more."

"Considering the worst case, ten or twenty days, I don't even know if the attacker has already left Niumu."

"Such a case, shouldn't it have been handed over to the nearby magistrate to handle at that time?"

Xia Nan felt more and more confused as he spoke.

And under his series of questioning and pursuit, the girl in front also shrank her head.

"The magistrate came, but just took a few glances and left."

"It seems to be because something happened to the City Lord's side recently, and the magistrates of Niumu are quite busy."

"I, I don't know..."

Hearing Ha Li Te say this, Xia Nan finally figured it out.

They just didn't take it seriously at all.

The girl herself is not the commissioner, and the mission most likely comes from the Niumu official side.

The reason why the address was left by the association for the adventurer who came to the door to provide mission information is just because of her identity as a neighbor and an eyewitness to the incident.

And as the other party said, he had also heard some rumors about the big things happening in Niumu now in newspapers and chats with the Jeff family in the past two days, nothing more than the City Lord being seriously ill and high-level changes.

Under such circumstances, chaos is from top to bottom, and the magistrates naturally don't have the mind to deal with a murder case that happens hundreds of times every year.

Not to mention, the location of the murder case is not a wealthy area.

At most, it is just symbolically commissioning the mission to the Adventurer Association with remuneration from the official side.

It's best if someone takes it; anyway, it's not their own money, and catching the murderer is a good thing for them, which can save a lot of trouble;

If no one takes the mission, it doesn't matter.

Once the bounty time is over and the mission is taken down, they naturally won't spend money to renew it.

If someone really asks seriously, he can also say that he has tried his best.

So many people come and go in Niumu every day, and it's not too normal for a few necromancers and cultists to sneak in.

If every case has to be studied and investigated in detail, then even if a few hundred more magistrates are hired, it will not be handled at all.

"But using this kind of commission as my promotion mission, isn't it too sloppy?"

Xia Nan muttered to himself.

Although there is no time limit, and there will be no punishment if it is not completed, it will most likely just let him change to another mission to continue.

But after learning the specific situation of the commission, he couldn't help but doubt in his heart whether the association staff member mentioned by the receptionist Miss Molly had sent him the wrong mission, or was it because the time was too rushed and he was perfunctory?

Or is it that you just need to go through the process, and you don't need to put in any effort, and after returning to Hegu Town and reporting the situation, the mission is considered completed?

Now that he is here, Xia Nan can't just do nothing and go back in a dejected way after spending more than half a month.

He only hopes that the association itself has investigated the mission in advance, and it is in line with his strength positioning and has the possibility of completion.

He bit the bullet and investigated.

"Let's go."

Xia Nan sighed silently, swallowed the last mouthful of tea, and stood up slowly from the sofa.

"Take me to see it."

Compared with the two-story small building where Ha Li Te lived, the house of the Ba Ke family next door, although the overall architectural style did not look much different from the outside.

But standing at the door, one could clearly feel an atmosphere of abandonment.

In Xia Nan's words, it had no "human spirit."

Less than a month after the incident, the green vines on the edge of the wooden wall had already climbed onto the wall, there were a few more spider webs between the railings, and a thin layer of dust had covered the outer edge of the windowsill.

Taking the key that the magistrate had left with her in advance from Ha Li Te's hand, he pushed the door and entered.

First, a cold air current mixed with a faint rot smell rushed toward him.

Many glass fragments were scattered under the broken back window, the curtains fluttered lightly with the cold wind blowing from outside the house, and under the morning light, one could vaguely see the dust floating in the air.

The layout of the room still maintained the state of that night.

Overturned wooden tables, broken dinner plates, sofas with cotton wool squeezed out from the cracks, a few pieces of clothing fragments that were not in shape...

And, blood.

On the ground, the inner walls, and even the ceiling above the head, there were a large number of dried, dark brown and black blood stains.

Just standing at the door, looking at these terrifying traces, one could imagine the tragic scene on that night.

"The bodies, have they been disposed of?"

Xia Nan walked into the house, looking at the environment around him, and asked without looking back.

"Hmm, the magistrate dragged them away the next day."

Following closely behind, a fearful female voice came to his ears.

Without the conditions of low-temperature preservation in the ice house, a month's time was enough for the bodies of ordinary people to rot and stink, so naturally, they couldn't be left in the house.

"Then the bodies should have been checked by them, have there been any discoveries?"

"They said there were many traces of wild beast biting and tearing."

"And then?"

"Nothing else..."

Xia Nan couldn't help but stand still, his brows furrowed, and he turned to look at Ha Li Te behind him.

"They should be able to roughly judge the type and size of the wild beast from the wounds, didn't they do that?"

The only answer to him was silence.

"Fine."

Xia Nan felt a deep helplessness.

It seems he still overestimated the professionalism of the magistrates in this world.

Oh, no.

It should be that he overestimated their conscience and professional ethics.

Basic criminal investigation techniques, according to Xia Nan's understanding of the development of various aspects of this world, he believes that the magistrates in Niumu City must have mastered them.

It's just that, when they have important things to do, they are not necessarily willing to spend time and energy on a household of ordinary commoners from the countryside.

He felt even more troublesome in his heart.

The him in his previous life, although he had read some novels about reasoning and solving cases during his student days, was just an ordinary office worker after all.

Perhaps because of the improvement in physical fitness, he had obtained good observation ability, but there was no relevant knowledge in his brain.

To give a simple example:

Xia Nan's dark and deep eyes could clearly see the fine textures stained with blood on the wall, and could see the blood stains dried and solidified in them.

But he couldn't restore the scene when the Ba Ke family was attacked like the detective in the novel, based on the direction of blood splashing and the amount of spraying.

"Making it so complicated, I don't know where to start."

For Xia Nan, he still prefers that kind of commission that is more direct.

Who to kill, where to kill, how much money to give.

Simple, clear, and unambiguous.

Why make the mission so brain-burning?

"That magistrate, did he say any other information?"

After walking around the house for half a circle and seeing nothing, Xia Nan asked Ha Li Te who was following behind.

While speaking, before he had time to wait for the other party to reply, he seemed to have discovered something.

He stepped forward quickly and came to the broken window.

I saw a deep claw mark left on the windowsill that was slightly collapsed downward.

He put his fingers together and stretched out his hand to compare, and found that the claw mark was much larger than an ordinary human palm.

Five toes, slightly shorter on both sides, three slightly longer in the middle, distributed in parallel as a whole.

"Wild beast," "standing," "low howl in the middle of the night"...

Messy clues emerged in his mind one by one, and Xia Nan thought carefully.

And it was only until this time, under his questioning, that Ha Li Te behind him finally remembered other key information.

"The magistrate seemed to have said at the time."

"It might... have something to do with 'Beastification Syndrome'."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 165 =====