Chapter 645: Elf Body Art, Historical Images

On the other side, when Xia Duo received the news and rushed to the scene in the Savile Town Villa District, it was already crowded with Elves; the sounds of noise, weeping, shouting, and the angry reprimands of those forcing themselves to stay calm were endless.

"The human Lord is here!" someone shouted, though it was unclear who.

The group of Elves, who had originally surrounded the place so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass through, quickly parted to create a path for Xia Duo and Aiboke to enter. When they reached the center, despite having mentally prepared themselves, they were still shocked by the scene before them.

A corpse—let's call it humanoid—lay on the ground, surrounded by Elves using spells to cordon it off as if protecting the scene, but the scene itself was truly too terrifying—

The corpse lay on the ground in a "big" shape, completely naked. That wasn't even the main point; the key was that someone had cut the skin from the shin to the crotch and then peeled it back completely to both sides.

The internal organs had also been removed one by one and neatly arranged on the skin that had been peeled back to both sides. Even with the Wind Domain on Xia Duo's body surface, he could not block the thick, bloody stench that rushed into his nasal cavity.

The skin of the remaining hands and legs had also been completely peeled off. Only the head, seemingly to highlight the victim's identity as an Elf, had not been treated in any way.

But that face, twisted and deformed by pain, added an even more terrifying color to it.

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo could not help but furrow his brows tightly. What on earth was going on? Could it be that the Elves of the Silver Leaf Family had become addicted to pretending to be Drow, and that scaring people wasn't enough, so they had to kill someone?

Although he knew this possibility was very low, he still could not help but cast a suspicious, probing gaze toward Aoruipusi, who was forcing himself to stay calm on the side.

At a time like this, how could Aoruipusi dare to respond? If he were even slightly tainted by this matter, the other Elves here could tear his whole family apart. Besides, his father truly hadn't done this. Facing Xia Duo's questioning gaze, Aoruipusi could only show a bitter expression and shake his head slightly.

Just then, a female Elf who had fainted on the side let out a whimper and slowly regained consciousness. The first thing she said upon waking was to shout, "Don't come over!"

When she saw that the surroundings were filled with Elves and that her own family was guarding her, the female Elf seemed to heave a sigh of relief, but immediately after, she cried out again, "Ah—Ruien!"

The female Elf looked madly at the ground around her. When she saw the familiar head in the scene cleared out by the crowd of Elves, she seemed unable to bear it any longer, let out a shrill scream, and fainted again.

Xia Duo looked around and asked, "Is she the other Elf who was present at the time? Who was the first to arrive here?"

"It was me!"

Hearing the voice, Xia Duo turned his head to look. It was another female Elf guarding the fainted one. At this moment, surrounded by so many Elves, she still had a look of lingering fear, and her voice still carried a slight tremor:

"Ailin is my daughter. At the time, I heard her and Ruien's screams and rushed over immediately. My husband was the second to arrive."

After she finished speaking, the male Elf beside her added, "When we arrived, there were no other people or Elves here. The murderer may have already fled."

"I was the third to arrive!"

The voice was somewhat familiar. Xia Duo looked back and saw it was Aoruipusi's father—Aobolaien, the only High Mage of the Silver Leaf Family, and also the Elf who had disguised himself as a Drow to spread panic a few days ago.

"After I arrived, I temporarily protected this place to prevent the clues from being destroyed. Besides, I was the one who asked Ailin to stay; I was worried the murderer would continue to attack her."

"..."

Xia Duo didn't believe the second half of that sentence. If the murderer had time to play with body art, how could they not have time to stab the Elf named Ailin? This was clearly a living witness left behind on purpose!

However, Xia Duo did not dwell on this point, but instead asked: "Then, Mage Aobolaien, have you discovered any clues?"

"Uh—not for the moment, but Patriarch Peilun of the Yueshilan Family has made a discovery!"

"Oh?"

Xia Duo still had a very deep impression of this Yueshilan Family; they were the first to arrive at Savile Town, and he and Niya had personally "received" them!

"Patriarch Peilun, what have you discovered?"

"Lord Xia Duo, the Yueshilan Family has a secret treasure that can scry the history of a certain place in the past. I have already used it just now. Only the two Elves, Ruien and Ailin, have appeared here in the past. Judging from the historical images scried, it looks as if Ruien turned into this state by himself, which means there is some kind of magic power of Avoidance of Detection on the murderer."

Afterwards, this Patriarch Peilun displayed the historical images he had scried once more—in just a very short time, Ruien suddenly fell, and at the same time, Ailin was knocked away. After that, it was the process of Ruien turning into art.

Throughout the whole process, there was no sign of a third party.

"There exists a magic power of Avoidance of Detection?" Xia Duo repeated to himself.

This was troublesome!

He himself possessed magic power for Avoidance of Detection, and he had no doubt that many of the families of the Elves present also possessed it.

If one could not cast Scrying spells, then never mind finding the murderer; even determining the murderer's identity was a problem.

Xia Duo was not skilled in criminal investigation, but from the limited clues, the murderer possessed a considerable level of experience in Elven body dissection, perhaps had a certain desire for performance, and used extremely cruel methods.

Then a name became obvious—Drow. Whether it was a real Drow or someone disguised to commit the crime, at least on the surface, it looked very much like something a Drow would do.

Thinking of this, he once again cast his suspicious gaze toward Aobolaien. A High Mage, familiar with Elves, and if he had a certain amount of practical experience, he would be fully capable of creating such "Elven body art."

"Aiboke, have you discovered anything?"

"No, I didn't even find a single extra footprint, as if the murderer was flying throughout the entire crime." Aiboke was very puzzled by this.

Xia Duo had also noticed this point. The scene was under a tree in the Villa District with soft soil. The corpse was surrounded by a circle. Inside the circle, apart from a pair of footprints that might have been left when Ruien fell—shallow in the front and deep in the back—and a pair of footprints similar to dragging, there were no others.

The dragging one should have been left when Ailin was knocked away, but if the murderer had walked on the ground to complete such complex "Elven body art," they should have left many footprints.

Even if their skills were exquisite, similar to "butchering an ox," they should have at least left a sequence of footprints.

Or, as Aiboke guessed, the murderer flew throughout the entire crime while also knowing how to use Avoidance of Detection. Looking at it this way, if one ignored the "corpse dissection" technique, the one with the ability and the motive was most likely Aobolaien.

Simply scaring people to create panic—how could that be as terrifying as killing someone directly?

As for leaving Ailin alive, wasn't it just to have one more optimal tool-Elf to spread fear?

Thinking of Ailin, Xia Duo looked around again and pointed at Ailin, asking: "Who can wake her up?"

A plainly dressed Elf walked out from the crowd of Elves, holding a Small Wood Carving in his hand. "Let me try. The Natural Holy Power of the Main God might be able to wake her up!"

The Elf who spoke was not a Druid, but the wood carving in his hand was a Druid Magic Artifact, possessing the ability to soothe the mind and heal external wounds, though it had a limited number of uses; every time it was used, there was one less.

Standing out at this moment was nothing more than attaching great importance to the description of Ailin, the Elf involved.