Chapter 651: Raging Waves of the Red Sea (Part 1)

"Seriously, you didn't actually fall in love with that policewoman at first sight, did you?" Schiller leaned against the bar, holding a glass of wine, and looked with Lucifer at Chloe, who was currently conversing with the male police officer.

"What do you know? This is called love..." Lucifer also raised his glass, staring straight at Chloe as he said, "You humans often say that love arrives so fiercely, without any reason..."

Lucifer stood behind the bar, leaning his elbows on the counter, his body tilted forward as he lowered his voice: "If you help me win her over, I'll help you cure your seasickness. How about that?"

"Not interested. I suddenly don't feel seasick anymore." Schiller set down his glass and stood up. He turned to leave, but Lucifer grabbed him, saying, "Don't be like that. You just ruined my first meeting with her; you have to create another opportunity for me."

Schiller turned his head to look at Lucifer, who was still staring intently at Chloe with his glass in hand. Schiller flicked the glass with his finger, causing Lucifer to blink and snap out of it. Schiller said helplessly, "You aren't actually bewitched by her, are you? Constantine specifically summoned a demon, set up a magic array, and put on a huge show just to pursue a policewoman..."

"Now you've taken a fancy to a policewoman too. What is going on with you two?"

"You don't understand..." Lucifer took a sip of wine, his eyes never leaving Chloe. He said, "A pure and noble soul of the opposite sex has a fatal attraction for someone from Hell."

"That kind of holy and noble soul attracts us, but at the same time, it also stirs up a desire for destruction. Pure, noble, kind..."

Watching the phantom of wings begin to flicker behind Lucifer, Schiller tapped the counter with his glass. With a 'clink', Lucifer came to his senses. He shook his head and said, "That's just how it is. I've fallen in love with her."

Schiller rolled his eyes and said, "Then go ahead and bravely pursue your true love. I'm leaving."

Having said that, he set down his glass and turned to leave. Lucifer's attention remained on Chloe, so he didn't stop Schiller, instead standing behind the bar in thought, clearly considering how to find another opportunity to intervene in this case.

Just as Schiller reached the side door of the bar, Chloe suddenly chased after him. The policewoman walked quickly up to Schiller and said, "Sorry, Professor, could I take a moment of your time?"

Schiller pursed his lips and glanced back at Lucifer, who gestured wildly at him and made a face. Schiller sighed and said, "Alright, Detective Chloe, what is it?"

At this moment, Lucifer walked up and said, "Hey, let's not talk out here; it's windy. Let's go inside. The earlier incident scared all the customers away, and the food I prepared won't get eaten—it's a waste to throw it out. Why don't we have a late-night snack together?"

Chloe didn't refuse, instead looking at Schiller. Schiller nodded and said, "Fine, bring me another drink."

Lucifer then nimbly ran off to mix drinks. After a while, Schiller, Lucifer, Chloe, and the male officer, Dan, were sitting on the sofa. Chloe frowned and said:

"This case isn't as simple as it looks on the surface. The killer who attacked the deceased was wearing a luxury watch that doesn't match his spending level. I think there must be a darker transaction behind this."

"A watch?" Lucifer frowned, rubbing his chin. He hadn't paid attention to the killer's attire; after all, he hadn't expected a policewoman to show up to work the case, so he hadn't noted many details.

"I think you're overthinking it," Dan said. "I suspect it was just a drug deal gone wrong, leading the seller to open fire."

"That doesn't make sense, Dan. You should know that if this were all just a coincidence—that the victim happened to buy something from that dealer, didn't pay, and angered him into shooting—then why, the moment the dealer killed the person, was his car hit, and why did he die himself?"

Chloe reached up to smooth her hair and said, "The killer's death wasn't an accident. It must have been the mastermind behind the scenes wanting to silence him."

Lucifer recalled that shortly after the sound of gunfire, there had been the sound of a car crash. When he rushed out, he found the car the killer had been riding in had been smashed by a large truck.

When he went to check the killer's body, he found that the killer had died from the impact of the crash, his forehead hitting the steering wheel.

As mentioned before, Lucifer was also a fan of deduction, a hobby cultivated by Schiller. At this moment, he analyzed it almost instinctively:

"The intersection in front of my bar isn't a standard crossroad. The truck that hit the killer came from the east intersection, and the angle it formed with the street my bar is on is an obtuse angle."

"In other words, on the road he was driving in on, his field of vision should have been excellent. He would have been able to see what cars were on this road; he wouldn't have caused a crash due to a blind spot."

"I've run this bar here for so many years and have never seen a single car accident, which is good proof. There are no road safety issues here. That a crash happened at this specific time is very suspicious."

Chloe looked at Lucifer with some surprise. She had assumed this bar owner was just like those who hung around nightclubs all the time—only capable of making inappropriate dirty jokes and causing trouble. She hadn't expected that when he got serious, he could provide useful information.

Chloe took a notebook out of her bag, looked at Lucifer, and asked, "Do you know what the deceased came to the bar to do?"

"Everyone comes to a bar for one purpose: to have fun and relax." Lucifer took a sip of wine and said, "Delilah was no exception. Perhaps she wanted to come and vent her troubles to me."

"And what troubles did she have?" Chloe keenly captured this point.

"She didn't say." Lucifer shook his head and said, "There were several times she seemed on the verge of speaking, but in the end, she said nothing. You'd be better off asking this psychology professor; he talked to Delilah more deeply."

Chloe turned to look at Schiller. Although Schiller already had a grasp of Delilah's psychological state, he remained relatively conservative:

"She was in a state of anxiety, harboring a fear of making choices. This mental state should have been going on for a long time. The specific cause might stem from an intimate relationship, pressure brought on by the other party..."

"An intimate relationship?" Chloe pondered, then turned and pushed Dan, saying, "Go back to the station now and see if you can find Delilah's identity information. If you do, call me..."

After Dan left, Lucifer became increasingly proactive. He watched Dan's departing figure and asked, "Detective, I mean no offense, but you and your colleague don't seem to have a very good relationship..."

*Rebirth of the Surging Era*

Chloe frowned, seemingly feeling the question was a bit offensive. Schiller spoke up: "While we're at it, why don't we go back and check the scene? Lucifer and I are both fans of deduction. This kind of field experience in solving murder cases is very valuable to us. It is our honor to cooperate with an experienced officer like you..."

Hearing this, Chloe's expression softened slightly. She stood up, steadying herself on her leg, and said, "Alright. It just so happens I missed investigating some of the surrounding environment earlier. If you want to look, remember not to disturb the scene or move the body."

"Rest assured, as a psychology professor, I have cooperated with the police before. I understand these things." Schiller also stood up.

Just as the three were walking out, Chloe asked casually, "Professor, which university are you currently teaching at?"

"Gotham University."

Chloe paused with her hand on the door and said, "Then it seems you should have more experience than I do."

Schiller smiled without a word. After the three went outside, Chloe went to check the intersection where the crash occurred.

The policewoman found that the situation was indeed as Lucifer had said: the intersection had an open view, with no blind spots like a typical crossroad. Judging by the truck's trajectory, the driver had made no attempt to brake or turn, simply driving straight into the car.

The state of the killer's corpse inside the sedan was also not surprising; the fatal injury was a head impact. However, what concerned Chloe was that there were some strange movement marks on the body. It didn't look like someone had moved it, but rather that it had moved on its own after death.

Chloe, of course, wouldn't imagine that someone could resurrect a corpse. She thought it might have been the shock from a subsequent explosion of the vehicle that caused the body to shift; such situations weren't unheard of.

Just as Chloe was deducing the killer's identity, Schiller and Lucifer huddled together next to Delilah's body. Schiller whispered, "Why don't you take this opportunity to resurrect her and ask what exactly happened?"

"Do you think I can resurrect whoever I want?"

"Can't you?" Schiller asked.

"Of course not." Lucifer glanced at Chloe in the distance and said, "The last time I was able to resurrect that policewoman Angela's sister, it was because I modified the causality on the timeline. Without a cause, she naturally wouldn't die, so that can't really be called resurrection."

"And now, if I were to resurrect Delilah out of thin air, I would have to go to Hell and find her soul."

"Then why don't you go?"

"Remember that female bartender who was mixing drinks for you earlier? She keeps urging me to return to Hell. There have also been demons coming up from Hell; they all want me to return to Hell. I don't want to go back, so I don't want to have too much contact with Hell..."

Schiller didn't continue. He held reservations about the act of resurrection. From a behavioral perspective, death is an important cause for many human behavioral patterns. Once the deterrent of death is gone, no one knows how human behavior will develop.

And returning from the dead might also have a huge impact on human psychology, not to mention that in this world, after humans die, they either go to Heaven or Hell. Having seen the scenery of these two worlds, I'm afraid the entire person's mindset would undergo a massive change.

Schiller didn't know what the relationship between Delilah and Lucifer was really like. Now it seemed they might not have had a very deep friendship. In the end, Lucifer helping Delilah back then was just a matter of convenience; he hadn't invested any real emotion.

Schiller squatted down, looking at Delilah's body, checking the gunshot wounds, and then checking the surrounding ground. After checking all this, he said, "The person who did this is very professional. All the bullets hit the target; there are no bullet marks on the surrounding ground."

Lucifer narrowed his eyes and said, "Regardless, Delilah was my friend, and I don't allow anyone to take action on my turf. If I don't make the people behind this look good, I won't be able to survive on the West Coast."

"You said earlier that if I created an opportunity for you, you'd help me figure out what's going on with my seasickness. Well, the opportunity is here."

Schiller stood up and looked at Lucifer, who also looked at him. Schiller said, "Delilah's distress likely came from an intimate relationship of hers, perhaps a husband or boyfriend, or possibly family."

"You can suggest to Detective Chloe that you investigate her family situation together. That way, you'll have plenty of time to hit on her."

Lucifer looked at Schiller with some surprise, but then his gaze fell on the ring on Schiller's hand. He raised his glass to take a sip of wine and said nothing. ===== CHAPTER 652 =====