Chapter 679: Phoenix

The girl looked at Luo En in surprise; previously, Luo En had strongly disliked living here, and he had even suggested leaving, yet he had consistently refused—yet today, he suddenly changed his mind and wanted to stay longer.

She immediately said.

"I'll have a room prepared for you right away."

Saying this, the girl immediately ordered the Curses to clear out a room for Luo En; the room faced outward, allowing Luo En to see the entire castle from it.

Luo En immediately thanked the girl, then entered his room.

Throughout the night, Luo En examined every corner of the room; he could clearly see the outside from within, but the Curses did not emerge at night, and the entire castle remained utterly silent—he detected nothing suspicious.

This puzzled Luo En; based on the intelligence he had gathered, the Curses always moved at night. Just then, he suddenly heard a crisp knock at the door, and he immediately went to open it.

To his surprise, the girl stood outside; she looked at Luo En and smiled.

"Are you settling in comfortably?"

Luo En nodded and said.

"Of course."

The girl smiled.

"I thought you'd find it extremely uncomfortable living here for the first time—after all, this isn't a place for ordinary people."

Luo En smiled, then changed the subject.

"Don't they ever come out at night?"

The girl looked at Luo En in surprise.

"Of course they sleep at night—who would go out at night?"

Luo En slightly furrowed his brow and asked again.

"Lately, you've seemed to get along well with humans, but I've heard rumors of people going missing nearby—have you heard anything about that?"

In truth, Luo En knew nothing about any missing humans; but when he saw the corpses, he knew someone must have vanished—only no one had noticed.

As he asked, he carefully observed the girl's expression, but her demeanor appeared perfectly natural; she shook her head and said.

"We haven't heard anything. We've been staying near here and know nothing of events outside."

The place Taichiro had taken Luo En to happened to be outside; Luo En believed the girl said this to distance herself from suspicion—but he was certain she was involved, so he continued.

"The missing people must have lived nearby, but I suspect their disappearance locations differed, while their causes of disappearance were the same."

The girl looked at Luo En and said.

"If anyone truly went missing, word should have reached us long ago—but we've received no reports at all. Where did you get this information?"

Throughout this exchange, Luo En watched the girl's expression closely, but to his disappointment, she appeared utterly natural—she didn't seem to be lying, leaving Luo En uncertain.

The girl suddenly stood up and said to Luo En.

"I know you're suspicious of us, but this matter has nothing to do with us. If people truly went missing, I can help you find them and uncover the truth—but I hope you'll approach this objectively, without being clouded by preconceptions."

Luo En hadn't expected her to offer so willingly; he nodded rapidly.

"Naturally—I wouldn't suspect anyone without cause. But if you're willing to assist in the investigation, that would be ideal. With your strength, we'll surely uncover the truth quickly."

The girl nodded and said.

"Agreed—we'll take charge of this matter."

Though Luo En didn't trust the girl, now that he had this force at his disposal, he knew learning the truth would become much easier.

He seized an opportunity to take her to see the gruesome scene; when the girl saw the corpses, her face instantly turned pale.

She could also sense a faint aura of Curses lingering near the bodies—proving that Curses had indeed been here.

"I know your suspicion has grounds—there's certainly a lot of Curse aura here—but I would never let my Curses do something like this."

The girl said, then approached the corpses and carefully examined them. When she flipped open one corpse, she suddenly noticed two tiny red dots on its neck; she studied them closely and realized they were needle punctures.

She suddenly stood up and said to Luo En.

"I suspect this was done by human hands—not by Curses."

Luo En also noticed the needle punctures; he sensed the victims' deaths were all strangely unnatural. When Taichiro had first brought him here, he'd only glanced briefly and hadn't examined closely.

At that time, he'd been consumed by rage; though he didn't know if Curses were responsible, he knew someone had murdered them—and he was furious, desperate to capture the killer immediately.

But now, with some of his reason restored, he carefully examined the corpses and realized they were far more complex than he'd thought.

The first group all had those small red dots on their necks, but the later victims showed no wounds at all—and their deaths were even more horrific.

Their expressions were twisted, their bodies covered in strange Madara spots, and their limbs contorted as if shattered by immense force.