Chapter 62: The Deceased Alchemist

The Deceased Alchemist

His Excellency Mo Qius, a Level-One Inquisitor of the Grand Tribunal, has gone missing.

To be precise, it isn’t quite disappearance—he simply left alone to investigate a case and never returned all night.

The Law Enforcement Bureau was frantic, having received reports of five more residents dead in Yongzhan Town, and discovering that a prisoner had escaped from jail!

Even the Grand Tribunal’s undercover agent who visited the prison yesterday had vanished as well.

The law enforcement officers were like ants on a hot pan, constantly begging to meet the other inquisitors who had accompanied Mo Qius, but the inquisitors had no answers.

For their final order from their lord had been to wait for his return at the Law Enforcement Bureau.

This timing was terribly awkward.

You could say he vanished, but he’d only been absent one night.

Ordinary people stay out late sometimes—how much more so a detective inquisitor?

Of course, this isn’t to suggest His Excellency Mo Qius went out to party; merely that investigations take time.

But if you say he hasn’t vanished, ordinary cases had never taken this long to resolve.

Usually, the moment a suspect was identified, trial and execution were already over.

In short, Mo Qius’s disappearance and the orders he left behind had plunged everyone into a quagmire of anxiety and torment.

The small town was once again shrouded in fear that the killer had escaped and would return for revenge.

Until the fourth night, when the five corpses, previously moved to the archives, inexplicably awoke—terrified law enforcement officers beat them senseless, only then learning the five deaths had been a prank.

Good news: No murder occurred!

Bad news: His Excellency Mo Qius had truly vanished.

If there was no case to investigate, then where had this lord gone?

The inquisitors, trained in the Grand Tribunal, remained calm, firmly believing His Excellency Mo Qius must have been unavoidably detained—so they simply waited.

Besides, in Yongzhan Town, no one could possibly threaten the lord’s safety.

But when law enforcement staff again discovered that the 【When Fear Arrives】 artifact had vanished, leaving only two unfamiliar corpses in the sealing chamber, even the inquisitors could no longer sit still.

Yongzhan Town erupted into chaos once more.

It was then, on the fifth morning after all officials had stayed awake all night, that the five drunks who had nearly paralyzed the Law Enforcement Bureau were released on grounds of innocence.

Their bodies were covered in bruises and wounds, clearly subjected to severe torture.

Yet their faces showed no anger—only a gleeful, satisfied euphoria.

“HAHAHA! Those fools! We fooled everyone!”

“No amount of whipping can hide their inner terror—did you see? Chief Weiji’s face turned green! Best of all, we’re innocent—they can’t touch us!”

“Perfect!”

“Didn’t expect the drug to be this potent—where’s the alchemist? Does anyone know where he is?”

“He seemed to live at the inn?”

The five men stopped, exchanged meaningful glances, then sprinted toward the inn.

Clearly, nothing could top another five doses of the drug.

With 【Drunken Life, Dreaming Death】 in hand, all of Yongzhan Town would be their playground.

Yet when the five drunks finally inquired and arrived outside the alchemist’s room, a frail inn attendant stepped out, pushing the door open.

Seeing five large men gathered outside, eyes gleaming with excitement, he jumped back in fright.

Instinctively clutching himself against the doorframe, he trembled violently.

“Hey, you—where’s the man inside?”

“Is the alchemist in there? Where did he go?”

“Are you here to clean the room? Did you see anything? Was there a drug called 【Drunken Life, Dreaming Death】 inside?”

“Forget it—move aside, we’re going in!”

Just as the men stepped forward to enter, the attendant suddenly burst into tears.

“It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it! Waaah! When I walked in, he was already like that—I swear it wasn’t me!”

The five men were startled by the sudden wailing, but instantly shoved past the attendant and entered the room.

Inside, they found a charred corpse lying before the bed.

Tattered fragments of unburned clothing on the corpse revealed he was none other than the alchemist who had sold them 【Drunken Life, Dreaming Death】 the night before.

The drunks froze, mouths agape.

“What... what’s going on?”

“Dead? Hey, you did this?”

“You killed the alchemist? How? With what? Praise 【Prosperity】—reveal your method, and I won’t expose you.”

“Stop standing there—search the room! Is there any drug left?”

“Waaah! It wasn’t me! I came to clean, and I found the body—I was terrified, I didn’t dare make a sound... Waaah!”

The five men rummaged through the room for ages, finding no finished drugs—only scattered vials and raw materials, some reacting in the charred ruins of the bed, producing a pile of colorful, bizarre substances.

“Ssshh—ruined. The drugs are gone.”

“Hey, this is a real dead body now—should we report it to the Law Enforcement Bureau?”

“Report it! Why not? If someone’s truly dead, it’s better than our fake deaths—this is news, brothers!”

“Report it! Quick! Go call the law enforcement officers—say the escaped killer struck again at the inn, reborn in flames, now on his path of vengeance!”

Hearing the corpse was the result of the escaped murderer’s revenge, the attendant grew even more terrified—he collapsed, legs buckling, right at the doorway.

“Waaah! Don’t kill me! It’s not my fault!”

“Useless. I’ll do it myself!”

“...”

You know what? When pleasure-seekers pursue pleasure, their efficiency is truly impressive.

Soon after, law enforcement officers surrounded the inn again—this time accompanied by two inquisitors.

The two inquisitors entered the room and immediately smelled the heavy odor of chemicals; they wrinkled their noses and meticulously searched every corner.

The desk was piled with scattered alchemical notes, the handwriting twisted and crawling like insects—clearly the writer had received no formal education.

Fragments of paper bore scribbled notes like “Dream,” “Death,” “Improvement”—proof the deceased had been refining a drug.

The floor before the bed was littered with shattered vials; common alchemical reactions were visible in the bed’s charred remains, likely caused by a chain reaction from an explosion.

The corpse was charred beyond recognition, and its body radiated an aura utterly incompatible with 【Order】.

Clearly, a heretic alchemist who worshipped a wild god.

After a moment of contemplation, they reached the same conclusion as the Law Enforcement Bureau:

A heretic alchemist, obsessed with drugcraft, accidentally triggered a fatal mishap while formulating a drug infused with 【Death】’s divinity, offering himself to 【Death】.

It was not the escaped murderer’s doing—there was no trace of 【Corruption】 or lingering fear.

Yet this incident became major news in Yongzhan Town, where deaths were rare, and accidental deaths, a century’s rarity.

The inquisitors interrogated the reporter, questioned nearby travelers, and after careful deliberation, finalized their report:

“This individual used an excessive, unknown, and uncontrollable amount of 【Death】’s divinity. Under 【Death】’s will, he received no protection from 【Prosperity】 and reaped his own doom.”

The case was swiftly resolved; both travelers and law enforcement officers breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as the killer didn’t strike again, and Yongzhan Town remained free of panic, Mo Qius’s temporary disappearance was tolerable.

The inquisitors walked away calmly, leaving the staff to clean up the inn.

“You—yes, you—you discovered the scene? What’s your name? You’ll need to come to the bureau for a record.”

“I... I’m Keta Luo, my lord—is this connected to me?”

“Judging by your cowardly look, if you were involved, you’d have fled already—ha ha! Don’t worry, just a simple record. Case closed.”

“Waaah, good! I’ll go with you.”

“Good. Time of death was likely last night—did you hear any noise?”

“Hmm... I did hear a muffled thud during the dawn patrol, but it was faint, so I ignored it... You know, guests’ privacy matters.”

“You did right. Had you checked, there might’ve been more than one corpse. What a madman—to even drug 【divinity】...”

Watching the attendant leave with the law enforcement officers, the five drunks rubbed their heads, sighed heavily, utterly disappointed.

“What a shame... such a wonderful drug...”

The unexpected twist had barely begun before it was snuffed out—fear rose again, only to be quickly suppressed.

The chaotic Law Enforcement Bureau and Yongzhan Town, brushed by 【Death】’s gaze, remained busy hunting the escaped killer and the vanished Lord Mo Qius.

But none of this had anything to do with the attendant who found the corpse.

Night was falling.

Keta Luo strolled slowly out of the Law Enforcement Bureau, stood at the entrance, glanced back at the brightly lit, bustling high-rise, and curled his lips into a sly smile.

He waved to someone unseen, tilting his head in farewell.

“Goodbye, lovely people.”

Then he pulled his hood low over his eyes, stepped into the darkness, and vanished into the night.

【Special Trial (Path to Death 【Death】) Completed】

【Scoring in progress... Rewards being calculated...】

【Player: Cheng Shi, Performance Rating: C】

【Obtained Item: Boring Mask (C) x1】

【Obtained Item: Mocking Mask (C) x1】

【Obtained item: Cold Mask (C) x1】

【Obtained item: Blurred Mask (C) x1】

【Obtained item: Astonished Mask (S) x1】

【Path to Divinity +0】

【Ladder of Audiences +3】

【Current Path to Divinity score: 2125, global rank: 458728】

【Current Ladder of Audiences score: 164, destiny rank: 62】

【Trial completed, exiting soon】