Chapter 170: The One Who Holds the Knife

"Antiques? Are they worth a lot?"

The doctor asked casually while examining the body, and Xia De, who was checking the bloodstains around the area, listened along. The rain was loud, so the three of them had to raise their voices to communicate.

Silver cutlery was still a symbol of status in this era. In adventure novels, there was often a trope where a maid eloped with her lover, making off with her master's silver cutlery to cover travel and living expenses. If the silver cutlery was also antique, then it would be worth even more.

"Very valuable. Even a noble of an Earl's rank, owning these two sets of silver cutlery, could use them as a family heirloom."

Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha once again displayed her grasp of "useless knowledge," most likely learned from another Princess.

Xia De turned his head and asked:

"Then that's strange. Didn't the doctor's investigation say that this factory owner was merely an agent holding Toebeck's assets on behalf of 【Blood of Mercury】? He himself shouldn't have been wealthy."

He then looked suspiciously at the boy's corpse, and arrived at a deduction:

"Could it be that..."

"It's hard to say for now. Let's keep moving forward."

The doctor restored the body to its original position, quietly offered a prayer for the boy amid the rain drumming against the glass, and signaled that the other two could leave.

After leaving the kitchen, the blood trail turned back toward the living room, then headed toward the stairs.

On the stairs was an extremely gruesome scene: the corpses of an old woman and a middle-aged housewife were embracing each other. Thick, viscous blood dripped down the carpet on the stairs, making it nearly impossible for the three of them to find a place to step.

After examining them, Doctor Shi Nai De discovered that neither woman had any obvious external wounds; the blood seemed to have all flowed out from their mouths.

"It looks a bit like a curse."

Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha judged, and the doctor nodded as well:

"I also believe it was a curse triggered by thaumaturgy. After entering, he killed the maid with a single slash, then walked into the kitchen and killed the little boy. When turning back into the living room, he encountered the two ladies coming down the stairs, and immediately used a hex or thaumaturgy to make them vomit blood and die... The killer is a Circle Sorcerer; that much is beyond doubt."

Xia De looked around warily, on guard against anything that might dart out of the darkness, then was startled by another clap of thunder:

"If there's anything abnormal, be sure to let me know in time."

He said softly in his heart.

【No problem.】

The murmuring voice replied.

Probably because the two corpses had bled so heavily, the killer finally got blood on his boots here. The bloodstains were faint, and Xia De still had to rely on his eyes to distinguish them. The boot bloodstains only faced upward toward the upper floor, none faced downward.

The two examining the bodies made a new discovery: around the middle-aged housewife's neck, the doctor found a string of pearl necklace. According to Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha's on-the-spot estimate, this string of necklace was worth at least 3,000 pounds.

"This is absolutely not jewelry this factory owner could have afforded."

Xia De said, and the three of them continued heading upstairs.

Not a single person suggested taking the pearl necklace or the silver cutlery from earlier. They were neither bandits nor thieves. Although they had broken into a crime scene on this rainy night and destroyed clues, the doctor, the writer, and the out-of-towner each had their own bottom line.

The rain masked their footsteps, and the three of them arrived at the second floor. The blood trail extended into the interior of the floor, where a sixteen-year-old girl with freckles lay flat on her back in the middle of the corridor. Her appearance closely resembled the middle-aged housewife on the stairs, and her cause of death was the same as the maid at the door: a blade had pierced straight through her heart.

Xia De didn't know what to say about this gruesome scene. The doctor, after examining her, knelt on one knee beside the corpse to pray for her. Only then did Xia De learn that Doctor Bill Shi Nai De believed in the orthodox god 【Lord of All Things】, also known as 【God of Nature and Evil Thoughts】.

This orthodox god's divine portfolio included "death." When Xia De had first arrived in this world, the mortician who carried away Detective Spiloe's corpse had worn this orthodox god's holy symbol.

Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha, meanwhile, was already suppressing her anger:

"This is too cruel. What kind of person would do something like this?"

If they could find the killer, the blonde Miss would absolutely show no mercy.

Amid the increasingly violent rain outside, the three of them, following the silver moonlight from Xia De's fingertip, entered the three bedrooms on the second floor one after another. The killer seemed to have been searching for something, but there were no signs of his footsteps pausing.

The blood trail then led them to the third floor, the topmost level of the house aside from the attic. The window directly facing the staircase on the third floor was actually wide open, rainwater blew in along the wind along the corridor, and the wind kept the curtains fluttering. This scene was especially eerie on this stormy summer night.

"The blood trail extends into the corridor, but another blood trail extends back out and disappears near the window."

Xia De provided the information he saw.

"After the killer entered the third floor, he did something inside, then left through the window?"

Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha deduced from behind Xia De. After entering the house, although they hadn't discussed it beforehand, it had consistently been the doctor staying by Xia De's side, with the female writer bringing up the rear.

The doctor cautiously approached the window and looked outside. In the stormy night it was pitch black; even the lights from nearby blocks couldn't pierce the curtain of rain. Such heavy rain would wash away bloodstains, so Xia De couldn't continue tracking from outside the window.

"Let's go check the third floor first, see what exactly he did."

The doctor said, frowning as he glanced at the windowsill, then gave Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha a look. Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha immediately understood his meaning, so she tried to give Xia De a look, but didn't expect Xia De to already show an expression of "so that's the trick."

The blonde girl smiled at him. The killer had clearly underestimated what Xia De's "eyes" could see.

Following the blood trail into the third floor and turning into the study, they finally discovered the male head of the household—the corpse of Mr. Ponton, who ran the screw factory.

The gas lamp on the study wall was off, but the gas desk lamp on the table was on, perfectly illuminating the corpse.

Mr. Ponton wore a loose, casual shirt, sat behind the desk, and lay face-down on the tabletop. Xia De stood at the study doorway, Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha went to check the pages on the desk, and the doctor examined the corpse:

"The cause of death is different from those downstairs. His brain should have been shattered by the hex 【Brain Smash】. I noticed the marks on his forehead. This kind of hex, similar in principle to 【Corpse Explosion】, is very well-known. Because of this, unless you use necromancy, no one will ever know what was in the dead man's head. What's on the desk?"

"An account book."

Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha said.

Raindrops struck the window, thunder rumbled overhead, and Xia De at the doorway suddenly looked toward the other end of the corridor:

"I think I saw a shadow!"

"A shadow? Be careful, don't act rashly."

The doctor frowned and walked toward the study door, wanting to go with Xia De to check the end of the corridor, while Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha continued looking down at the documents on the desk.

Lightning streaked across the sky. In the interval before the thunder arrived, the study, illuminated by the lightning, a man's figure holding a short knife silently appeared behind Miss Lu Lu Lu Yisha.

He raised the sharp short knife toward the female writer's back.