Chapter 4020

Xia De judged that this deceased person was most likely hit directly by power with the nature of withering, and then headed toward death amidst the withering.

"This power is truly terrifying."

Vigo commented on this. Although she did not fear death, she was very afraid that she would age like this and then die.

During the examination, Xia De keenly sensed that there was an extremely slight whisper element on the other person, and after confirmation by the other girls later, this whisper element seemed to be the main reason that caused the person's death.

Whisper elements mean relics, but the possibility of a demon using a relic cannot be ruled out. Since the suspected demon itself uses the power of "withering," using a relic with similar attributes should be able to exert even more powerful force.

"Set up a ritual to prevent disturbing the peace of other corpses; I will try to perform spirit mediumship."

Xia De ordered again, and the girls moved quickly. A corpse that died from a relic should have been very difficult to perform spirit mediumship on, but this was no longer a big problem for Xia De, who had touched true death.

Because he had obtained the power of 【Ash Spirit Calling】 from Sister Daifulin, the unstable female soul called out briefly obtained an ash-like shell.

She stood beside her own corpse with vacant eyes, recounting the process of being attacked while taking a shortcut through an alley after finishing her shift at the factory early yesterday morning.

"I didn't see what attacked me. At that time, I only saw raging flames appear in the depths of the alley, and then a light like the sunlight at dusk shot towards me, and then... it was very painful. I could feel myself withering, and I could feel death opening its door to me.

That ball of fire approached me, as if checking something. I tried to grab the other party, but the raging flames were too hot, and I let go as soon as I touched it. It didn't do anything else in the end and left. I struggled at the entrance of the alley for another five minutes, and then I died."

The woman was just an ordinary textile worker working in a factory in the outer city. Because the attack came very suddenly, she could not provide more clues.

This sounded like a random attack, and Xia De could not determine who the murderer was through the woman's social connections. Of course, he could wander around the outer city every night later to see if he could rely on luck to run into the attacker again, but the efficiency of doing so was too low.

"You touched it, is that right? Was your hand already injured at that time?"

Xia De confirmed, and the woman wrapped in ash nodded:

"Yes, it was injured at that time."

Xia De then had a way. After thanking the woman, he prepared to send her away, but he did not expect this soul, which seemed to have no intellect, to actually struggle to turn its head at this moment, letting its gray, misty eyes look at Xia De:

"Can you help me... take care of my children?"

The most primitive emotions remaining in the soul made her voice her request even after death:

The demigod witch said softly. The four people sitting together in a circle all gasped slightly, but no one dared to ask more. This story traced back to the very beginning of the Mythological Era; such matters were clearly not suitable for discussion here.

"No problem, tell me the address, and I will go take a look for you."

Xia De promised.

"Thank you."

The soul dissipated after saying her home address, leaving only ashes drifting to the ground. Xia De sighed deeply, took off his gloves, and then said to Vigo and the others with rapid speech:

"It's getting dark, let's go, we need to speed up."

"To investigate the murderer? You have a way? Is it divination?"

"No, it's to visit this woman's children. It's been almost 48 hours since early yesterday morning, and I'm very worried about whether those children have eaten, or if they have gone out to look for their mother. We'll do the investigation of the murderer in a while; let's go check on the children first."

Xia De looked at the "withered" corpse:

"Although this is an ordinary person, a mother's love is truly great."

Vigo thought of her own mother, Peggy Leme, and her expression was somewhat gloomy. But then she felt Xia De holding her hand, and Xia De smiled at her, so Vigo felt an inexplicable sense of peace.

The deceased's address was in the slums of the outer city, not far from the morgue by the river. One of Vigo's followers stayed behind to handle the aftermath of the corpse, and the other two followed Xia De and Vigo there.

Under the dim sunset, there were many people in the narrow slum alley flanked by old apartment buildings. Tired adults were returning home to eat and preparing to continue their evening work, and children were playing with their companions before dinner.

When they passed through the narrow alley and found the woman's home, the situation Xia De was most worried about did not happen. Although the mother had gone missing unexpectedly, kind neighbors had already called the police and were temporarily taking care of the three children.

The oldest of the three children was a 13-year-old girl. When Xia De knocked on her door, the girl, who looked somewhat malnourished, was willing to open the door but still protected her younger brother and sister behind her.

There were no other adults in their home, and the family's livelihood depended on the mother working in the factory and the children doing small jobs like selling newspapers outside.

Although they opened the door because they saw that Xia De looked very kind, they were still afraid of what Xia De might do. However, Xia De was not a bad person. He gave the food he had just rummaged out from his cards to the three children, claiming to be an old friend of their father:

"Yes, it's a pity he has passed away."

Besides providing a large amount of food, Xia De did nothing else. After urging the children not to open the door to strangers again, he went downstairs under the suspicious gaze of the fat aunt holding a broom in front of the door next door.

"No problem now. If you can find a place to take in the three children, you can arrange some money-earning work for them later."

After meeting up with Vigo, Xia De said. Xia De knew very well what level the orphanage opened by the City Hall was, so he didn't consider it for now, and this was not the time to think about whether child labor was legal. Let Vigo take care of them a little, and the three of them wouldn't have to worry about their living needs until at least 18.

The witch hugged Xia De's arm:

"Just arranging for three children, what's difficult about that? I'm also very caring... In the war years, everyone lived a difficult life. Besides donating money, I had already planned to expand the factory's recruitment scope. The Astley family has always had a tradition of doing charity."

"Although this is also to show the Anjou royal family, since my great-grandfather, our family has been the most famous philanthropist in the area."

"It's good that we can help the children. To prevent more similar situations, let's go find that murderer now. We might be busy for a while tonight; I estimate dinner will be a bit late."

Vigo certainly didn't mind:

"It doesn't matter, then let's go."

The evening breeze, mixed with the scents of various dinners, blew through this narrow alley. In the wind, someone seemed to be whispering thanks. Vigo unconsciously revealed a smile, feeling that her physical state seemed to have improved a bit, but that also seemed to be just an illusion.

The alley where the woman encountered the murderer was not very far from her home. Although a corpse appeared in that alley yesterday morning, the police didn't block the alley entrance to collect evidence at all; after all, this was not the upper city.

However, because a suspected murderer had appeared, there were not many people walking through the alley.

Under the last rays of the setting sun, Xia De first brewed the somewhat spoiled blood he had just obtained from the corpse into blood brew and dripped it into his eyes, then used a miracle that had followed him for a long time:

"Blood Echo!"

【Blood Echo】 targets the blood of the living and can follow the traces of bloodstains, but for deceased individuals, it can only see the actions of the deceased one hour before death and one hour after death.

What Xia De needed now was not to know the woman's actions, but to trace the trail of the woman's blood left on the murderer. Even though he had advanced to a high tier, 【Blood Echo】 could not break through this life-and-death limitation, but fortunately, the halfling girl of the Fifth Era had given Xia De a good gift.

He closed the five fingers of his right palm, placed his palm inward in front of his right eye, and then his index and middle fingers suddenly opened a gap to reveal his right eye:

"Spell: Sharp Eye!"

"How is it?"

Vigo asked expectantly, and Xia De was a bit embarrassed:

"Well, it's really not as simple as I thought."

【Sharp Eye】 did indeed enhance the power of 【Blood Echo】, allowing Xia De to see the experiences of the deceased corresponding to the blood before and after death in more detail, but it did not allow Xia De to directly track the whereabouts of the blood.

Although he could rely on the most basic ability of 【Blood Echo】, which is observing bloodstains that are not easily noticed, to see the traces left by the deceased on the ground two days ago, this was not enough for him to track the murderer.

【Think carefully about the principle of Blood Echo.】

"She" reminded him gently.

"This miracle is not simply tracking blood, but by using the traces left by blood in time and space, letting the traces reappear through echoes. The deceased's blood cannot be tracked over long distances because the deceased's blood has lost its life activity and cannot evoke more echoes..."

Xia De then had a new idea. He took out the blood sample he had just collected. This time, he did not drip it into his eyes, but used a new miracle:

"Miracle: Life Seed."

He took an extremely weak life force from his own body and bestowed it upon the deceased's blood. Then the brand-new blood was brewed into blood brew and dripped into his eyes, followed immediately by—

"Blood Echo: Sharp Eye!"

Red marks like thin mist appeared in his field of vision, and they extended in two different directions.

One side was the direction of the morgue, and the other side was the opposite direction. Although this trace was very unstable, at least it was enough for tracking.

"Life force is truly magical."

Xia De revealed a smile:

"Found it, everyone follow me. Observe the surroundings carefully and be ready for battle at any time."

As long as the other party hadn't washed away the bloodstains, Xia De could rely on the miracle to track the other party's current location. However, it seemed that the other party did not live nearby, so after returning to the main road, the group got into a carriage again.

Relying on Xia De's directions, the carriage drove out of the outer city and returned to the lower city of Arcadia City.