Chapter 556

The famous female bard Ashara, mentioned by Lady Madame Sangmei, seems to come from the "City of Mountains," Midhillburg, in the southeast of the kingdom. She has dark red hair, but her appearance is not particularly striking.

The bard appeared punctually at seven o'clock, wearing a soft, flower-adorned hat dominated by the color red, a white shirt on her upper body, a brown vest with silver buttons over it, and a pair of trousers on her lower body.

Regulars applauded and cheered, and someone even tossed coins toward the high stool.

The female bard seemed accustomed to this situation; she sat on the high stool, playing the lute and singing, her voice recounting an ancient love story.

An outlander ultimately lacks sufficient exposure to the culture of this world, but Yiluna had heard this story before. It is a very traditional fairy tale of a princess and a prince, involving adventure, sorcery, and other elements, and the one who rescued the sleeping princess was a kiss described by the bard with a tremolo... She really described the details of that kiss in great detail, which once again reminded Xia De that this was an inn in the Lower City.

Such detailed descriptions, one presumes, cannot be heard during the day.

Although he lives in the Lower City, Mr. Toby Julian is not what one would call a pauper. He runs a grocery store himself, and while he cannot be considered wealthy, he is at least able to survive in this city.

It was already seven-fifty that evening when Xia De and Yiluna followed the address and found Mr. Julian's home on Loswall Street in the north of the city.

This street is one of the better neighborhoods in the north of the city; the streetscape on both sides is a mix of three-story apartments and shops, with gas and steam pipes neatly and orderly crawling all over the walls facing the street. Mr. Julian lives at No. 8 on this street; he converted the first floor into a grocery store and uses the floors above the second as his residence.

It is already night, and in this era, there is no such thing as a grocery store open in the middle of the night. Although saying so is a bit too absolute, in the chaotic Lower City, there would certainly be no one operating at night.

The shop was already closed, and Xia De had originally intended to knock on the door directly, but Yiluna pulled Xia De for a walk around the vicinity and then found the gas meter for this street in a nearby alley.

It seems this block was newly built in the last few decades; older residential apartments generally place gas meters inside the house.

"The Captain told me that before investigating a person, one should try as much as possible to find and check the other party's gas meter reading, confirm whether there are any abnormal readings, and make a preliminary judgment about the person under investigation."

Yiluna was imparting her experience to Xia De. Xia De opened the lid of the box containing the gas meter inside the wall and saw that it was an old-style urban gas meter. Depending on whether gas is being used, the rotation of the internal gears causes the reading to change. Each household's gas meter has two readings: one reading represents the cumulative reading from the past, and one reading represents the new usage reading.

At the end or beginning of each month, the gas company staff responsible for checking the gas meters will use a special metal slot to push and pull, and through the complex mechanical structure inside the gas meter, add the latter reading to the former, while the latter is cleared directly to start a new round of cumulative reading.

And by comparing it with the previous reading, one can confirm whether anyone has tampered with the gas meter. A cloth strip is usually tied next to the gas meter box, with the time of the last check written on it. This style of gas meter is very widely used in the Old Continent.

After the operation in the Dark Domain ended, Xia De somehow acquired the ability to see in the dark, which may be related to his devouring part of the power of the Box of Darkness. But Xia De could not infer anything from seeing the numbers, while Yiluna, after staring at the readings, quickly nodded and reached a conclusion:

"The readings are normal, consistent with what the Captain told me about the gas usage speed of a mixed shop and apartment building."

Xia De was actually quite curious whether that Captain from the Black Stone Security Company had previously worked in the city's tax department.

After knocking on the door, it took a long time for someone to come down from the second floor. After asking about their identities through the door, and then seeing Yiluna's credentials through the door crack, and confirming again and again that they did not look like robbers, the cautious Mr. Julian was finally willing to let the two in.

Mr. Julian does not live alone; appearing with him was a woman wearing a black veil, with very fair skin, who always kept her head down. She did not speak much, and Mr. Julian embarrassedly told Xia De and Yiluna that she was his fiancée.

The group went to the second floor, where Mr. Julian received the two in the second-floor parlor, while the lady in the black long dress went to prepare hot tea for them. After all three were seated, Xia De looked at the simple decorations in the room and asked curiously:

"Why don't you plan to renovate the house?"

Xia De's meaning was actually that since the other party was getting married, he should renovate the house before the wedding.

"I'm quite used to this style, and the shop is busy, so it wouldn't be good to delay business by renovating rashly. Although it's a... although it's going to be two people living together, it's not easy to make money here."

Mr. Julian said.

It was getting late, and they did not have too much small talk. Yiluna stated the purpose of their visit and revealed the progress of the cemetery corpse theft case.

Of course, when Xia De handed the other party the photo to confirm the location of the grave, he "accidentally" touched the other party's hand, letting the voice in his ear confirm that Mr. Toby Julian was indeed an ordinary person.

And upon hearing the corpse theft case mentioned again, Mr. Julian was calmer than they had imagined. He answered all questions basically normally and stated that to his knowledge, his sister had not offended anyone.

"She was a very kind person during her lifetime, and I cannot imagine anyone doing such a vicious thing out of hatred after her death."

Just then, the veiled lady walked in with a tea tray, so Mr. Julian stood up to help her distribute the teacups. And when that lady approached, Xia De instinctively felt that something was wrong with her. He stood up under the pretext of helping, wanting to create an opportunity for "contact" to confirm, but Mr. Julian always intentionally or unintentionally blocked the detective from his fiancée.

"Are there any whispers or blasphemous elements?"

Xia De, who had sat back down, asked carefully in his heart.

【At least without direct contact, no traces of elements have been perceived. However...】

She seemed to be deliberately whetting Xia De's appetite, pausing intentionally:

【Do not change the expression on your face; there is something a bit strange.】

"What is it?"

Xia De listened to Yiluna continue to ask Mr. Julian about the situation, while that strange lady walked out the door with the tea tray. Looking at her back, there was nothing special about this person.

【The other party has no breathing, her body temperature is far lower than that of a normal person, and she has not blinked even once. To put it simply...】

Xia De took a deep breath and nodded, as if echoing Yiluna's statement about the investigation:

"The other party is a dead person!"

He reached a conclusion in his heart, then froze for a moment, thinking of a more terrifying possibility:

"I hope I don't have nightmares tonight."

Mr. Julian, who had been calm all along, finally showed some symptoms of emotional breakdown when he mentioned the young man who had abandoned Miss Julian, leading her to hang herself:

"Sorry, I really don't want to mention that person."

"Then do you know the other party's address?"

Yiluna said, and Mr. Julian sighed, nodded, and told the two the address. Having asked for the information they wanted, Xia De and Yiluna did not intend to stay long, comforted the other party a few more times, and then stood up to say goodbye.

Mr. Julian saw the two downstairs and watched them walk side by side along the street toward the distant intersection. He extinguished the lights on the first floor, then hurried to the second floor, leaned out of the window, and confirmed that the two had walked far away, only then feeling slightly relieved.

Xia De and Yiluna stopped at the intersection. Under the moonlight, only the two of them were on the street, and only a few houses along the street still had their lights on:

"No matter how you look at it, this Mr. Julian doesn't look like he's about to get married."

The brown-haired girl sighed slightly:

"That so-called fiancée has a problem, and he himself has a problem. I originally thought he was a good person."

Xia De proposed a more horrifying possibility, looking up at the moon in the sky. On the days between summer and autumn, the monsoon is very obvious, and the long-lost wind blew away the thin mist over the city. Standing in the city, one could see the starry sky, and the silver moonlight reflected in his eyes:

"When Lady Madame Sangmei provided the news about the wedding dress, I thought Mr. Julian was a pervert who liked to wear dresses. But now I feel he might be even more perverted—the fiancée we just saw is actually his sister's corpse."

Yiluna was not surprised at all. Although her "other self" is certainly not as sensitive as Xia De's, she also saw the clues:

"Sorry, from the current situation, I may have dragged you into something terrible again."

As her voice fell, the chuckle in Xia De's ear prompted:

【Outlander, you have felt a "whisper."】

"Where?"

【Look behind you.】

Turning around, the corpse bride, wearing a veil and holding a sharp knife, stood under the moonlight. The long shadow of the wedding dress spread toward them, swaying under the moon.

Meow~

In the distance of the city, a shrill cat cry came from somewhere. Facing the moonlight and looking at the bride, the wind blew through the layers of tulle, and the autumn night wind was really a bit chilly.