The light rain that started in the afternoon continued incessantly, still not stopping by evening, and even showing a tendency to grow heavier. Xia De hoped the rain would stop before his night activities, but it was still drizzling when Psychologist Schneider and Louisa arrived.
The rainwater formed a curtain, falling from the eaves at Xia De's doorstep like falling beads. The warm yellow gaslight inside the entrance hall was blurred by the rain. In the strange halo, the Psychologist, wearing rain boots, was the first to arrive at Saint Delan Square Six on this damp night, followed by Louisa, who came by carriage.
"Good evening, Xia De."
The Psychologist was surprised when she called Xia De by his name, but he said nothing. A middle-aged man wouldn't concern himself with the relationships between young people.
There were two targets tonight: Mr. Pang Dun from the steam engine specialized screw factory in Tobesk East District, and Mr. Roosevelt, the accountant at the Star Grass Public Tobesk Nursing Home. After the three met, they compared the City map in Xia De's study to plan their route.
They ultimately decided to go for Mr. Roosevelt, the accountant, first.
According to Psychologist Schneider's investigation during the day, this accountant stayed at the nursing home on weekdays and only returned home on Saturdays, and the Star Grass Nursing Home was closer to Saint Delan Square.
At Psychologist Schneider's expense, the three took a carriage to the nursing home. The rainy summer day was exceptionally cool, and the City was enveloped in the sound of the rain. The gaslights in the Upper City and the candlelight in the Lower City were all part of this era.
The Star Grass Nursing Home was a public nursing home, though of course, it still required some pounds to enter. The three got out at the intersection. Xia De and Louisa stood guard on either side of the street with umbrellas, while Psychologist Schneider entered the nursing home alone.
There would be no pedestrians on such a rainy night, and the surroundings seemed enveloped by damp air and darkness. As Xia De stood at the intersection looking around, he thought that if his actions last Saturday night, peeking into the alley while visiting the Golden-haired girl Sophie, were like a horror story, then the current scene was probably very similar to a Detective or spy novel.
The blue-eyed Psychologist emerged from the nursing home in his overcoat after only fifteen minutes; his operation seemed to have gone smoothly.
"I entered his dream and saw what Mercury Blood had him keep: a black cloak that couldn't be exposed to sunlight, and a colorful, absolutely forbidden-to-open cookie box. I have an impression of the latter; it's a Poet Grade relic, the 【Cannibal Cookie Box】, which can devour living people and turn them into cookies. None of these are what I'm looking for."
He lowered his voice in the rain and waved to the two:
"I got additional information in the dream. Roosevelt, the accountant, was helping Mercury Blood fence stolen goods and didn't know much about their affairs. There are no more clues here. Let's go, next target."
Psychologist Schneider's dream-entering ability was incredibly convenient when dealing with ordinary people.
Mr. Pang Dun, who owned a steam engine specialized screw factory in Tobesk East District, couldn't be considered an influential rich man in a place like Tobesk. He had his own large house in Tobesk East District, about twice the size of Xia De's house.
This was a dedicated residential area; people who could live here had at least crossed the so-called "middle class" threshold.
Again, Xia De and Louisa stood guard outside, while Psychologist Schneider nimbly climbed over the fence outside the yard and followed the gravel path to find the direction of the bedroom.
This time he returned even faster. Xia De had the Time Perception ability and knew precisely that he only took two minutes and eighteen seconds.
Not only was Xia De surprised, but even Louisa was amazed by the Psychologist's swift action. The three stood with umbrellas, listening to the rain, and when they met at the gate of Mr. Pang Dun's house, Louisa congratulated him:
"Psychologist, your Miracle is getting more and more powerful. Half an hour ago, it took ten minutes, and now you can get information from a dream in three minutes."
"What's getting more powerful? Something big has happened..."
A thunderclap ripped through the sky, and the sudden bright white light illuminated Louisa's slightly wet hair and Psychologist Schneider's heavily incredulous expression.
Then, the rumbling thunder sounded from afar, its voice seeming to vibrate the entire world.
Xia De, also in the rain, watched the dark street out of the corner of his eye, feeling the dense raindrops hitting the umbrella's surface and the resulting Vibration in his umbrella-holding hand. The gas streetlights on the street became even dimmer in the rainy night; their Light could only shrink to a small area beneath the streetlight, and he couldn't even see flying insects circling the streetlight.
Xia De disliked this weather. He now greatly envied cats that could rest in a warm, dry home, listening to the rain from the windowsill.
Despite the continuing rain, the Psychologist reached out and pointed to the large house in the night rain behind him. Xia De snapped back to attention, and he and Louisa followed his gaze:
"Everyone inside is dead."
Letter-based Ring術士 generally wouldn't actively get involved in troubles unrelated to themselves. But for the forged philosopher's stone, the five-person team almost directly faced the evil god at Lakeview Manor. Even if everyone inside was dead now, the Psychologist wouldn't give up on the investigation.
On the contrary, the death of ordinary people related to Mercury Blood precisely indicated that there was a high possibility of important clues on him.
To prevent trouble from the Orthodox Church on the grounds of "destroying a crime scene," before entering the house where only dead people resided, the Psychologist prepared shoe covers, gloves, and hats for everyone, and Louisa tied up her long hair with a rope. Of course, they couldn't have predicted what would happen tonight, but according to the Psychologist, bringing these items when going out was his habit.
It was hard for Xia De to imagine what kind of "big things" Psychologist Schneider had done.
The house had three floors; the Psychologist had climbed in through a window earlier. But now that they confirmed there were no living people inside, they entered directly through the front door. They didn't use Miracles or curses to unlock it; the Writer poked the lock a few times with a hairpin, and it opened.
Entering through the front door, dampness immediately surged into the house. The house was pitch black. Suddenly, another thunderclap ripped through the night sky, and in the flash of lightning, they saw a servant-dressed woman lying in the entrance hall, a dark pool of blood beneath her.
"At least two hours dead."
The Psychologist knelt to examine the body. Xia De and Louisa hid their umbrellas in the shadows by the door and both entered the house. Closing the door blocked out the sound of rain and prevented passersby from noticing anything amiss.
The Psychologist's autopsy skills were also quite good. He examined the fatal wound using the faint Light from his hand; Light Spell was indeed a very common curse:
"A weapon similar to a short knife, directly plunged into the heart, killing her instantly. The technique is very skilled."
"Could it be that the short-knife type relic he was keeping went out of control?"
Because of last week's "fish scales" incident, Xia De thought of this possibility, and Louisa seemed to share this view.
"That possibility cannot be ruled out..."
The Psychologist looked into the surrounding darkness and then asked:
"Your other self, have you sensed any whisper element?"
Xia De and Louisa both tilted their heads as if listening intently:
"No."
Both said.
But this didn't explain anything. Even if a relic went out of control, it wouldn't cause the element to be felt eight hundred miles away. Last time, when facing that merman, Xia De and Louisa only received a prompt after seeing the guy.
Psychologist Schneider moved aside, and Xia De and Louisa stepped forward to examine the body. But they found nothing. A faint silver Light shone on Xia De's fingertips, and in the Light, he looked at the dead body's unclosed eyes.
Something came to mind, and he blinked. Although the dampness from the rain pouring in from outside diluted the smell of blood, he could still see very faint bloodstains in the air, extending into the house.
The knife, as the murder weapon, had no reason not to be stained with blood.
Then he tried the Miracle, Echoes of the Past, but unfortunately, all he heard were chaotic fragments of daily life. A place where people lived was not a good scene for this curse to be effective.
"You see bloodstains?"
Seeing Xia De's eyes fixed forward, the Golden-haired girl, who had worked with Xia De once before, asked in a low voice.
Xia De nodded. While Louisa was explaining to the Psychologist, he turned to look at the door, lowering his voice just enough to be heard over the rain outside:
"There are no bloodstains in the direction of the door. The bloodstains extend into the house. This means that the possible murderer, after committing the crime here, continued inward and hasn't returned."
He analyzed softly.
"As expected of a Detective!"
Psychologist Schneider also lowered his voice and patted Xia De's shoulder:
"Very good. Then let's follow the direction of the bloodstains. We've already disturbed the scene, so if we don't find the forged philosopher's stone, we'll write down the clues we find and leave them here. The Church will then know that we Letter-based Ring術士 are not all troublemakers."
Doing this was already considered causing trouble.
Xia De led the way, the Psychologist walked beside Xia De, and Louisa was at the back. In the silver Moonlight from Xia De's fingertips and the gradually intensifying sound of rain outside, they continued deeper into the house.
The second body was found in the dining room. A fifteen-year-old Boy was sprawled on the dining table. After careful examination, it was found that this time, his neck had been directly severed by a sharp object.
"The bloodstains nearby aren't chaotic, which means that after the knife was brought here, it was a single fatal blow, and then it immediately left, so the knife's trajectory didn't get tangled up nearby."
Xia De said, turning to survey the dining room. Apart from the area around the body, there were no obvious fresh bloodstains elsewhere; the murderer hadn't lingered here.
"The killing method is very experienced."
Louisa commented. While the Psychologist examined the body's eyes, she looked around the dimly lit kitchen.
"Look, there are actually two sets of silver tableware here. How wealthy. No, not ordinary silver tableware, this is..."
The Golden-haired girl frowned as she pulled open the cupboard.
"Antiques from the Norloff Dynasty? This factory owner has these?"