"This is..." Xia Fan frowned.
"The corpse stinks," Qian Yan said, "but it's not caused by corruption."
"What's that for?"
"The peculiar smell that naturally occurs after being stored for a long time is common in morgues and tombs." She replied.
"No trace of living people was found." Over there, Li had completed his search, "Du Lin is not here."
Xia Fan lit the portable torch, and the darkness immediately faded, revealing the basement to its original appearance. This place is really spacious, with a length and width of at least thirty feet, and many compartments separated by low walls. One fire seemed not enough to illuminate every corner, but fortunately there were many candlesticks in the room. He lit them one by one, and the room suddenly became much brighter.
The most eye-catching thing is the seven or eight bed frames placed in the basement - but they are not covered with quilts and other fabrics, but are covered with chains and iron shackles. Staines of blood could be seen around it, and various pliers, knives, hand saws and other tools were placed on the low table beside the bed.
However, the medical skills of this era were still in the stage of exploring the efficacy of herbal medicine, and some techniques had excellent healing effects, so the concept of surgical treatment was still far from being formed. Therefore, when he saw these blood-stained and rusty instruments, Xia Fan immediately understood that Du Lin was definitely not a doctor who broke through the thorns in pursuit of medical skills. He just transformed this place into his own torture chamber and sent him to the prison. The people here are used as guinea pigs for some shady experiments.
"It seems we have found the wrong person." Qian Yan said coldly. Although she is used to seeing all kinds of death and experiencing many ridiculous things, it does not mean that she has silently accepted it. "Du Lin is not an ordinary tower doctor."
"You're right." Xia Fan agreed. To say that this guy is just a raging pervert would be to underestimate him.
There were not only torture instruments in the room, but also various experimental equipment - such as distillation tanks, glass flasks, heating furnaces, etc... There were more things that Xia Fan couldn't name, and they were all neatly placed. The iron frames on both sides of the wall seemed to have been carefully maintained.
A psychopath would obviously not waste his energy on something like this.
What's more important is that those large appliances don't look cheap at first glance. In all likelihood, they were specially built by craftsmen based on drawings. With Du Lin's ability and financial resources, it is really difficult to decorate the basement to this extent.
This also raised a question in Xia Fan's mind.
What exactly does his so-called experiment mean
In some folktales, evildoers piece together corpses to create abomination-like monsters. Unfortunately, in reality, this is simply not feasible. Let alone advanced rejection reactions, it is difficult for ordinary people to get a sterile operating room. The cut pieces of meat are no different from the steaks bought in the store. It is no different from trying to combine them and still keep them active.
Unless with the help of magic.
However, Lassein made it very clear that Dulin was just an ordinary person, not a demon possessor. He had been running the sanatorium for so long, so he certainly wasn't preparing to attack the church convoy.
"Xia Fan, Qian Yan, come here and take a look at this!"
Suddenly, Li's low cry came from the other side.
The two followed the sound and came to the fox demon.
The other side of the basement resembles a study room, but in addition to the long table, bookshelves and other common objects, there are also two peculiar wooden barrels placed on one side of the wall - the barrels have a classic black and yellow color scheme and skulls painted on them. The sign almost puts its danger on its face. But that wasn't what surprised Li the most. What really caught her attention was the sun pattern logo on the top of the barrel.
Only the Church of Hera is qualified to use such an emblem.
"Is the church taking the lead behind this matter?" Li Fei explained, "The man in the mirror who spoke to Achie is actually a member of the Hera Church?"
Otherwise it would be hard to explain why church stuff would be in the basement of a nursing home.
"Maybe we can't draw a conclusion so quickly." Xia Fan noticed that there were several warning patterns painted on the barrel. With his limited Xiji language skills and the content of the pictures, he could roughly tell that they should be "handle with care." , "Keep away from heat sources", "Keep away from non-professionals", etc.
If the church wanted to transport some dangerous items into Azure Castle, there was no reason to put all the warnings on it.
It is more like a very rigorous packaging container, the kind that is mass-produced.
Are you not afraid of being caught using something like this for conspiracy
"Look around and see if you can find any new clues." He said calmly.
The three of them immediately began to rummage through the boxes, hoping to find some guidance.
Soon, Xia Fan was attracted by an experimental record on the table.
The handwriting inside was very neat, even he could understand a lot.
Turning to the next few pages, the other party's records became shorter and shorter. "Time is very tight. Just consuming people in the hospital will easily arouse suspicion. I can only recruit people from outside and conduct multiple sets of comparative experiments at the same time."
"The effect of Potion No. 26 is too lethal. Blue Iris cannot effectively reduce the poison. It consumes two people in total and the test fails."
"Potion No. 28, failed."
"Pharmacion No. 31, the death time is extended to six hours. This is a rare breakthrough, but there is still a certain distance from the target."
"The investigation by the trial team is sharper than expected. The operation date has been shortened again. I can only conduct two additional tests during the day. I hope it's not too late."
"Pharmacion No. 35, the effect of the death fog was greatly suppressed. The three experimenters persisted for twelve hours. No matter how much the body was corroded, the spirit was still clear. I feel that success is close at hand."
Then came the last page, with only one sentence on it.
"Potion No. 37, I found the perfect formula."
Xia Fan's heart sank slightly.
Even through the paper, he could feel the other party's urgency. According to this record, the "operation date" in Dulin's mouth has been shortened to the point where he captured a large number of outsiders at the risk of being discovered, and stayed in the basement for a long time to conduct experiments. Now that the experiment is complete, when will he choose to take action
Could it be... now
At this time, Li also discovered two unusual things through the smell.
They were placed in a wooden box on the bookshelf. The wooden box itself was unlocked, and it seemed that the contents inside were not unusual, but Li realized that these two things were anything but ordinary.
Because their smell is quite unique, and it is incompatible with the blood and stench that fills the room.
It was a finely crafted gold and stone pendant, as well as a customs defense document.
"What's written on it?" Xia Fan noticed the different piece of paper.
After Li scanned it roughly, his eyes couldn't help but condense. "A delivery slip shows that the Watch Island garrison delivered ten barrels of the dead sea death fog on the order of the church, as well as instructions on the matters to be noted about the death fog itself."
"Death fog" - this word also appears occasionally in the test records.
She pointed to the densely packed rows of small words below, "It is collected from the edge of the sea. It is extremely pure and has a very strong bone-eroding effect on any living creature and most evil spirits. Once inhaled or injected into the body, the damage to the body will be If it occurs irreversibly, ordinary treatments will not work, so full protective equipment must be worn and extraction and recovery must be carried out carefully.”
"Warning: In the event of accidental contact, the best response is to immediately terminate the life of the person in contact to reduce the pain of bone erosion."
"Note: When used to kill evil spirits, hazard assessment needs to be carried out to minimize the spread and residue of death fog on land."
At the bottom of the document was a signature that Xia Fan could understand without Li reading it - "Signed by: Major Ferdinand Loken."
"That's good." Xia Fan muttered, "The murderer, evidence, purpose of committing the crime... everything we are looking for is ready."
"You mean, the enemy's attack on the church's convoy was actually to obtain the Death Mist from Watch Island?" Li asked.
He nodded, "From the official documents, this army stationed on Watch Island belongs to the church. If they use their identity as the Son of the Holy Spirit, they can receive such dangerous items without anyone noticing."
"That is to say - this pendant belongs to the Holy Son?" Li lifted it up, "But why did the murderer throw it in a place like this?"
"Because it is useless. No matter how little information is available on the island, it will take ten days and a half to know what happened in Azure Castle. Once the other party takes action, this information gap will disappear." Xia Fan muttered, "Instead, keep it here In the basement, it can actually create an illusion that the church directs and performs on its own. The same goes for the wooden barrels containing the death fog... "
Not only did the other party not care about the information leaked on the container, but they also deliberately placed it here openly. Its intention can only be said to be quite obvious.
"But what do they want to do with the death fog?" Li turned his attention to the document again, "According to the content of the warning, it seems that as long as this thing is poured into the well, it can cause a lot of harm in the city, but Du Lin did not Do this.”
"I just looked through his test records. What he pursues is not the killing effect of the death fog, but the prolongation of the pain it brings to people." Xia Fan's expression was solemn, "This reminds me of something."
"You want to say bronze ruins, right?" Qian Yan said coldly.
He nodded slightly, "The only purpose of these things is to let people experience the most painful and desperate torture before death, in order to create an atmosphere of resentment."
And these breaths are the best raw materials for breeding evil spirits.
If the other party's purpose was this, then the series of things they did would basically make sense.
"However, there are still problems with this explanation." Qian Yan did not agree immediately. "Achie must be aware of this, but what is the benefit to him? Helping the murderer create evil spirits to attack Azure Castle will definitely affect him. factories and shops, it’s not a cost-effective idea no matter how you look at it.”
Xia Fan also felt that the living dead's argument was reasonable, "unless he can get greater benefits from it."
At this moment, Li suddenly pricked up his ears.
"Shh, there's movement overhead!"
The other two people immediately held their breath and looked up.
I saw a few wisps of light blue smoke floating from the gaps in the basement ceiling, like a soft veil, covering it quietly downwards.