Two figures, one tall and one short, were walking side by side on the deserted long street. A sudden gust of wind blew the tall man's gray cloak back, and he lowered his head slightly, pressing the sword belt on his chest with one hand, The sheathed long sword on the back was firmly held down with one hand.
The cold and hard touch was like a cardiotonic, which instantly calmed him down.
"Roy..." The short man beside him stroked the beard that hung down on his chest, "Why not? Even Master Leto missed! I can't drag you into the water any more. You go to the hotel in the city and wait for my good news. Bar."
The boy shook his head and categorically refused, "My teacher's whereabouts are still unknown, so he just ran away without a fight? The witcher can't do it, and I believe that dwarves don't bother to make such friends."
"Well, you're right. If you're a coward, I'll look down on you."
"One more thing, what clues did Leto find during his work with you?"
Kramer tugged at his beard in distress, "I'll tell the truth, I'm very puzzled, is the master used to be alone, or is he afraid that ordinary people like us will support him? He disappears and disappears every day, investigating clues and so on. Keep your mouth shut until the serial killer is finally ambushed!"
"Huh..." Roy raised his head and took a deep breath, feeling a little surprised. Leto is a lone ranger. After all, he has several previous convictions for acting alone, but he doesn't have to hide all the facts of the case as murder. The boss of the case running around.
"Is the murderer too powerful, and Leto wants to protect them? Or is there a secret behind this series of murders that cannot be known to outsiders?"
The two walked all the way through the sparse pedestrians on the street and came to the Hanged Ghost Alley on the west side of the palace.
The alley was a perfect match for its appearance and name, between a grey building and a high wall full of stains and moss, dark and narrow, and a dead end at the end of a hundred days later.
Roy took a few steps into the alley when he smelled a unique smell, and followed the smell to find a few dry brown bloodstains on the ground. Besides, there are no other suspicious traces in the whole alley.
He squatted down, the tip of his index finger was stained with a bit of blood mixed with dust and brought it to his nose, closed his eyes and felt it for a moment...
fishy... faintly rancid...
One smells like human blood, supposed to be from Letho the witcher; the other smells rancid, he's never smelled anything like it... What's left
He opened his eyes again, and the dark golden pupils suddenly contracted into vertical prisms—
Two "ribbons" rose along the blood stains on the ground, floated lightly in mid-air, and spread beyond the Hanged Alley... One was light red, the other black... This was the witcher's senses.
Why does the bloodstain split into two directions
The boy was lost in thought.
The dwarf, who had been observing him, noticed the change in his pupils, his beard trembled in fright, and out of a defensive instinct, he grasped the sword around his waist tightly—at that moment, he seemed to be stared at by the predators at the top of the food chain. When he got there, he thought of dragons. Legend has it that dragon creatures have dark golden vertical pupils.
But isn't he from the Viper School? His teacher has amber pupils.
Roy watched as he stood up, his brows furrowed, his eyes searched in the air for a while, hesitating for a moment... He chose the reddish "ribbon" in the air, and sprinted along the direction of the ribbon's extension. The traces are sometimes thick and sometimes light, the blood stains on the ground are thick, and the other places are faint...
His goal is clear, and he's on his way.
However, the dwarf couldn't see any clues at all, and his rich experience told him that it was best not to make a sound while the witcher was investigating.
He kept quiet and followed,
Five minutes later, the boy stopped on the side of a sparsely populated old street with a gloomy expression on his face, turned around again, and explored in another direction.
Changed to the "black" ribbon and followed him all the way, Roy even jumped onto the low roof and ran on the roof ignoring the terrain... But not long after, he stopped again and lowered his face.
"Roy, what clues did you find?" Dennis Kramer interrupted and asked eagerly.
"Sorry, my level is a lot worse than my teacher... I didn't find anything." The two "ribbons" in the boy's senses were suddenly cut off and there were no traces. One was a few days later, and the other was his witcher. The senses are still very rudimentary and their abilities are limited.
"The clues are broken."
The dwarf's rough face showed disappointment, "Then shall we continue to search this way?"
"Forget it, there's no need to search," Roy thought to himself, "The bodies of the dead are all in the morgue?"
"Yes, the six bodies are over there."
"Take me to see it."
The two changed paths and walked for about half an hour to a remote place at the end of a certain street, outside a rough and cold two-story gray building.
The rusted iron door was half-closed behind a descending staircase, and the morgue was underground.
As soon as they stepped into the door, a strong rancid smell rushed into the noses of the two of them instantly. Roy frowned and covered his nose.
"Not a single guard?"
The dwarf said in disapproval, "The property of the dead has been stripped away long ago. Even the poorest pickpockets can't come here to steal. There is nothing to steal, so do you want to steal the body?"
"Maybe, have you heard of ghouls? The murderer may also come here to destroy the clues on the corpse."
…
The dark underground corridor was illuminated by a faint firelight, and the two of them swerved through several rooms and passed through the morgue cabinets that were stacked densely like coffins.
There are also deformed corpses placed on the dark iron table and forcibly sewn together by needles and threads.
Seeing the shocked expression on the boy's face, the dwarf explained, "Do you think there are many corpses here? Basically, Ellander finds a fresh corpse every few days."
"Accidents, illnesses, gang fights, assassination by killers... The causes of death are varied, with more than one-third of the bodies unclaimed, and more than half of the bodies where the killer cannot be found."
The dwarf sighed, "Although six people have been killed in this serial murder so far, if the location is not near the palace but in another area, if it hadn't happened to anger Prince Siward, I don't think the Knights would have been so mobilized. ."
"Whether in Errand or other cities, human and financial resources are always limited, and it is impossible to solve all cases. Only some sheriffs 'deem important'."
Roy was silent. In the eyes of the rulers of this backward era, the life value of commoners and nobles was completely incomparable.
Continuing forward, the two came to a blood-stained iron table, and a tall man in a white apron and mask was handling a corpse with his back to them.
"How's the check up, any new clues? Francis."
The coroner didn't seem to hear the question, and continued his work. The slender right arm under the white coat was suddenly raised back high, and a cloudy needle between the two fingers reflected a dazzling light in the dim yellow light.
He tightened the sutures heavily, and lowered his head and fingers to move needles like enclaves.
"Pfft..." The sharp object entered the flesh, his movements were slow and slow, his strength was neither light nor heavy, just right, inexplicably felt.
It was as if the body was dancing to an unknown rhythm, as if in front of him was not a filthy and smelly corpse, but a great work of art.
After waiting for a few minutes, he finished the last stitch, lifted the mask with his left hand covered in flesh and blood, and cut the suture thread cleanly with his teeth.
Then he took a deep breath, slumped back in his chair, waved his hands back, and said in an urn-like voice, "Dennis Kramer, I've said many times not to make noise during working hours. In case my hands tremble and damage my integrity , the dead can't rest in peace, be careful they get up and settle accounts with you!"
His tone was hoarse and had an indescribable charm that made one couldn't help but want to hear more.
Roy's dark golden pupils condensed, and he noticed that this guy had a spider-like tattoo on his right forearm exposed outside his sleeve.
Hearing this, the dwarf smiled disdainfully, "You superstitious guy, if there are really ghosts, I welcome them as guests, and I will treat them with spirits and make him a drunkard!"
"Not much nonsense, let's talk business with you, about that serial killer..."
Under the dwarf's urging, the coroner turned around and took off the mask, and slowly took off the surgical gown.
This is a man in his thirties, and his first impression is that he is handsome, handsome to the point of femininity. He has a high nose bridge, deep eyes with dark circles of insomnia, and his lips are slightly scarlet. I don't know if he has been in the basement for too long, has not seen the sun for a long time, and his skin is white without a trace of blood.
His clothes were clean and tidy, and he exuded a gloomy aristocratic air all over him.
He lay on his chair and yawned lazily, then turned to Roy casually,
"This new kid," he smiled, showing his white teeth, "don't look at a man with that kind of eyes. If you want to have fun... I recommend you go to the Peacock Flower in the Golden Cave in the north of the city, I have personally tried my mother. They are hot enough!"
Roy was unmoved at all, "Your Excellency, can we talk about the matter of looking for girls. Now please show me the six corpses left before."
The dwarf introduced following his words, "This is Roy, Master Letho's..."
"I guess it's the bald apprentice!" The coroner commented on him, without concealing the disgust in his tone, "Look at this dress, with black and yellow leather armor, a gray cloak, and a rose tattooed on his chest. , and wearing an ugly hood, your witchers' aesthetics are amazingly consistent, and they are hundreds of years behind the current era..."
"Okay, I shut up!"
Francis stretched suddenly and stood up from his chair.
"Follow me, boy, but I have something to say first," he said impatiently. "Young man, prepare yourself mentally, and be careful that you will be scared to death later!" Abandoning these words, he swaggered around and led the way.
"Uh, although this guy has a weird personality, he is still a good person." The dwarf gave him an apologetic look.
"Understood." Roy looked at Francis' back. He had never seen an ordinary person with such a casual attitude towards a witcher.