With the broken arm of the spirit, Shade quietly left Mr. Franco's bedroom and returned home. Greeted by the cheerful Mia, Shade came to the third floor of his house holding the "broken arm". Of course, the confinement aura had to maintain the casting state during this period, otherwise the arm would disappear.
The life ring behind him appeared. Under the aura of true death, the hinged and locked black iron cemetery fence door appeared in the middle of the corridor illuminated by gas lamps. The metal fence seemed to absorb light, and it quickly made the corridor dim after it appeared:
"May the end of eternity protect me before the end."
The hinge moved away from the edge of the fence like a black snake. Shad pushed open the gate and walked into the white mist with the cat that was peeking out.
There are countless tombstones standing in the fog, with a cross tombstone inserted diagonally into the ground at your feet. All the tombstones have mottled marks but no words on them.
The Soul Cemetery has the power to repair broken souls, so Shade brought the severed arm and pressed it against the tall, elegant white jade-patterned high-base tombstone on the side.
The broken arm, imprisoned by the moonlight ring, was smoothly integrated into the tombstone, and then a few simple lines of text "penetrated" from the tombstone to the surface of the tombstone.
Outsider, since the main body of the soul still exists, you cannot rely on soul fragments to repair the damaged soul.
"That doesn't matter."
Xia De looked at the words on the tombstone:
Maria Fendi (Sixth Age 1828-1854)
Miss Norma
I love this land deeply, and I will eventually return to the land.
Died of suffocation.
He placed his hand on the last cause of death, and a line of small words appeared below:
Place of death: Old World, Kingdom of Drarion, eastern suburbs of Tobesk City, abandoned manor.
A map appeared below, marking the specific location of the abandoned manor. Shade took a look and recognized that it was where Miss Norma lived as a child, and it was the aristocratic manor where Miss Norma's mother once worked.
He had seen a close-up of the manor in a photograph during the day.
After noting down this information, Shade picked up the cat at his feet and left the cemetery. It was already past midnight and it was Friday. He did not plan to leave now, but wanted to wait until daytime to complete the investigation.
Can you guess what happened
"I can probably guess it, but... I hope it's not the same as what I think."
Early on Friday morning, Xia De set off after breakfast.
The eastern part of Tobysk is mountainous, so the city's public cemeteries are all in the eastern part of the city. After all, the rugged mountainous terrain makes it impossible for the city to expand to the east.
But in the early days of the city's development, some nobles who owned woodlands in the eastern forest area built their own estates at the foot of the mountain, and the destination of Shade today is the building of that time.
The carriage took Shade to the public cemetery first, where he got off and walked into the mountains. The distance he had to walk was not far, and in just twenty minutes, he saw the silhouette of the abandoned manor that had been abandoned for more than ten years along the country road.
The abandoned manor still had a fence gate, but it had been opened and the rusty iron chain was thrown into the snow pile nearby.
I walked through the gate and along the stone path in the courtyard covered with snow and mud. The courtyard was completely dilapidated, and it was obvious that it had not been used for a long time. But when I turned around and looked at the stable, I saw a few horses grazing.
The manor house was not Shad's destination. He quickly left the cobblestone road and walked to the left. On the side of the stone statue of a knight wielding a sword whose head had disappeared, he saw a simple camp consisting of three tents and a bonfire.
It was nine o'clock in the morning, and the smoke from the birds was floating towards the blue sky outside the city, like cotton candy clouds. There was a pot on the campfire, and the camp owners were eating breakfast.
Wearing a black coat and warm boots, Shad did not hide his footsteps. The soles of his boots made a rustling sound on the snow, and the young people sitting around the campfire soon discovered him.
There were three people in total, and they all looked a little haggard due to long-term "wild life". Their coats and pants were still neat, but their beards had covered their chins. Although this made identification more difficult, Shade still recognized that these were the three missing persons related to Miss Norma, including Mr. Martin.
They are all ordinary people, with no traces of elements on them.
"Who are you, sir? You have trespassed on private property!"
Before Xia De could speak, the tall young man in the lead said loudly, "This is Mr. Martin."
"Private territory?"
Xia De looked around:
"Isn't this an abandoned manor?"
"Yes, but we have already bought this place back! The transaction was completed last week, and we have complete tickets and deed tax certificates!"
This sentence did not seem to be a lie, and the two people behind Little Martin had already picked up the poker and shovel beside the campfire, apparently wanting to intimidate Shad.
"Buy here? Okay then."
He stopped and looked around:
"Please allow me to introduce myself. I am a private investigator."
He did not say that he was looking for Mr. Martin, but instead introduced himself as follows:
"Mr. Johnson Franco, who is bedridden due to a serious illness, has asked me to find the missing Miss Norma. I found out that this is where she lived as a child, so I came here to try my luck. May I ask if you have seen a beautiful lady here recently?"
"No!"
Mr. Martin said with certainty, and Shade nodded:
"Well, may I ask what's under that recently-turned dirt next to your campsite? And why do you bring a shovel with you when you camp?"
"Sir, you'd better not mind your own business!"
The young man frowned and looked at Xia De, who looked at the newly-turned land without snow with some regret:
"It seems that Miss Norma has met with misfortune."
As soon as Shade's words came out, the three young men's faces changed drastically. Mr. Martin scolded:
"Sir, please leave here, this is private territory."
"What if I don't want to leave?"
"There are three of us!"
Mr. Martin also picked up the shovel standing beside him, and the three of them approached Shade together. Although one of them was a little shorter, the other two were almost as tall as Shade, which was indeed very oppressive.
Shade took a step back, shifted his gaze from the ground, took out a pistol from his waist and raised it forward:
"I'm sorry, I'm alone, but I have a gun. Do you want to bet whether my gun has bullets?"
The three of them were obviously stunned, as they didn't expect to see a pistol. So Xia De pressed the hammer and raised the muzzle of the gun. After a bang, green smoke floated from the muzzle into the blue sky.
He lowered the gun and pointed it at the three people again:
"So, do you guys still want to bet on how many bullets are left in the reel?"
The sound of gunfire seemed to still echo under the vast sky, and two shovels, a poker and the revolver confronted each other for a moment.
Then, all those "cold weapons" fell to the ground.
Xia De smiled and was about to put away his pistol and say something, but after the cold weapon fell to the ground, the three young men also fell to the ground on the snow.
Under the only piece of land not covered by snow, a layer of disgusting black mud oozed out. In the black mud, the evil spirit that Shade had seen twice yesterday appeared again. Its broken arms had been repaired, and its long hair hung around its head. Now Shade was very sure that it was the missing Miss Norma.
"An evil spirit that appears during the day?"
Looking up at the bright sun, Shade was slightly surprised. This time the evil spirit did not attack Shade. The two of them were in a stalemate for a moment, and the rational human voice was actually spoken by the spirit:
"They are fine. When they wake up, they will just think they were knocked unconscious by the cold last night."
Although there was still madness and trembling in the words, it was undoubtedly the voice of reason.
"Why do you want to meddle in other people's business?"
asked the dark spirit standing on the mud, its soul polluted by an unknown force but still retaining some of its self.
"Someone has entrusted me to find the missing Mr. Martin. It's that simple. Ma'am, it would be great if you could tell me the truth. I can help you rest in peace and let your soul rest in peace."
He suggested cautiously, but evil spirits are still evil spirits. The wriggling long hair stabbed at Shade's face like a dancing snake, but with just a casual swing of the sword, Moonlight's sword easily wiped out the weird hair.
Holding the sword in one hand, he walked forward on the snow under the winter sun. With his left hand, he swung out a moonlight slash to break the dark sphere projected by the evil spirit. With his right hand, he thrust the greatsword forward, piercing the spirit steadily, accurately and ruthlessly, nailing it directly to the ground.
The wriggling spirit still wanted to resist, but as the Blade of Disordered Time took effect, three moonlight swords pierced out from the void, like pillars of light, completely nailing the soul to the ground. The black mud under its feet continued to wriggle, but it was ultimately afraid of the holy moonlight and could not help the evil spirit to resist.
The Moonlight Greatsword summoned by the Blade of Chaos Time would not disappear just because it was not held by Shade. So he just held the sword, and then touched the head of the soul with his left hand:
"Please tell me your secret - to guide death."
Directly in contact with the soul, the secret of this sane yet crazy soul is completely revealed to Shade.
The bright sunshine of the winter morning gradually disappeared in front of Shad's eyes, and strange pictures unfolded before him. Everything about Miss Norma who was buried in the earth was shared with the soul from a foreign land through this simple touch.
"I see."
The land of the manor has been calling Miss Norma since she was a child. And Miss Norma has been able to hear voices since she was very young. Years of contact have allowed her to learn some wonderful knowledge, and also made her believe that she will eventually become one with this land.
Miss Norma was now sleeping in the snowless soil. Her disappearance was not forced. She wandered among men for many years before finally choosing three men who loved her the most and coaxed them into believing that she would be resurrected in the soil. So, the three young men, led by Martin, buried their "lovers" with gentle smiles in the snow in this winter.
But they did not wait for the resurrected lover. Instead, they waited for the detective who was investigating the case in the biting winter wind.
This is not the tragedy of Miss Norma, nor the comedy of Little Martin and his two companions. It is just that the earth is calling her...
However, Shade did not notice anything unusual about this land.