The female bard Ashara mentioned by Lady Sangmei, who had a great singing voice, seemed to be from Midhill Castle, the "City of Mountains" in the southeast of the kingdom. She had dark red hair, but her appearance was not very outstanding.
The poetess showed up on time at seven o'clock, wearing a soft red flowered hat on her head, a white shirt on her upper body, a brown vest with silver buttons on the outside, and a pair of trousers on her lower body.
Regular customers applauded and cheered, and some even threw coins at the high stool.
The female bard seemed to be accustomed to this situation. She sat on a high stool and played the lute, and her song told an ancient love story.
After all, outsiders don't have enough experience in the culture of this world, but Iluna has heard this story. This is a very traditional love legend between a princess and a prince, which involves adventure, witchcraft and so on. What awakened the sleeping princess was a kiss described by the poetess with a tremolo... She really described the details of the kiss in great detail, which reminded Shade again that this was the inn in the lower city.
This kind of detailed description is probably not heard during the day.
Although he lived in the downtown area, Mr. Toby Ullian was not a so-called poor man. He ran a grocery store and although he was not rich, he could at least survive in the city.
It was already 7:50 that evening when Shad and Iluna followed the address and found Mr. Julian's home on Losval Street in the north of the city.
This street is one of the better neighborhoods in the north of the city. On both sides of the street are three-story apartments and shops. Gas pipes and steam pipes are neatly arranged on the walls facing the street. Mr. Julian lives at No. 8 on this street. He converted the first floor into a shop selling groceries, and the second floor and above are his own residence.
It was already night, and there were no grocery stores open at midnight in this era. Although this was a bit too absolute, in the chaotic downtown area, no one would open at night.
The shop was closed, and Shad was planning to knock on the door directly, but Iluna took Shad around the neighborhood and found the gas meter for this street in a nearby alley.
It seems that this block was newly built in recent decades. Older residential apartments usually have the gas meter inside the house.
"The captain told me that before investigating a person, we should try to find and check the gas meter readings of the person first to confirm whether there are any abnormal readings and make a preliminary judgment on the person being investigated."
Iluna shared her experience with Shad, and Shad opened the lid of the box containing the gas meter inside the wall and saw that it was an old city gas meter. Depending on whether the gas is used, the internal gear will rotate and the reading will change. Each household's gas meter has two readings, one for the past cumulative readings and one for the new usage readings.
At the end or beginning of each month, the gas company staff responsible for checking the gas meter will push and pull the special metal slot, and through the complex mechanical structure inside the gas meter, the latter's reading will be added to the former, and the latter will be directly cleared to zero for a new round of reading accumulation.
By comparing the reading with the previous one, it can be confirmed whether someone has tampered with the gas meter. There is usually a piece of cloth tied to the side of the gas meter box, with the time of the last check written on it. This type of gas meter is widely used in the Old World.
After the operation in the Dark Realm, Shad somehow gained the ability to see in the dark, which might be related to the fact that he had swallowed some of the power of the Dark Box. However, Shad could not infer anything after seeing the numbers clearly, while Iluna stared at the readings and quickly nodded to the conclusion:
"The readings are normal, consistent with what the captain told me about the gas usage rate in the mixed-use building of shops and apartments."
Xia De was very curious whether the captain of the Blackstone Security Company had worked in the city tax department before.
After knocking on the door, it took a long time for someone to come down from the second floor. After asking the two people's identities through the door, and then seeing Iluna's ID through the crack in the door, and confirming again and again that they did not look like robbers, the cautious Mr. Julian was willing to let the two people in.
Mr. Julian was not alone. He was accompanied by a woman wearing a black veil, with very white skin and always keeping her head down. She didn't talk much, and Mr. Julian told Shade and Iluna embarrassedly that she was his fiancée.
Everyone came to the second floor, and Mr. Julian received the two people in the reception room on the second floor. The lady in the black dress went to prepare hot tea for them. After the three of them sat down, Xia De looked at the simple decoration in the room and asked curiously:
"Why don't you plan to renovate the house?"
What Xia De actually meant was that since the other party was going to get married, he should renovate the house before the wedding.
"I'm quite used to this style, and the store is busy. It would be bad if I delayed the business by renovating hastily. Although it's one... although we have to live together, it's not easy to make money here."
Mr. Julian said.
It was getting late, so they didn't exchange too much pleasantries. Iluna told them the purpose of their trip and revealed the progress of the cemetery body theft case.
Of course, when Shad handed the other party the photo to confirm the location of the tomb, he "accidentally" touched the other party's hand, and the voice in his ear confirmed that Mr. Toby Ullian was indeed an ordinary person.
When Mr. Julian heard the corpse theft case was brought up again, he was calmer than they thought. He answered all the questions normally and said that as far as he knew, his sister had never offended anyone.
"She was a very kind person when she was alive. I can't imagine that someone would do such a vicious thing out of hatred after her death."
A veiled lady walked in with a tray, so Mr. Julian stood up to help her distribute the cups. When the lady approached, Shade instinctively felt that something was wrong with her. He stood up under the pretext of helping her and wanted to create an opportunity to "touch" her to confirm, but Mr. Julian always intentionally or unintentionally stood in front of the detective and his fiancée.
"Are there any whispers or profanity?"
Sitting down again, Xia De asked carefully in his heart.
At least without direct contact, no trace of the element is felt. However...
She paused for a moment, as if to whet Shade's appetite on purpose.
Don't change your facial expression, there is something strange.
"What is it?"
Shade listened to Iluna continue to ask Mr. Julian about the situation, while the strange lady walked out the door with the tea tray. Looking at her back, there was nothing special about this person.
The other person was not breathing, his body temperature was much lower than that of a normal person, and he did not blink once. In layman's terms...
Shade took a deep breath and nodded, as if agreeing with Iluna's statement about the investigation:
"The other person is a dead person!"
He came to a conclusion in his mind, then froze for a moment, and thought 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 losing control of his emotions when he mentioned the young man who abandoned Miss Julian and caused her to hang herself:
"I'm sorry, I really don't want to mention that person."
"Then do you know the other person's address?"
Iluna said, Mr. Julian sighed and nodded, and told the two the address. After getting the information they wanted, Shade and Iluna didn't plan to stay any longer, and comforted each other a few more words before standing up and saying goodbye.
Mr. Julian sent the two downstairs and watched them walk side by side along the street toward the distant intersection. He turned off the lights on the first floor, then quickly went to the second floor, leaned out of the window, and confirmed that the two had gone far away, only then did he feel relieved.
Shade and Iluna stopped at the corner of the street. They were the only two people on the moonlit street, and only a few houses facing the street had lights on.
"No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like Mr. Julian is getting married."
The girl with long brown hair sighed slightly:
"That so-called fiancée has problems, and he himself has problems. I originally thought he was a good person."
Xia De proposed a more thrilling possibility. He looked up at the moon in the sky. On the day between summer and autumn, the monsoon was very obvious, blowing away the long-lost mist over the city. Standing in the city, he could see the starry sky, and the silver moonlight was reflected in his eyes:
"When Madam Sang Mei provided the information about the wedding dress, I thought Mr. Julian was a pervert who liked to wear skirts. But now I feel that he may be even more perverted - the fiancée we just saw was actually the corpse of his sister."
Iluna was not surprised at all. Although her "other self" was definitely not as sensitive as Shade's, she also saw the clues:
"I'm sorry, judging from the current situation, I may have involved you in something serious again."
As she finished speaking, a light laugh in Xia De's ear prompted:
Stranger, you feel the "whisper".
"where?"
Look behind you.
Turning around, the corpse bride was standing in the moonlight wearing a veil and holding a sharp knife. The long shadow of the bride in a wedding dress stretched towards them and swayed in the moonlight.
Meow~
In the distance of the city, a cat's cry came from somewhere. Facing the moonlight, I looked at the bride, and the wind blew the layers of gauze skirt. The autumn night wind was really a bit chilly.