Chapter 93: Hunting a Demoness Alone
Seeing that the curse failed to kill the Demoness, Lu Ze had no choice but to give up and clean up the scene. He wiped away the blood-formed ritual array on the ground, and his originally charred left hand was rapidly recovering. He stood up from the floor, about to inspect the altar, when he suddenly noticed a few drops of red bloodstains on the floor in the entryway.
"Wait, is this the Demoness's blood?"
Lu Ze's heart stirred. He took out a handkerchief, carefully absorbed the blood onto it, and then tucked it away in his pocket. After finishing these tasks, he turned to the altar to analyze the purpose of the ritual from his professional perspective.
"Hmm, the core of the ritual has been taken away. But from these patterns, it seems the purpose of this ritual is to convert the life force and resentment of the deceased into pure energy."
As Lu Ze was pondering, he heard footsteps outside. Dunn, along with Leonard and Klein, entered.
"Captain, you didn't catch her?" Although he had already guessed the outcome, Lu Ze still felt a bit disappointed seeing them return empty-handed.
"Wait, even if I caught and killed her, I probably couldn't easily take out her heart."
Lu Ze thought to himself.
"Looking at it this way, it might be better if I let her run away and then secretly chased and killed her myself."
He suddenly understood why he had subconsciously hidden the handkerchief.
"Unfortunately, she got away. But our primary goal was to stop the ritual, so driving her off is acceptable. How about it, have you figured out the purpose of this ritual?"
Dunn asked.
"This isn't a very dangerous ritual," Lu Ze said. "She was collecting life force, converting it into pure energy."
"Then what can this energy be used for?"
Leonard asked.
"Healing, or nourishment, I suppose."
Lu Ze himself wasn't sure.
Dunn walked around the altar, picking up a broken silver mirror from the table.
"This should be a personal item left by that Beyonder," he said, handing the mirror to Klein. "Klein, try to use it for divination and see if you can find any clues."
"Yes, Captain."
Klein took the silver mirror and was about to begin his divination when he suddenly twitched his nose slightly and said doubtfully, "Strange, I seem to smell something burnt."
"Of course. I just burned one of my hands. If you sniff carefully, you might even smell roasted meat."
Lu Ze nonchalantly studied the altar and said, "The spiritual bodies have all dissipated, so I can't commune with them. It seems we can only rely on Klein."
"I'll go check the second floor."
Leonard went upstairs.
Lu Ze, however, stayed on the first floor. He was very interested in Klein's divination and wanted to observe it firsthand. Although Klein had taught him some divination techniques, his talent was perhaps all used on rituals, and he had never been able to get started in this area.
Klein took out paper and pen, wrote down the divination phrases. Then, with one hand caressing the silver mirror and the other holding the paper, he mumbled to himself. After repeating seven times, his eyes deepened, and he lowered his head, falling into a dream.
Dream Divination!
A moment later, Klein slowly woke up, shaking his head with a hint of helplessness. "It was interfered with. I only saw some mist."
"Is that so?"
Dunn said, not very disappointed, as if he had already expected this outcome.
Not long after, Leonard came down holding a makeup box, a smile on his face. "Heh, look, Triss's interests have changed after she became a woman."
Later, Klein tried divining with the makeup box again. Dream Divination, Rod Searching, and other methods were all attempted, but the answer remained the same—the divination was interfered with.
Lu Ze's eyebrows furrowed.
"If these personal items have all been set with anti-divination measures, then will her bloodstains also be ineffective?"
"It shouldn't be, because her blood was drawn out by me on the spot. She didn't have time to sever the connection with her main body, unless she routinely makes such preparations. But ordinary Beyonders certainly wouldn't do such a thing."
"Good, then this is a valuable clue."
Lu Ze thought to himself. He quickly made a decision: without further delay, he planned to use the bloodstains on the handkerchief tonight to track her whereabouts, then kill her directly and take out her heart!
At the same time, Dunn surveyed the room, finding no other clues. He could only sigh and say, "In that case, we can only investigate from other directions. For example, by using the clothing at the scene, or setting up a defense at the train station, investigating the owner of the house…"
"That would require the cooperation of the police department, and it would become more complicated. However, for Lu Ze, this was actually a good thing."
At this point, the incident had come to an end. Dunn arranged for Leonard to contact the police, then sent Klein and Lu Ze home to rest. It was just after dark, and there were still public carriages on the street. The two waited at the station for a while, boarded a carriage, and returned to Narcissus Street.
On the way, Lu Ze had intended to ask him if he had recently found the whereabouts of the red-chimney house, but remembering that he was currently being monitored by Ms. M, he said nothing more and simply chatted with Klein.
"Klein can contact Azk. I wonder if Azk can deal with Ms. M and save Cecilia. I still have one chance to block surveillance. Should I use it on this?"
He pondered this in his heart, yet continued chatting with Klein, "Actually, we should have eaten dinner outside before coming back. I wonder if there's any food left for us at home."
To be honest, after an evening of commotion, especially after repairing the injury to his left hand, he felt an intense hunger.
"Hopefully, our sister will thoughtfully leave us some dinner."
Klein chuckled.
He was also pondering, preparing to go above the gray fog for a divination after returning home. The high level of mysticism there might allow him to break through anti-divination measures and find clues. Triss's crimes were extremely malicious, and he didn't want such a person to escape justice.
The two parted ways at their respective doorsteps.
Lu Ze pushed open the door, and the aroma of food immediately wafted towards him. Seeing Cecilia sitting at the dining table, which was laden with food, waiting for him, he couldn't help but smile—if only that damned Ms. M wasn't there, the scene would have been even better.
"Welcome back."
Ms. M said to him with a smile, "It's a pity you didn't catch that Demoness. I also didn't get the materials I wanted."
"So, are you going to punish me?"
Lu Ze took out the blood-stained handkerchief from his pocket and said cautiously, "I've got a clue. I plan to go after her tonight. As long as I catch her, I should be able to get what you want."
As he spoke, his heart stirred, and he asked, "Or you could come with me. With your strength, wouldn't it be easy to control a low-Sequence Demoness?"
Observing Ms. M's fighting stance might reveal her problem.
However, Ms. M just smiled at Lu Ze. A moment later, she suddenly snapped her fingers, and a sharp pain attacked him.
"Ugh!"
Lu Ze grunted, clutching the table.
"Lu Ze!"
Cecilia cried out, running over to support her brother.
"Your attitude towards me lately, isn't it a bit too disrespectful?"
Ms. M said with a smile.
Lu Ze trembled in pain, but a cold sneer formed in his heart.
"She doesn't dare to act. There must be something wrong with her!"
"Got you!"