OBS Chapter 4065 Life, Resonance, and Eyes
Chapter 4065 Life, Resonance, and Eyes
Chapter 4065 Life, Echoes, and Eyes
Shad judged that the deceased was most likely hit directly by a decaying force and then died in the decay process.
"This power is terrifying."
Wei Ge commented that although she is not afraid of death, she is very afraid of growing old like this and dying.
During the examination, Shad keenly sensed an extremely faint whispering element on the other person's body, and after confirmation by the other girls, this whispering element seemed to be the main cause of the other person's death.
The whispering element suggests relics, but the possibility that a demon used relics cannot be ruled out. Since the suspected demon itself wields the power of "Withering," using relics with similar attributes should allow it to unleash even greater power.
"I'll set up a ritual to prevent disturbing the peace of other corpses. I'll try communicating with the spirits."
Shad gave further instructions, and the girls quickly got to work. The bodies that died from the loss of their belongings should have been difficult to communicate with spirits, but this was no big problem for Shad, who had been exposed to real death.
Because she received the power of [Ash Summoning] from Sister Daphne, the unstable female soul that was summoned briefly acquired an ash-like body.
She stood blankly beside her own body and recounted how she was attacked when she was taking a shortcut through an alley after finishing work at the factory early the next morning.
"I didn't see what attacked me. All I saw was a raging fire appearing deep in the alley, and then a beam of light, like the sunlight at dusk, shot towards me. Then it was very painful. I could feel myself withering away and feel death opening its doors to me."
The fire approached me, as if inspecting something. I tried to grab it, but the flames were too intense; I released it the moment I touched it. It did nothing more and left. I struggled for another five minutes at the alleyway entrance before finally dying.
The woman was just an ordinary textile worker in a factory in the outer city. Because the attack came so suddenly, she was unable to provide any further clues.
This sounded like a random attack, and Shad couldn't determine the killer's identity based on the woman's social connections. Of course, he could wander around the outer city every night, hoping to run into the attacker again by chance, but that was far too inefficient.
"You touched it, didn't you? Was your hand already injured at the time?"
Shad confirmed, and the woman enveloped in ashes nodded:
Yes, I was injured at that time.
Shad then had an idea. He thanked the woman and prepared to see her off, but to his surprise, this seemingly unintelligent soul actually turned its head and made its gray eyes look at Shad:
"Could you help me look after the children?"
The most primal emotions remaining in her soul allowed her to utter her request even after death:
“My husband passed away, and I have three children who need care. I am leaving now, and I am not a good mother.”
"No problem, just tell me the address and I'll go check it out for you."
"I promised," Shad said.
"Thank you."
After revealing his home address, the soul dissipated, leaving only ashes drifting to the ground. Shad sighed, removed his gloves, and spoke rapidly to Viggo and the others:
"It's getting dark, let's go, we need to speed things up."
"Investigate the murderer? Do you have a plan? Is it divination?"
"No, we're going to see this woman's children. It's been almost 48 hours since early yesterday morning, and I'm worried about whether the children have eaten or gone out to look for their mother. We can investigate the murderer later; let's go check on the children first."
Shad stared at the "withered" corpse:
"Although she was an ordinary person, a mother's love is truly great."
Viggo thought of her mother, Peggy Flamel, and her expression darkened. But then she felt Chad pull her hand, and Chad smiled at her, bringing Viggo a strange sense of peace.
The deceased lived in a slum in the outer city, not far from the riverside morgue. One of Vigo's followers stayed behind to handle the aftermath of the body, while the other two went there with Shad and Vigo.
Under the dim glow of the setting sun, the narrow alleyways of the slum, lined with old apartment buildings on both sides, were filled with people. Weary adults were heading home for dinner and preparing to continue their evening work, while children played with their friends before dinner.
When Shad found the woman's house after navigating the narrow alley, his worst fears were not realized. Although his mother had unexpectedly disappeared, kind neighbors had already called the police and were temporarily taking care of the three children.
The eldest of the three children was a 13-year-old girl. When Xia De knocked on her door, the somewhat malnourished girl opened the door but still shielded her younger brother and sister behind her.
There were no other adults in their family. The family relied on the mother working in a factory and the children doing small businesses such as selling newspapers to make ends meet.
Although they opened the door because Shad looked kind, they were still afraid of what he might do. However, Shad wasn't a bad person; he gave the three children the food he had just retrieved from the cards, claiming to be an old friend of their father.
"Yes, it's a pity he has passed away."
Aside from providing plenty of food, Shad did nothing else. After instructing the children not to open the door to strangers again, he went downstairs under the suspicious gaze of the plump aunt holding a broom standing in front of the next door.
"No problem. If you can find a place to take in the three children, you can arrange some jobs for them to earn money later."
After meeting up with Vige, Xia De said that he knew very well what level the orphanage run by the city hall was at, so they wouldn't consider it for the time being. Besides, this wasn't the time to think about whether child labor was legal. He suggested that with Vige taking care of them a little, the three of them wouldn't have to worry about their basic needs until they were at least 18.
The witch hugged Shad's arm:
"It's just arranging for three children, what's so difficult about that? I'm also a very compassionate person. During the war, everyone was struggling. In addition to donating money, I was planning to expand the factory's recruitment scope. The Astley family has always had a tradition of doing charity."
Although this was also to impress the Anjou royal family, my family has been the most famous philanthropists in the area since my great-grandfather's time.
"We'll help the children as much as we can. To prevent similar incidents from happening again, let's go find the killer now. We'll probably be busy for a while tonight, so dinner will be a little late."
Wei Ge, of course, didn't care:
"It's alright, let's go then."
A gentle evening breeze, carrying the aromas of various dinners, swept through the narrow alley, and it seemed as if someone was softly thanking someone. Wei Ge unconsciously smiled, feeling as if her physical condition had improved, but it seemed like just an illusion.
The alley where the woman was murdered was not far from her home. Although a body was found in the alley yesterday morning, no police stopped at the entrance to collect evidence, since this was not the Upper East Side.
However, because of the suspected murderer, not many people were walking through the alley.
In the last rays of the setting sun, Shad first brewed the somewhat spoiled blood he had just taken from the corpse into a blood concoction and dripped it into his eyes. Then he used the strange technique that had been with him for a long time:
"Echoes of Blood!"
【Echoes of Blood】For living people, you can follow the traces of blood, but for dead individuals, you can only see the actions of the deceased in the hour before and the hour after death.
What Shad needs now is not to know the woman's actions, but to find out the traces of the woman's blood left on the murderer. Even though he has advanced to a higher level, [Echo of Blood] has not been able to break through this life-and-death limitation, but fortunately, the halfling girl from the Fifth Era has given Shad a nice gift.
His right palm, with its five fingers together and facing inward, was placed in front of his right eye. Then, his index and middle fingers suddenly parted to reveal his right eye.
"Spell: Sharp Eye Technique!"
"How about it?"
Vige asked expectantly, while Xia De looked somewhat embarrassed:
"Well, it turns out it's not as simple as I thought."
The [Sharp Eye] skill does enhance the power of [Echo of Blood], allowing Shad to see in more detail the experiences of the deceased before and after death corresponding to the blood, but it does not allow Shad to directly track the destination of the blood.
Although he was able to see traces left on the ground by the deceased two days ago using the most basic ability of [Echo of Blood], which is to observe bloodstains that are not easily detected, it was not enough for him to track down the murderer.
Think carefully about the principles behind Blood Echo.
She gently reminded him.
"This extraordinary technique doesn't simply track blood; rather, it uses the traces of blood left in spacetime to recreate those traces through echo. The blood of the dead cannot be tracked over long distances because it has lost its vitality and cannot evoke further echoes."
Shad then had a new idea. He took out the blood sample he had just collected, but this time he didn't drip it into his eyes. Instead, he used a new, magical technique:
"Miraculous Technique: Life Spark"
He extracted an extremely faint life force from his own body and infused it into the blood of the deceased. Then, he fermented this fresh blood into a blood-based concoction and dripped it into his eyes, followed immediately by—
"Echo of Blood: Sharp Eye Technique!"
A red streak, like a thin mist, appeared in the field of vision and extended in two different directions.
One side faces the morgue, and the other side faces the opposite direction. Although the trace is very unstable, it is at least sufficient for tracking.
"The vitality of life is truly amazing."
Shad smiled:
"Found it, everyone follow me. Keep an eye on your surroundings and be ready for battle at any time."
As long as the other party hadn't washed away the bloodstains, Shad could use his magical abilities to track their current location. However, it seemed the other party didn't live nearby, so after returning to the main road, the group boarded the carriage again.
Following Shad's directions, the carriage drove out of the outer city and back into the lower city of Arcadia.