"So, what do you think about those grave robbers?" Xia De asked curiously.
"What else can I think? Stealing things from the place I'm guarding, I wish I could just hang them! Besides, disturbing the dead is a great sin in itself. Even if it's for food, one shouldn't do such things. If you ask me, if you dare to deal with the dead, you should be prepared to be strangled by the dead."
After speaking, the old man spat on the ground, still feeling indignant. With the large pruning shears in his hand, it looked as if he was ready to snip to death any grave robbers he encountered.
The three stolen tombs were connected to each other, located in the southeast corner of Cemetery Area 3. Since the Tobesk Public Cemetery gradually expanded eastward into the mountainous forest, the natural scenery in this corner was quite pleasant.
From a distance, they could see earth mounds. Upon closer inspection, they found that these mounds were left by the grave robbers during their excavation.
The police from Leedweich Field had erected three 'No Entry' signs here, connected by warning lines. Iluna stepped directly over them, her small black leather shoes leaving faint footprints on the grass.
Xia De looked down at the ground; the weeds were messy, but the primary crime scene was largely preserved.
He walked to the front of the excavated grave:
"The coffin is still here. The cemetery keeper said there were no wheel tracks. Did the culprit put the body in a bag and carry it away, or did they carry it directly on their back?"
"That's hard to say. I've seen the Church's records; some grave robbers even dismember the body before taking it away... What's that terrible smell?"
Iluna wrinkled her nose and complained, then squatted down to examine the three tombstones embedded in the ground.
"This one belongs to Mrs. Fennel."
Iluna pointed to the outermost one. Xia De leaned in to look; nothing important was written on the tombstone:
"Are the other two bodies also recent deaths?"
"Yes, all from more than half a month ago, and all female bodies," Iluna said with certainty.
"I remember the case file said their ages at death were 34 and 25 respectively. What about the cause of death? Was it also illness?"
Xia De asked again, blinking his eyes, trying to find bloodstains or lingering souls nearby.
"It's not written in the dossier, but it's on the tombstone. Let me see..."
"Let me see it. Don't get your hands dirty."
The other two tombstones on the ground were almost buried in soil. Xia De patted Iluna's shoulder to make her move aside a bit. Then, putting on his gloves, he squatted down and cleared the soil from the ground:
"One committed suicide by hanging, because she was abandoned, and another choked to death eating beans? Oh, that's really unlucky."
Xia De shook his head:
"Aside from the time of death and gender, the three bodies have no common characteristics. However, it doesn't rule out that the other party wasn't simply stealing bodies, but had a grudge against one of the three, and feared being found if they desecrated the body, so they stole all three bodies at once to cover their tracks."
"Detective, it's a good thing you're not a criminal."
Iluna joked, but her expression was serious as she looked around:
"Well, are there any bloodstains nearby?"
"Yes, but they are all bloodstains left by animals or insects. Wait a moment, I'll look around."
Iluna continued to inspect the tomb. She also had a Miracle for finding things; last time at the Lucky Southern Cross Club, she easily found bloodstains. Xia De circled the nearby grass, hoping to see marks left by the grave robbers' scratches. But the other party was very lucky and did not get injured during the entire crime.
"Found it."
When Xia De returned, Iluna pointed to the central grave pit again:
"There seems to be something under the coffin that doesn't belong to the earth."
"Didn't the police check?"
"They probably didn't expect clues in such a location."
Seeing Xia De about to jump into the grave pit to lift the coffin, Iluna immediately stopped him:
"No need for such trouble."
She looked around, then slightly raised her hand towards the grave pit, and the solid wood coffin immediately floated up. This was the Miracle 【Moving Objects】, but Xia De couldn't achieve such an effect. Even though he was already a Three-Ring, at his limit, he could only barely lift Mia.
Xia De bent down to look under the floating coffin, and what he saw was a rotten human head, with maggots crawling in its eye sockets:
"Oh!"
Because he was completely unprepared, he was indeed startled.
Iluna thought there was some danger below and threw the coffin onto the grass nearby. After the heavy sound, she gripped golden lightning in her hand, ready to throw it down, but what she saw was a rotten corpse shallowly buried in the grave pit.
To prevent anyone from discovering traces of digging in the grave pit, this body was dismembered and buried underneath. Because the pit was dug in a hurry, the body was not buried deep, which is why Xia De immediately saw that rotten human head:
"Oh, this is really..."
Xia De jumped out of the grave pit, at a loss for words.
"This isn't the stolen body, is it?"
Iluna said, covering her nose. The smell wasn't obvious just now, but after the coffin was moved, the stench of the rotting body immediately surged up.
"Not sure. Let's see if the other two bodies are still there."
So Iluna covered her nose with her left hand and used her right hand to direct the remaining two empty coffins to fly out of the grave and lie on the increasingly messy lawn.
Xia De stood beside the grave and bent down to look. In the grave of Mrs. Fennel, whom they were looking for, there was indeed a severely decomposed and dismembered body buried for easy concealment. However, there was nothing in the grave of the 29-year-old woman who committed suicide by hanging.
"It seems it really might be a diversion. The true target was actually only the body of Ms. Annie Yulian, who committed suicide by hanging."
Iluna looked at the scene before her with a grim expression.
"Perhaps the body thief swapped the positions of the three bodies to confuse the public."
Xia De suggested another possibility. He looked at the buried bodies, really not wanting to dig them out himself:
"Notify the cemetery keeper. I'll check if there are any unrotted clothes on these bodies. We can identify them by their clothes."
"What if the body thief also swapped the clothes?"
The seventeen-year-old girl had also learned Xia De's way of thinking.
"Impossible. The clothes and body are almost fused. If I were the body thief, I would dismember the body parts and bury them in a jumbled manner to create confusion. That would be much simpler than meticulously removing the clothes. Moreover, it would prevent an experienced Coroner from easily identifying the body's identity through the skeleton, buying myself some time."
Xia De said with a frown; he was also getting fed up with the foul smell.
They quickly called the old cemetery keeper. Seeing the bodies buried at the bottom of the grave, the old cemetery keeper was also startled and didn't even bother to ask how Xia De and Iluna had gotten the coffins out.
He quickly ran to the church to call for help. Afterward, everyone worked together to dig out the body parts and tried to reassemble them on the lawn.
It was clear the criminal didn't have as many ideas as Xia De. Based on the clothes and skeleton, the bodies at the bottom of the coffins were indeed the ones that should have been lying inside the coffins.
In other words, the bodies of Mrs. Fennel, whom Iluna was looking for, and the unfortunate woman who choked to death eating beans, had actually been there all along. The only one truly missing was Ms. Annie Yulian, who committed suicide by hanging due to emotional problems.
Taking out 2 shillings for carriage fare, he sent someone into the city to find the Detective from Leedweich Field. Although the Detective in charge of this case hadn't discovered what was buried at the bottom of the coffin, at least he arrived at the scene very quickly.
Detective Mario, the bearded Detective in a brown leather coat with his assistant, was initially curious about who had interfered with his case. But after rushing over and seeing the identification Iluna presented, he said nothing about Iluna and Xia De's identities, clearly understanding the relationship between the Church and the Police Department.
"In that case, the next direction of investigation will focus on Ms. Yulian's social connections. That damned fellow, once I find him, I'm definitely going to punch him!"
Detective Mario said indignantly after listening to Xia De explain their recent investigation and examining the two reassembled bodies. It was understandable for police officers in this steam age to injure criminals during apprehension. And for such a heinous body thief, even if he were beaten to death on the spot by the police, Officer Mario would probably not be punished.
Compared to the somewhat emotional Detective, the seventeen-year-old girl appeared very steady during the mission. She hesitated:
"Does Ms. Yulian have any other relatives?"
"We investigated when we notified the victim's family."
The Detective asked his assistant for another notebook. The young man with red freckles on his face secretly glanced at Iluna, but seeing Xia De beside her, he sadly lowered his head.
"Ms. Yulian's parents died early, and she grew up with her older brother. Although she was 25 when she died, she was still unmarried."
In this era, it was very rare for a 25-year-old commoner girl to be unmarried. Besides her own pressure, neighbors and relatives would also gossip.
"Her brother, Toby Yulian, is also in Tobesk. Although they don't live together, their relationship is very good. After discovering Ms. Yulian had hanged herself, Mr. Toby Yulian handled all her funeral arrangements. This is his address."
Detective Mario, speaking with a Tobesk accent, tore a page from his notebook and handed it to Xia De, apparently assuming Xia De was Iluna's assistant.
Xia De glanced at it; it was an address in the Lower City, north of the city, but not in a slum.
"So what about the man who abandoned Miss Yulian and caused her to commit suicide for love? Who is he, and where does he live?"
Iluna asked again. Detective Mario shook his head, looking quite embarrassed:
"I know the name, but not the address. When I took over this case, I thought it was just a simple grave robbery, so I didn't conduct a more detailed investigation into the social connections of these bodies before their deaths. However, I think the body's brother, Mr. Toby Yulian, should know these things."
