Xia De left the large Library in the basement and then returned to the third floor to see Professor Dunn.
"Professor! Has there been a murder at the College recently?"
"Does this relate to the missing antique?"
The Professor put down his pen, a little surprised.
"If you want to know, it's not impossible, but for the reputation of Middirburg Mechanical College, please don't speak of it. Yes, a student was recently murdered, right here in this castle."
"Female?"
"How did you know?"
Because the clothes on the female evil spirit clinging to the back of Mr. Val closely resembled the standard school uniform here.
"I have my own sources of information. So, was the poor person who died connected to Henry Val?"
The Professor was even more puzzled by this question, but still thought for a moment.
"At least I haven't heard of any connection. The murder happened last Monday, and it hasn't been solved yet. The school has forbidden students from spreading rumors, and the newspapers, due to the College's influence, haven't published the news yet, waiting for the police to solve the case before reporting it."
"Do you know the details of the case? Such as the location of the body, its appearance, or the location of the fatal wound."
The Professor shook his head.
"I only heard about it from colleagues during lunch... If you want to investigate this case, I suggest you ask the police. There were very few witnesses, and students are strictly forbidden from discussing this matter with anyone, so you won't get any information here. Of course, the police in Middlesburg are very rude, and you might not get the information you want."
It seemed Professor Dunn had a deep prejudice against the local police.
It would certainly not be easy to inquire about the details of an unpublicized murder case from the police, but fortunately, Xia De still had the pendant Leia had given him.
So, Xia De first went to find Captain Rades, who was monitoring Henry Val in the Library, and informed the Captain that he would be leaving the College temporarily, allowing the Captain to investigate freely within the College.
"I'll be back in about an hour or two. Your investigative objective for these one or two hours is to clarify the details of the murder case here."
The Captain readily agreed.
Afterward, Xia De took a carriage to the police station in Middlesburg and, after some effort, met Deputy Director Gulus. Upon showing the pendant with the royal crest, the Deputy Director immediately offered assistance.
It took some time to review the case files, but Xia De still saw all the details of the case.
The discovery of the deceased young female student occurred on Monday morning of last week. The cause of death was strangulation by a rope, leading to asphyxiation. The body was severely mutilated; according to the local Coroner's examination, the killer had cut open the victim's abdomen, and the liver was missing from the internal organs.
"Actually, this case wasn't publicized because we believe it's part of a series of serial murders."
The middle-aged Deputy Director said, holding his hat with a worried expression.
"Serial murders? Yes, I've heard of that. So, in the other murder cases, were internal organs also taken from the bodies?"
Xia De asked curiously, and Deputy Director Gulus nodded.
"Yes, including the body accidentally discovered by a hunter on Sicar Mountain, five bodies have been found so far, missing hearts, livers, both lungs, large intestines, and kidneys. All five bodies are female, aged between nineteen and twenty-seven. The wound marks indicate that the killer used the same knife, but there's no obvious connection between them. Such heinous cases are truly a headache."
"I see."
Xia De nodded and closed the file.
"Is there a reward for the case?"
"Of course, the City Hall and the police department are jointly offering a reward. Providing clues offers a reward of up to 20 pounds, and finding the killer is 100 pounds."
"That much?"
"A serial killer is worth that price."
Xia De thought for a moment, deciding that he absolutely couldn't miss out on such a windfall of pounds.
"It's 3:30 PM now. In about an hour and a half, please send someone to Middirburg Mechanical College to find Captain Rades. Yes, the Captain of the Windy Path Royal Army. He will find the true culprit."
Xia De returned the file to Deputy Director Gulus, intending to return to Middirburg Mechanical College immediately, but hesitated and asked again.
"Yesterday, a vicious shooting occurred at the Sicar Inn near the Mi Fort train station. Are you aware of it?"
He still hadn't forgotten that the deceased was Gray Gloves' recipient, and the merchant with two guns who was taken away was most likely also a recipient.
"Of course, I know. That was also a quite vicious case."
"Any follow-up?"
"Yes, yes."
When speaking of this matter, Deputy Director Gulus again clutched his head, indicating a headache. He sat at his desk, piled high with files, and complained to Xia De.
"The killer, that Carson Rick merchant Bain Bennett, committed suicide early this morning."
"Suicide, huh?"
Xia De felt he wasn't that surprised, so he asked again.
"Committed suicide at the police station? Are you sure it was suicide?"
"Yes, he died by hitting his head against the wall directly in the interrogation room. This is a huge scandal, but fortunately, it hasn't leaked out yet. Also, the body of the shooting victim was tampered with, and the evidence for this case is also missing."
"What was lost?"
"The killer's fountain pen."
Xia De nodded, no longer asking further questions.
He had confirmed that there was no more information inside that fountain pen. This meant that the incident at Sicar Inn, suspected to be an internal conflict within Gray Gloves, had already resulted in the death of two recipients. Now, the theft of the fountain pen indicated that besides the two current deceased, they should have had a third companion.
And that companion, in all likelihood, did not know details like the pick-up time and location.
Xia De was almost certain that the last companion was Professor Higgins, the linguistics scholar from Carson Rick, who lived across from the two "merchants."
"But everyone who knew the pick-up location is dead, and there's no information in the fountain pen. If everything is normal, then the Carson Rick people won't be able to get those goods."
Xia De sighed inwardly, then put the matter out of his mind again.
(Mia is running...)
The removal of internal organs from different people is highly consistent with the characteristics of certain illicit rituals. And the soul of the deceased female student haunting Henry Val, who is suspected of stealing the antique bronze jar, already indicates who the true culprit is.
Returning to the castle where the College was located, Xia De initially wanted to immediately find Henry Val. He didn't care about evidence; for Xia De, interrogating the other party carried no moral pressure.
But Henry Val was gone, and even Captain Rades, who should have been investigating inside the castle, had disappeared.
"I was gone for an hour and ten minutes."
But fortunately, Professor Dunn, the folklore professor, was still in his office. When Xia De knocked and entered, Professor Dunn thought Xia De had already found the bronze jar.
"No, no, no, I just wanted to ask, is there a secret passage or secret room in this castle? That jar must be hidden somewhere people can't see it."
Xia De asked, and the Professor immediately nodded.
"Of course there is. The predecessor of this castle was a defensive fortress on the frontier of the Delarion Kingdom. The number of secret passages and rooms here is probably only known to the Delarion military. But what's certain is that the place you're talking about definitely exists."
Hiding that large bronze jar would require space, and if Xia De's reasoning was correct, and the serial killer was also Henry Val, then he must possess a sufficiently large secret space within the castle.
Professor Dunn had no other clues, but when Xia De opened the case files at the Middirburg police station, he had already seen the specific death location. Although the victim was strangled by a rope, leaving no obvious bloodstains, since there was a cruel evisceration afterward, the traces of blood must be very obvious.
Before knowing the death location, Xia De had no way of distinguishing which bloodstains in such a large castle were the ones he was looking for. But now that he knew the specific location, and even saw several gruesome black and white photos in the file, the rest of the matter would be no problem.
After all, even before his spell upgrade, Xia De could distinguish century-old bloodstains in his own basement to find hidden walls.
Bidding farewell to the Professor, he went to the southeasternmost corner of the fourth floor of the castle. At the entrance of the women's restroom, he very easily saw large patches of bloodstains on the wall and floor.
Xia De was very relieved that these bloodstains moved towards the staircase and not into the restroom, otherwise he would have really encountered big trouble.
The clear red glow led Xia De from the southeastern corner of the loop-shaped castle, all the way through the east stone corridor, to the teaching area on the west side of the castle. Then he went up the stairs to the fifth floor, passing by the noisy offices of the mathematics professors—the voices inside were discussing different remainder expressions of the Morse expansion—the quiet rhode cards club—the door was closed with a note saying "Closed for three months due to suspected illegal gambling club"—and the College Daily office, where students came and went—this was a non-profit newspaper published by Middirburg Mechanical College itself. The red glow actually entered the broom closet.
