Chapter 157: Maneater
Blergh!
Splat!
The splattered blood felt warm. A beautiful woman, a child in her arms, was fleeing from a magnificent palace, which was framed with marble columns. Her chest had just been pierced by two knights.
The child was then taken away from her. The woman fell into a puddle of blood, as she struggled, reaching towards the child, her eyes filled with despair and pain. Blood gurgled out of her mouth, as she clung onto the leg of one of the knights.
“Give my child back to me! My child, my Adonis, give him back to me…”
Splat!
The soldier raised his sword and stabbed it down on her again.
“Ahhh!” Adonis Monar jolted awake from his dream. Even though the ghoul’s bloodline had ensured that his body no longer could produce sweat, he still trembled in agitation and cradled his head.
Adonis had no idea how many times he had seen this horrifying scene in the depths of the night. His mother had been killed by his father because of a power struggle.
The simple woman was naive, so she had remained unknowing about the darkness of the world, at least until her tragic death. She had never seen through the guise of Adonis’ cold-blooded father. As such, the Monar line had never really been a true family.
Adonis had never been able to properly fall asleep, ever since that day. Everyone, including his father, had thought that he had been too young to remember what had happened, but Adonis had never forgotten it, not for a single moment.
Although he didn’t forget it, with his limited power, he also knew that he couldn’t do anything about it. Yet, one day, he discovered the existence of wizards. Adonis applied to the king for a trial in an outer province, then tried everything he could to get into the Wizard Tower and gain the power of the wizards.
“It’s almost here. It’s almost time. I want to clear away all of the sins of this world. I also want every single one of you to pay for your sins,” Adonis muttered, as if he was comforting himself, almost like a mad man. He was crying and laughing at the same time, as if he had gone completely insane. It took a long time before he calmed down.
——————–
It was dawn, the sky just brightening. A boy of around eighteen or nineteen years followed the footsteps of the city guards, then quickly headed towards an alley in the Eastern District. By now, there were already many onlookers gathered, all of whom were gossiping.
“Another one dead. Bitten to death.”
“How terrifying. An entire chunk of the head is completely gone! What sort of monster did it? One that actually eats people?”
“Did some wild beast sneak into the city?”
“The city guards are useless. They haven’t found anything, even after all this time. This is the fifteenth body! Now, a new one pops up every two or three days it seems. This is far too terrifying.”
“Maybe, it isn’t a beast!”
“What is it then?”
“Who knows? But I have heard others say that…”
All of them were watching in fascination and horror. Many of the well-dressed women had covered their eyes, not daring to look directly at the corpse in the dark alley.
The face and neck of the corpse had been completely mauled. A large piece of flesh was torn back to reveal the muscle tissue and the white bone inside. It was ghastly. If one looked close enough, teeth marks could even be seen.
“Passing through, passing through. You can’t gather here, so hurry on home,” the captain of the City Guard said, while he pushed through the crowd.
He was wearing a sleeveless tunic, with a rhombus Babus badge and chainmail. His lower body was clad in a pair of black pants and boots, and he had a long sword at his waist. He looked pretty heroic. Yet, the other guards were not nearly as impressive.
The city of Babus had not been involved in any wars for many years. Hence, most of the people of the city were businessmen and nobles. The usual tasks for the City Guard involved some routine inspections, maybe catching a thief or two, and a murderer, if they were lucky. Very few people actually trained regularly.
“What’s the point of looking at it? They haven’t found anything yet. They are just a group of locusts!”
“Yes, they act so tough, at least when they’re collecting taxes. Now that we actually need them, even a piglet is more useful than them.”
“I think we need a new City Guard captain.”
“Yes, get rid of him and hire a capable one.”
The grand entrance of the City Guards did not serve to disperse the crowd in the slightest. Instead, the guards were completely disregarded and insulted.
Most of the crowd were wealthy businessmen, who lived nearby. There were also some fallen nobles among the spectators. Although they weren’t important figures within the metropolis of the Mara Kingdom, a mere captain of the City Guard was still nothing in their eyes.
Since more than a month ago, people in the city had been disappearing and dying. In the beginning, no one cared or noticed much. After all, Babus was not a paradise on earth and these things happened.
The people also were well aware that there were also a lot of dark transactions and dirty dealings, with all kinds of people lurking, among the city’s underside. Hence, a few missing and dying people was not such an abnormal thing.
However, when a human body that had been half eaten appeared, it immediately caused a sensation in the whole city. A maneater was definitely bad news! The thought that such a cannibalistic monster could travel through the city without a trace struck fear within the hearts of everyone.
As time went on, the number of dead people continued to increase, and the sense of panic and depression began to spread like a contagion. The City Guard still had not done anything, even after all of these deaths. Due to this recent threat, the usually bustling nightlife of Babus had basically gone, as most people didn’t dare to come out after nightfall.
The captain of the City Guards was sweating buckets. “I promise to give you all an explanation within ten days,” he said.
After much cajoling, the crowds finally dispersed. However, Captain Tucker knew that, if he took too long to catch the murderer, his position would be in jeopardy.
What’s more, many of the men in power, including the king, had heard about this incident. Because of this incident, many gambling houses, brothels, and other places of business in the city had been greatly affected, all of which were the sources of income for the most important nobles.
Naturally, his boss had ordered him to solve this matter immediately, giving him also the directive to restore order within ten days. Otherwise, he would be fired.
Tucker looked anxiously at the youth next to him. “Mr. Edward, you promised me that within ten days, you will definitely figure out the truth.”
Edward nodded. “I promise, but you have to help me. Of course, the credit will be yours. I only seek the truth.”
Edward was the boy, who had come with the City Guard. He was the youngest student of Bohr.
He had set off a month ago, but was delayed on his way. So, he had just arrived. The first person he had sought out was Tucker, who was currently overwhelmed. Edward assured him that he could help him crack this case.
Tucker certainly wouldn’t believe him at first, but after he illustrated a series of clues and results from his search, Tucker reluctantly invited Edward to investigate the scene. Arriving there, edward checked the body, then reported his findings. “The cause of death is the severing of the trachea. The teeth marks are similar to human teeth marks.”
Edward smelled the wound and frowned. “Everyone, be careful. This body is poisonous. I don’t know what the poison is, or in what way the body was poisoned yet, so be careful!”
Tucker and the soldiers, who were standing to the side, immediately paled. “What? Poison?” They had been cleaning up the bodies just before, none of them paying much attention.
Tucker immediately replied, “What is this poison? Have we also been poisoned?”
Edward glanced at them, sweeping over them with his mind power. “No, it shouldn’t be the type that spreads through skin contact. It might be instead spread through blood and bodily fluids.”
Tucker quipped back, “Didn’t you say that those are human teeth marks? A human being killed these people?”
Edward nodded. “I didn’t say human, but that it’s similar to a human’s. This is not an ordinary event. We must be very careful.”
Edward checked the ground and immediately frowned. Many places on the scene were destroyed. There were footprints everywhere. There was nothing left to analyze. He could only sigh and stand up. “Where is the first witness?”
The one who found the body was the owner of the nearby flower shop. She was still quite unsettled about the whole affair.
She had found the body in the alley, as she was setting up her shop. It had been around five in the morning.
The streets were empty. Edward pressed on, yet he didn’t discover anything else. The woman had been too terrified to pay proper attention to the surroundings at the time, so had proven not useful for garnering more information.
By the end of the investigation, it was already noon. Edward stood up and prepared to leave.
Tucker was moved by Edward’s methodology, and thought that Edward really could help him crack the case. If he could really crack the case this time, then Tucker would become famous throughout the city of Babus. He would then not lose his position of captain of the City Guard, and may even be promoted!
This thought made Tucker warm up to Edward, saying, “What should I do with this body?”
Edward asked, “Where are the bodies from before? I need to look at them, too!”
Tucker immediately said, “In the cemetery outside the city, being guarded by Old Chuck, the old gravekeeper.”
After answering Edward, he immediately gave an order to the other soldiers, “All of you, carry the body to Old Chuck.”
Edward put away his equipment, then walked with Tucker out of the city. After he turned the corner, he suddenly found something. He stopped, then immediately knelt down on the ground.
Tucker stopped too, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”
Edward pointed to the tiles on the ground and knocked at them a few times. The sound produced was hollow. “The tiles here have been turned over before. What’s hidden below them?”
Tucker immediately looked at one of the slates, which was relatively large and not quite the same as the one next to it. “Oh, this is the entrance to the sewer.”
Edward’s finger knocked on the slate thoughtfully. “Alright, I’ve got it. Let’s go to the cemetery.”
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