บท 4086: Chapter 3195: The Detective Will Die (9)
Shiller suddenly had an epiphany. He said, "Blood."
"What?" Greed turned to look at him.
"Wandering seems to be able to use human blood to cover its own tracks," Shiller said. "It split the detective's upper body and then walked backward, so as it walked, the blood would spray onto the ground."
"Similarly, it chopped off the limbs of the diary's owner and crawled forward; as it moved, the blood flowing from behind would cover its tracks from arrival."
Shiller actually had no evidence; this was merely a bold conjecture, but he felt there was some truth to it.
"Generally speaking, blood at a murder scene becomes crucial evidence to determine how the murderer struck. If there are bloodstains from footprints, you can of course guess how the murderer left the scene," the pale knight spoke up. "Considering his profession as a lawyer, it's normal for him to know such information."
He continued, "If a murderer doesn't want to expose themselves, then they must properly handle the large amount of blood inside a human body. If they want to move a body to another location without being discovered, they either have to use a bloodless method of killing or carefully wrap up the body during transportation."
"In conclusion, if you don't want to expose yourself, you should avoid bloody scenes as much as possible, but Mr. Wandering here is doing the exact opposite, either splitting people open or chopping off limbs. This clearly doesn't align with his goal to conceal himself, unless... this helps him hide his presence."
Shiller was growing more and more appreciative of the pale knight. His line of thought always matched his own. Thinking of the pale knight in the comics, who seemed to suppress the virus with drugs, maybe he could find a way to help prolong the effects of the medication.
Shiller looked again at Madeline, lying in the corner. He said, "This lady mentioned that Wandering had already arrived just before she died, which proves she might have been the next possession target for Wandering. Then the question arises, how does Wandering intend to carry out his next move?"
The others were all startled, realizing suddenly that Madeline had come prepared.
This researcher was not unguarded, yet she still chose to commit suicide. What did that imply?
Greed immediately understood the key point. He said, "Her last action was suicide, but since she's already dead, would Wandering help her complete this act of suicide? I mean, kill Wandering itself?"
Shiller also fell into contemplation.
It was clear that in the worldview of this world, the strange was not a recent appearance; the human race seemed to always coexist with these monsters, with even global, professional organizations like the Church specifically dealing with these creatures. They were not rookies, but experienced hunters.
Even if Madeline was a retired member of the clergy, she would definitely not be helpless without resistance. At least, Shiller hadn't seen too much desperation in her notes; she remained as calm as ever.
Since it wasn't a suicide caused by losing control, it proved that Madeline did it intentionally, but what could compel a mentally firm researcher to trade her own life?
To expel the beast? To save the villagers?
Shiller thought it was neither. He knew many scientists like her, many of whom lacked a conventional sense of good and evil. They were only interested in their research projects, and everything they did was for the sake of research results.
What if she traded her life for Wandering's?
In Madeline's own records, it seemed that historically, no one had ever killed the beast. How to completely kill a monster is the highest goal for every researcher. If there was a chance to put it into practice, then perhaps the cost of life was also acceptable.
"Do you think she can succeed?" Joker nudged Shiller with his elbow, asking him.
Shiller slowly shook his head.
He admitted that the spirit of dedication to science was moving, but Madeline seemed to have forgotten something—the Beast cannot be killed by firearms.
"Beasts cannot be killed by firearms," Primary Universe Batman thought in unison with Shiller, saying, "Madeline committed suicide with a revolver, and if we assume that the Wandering must complete her last action, the best outcome would be to shoot herself in the head..."
At this point, Shiller and Primary Universe Batman suddenly exchanged glances.
"That's her purpose!" they exclaimed in unison.
Shiller spoke rapidly, explaining, "Anyone who kills the Beast with a firearm will be cursed, so what if the Beast uses a firearm against itself? Who will be cursed then? That's the real answer she wanted to know!"
"But if we hadn't come, and she had died, then no one would have witnessed this," Bruce said.
"This proves she knew we would definitely come," Greed was good at speculating about such things, and he said, "It seems like we met here by chance, but maybe she arranged it, don't you think?"
"It's not impossible," Night Owl spoke, "The timing of us coming together here is too coincidental. Perhaps it was through a series of coincidences that she invited us here, then made a commotion to draw us to her side, so we could witness the fruits of her experiment."
"So, what should we do?" Bruce asked.
Shiller, however, breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that although the game had many restrictions, the guidance for beginners was clear enough. They weren't faced with confronting the Beast right away but were allowed to observe their predecessors' research achievements to better understand the existence of the strange.
But if he walked through this beginner's course so calmly, he wouldn't be Shiller.
"I think the room is a bit dark," Shiller said, "In order to better observe the body's changes, I'll go downstairs and bring the kerosene lamp."
Greed immediately looked over at him, his eyes asking, "What are you up to?"
"In case of emergency," Shiller responded with a look.
Shiller went downstairs, remembering that when he felt the drawer key, he found the kerosene lamp fixed to the column was detachable; he unscrewed a screw from the back and took the lamp off the table.
There was still plenty of oil in the lamp, enough to last the night, but Shiller didn't simply take the kerosene lamp upstairs. Instead, he opened the lantern's lid and splashed more than half of the oil onto the carpet.
Then he went to the wall where the wood was stored, tossed the already split logs onto the living room's floor, scattering them evenly—pretty much everywhere.
Next, he walked over to the window, tore down the living room's curtains, along with the kitchen curtains, and piled them on the kitchen floor, throwing the last few logs into the pile of curtains.
He opened the back door by the staircase and then threw the animal skins hanging on the walls of the cabin's living room out into the snow through the back door. After he finished tossing them out, he didn't close the door, allowing the cold wind to blow inside continuously.
"What are you doing?" the Transcendent asked in his mind.
"I'm taking some preventive measures."
"Preventing what?"
"Experimental failure."
"I remind you, this house is very remote, you need to walk at least 20 minutes to find the next building."
"I also remind you, next time you make a map, don't make the buildings entirely out of wood easy to ignite, hard to extinguish."
"You can't burn down the house, otherwise, you'll freeze to death on the road."
"If we freeze to death on the road, what about the Wandering?"
"What?"
"Why didn't the detective die?"
"What?"
"That detective was cut in half, why is he still alive and able to move?"
"What do you think?"
"Because it's very likely there's a third limitation, that he can only possess living people, at least during the possession process, the person has to be alive, Madeline probably isn't completely dead either."
Shiller packed up while speaking rapidly, "If he can only move by possessing living people, then within a few kilometers, it's just down to the few of us alive, if he lets us die, wouldn't he be trapped here forever?"
Shiller didn't keep listening to the Transcendent but quickly went upstairs. He didn't say anything unnecessary, simply stating urgently, "If any situation arises later, run straight for the back door."
No sooner had he finished than Madeline's corpse began to move.
She had been shot in the brain, but every other part of her limbs was intact. After shaky standing up, she suddenly lunged at Greed.
Greed immediately realized it was because he was holding the revolver Madeline had used to commit suicide.
"The gun!" Night Owl reminded. His intention was for Greed to throw the gun away because it was only by the Wandering shooting itself that they could see if the Curse would take effect.
But Shiller curved his lips, he had Greed touch the corpse not only because his dexterity attribute was high but because once anything got into Greed's hands, don't expect him to hand it over again.
The red dice appeared again, signaling Greed needed to dodge. At the critical moment, the agility check was successful; 26 > 23, Greed narrowly escaped.
"You want my stuff? Dream on!" Greed cursed, directly drawing the gun from Night Owl's waist, taking a stand, aiming, firing.
Bang! The bullet shot straight into Madeline's body.
"What are you doing?!" Night Owl was shocked, yelling at Shiller, "Didn't you say attacking monsters with firearms would invoke a curse?!"
"How will you know without trying?!"
"Then why don't you use your gun??"
"I'm afraid of the Curse!"
No sooner had Greed spoken, he felt a swift gust coming right at his face. He threw the dice again, 28 > 25, and the judgment was successful again.
Shiller could only think his dexterity points were indeed very high.
Greed rolled to the side, adeptly avoiding the attack, and the sharp gust hit the wall, cutting a sharp gash. Greed looked back, then said, "Looks like that's the culprit who sliced the detective open."
In a flash, Madeline lunged again, a hint of mischievous malice in Greed's eyes.
Whoosh!
He directly threw the revolver out the window that Madeline's first shot had broken.
Madeline leaped out of the window.
"Does this count as an emergency?" Bruce asked, looking at Shiller.
Shiller turned and ran downstairs, with everyone following behind. When they saw the setup on the first floor, they were all startled.
Not hesitating for a moment, Shiller gestured them to leave through the back door while grabbing the kerosene lamp from the table and tossing it to the floor.
Whoosh! Flames leaped up, and with flammable materials everywhere and the house's wooden structure, the fire grew uncontrollable within seconds.
Everyone ran out into the snowy ground through the back door.
Madeline just happened to fall beside them. Though the second floor wasn't very high, Madeline hadn't paid attention to her form as she plunged, and her legs were clearly broken.
Just then, as she awkwardly propped herself up with her hands, because not enough blood had flowed, she crawled forward one step, and Shiller saw a black hoofprint appear on the ground.
It was the shape of a goat's hoof.
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