Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 232: One hundred and seventy-three: Another You (2)

Chapter 232: One hundred and seventy-three: Another You (2)

Malin decided to push that fog-filled world to the back of his mind, whether it was a dream or a dangerous encounter. To Malin, it was merely a lingering image from another world line. What he needed to do was to protect the world and the people before him. Beyond that, he could only try to eliminate more Chaos to prevent them from causing any dangerous incidents.

He also stopped petting the rabbit. If Maya’s fur felt fine and smooth, then Clovis was a bit coarser, but with her body covered in soft fur, Clovis was still extremely adorable. Her beautiful long sideburns and cute rabbit ears, along with the faint pleasant scent on her body, were compelling. Speaking of which, why didn’t anyone like Clovis? Was it because of her aberrant mutation?

Really, couldn’t they see that beneath Clovis’s cute appearance lay a heart of gold?

With that thought, Malin petted Clovis’s ears once more.

"Clovis is going to melt from your petting," Faye remarked from the dining table.

"How can that be? Isn’t Clovis sitting here just fine?" Malin said while noting Clovis’s tail twitching happily, the whole rabbit seeming to be in high spirits.

Turning his head, Malin looked at his sister and reached out to stroke her head and cute round ears.

Maya glared at Malin, then continued to eat, but the whole leopard appeared to be quite content as well.

"What about me? What about me?" Jessica wagged her tail.

"Too far," Malin replied, picking up his bowl.

The wolf girl wagged her tail madly, looking unhappy.

"I’ll definitely pet you next time," Malin decided to console the wolf girl.

The wolf girl continued to wag her tail madly, but she seemed to have cheered up.

.........

Today’s schedule was to visit the site of Miss Sophia’s death, which according to the records, should be in the Central District, near the under-construction Bell Tower shown in the photograph.

Speaking of which, Malin had also looked through the city’s chronicles yesterday for the Mischael family’s affairs and found absolutely no record. The records of those deceased were mostly peculiar; there were cases of alcohol poisoning without drinking, accidental deaths from a horse’s head colliding with a crossbar during a ride, and even someone slipping on a small patch of ice in winter and fatally hitting their head on a step. The most outlandish case involved an old man walking on the street when a shopkeeper, during a robbery, threw a knife in desperation. Unfortunately, the knife didn’t hit the robber but flew out the door and stabbed the old man in the neck.

How unlucky could one be? Anyway, Malin really couldn’t see any ghosts involved—the shopkeeper and the robber had both been investigated afterward, confirming they hadn’t been controlled mentally.

They looked like accidents, although Malin also knew that things that appeared to be accidents were not always so. But if there was indeed a murderer, Malin wondered why the murderer would cause so many accidents.

And there were also murder victims among them, such as Sophia and several other family members.

If these victims were meant to mask other accidental victims... wouldn’t that be revealing what one intended to conceal?

However, according to the police records, these dead were either categorized as accidental deaths or remained unsolved due to the inability to find the perpetrator, like Sophia, whose case had already exceeded the thirty-year statute of limitations. That meant, without any leads on the murderer, the police had given up hope of finding the perpetrator.

In other words, Gaiate might be the last person in this world willing to seek out Sophia’s killer.

It’s tough for the old man.

With that thought, Malin and the girls arrived at the crime scene and found that it had already been taped off, with groups of officers standing around.

"What’s going on here?" Faye walked up to Malin.

"I’ll go ask." Malin signaled the girls to stay put and then went over, flashed his church credentials, and asked the officer in front of him, "Officer, what happened here?"

"Someone’s been killed, Mr. Malin. Why are you here?" the officer responded, then asked with a hint of puzzlement.

"I’m tracking a case with my friends. When we got here, we saw the tapes and got curious," Malin replied with a smile.

"I see, but I’m afraid you and your friends can’t enter this area for now. Sorry."

"It’s alright. By the way, how did the person die?" Malin shifted the topic with a smile.

"Glad you understand. Based on the traces at the scene, we unanimously believe the bullet came from the top of that bell tower," the officer pointed behind Malin.

Malin stepped to the right and turned his head, just in time to see the distant bell tower rising above the buildings by a top: "At least three hundred yards."

"About three hundred and seventeen yards, Mr. Malin. Your eyes are sharp," the officer nodded. "Mr. Malin, do you have any more questions?"

"No, thank you." Malin smiled and extended his hand to shake with the officer, "Officer, goodbye."

"Goodbye, sir."

After saying farewell to the officer, Malin returned to his girls and relayed the information. Clovis immediately frowned, "According to the records, Sophia was also killed by a gunshot, but the bullet was from a revolver, fired at close range."

"We don’t know which firearm was used to kill this person. Maybe we can find out later through my sources at the police station. But these similar murders today make me think of something. Do you remember the eldest son of the Domingo family? He was killed in a stabbing in the street, and I remember someone from the Mischael family who died the same way," Faye added.

Her words made Malin fall silent for a moment—he also remembered something. According to his memory, if nothing was wrong, the death of the second son of the Domingo family was similar to an incident in the Mischael family: "The second son of the Domingo family as well."

"That’s what I was about to say." Jessica’s face showed surprise and suspicion, "Why such a coincidence?"

"Maybe we should go back and check again." Anxiety filled Lillim’s face, "I had a cousin who was murdered, and I’m still frightened about why she was killed."

Seeing Lillim’s tearful, pitiable expression, Malin patted her little head, "Don’t be sad, Logan has lost quite a few cousins already."

Lillim was startled at first, then shook her head with a cry-laughing expression, "Mr. Malin, how can you say such a thing."

"Mr. Malin has started to crack dark jokes," Jessica said with a laugh. "I haven’t had a relative who’s been murdered, but I had a cousin who died in an accident, and now I want to know whether it was purely an accident or whether, just like someone in the Mischael family, there was a similar end."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Malin finished, stretching out his hands and snapping his fingers, "Let’s go. We’ll be able to confirm soon whether all this is just our imagination or a credible and terrible synchronization."