Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 814: Section 545: Me at This Moment (Part 4)

Chapter 814: Section 545: Me at This Moment (Part 4)

As the sun rose, Copenhagen Police Chief, Coleman Berry, felt like he was going insane.

Why? Of course, because of the family massacre that was just reported!

Last night, when Mr. Moriarty was shot dead in front of the district police chief from 800 yards away from the bell tower, Coleman sensed trouble — nearly 800 yards, the casings on the bell tower could explain the distance issue, but that night the blizzard was so fierce, how could a bullet travel 800 yards, through the blizzard from the bell tower, pierce through the window on the third floor of Chaofeng Tower, between two officers, and finally make a hole through Mr. Moriarty’s head?

Coleman asked many veterans in the military sharpshooter squad, and the conclusion was that even sharpshooters couldn’t manage this, a first shot hitting its target from 800 yards. Maybe on a clear, windless day, the best sharpshooter in the military could manage, but last night the shooting position was from the northeast corner to the southwest corner, and the blizzard was blowing from northwest to southeast, and it was night, a big wind, a great snow - hitting the target’s head with the first shot under these conditions?

Please, respected Chief Coleman, this is simply beyond human capability.

So he asked the young people of Lord Malin, and the youngsters gave him a look as if he was an idiot, and a conclusive answer like iron: "Lord Malin’s latest firearms require specially made heavy bullets to reach 800 yards, but this could not ensure the accuracy of the first shot in the weather conditions after last night; the human eye simply cannot confirm a target in a small window from 800 yards through an 8x scope."

Yes, even though these young people are Lord Malin’s apprentices, they said the same thing as those old gunners, which is that this is impossible for a human to achieve.

Coleman even tried the latest firearms, firing ten bullets, once hitting the target, but... it was nearly ten meters left of the target he was aiming for in the range.

And this was only on a clear afternoon, without snow and with the wind direction roughly the same.

Considering that the police had been searching the bell tower all night and found no evidence (as far as Coleman was concerned, even if there was evidence, the blizzard might have blown it away), it seemed Mr. Moriarty’s tragic death would go unsolved for the time being.

Coleman went to sleep at 4 AM after staying up all night, only to be woken up before 7 AM.

Mr. Ash Geller and his whole family were found hanged in the grand hall.

Why it was considered murder was because each family member had fought back, but none of them could overcome the murderer, so they were left hanging from the ceiling, battered, crying, desperate, and struggling.

The murderer was thorough, each person was fed with Holy Water No. 5 before they died — though some might say, since Holy Water should be easy to find as evidence, but this happened a week ago, after Lord Malin turned the entire lake into Holy Water, Copenhagen was never short of Holy Water, one could even say, every household in Copenhagen had an excess of Holy Water; thus, the military distributed a lot of diluted No. 5 Holy Water to civilians.

Therefore, Holy Water couldn’t serve as a breakthrough, and the murderer used this method to nullify the potential mutations and distortions of the victims, this can be seen from the three clumps of ash on the floor and the three empty nooses on the ceiling.

Right after Coleman had dispatched the criminal investigation squad to verify the Geller family’s crime scene, more bad news arrived – the respectful city councilor, Donald Leonard’s wife, two sons, and three daughters all died, the cause of death being wrist-slitting, with the eldest and second daughters dying at their husbands’ homes, their husbands only discovering everything the next day.

Since it was wrist-slitting, the victims died peacefully in their beds, so it was unclear whether it was murder.

For this reason, Coleman was even more troubled—if it was suicide, then naturally the case could be quickly closed, but because all of them died in the same way, it was hard to believe it was suicide.

Coleman had no choice but to dispatch his second homicide team.

As the team left, more bad news arrived; the entire Junichiro Hirata family drowned in their bathtub.

By now Coleman had realized—this was clearly a replication of crimes, although these families’ complete demise could be secretly celebrated by Coleman, upfront he still needed to pursue the murderer.

Thus, the last investigation team was dispatched.

As he was still talking to the team leader, a breathless young man rushed into his office.

Song Zaiyi and his whole family had committed suicide by burning charcoal in the living room.

Coleman paused for a moment, then noted the word ’suicide’ in the young man’s report.

Great, just close the case as a suicide then.

Coleman didn’t concern himself with how they managed to commit charcoal suicide in a living room larger than his own, perhaps using a bathtub.

Regarding their reaction to the Holy Water mentioned...the less on his plate today, the better.

However, events did not unfold as Coleman expected. Four minutes later, Paul Olin and his family were discovered frozen to death in their courtyard, with several half-humans head down, planted into the ground.

Considering that councilman Paul Olin made his first bucket of gold by aiding in real estate transactions and that he personally died at Chaofeng Tower, facedown impaled on a mahogany table, his family evidently had a sense of ritual similar to revenge, just like those whose families were destroyed and eventually jumped to their deaths because of Mr. Olin.

The inevitable murder left Coleman with no choice but to call for the Divine Detective, Junichiro Hirata, from the northern province to conduct the investigation, along with his old partner and a young man who had just graduated from the police academy.

Before Junichiro Hirata arrived, news came that the entire Spencer family had been found nailed to the walls of their hall in a horrific state of death.

This time, the murderer did not use Holy Water but opted for the silver-dipped large nails often used by the Church in their rites against the Undead. Hence, when the Spencer family was found, most of them had already undergone grotesque transformations. Combined with the skeletons stripped of flesh found in the basement, Coleman had no choice but to hand the case over to the Church—surely, this layered case should be within your jurisdiction.

The Church of Justice swiftly took over the case because they had lost a child of an Assistant Priest years ago, who was said to have disappeared near the meat market.

Previous divinations had failed to locate the missing person, leading Coleman to think that, if necessary, the Spencer family’s ancestral graveyard might just get razed by the Church of Justice—these days, only powerful Deities or Evil Gods could block divination arts.

It was unclear which side the murderer might belong to, but it was likely only the latter for the Spencer family.

When Junichiro Hirata, with his red-nosed partner, took on the mission, a new issue arose—the complete extermination of a half-human family in the southern town, with the murderer ensuring a backstab on each victim, all seven family members unaware of their attacker.

After making comparisons, it was confirmed the family belonged to Simon Bigfoot.

Considering he was an assassin from the Dark Guild, Coleman handed this violent case over to the Church, and His Excellency from the Church of the War God personally undertook the investigation, stating that an assassin of this sort was most abhorred by their Church, never to be spared if found; they hoped to trace back and unravel further mysteries.

"Should we ask how the Cameron family is doing?" after consecutive tragedies, Coleman asked his deputy chief, who after some thought replied, "Let me lead a team to check on them."

So, Coleman sat here, enduring the slow passage of time, just hoping his deputy chief would bring back any news—good or bad.

After receiving two more pieces of bad news, Coleman finally met with his deputy chief.

"Lord Cameron’s three children and his wife are all safe."

"Why did it take you so long to return?"

Coleman was puzzled until his deputy chief explained.

"All three of Cameron’s children serve in the military, and I had to use the military channels to confirm their safety, while the Marshal’s wife is volunteering at the Benevolent Church; I got this information from the military." Exhausted, the deputy chief sat down, pulled out a bottle from Coleman’s liquor cabinet, uncorked it, and started chugging.

Coleman had no desire to argue with the young man since he had exerted effort; it was just a bottle of liquor after all.

"So, are there any other families from which we haven’t heard?" Coleman asked, sitting down on a chair.

"I really don’t want to ask anymore," his deputy chief complained.

"Alright then," Coleman said, leaning back and collapsing into his chair.

Then someone pushed the door open: "Your Excellency, Chopin Coleman’s neighbor called the police, reporting a Ghoul in their house, apparently Chopin Coleman’s second son."

"Just tell the Church representative! Say it’s a supernatural event!" Coleman waved his hand, dismissing the errand runner from his office.

Then he heard the young man start to cry.

Out of curiosity, Coleman looked up at the young man, "Why are you crying?"

"You probably forgot how my father died," the young man sobbed while replying.

Coleman was silent for a moment, then shook his head helplessly, "How could I forget?"

How could he forget that this young man’s father was killed in an operation targeting Chopin Coleman: "Young man, the Coleman family is no longer your great worry."

"Yes, I should be happy, but I still can’t stop my tears, because I ultimately didn’t get to personally avenge my enemy."

Facing this response, Coleman sighed.

In life, one can hardly have everything.

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