Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 885: Section 583: Search (Part 1)

Chapter 885: Section 583: Search (Part 1)

Malin’s dwarf friends got totally plastered, and he tossed them onto the carriage, allowing the coachman to take them back to the dwarf residential area. After all, Dating City’s southern underground district is exclusively for dwarfs since the city was originally a dwarf city, whereas the human residential area was established later on in the north.

Because they had to go to the scene in the afternoon, Zem and the others didn’t drink to excess. After having the tea that Malin brought out from the Semi-Plane, the group left the building with renewed vigor—they needed to confirm the situation at the scene first.

Malin and Lulu stayed to help Xingyan clean the kitchen. Since the dwarf girl was off in the afternoon, Malin eventually took Lulu away on the motorcycle Zem had left behind.

"Take care on your way, Malin." Xingyan waved to Malin from the doorway. Malin smiled and nodded, "You too. If that kid really pisses you off, tell me, and I’ll give him a beating."

"Stop kidding around, let’s get going. The passenger seat is so hard, and the road’s awful. I can already feel the pain," Lulu complained.

Malin stuck his tongue out apologetically to Xingyan and stepped on the gas pedal, smiling in her direction. The motorcycle started moving.

Leaving the building, Malin saw Xingyan waving at him through the rearview mirror.

"Were you and her classmates?" Lulu asked, hugging Malin’s waist.

"Yeah, didn’t I tell you?" Malin patted the hand on his stomach that was tracing the lines of his abs through his clothes.

"But it feels so surreal, you, Faye, and Maya are classmates, and so is she. Why hasn’t she joined your harem?" Lulu laughed teasingly, "After all, everyone says you like non-purebred humans."

"Then what does that make you?" Malin asked, annoyed.

"I’m a half-blood, with one seventy-second High Elf bloodline, one sixteenth Lin Jing bloodline, and one eighth Thanan bloodline," Lulu said before suddenly seeming to remember something. "Oh right, I think she still likes you."

"She already has a boyfriend. Don’t stir up trouble," Malin said, once again swatting away the girl’s restless hand.

"But she seems happier when she looks at you than when she sees her boyfriend," Lulu responded from behind.

This answer left Malin confused, hesitant, and somewhat at a loss, "Can you not talk nonsense, please? You’re not a mind-reading worm inside her."

"I’m certainly not a worm, but I am a woman, which you are not," Lulu said, her voice carrying a hint of a sigh.

The motorcycle wound through the streets, with Malin and Lulu proceeding in silence until Malin saw the police tape and officers signifying the scene of the incident. He stopped just outside the police line, presented his credentials, and the officers let him through after verifying his identity.

As the motorcycle neared the core scene, Malin heard Lulu sigh once more.

"It turns out the greatest distance in this world is my loving you while you don’t feel the same," Lulu commented, stepping off the stopped motorcycle and standing beside it. When Malin got off, she reached out to hook her arm into his, "Oh great lover, why don’t you fancy her? She’s a lovely girl too, and quite a beauty among the dwarves."

"A beauty with arms thicker than my waist when we were kids?" Malin glanced at the girl, wondering how every girl he met seemed to have an unexpectedly empathetic heart. Lulu, what are you thinking about, do you even have a brain?

After mentally rolling his eyes, Malin noticed the smile on the girl’s face, her hand covering her mouth as if she found it very amusing.

"What are you laughing at?" Malin asked the girl in front of him.

"I laugh because you judge by appearances just like I do," Lulu answered earnestly.

Malin shook his head: "You bratty girl, you talk too much."

The officer opened the iron gate leading to the scene for Malin and Lulu. This was the old cemetery of Haslo City, usually deserted, and this time it was because a heinous act had been committed here. It was said that the first to discover the scene was the gravedigger, this poor old man nearly scared himself insane.

Indeed, even in this day and age, it’s disturbing when a batch of unlucky souls dies all at once, especially when they’ve been tampered with.

Entering the cemetery, Malin saw the Ritual Magic Circle painted with fresh blood in the middle of this sunken graveyard—of course, the circle had been destroyed.

"It’s definitely Mr. Lafu, without a doubt. Speaking of which, his followers are really the most numerous, after all, as a former Rightful God, it’s just a pity that he was eventually corrupted." Lulu recognized the effect of the ruined Magic Circle at a glance, true to her professional status.

Malin found it truly lamentable, how a Deity of the Engma Empire, in the end, couldn’t protect his own followers. After the Empire was destroyed by Chaos, he too twisted due to the massive death of his followers.

This is what’s so detestable and pitiful about allegiance-bound deities. Although they are gods, those bound by allegiance would ultimately lose even their self-awareness. This deity named Am Winstor ultimately fell, becoming a pitiable and detestable Evil God.

Zem came over, taking Lulu to identify the various ritual implements used, and once again confirmed the identity of the killer—indeed, it was Mr. Lafu.

"Originally a Rightful God of the Empire, yet he fell... such a lamentable deity. Compared to the Lord of Justice, there’s no comparison whatsoever," Jiaxi exclaimed, looking at the large tombstone that had been laid flat to serve as a ritual altar.

As a half-blood of Engma, his sigh could be said to represent the feelings of all who still consider themselves remnants of Engma.

This is why the Engma people are the most zealous followers of the Lord of Justice because even though this deity never needed the power of faith, as long as there are Engma people who believe in or pray to him, he offers help and protection to these remnants of a destroyed nation.

In many regions, at least twenty percent of the Lord of Justice’s Paladins are Engma people, and in some extreme regions, like the Western provinces of Sydney, where the remnants of Engma are the majority, half of all the Paladins of the Lord of Justice are Engma people.

"So we must stop this bastard from returning to our world; we can’t leave everything to His Highness," Zem said, looking at Malin. "Xingyan found three sets of footprints in this morning’s inspection that could very well belong to the killer. The footprints from the sacrificial platform head in three different directions. Since we’ve closed off this area, if possible, we can track these three by using the Spell Formation for retracing. Jiaxi and I will each take one route, what about you guys?"

After some thought, Malin said, "I’ll take the northern route."

So after retracing, Malin found the hooded figure who had walked north. Feeling his spell echoes and fitting the Observational Goggles on his head, Malin led a team of officers through the great gates of the cemetery.

The spell led to two sensory points, one continuing northward, another turning into the alley on the right.

Making a judgment call, Malin decided to ignore the alley’s sensory point and continued north for a while. Observing the very stable grey points in his goggles, Malin turned his head back.

"Do you think it’s a fake?" Lulu followed beside Malin, exclaiming at his choice.

"Yeah, normal sensory points have a difference between solid and illusory ones. But the points we just passed all seemed solid, which means this guy is either extraordinarily powerful, or just a pathetic fool pretending to be insane."

As Malin spoke, he shook his head, looking at the intermixed real and illusory points in the alley ahead. You’re too pitiable, old friend.