There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game
Chapter 907: 747: What Did You Say He Was Accepting?

Chapter 907: Chapter 747: What Did You Say He Was Accepting?

Catalina was leading her team halfway when—

Zuo Fang appeared.

Actually, this wasn’t entirely unexpected.

According to the original plan, Zuo Fang was leading the Order of the Sun Knights in a surprise attack on the city-states surrounding the Royal Capital, preparing to decapitate a Governor and claim dominance over a city-state with ease.

Faced with a defenseless city-state, control would naturally fall into place.

But while sweeping through the second city—

The team list in the upper right corner suddenly lit up, and a comrade’s name turned red!

Zuo Fang froze.

Before he could react—

The name turned back to yellow.

Zuo Fang: “…”

A system malfunction?

Impossible. It must be that guy’s fast recovery speed, which caused the teammate’s name status to fluctuate repeatedly.

He was still mulling over what might have happened on that end—

Suddenly, Xu Shuo’s name turned red again!

Zuo Fang flinched once more.

And then the name reverted again.

Zuo Fang: “…”

Watching the name flip back and forth between “red” and “yellow” a few more times, Zuo Fang could no longer bear it. He handed command of the Order of the Sun Knights to another Knight Commander and went to investigate himself.

The Order of the Sun Knights shared a special sensory ability with the Pope of Light.

But even without the Sun Mark—

Using the team list in the upper right corner, Zuo Fang could locate Xu Shuo through a process of elimination.

Which made it easy for him to find the lost-in-the-mountain Catalina.

Catalina: “Ah, I thought mountain paths would be safer, but I’m not too familiar with the terrain of the human continent…”

Zuo Fang scrutinized the Elf with suspicion, choosing not to question her evasive gaze for the moment and brusquely snatched a person out of Catalina’s arms.

Catalina gritted her teeth silently.

Damn it.

She had originally considered taking the person back to the Far North Mountain Range.

She had noticed the Pope of Light’s steady breathing, and since his condition didn’t seem dire, she boldly tested him with the Dawn Belief and ultimately confirmed there didn’t seem to be any issue.

That being the case—

Before the thought could fully form, it fell apart.

Because she accidentally got lost.

And then the Sun Knight found her.

With Zuo Fang leading the way, the two easily avoided the military’s patrols and returned to the Royal Capital, handing Xu Shuo over to a group of nervous Supervisory Bishops.

“Alright, now let’s get to the important part. What happened on your end?”

Zuo Fang stared seriously at Catalina.

Catalina mumbled: “I’m not really sure myself…”

“Then just describe everything you saw and heard in detail. Don’t try to play games. He may not retaliate against you, but that doesn’t mean my temper can be taken lightly!” Zuo Fang growled menacingly.

“Heh.”

Catalina shot him a disdainful glance.

Honestly.

She still thought the Pope of Light had a much worse temper.

Though somewhat dismissive of this Sun Knight, Catalina still described everything that had transpired in Franks City-State under his questioning.

Starting with that guy going solo to find someone.

Then feigning weakness, suddenly erupting, and proceeding to beat people down.

Including how Catalina lay dazed and motionless on the ground, listening blankly to someone yelling themselves hoarse in the distance, until it all settled down. She recounted everything.

Zuo Fang, after hearing the story: “…”

He looked at the humanoid ice block on the ground.

After a long pause—

Zuo Fang snapped back: “So this was Wald XVIII? He actually found Wald XVIII and crazily chased him down to chop him up?!”

Catalina frowned: “Probably. He didn’t deny it himself.”

After all, that guy claimed this person was Wald XVIII.

Then it must be Wald XVIII.

Catalina didn’t much care about the identification.

Zuo Fang walked to the humanoid ice block and said: “Defrost it. Let me take a closer look.”

Concerned that blood traces from the corpse might expose her whereabouts, Catalina had tightly frozen the body before leaving the forest. She hadn’t yet had time to thaw it upon returning.

She gestured, and the ice encasing the corpse began dissolving, dispersing into white mist.

Zuo Fang stepped closer for a careful inspection.

The face was young. Despite the grayish-gold hair, there were no signs of aging, and the facial structure vaguely hinted at Wald XVIII’s features.

As Zuo Fang observed, he recalled the portraits of past Kings in Constantinople.

When Wald XVIII ascended to the throne, he’d just reached adulthood. He was too young and constrained in his position, leaving no King’s Portrait behind.

It wasn’t until he reached middle age and solidified his reign that he commissioned an artist to portray his slightly overweight visage.

If delayed any longer, the image would have been even less flattering.

After observing the man’s features—

Zuo Fang examined his death condition.

He barely looked at the corpse before averting his gaze.

Too tragic.

This wasn’t a single fatal blow. Rather, the body appeared to have endured multiple life-threatening injuries before bleeding to death. The excessive blood loss left the skin shrunken and dry.

Zuo Fang clicked his tongue in lament before donning white gloves to carefully inspect the wounds.

He concluded there were dozens of injuries.

And judging by the attack patterns, this person had been in a state of complete helplessness, allowing the injuries to be neatly inflicted without tearing.

“Why not just kill him outright?”

Zuo Fang frowned thoughtfully.

That guy usually appeared somewhat sane, albeit with a touch of madness—not the type to relish torturing enemies.

He would typically aim for a swift, decisive kill.

After all, delays breed risk.

Catalina grimaced at the corpse and said: “This guy has a peculiar trait. When we attacked him, we’d get injured too—and worse than he did.”

Hearing that, Zuo Fang immediately grasped the situation.

It was likely a damage-reflection ability.

This also explained why Xu Shuo’s name kept shifting between red and yellow.

Directly killing him would have reflected the fatal damage back onto the attacker, possibly causing their own death. So the best solution was to grind the enemy down slowly.

Meanwhile, one would recover from injuries inflicted.

A battle of mutual harm.

Zuo Fang chuckled grimly: “What a useless skill.”

Death was one thing.

But because of this ability, enemies couldn’t kill him directly and could only opt to wear him down.

Add it up—he’s essentially torturing himself.

Although many opponents might abandon fighting him altogether due to this ability, encountering a powerful madman would just lead to mutual suffering.

The outcome of this encounter was a clear example.

Moreover—

Zuo Fang thought, it was fortunate this man faced Xu Shuo. Had he stumbled across that Dragon Whelp, he’d be begging for death.

If he’d encountered Zuo Fang instead, he’d have been even luckier.

Zuo Fang would’ve turned and fled outright.

Zuo Fang spared the corpse a moment of pity, then peeled off his sullied gloves and tossed them onto the remains before summoning people to deal with it.

Next, he sought out the Priesthood in the neighboring room.

“Has the Pope awakened yet?”

Facing a roomful of Supervisory Bishops, Zuo Fang allowed a suitably measured expression of concern and indignation.

A particularly dignified Supervisory Bishop replied: “There’s no need to worry. The Pope’s physical and spiritual state are intact; he’s merely fatigued. We can sense his consciousness is currently receiving blessings from the Supreme God through the Belief in Light.”

Zuo Fang’s mouth twitched: “…”

Huh? Receiving what blessings?

Is the fourth calamity who hijacked a loyal believer’s physical vessel being interrogated by the local Supreme God right now?

…