novelraw Chapter 325: Vanity
Chapter 325: Vanity
The crime scene was a villa, now completely empty.
The noble who lived there along with all his attendants had vanished without a trace, not a single survivor remained.
The Bishop stepped forward and pushed the door open. Loren naturally followed behind the Bishop, so that if they encountered any danger, Loren could make a timely escape, at worst just another Bishop would die.
After all, in Loren's eyes, the Bishop was no different from a hot-swappable component; if one died, he'd just get a new one. He didn't even need to replace them personally; the Church would naturally appoint a new Bishop.
And every new Bishop, upon taking office, would visit Loren at the first opportunity. Loren was already used to this.
Upon pushing the door open, Loren saw the first bloodstain. The area around the doorway was practically dyed red, the pool of blood was absurdly large.
Anyone who frequently kills would surely know that even if you decapitate someone with one clean stroke, the blood wouldn't flow this much or spread so far.
This pool of blood gave Loren the feeling that someone had been skinned alive and then thrown to the ground, left to bleed to death.
Yet, there were no signs of struggle here at all. Loren thought of many possibilities but couldn't figure out how to kill someone, leave no struggle marks, and still create a bloodstain like this, unless it was intentional.
"Let's go inside and take a look.""Yes."
The Bishop's status was far higher than even the King's, but at this moment, he still very naturally acted as Loren's lackey.
They then proceeded to the bedroom. The other bloodstains were all in the bedroom, indicating that was where they were killed, with only one victim appearing at the doorway.
These bloodstains were all similar, their manner of death consistent.
Loren stood in the bedroom, slowly walking towards the doorway. Along the way, he noticed the placement of some furniture wasn't quite right, having been knocked askew.
"They were all killed in the bedroom. Someone sensed something was wrong and tried to flee. They died before reaching the doorway. Even with advance warning, they left no signs of struggle."
"At the very least, the perpetrator possessed the ability to completely overpower humans."
Just by roughly walking through the house, Loren understood the victims' situation.
Loren continued searching the villa for clues. He arrived at the kitchen. The kitchen was completely empty, not a single scrap of food remained.
Generally, a noble's kitchen wouldn't likely be this clean; there would always be some ingredients left. Seeing this, Loren already had a rough guess about the perpetrator.
Subsequently, Loren found the only bedroom without bloodstains. The decor here was overflowing with a girlish aesthetic.
And it was here that Loren found a damaged iron cage.
"Case solved. The perpetrator is the Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beast. The reason for the bloodstains like this is because they literally gnawed the corpses clean."
Loren decisively reached his conclusion. Having investigated to this point, there was no suspense left about the perpetrator's identity.
Combined with the earlier newspaper reports, Loren had once suspected the perpetrator might be a Witch; only a Witch would have such bizarre methods.
Confirming it wasn't a Witch, Loren wasn't sure whether to feel regret or relief.
"From the day the Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts appeared, I knew something like this would happen..."
"We notified people long ago to be careful of the Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts, and even conducted searches. In theory, we should have already killed all of them..."
The Bishop hurriedly began explaining, terrified Loren might think they weren't doing their jobs.
"Look at the scale of this house, the decorations inside. This noble's status wasn't low either. Do you think those Church members dared to investigate?"
The Scarecrows dared to investigate all nobles, but not all Church members were Scarecrows. The Scarecrows were Divine Envoys, holding very high status within the Church.
"This..."
"Enough. The urgent task now is to quickly locate the other Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts. If they truly escape into the wilderness, it's over."
This time, Loren's tone carried some sharpness because, this time, it was genuinely Loren and his people cleaning up the Church's mess. Who knows how many people had released Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts? If not for Movila standing guard, who knows how ravaged the wilderness would be by now.
This place had no natural predators for the Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts. An ordinary tiger that came along would only end up being gnawed clean by them.
Perhaps some Magical Beasts weren't afraid of the Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts, but those Magical Beasts couldn't do anything to them either.
"In theory, this noble family wouldn't be foolish enough to keep such a dangerous thing at home. Probably some pampered girl, thinking herself kind-hearted, kept the Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beast at home..."
Loren only found a cage in that one bedroom, but even one was enough.
And only that bedroom lacked bloodstains. Loren guessed the person who fled to the doorway was that girl who hid the Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beast.
She was ultimately eaten, not because her feeding fostered some affection in the Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beast—they lacked the brains for that—but purely due to the instinct of 'a rabbit doesn't eat the grass by its own burrow.'
Of course, there was another possibility for her keeping the Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beast.
The Church forbade raising Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts. Ordinary people, even minor nobles, never got to see one. Yet she had one. How impressive would that be?
Thinking this, Loren also felt a pang of emotion. He had learned this principle long ago during his animal protection work.
The endangered animals he painstakingly rescued would end up on some big shot's dining table the very next day.
In that insane cyberpunk world, protecting certain animals was just so the big shots had something to eat, and while eating, they could show others how powerful they were. For this, Loren had doubted more than once whether his efforts had any meaning.
One incident left a deep impression on Loren. Back then, he encountered a beached whale by the sea. Enduring the putrid stench of the polluted, corrupted ocean, he desperately tried to send the whale back into the water.
He knew the ocean was utterly polluted by nuclear wastewater and garbage, that this whale wouldn't live long. Yet, the very next day, it was hunted and killed by a vessel from a certain island nation and served on a dining table.
From then on, whales went extinct in that world too.
All Loren could do was pray the toxins in the whale's body would poison those who hunted it. Sadly, professional chefs would remove all the toxic parts.
"Based on the habits of Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts, they should still be hiding inside the house. And having eaten this many people, their numbers have probably increased quite a bit."
The stuff about habits was pure fabrication by Loren. It was simply because Movila hadn't seen any Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts escape.
Anyway, they knew nothing about Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts; Loren's word was law.
"Send people to check other places where deaths have occurred. I suspect they were also secretly raising Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts. I'm washing my hands of this mess. If even one Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beast escapes... I think if a Bishop can't catch a few rabbits, it's better to just change the Bishop."
"Yes..."
Faced with Loren's blatant threat, the Bishop could only agree.
"Master Mentor! We've found where the Prismatic Void-Gnawing Beasts are hiding!"
Just as Loren was about to leave, Church personnel suddenly brought good news.
They bypassed the Bishop, reporting directly to Loren. They too clearly understood who the real leader was.
"They... are hiding inside the walls!"