"Come on, explain to me what natural death means."
Ave felt a faint headache. She squatted beside the dead man and examined him closely.
There were abrasions on his arm, and according to Ethan, this happened when the Wolf Chicken dragged the man's body back to the cabin, but it couldn't explain the man's massive blood loss.
The suspect, Ethan, had pulled up a small chair to sit on the side, eating the milk and bread Ave had brought, sharing half with the eagerly awaiting Miss Keroy.
He explained, "The man was just walking down the road, suddenly coughed up blood and collapsed. It was a very natural death."
That's what Miss Keroy said — by the time she rushed to help, the man was already dead.
Ethan admitted that yesterday he had internally criticized the followers of the Enlightenment Society, thinking they were cold-blooded and insane. But everything has two sides; as long as your conscience is clear, even if your testimony is flimsy, they will find every way to prove your innocence.
Truth is above all else, this is the creed of every truth seeker.
Ave seemed to remember something. She turned the man's body over, laid him flat on the ground, and took a dagger from the inside pocket of her trench coat, instructing, "You, help me out."
Ethan immediately got a bad feeling, "Help with what?"
"Help me cut open his belly."
"That… doesn't sound right."
"He's already dead. At least finding out the truth can give him a meaningful death."
"I mean, I'm having breakfast."
Ethan waved around the bread in his hand, but in Ave's eyes, this excuse was completely unreasonable. She threw him a skeptical look as if she couldn't comprehend the conflict between the two actions.
He could only add, "Blood will splatter on the bread."
"Just pretend it's cherry jam."
With a serious look and a matter-of-fact tone, Ethan originally wanted to scold Ave but suddenly realized something, feeling a chill in his heart, "Have you… tried it?"
"It's quite normal. Back in school at the Society, we often stayed with corpses all day. Blood and cherry jam taste quite similar, and as for brain tissue, you can think of it as..."
"Stop, hold it right there!"
This girl is definitely not normal, Ethan thought seriously.
He felt like the bread in his hand was already tainted with the taste of blood.
Ave noticed Ethan moved his little stool back a meter, gave him a disdainful glance, and said coldly, "Useless." Then she aimed the dagger at the man's bulging belly and swiftly sliced it open with a clean cut.
A large amount of fresh blood gushed out, dyeing her whole face red.
"See, I warned you."
Seeing this, Ethan picked up his stool again and strategically retreated three meters back, while silently thinking to himself that the man wasn't normal either. Normally, when your stomach is sliced open, blood shouldn't fountain like that.
He originally thought Ave would scream and curse, but she merely wiped the blood covering her eyes with her sleeve and calmly pulled apart the slit in the corpse's abdomen with her hands. After observing for a while, she reached her hands inside and began stirring, a scene that robbed Ethan of his appetite, twisting his features as he handed the half-bitten bread to Miss Keroy.
Miss Keroy, however, accepted it without hesitation. Judging by her gulping down the bread, she seemed to find it rather appetizing.
"His internal organs have melted, probably caused by witchcraft. Alright, he's not someone you killed."
Ave turned her blood-stained face around; like a true deranged serial killer, she didn't forget to correct Ethan, "But your defense earlier was very problematic. If you encounter someone who doesn't like ambiguity, it could land you in jail. Don't say that next time."
"Yes, my lord!"
The golden tuft on top of Ave's head pointed at Ethan like a flexible finger, assertively commanding, "Stop flattering, hurry and finish your milk."
"Finished it."
"Then come over and help, move him to a flat surface inside."
Ethan glanced from a distance at the corpse. The man died with his eyes wide open, a testament to the immense suffering he endured before death. His wide eyes were staring straight at him, not to mention the horrific state of his abdomen...
"Miss Keroy, come lend me a hand, will you?"
He immediately called for backup, and Ave gave him a look as if to say, "Hopeless."
Miss Keroy was as efficient as always; with great strength, it took her less than a minute to drag the man's body inside the cabin. The only problem was her lack of precision, leaving blood all over the floor, making his new home look more like a crime scene, while Ave was already on to the next task. She used the man's body as the center and drew a circle, carefully filling it with runes that Ethan couldn't understand.
The onlooking Ethan felt deep concern.
Initially, the crime scene seemed like he and Miss Keroy had robbed and killed a passerby for valuables, but with Ave's arrival, it successfully turned into a sacrificial site for the Evil God's followers.
"Lord Ave, there's something I don't know if I should say."
Ave squatted in front of the corpse, not looking back, "Don't say it."
"I think it's better I say it, just to confirm something — we're not followers of the Evil God, right?"
"The Evil God's sacrifice ritual isn't drawn like this. This is to make him talk."
"Make the dead speak?"
Ave was too lazy to explain further. She quickly finished the last rune, took out a small palm-sized parchment scroll from the inside pocket of her clothing, muttered some incantations, then focused her gaze as she slapped the scroll onto the man's forehead. The whole corpse emitted a ghostly green glow, as an invisible force lifted it up, with deep echoes turning the place into a haunted house.
She asked the man, "Who killed you?"
"The water… is tainted… be careful… everyone is dead… must warn Xi-Ximu…"
"Thud."
The force holding the corpse vanished, and the body slumped to the floor once more. Ave furrowed her brows, deep in thought, then mumbled after a long silence, "Someone used a curse on him through the water source. Where did you find him?"
"On the main road."
"That means he came from Riverside Town."
Ethan could see Ave was deep in meditation since he noticed steam rising from her head, seemingly dissipating heat, while Miss Keroy suddenly became agitated, flapping her wings and alerting the two, "Coo coo, coo coo coo!"
Footsteps outside approached closer and closer, though Ave paid no attention.
"You, hide!"
Upon receiving her orders, Miss Keroy immediately hid behind the cupboard, assuming a menacing stance.
Ethan's nerves were on high alert. He stood behind the door, waiting for the jumbled footsteps to reach the entrance.
It wasn't just one person; through the door, he heard the sound of a sword being drawn.
A familiar voice, like a thunderbolt, pierced through the house, "Do not act rashly, we are the Ximu Town Guard. You… Sheriff, why is it you?"
The stern shout abruptly stopped, the burly man who had burst in was dumbfounded upon seeing Ave.
Snapped back from her thoughts, Ave finally came to her senses. She looked up, glanced at the Guard Captain, and got up, seemingly forgetting she was covered in blood, and like a demon from hell, she walked towards the Guard Captain, scaring the thick-set man into retreating a few steps.
"Good timing."
Ave asked, "Did you see any suspicious people on your way here?"
All the town guards were thunderstruck. They looked at each other, confirming their thoughts.
The next moment, a dozen fingers collectively pointed at Ave.
Including the tuft of golden hair on her own head.
"Mr. Ethan."
Ave felt she might have high blood pressure at such a young age, as she sharply singled out the prime target among the accusing stares, threatening fiercely, "If you keep pointing at me, watch out, I'll hit you!"