Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 438 Quiet
Enid spent the entire night in the Nanwei Archives.

He lay in the huge archive, using those old, worn-out file folders as his bed.

Yesterday, Milo asked her to find information about "Tutis Crow", and after that, she spent the whole day in the archives.

Then, I inexplicably fell asleep.

I woke up the next day.

It's probably because the archive was designed as a windowless room to prevent outdoor moisture from seeping in, and people are always prone to mental fatigue and drowsiness in dark and quiet environments, at least that's how Enid felt.

After spending a day and a night, Enid discovered that the archives here were actually incomplete.

The history of Nanwei City can be traced back hundreds or even thousands of years, but the time when it was truly managed by a formal system, especially after the reform of the national political system, was only a few decades, which is commonly known as the dividing line between the previous era and the past.

In the era when slavery still existed, citizenship was not valued, and the population data that has been preserved does not include ordinary poor people, nor does it include slaves. After all, spending money and manpower to collect population data was a waste for the ruling class at that time.

Therefore, all Enid could find were the roster and archives of Nanwei City over the past fifty years.

Moreover, this data has not been systematically categorized.

The dead and the living are mixed together, so there's no need to expect them to distinguish these files by time or initials.

Without mobilizing enough manpower to investigate this matter, it would be almost like looking for a needle in a haystack.

……

"So it's perfectly normal for them to fall asleep."

Enid comforted herself with this thought.

He casually stuffed the file he had been using as a pillow back onto the shelf, then, feeling a little guilty, pulled it out again and placed it on the outermost, more ventilated shelf.

Because the file was covered in her saliva stains.

...

After putting the dozens of file boxes she had messed up yesterday back in their original positions, Enid dusted off her hands and then sneezed twice loudly.

"Ah Qiu!!~~~"

Just as she was about to leave the archives to get something to eat, she turned around and saw a strange figure outside the opaque glass door of the archives.

The figure stood very straight.

He seemed to be standing with his face pressed against the door, neither knocking nor making any other move.

In the dimly lit archive, only the glass door provided a faint glimmer of light from the outside, but at this moment, most of the light was blocked by the figure outside the door.

Sensing the eerie atmosphere in the air, Enid instantly snapped out of her dazed state.

……

...

Law enforcement office.

Rebecca locked herself alone in the underground morgue.

Rick was also kicked out.

With her back to the dismembered body parts on the table behind her, she faced the wall alone, taking deep breaths repeatedly.

This was the first time she had felt that the series of cold and hot weapons she was wearing were so heavy, even hindering her breathing.

So Rebecca tore off her trench coat and removed all her weapon pouches, vest, flintlock musket, and other folding, unorthodox weapons, including her bow and arrow.

But this didn't help much.

Cold sweat began to bead on her forehead, soaking her shirt.

……

Gradually, she began to feel a nameless fear creeping into her heart. The fear had no clear source; it was like a shadow crawling out from the deepest part of her heart. The shadow had no specific shape and was not like any of the terrifying images she had encountered before; it was just a dark, indistinct thing.

Rebecca was no stranger to this feeling.

Around this time last year, before the incident at the Confession Dock, she had encountered a similar situation.

That was the first time she had experienced this symptom of her thoughts and emotions being completely in chaos.

The difference was that the previous time, she experienced all sorts of indescribable and terrifying hallucinations, but this time she didn't.

Rebecca did not ask anyone for help.

She locked herself in a room full of corpses, including the dismembered remains that had recently been brought back from the opera house.

Those were the body parts she had collected and brought back piece by piece by herself.

Because none of the law enforcement officers present at the time knew what the "corpse" she was referring to was.

No one could see the gleaming flesh and blood lying in the center of the opera house ruins.

Only she can see it.

……

She knew she had to get through this on her own.

She knew that her current mental confusion and strong physiological reaction were not accidental.

He also knew clearly that what he feared was not the unseen body parts, but the strangeness of the matter itself.

Rebecca leaned against the wall, trying to control her racing heart and heavy breathing.

After a long while, her face turned extremely pale.

finally.

She eventually managed to regain her composure.

...

He glanced at the pocket watch.

Rebecca was surprised to find that the entire long process had actually taken less than fifteen minutes.

She turned around and looked at herself in the glass mirror.

Her bright red hair was soaked with sweat and clung to her cheeks.

This was the first time Rebecca had seen herself looking so haggard and helpless, with bloodshot eyes.

The good news is that, apart from occasional heart palpitations, her mind remains clear. She hasn't gone mad.

……

After confirming this fact, Rebecca took a mask and gloves from the workbench and put them on, turning her gaze to the corpse that had been cut into more than a dozen pieces and placed on the table behind her.

She needs to find out the deceased's information and extract clues from the body as soon as possible.

Rebecca didn't even send anyone to inform Milo.

From Robben's murder to the case in the town of Ickham, and then to her second encounter with the shrouded zombie, Rebecca knew very well that she had come into contact with things that were not familiar to the general public.

This includes Kay's family and Nero's mysterious death.

All those lies fabricated by the law enforcement team were just stories used to deceive and mislead the public, and even she herself didn't know the truth.

In Rebecca's speculation, Nero, Cal, and even Theon the Elder had been working to deal with and cover up these incomprehensible and bizarre events, which directly or indirectly led to their deaths or disappearances.

The person currently holding this role in the enforcement team is Milo.

This is why she previously told Milo that "I can help."

……

Rebecca was never the kind of person who would willingly stay under someone else's protection, never.

Just like the strange events that happened today, the corpse that no one else could see was visible to her alone, and to her it was like a kind of guidance from the unseen world.

She was certain that this was a problem she should solve herself, and she firmly believed that she was capable of doing the job.

...

……

that's it.

The female chief of police locked herself in the basement.

By the dim light of the kerosene lamp, one piece of evidence after another was extracted from the cruelly sawn-together body parts, including fragments of clothing, broken bones, soil and sand, etc.

...

On the ground, Rick and the other law enforcement officers looked at each other, none of them knowing what was wrong with Rebecca's unusual behavior today.

Just as everyone was wondering what was going on, a little black cat hopped and skipped in from outside the law enforcement office.

It trotted around the lobby for a bit, then disappeared into the stairwell leading to the basement.

Everyone recognized the kitten, but didn't pay it much attention.

However, following the little black cat back to the law enforcement station was Enid.

She looked a little listless, her face and hair were greasy, and she was holding an old file box in her arms.

When others asked her where she had gone, she didn't answer; instead, she asked around if anyone knew where Milo was.

……

"It's obvious that everyone is tired these past few days."

Rick glanced at the group of law enforcement officers in the hall and muttered to himself.

...

……

at the same time.

Outside the city, at the Dulle family estate.

Everything is normal here.

Private guards with hunting dogs roamed around the manor walls, while gardeners and maids trimmed the vegetation in the garden.

In the courtyard, the members of the Dürer family were all busy with their own things.

The only strange thing was that everyone, from family members to the guard dogs, was unusually quiet.

……

Meanwhile, in the study of the independent tower in the center of the manor, where many animal specimens and ornaments hang on the walls, Milo is seemingly wandering aimlessly.

From entering the manor to passing through the corridors and entering the upper floors of the tower, he was like a transparent person throughout the entire process, and no one noticed his presence.

At this moment, Milo leaned leisurely against the edge of the Dulle family head's huge desk, casually fiddling with an ornament on the desk.

It was a wooden carving depicting an ancient southern hunter carrying a bow and crossbow, wearing clothes made of animal hides, and carrying a prey resembling a coyote on his shoulder.

He flicked the ornament hunter's shoulder with his finger.

The seemingly light movement caused the hunter's solid wood arm to break off and roll onto the desk.

……

And at the same time.

A bloody severed arm was also found on the study floor.

Blood splattered onto the wall behind.

...

The head of the Dulle family, whose arm had been forcibly torn off, knelt at Milo's feet.

He was trembling and convulsing violently.

The excruciating pain contorted his face.

Even so, the entire Dürer estate remained quiet.

It was so quiet that even though Milo was on the top floor of the tower, he could clearly hear the ticking of the clock in the first-floor living room.

……

He calmly gazed at the man before him, who was surrounded by fear and on the verge of collapse.

Just watch him quietly.

(End of this chapter)