She is not an investigator.

The streets were empty; there were no people or debris in sight.

"Let's investigate a little."

Igris first looked at the nearest building. From the outside, it looked like a run-down bar or hotel, and it was larger, taller, and longer than the other buildings.

"Ah, this place is a place to drink, unlike the bars in the city. It's a mess here, and people often fight. Most importantly... the drinks they sell here are watered down, and they taste awful."

Isabella was very enthusiastic and eager to share everything she knew. She was smiling, moving back and forth in front of the bar, but she never chose to go inside.

She was afraid, afraid that everything she once knew had been completely destroyed.

Igris silently pushed open the door and walked into the store. The change from the bright light outside to the dim environment inside made her squint and scrutinize everything in front of her with some difficulty.

"..."

She fell silent, probably finding it hard to imagine what had happened and the visual impact of the scene.

The bar was indeed very messy and poorly laid out, making the otherwise spacious building feel extremely cramped. There wasn't even enough room to put a few tables in before it became impossible to move around.

Of course, these are not the biggest problems. After all, a bar in an ordinary small town can't be that luxurious.

The only thing worth mentioning is the lingering smell of blood that clung to her nose from the moment Igris entered until she finally saw everything laid out before her.

The entire bar reeked of blood.

The Bizarre Stage Play – The Book of Secrets: Chapter Thirty-Seven, The Unspeakable Corpse

Because it's a bar, there are many tables and chairs here, just like usual. Many people are sitting in the chairs, and drinks are placed on the tables.

This is normal, after all, this is a bar, so naturally, the huge barrel behind the bar is also very eye-catching, filled with drinks, just as Isabella said, filled with watered-down drinks.

Of course, it has changed somewhat at this moment.

Some, small changes.

"Igris? How's it inside?"

"There's nothing here. I'll take another look and then leave. You guys can look around the other places."

As she replied, Igris walked over to the huge wine barrel.

The barrel was open, and the contents inside were quite conspicuous. At least Igris couldn't smell alcohol; she only smelled a fishy stench.

Whether it's a custom at this bar or not, there's a person, or rather a corpse, hidden in the barrel right now. It's a woman with heavy makeup, probably in her thirties or forties, her lower body submerged in the barrel, which contains a red liquid, most likely a mixture of alcohol and blood.

The smell was strong; besides the stench of fresh blood, there was also a foul odor. The fatal wound should have been in her abdomen; you could see her pierced abdomen and the organs protruding from it.

Aside from that, there didn't seem to be any other wounds. Her expression was one of great pain, with signs of struggle. She was probably forced into this place and died from excessive blood loss due to the intense pain from the alcohol.

It's incredibly cruel, an absolute act of torture. Aside from antisocial lunatics, it's hard to imagine anyone subjecting an ordinary person with virtually no ability to resist to such torment.

However, considering the other corpses in the bar at this moment, it seems relatively normal.

Because there were many seats, there was a corpse sitting in each seat. They were strapped to the chairs, but obviously not very well, as many of the corpses lost their balance and ended up slumped over the tables.

The bodies were dressed in various ways, suggesting they were guests at the place. Some of them carried guns, but clearly had no chance to resist.

If there's one thing these people have in common, it's probably that they all have their own heads laid out in front of them.

The scene didn't seem particularly bizarre, and even had a strange sense of order, but it certainly wasn't very aesthetically pleasing.

Moreover, the way these people died was quite simple, as could be seen from the wounds on their heads. A large portion of them died instantly from bullets that pierced their skulls directly, while others were shot off target and then fired several more shots. These details can be easily discerned from the bullet holes.

Of course, not everyone was killed by bullets. Some appeared to have been pierced by some sharp weapon, and some even had half their heads missing. The exact cause remains unknown.

In any case, the murderer was a rather wicked person, even going so far as to waste time cutting off the heads of already dead corpses and arranging them into such a bizarre scene.

But the number of dead is a bit too high, and a large portion of them were armed, which may suggest that the killer was not a single person.

Igris walked over to a corpse and pulled out the pistol from his waist.

A traditional revolver, but with a full magazine, never fired.

Igris casually unloaded the bullets and put them in her pocket. She then checked the other bodies and found that the situation was similar; none of them had been shot, meaning that they hadn't reacted before they died.

"Um……"

It is very likely that this was a gang crime.

Having determined that there were virtually no more clues left, Igris walked out of the bar, which was so suffocating she could barely breathe, and didn't forget to close the door behind her.

"How about it?"

Unexpectedly, Isabella didn't investigate on her own; Wilson, on the other hand, wasn't there, probably checking somewhere else.

"There's nothing worth mentioning; there's no one inside."

Igris didn't want to tell Isabella what was going on inside. If they were simply dead, Igris could even take Isabella inside to take a good look and then point out the problems to her face to face.

But that won't work now. This scene is pure torture and murder. Isabella can't possibly not know the people here. Under these circumstances, minimizing the stimulation to her is a way to protect her.

"Is that so? That's a real shame."

Isabella glanced at the door Igris had closed and sighed softly.

"Let's go look around elsewhere; we might find something there."

"Ah."

Igris and Isabella walked toward the next building, which was much smaller than the bar and was probably a private residence.

"This is the home of the town's sanitation worker. His name is... I forgot, but anyway, he's a sanitation worker."

Isabella didn't remember his name; perhaps it was insignificant, but his identity allowed others to recognize him in other ways.

"Shall we go in and take a look?"

"Hmm... You go in, I'll wait for you outside."

Isabella winked playfully, and Igris didn't say anything more. Instead, she pushed open the door and went into the cleaner's house.

An even stronger stench rushed into Igris's nostrils almost instantly. It wasn't just the simple smell of a corpse; it was a more pungent and suffocating odor.

His home was fairly clean, and the furniture was arranged neatly, suggesting he was a very clean person. The living room was empty and unremarkable, with hardly anything in it.

The bedroom door was half-open, and the pungent smell was coming from inside the bedroom.

Although somewhat hesitant, Igris slowly pushed open the door and walked into the bedroom, facing the stench.

Upon entering the bedroom, the most striking thing is the figure lying on the bed.

It was a man, presumably dead, lying on the bed, covered by a thick blanket.

Igris casually pulled the blanket off the bed, and a stench wafted out, revealing a bloated body that was completely disproportionate to a man's physique.

His stomach was swollen open, with a very obvious suture line, and foul-smelling oil or liquid was constantly seeping out.

Igris hesitated for a long time, looking at the hilt of the sword in her hand countless times, and then putting it down again and again.

She still couldn't get over it, even though she cleaned it frequently. It was like knowing you can wash your hands but still not being able to put them in a latrine.

Fortunately, Igris didn't have to make a choice, because the huge belly had already begun to move.

"..."

Igris silently left the room, and then, with a soft popping sound, the corpse's stomach burst open, and countless foul-smelling liquids and garbage flew out, landing all over the room.

The Bizarre Stage Play – The Book of Secrets: Chapter Thirty-Eight, A Merciless Tragedy

"How disgusting..."

It wasn't addressed to the dead, but to the one who turned him into this state.

It was clear that someone had killed him, cut open his abdomen, stuffed all that garbage inside, and then sewed it back together.

The disgusting methods and brutal torture were exactly the same as what happened in the bar.

Even worse, at least Igris was starting to feel nauseous.

"Leave..."

There's not much left to investigate here. Apart from the crime scene and the pungent smell, Igris is unlikely to find any other useful clues.

As she stepped out the door, she took a deep breath of fresh air, and the nausea that had been rising in her stomach subsided considerably.

"Igris, have you found any leads this time?"

Isabella also came over at this moment, but she froze on the spot the moment she got close to Igris, and awkwardly covered her nose.

I guess I smelled that scent.

"It's terrible. It's full of garbage and stinks. There's nothing else in it."

"I see... Thank you for your hard work."

Judging from Isabella's expression, she probably genuinely felt that Igris had worked hard.

After all, she felt nauseous just from smelling the lingering odor, let alone the fact that Igris personally conducted an investigation on-site.

"...Let's go check out other places. Hopefully, things will go more smoothly from here on out."

Igris rubbed her eyes, trying to calm herself down and attempting to completely forget the image and smell.

As they continued onward, some noteworthy traces finally appeared on the road.

"This is blood, isn't it?"

Because it was dirt, the marks in the middle of the road were quite obvious; it was a long drag mark that left a not-so-shallow ditch.

Within those ravines, some dried, dark red marks were particularly noticeable and hard to miss.

"Follow up and have a look..."

Just as Igris was about to continue forward, Isabella grabbed her arm.

"I said... Igris, although this request is strange and nonsensical, but... could you hug me just a little bit, just for a moment..."

Isabella was still smiling, but her smile had never been so pale, so powerless.

This is so unlike her. At least the Isabella that Igris knew should have been more arrogant, more haughty, and more ruthless.

Instead of being weak and pathetic like this.

But there's no harm in it.

"I'll stay with you, Isabella, it's alright."

Igris took the initiative to pull her into her arms and gently stroked her back.