She is not an investigator.

"This is a conspiracy against you, Nan Ke. Everything you've done is too suspicious and too obvious."

Nan Ke stared silently at the gem in her hand, and finally sighed helplessly.

"So, why did I call you here in the first place...?"

Olivia should not have been part of the Southern Science Park's plan.

What he wanted to do was to set a trap at the birthday banquet, causing flames to engulf the ancient fortress itself, burning everything related to the Noval family to ashes, thus freeing himself from that constraint and shackle.

To this end, he deliberately tampered with the fire escape in the basement seven days in advance, and blocked off the only passage. The power in the basement had also been cut off long ago, and even the door was locked. Even if someone went down to check, they would only mistakenly think that they had overlooked the passage because of the dark environment, thus delaying the process for a long time.

Therefore, he never tried to stop Igris from going to the basement to check, since refusing would only make him seem more suspicious.

“…Nan Ke, you are my friend, I have always felt that way, so I can’t bear to see you go down this path of no return because of your own stubbornness. There are other ways to solve everything.”

No…you don’t understand…

Nan Ke clutched his head in anguish, tears streaming down his face.

“As long as Noval’s vocabulary doesn’t disappear…as long as everything in it continues to function, our fate will not change…You win, Olivia, I won’t continue this plan, you win…”

Nan Ke took a deep breath and forced a smile.

"Now, I am at your disposal."

Olivia remained silent, but did not lower the gun in her hand.

Nan Ke conceded defeat, but the other guy didn't.

The Gods' Fool - The Castle's Invitation: Chapter Twenty-One, Time in Progress

"And you, Mr. arsonist? Are you still planning to burn this place down, or do you want to surrender obediently?"

Olivia twirled the pistol in her hand, but the man in the six-piece suit rushed forward without hesitation, pressing his head against the muzzle of the gun and helping Olivia pull the trigger.

Gunshots rang out along with bullets, accompanied by a splatter of bright red liquid. The man collapsed to the ground, a large hole appearing in his forehead.

He committed suicide, but...why?

Olivia's expression turned grim, but she quickly regained her composure, put away her sidearm, and looked at Nanko, who was also stunned.

"You'll testify for me, right?"

"..."

Nan Ke nodded blankly, staring at the corpse lying in a pool of blood, seemingly lost in thought.

He didn't actually have a good relationship with this so-called helper; he was just someone who took money and did things for him.

However, Ernan Ke 9 never expected that such a guy could end his own life so easily.

Once the police arrive, it will probably be harder to explain.

—————— (Divider)

Igris, hiding in the corner, watched Olivia suddenly shoot and kill the man, somewhat surprised.

After all, Olivia didn't seem like such a ruthless person, but that only made her more curious about the man.

"Hey, are you still there?"

"Of course, what's wrong?"

The Mirror Demon knew that Igris was there (let's call her Igris), because there was no one else here, and Igris didn't have the habit of talking to herself.

"Do you see that person lying on the ground? Can't you transform into his appearance and know his information?"

"I'm a little embarrassed," the Mirror Demon said.

"That's possible, but... he's dead, and all I can see is what his dream life was like."

"It's ok."

All Ilius needs to do is get a general understanding of him; it doesn't matter if she doesn't get specific information, after all, the Mirror Demon isn't omnipotent.

"Look in the mirror."

Igris took out the shards of the mirror, and inside them was a strange scene.

The man stood at the castle gate, his steps light and graceful as he slowly walked into the distance, disappearing without a trace.

"What do you mean?"

"His dream is to leave this place."

"..."

Igris put away the mirror and slowly walked out from the corner.

Olivia and Nanco had already gone to the hall to meet up with Buze, and the corpse lay peacefully on the ground, unattended and uncollected.

Igris wasn't there to collect his body; she was simply doing something that most investigators enjoy and are passionate about.

Search for his body.

Honestly, this kind of work is disgusting the first time you do it, but over time, that disgust will gradually turn into anticipation, because you never know what treasures you might find on him.

Igris first checked his pockets, took out a wallet containing a dozen or so copper coins, which looked even poorer than Igris, and an identification document.

This man's name is Rag Morkendridge, from Molkens. Igris knows this city; in fact, most people do.

Compared to other towns and villages, Molkens is probably the second largest industrial city on this landmass, and also the most polluted.

As for why, despite being the second largest, it is indeed the most polluted, Igris is not quite sure, but there are a lot of rich people there, although there are also a lot of poor people.

Compared to point 2, Igrid prefers Maulkenson more, at least there you can see the sun from time to time, instead of it being cloudy every day.

In his pocket, Igris found something that looked very familiar to her.

A pocket watch.

It's exactly the same as hers.

To confirm, Igris even took out her own pocket watch and compared them, finding that apart from the time being different, they were almost identical.

The pocket watch in Igris's hand kept perfectly normal time, but the pocket watch in Rag's hand had stopped, with the hands all frozen at the twelve o'clock position, which was midnight.

This might mean something, but Igris wasn't quite sure, so she put the pocket watch back into his pocket.

Perhaps collecting a certain number of e-watches would grant some kind of reward? But Igor Villis wasn't interested in that; she just didn't want to cause any more trouble.

And, finally, Igris found a gem in his pocket.

With its deep blue color and rhomboid shape, Igris could easily associate this gem with the Tear of the Ocean, but the gem's texture seemed to be inferior, lacking some of its luster.

Perhaps it was a fake? But at least this fake looked pretty good, so Igris still put it in her pocket.

Who knows, maybe some clueless person will be willing to pay a high price for it? Everyone should have dreams.

Unfortunately, the guy didn't have anything else on him. After stuffing the dozen or so copper coins from his wallet into her own pocket, Igris decided to go and meet up with Olivia and the others.

After all, it seems there's nothing left for her to do. The only suspected villain was taken down by Olivia with a single shot, so it seems she doesn't need to consider any overly complicated tasks anymore.

That's probably the best way to be a support role. The truly important things will always be handled by someone else, and she only needs to follow behind and pick up the pieces.

Upon entering the hall, Illuminati saw Olivia talking to Sbuze about something, and then (proactively) went over to her.

"What happened?"

Seeing Igris return, Olivia visibly relaxed and explained.

“You’re right, that’s absolutely correct. After my inspection, most of the fire hydrants in this castle have been destroyed, and quite a few bombs have been planted. Fortunately, they were discovered in advance, and the person who planted them is already dead. Now all we need to do is have everyone search for any other potential bombs.”

"Ah... is it really that simple?"

"What else do you want? But thanks to you, otherwise we probably wouldn't have been able to find it."

While that's true, Igris still felt something was missing. Could the legend of the Ocean's Tears really be a lie? Or did nothing really happen?

There was also Nan Ke, who was clearly acting strangely. Igris couldn't figure out what his real purpose was, which made her feel quite uncomfortable.

It's like... everyone was waiting for the final episode to unleash a huge surprise, only to find out that the previous episode was actually the grand finale.

"Don't think too much about it. The birthday party will still go on as planned. Just enjoy the rest of your days."

Nanko has repented, and Buze knows everything. Although he is indeed very angry, he eventually forgives his brother and, as he expected, takes over the position of head of the family and returns freedom to Nanko.

Olivia and Wei Qi also returned Lu Haiyin Yang's "Tears" to the secret vault, and together with Nan Ke Yi Er and Bu Ze, they successfully disposed of the body.

However, because the phone line was damaged, the initial call to the police did not go through. After everything was explained, no one cared anymore, since there was really nothing worth calling the police for.

And so, it was the third day that Isaac Grace had spent in this ancient castle, which was also the start of the birthday banquet for Linan Ke.

……

This is a follow-up statistics post. If you've read this far, please reply with "1".

The Gods' Fool - The Castle Invitation: Chapter Twenty-Two, The Last Feast

"Welcome everyone to the Southern University of Science and Technology's birthday party..."

Early in the morning, in the restaurant, Buze stood at the front with Nanko and said something.

Igris was too lazy to remove her clothes to listen (although she felt it was very impolite), but in fact, it was just the same old thing over and over again. Igris had heard similar speeches countless times, and there was really nothing to care about.

And clearly, Igris wasn't the first person to think that way.

"So, this trip wasn't a waste, was it? Three days of free food and drinks, and I even made money."

Olivia moved closer to Igris and smiled as she watched Igris engrossed in her steak, refusing to put down her fork but unable to tear it off no matter what she said.

"Stop laughing...give me a hand."

Igris isn't very good with a knife and fork; she finds it unrefined to eat such a large piece of steak directly, and it gets sauce everywhere. It's best to cut it into small pieces before eating.

Compared to Igris's lack of skill, Olivia was quite adept, quickly cutting the steak on the plate into several small pieces and placing them in front of Igris.

"You really like eating meat."

"You can't usually get to eat this kind of good stuff."

Igris put a piece of steak into her mouth and squinted her eyes in enjoyment.

She didn't have many hobbies in her life; drinking was one, and food was another.

But she wasn't sure if her body could handle alcohol anymore, after all, the last sip she had in Maulkenson had left her traumatized.

However, she was also really puzzled: would anyone really get drunk after drinking a beer that was like it had been soaked in water?