Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 141 You don't want me to be laughed at, do you?

"Ah, wait a minute!"

Under Susie's pitiful gaze, Audrey gasped and dashed out of the room in the blink of an eye. When she returned a moment later, carrying a pile of clothes, she instructed, "Susie, close the door."

Susie gave Audrey a resentful look, but still obediently stuck out her hind leg to close the door. She watched as the girl placed the dress she was holding on the sofa, then casually grabbed a little girl beside her and began to help her dress with shining eyes.

The little girl who was being held did not resist, obediently letting Audrey dress her up like a doll.

Audrey explained as she groped him:

"Yes, these are my clothes from when I was little. I only wore them once, at a New Year's Eve dinner in previous years. Oh, right..."

Audrey's thoughts suddenly wandered, and she said with a somewhat serious expression:

"Ember, you'll need to prepare a formal suit too!"

Why?

Yu Jin looked down at his clothes, puzzled, and asked, "Can't I wear these clothes?"

Audrey, with a serious expression, said:

"Normally it's fine, but what nobleman would wear the same outfit twice on a formal occasion? That would definitely make people wonder if your family is facing a financial crisis. If that's the case, it's not so bad, but worse, it might be seen as disrespectful to the host of the party!"

Audrey solemnly repeated the words she had been reprimanded by her personal maid, Anne, and added at the end, "Grelint told me several times that he had complained because you always wore the same outfit to parties, and he even asked you if you had a problem with him. This made him feel down for a while, which is why he never dared to ask you to buy potion recipes."

"ha?"

Yu Jin, puzzled, asked in return, "Doesn't Fors wear the same outfit too? It's always the beige one..."

"no the same."

Audrey explained earnestly, "Miss Fors simply likes beige, but the lace embellishments on her clothes are different. For example, the first time she wore a high-necked long dress with ruffles, the second time it was a court-style long dress, and the third time..."

"stop."

Ember interrupted Audrey's incessant chatter, calmly stating, "Me too."

"Hmm?"

Audrey looked at him suspiciously. "Have your clothes changed in any way?"

Ember calmly defended himself:

"No, I just prepared a lot of the same clothes. They look exactly the same, but each day it's a completely new outfit."

Audrey rolled her eyes at him. She knew without a doubt that Ember was talking nonsense. Would anyone really prepare multiple sets of the same clothes? No way, no way?

Audrey's attitude was unusually firm, and she refused to back down:

"I have no problem with a party in Grelint, but you absolutely must wear a new dress to the New Year's Eve party!"

"Alright."

Yu Jin clicked his tongue and casually said, "I'll buy one in a couple of days."

"no."

Audrey held up her slender white index finger and said seriously, "Formal dresses must be custom-made because many of the clothes sold in stores are the same style, and many middle-class people wear such clothes. If you wear such clothes to a New Year's Eve party, you will definitely be looked down upon."

He paused, seemingly thinking that Yu Jin wasn't afraid of that, and added, "But I, who am traveling with you, will also be implicated by you. You wouldn't want me to be ridiculed because of you, would you?"

"Alright."

Yu Jin shrugged. "Then I'll have someone order a set made in a couple of days."

"No need."

Audrey blinked and said with a smile:

"The Hall family has several tailors. For example, Mrs. Ginya designed dresses for my mother and me when I was very young. The dress I'm wearing was designed by Mrs. Ginya for my seventeenth birthday. My father and brothers each have a tailor. After all, they are the Hall family's public face, and their outward image is very important. Well, my father and Hilbert use their own tailors, but Alfred isn't in Backlund right now, so you can use his tailor."

Ember stroked his chin, and asked thoughtfully:

"Is every nobleman like this?"

"certainly."

Audrey said earnestly, "For any nobleman, face is of utmost importance. If a nobleman wears the same dress several times at multiple banquets, it only shows that he disrespects the host of the banquet and is almost bankrupt."

"This will not only severely damage the face and reputation of the nobleman, but also affect how other nobles judge him. If everyone thinks he is close to bankruptcy, then no matter what he does, he will not succeed, and it will be difficult to gain the support of other nobles."

"I don't doubt that the Hall family has the financial resources, but can other noble families really do the same?"

When asked by Ember, Audrey simply shook her head and explained softly:

"The dresses can only be worn once, but they can be resold! Such clothes are quite popular among the middle class and wealthy businessmen because they have only been worn once and are clothes worn by nobles, so sometimes they can even be auctioned off for a higher price than the original price."

"Yes, of course, if this were discovered, it would also damage the reputation of the nobles. But for nobles who aren't financially well-off, it is indeed a very viable path. Alright!"

While explaining to Ember, Audrey's hands didn't stop, skillfully dressing the Kurara sisters. She was now lovingly stroking the heads of the two little girls beside her, her bright green eyes shining. Ember looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the Kurara sisters, having successfully 'transformed,' had exquisitely beautiful faces like twins, and long, shiny silver hair that almost reached their heels.

The difference is that, perhaps intentionally to distinguish them, Audrey wore black and white princess dresses respectively.

At this moment, Audrey suddenly remembered an important question and asked curiously:

"What are their names?"

"Kurara and Kuraris."

Ember whispered, "They were sisters, and even in death, their graves are still close to each other."

"Don't say such discouraging things!"

Audrey glared at him, somewhat annoyed. She knew he had her and her sister's ashes, but saying something like that at a time like this was rather jarring! Besides, while some extraordinary individuals possessed the ability to manipulate corpses and spirits, summoning spirits with ashes seemed a bit too sinister, didn't it?

But, it's a transformation!

Audrey glanced at Susie, who was staring at her expectantly, and suddenly felt a pang of regret. It seemed the Audience Path didn't possess this ability; if Susie hadn't accidentally ingested the Audience Potion, Audrey could have prepared the Assassin Path Potion for her.

Susie seemed to understand Audrey's gaze, and wagged her tail with a somewhat aggrieved and innocent expression.

Audrey sighed inwardly, then looked at Ember with a mixture of excitement and anticipation, and asked:

"Ember, may I take them to play in the garden for a while?"

"certainly."

Yu Jin smiled and nodded, "If Kurara and the others have no objections."

"Kurara, Kuraris."

Audrey, her emerald eyes filled with anticipation, reached out her hand to the exquisitely beautiful twin sisters. "May I come to the garden with you?"

The two little girls looked at each other and then placed their little hands in Audrey's palms.

Audrey's lips curved into a gentle, elegant smile as she excitedly led the two little girls out of the room. Only Ember and Susie, head bowed and looking heartbroken, remained.

"Susie, hurry up!"

Susie's eyes lit up, and she immediately became energetic, wagging her tail and following after them.

"Miss Audrey, oh! Who are they?"

Wow~ So cute!

"Miss Audrey, may I touch them?!"

As soon as Audrey left the room, she was surrounded by maids in the hallway, their eyes sparkling as they looked at the Kurara sisters. The maids, however, clearly knew their place; while surrounding her, they didn't hinder or slow Audrey's progress, nor did they make any sudden moves. They simply chatted amongst themselves, watching with longing eyes—just like Susie now, blocked outside the human wall by the excited maids, unable to squeeze in and only able to watch helplessly.

To avoid the crowd, Ember waited quite a while before leaving the small reception room. When he came downstairs to the living room, Hilbert, who had been reading the newspaper, was looking at him with a strange expression, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.

Yu Jin walked over and sat down on the sofa next to him, and asked proactively:

"What do you want to ask?"

Hilbert asked curiously, "Is that your daughter?"

"no."

"It doesn't look like it to me either."

Hibbert nodded knowingly. After all, a noble boy of Yu Jin's age might have affairs and even have illegitimate children, but it was impossible for him to have two daughters who were eleven or twelve years old.

Hilbert glanced around and asked in a low voice, "Are they Beyonders?"

Yu Jin nodded slightly.

Hilbert immediately understood. No wonder he hadn't seen the two little girls come in earlier; if they were extraordinary beings, it would make perfect sense.

Hilbert immediately straightened his expression, adopting the demeanor of someone who had arrived first, and asked earnestly:

"Which pathway did they use? What sequence number?"

Although he was the older brother, when it came to the "Extraordinary," he was just a "younger brother" in front of his younger sister, Audrey. There were many things he didn't understand and could only ask Audrey or Ember. While it wasn't exactly shameful, it still made Hilbert a little frustrated—how could he, the eldest, be the "youngest" one?

Now that he finally saw two little girls, he was immediately filled with a feeling of showing off and competing with them.

Ember gave him a deep look, immediately seeing through his thoughts, and said unhurriedly:

"Assassin's Path, Sequence 7."

"..."

Hilbert's expression froze, and he immediately deflated. How could everyone in the human sequence be higher than him? It was one thing to be unable to compare with Ember and Audrey, but why couldn't he even compare with two little girls who were only eleven or twelve years old?

He thought becoming an Extraordinary was something special, but it turns out everyone is an Extraordinary. Are Extraordinary beings so worthless? And these are two Sequence 7 beings; just the Extraordinary materials needed to buy the potions alone would cost over four thousand pounds. He doesn't lack money, but cultivating Extraordinary beings of this level is no easy task.

"How's your potion digesting?"

Seeing Hilbert's expression, Ember took the initiative to change the subject.

"That's about it!"

Hilbert immediately perked up and said enthusiastically, "In another week, or at most half a month, my potion will be fully digested."

Ember asked thoughtfully, "Where is your pharmacist?"

Hilbert sighed softly and said:

"Poor Laurent didn't make it, and I gave his family a thousand pounds as compensation. But Alvin succeeded. After I performed dozens of divinations for him, I chose an auspicious day according to Emperor Roselle, and he successfully became an extraordinary being, an apothecary."

Ember nodded subtly and said:

"You'd better be careful, what if he claims to have heard some kind of divine revelation..."

"rest assured."

Hibbert replied without hesitation, "Alvin is a devout follower of the goddess. If he really heard the so-called oracle, I will take him directly to St. Samuel's Cathedral and have him baptized."

As he spoke, a hint of mockery appeared in Hilbert's eyes, and he chuckled, "Audrey just told me when she came downstairs that she wanted me to lend you Alfredo's tailor so she could prepare a dress for you. It's about time, let's go."

"So urgent?"

Ember looked at Hilbert with some surprise. "Don't you have to work today?"

Hilbert shrugged and said helplessly:

"Of course there's work, but the people below will handle it. I'm just a secretary, only responsible for the final summarization and reporting. Besides, I'm more afraid of Audrey being unhappy with my slackness than being scolded for making mistakes. She's my only sister. And..."

After a pause, Hippel added, "The New Year's Eve party is less than two weeks away, which is a bit tight. If we delay by another day or two, even the best dresses made by the tailors won't make it in time."

"Alright then." Yu Jin sighed and stood up from the sofa, which he hadn't even warmed up yet.

"Wait a moment."

Hibbert shook his head seriously, his eyes darkened, his gaze narrowed, and he took out a coin with his right hand, flicking it into the air with a clang.

"Today is a good day to go out."

"Today is a good day to go out."

"Snapped!"

Hilbert quickly repeated the statement, reached out and caught the tumbling bronze coin, and saw that George III's portrait was facing up.

"Great, let's go."

Hibbert nodded in satisfaction, stood up from the sofa, and casually took the coat from the hanger next to him.

"Going on a long trip?"

Upon seeing this, Yu Jin couldn't help but raise an eyebrow slightly.

"certainly."

Hilbert shrugged and said frankly, "The villa is only so big, it can't accommodate that many people, so there are only a few dozen servants here. Most of them are at the manor in the suburbs. The tailor isn't usually needed, so he's naturally assigned to the manor."

After a pause, Hilbert said with some difficulty, "Wait a minute, let me think... where is Alfred's manor again? Hmm, it seems to be next to mine. Hmm? Where is my manor again?"

Yu Jin shook his head helplessly. "Is he really worthy of being a nobleman who is the largest banker in the country?"

Queens is an aristocratic district, but it's also a villa district. Centered around Sodrak Palace, villas radiate outwards in concentric rings. But for the nobility, owning a villa in the city center is far from enough; they also need their own family estate and a manor on the outskirts of Backlund.

Villas were for living, while manors were only used occasionally for large gatherings. Although most nobles might not actually need their suburban manors, having one or not made a world of difference.

Only when all three are present can one be considered a true nobleman. Otherwise, it's like wearing the same dress twice—it will raise serious doubts about one's financial situation. And when a nobleman's finances are questioned, it often means he will be kicked out of that circle, a devastating blow.

So even though Hilbert had not yet inherited the title and Audrey was not even an adult, the three siblings each had their own manor, though they would rarely visit it even once a year—which is why Hilbert didn't even remember where his manor was located.

Finally, after Hilbert finally remembered that his coachman should know the location, the two of them rode in the carriage through streets and around an area with an artificial lake, heading northwest. After more than an hour, they finally arrived at a sprawling manor house located in the northern suburbs of Queens.

-

West End, 6 Edward Street.

Ikonser Bernard adjusted his black top hat, pointed to the house door behind the fountain, and said to Klein, Isengard, and Kaslana:

"We reverse-engineered the various channels through which the information and data were leaked, and combined with the profile outline drawn, as well as the additional help from the Magic Mirror, we initially identified a suspect."

When you mentioned the Magic Mirror, you clearly paused for a moment, and I wonder what price you paid to get the answer you wanted... Klein noticed the problem with Ikonser's tone and felt a strange sense of sympathy for him.

Ikonser recruited these wild extraordinary individuals to investigate the case because all three of them had become involved. It started with a series of murders, and later, Klein suspected the killer might not be human.

But before the official extraordinary beings could react, the demon dog was found dead at yet another crime scene—it was said that the one who "acted in good faith" killed the demon dog was another dog.

The case should have ended there, but the official Extraordinary Ones, impressed by Klein's outstanding performance, asked him to analyze it further. This led to the involvement of the house's owner, Patrick Jason, and even resulted in the detectives receiving death threats.

We asked them to investigate the case because, on the one hand, we genuinely needed their professional expertise. On the other hand, we also had to consider protecting their personal safety.

"That's really unlucky."

As Klein listened to Ikonser's introduction, he thought to himself, "If I didn't want to keep this identity just in case, I probably would have run away already."

While investigating the villa, Klein suddenly heard footsteps behind him.

He turned around almost instinctively and saw Ikonser, and was slightly surprised to find a familiar face beside him. But now he could easily control his expression, simply smiling and greeting him.

"Hello, sir."

Iconsel introduced himself:

"This is Mr. Sherlock Moriarty, an excellent detective who helped us find Patrick Jason. This is Dunn Smith, the Night Watchman of the Church of the Night."

"Hello, Detective Sherlock."

Dunn extended his hand and gave Klein a symbolic handshake, his expression seemingly carrying a hint of surprise and confusion.

(End of this chapter)