Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

"Thank you so much, please write me a satisfactory report."

Lyle took off his top hat, placed it in front of his chest, and bowed slightly, though Mr. Garrett, busy again, did not notice.

Lyle stepped through the iron gate behind the tarpaulin.

A haggard beggar, his tattered clothes covered in dust and filth, his skin dark, his body thin, and you could see his fourth rib just by looking at him.

His mouth was wide open, and food crumbs could be seen through the gaps between his teeth; his eyes were white.

The body was intact and without any injuries.

Looking at the file, it turned out to be a beggar who had been given food by a well-known local gentry, but choked to death because he ate too quickly when he was given the food.

Judging from his physical condition, this inference is indeed reasonable.

If a person who has been starving for a long time suddenly overeats, their body will not have the corresponding digestive capacity, and excessive intake will cause harm, especially for someone who is already on the verge of death.

That's not impossible. In the past, this beggar would most likely have been buried hastily. Why would someone commission someone to find out the real cause of death? It's probably because the local gentry felt that his reputation had been wronged and wanted to uphold justice and defend himself.

In the past, after examining physical symptoms and food residue in the mouth, the cause of death would likely be determined.

But today, Lyle has a new method.

He pulled a dark purple, five-petaled nightshade from his belt.

I should start working like a real spirit medium.

The body was revived.

As if it had undergone defibrillation, the corpse's chest rose high and then fell. It rolled over, supported itself with its hands and feet, and slowly knelt down.

Because of the physical body, the flames of the soul were not exposed, just like a normal person.

"I choked to death, what a suffocating way to die." These were the first words spoken by the corpse.

Lyle nodded. "So, he choked to death, or committed suicide?"

"No, it was attempted murder."

"Ok?"

"Although I died from suffocation due to food blocking my trachea, if you dissect my stomach and analyze the composition of the food residue, you will find traces of slow-acting poison."

"That hypocritical man poisoned the food. Even if I hadn't choked to death, the acid in my stomach would have broken down the outer protective layer within two or three days, leading to my death. But by then, death would have been irrelevant to him."

"That might just be your guess."

"No, I heard it with my own ears, he said it himself: 'Damn it, how could he die so young? The poison shouldn't have taken effect yet.'"

"You heard it with your own ears? When?"

"Twelve minutes after my death, the beggars around me scattered like birds and beasts, leaving only him and me as a corpse."

"...You should know that the dead cannot be witnesses."

"Then open up my stomach and take out the poisoned food as evidence."

Chapter Fifty-Nine: A Magical Spell for the Club

"Do you really harbor that much resentment? To be honest, in terms of facts, that person's malice did not actually harm you. Your cause of death is already set in stone. Even if I were to lay this out in the open, he would at most be somewhat embarrassed by it. Are you really willing to let me desecrate your body just to cause him a little trouble?"

Lyle couldn't understand why the corpse was so obsessed with the truth, as if something was urging it on. Compared to the truth, Lyle preferred to bury the body intact.

“I can’t go to heaven, and my physical integrity doesn’t matter to me anymore, but old Gale, Trevordo, and Lame Eli are still alive, and I have to do something about it.”

"who are they?"

“My friends are a bunch of useless beggars. Old Gale has a molting parrot, that beast only knows how to swear. Trevordo is a good old man, he’ll share some rotten fruit with me. Eli used to be a pickpocket, he always brags about his glorious past…”

“They may be the scum of this world, the degenerates, but they are my friends. Now there is someone who takes pleasure in playing tricks and poisoning them. I cannot watch them leave like I did. And now, the evidence that tears off that hypocritical face is in my stomach, and I don’t even have to feel the pain.”

"Why aren't you starting work yet, sheriff?"

The corpse, deprived of its magical power, slumped on the table. Lyle cut open its stomach and removed small clumps of gelatinous bread from the stomach. Cutting through the surface, Lyle found his target: in the center of the bread clumps, a small piece of icing, with a similar powdery substance in the middle. After reagent testing, the substance was confirmed to be toxic. Lyle found the same substance in five or six pieces of icing, ruling out the possibility of unintentional error.

The beggar was right; that well-known country gentleman was not only building his reputation, but also committing these malicious murders.

Medusa emerged from his sleeve.

"not in a good mood?"

"A little bit."

"Then I have even worse news for you. The church people are here, heading straight for this police station. Guess what they'll do when they find this body and you handling it?"

Lyle's somber mood turned to panic. "How did you know?"

"Do you remember what kind of wood I'm made of? If you spend a little more time looking at me each day, you'll find that I'm a little brighter than before, and I'm constantly getting brighter. Holy Spirit Wood has the power to sense holy energy, understand? My darling~"

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, Mr. Garrett's body squeezed out of the passageway.

"Little Bühler, the church is here. I'll stall for time. You quickly hide the body. If all else fails, leave on your own before you're discovered."

Before he could finish speaking, he hurriedly rushed into the passage.

Lyle hoisted the body and ran toward the iron gate on the other side, which led to another hidden exit leading directly out of the police station. As for the bloodstains left on the table, that could be dealt with later; the body was the most important thing.

bump!

Lyle slammed into the iron gate, feeling dizzy. They had locked the gate! How was he supposed to hide? How could he possibly run away?

Lyle tried to think of a good solution, but he found that anxiety had almost consumed all his brain cells.

"Gurgle!"

"My ring!" The talent orb transformed into a stream of water and left him, also taking the Andrei Ring from his hand.

Is this scoundrel going to rebel?

There seemed to be a hint of purple inside its body.

"Gurgle."

It leaped onto the corpse and stuffed the purple smear into the old beggar's mouth, to Lyle's astonishment.

"Gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle..."

The familiar chilling atmosphere, the familiar flow of magic.

The corpse revived, and the old beggar stood up.

Lyle stood there in astonishment.

"Then I'll go lay low for a while." The old beggar nodded to Lyle, pressed the Andrei emblem, and disappeared before Lyle's eyes.

The problem is solved.

"You still have a bloodstain and a crime scene to clean up, baby Lyle," Medusa kindly reminded him.

"What is a crime scene?"

"Am I wrong? Desecrating a corpse is a serious sin for the church."

……

Lyle had just wiped the blood away when he heard hurried footsteps in the passageway, and many people were walking towards him.

Lyle took a breath. Time was short, and his on-site cleanup wasn't perfect, but he was prepared and could manage.

Like detonating a detonator, the blast sent the thick wooden door flying, grazing Lyle's hair and shattering the stone table behind him.

Okay, the cleanup is complete. The scene was a mess.

In the dust that was stirred up, Lyle saw a fleeting glimpse of light and shadow, which appeared to be a double-headed mace.

Several people coughed.

A reproachful middle-aged man's voice rang out, "Karen, what are you doing! The use of force is prohibited!"

“I’m sorry, monk, I’ve smelled dark magic. I’m just doing this as a precaution,” a young female voice said.

"Ha, black magic, what a big hat. Is this why you took down my basement door?" It was Mr. Garrett.

As the smoke cleared, the first person to appear was a girl who was less than 1.7 meters tall. She was wearing an old, dark brown nun's habit, and her headscarf was tied up in a straw. Her golden hair looked like it was stuffed with straw. Although she was pretty, her unkempt attire made her look more like a wild boy.

Next came Mr. Garrett, whose muscular frame almost filled the aisle. He glanced around, then looked at Lyle, nodded slightly, and stepped aside.

Finally, there was a middle-aged monk, dressed in simple monk's robes, with a traditional Mediterranean hairstyle. Medieval monks had the custom of shaving the hair in the center of their heads to express their devout faith, like having an angel's halo on their heads.

"Karen, where is the dark magic aura you mentioned?" The monk looked around to make sure there was nothing unusual.

The girl looked around, her small nose twitching slightly, like a puppy sniffing for a scent, and then said, "It's gone."

Lyle breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he had revealed something.

"Detect evil!" Without saying a word, the girl named Karen slapped a holy light spell at Lyle's face.

Lyle was startled because it was so familiar, as if Raymond had appeared. Was the church's greeting just a way of scouting evil? If Raymond's scouting evil was like a meteorite strike, then this was at most a gentle breeze.

Lyle stood there naturally, even radiating a holy light.

"The Pure Ones?!" It seems that harmless safety signs work just as well here.

"Karen! Your provocation just now was a blasphemy against the Holy Light! Apologize now!"

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency Pure One," the girl replied readily.

"It's alright, my name is Lyle." Raymond has taken down at least eight or ten thousand men, and he's never heard him apologize. She's a good girl.

"May the Holy Light bless you, Lord Lyle. I am Brother Sari. May I ask what brings you here?"

"What are you doing? I'm organizing the warehouse." Lyle pretended to be confused.

“I understand. I’m sorry to have bothered you.” Brother Sari led the way back into the passage.

Is that all?

Chapter Sixty Goodnight

Lyle tidied up the clutter in the basement and returned to the office area.