I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

The three thanked the staff and left the funeral home. Not far from the funeral home, just one block past the teahouse where Lu Ban and Twisted Fate met, was Dr. House's clinic.

This area is closed off and guarded by police; ordinary people are not allowed to enter.

It was already afternoon, the sunlight was becoming ambiguous, setting in the west, languid, and the clinic was also becoming dim.

Upon entering the clinic, Lu Ban smelled a strong odor of disinfectant.

He saw that the clinic's beds were cordoned off, which was where Dr. House's body had been found.

Chapter 395 You're not going to be silenced too, are you?

The clinic has huge floor-to-ceiling windows on the first floor. It's hard to imagine how much courage it took to use such a decor in this gray alley, where the underworld and the legitimate world meet, and where there is a lot of disorder.

Contrary to expectations, the clinic was clean and tidy, except for the hospital bed, as if its owners were still working as usual.

Even the hospital bed was free of bloodstains and dirt, only covered in numerous creases.

"Were the sheets changed here?"

Seeing this, Xia couldn't help but ask.

"No, that's how it was. The newspaper boy was passing by this morning when he saw Dr. House lying here through the French windows. He called out twice but got no response. He went closer and realized something was wrong. He quickly called the police, and when they broke down the door, Dr. House was already like this."

"Trist said."

"This definitely wasn't done by humans."

Xia drew a conclusion.

"The other party must have killed Dr. House in a moment of sneak attack. The glass flower was not the result, but the means. The killer killed by making the victim's internal organs look like that."

"Or there is another theory: that Dr. House was not killed here."

Drizzt exhaled a puff of grayish-white smoke.

"He may have treated or visited other patients besides those two, and then been killed and brought back under the cover of night, which would have led to the scene being like this."

Since there were only the three of them present, Drizzt spoke frankly, pointing again to the wooden cabinet filled with patient information and files.

"I need to investigate his filing cabinet."

"Oh."

Lu Ban remembered what Trist had said before.

In addition to the police's assistance, he also took on a case from Mrs. Martina of the Catania family. Evidence of the mafia family's affair with her lover was also in the clinic, so there might be another direction for the case.

That is, Dr. House was killed by the mob because of this evidence, but Mrs. Martina was unable to get the evidence from Dr. House, so she hired the detective Drizzt to find it.

"Old Cui, you're not going to be silenced too, are you?"

Lu Ban suddenly said.

"...Did you think I came here unprepared?"

Drizzt, who was searching through the files, rolled his eyes at Lu Ban.

"First of all, Mrs. Martina did not tell me anything about her lover. It was all my deduction. As long as I don't act like I know too much, she won't do anything to me."

"Furthermore, Mrs. Martina is the third daughter of the Catania family, and her husband is a theater actor. According to the rules of the mafia, even if her husband knew that she was being cuckolded, he couldn't say anything. Mrs. Martina needed to destroy this document more because of internal family disputes."

"Finally, I know more than one member of the Catania family, do you understand what I mean?"

"don't know."

Xia spoke her mind.

For the mages of the Night Kingdom, these urban gangs were far too complicated.

"...The Catania family is a gang that has risen to prominence in recent years. They quickly gained control of many trade routes to and from the ruined city. They do everything from smuggling and drug trafficking to intimidation and threats and keeping prostitutes. It is said that this is because they have acquired a rather good strategist in the past two years. In any case, the order of the underworld is being disrupted."

Trist paused, perhaps finding the description of "order in the underworld" a bit ridiculous.

“The Black Street originally had many small forces and small gangs. These gangs often fought each other, causing casualties. However, because they were not large, they had a delicate balance of power. The upper class was too lazy to clean up this mess. But the Catania family was different. They wanted to unify the Black Street, and even the entire slums of the ruined city, to become the shadowy controller of the ruined city.”

"Isn't this good?"

Xia asked, somewhat confused.

"There are many problems. Although the Catania family can keep the slums peaceful through oppressive rule, such rule will attract the attention of the upper class in the ruined city. They may clean up the slums. You know, you may not care if there is a little dust on the ground, but if there is a clump of dust, you may have to sweep it up."

Drizzt's hand suddenly stopped.

He saw a file.

The patient's name on the file is Matilda, which is another way of spelling Martina.

He pulled out the file and glanced at it.

"...That's pretty big stuff."

Drizzt couldn't help but sigh.

"No wonder Mrs. Martina wanted this medical record; her affair with her lover wasn't just an ordinary relationship, but rather..."

He was about to say something when he noticed Xia's curious big eyes.

"Ahem, anyway, it's something that will harm the body. It seems she originally had that desire, but she couldn't show it because of her status... No, wait."

Drizzt flipped through the records and paused, stunned.

“The timing doesn’t match. I remember Mrs. Martina should be attending a charity gala at this time. I was there. There’s no reason for her not to be there, unless…”

He seemed to realize why Mrs. Martina had entrusted him with this matter.

Drizzt searched through the other files in a specific order recorded on the records. This file was just a catalog; the real records were the other files arranged according to the coded order recorded on it.

"what happened?"

Sia leaned closer and saw the text translated from the Silent Land.

"Three are already dead?"

The young sorceress saw that, in the files, three of the unfortunate individuals who had used certain special means to please these noblewomen had already died.

Moreover, it appears that there was more than one participant.

"It seems Mrs. Martina is just one link in the chain... Where are the others?"

Trist suddenly realized that Lu Ban was gone.

"I am here."

Lu Ban's voice came from the basement entrance.

Trist put away the medical records and went to the basement with Sia.

This is a warehouse storing various medicines and equipment. The police have definitely already searched it; there's nothing unusual.

However, Lu Ban ended up in front of a cabinet.

"Can you smell anything?"

He asked.

What does it taste like?

Trist sniffed; all he could smell was the pungent odor of disinfectant.

"It smells similar to the morgue, like perfume."

As Lu Ban spoke, he opened the cabinet.

The cabinet contained some bottles and jars, nothing special.

But Lu Ban crawled into the cabinet, pressed his face against it, and listened carefully.

"This place seems to be empty."

He said, "Come out immediately and, together with Drizzt, move the heavy cabinet."

As you can see, there is a trapdoor behind the cabinet.

Pushing open the trapdoor, Lu Ban saw a small, secluded room.

In the room, on the cold hospital bed, lay a woman.

Glass flowers bloomed on that woman's body.

Chapter 396 Will You Bloom Too?

Lu Ban had once read in some book or movie that when crime in a city requires detectives rather than police to combat it, it means that the city's evil has become so rampant that it is difficult to contain.

The same applies to the ruined capital.

In this secret room, on the hospital bed, the woman's body radiantly bloomed like a flower.

Lu Ban didn't immediately focus his gaze on the woman, but instead looked around the dark room.

Various medicines were displayed on the shelf. Lu Ban picked up a bottle at random and could see that it was some kind of restricted medicine bottle with addictive ingredients that could greatly suppress pain. He then looked at another bottle, which was an anti-inflammatory drug that could cause serious damage to the body and was usually used to treat some fatal wounds.

In addition, there were several beautifully packaged bottles of wine, suggesting that he sometimes sneaks a drink here.

Clearly, this darkroom was used by Dr. House when he was doing “other” work.

"Is this the real crime scene?"

Xia leaned closer, her nose twitching as if trying to catch a peculiar scent in the air.

"The hospital bed was a mess, and it looked like this woman had suffered a lot."

Trist glanced at the corpse and the messy, blood-stained hospital bed.

"This is also very common. Sometimes gangsters need to treat certain special patients, so they will ask doctors to handle it privately. After all, there are too many people in the hospital, and it is inevitable that the news will be leaked."

Since Dr. House would do those things for Mrs. Martina, it's no big deal for him to handle this kind of problem for the mob.

"Did that doctor kill her?"

Shea watched the dead woman quietly. Glass flowers bloomed from her body, and it was hard to say whether they were more beautiful or ugly than the flowers blooming on Dr. House's body.

She noticed traces of paint or coating on the woman's body, remnants on her fingers and skirt, as if she had been to a place where these things were produced.

Does it smell like perfume?