Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

After thinking about the order in which everyone arrived at the station, and then considering the order in which the bodies were discovered, it's easy to reach this conclusion.

Luo Tianming ignored his surprise and continued:

"There were two mistakes that led to his survival. The first was that I forcibly dragged him to see Schubert's body, which was supposed to be discovered later, but we found it unexpectedly first."

"The second reason is that he still has a use for us... because neither he nor I are very familiar with the role of 'missionary'."

"..."

Clap~ clap~ clap, the missionary's pale, slender hands clapped for him.

“Excellent, Captain Luo… however, you are still missing a crucial clue.”

Luo Tianming: "Indeed, I can't find another person who can prove that you are not a 'missionary'. Jeffrey is dead, and the most prestigious person in the church, Beethoven, is also dead."

“However, I still have Bach as a witness… May I ask you to remove your hood, Mr. Liszt?”

"Or perhaps I should address you as Archbishop Yakov Subra..."

"...!"

What happened today has surpassed the shock brought about by everything that Bach experienced in the first half of his life.

The name Luo Tianming just uttered was one he never dared to imagine.

[Bach] shouted in a panic: "'The missionary' is the archbishop himself... Where is the missionary?!"

Luo Tianming: "Wasn't what I said obvious enough? 'The suspicious body of Liszt,' 'the strange knife wound on the neck,' 'the wound that looks like an old one,' the body called [Liszt] is actually the missionary we saw before."

"..."

Even after Luo Tianming pointed out his mistake, the other party showed no panic. Instead, he calmly said, "These guesses alone are not enough. Tell me your judgment..."

Luo Tianming also joined in, recounting the story in detail:

"The voice is something that most people can't produce, so to achieve that kind of hoarse voice, simply using drugs to change the vocal cords isn't enough; you have to cut open the throat."

"Why do they deliberately maintain this hoarse, lisping voice? If there is a problem with their vocal cords, they can meet their daily needs by installing artificial vocal cords or electronic devices."

Luo Tianming answered with certainty: "I think there is only one reason: that is, they need to maintain this unique voice to cover for someone with a throat problem."

"After hearing that rumor about the 'missionary,' I began to wonder: [Was the so-called failure of the 'painted skin symbiosis' really true?]"

'missionary':"……"

"You should know that these things are called 'calyx-like internal parasitic organisms,' and the 'parasitic' part means that the skin is not actually parasitic."

"Parasitism is the behavior of an organism that lives on a host and sustains itself by constantly absorbing nutrients from the host... In other words, it does not kill the host immediately, but continues to absorb nutrients."

“But parasitic organisms are completely different. Although they may parasitize briefly, their real purpose is to kill the host’s body and take it over.”

"What you call a 'ritual' is probably about using some kind of scent or pheromone to establish a parasitic relationship between the painted-skin creature and the human. Therefore, if it fails... the painted-skin will immediately attack the host."

"There is no such thing as a 'failed experiment'; the only consequence of failure is death. The sole purpose of these missionaries is to conceal the archbishop's whereabouts. You occasionally act as a missionary, which makes it difficult for the Europa Alliance to track you down."

"However, the Alliance has discovered your tricks in recent years, which is why the number of missionaries has decreased dramatically... Am I right?"

"..."

“...Quite impressive reasoning.”

The 'missionary,' no—I mean, Archbishop Yakov—said very earnestly, 'Captain Los, have you ever considered becoming a detective instead of a captain?'

“I have no such intention,” Luo Tianming immediately refused. “Even if I were Sherlock Holmes, you are not ‘Professor Moriarty.’ Your methods of killing are far inferior.”

Yakov didn't seem to care much about Luo Tianming's sarcasm.

He reached out and took off his hood; there was no longer any need to hide his identity.

When Bach saw that face, he finally gave up completely... any remaining illusions he had were shattered.

What appeared before them was a face that was almost entirely devoid of features; looking at only the upper half of the face, it was impossible to imagine that this guy was the Alliance's most wanted criminal.

However, on Yakov's shaved chin, drooping chitinous tentacles occupied the space of his tongue and lower lip, making him look no different from those parasitic creatures.

The only difference is that he can make sounds.

"What's wrong? Isn't there even a single round of applause?"

Yakov was basking in the glory of his entrance.

Among the group, Luo Tianming was the first to ask a question: "I have a question... Your throat should have been replaced by this thing, so how do you make sounds?"

Yakov: "..."

"Captain Luo, you really are someone I didn't expect." His pupils revealed an interested look.

"To be honest, I don't even know how I made the sounds... I only know that they took over my throat, and just when I thought they would continue to take over my brain, they strangely achieved a balance."

Luo Tianming: "Didn't you do any research?"

Yakov: "Would a normal person cut open their own throat for research?"

"..."

"Alright, let's not waste any more time," Yakov said, shaking his head. "We've wasted too much time. Ask whatever you want to ask as soon as possible. The Alliance doesn't have much time left for everyone."

His words undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to everyone's hearts.

"Why……"

Bach, who had been silent for a long time, swallowed and asked:

"May I ask you—why did you kill the other people?"

Yakov answered the question cheerfully: "No problem, not just you... I'm afraid even Captain Los is curious."

He stretched out his hands, speaking with an open and honest attitude:

“Let’s compare the ‘answers’. Although the detective over there has explained the methods and suspicious points, he hasn’t mentioned the motive at all. How can this be called solving the case?”

"Simply put...hehehe"

Yakov continued to torment everyone's ears with his unpleasant laughter.

"I killed Schubert and the missionaries, while Bach killed Beethoven and Mozart."

Everyone: "...!"

Bach shuddered at first, then retorted, "I didn't kill Mozart! He was...!"

Yakov: "You didn't do it?"

"So, where does the toxin in dimethylmercury come from?"

“If you hadn’t thrown away the remaining half of the poison, I wouldn’t have been able to use it to kill Schubert.”

[Bach]: "But I...!"

Yakov: "But you didn't push [Mozart] into the latrine, did you...? I did."

【bach】:"!"

“After Mozart left you, I appeared before him and invited him over there to talk… I noticed something was wrong with his steps, and then he slipped—and became ‘smelly’.”

"..."

Not a single person in the room could laugh out loud.

Only Bach, looking completely blank, turned into a machine asking 'why'.

"Why……"

“There’s no reason!” Yakov interrupted him. “That’s what I hate most about you. You’re always too weak… leaving everything to be dealt with when it’s absolutely necessary.”

Yakov said with exasperation, "[Bach] I appreciate your ideas, but I don't approve of your approach."

"It's good that you captured that site in the 'Dark Sea Plains,' but the worst thing you could have done was let go of those people who were originally in the Alliance, allowing them to tip off the Alliance."

"You had plenty of time to clean up the affiliates and then slowly build up the site, but you just couldn't bring yourself to do it."

“In this respect, you are far inferior to Captain Luo over there... If given the chance, he would definitely kill everyone without getting a drop of blood on his hands.”

Luo Tian, ​​who was attacked for no reason, was obviously innocent. He sighed and said, "Tell me your motives, [Bach]."

"Although I've pretty much guessed it, it's still more accurate to hear your explanation in person."

"..."

[Bach]: "Why ask me... Don't you know yourself—this 'alternative concert' is organized by a group of people advocating for the overthrow of the archbishop."

"Beethoven and Mozart both planned to propose removing the archbishop... What's most intolerable is that they intended to first seize the opportunity to complete the 'Painted Skin Symbiosis Ritual' and then kick the archbishop, who was no longer of any use, aside!"

Luo Tianming: "So you killed them? Because they were going to betray the Painted Skin Cult?"

[Bach]: "Then you don't know what they did! [Beethoven]'s so-called Industry 1.0 plan was actually something discussed with the Europa Alliance, with the aim of using the power of the Skin-Painting Cult to develop deeper sea areas."

"While [Mozart] is ostensibly purging Alliance agents who have infiltrated the sect, he is actually acting for separatism, so that one day the Masked Sect will turn to the other side."

"If these two continue to act recklessly, the church will inevitably split sooner or later!!!"

Yakov: "That's the problem I'm talking about with you. You always drag things out for too long... to the point that we have to deal with the issues between them today."

[Bach]: "But I don't understand why you killed [Schubert]? He was so loyal to you!"

Yakov said arrogantly, "[Schubert] was too arrogant; he thought he could control everything."

"Little did he know, his efforts to win over the top leaders of the alliance had already influenced my actions."

“Not getting rid of him will damage the reputation of the Painted Skin Cult… As for this matter, I will say that you did it, since you don’t care about this little bit of dirt on you now.”

Then, he looked at Luo Tianming: "Why don't you ask me why I killed that 'missionary'?"

Luo Tianming: "...That was his own choice."

“Captain Lo,” Yakov said, his eyes full of approval.

“I admire you more and more… It’s a pity that you always have an inexplicable aversion to the sect, otherwise you would be the best candidate to take over the sect.”

“I’ll tell you now… The missionary’s death was indeed his own choice. As my double, he was prepared for this from the very beginning, but he didn’t expect you to see through it so quickly.”

"The missionary entrusted me with a final message for you: 'I'm sorry I lied to you, Captain Los.'"

At this point, Yakov performed like an opera singer:

“That’s right, I was the one who announced this concert. The missionaries are my loyal pawns used to gather you all together.”

"..."

"In addition, I was the one who announced at the concert that I would be holding a ceremony."

"The goal was to lure out those guys who wanted to split the church. Bach's move suited me perfectly, so I went along with it and helped him take care of the rest of them using the musicians' code names."

"..."

"Finally, I was the one who announced to the alliance that 'Yakov' would be on site."

Yakov stretched out his arm, making a gesture as if he were about to be arrested, and said:

"Alright, Lieutenant Luo Tianming... you can arrest me now and hand me over to the Europa Alliance."

Luo Tianming: "..."

-

Chapter 126 Persuasion

"..."

"what do you mean?"

Luo Tianming looked warily at Archbishop Yakov, who had a 'honest' face.

"You think you can just walk away after being exposed? Or... are you planning to dump all these people from the Painted Skin Cult on me?"

Yakov shrugged: "On the contrary, my 'capture' is a way to save all of you. Otherwise, how would you have escaped from the fleet surrounded by the Europa Alliance?"

Luo Tianming asked, puzzled, "Then why did you tell the Alliance your location? Did you deliberately want to be arrested?"

Yakov's gaze first showed approval, then turned cold:

"Lieutenant Luo, you're asking too many questions. Wasn't your mission, as the Alliance, to arrest me?"

"Now you have an opportunity to use me to get promoted and make a fortune. What are you still hesitating about?"

Upon hearing this, Bach flew into a rage and shouted, "You really are a spy sent in by the Alliance!!"

Faced with Bach's aggressive approach and Yakov's indifference, Luo Tianming felt it was time to speak his mind.