A strange-shaped Ritual Dagger was inserted into his heart, but it was not a fatal injury. What really killed him was his abdominal cavity which was completely cut open. A hideous wound extended from below his sternum to his lower abdomen. The rolled flesh and broken ribs were clearly visible. The internal organs were violently torn out and mixed with the blood that had not yet solidified, covering the carpet beneath him, forming a bloody and strange scene.
Li Wen's eyes stayed on the corpse for a moment, and his brows under the hood frowned slightly.
Raphael is dead, and judging from the degree of blood coagulation, the death time will not exceed half an hour. This means that just before she sneaked into the library, another person or another force had already arrived here before her and killed the target in an extremely cruel way. And it did not arouse the vigilance of any of the guards or even Serpent Monster, whose strength was probably unfathomable.
Who did it?
Li Wen's gaze swept across the hideous wounds on the corpse. The edge of the wound was extremely smooth, not like it was caused by an ordinary sword, but more like it was cut open by a blow from some extremely sharp weapon. Judging from the blood and organs all over the floor, this was more like an execution with a clear purpose than an ordinary vendetta or robbery.
She looked at the entrails. They were arranged in a grotesque order, forming an irregular spiral around the body. The heart is placed at the top, followed by the liver and lungs, and the intestines are stretched out to form the main body of the spiral. This is by no means senseless cruelty. The position of every organ has been carefully considered, as if some ancient and evil Divination Ritual is being performed - by dissecting the internal organs of living sacrifices to pry into the trajectory of fate.
This is a ritual called "Zang Divination". It was once popular among some barbarian tribes that believed in primitive gods in Silver Age. It has long been cast aside by today's mainstream civilization. To be able to recreate such an ancient ritual with such skill in the hinterland of Camelot, the origin of the murderer is by no means simple.
Li Wen slowly squatted down, and the light of the candle illuminated her calm face. She did not touch the body, but carefully observed the Ritual Dagger inserted into Raphael's heart. The hilt of the sword was polished from some kind of bone, without any runes or emblems engraved on it. The sword body showed a dull iron-gray color, and the light falling on it was completely absorbed without reflecting any light.
The murderer obviously did not want to leave any clues related to his identity.
After analyzing the scene, Li Wen stood up and began to search the room. No matter what the murderer's purpose is, her own mission target - the ancient Stone Tablet, is the most important thing at the moment. Raphael is dead, is Stone Tablet still there?
She recalled the map given by Iluri. The map only marked that the secret room was located in the dormitory, but did not explain the specific way to open it. She needs to find this herself.
Raphael's bedroom is luxurious and full of morbid personal style. Several tapestries depicting the ancient snake shape Demonic Beast are hung on the walls. The huge jade snake-head statue in the corner stares coldly at every corner of the room, like a silent guard.
Li Wen's eyes slowly swept across the room, and finally landed on the snake-headed statue. For a suspicious and conceited Snake Witch like Raphael, hiding the most important secrets in the most intuitive symbol of his power and strength is the most reasonable choice.
She walked up to the statue, the light of the candle flowing on the smooth jade surface. She stretched out her hand and lightly brushed her fingertips against the cold surface of the statue. On the lower jaw of the snake's head, she touched a scale that felt completely different from the other parts. The scales were carved extremely finely, but were slightly concave than the surrounding scales. It was extremely difficult to detect without deliberate exploration.
Li Wen tried to press the scales inwards.
"Click."
There was a slight mechanical sound, and the wall behind the statue with the tapestry of a giant snake swallowing the sun slid inward silently, revealing a dark entrance that only one person could pass through. A smell mixed with dusty aura and rich magical energy spread from the depths of the secret room.
Found it.
Li Wen Without any hesitation, holding the candle, he stepped into this unknown darkness.
The secret room is not big, more like a carefully arranged storage room. On both sides are tall wooden shelves, on which various rare rare things are placed in categories - the heart of an unknown creature in a crystal bottle that is still beating slowly; a stack of ancient scrolls written in ancient Elf language with carbonized edges; and a few uncarved pieces of raw magic ore that exude a faint elemental light.
Any one of these is enough to sell a collection of sky-high prices on Black Market, but at this moment, it is completely ignored by Li Wen. In the center of the secret room, there is a base made of some unknown dark wood.
There was nothing on it, leaving only a clear rectangular indentation. There was a thin layer of dust around the indentation, but the inside of the indentation was extremely clean. It was obvious that some heavy object had been placed here for a long time not long ago, but now, it has disappeared.
Li Wen walked forward slowly, the light of the candlelight illuminated the empty pedestal. She stretched out her hand, and when her fingertips lightly brushed against the edge of the indentation, she felt a residual magic that was so weak that it was almost imperceptible. Obviously, this is the last trace left by Stone Tablet.
If Raphael does not have other secret rooms, then what Iluri wants her to find must be stolen.
Li Wen's brows furrowed deeper.
In other words, after killing Raphael, the murderer entered the secret room and took away Stone Tablet.
What is his or their purpose? What is the intention of killing Raphael and performing "divination" on its internal organs? There are too many questions.
What a hassle.
Li Wen has countless thoughts flashing through his mind. What was originally thought to be just a deal where everyone gets what they need, has now involved a cunning and powerful third party. The mission could no longer be completed, but she also obtained important information that even Iluri didn't know.
This may be a new bargaining chip.
She took one last look at the empty secret room, turned around and exited the room without stopping. Before leaving, she easily restored the wall that had slid open to its original state, leaving no trace of her presence.
The entire library was still silent, as if nothing had happened. Li Wen quietly returned the same way, avoiding the snake corpses and pools of blood on the ground, like a wisp of night wind that could not be captured, reintegrating into the deep night of Camelot.