Agni and the Great Detective

Iver hid the gun, put on the same clothes as the one on the floor above, and went out the door. He saw the couple in room 204 arguing again.

She was still in that strange posture—the woman had one foot inside the house, holding the doorknob from the outside, while her body was twisted outwards.

Having learned from past experience, this time Iver paid special attention to her center of gravity... and found that her center of gravity was on the foot that was leaving the room.

There are two possibilities when someone stands at a doorway: they either want to enter or they want to leave.

The woman clearly wanted to leave.

But the last time she saw Iver, she immediately went inside. Not only that, but she didn't make a sound after she went inside... not only her, but even her "husband" inside didn't speak.

how so?

—We'll figure it out now.

"... If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have ended up like this..."

The woman was speaking when she looked up and saw Iver approaching silently.

"Agni" looked at her, a slight smile playing on his lips, as was his habit.

Although he hadn't looked in a mirror, it seemed that Agni's face didn't resemble Iver's own friendly one—even though the smile should have been exactly the same, the woman shuddered in fright.

She immediately stopped talking, smoothly withdrew her right foot that was about to take a step forward, and prepared to go back to her room.

The woman's eyes revealed genuine fear and apprehension.

But at that moment, Agni took a half step forward and blocked the closing door with his foot.

The woman's fear deepened; she instinctively wanted to slam the door shut, but dared not hurt Agni.

"You know me?"

Agni asked with a smile.

Before she could answer, Agni extended her calloused, broad hand. "Let me introduce myself. My name is Agni, and I'm a teacher. I live next door to you."

"Oh, I'm Jane..."

The woman spoke timidly, reaching out to gently grasp Agni's fingertips before immediately releasing them as if electrocuted. "I am... uh, a small-time businesswoman, sort of."

"Oh?"

Agni maintained her smile and politely inquired, "That's wonderful. Do you have any medicine for colds and fevers? My daughter is sick and needs some medicine."

The woman turned around and looked at the man in the room with a questioning gaze.

It was a gaunt man who had been pacing around the room. Upon seeing Agni enter, the man didn't question Agni about why he had just walked in like that. He didn't greet him or come to meet him; instead, he stood frozen in place, completely still.

Compared to the woman who looked relatively young and had an ordinary appearance, he looked at least ten years older. He was at least in his forties.

The man's face was flushed and he looked like a monkey—not from shame or anger, but from some kind of inflammation or allergic reaction. If Agni hadn't failed to detect the alcohol, he would have suspected he was drunk.

"Cold medicine... I think I should have some, let me look..."

As he spoke, he began rummaging through a backpack in the corner of the room.

He looked left and right, and after some hesitation, found a bottle of pink Alchemy Potion.

"This... maybe."

The gaunt man, as thin as a monkey, walked over and glanced at Agni with some fear.

He seemed a little nervous, but his speech was fluent. The man expertly explained, "This is a 'hibernation' potion. After drinking it and taking a nap, it will repair your body's injuries, and you'll wake up refreshed!"

"Bring that one too."

Just then, Jane spoke up.

She reminded him, "It's 'that'."

"Oh, I forgot!"

The man slapped his forehead, feigning sudden realization. "You definitely want this!"

As he spoke, the man took out another small box from his backpack.

—A small, round metal box, about the size of a bottle of Tiger Balm.

Upon seeing that familiar object, Agni's gaze immediately focused on it.

"You must recognize this, Drunken Dream Tincture. Just one lick and you'll have a peaceful dream. Many times, fever and discomfort are caused by poor sleep and nightmares; just one sip of this will make you feel better."

"... This thing must be very expensive, right?"

Iver picked up the Drunken Dream Tincture. It was etched with a crescent moon pattern with a human face, and below it was a line of small print. "1811-01-022, Living Silver Workshop".

"... This batch is from ten years ago, isn't it expired?"

Seeing the Drunken Dream Tincture within the Dream Realm ritual left him with a somewhat peculiar feeling.

He didn't use the Drunken Dream Tincture in this ceremony again. The Silver and Tin Palace was quite safe, not to mention he had Ibn, the ritual master from Iver, watching over him. He'd save the Drunken Dream Tincture for his next advancement.

When he advances to the next level, he'll most likely still be in Eagle Cape Village. In that chaotic and unstable sleeping place, he'll need Drunken Dream Tincture to prevent himself from being woken up.

"It's okay, the date on this is fake. This thing has only been out for less than two months, nobody would buy it if it wasn't labeled like this..."

As if sensing Agni's hesitation, the man explained, "This is a counterfeit—it's not as effective as the real thing, but it'll definitely have some effect. Don't worry, it'll absolutely not harm your body. Look, the storm is still raging outside; I can't escape it, can I?"

"Thank you so much."

Agni smiled again, "How much will it cost?"

"Please focus on getting your daughter treated first. We can talk about money later, there's no rush."

The middle-aged man laughed.

"Thank you so much."

Agni nodded politely in thanks.

As the two smiled and watched him leave, he took a half step back and closed the door behind him.

He strode away, his tall, heavy body making a thumping sound as he disappeared into the distance.

But Agni stood in front of the stairs, expressionless, for a short while. Then she tiptoed back and stood in the doorway between the two people.

"... What if Agni finds out you sold that thing to him?"

A man's low, urgent voice came from inside the room. "He's carrying a gun, do you want to die?"

"You're the one who doesn't know anything," a woman's vulgar voice rang out. "You really believe that's his daughter? He must have recognized us, so he came over to ask for some medicine to calm the little one down..."

Just then, two gunshots rang out from downstairs.

Agni was now standing at the door. He was finally certain... given the hotel's soundproofing, everyone must have heard the gunshot.

He remained standing quietly at the door, listening to the sounds coming from inside.

The woman instinctively screamed in fear, but her mouth was immediately covered as soon as she screamed.

"Shut up, do you want to die?!"

The man's voice turned fierce. "Pretend you didn't hear anything, understand?"

"... Is that Agni? That psychopathic killer..."

The woman's voice trembled.

"—Don't make wild guesses, and don't speak!"

The man became wary and somewhat neurotic, a stark contrast to his previous friendly demeanor. "There might be someone listening outside right now!"

Agni's lips curled up slightly, and this time he truly left quietly.

He went up the stairs and found the reporter who was playing "Jacob" in the lobby on the first floor.

Unlike last time—this time, in addition to the corpses of the reporter and the receptionist, there was also an old man dressed in a vest-like garment with iron-plated leather armor in the lobby.

The old man had skin as black as charcoal and blue pupils. He looked at the reporter warily, his right hand resting lightly on the hilt of the elven short sword at his waist. He was clearly an Old Inspector.

The two are currently facing off, neither saying a word. Or perhaps they have already said everything they needed to say and are waiting for something.

They noticed Agni's appearance almost simultaneously, and the reporters immediately breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

The old man also shifted some of his wary gaze towards them. But he didn't seem particularly aggressive; he just stood there watching without saying a word.

The reporter greeted Iver, saying, "You've finally arrived—you're too late this time, aren't you?"

"I came down right after I respawned, I think it might be because of the different flow rates."

"Agni said in a deep voice. His words were nothing but lies."

The reporter simply nodded, as if in agreement.

He turned to the old man and said, "Now you can believe me, right? I'm the detective, and that burly man is the Fox."

The old man dressed as an inspector simply shook his head and said seriously, "To be precise, we can only confirm that at least one of you is not Merlin."

"You are pure white, right?"

Agni suddenly spoke, saying it with great certainty.

The old man slowly turned his head, looking at Agni with some surprise. "I only said one sentence... How did you know that?"

"I guessed."

Agni said with a smile.

His smile, though seemingly menacing, was actually quite terrifying. "There are only seven people in total. Excluding me, the detective, Lu Lu, and Jacaranda, you're definitely not Topaz. The only ones left are Pure White and Living Silver."

"It's just a choice between two options. No matter how you answer, I will determine who you are based on your reaction."

How you guessed doesn't matter. What matters is the other person's reaction.

"No wonder it's called a ' Fox '."

The Old Inspector praised, but did not loosen his hand on the short sword at his waist. "However, I still cannot rule out the possibility that one of you is Merlin."

"Oh, no need for that. He's a detective."

Iver smiled and looked at the reporter, "Right?"

"Have you verified your identities through some means?"

"I guess so."

Iver's smile faded slightly, becoming a half-smile, "The way he responded to me was undoubtedly the way a 'detective' responded to a ' Fox '."

"In that case, you have two people on your side. We have two people on our side as well. We've already locked down the identities of four people, so there are three left."

" —Lu Lu, Huoyin, Topaz."

The reporter continued, "Among the remaining roles, there's your daughter, the husband in that couple, and the Dancer."

"Why can't it be the doorman?"

The Old Inspector, played by Chunbai, countered, "It's possible that the Fox's daughter is the superfluous one, then the rest are the man, the Dancer, and the receptionist."

"Let me make this clear beforehand," Iver said, without even glancing at the Old Inspector, "My mission requires me to protect my 'daughter.' So I will not allow you to lay a hand on her."

"Unless there is conclusive evidence that she is Merlin, I would never lay a hand on a little girl, not even in a dream."

Pure White answered without hesitation.

Upon hearing this, Iver smiled slightly and said, "That's really great. After participating in so many Promotion Ritual, we've finally met a group of normal teammates."

He looked at the reporter and said, "You agree, right, detective?"

"Indeed, it's really hard to find normal teammates."

The reporter nodded in agreement, saying, "They only think about how to betray you; they have no morals whatsoever."

"I wonder how Lu Lu is doing..."

Iver sighed, "I'm actually a little worried about her. It looks like she's either at the Bottom Layer or at the top... If she's at the Bottom Layer, she might accidentally die. If she's at the top, she might be terrified."

"Don't worry too much," the reporter sincerely reassured Iver. "You have to let her be strong eventually, don't you? She can't depend on you forever. Growing up in a dream world is better than in reality; most people don't even have that opportunity. Instead of worrying pointlessly, let's go check on the rest of the people."

"Now that the three of us are together, we can at least confirm that two of us are not Merlin. With multiple witnesses present, the evidence search is only meaningful at this point."

"...really."

Iver smiled, nodded at the reporter, and said meaningfully, "Then I'll listen to you for now..."

"My Great Detective".