396. Do You Bloom Too?

Lu Ban had once read in some novel 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 City.

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?"

Xiya 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 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 Madam Martina, it's no big deal for him to handle this kind of problem for the mob.

"Did that doctor kill her?"

Xiya watched the dead woman quietly. Glass Flower 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 such things were produced.

Does it smell like perfume?

Seeing this, Trist looked at Lu Ban.

"No, at least not the kind that Dr. House had."

Lu Ban shook his head and then carefully examined the internal organs.

He saw some brownish sediment, clear alcohol, and a few pitiful-looking vegetables in the woman's stomach.

"She didn't eat much before she died, only bread, wine, and vegetable soup."

"These are prostitutes. They operate in the Black Street, earning money by selling their bodies. Sometimes they need to see a doctor because of violence from clients or other reasons. It seems she was receiving treatment when Dr. House died."

Trist deduced.

"I don't think Dr. House killed her or vice versa; that's definitely not something a human could do."

"But why would they kill two people here and then move Dr. House to the first floor?"

Lu Ban was confused.

If it's a monster attack causing damage temporarily, then the monster definitely doesn't have any rationality; it will only kill the two people on the spot and then run away without dealing with the scene.

If it was done by a human with superhuman abilities, why would they move Dr. House's body to the first floor so that it would be discovered?

Since moving a body must have a purpose, either to hide it or to mislead people, the body of this prostitute has been here for two or three days. Even if the other party intended to hide the body at the time, they should have found time to dispose of it instead of leaving it here for Lu Ban to discover.

It's a contradiction.

"Is it possible that their deaths weren't caused by a monster attack, but by some kind of illness, a curse? The woman fell ill first, and then the illness broke out while the doctor was treating her, infecting the doctor, who then came downstairs to seek help, and then died from the illness?"

Xiya thought of the monsters in the Black Forest. When the Demon Tide came, some special monsters would reside in people's bodies, spreading like a disease, and eventually breaking out of the body, bringing death like flowers that release pollen.

"Then wouldn't that mean we..."

As Lu Ban spoke, he and the other two exchanged glances.

"There shouldn't be any problem, the grass hasn't even started to grow yet."

Lu Ban said, taking a deep breath of the dry air in the dark room.

"Besides, if this Glass Flower were really contagious, then everyone in the funeral home would have already blossomed. The fact that we're still standing here means that at least the corpses that have turned into Glass Flower aren't the source of the infection."

"You make a very good point."

Trist was relieved.

Lu Ban may seem carefree, but he is actually quite meticulous despite his rough exterior.

"Even if it blooms, I don't think it's a big problem. Adding a little embellishment would make it look even better."

Lu Ban added another sentence.

Trist felt he should retract his assessment of Lu Ban.

"This person seems to be the one you mentioned who died from the information obtained through the ' Madman's Knowledge.' So, there's a gang involved?"

Xiya searched around the room and seemed to find something to eat on the table. She brought it close to her nose and smelled it. It was a box of cookies that had been sitting there for several days. When she opened the box, it was damp.

The mage girl picked up the cookie and hesitated for a moment.

when--

Suddenly, a bell rang from somewhere, startling Xiya. In her haste, she stuffed the cookie into her mouth and hid it.

"Serial murder cases are actually simpler than individual cases because you can profile the perpetrator's personality by looking at the characteristics of different cases, but these two are too closely related."

Trist noticed the change in Xiya's expression and was somewhat puzzled, but seeing that she didn't react in any particular way, he continued speaking.

"The factory's paint and coatings might be a breakthrough. It's one thing if Dr. House himself got contaminated with it, but this woman did too. The source of this paint must be..."

As he muttered to himself, he suddenly heard a certain sound.

The sound was slow, but it was indeed outside the silent space.

Moreover, the sound seemed to be coming from inside the room.

The dimly lit room, illuminated only by a kerosene lamp, suddenly became eerie.

Trist could sense that the surrounding light had dimmed slightly, as if it had been swallowed up by something.

A sense of unease, like that of prey being targeted by a hunter, enveloped him.

Trist reached for his holster, preparing to draw his revolver for self-defense.

Just then, a head popped out from the doorway of the dark room.

"What are you doing?! Oh my god!"

The police officers stationed there came to check the situation and happened to see the body in the center of the dark room.

Trist felt the oppressive feeling suddenly disappear, as if it had never existed.

He clenched his fist, then relaxed it; it was covered in sweat.

He was certain that if he had been in that state for a few more seconds, he might have died.

"Officer, please believe us, we just discovered this ourselves."

On the other side, Lu Ban skillfully raised his hands, covered his head, and squatted down.

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