Unnatural Death

"Come on, explain to me what counts as a natural death."

Ivy felt a faint ache in her head as she crouched beside the dead man and examined him carefully.

There were abrasions on his arms. According to Ethan, they had been caused when the Wolf Chicken dragged the man's body back to the cabin, but that did not explain the massive bleeding.

Ethan, the prime suspect, had moved a small stool to the side and was eating the milk and bread Ivy had brought. He gave half of it to the eagerly waiting Miss Chloe.

He explained, "This man was walking down the road when he suddenly vomited blood, collapsed, and died very naturally."

That was what Miss Chloe had said. The man had already been dead before she rushed over to help.

Ethan admitted that he had inwardly mocked the followers of the Enlightenment Society yesterday, calling them cold-blooded freaks without an ounce of humanity. But everything had two sides. As long as your conscience was clear, then no matter how terrible your testimony was, they would find every possible way to prove your innocence.

Truth above all else. That was the creed of every follower of truth.

Ivy seemed to think of something. She turned the man's body over and laid him flat on the ground, then took out the dagger she carried from the inner pocket of her trench coat. "Come help me."

Ethan immediately had a bad feeling. "Help with what?"

"Help me cut open his stomach."

"This... isn't that a bad idea?"

"He's already dead. Finding the truth will at least make his death worthwhile."

"I mean, I'm eating breakfast."

Ethan waved the bread in his hand, but Ivy found the excuse utterly baffling. She gave him a suspicious look, as though she could not understand what conflict there was between the two.

He could only add, "Blood will splash onto the bread."

"Just pretend it's cherry jam."

Her earnest gaze and matter-of-fact tone made Ethan want to rebuke Ivy, but then he suddenly realized something. A chill ran down his spine. "You... have you tasted it?"

"That's perfectly normal. Back when I studied at the Society, we often had to stay with corpses all day. Blood tastes a lot like cherry jam. As for brain tissue, you can think of it as—"

"Stop! Enough!"

There was absolutely something wrong with this girl. Ethan was serious.

He felt as though even the bread in his hand had taken on the smell of blood.

Ivy noticed Ethan scooting his little stool back by a meter. She swept him with a disdainful look and said coldly, "Useless." Then she aimed the dagger at the man's swollen belly and drove it straight in, slicing it open in one clean motion.

A large amount of blood gushed out, dyeing her entire face red.

"See? I warned you."

Seeing this, Ethan picked up his stool again and strategically retreated another three meters. At the same time, he silently thought that this man was not normal either. Normally, cutting open someone's stomach should not make blood spray out like a fountain.

He had expected Ivy to scream and curse, yet she merely wiped the blood obscuring her eyes with her sleeve. Calmly, she pulled apart the cut in the corpse's abdomen with both hands. After observing it for a moment, she reached inside and began stirring around. The sight utterly destroyed Ethan's appetite. His face twisted as he handed the bread, of which he had only taken a few bites, to Miss Chloe.

Miss Chloe, however, accepted it without hesitation. Judging from the way she swallowed the bread in one bite, she even seemed to think the scene went rather well with it.

"His internal organs have melted. It was most likely caused by witchcraft. Fine, you didn't kill him."

Ivy turned her blood-smeared face toward him, looking like a genuine deranged serial killer. She did not forget to correct Ethan. "But your defense just now had serious problems. If you ran into people who didn't like getting to the bottom of things, it could land you in prison. Don't say that next time."

"Your wisdom is unmatched, ma'am!"

The tuft of golden hair standing atop Ivy's head moved as nimbly as human fingers, pointing imperiously at Ethan. "Stop flattering me and finish your milk."

"I already did."

"Then come help me move him somewhere flat inside."

Ethan glanced at the corpse from afar. The man had died with his eyes open, clearly having suffered tremendous pain before death. His bulging eyes stared fixedly at Ethan, and then there was the bloody mess inside his stomach...

"Miss Chloe, come give me a hand."

He immediately called for outside assistance. Ivy gave him a look that said he was beyond saving.

Miss Chloe was as swift as ever and remarkably strong. In less than a minute, she had dragged the man's body into the cabin. The only problem was her lack of fine control, which left blood everywhere and made his new home look even more like a murder scene. Ivy had already begun her next task, using the man's corpse as the center to draw a circle, then carefully filling it with runes Ethan could not understand.

Spectator Ethan felt deeply concerned.

At first, the murder scene had looked like he and Miss Chloe had killed a passerby for his belongings. Ivy's arrival had successfully transformed it into a sacrificial site for Evil God Cultists.

"Lady Ivy, there's something I'm not sure whether I should say."

Ivy crouched before the corpse without turning around. "You shouldn't."

"I think I'd better say it anyway. I just want to confirm something. We aren't Evil God Cultists, right?"

"Evil god sacrificial rituals aren't drawn like this. This is to make him speak."

"Make the dead speak?"

Ivy could not be bothered to explain further. She quickly completed the final rune, then took a palm-sized parchment scroll from the inner pocket of her clothes. She muttered an incantation, her eyes suddenly sharpening, and slapped the scroll in her palm onto the man's forehead. The entire corpse gave off a ghostly green glow. An invisible force lifted the body, while a deep echo turned the whole cabin into a Haunted House.

She asked the man, "Who killed you?"

"The water... something's wrong... be careful... everyone is dead... must warn Brookwood, Brookwood..."

Thud.

The force holding up the corpse vanished, and it slumped back onto the ground. Ivy frowned deeply. After pondering for a long while, she muttered, "Someone cursed him through the water supply. Where did you find him?"

"On the main road."

"That means he came from Riverside Town."

Ethan could tell that Ivy was racking her brains, because he noticed steam rising from the top of her head, as though she were venting heat. Miss Chloe suddenly grew restless, flapping her wings and warning them both, "Cluck, Cluck Cluck!"

Footsteps outside drew nearer and nearer, but Ivy seemed not to hear them.

"Hide first!"

Upon receiving the order, Miss Chloe immediately hid behind the cabinet, assuming the stance of a ready ambusher.

Ethan's heart rose into his throat. He stood behind the door, waiting as the disorderly footsteps approached.

There was more than one person outside. Through the door, he heard swords being drawn.

A familiar voice crashed into the cabin like thunder. "Don't make any rash moves! We're the Brookwood Town Guard. You... Constable, why are you here?"

The shout came to an abrupt stop. The burly man who had burst through the door froze when he saw Ivy.

Having had her thoughts interrupted, Ivy finally came back to herself. She raised her head, stared at the guard captain for a moment, then stood up. Seemingly having completely forgotten that she was covered in blood, she walked toward him like an evil ghost from hell. The huge man actually backed away from her in fright.

"Perfect timing."

Ivy asked, "Did you see anyone suspicious along the way?"

All the town guards were struck dumb as if by lightning. They looked at one another and confirmed what everyone was thinking.

The next moment, more than a dozen fingers pointed at Ivy in unison.

Including the tuft of golden hair atop her own head.

"Mister Ethan."

Ivy felt that she was going to develop high blood pressure at a young age. Amid the multitude of accusing fingers, she keenly identified the primary target and threatened viciously, "Point at me again, and I'll beat you up!"

Thanks to Mumushan for the 100 Qidian Coins donation!

Thanks to Fantasyonlys for the 1,500 Qidian Coins donation!

Thanks to Aida Xing Sheng for the 100 Qidian Coins donation!

Thanks to all the readers for the monthly votes. They're truly a huge help during the new book period. A bow!