Look, You're Still in One Piece

Lucia had been swamped with work lately. Even though she'd been notified that her old friend Roy would be visiting today, she had nowhere to meet him except her office at the police station.

Theft, brawls, scams—ever since that incident began, the townsfolk's unease seemed to be driving up the crime rate.

She was really—so tired, especially in her neck. It always felt as if her cervical vertebrae had gone numb.

"Knock, knock."

Two knocks came from the office door, which had been left ajar. Lucia lifted her face from the thick stack of files and finally saw the face she hadn't seen in years.

"Hey, Roy!" She sprang up in delight, circled around her desk, and opened her arms to hug Roy, who was a head taller than her.

"Mm, long time no see." Yu Xing felt the force of Lucia's embrace. Unlike the hot-tempered policewoman he'd imagined, she was soft and gentle.

He let go of Lucia and took a beautifully wrapped box of chocolates from his briefcase. "This is a gift."

Lucia beamed and reached for the box. "Thank you, I love it. Too bad I've been so worried lately that I've lost my appetite. I used to be able to eat ten of these chocolates in one sitting!"

Yu Xing took the opportunity to observe her up close. Her fitted uniform perfectly outlined her curvy figure, while black trousers hugged her long legs. She was blonde and wore the kind of makeup people usually wore. Her exposed neck and wrists were somewhat tanned, making it clear that she often worked in the field rather than sitting in an office.

Masha and York followed behind Yu Xing. They'd been silent and keeping a low profile ever since entering the police station.

The station seemed rather understaffed. Aside from Lucia, who had an office to herself, they'd seen only five other officers. It was hard to tell whether there were more out on patrol.

The office windows were covered by curtains, leaving the room dim. Masha looked around in confusion, and before she could say anything, Lucia noticed her and looked surprised.

"Oh, why is there a child here?"

"...I'm not a child. I just look young." Masha remained expressionless and rejected Lucia's hand, which was already reaching out to ruffle her hair.

Lucia laughed twice. "Such a feisty little girl. Roy, is she your sister?"

Yu Xing took off his hat as a polite gesture. "No, actually... This is Masha, and this is York. They're the... exorcists you specifically asked me to bring in your letter."

The word "exorcist" struck a nerve with Lucia. Yu Xing clearly saw the corner of her eye twitch, and her mood visibly sank.

"Yes, we should get down to business." Lucia sat back down in her office chair and motioned for the three visitors to pull up a few chairs as well. "It's cramped in here, so I'm sorry about the poor accommodations. Um... is the little girl really an exorcist? Hey, don't glare at me."

Under Masha's wide-eyed glare, Lucia abandoned her doubts about the exorcists' expertise, sighed, and began to explain.

It turned out the trouble involved a family living at the northernmost end of Auroran Town.

They were the Brown family, who had moved to Auroran Town just a year ago. They lived in the largest and oldest detached house in town.

The house had belonged to another family, but something seemed to have forced them to move out in a hurry, so they'd sold it cheaply to the current owners, the Browns.

For a year, things had been mostly peaceful. Then, a month and a half ago, rumors about the Brown family had suddenly begun to spread.

Some said the Browns never left their house or appeared at the market, and even their neighbors rarely saw them.

Others said that at night, they could hear singing from the old mansion. The song would often stop halfway through, followed by a piercing scream that sent chills down their spines.

But when they knocked on the door the next day, Mrs. Brown would greet them with a smile and ask what they wanted. She'd even invite them inside.

Some people were frightened and refused. Others went in and came back out unharmed, without noticing anything amiss.

But the nighttime noises continued. In fact, they grew louder and seemed to get worse, changing from one person humming at first to a whole group singing in unison.

Lucia had visited the Brown home and even spent a night there, but she hadn't found anything wrong. She couldn't arrest any of the Browns. Since the rumors had begun, the townsfolk had grown uneasy and the crime rate had risen. At a loss, Lucia had thought of Roy and the exorcist friends he knew.

"I hope you and your two exorcist friends can investigate as travelers and find out whether someone's playing a trick or..." Lucia rubbed her stiff neck. "Whether the devil really is causing trouble."

[Main Quest triggered]

[Quest: Find the truth behind the strange events at the mansion and report your findings to Lucia]

[Side Quest triggered]

[Quest: Complete the information on three types of ghosts]

A long string of prompts Yu Xing had never seen before appeared before his eyes.

[Ghost 1: Unknown]

[Type: Unknown]

[Solution: Unknown]

[Ghost 2: Unknown]

[Type: Unknown]

...

All three of them received the prompts.

York looked at Lucia and suddenly let out a quiet laugh that only Masha heard. "Heh."

"What are you laughing at, York?" Masha leaned closer. One of her pigtails brushed across the fingers York had resting at the side of his chair.

York thought for a moment, then moved his lips. "Something's off about this woman."

Yu Xing didn't know what his teammates were saying. He simply nodded to Lucia. "All right. We'll visit them shortly. Before that, I'd like you to give me any information you can."

"Well... The Browns haven't been here long, and I've been on the job for even less time, so I don't have much. It's all in here. Hey, don't let anyone else see it. Don't tell them I gave it to you." Lucia handed Yu Xing a thin folder, then rubbed her neck again. Yu Xing lowered his eyes and glanced at her collar.

"Are you feeling unwell?" he asked.

"A little. Maybe I'm just too tired." Lucia sounded helpless as she spoke. Lately, her hands and feet had felt weak, her neck had been sore, and she hadn't much liked being out in the sun.

Suddenly, as if she'd thought of something, she joked to York and Masha, "Maybe I've been cursed. Since there are two exorcists here, why don't you take a look at me first? What do you think, handsome?"

York's sunny smile made people feel at ease, and Lucia found herself relaxing as she looked at him.

As for little Masha, Lucia had already overlooked her.

York remembered that he'd come along as a friend of the detective Roy. Hearing Lucia's suggestion, he looked to Roy first.

Yu Xing nodded to him.

He felt that everything York did put people at ease. York had a personality of his own, but he was also considerate of the group.

"Of course, Ms. Lucia. I can take a look." After Yu Xing gave his approval, York patted Masha. "Bag."

Masha obediently turned her back to York.

As Yu Xing watched York pull a pure black cross and a glass bottle of water from Masha's large backpack, his gaze moved back and forth between the little girl and the tall young man.

Well, no wonder he hadn't brought a bag. He'd left all his exorcism equipment for the little girl to carry!

Was this some kind of super-strong little girl setup?

Yu Xing couldn't bring his usual offerings into the scenario, and his character was a detective, so he didn't have any direct means of "exorcising" anything for now. But both his teammates were exorcists, so they should have some power to attack ghosts.

Yu Xing: Tsk. Not happy.

York first uncorked the bottle of water and asked Lucia to stand in an open space. Then he sprinkled a little water on the ground in front of her feet.

After that, he raised the cross—

At that instant, the cold, sinister aura inside Yu Xing stirred uneasily.

He immediately recognized the cross as an offering!

Yu Xing: Why did he get one? Tsk. Even less happy.

The little girl pouted, scampered over to Yu Xing, and tugged on his suit sleeve.

Yu Xing obligingly bent down and brought his ear close to her.

"York says there's something wrong with Lucia," Masha whispered sweetly, her voice like honey. Her breath brushed Yu Xing's earlobe, but he remained unmoved.

"I know." Yu Xing replied, then remembered the requirements of the deduction and his character setting. He changed his question to one that wouldn't break character. "Have you gotten any better at exorcism? Does that cross work on devils?"

The little girl thought for a moment. "Mm..."

"The cross belongs to York. I've never used it, so it should work, right?"

In other words, it was York's offering, and she didn't know much about it.

As soon as she finished speaking, Lucia let out a scream.

Yu Xing turned his head. York's cross hadn't touched Lucia at all, but wisps of black mist were spreading from its center and winding around her.

Lucia, who'd just looked as if she were saying, "I'm only joking. Maybe an exorcism will cure my exhaustion," suddenly looked pained. She stared at herself in terror and murmured, "What's happening to me? It hurts so much. What's going on? Was I really cursed?"

York still wore his smiling expression. He lowered the cross and walked up to the rigid Lucia.

With his back to Yu Xing and Masha, his smile suddenly turned malicious. As Lucia stared at him in confusion, he extended his slender right index finger and poked her in the face.

"Plop."

Lucia's head fell to the ground. The severed edge of her neck was perfectly clean, and not a drop of blood had spilled.

A second later, red liquid suddenly spurted out with a "pfft." York reacted quickly and used the black robe he'd set aside to shield himself. Not a drop splashed on him.

"What happened to me? It hurts..." Lucia's head rolled twice on the ground, then came to a stop at Yu Xing's feet. Her amber eyes were wide as she continued to ask, "It hurts so much. Was I cursed?"

Before they knew it, the temperature in the office had dropped considerably. The curtains concealed everything outside, and behind the three of them, the office door closed quietly on its own.

"Good grief!" The little girl stared wide-eyed and grabbed Yu Xing's clothes. "She—"

It seemed the little girl wasn't very brave.

"Don't be scared." Yu Xing patted Masha's head, then looked at York. "What happened to Lucia?"

York turned around. His malicious smile vanished in an instant, and he was once again beaming brightly. "What else? She died a long time ago."

At that, Yu Xing glanced around.

The police station office was a mess. The headless body stood rigidly upright, blood spattered across the floor, and the head at Yu Xing's feet kept muttering.

The door was shut tight, and the temperature had dropped. It was obvious something was about to happen.

At some point between breaths, Lucia stopped repeating herself.

Her head faced Yu Xing. She blinked, and two lines of bloody tears slowly ran from the corners of her eyes. "Roy, what happened to me?"

Yu Xing had noticed that the ghosts in this deduction seemed to love targeting him. He clearly hadn't done anything. Did he have some kind of hate-attraction effect or what?

The little girl had keenly sensed the first tank, so she let go of Yu Xing's clothes and scampered over to York. York kept smiling as he watched Yu Xing, apparently eager to see how he'd answer Lucia's question.

Normally, his manner was as warm as that of a friendly older brother. But the fact that he was still smiling under these circumstances gave him an unsettling air.

Mm... the kind of person who wasn't right in the head.

"Roy, am I a devil?" Lucia's whole face twitched, forming something that looked like a smile.

Lucia smiled and said, "Roy, it hurts so much. What's happening to me?"

Yu Xing thought, Your eyes are so big. Can't you see where you fell from? There's a headless body with a great figure standing two meters away from you. Take a look. It must be quite a novel experience to see your own corpse.

In the end, he didn't say it aloud. The real action in this deduction would probably be with the Brown family, and there was no point in making things harder for himself. Besides, the Main Quest required them to bring their findings back to Lucia.

Yu Xing's expression relaxed, as if he hadn't noticed any danger. He bent over and picked up Lucia's head.

A trace of interest rose in York's eyes, while Masha trembled with fear.

"It's all right, Lucia. You're just too tired." Yu Xing spoke to Lucia in the soothing tone of a preschool teacher comforting a child. Avoiding the blood on the floor, he walked over to the upright corpse.

He adjusted the head to the right angle and carefully pressed it onto the severed neck, fitting the pieces together. Once they were joined, he looked them over and made a couple of small adjustments.

In an instant, Lucia stood there "whole as before."

Lucia looked at him through her bloody tears.

Yu Xing said, "Look, Lucia, you're still in one piece. You were just too tired. You're not thinking straight and need some rest, my friend. It breaks my heart to see you so exhausted."

Lucia: ...

Little Masha: What kind of move was that!? He sounded so sincere that I was almost convinced!

York: Interesting. Roy seems crazy.

Lucia, now reconnected to her body, composed herself and turned her head.

It had actually reattached.

The expression on Lucia's face gradually relaxed. The room warmed up, and the door quietly opened.

"Oh, it was just like a dream. I guess I really do need some rest." She scratched her hair, as if she'd forgotten York's exorcism and couldn't see the blood on the floor or feel the bloody tears on her face. She returned to the way she'd been when they first met and sat down in her office chair, carefree as ever.

"Hurry and find the Brown family. They're at the northernmost end of town."