The Clumsy Watcher

The next morning, the atmosphere in Kade's villa living room was somewhat grave.

Xia Lin, Sera, and Celia sat around a massive oak table.

Spread across the table was the parchment found in the Duke's wife's secret chamber, densely inscribed with the intricate Soul-Splitting Ritual Array.

Xia Lin folded his arms and stared at the paper for a long while before finally sighing.

"The trail's gone cold." He rubbed his temples. "Even though Sera confirmed that this power shares the same origin as the Crossroads Lovers' Curse, what use is that? Nirose is enormous. We can't exactly knock on every door and ask, 'Excuse me, are you an evil soul manipulator?'"

"And we have no way to track it." Sera closed a thick tome, looking thoroughly displeased. Because she had been hit by [Bestow Curse] yesterday, her constitution had been temporarily weakened. She looked paler than usual, and more irritable. "In a city as huge as Nirose, this clue is as good as nothing. We don't know who the mastermind is, and we don't know who the next target will be."

Celia gently stroked the empty music box, a trace of sadness in her eyes. "At least we allowed that mother and daughter to rest in peace."

"I was originally planning to go see Ah—what was his name again?"

"Azma," Celia softly supplied.

"Right, Doctor Azma!" Xia Lin clapped his hands, then immediately deflated and raised the empty music box. "But now both mother and daughter have gone to heaven. What are we supposed to look at?"

"If we could examine the case files from eight years ago, perhaps we could find some clues?" Sera suddenly looked up, her eyes flashing thoughtfully.

Xia Lin rolled his eyes. "But where are you going to find those files? Can you just stroll