A Cup of Coffee?

"Hello, Beatrice!"

Sulu was the first to greet the girl as she entered.

He had to admit, Beatrice was truly beautiful. She had emerald-green eyes, soft hair that flowed like a waterfall, delicate and exquisite features, fair, smooth skin like milk, and a figure with perfect proportions.

Sulu viciously looked down on himself for it, yet he had to admit that most men were visual creatures.

At the very least, seeing a beauty was always a pleasure.

But Beatrice was frowning now, her face wearing a haughty expression. "Go on... You asked me to meet you here. What do you want?"

"Hm?"

Sulu frowned. "Weren't you the one who asked me to meet you?"

He sensed something was wrong, and a faint unease stirred in his heart.

"Sulu!"

Beatrice's pretty nose tilted up slightly. "I told you, nothing is ever going to happen between us! Don't try such a clumsy trick on me."

A haughty girl, Sulu thought. He no longer had any romantic notions about her at all. On the contrary, his unease was growing heavier by the moment.

Whoosh!

A breeze blew in through the small window, and the private room's door silently swung shut.

Beatrice's expression softened slightly. She sat down opposite Sulu, the corners of her lips curling into an amused smile. "Fine... Tell me, what surprise have you prepared for me tonight?"

Something's even more wrong.

Sulu muttered to himself, already tempted to get up and flee.

Clearly, someone had tricked both him and Beatrice into coming here.

And the mastermind behind it obviously wouldn't stop here. A whole series of schemes was surely waiting for him.

Just as Sulu started to rise slightly—

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The wind grew stronger.

A chill spread inward from outside the window.

The amused smile vanished from Beatrice's face, replaced by terror. What had she seen?

A mass of shifting black shadow, as if it had a life of its own, surged in through the window. It joined the pair's shadows beneath the flickering candlelight and clung to them.

I... I can't move.

Sulu's body instantly went rigid. He could still think, but he couldn't make a single movement.

Beatrice was the same. Her terrified expression was frozen in place, her eyes filled with pleading. She looked like a silent statue, almost absurd.

But Sulu couldn't laugh at all.

Suddenly, his hand rose against his will. He grabbed the dinner knife from the table and stabbed with all his strength.

Thud!

After the shadow took control of him, his arm seemed to gain terrifying strength. The blow landed with full force, straight in Beatrice's chest.

Blood gushed out. Beatrice's face turned pale, but she remained motionless. Despair slowly filled her eyes, and in the end, they went blank.

She was dead...

Whoosh!

After doing all this, the black shadow detached itself from their own shadows and slipped out through a crack in the window.

Sulu could move again, but he had no idea what to do. He looked at the woman's body lying before him and said without expression, "Miss... Would you like a cup of coffee?"

After that outburst, Sulu immediately realized how serious the situation was!

Beatrice was dead, killed by a single stab. So much time had passed, and blood was everywhere. It was too late to save her.

Since there was a railing outside the window that no person could get through, this was a locked-room murder!

Unfortunately, he was the prime suspect.

Countless waiters at the café could testify that he and Beatrice had been together when she died! He was the biggest suspect!

Was he supposed to explain that a mass of black shadow had controlled him and killed Beatrice? Who would believe that?

Not to mention, the dinner knife stuck in Beatrice's heart had his fingerprints all over it!

There was both eyewitness testimony and physical evidence. He was doomed, doomed, doomed! Was there still time to find a lawyer?

A black shadow... supernatural power! Was there a supernatural being who had a grudge against Beatrice, or was this aimed at me? Sulu forced himself to stay calm. He figured Beatrice was more likely to have been the target.

After all, judging by what had just happened, he'd been completely helpless. If the killer had been after him, one more stab would have finished him off.

But the killer had left him alive for no good reason. They'd only done it so he could take the fall.

A murderer right after graduation?! This is a terrible start...

Facing the pool of blood and the corpse, Sulu began considering how to deal with the aftermath.

He didn't have much time.

He had to admit, as a transmigrator, he had nerves of steel. Even now, he could still think clearly. "First, rule out calling the police. I can't explain any of this. Letting other people decide my fate would be stupid!"

"If I run, all my hard work will have been for nothing, and I might not even get away. I'm just an ordinary person, after all! Should I ask my family for help? That's an option, but there isn't time..."

"Destroy the body?! That might work. If they can't find the body, it'll become a missing-person case instead of a murder, which could buy me a lot of time. But how do I destroy a body?"

If getting rid of a body were easy, there wouldn't be so many cases of people dumping corpses only for the culprits to eventually be brought to justice.

To make the body disappear without a trace, Sulu would first need to find a specialized high-temperature cremation furnace. That was impossible.

"So... that leaves one last option, doesn't it? Turn the dead into the 'living'!" Sulu thought without expression. "As long as no one is dead, it can't be murder."

He went to the window and looked outside. There was nothing unusual. The killer might have already left.

After thinking it over, Sulu drew the curtains, locked the door, and fixed his gaze on the skill [Corpse Maiden Creation LV1] in the Attribute Panel.

Using this skill, he could transform the female corpse into a Corpse Princess. It might be a little self-deceptive, but it was still better than becoming a murderer.

He took a deep breath and prepared to draw the magic circle, following the knowledge in Black Sorcery.

Corpse Maiden Creation required only two materials: a fresh female corpse and the caster's blood.

Honestly, even setting aside the low-level skill's chance of success, things would still be troublesome if it worked.

According to the ritual instructions, when the spell was complete, all the blood would be reclaimed. At the very least, that could erase the current "primary crime scene." As for what happened afterward? Sulu couldn't afford to worry about that.

"After all... it can't get any worse, can it?"

He picked up the small knife, cut his finger, then looked at Beatrice's corpse, still staring with eyes that had not closed, and drew a Pentagram on her.

The Pentagram held an important place in this world's supernatural realm. It represented the mysteries of death and the Underworld.

And according to the instructions on the Black Sorcery page, pointing the Pentagram's corners toward the dark constellations in the sky would increase the caster's chances of success.

Sulu had never studied astronomy, so he could only improvise.

Then a sudden inspiration struck him. He pointed the ritual toward the moon in the sky!

In supernatural symbolism, the moon represented the feminine. It could also be associated with death and darkness. Many monsters liked to hunt beneath a full moon. That was something he'd learned from Witch Hunting Knowledge.