Mandrake Herb

Mandrake Herb was a medicinal plant from the Land of Abundance. According to the records of certain scholars, it had another, more familiar name: Mandrake. But in truth, the two herbs were not the same at all. Mandrake was a common hallucinogenic herb used by local natives as an anesthetic, and it was now one of the ingredients in the rampant hallucinogens of the Lower District.

What Lorenzo rolled into his cigarettes was Mandrake Herb. Unlike ordinary Mandrake, this herb was a carefully cultivated "Medium" of local shamans. They believed smoking it could build a bridge to the unknown, serving as a medium through which they could touch the mysterious. They usually used it to communicate with the dead.

Steam technology had become so advanced that talk of ghosts and gods had long been forgotten, yet there were still remnants of the old era who believed in such things.

Lorenzo had discovered this effect in an ancient book. With Shrike's help, he later acquired some from smugglers. At first, he had merely wanted to give it a try, but after so many investigations, Lorenzo had found that this stuff really could be useful.

What he saw was not merely hallucinations. Part of it was real, and that real part was what Lorenzo needed.

The lights went out one by one. In the darkness, the cold air became damp. Lorenzo smelled the sea again, and countless raindrops fell onto the deck. He had returned to that ship.

In the darkness, the corpse slowly writhed. It was coming back to life. The ember of his cigarette was clearly not that bright, yet everything in the darkness was so clear. Lorenzo watched silently.

The organs began shrinking. In the end, only a small section of stomach and intestines remained. The bones twisted and deformed, stretching the fragile skin with their previous growth. Dark red blood vessels beneath it could be seen clearly.

A hoarse sound came from that shriveled throat, like a wail from before a miserable death.

It was a terrifying sight, but Lorenzo did not care. It was as if he did not possess the emotion of fear.

The cigarette had already burned halfway down.

Mandrake Herb had linked him to that strange world. As long as the tobacco burned, he could remain in the world of the dead.

Not enough. This was not enough.

Suddenly, the feeling of being watched surged into his mind. It was so familiar, just like inside the carriage. That thing that had been watching him from the darkness—Lorenzo abruptly turned, trying to find that eerie figure in the dark, but the next second, a twisted body carrying a heavy stench of blood knocked him down.

It was Wall, or rather, Wall's corpse.

It knocked Lorenzo from his chair and pinned him beneath it. Sharp claws tightly clutched his skull. Its ribs opened like a predator's jaws, clamping Lorenzo tight with dried blood still on them.

Look at me!

A voice seemed to ring out. Before his eyes was that savage face, filled with immense pain. Its pupils were murky black, yet within them, a faint green light glimmered.

Intense pain coursed through his body, but Lorenzo did not care. He stared straight into those eyes, and in their reflection amid the darkness, he finally saw that fragment of reality.

It was a lighthouse rising within the ghostly green light.

The cigarette finally burned out, and light returned to the world.

Lorenzo seemed to awaken from hibernation, his movements stiff and his eyes dazed. He loosened his hand, and the cigarette butt fell. He sat in the chair blankly for a long time before recovering.

That was the side effect of smoking it. Every time it ended, Lorenzo briefly became like an idiot.

Everything had been dreamlike. Wall's corpse had not come back to life; it still lay quietly before him. He had not been knocked down either, but was sitting properly where he had been. It was as if everything that had felt so real just now had been an illusion, even though the pain had been so vivid.

It was an illusion, but there had also been something real.

Like the final thing he had seen: the lighthouse.

Lorenzo could not determine what role the lighthouse played in this case, but at least now he had a rough direction.

The strange body and the lighthouse.

He slowly stood. The stiffness remained, making him uncomfortable. Perhaps this was another side effect of Mandrake Herb. At first, that idiotic state had been brief, but with more frequent use, it had lasted longer and longer.

Perhaps in a few days, he could ask that poor Director Buscalo for a physical examination. He was a Director, after all, so that should save him a lot of trouble, right?

Having finished all that, it was time to leave. But just then, the sound of a bullet being chambered rang out.

"Hands up!"

Eve raised her pistol and aimed it at Lorenzo.

Ever since childhood, Eve's instincts had been sharp, and this time was no exception. Amid the mist, she had felt someone pass by her. Unable to shake the strange feeling in her heart, she had finally caught this sneaky intruder here.

"Detective, what happened?"

Lorenzo turned around, his expression flawless. There was a trace of composure amid his panic, as though he were an innocent citizen wrongly suspected by the police.

Old Dunling was full of every kind of person. As a great detective who had spent years among them, Lorenzo had to know a bit of everything.

"What are you doing?"

Eve was a rookie. This was her first time aiming a gun at someone. Seeing Lorenzo's expression, she really began to feel that she might have misunderstood him.

"This is my nephew. He was murdered this morning. I simply couldn't bear the grief..."

As he spoke, Lorenzo covered his face.

Eve stepped closer, though she did not lower her guard.

"Your nephew... was a Viking?"

The corpse's features were no longer recognizable, but the thick braid Vikings loved still hung from its head.

Lorenzo's sobbing stalled. Then Eve saw the nameplate on the metal drawer. It belonged to the case she was handling.

The last trace of sympathy vanished, and Eve said coldly, "Sir, you may need to come with me."

For a moment, the situation was awkward.

Lorenzo had once secretly infiltrated the Royal Academy of Arts. To ensure he could enter any role at any time and deceive others, he had studied in its acting department for over a year. At first, everyone thought he was a passing tourist, then an auditor, then a student. In the end, even the professors came to know this outstanding student named Lorenzo, and they had even invited him to perform at the Royal Opera House.

Yet after a year, this outstanding student had suddenly vanished. The professors searched through every list but found no one named Lorenzo Holmes. It was as though he had disappeared into thin air. Everyone remembered that talented young man, but his name was absent from attendance records and even student registrations, as if he were a ghost.

But no matter how good his performance or how meticulous his deception, Lorenzo could not fool anyone in the face of direct evidence. He smiled awkwardly.

Eve looked stern on the surface, but inwardly she was overjoyed. Sure enough, there was something suspicious about this case. Otherwise, why would this man sneak in to inspect such an insignificant corpse?

"Turn around!"

She threatened Lorenzo with her gun. He cooperated and slowly turned around. Eve lowered the gun and took out her handcuffs, but in an instant, Lorenzo moved.

His broad black trench coat, which reached his knees, whipped outward with force and filled most of Eve's vision. One hand held the gun, while the other held the handcuffs she had just taken out. The young detective clearly panicked and pulled the trigger, but her slender one-handed grip could not control the recoil. The bullet went wide.

A large hole was punched through the black trench coat. Then a dark gun barrel extended from beneath it.

"Detective, don't move."

Lorenzo held a Winchester, one hand resting on the metal lever beneath it as he chambered a round.

The situation reversed in an instant. Eve could only stare blankly at it all.

Clearly, this was a little too much for a rookie. Her very first case had involved a vicious detective who had prowled Old Dunling for years. It was like locking a sheep in a room with a hungry wolf.

"This is a morgue. Hardly anyone comes here. Even if I killed you, no one would know I did it. Do you understand?"

Eve nodded obediently. Even if she fired, she would not be faster than Lorenzo. Not to mention that in terms of destructive power, Lorenzo's weapon was obviously much more threatening.

But Eve soon realized something.

"Did you kill him?"

Though she had never seen such an exquisitely crafted Shotgun, was it not still a Shotgun at heart? The gunshot wound matched the weapon that had killed Wall, and combined with this mysterious man's suspicious intrusion into the morgue, Eve was certain that the man before her had killed Wall.

She should not have come alone. She should have brought Press. Though in this situation, even if Press were here, what could he do?

"Don't slander people, Detective. I'm a lawful citizen of Inverwig."

Lorenzo was telling the truth, though Shrike had arranged his identity for him. Shrike was reliable in that regard. As long as the money was enough, he could make any identity for you. Note that it was not forgery, but an identity officially recognized by the authorities.

Lorenzo spoke nonsense, but his thoughts raced wildly as he considered what to do next.

Likewise, Eve was thinking about what to do. She did not want her first case to become her last.

But then, translucent yellow liquid flowed past Lorenzo's feet, carrying a strange odor as it seeped in from outside the morgue door.

"Detective, what do you think this is?" Lorenzo suddenly asked, looking down.

"I think it might be oil."

"I think... you're probably right."

As Lorenzo finished speaking, roaring flames rushed in through the morgue entrance like a demon from hell. In an instant, furious fire ignited everything around them. Even the morgue's cold temperature rose, turning scorching hot.

This was a dead end. Only that door led out, but now it had been sealed off by fire, and the blaze continued to intensify.

"What is going on...?"

At the last moment, Lorenzo pulled Eve away. Otherwise, Eve, who had been standing by the door, would have been swallowed by the flames instantly.

"It's a clue."

The man's voice carried a hint of unhealthy excitement.

Eve looked to the side. The firelight illuminated Lorenzo's face, and an even greater fire burned in his eyes.

Sure enough, Wall's death had drawn those people's attention. They did not want the secret inside Wall's corpse to be discovered, so they had come here to set the fire.

"Detective, if you don't want to die, come help."

As he spoke, Lorenzo kicked over the metal drawers containing the corpses. They were stacked together one by one and could be dismantled.

"What are you doing?"

Eve could not understand what this man was doing. The fire was already right before them... and he was still struggling with a bunch of dead bodies.

"Staying alive... You don't want to be cremated in here with these corpses, do you?"

"You take one pile, I take one pile, and from now on we'll never be apart?"