Chapter 134

"To be clear, at least from what you've said, Earl Warwick was only a nominal 'adoptive father' to the older sister. After all, you said yourself that she prefers to call him 'teacher,' and from the beginning, Warwick has been guiding and instilling some... strange ways of thinking in her."

"So, even if the adopted Drak girl really is the murderer, so what? You can completely reinterpret her actions as a helpless act of resistance against Earl Warwick, who was trying to exploit her."

"After all, anyone with eyes can see that Warwick has cultivated a savior-like image among the Tarans, secretly adopted two pure-blooded Drak, and has been instilling a distorted mindset in one of them."

"To be honest, any two of these three things could be considered a coincidence, but it's three of them, all three of them coming together."

"Not to mention--"

The Doctor paused again before speaking.

"That Earl even secretly procured Originium Suppressant for the infected Tarans."

"Zuo Jian, I don't think someone who's gone to such lengths would be a selfless, unassuming good Samaritan. To put it bluntly, are the Tarans his father? He's so protective of them."

"Moreover, according to Eblana, I don't think a guy who constantly instills extreme ideas in his adopted daughter can be a good person in the standard sense."

"In a sense, Eblana did not do anything wrong."

Zuo Jian looked at the Doctor with some surprise. He hadn't expected that such words, which could almost be considered "biased," would be said so bluntly by the other party.

It's almost like...

"Actually, you're right, I did forcefully wash Eblana."

The Doctor, who could guess what Zuo Jian was thinking just by looking at his expression, gave a helpless smile.

"What else can I do? Let me tell you, this girl is capable of patricide at such a young age."

"If she is used, she will surely cause endless trouble in the future. I'm certain she can't be used by us, so I'm telling you to eliminate her completely on the spot?"

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"Actually, you probably won't do that, and we can't do that either. Zuo Jian, we need these two Drak, especially since, according to Eblana, Earl Warwick has repeatedly made her personally help the local Tarans in order to 'win their favor' or something like that."

"Moreover, at least on the surface, she is the adopted daughter of that Tarans spiritual leader, which almost gives her an inherent attraction to the Tarans."

"Of course, there are other methods."

The Doctor paused here, then stepped forward, grabbed Zuo Jian's collar, and pulled the two closer until their noses almost touched.

The two of them stared at each other silently.

"Can you do it? Tear that Drak girl's body apart, eat her flesh, and steal her memories alive, just like you would those gangsters?"

"You know, in terms of crimes, she's practically innocent compared to the gangsters you killed, not to mention—"

Zuo Jian looked at the Doctor's face and spoke up.

"I..."

"So, since that's the case, I might as well add some legitimacy and rationality to Eblana's actions; that would make you feel a little better."

The Doctor sighed, then waved his hands and spoke.

"However, even so, we cannot be completely certain that the murderer is Eblana at this time."

"Speaking of which, I've heard that guys with the Drak bloodline killed their fathers, or something like that—it's some kind of unofficial history about bloodline inheritance. Would you believe that?"

"... I can, somewhat reconstruct the scene."

Zuo Jian sat in the chair and took a deep breath.

"... What do you want to do?"

"Doctor, I think you should be able to find some crucial information from the scene, so... please."

"Are you really going to pursue this matter to the end?"

Looking at Zuo Jian, who was resting his chin on his Zuo Jian, the Doctor was momentarily speechless.

"Yes."

"Let's begin then."

As soon as she finished speaking, she watched as Zuo Jian's body rapidly turned into a pool of blood, which then spread throughout the room, climbed up the surrounding walls, twisted and deformed, and finally turned into unfamiliar pieces of wall and floor.

The flesh and blood reconstructed the furniture, and also restored Warwick's corpse on the ground and the surrounding bloodstains.

The Doctor stepped forward and looked at the "Earl Warwick" who appeared before him.

On the wilderness, Eblana sat in the passenger seat of the land vehicle, while in the back seat sat the ever-silent Loughshinny.

The former was slightly turning his head to look at the man in the driver's seat.

Is there something on my face?

Zuo Jian's eyes regained some clarity, and noticing the gazes around him, he spoke without turning his head.

"No, it's just that you seemed a bit strange just now, which made me a little uneasy."

Eblana leaned back in her chair and answered casually.

"I was just thinking about some things."

"Oh."

The small carriage fell into an awkward silence after the girl's last words.

After a long pause, Zuo Jian spoke first.

I am very sorry about what happened to your teacher.

"Really? I'm sorry, at least I don't feel much of a connection to it."

Eblana rested her face on the car window and spoke.

"In fact, he knew this day would come."

"What..."

"He was just gambling, betting that this day would come later, but unfortunately, his luck was as bad as his teaching."

"How did you know all this...?"

He told me himself.

"I guess that's part of it too. So from the beginning, he never treated us like his 'daughters,' only as his 'students.' But unfortunately, as I've said before, his teaching skills are just as bad as his gambling luck. If either of them were even slightly better, he wouldn't have ended up like this."

"So if you think I'll be sad about this, then I suggest you stop this pointless behavior. On the contrary, my first reaction upon learning of his death was a sense of freedom, like being reborn."

After Eblana finished speaking, she turned her head away and Zuo Jian.

"If he had raised you as his own children from the beginning, would the outcome have been any different?"

Zuo Jian gripped the steering wheel and continued asking Eblana.

Upon hearing this, Eblana suddenly paused, then seemed to freeze for a moment, but quickly suppressed this change and returned to her previous nonchalant demeanor as she spoke.

"Who knows? Maybe, but if he really just wanted to raise two ordinary daughters, he wouldn't have adopted us in the first place."

"Yeah..."

Zuo Jian listened and silently made a preliminary judgment about Eblana in his mind.

Lacking the love and care he should have received from his original family from a young age, and not receiving the care he should have received in a normal family environment after being taken in by his adoptive father Warwick, his personality became somewhat distorted.

Under Warwick's influence, he also developed some extreme personality traits.

Therefore

Meeting...

She refused to help her nominal adoptive father, even when he was in dire need.

"Refusing to help someone in distress."

The Doctor slowly began to speak, repeating the conclusion he had just given to Zuo Jian.

'Is this your conclusion?'

The voice of Wraith rang in my ears.

No...

The Doctor shook his head.

Watching the blood and flesh mimicry gradually dissipate before my eyes.

The wounds and blood seepage suggest post-mortem trauma. There are almost no fatal injuries on the surface of the body, indicating that the cause of death was internal. It is highly likely that the body was poisoned.

However, those who had access to the cup that Earl Warwick drank from every day were usually people close to him. Judging from the way the body fell, it seems that he had a conversation with someone for a period of time before he stopped breathing.

The fact that there was no violent resistance suggests that the person being spoken to was someone they knew, or even someone they had anticipated.

It's practically a given that Eblana is the murderer—the probability is 1000%.

'But you lied, fabricating a murderer out of thin air, saying she was just a cold-hearted daughter who stood by and watched her adoptive father die.'

"I don't want him to get caught up in this pointless trouble..."

"Of course, it's only for Zuo Jian's sake. As for that Drak... I don't care what her true nature is."

"Anyway, if it falls into my hands—"

The Doctor tapped the table, revealing a somewhat indifferent smile.

"There are plenty of ways to do it."

She naturally didn't have any fondness for this kind of problem child who troubled Zuo Jian from the very beginning.

Chapter 92, Back to Londinium

Where do we go next?

Eblana watched the scenery rushing past her, and gradually, huge footprints appeared all around her, accompanied by a few rumbling sounds. She looked up at the Mobile City blocks that were gradually appearing in the distance.

Londinium... the capital of Victoria.

A true "core" city.

The locations of successive kings' ascensions to the throne and their respective residences, including the location of the Iron Palace...

Thinking of this, Eblana suddenly felt something stirring within her, a strange feeling constantly agitating her emotions.

So much so that even its tail was wagging noticeably.

Zuo Jian saw all of this, of course. However, compared to his older sister, Loughshinny, sitting in the back row, was clearly much calmer... or rather, much more indifferent.

From the moment she boarded the train until now, Loughshinny has been following the instructions of her older sister Eblana. If she doesn't ask questions, she remains motionless and quiet like a puppet.

More importantly... Zuo Jian sensed the... confusion in the other person's eyes.

The almost opposing emotional fluctuations displayed by the two sisters at this moment made Zuo Jian even doubt whether they were really family members who had grown up together under the same roof.

Whew—we can only take it slow for now.

You seem very excited.

"Are you excited? Why do you feel that way?"

Eblana turned her head, clearly noticing her slight lapse in composure just now, and tried her best to make her expression as indifferent as before when facing Zuo Jian.

"Your tail is swaying so much it's almost hitting the clutch. I still want to remind you not to use too much force, otherwise this land vehicle won't be in a good mood if you damage the clutch."

"Tail..."

Upon hearing Zuo Jian's reminder, she suddenly realized that even though she tried her best to maintain a facade of composure, the unconscious swaying of her tail had already betrayed her true thoughts.

"What, you seem quite excited about entering Londinium?"

As he spoke, he kept one hand on the steering wheel, trying to make the atmosphere of the conversation more relaxed.

The hope was that this would pique the interest of some of the Loughshinny in the back row, and get them to join the conversation.

But it was clear that the latter still maintained that half-closed eyelid, as if he didn't want to observe anything carefully.

"Really? I am indeed looking forward to entering Victoria, the capital city I've only ever heard of before. Why? I don't know either—"