Hearing the cry, Levtor immediately rushed into the alley. Sifa moved to an inconspicuous spot nearby, then used their shared senses to "see" a woman in a worn dress sitting on the ground, staring in terror at a house ahead.
Levtor pushed open the half-closed door, allowing Sifa to "see" that this was a one-room dwelling. The interior was dim, and a gas lamp lay toppled on the table to the left, its metal grille and shade spattered with blood.
A basket filled with firewood sat in a corner. Beside it stood a battered cupboard that could be used to store either clothes or tableware.
At the far end of the room stood a bunk bed. On the lower bunk, a woman tightly embraced a girl about Kalina's age. They lay on the bed beneath a quilt riddled with holes.
Blood covered the quilt, the bed, and the walls.
It seemed the woman had tried to protect her daughter, but failed. Both mother and daughter had died gruesomely on the bed.
Beside the bed stood a man in ragged clothes. He gripped a small axe used for chopping wood, its head coated not only in blood but also bits of flesh.
The man stared at the bodies on the bed and laughed. "Hehehehe..."
The man, his hair disheveled and his face smeared with blood, suddenly turned his head. His pupils contracted, his muscles twitched, and the corners of his mouth curled up, exposing eight teeth. "Dead, dead..."
"Everyone has to die, including me. Hehehehe..."
Still laughing, he suddenly reversed the axe and swung it hard, burying the blade in his own skull. Then he fell backward, stiff as a board.
A short while later, the police arrived. They carried the three bodies out of the room one by one as