At Li Wei's command, the carriage stopped at once, and he opened the door.
"Huh? Mr. Li Wei, where are you going?"
"I'm going back to keep an eye on Lady Claytie. She's bound to do something."
Li Wei glanced down the street. They had driven straight off after boarding the carriage so Lady Claytie wouldn't suspect anything. Fortunately, they had only reached the street corner. She probably couldn't see them from here.
"Keep an eye on her? I want to come too!"
"Dressed like that?"
Li Wei glanced at Katie's evening gown. Although it was fairly sleek and practical, it clearly wasn't suited to climbing up and down buildings. Katie evidently realized that too. She pursed her lips in displeasure, stamped her foot lightly, and clenched her little fists-before finally giving up.
"All right, then. You have to tell me what you find tomorrow."
"Of course."
After making that promise, Li Wei stepped out of the carriage. The door closed again, and it swiftly drove toward the end of the street.
Li Wei watched the carriage leave, then looked away and headed back toward the Glorious Club.
By the time he returned to the Glorious Club, the lights in the surrounding buildings had all gone out. It was late at night, and the club had already "closed for business." The other guests appeared to have left as well.
But Li Wei had his own way of checking.
He closed his eyes, then opened them again.
Soul Sight!
In an instant, the world turned black and white again. Through Li Wei's eyes, a distinct human-shaped soul was clearly visible on the second floor of the Glorious Club... That was obviously Lady Claytie. Judging by her posture, she hadn't gone to bed yet.
Li Wei quickly deactivated Soul Sight, and his surroundings returned to normal.
"Used properly, this could work like a wallhack in a shooter... except it costs me my lifespan..."
Muttering under his breath, Li Wei leaped up and climbed silently along the stone bricks and balconies, his movements light and nimble. He wasn't worried about being spotted; there was nobody on the street anyway. As for whether all this climbing would dirty his clothes... well, he would deal with that when he got home.
He had a maid to do the laundry now, after all.
Li Wei silently climbed onto the second-floor balcony and activated Soul Sight again to check. The person inside was standing in a corner of the room, facing sideways, and hadn't noticed him. He slowly poked his head up and peered through the balcony window.
Then he saw Lady Claytie.
She looked nothing like the richly dressed elderly woman he had seen earlier. She was wrapped in a Blood-Red Robe and wore a bizarre black mask. Holding a candlestick, she stared at a mirror in front of her.
Why do cultists always dress like something neither human nor ghost? Can't they look normal for once?
Seeing Lady Claytie's current appearance, Li Wei grumbled inwardly. In films and games, it could be explained as an artistic choice, but dressing like this in real life? Was she desperate to let everyone know there was something wrong with her?
Li Wei pressed his ear to the window and listened to the faint voice coming from inside.
"...Everything is proceeding smoothly, my lord..."
"Yes, there are no problems. Dolittle's sacrifice was expected."
"The long night approaches..."
Li Wei didn't know whom Lady Claytie was speaking to. She was alone in the room, and there was no Telephone. The only possibility was the mirror she faced. Was she talking to it? Was it a magic mirror?
Li Wei wanted to hear more, but unfortunately, Lady Claytie's report seemed to have reached its end. Only at the very last moment did she hesitate.
"My lord, that detective... he came to my club. Should we... no, m-my lord...!"
Before Lady Claytie could finish, however, she suddenly let out a piercing scream. Startled, Li Wei quickly looked through the window. He saw Lady Claytie floating in midair. The Iron Mask she had been wearing fell to the floor, revealing her face. Her expression was twisted and hideous, and both hands clawed desperately at her neck, as though someone were strangling her!
Then, with a crack, Lady Claytie's head turned a full hundred and eighty degrees. Her body dropped to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and she fell silent.
She's dead, just like that?
Looking at Lady Claytie's very dead body on the floor, Li Wei was utterly dumbfounded.
Isn't this mastermind a little too cautious? Lady Claytie only reported that I'd come here, and they killed her?
And with something like a curse, no less?
He had only seen this sort of thing in films. To think this world actually had magic that could kill people from a distance! Wasn't that downright lethal?
But it wasn't over yet. Just then, Li Wei saw the candle that had fallen from Lady Claytie's hand flare brightly, setting the entire carpet alight in an instant!
Now they're destroying the evidence? Seriously, can't you give me a break?
Li Wei was stunned. He hadn't expected the mastermind to be this cautious. Lady Claytie had merely reported his visit to the club, and they had killed her and now intended to burn the entire place to ashes?
What do I do? I can't let everything here burn!
Li Wei quickly scanned his surroundings, then gritted his teeth and made his decision. Crossing his arms in front of his face, he crashed into the room!
Crash!!
The glass shattered explosively. Li Wei rolled into the room, but instead of rushing straight ahead, he hugged the wall and made his way beside the mirror. He reached out and tipped it over, leaving it facedown on the floor. He had seen far too many supernatural horror films, games, and novels. The enemy might well be able to control this mirror. If his reflection appeared in it, they might notice him...
Those thoughts flashed through Li Wei's mind. Only after knocking the mirror facedown did he rush over to Lady Claytie's body and hoist her onto his back. Fortunately, the elderly woman wasn't very heavy, or she might have flattened him. Physical labor had never been his strong suit.
By now, the flames had spread along the carpet and engulfed almost the entire room. Li Wei knew that if he didn't leave immediately, he would end up roasted alongside Lady Claytie. He took only a hurried glance around, then rushed out again with her body on his back, scrambling across the roof to the neighboring building. Only then did he put her down and let out a long breath.
Next, he needed to contact Inspector Lestrade!
That naturally wasn't much trouble for Li Wei. Upon receiving his report, Inspector Lestrade immediately arrived at the scene. While directing the firefighting efforts, he quietly took both Lady Claytie's body and Li Wei back to the police station. Once there, Li Wei immediately told him everything he had witnessed.
"If I hadn't experienced those strange things with you, and if the only handprints on Lady Claytie's neck weren't her own, I would certainly think you'd had too much to drink and hallucinated the whole thing."
Sitting behind his desk, Inspector Lestrade looked grave.
"So it seems Dolittle's case really does involve an extremely dangerous conspiracy."
Inspector Lestrade was a professional. If one set aside the mysterious business about curses, the case was simple: a criminal organization had realized it might be exposed and promptly killed the subordinate who had left a trail... That showed how meticulous the enemy was, which also meant their ambitions must be considerable!
"What a pity. If only you knew what they were planning."
"I'm a detective, not a fortune-teller."
Li Wei shook his head. The system hadn't given him any fortune-telling skills.
"Were there any clues among the things I brought back?"
"So far, nothing seems particularly unusual."
Inspector Lestrade shook his head, then pressed the electric bell. Soon, Officer Fletcher came in carrying an iron tray filled with assorted objects.
"These are the things we found on Lady Claytie's body. See if you can find any clues."
Li Wei approached the desk and examined the contents of the tray. There was a necklace, rings, a wallet, a bunch of keys, and several punched cards. The last of these wasn't unusual in this world, just as many people carried driving licenses, passports, and identity cards.
"Do you have Lady Claytie's personal records?"
Li Wei asked as he inspected the items. The best thing about this world was the Difference Engine. Almost everyone had a citizen identification number, and anyone with one had their information recorded in the Difference Engine.
"Of course."
Inspector Lestrade nodded and picked up a file beside him.
"Grace Durex, born Grace Karlst. She later married Butler Durex and changed her name to Grace Durex... What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing... it's just... all right, the name's a little odd."
Li Wei forcibly suppressed his laughter, but the thought that this world actually had a Durex family nearly set him off again.
"Is it? I don't find anything odd about it."
Inspector Lestrade clearly didn't understand what Li Wei found so funny and continued.
"She had two sons. Her husband died of illness, one son died in an accident, and the other died in the war. No criminal record. A devout Holy Lord Church Follower."
"Does she have any relatives? Or rather, now that she's dead, is there anyone to inherit her estate?"
"That depends on whether she left a will... A lawyer will notify us, but at least according to the information in her file, she had no other family."
"Did the autopsy reveal anything?"
"Nothing so far."
Officer Fletcher shook his head.
"The official autopsy results aren't out yet, but according to the doctor's preliminary examination, there shouldn't be anything unusual."
"No tattoos or strange scars?"
Li Wei asked based on the films and games he had seen. Cultists in those stories always liked doing that sort of strange thing.
"Well... I'll go ask for more details in a moment."
Fletcher clearly hadn't considered that. He hesitated before answering. At that point, however, an idea struck Li Wei, and he looked at Inspector Lestrade.
"What will happen to Lady Claytie's body after this?"
"Well, normally we would preserve it until her family came to collect it and hold a funeral. But to keep the mastermind from discovering that you carried Lady Claytie's body out of the fire, we'll secretly cremate her and hand her ashes to whoever comes to claim them."
Good.
A faint smile appeared on Li Wei's face.
"I have a favor to ask."
"What is it?"
"After you cremate Lady Claytie, please give me some of her ashes."
Both Inspector Lestrade and Officer Fletcher looked surprised.
"What do you want them for?"
"I may be able to use them to find whoever killed Lady Claytie."
A gleam flashed in Li Wei's eyes as he spoke. He had only just remembered that he had found Lady Claytie by using Soul Sight to identify someone connected to Doctor Dolittle's death. Lady Claytie had clearly been killed by the mastermind. That meant the mastermind was now connected to her on the level of the soul.
And he might well be able to find that mastermind through Soul Sight!
But there was no need to rush.
Because of everything that had happened, it was already dawn when Li Wei returned home.
"Ding-dong."
The Elevator reached the top floor and opened. Li Wei entered the room and saw Erin in her maid's uniform, sitting on the nearby sofa with her head nodding. A table lamp glowed beside her. Only when the Elevator door opened did she start awake and rise to her feet.
"Ah, sir, you're back...!"
"Yes. You don't need to wait up for me when it gets this late."
Li Wei yawned and took off his coat. Erin hurried over to take it, looking somewhat surprised by the dirt on it.
"Sir, did something happen?"
"A bit of scrambling about comes with being a detective."
Li Wei waved a hand.
"Go to bed. We can deal with the rest tomorrow."
"All right."
Since Li Wei had said so, Erin didn't disturb him any further. She nodded, went over to close the Elevator gate, then took the nearby stairs down to her own room. Li Wei stretched, returned to his bed, and let out a long breath.
"Whew... what a pain."
Li Wei closed his eyes and began thinking back over what had happened. Although he hadn't heard everything Lady Claytie had said, she had clearly seemed to be proposing that they kill him. That was normal enough. Having realized he might have come to her because of Doctor Dolittle's case, her first instinct would naturally be to deal with him immediately.
But her superior clearly thought otherwise. They hadn't even bothered to test the waters, simply abandoning Lady Claytie in an attempt to cut off the trail completely.
Of course, it was also possible that Lady Claytie was no longer that useful to the mastermind. Li Wei was now a fairly well-known detective, and killing him might attract more attention and investigation. By comparison, simply killing Lady Claytie seemed a much more cost-effective option...
Li Wei thought back to the elderly woman again. She had struck him as sincere, not like a bad person at all. But who could really know? Bad people didn't have the word stamped on their foreheads.
Forget it. I'll deal with the rest tomorrow. For now, I need sleep.
With that thought, Li Wei closed his eyes and drifted into a deep dream.
Before you continue