Information Hidden in the Details

By the time Li Wei left the police station, twenty minutes had passed. He had carefully read the case file on the "Courtesan Killer," which contained all the information on the four murders committed so far, starting with the first. The four victims shared very similar characteristics. They were all young women, roughly twenty to twenty-five years old. All were courtesans, and their bodies had all been found in rarely frequented alleys.

The cause of death was also the same: their throats had been slit, then their bodies cut open. The only difference was which internal organ was missing from each victim.

So far, the four victims had been missing a heart, a liver, a spleen, and a kidney, respectively. According to the forensic examinations, the organs had been cut out rather than torn out by some wild beast.

This reminded Li Wei of a mystery novel he had once read, in which the murderer used the same method, taking different organs to perform some sort of astrological black magic... Right, he was getting off track.

According to the case file, the victims had one other thing in common: they had all previously suffered miscarriages, or at least traces of them had been found during examination.

Although Li Wei had read some mystery novels, they were not much help with his current task. All he could do now was take things one step at a time. True, that mysterious system might have granted him some sort of ability, but he had also discovered that it did not activate on its own.

For instance, unless Li Wei actually intended to observe someone, looking at them was no different from looking at anyone else. Only when he decided to examine someone closely did he unconsciously notice things he ordinarily never would, details he would otherwise overlook-like the shadow last night. If Li Wei had not been utterly focused on examining the corpse, he could never have caught that distorted reflection in her pupils.

His old self could not have done it either. He had never been particularly interested in studying other people closely. But yesterday had been different... Well, considering his current circumstances, perhaps that was not surprising.

Standing in the street, Li Wei extended his hand, clenched it into a fist, and tapped his chest. That was an effortless movement for anyone else, but not for him. Never mind performing the whole motion-even clenching his fist had been enough to send an indescribable pain through his entire body.

But now he could do all of it again, without any pain, just like an ordinary person.

Whether this was a dream or reality, at least for now, Li Wei did not want to wake up.

What should I do?

Li Wei summoned the system again and carefully examined his attributes and skills.

[Shooting: 90 (For you, hitting the mark every time is no exaggeration)]

[Disguise: 55 (You must disguise yourself to avoid drawing attention)]

[Investigation: 70 (You can keep your eyes and ears open in every direction)]

[Psychology: 70 (For someone as skilled at reading people as you, this world holds almost no secrets)]

[Charm: 85 (Few can resist your charm in the face of your gentle whispers and striking looks)]

Of these skills, [Shooting] had the highest value, but Li Wei did not think it would help solve the case, unless he could somehow make his bullets seek out the murderer. One moment's thought was enough to tell him that was impossible.

Next came [Charm] and [Psychology], neither of which was unfamiliar to Li Wei. Ever since childhood, people had often gathered around him, boys and girls alike. Much of the time, he became their leader naturally, without doing anything in particular. He also knew what most of the people who approached him were thinking, though their thoughts were generally straightforward, with little depth to them.

In truth, Li Wei rarely tried to work out what other people were thinking, because he saw no need. Everyone was different, after all. Racking your brains to fathom the thoughts of someone completely unlike yourself was utterly pointless.

Now, though, Li Wei regretted that a little. Perhaps he should have paid more attention to such things back then, but... Forget it. It was too late to say that now.

In any case, I can only rely on these skills to track down the murderer. So next...

Li Wei decided on his next destination.

By the rules of mystery novels, murderers often returned to the scene of the crime.

When Li Wei returned to the alley, it looked much the same as it had last night. The only difference was that the victim's body had been taken away. A strip marked [No entry] sealed off the entrance, but that certainly could not stop him. He stepped straight over it and returned to the crime scene.

In daylight, everything looked even more horrifying than it had at night. After all, the darkness had concealed their surroundings. Now Li Wei could clearly see the blood splattered in radiating patterns. The blood that had pooled on the ground had long since dried, and a roughly drawn white chalk outline marked the victim's final position.

Li Wei stood there, recalling what had happened last night. Everything had happened so suddenly that he had barely had time to react.

I stood here, then saw that shadow and turned around. It realized I had seen it, so it attacked... Recalling yesterday's events, Li Wei looked ahead again. He remembered firing his gun and hitting the shadow. Unfortunately, that was not much use. This era had no DNA testing technology, so even if there were bloodstains, they would yield nothing useful.

Then the shadow had fled.

Li Wei turned toward the wall on the other side. It had been too dark last night for him to be certain how the shadow had escaped. Looking at it now, it must have climbed the wall-the brickwork of these old houses was always uneven, and there were windows and windowsills... Well, he would give it a try.

Climbing the wall to the roof proved harder than Li Wei had imagined. The houses here were mostly around three stories tall, neither particularly high nor particularly low. But getting up was no easy task, because slick moss covered the walls. Using both hands and feet, he finally scrambled onto the roof after considerable effort, looking thoroughly bedraggled.

"Whoever that murderer is, they're definitely good at climbing walls."

Li Wei brushed the dirt and dust off himself, muttering as he looked around. Dust covered the roof, which also meant he could clearly see the footprints on it. But...

"What the hell is this thing?"

Staring at the footprints in front of him, Li Wei frowned.

He had thought the footprints would give him some information. That was how detectives in novels did it, after all. From footprints alone, they could easily determine someone's height, weight, sex, and even occupation.

But...

"Even Sherlock Holmes would be stumped by this."

Li Wei muttered under his breath as he stared at the footprints.

The problem was that these footprints looked less like something from a mystery novel and more like something from science fiction.

The footprints were neither particularly large nor particularly small, just medium-sized. But that was not the issue. In front of the toes were several sharp claw marks. They looked a little like a cat's claws-which was why Li Wei had said even Sherlock Holmes would be stumped. These simply did not look like human footprints. Even if someone neglected their appearance and never trimmed their toenails, those nails would not curve into hooks like an animal's.

Now Li Wei understood why that shadow had been so good at climbing walls.

He also understood that this was no ordinary detective game.

All right, keep going.

Li Wei sighed, then reached down and gripped the handle of the gun at his waist. He did not know what he was going to face, but he could at least be certain that it was not human... Or rather, not an ordinary human.

Following the footprints, Li Wei ran across the rooftops. It was a little like parkour, and fortunately, he had done similar things during his time as a livestreamer. In fact, his livestreaming career had covered all kinds of things. He had exposed scams, reviewed shops, cooked, played games, and done science streams, parkour, extreme sports, and travel check-ins.

He had never expected any of that to come in handy now.

If possible, Li Wei would have liked to follow the footprints all the way to the culprit's lair. Unfortunately, he was not that lucky. After he crossed the third street, the footprints led from the rooftops back to the ground, then vanished completely.

"Phew..."

Having climbed back down from the roof, Li Wei stared speechlessly at the footprints disappearing into the churned-up mud before him. He looked around. He was already near the outskirts of Fog City, surrounded by dilapidated buildings, muddy roads, and a filthy, foul-smelling waterway choked with all kinds of household rubbish.

The knowledge in Li Wei's mind told him that this must be the Lower City, the most rundown and filthy part of Fog City.

Still, this works out. Since I'm here...

Li Wei recalled the contents of the case file. As it happened, he had already planned to come here to question a certain witness.

Might as well take care of that too.

When Inspector Lestrade returned to his office, it was already empty.

"I still don't approve of you doing this."

Officer Fletcher stood beside Inspector Lestrade, grumbling discontentedly under his breath.

"Disclosing internal police documents without authorization is against regulations."

"I didn't disclose any documents. I simply forgot to file them away."

Inspector Lestrade picked up the case file on his desk, returned it to the filing cabinet, and locked it again.

"There, you see? Everything's in order now."

"...I still don't understand."

Faced with Inspector Lestrade's almost shameless evasion, Officer Fletcher looked speechless.

"Why do you trust that young man?"

"A hunch."

Inspector Lestrade sat back down in his chair and narrowed his eyes.

He had taken quite a liking to the young man, Li Wei, from the outset. He was polite and had a very likable face. Fletcher might find that irritating, of course, but Lestrade was long past that age. He still remembered everything that had happened last night. The young fellow had been remarkably calm and composed.

And besides...

"I don't think making friends with a descendant of nobility is a bad thing, do you?"

"He's a noble?"

"Not at present."

As he spoke, Inspector Lestrade recalled the information on Li Wei he had retrieved earlier from the difference engine. According to those records, he had been born into an extremely old family. That made sense, particularly given his rare black hair and black eyes. If Inspector Lestrade remembered correctly, the history of families with similar features could be traced all the way back to the First Dynasty.

Although Inspector Lestrade did not know the exact details of Li Wei's background, his speech and bearing alone made it clear that he was no ordinary person.

And this was no ordinary case.

Perhaps he might bring me a few surprises?