Digging Deeper

Doctor Dolittle's clinic stood at C921 Pinecone Street in the Oak District, though strictly speaking, it was a pharmacy rather than a clinic. The grimy glass clearly had not been wiped in ages, making it impossible to see what was inside. Li Wei lifted the brim of his hat, then reached out and pushed open the shabby wooden door.

"Ding."

The bell above the door swung with a crisp chime. Li Wei stepped into the pharmacy and looked around.

Frankly, this was nothing like the pharmacies Li Wei remembered. It looked neither clean nor tidy. Instead, it reminded him of a wizard's room in a movie. All sorts of strange plants filled the place. One thick vine even stretched out of its pot like a giant python, sprawling across the middle of the floor.

Dried plants and animal carcasses were everywhere. As Li Wei surveyed the room, he felt that even a cauldron for boiling children, like those used by witches in Western legends, would not look out of place here. After all, the place did not feel like a pharmacy at all. An alchemy shop, perhaps. Alchemy was also flourishing in this era, and the newspapers Li Wei had seen certainly carried plenty of reports about it.

"Welcome."

Unfortunately, the person who emerged from the back was not a witch in a robe, but a middle-aged man. He was short and stout, with a square face and a full beard that reached his waist. In stark contrast, his head was completely bald, even a little shiny.

The man paused when he saw Li Wei.

"Oh, sir, what can I do for you?"

"Hello."

Li Wei removed his hat and nodded to the man.

"I'm looking for Doctor Dolittle. Is he here?"

"Oh, that's me."

The man nodded and studied Li Wei in puzzlement, while Li Wei observed him in turn.

"My name is Li Wei. I'm a detective. I came here to discuss the Courtesan Killer with you."

"Ah, the Courtesan Killer..."

Doctor Dolittle clenched his hands, then relaxed them. He blinked.

"I know, yes, everyone knows. He's caused a great deal of harm lately. But what does that have to do with me, Mr. Li Wei?"

"Perhaps you should tell me."

Li Wei stared at him without backing down. The idea had come to him that morning, after he woke up and had a sandwich, ham and eggs, and a cup of coffee at a nearby restaurant. He felt that the clues he currently had could never lead him to the real killer, so he might as well try bluffing Doctor Dolittle. It was like beating the grass to flush out a snake... first, you had to find out whether there was a snake in the grass at all, then decide how to deal with it.

"I know you treat those courtesans..."

"I treat the people of this neighborhood, Mr. Li Wei."

Doctor Dolittle calmly corrected him.

"Those poor girls are no exception, and they're far more likely to fall ill than other people. You could say most of the courtesans around here have taken medicine I prescribed. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"I'd simply like you to provide some information."

Li Wei remained perfectly calm in the face of Doctor Dolittle's answer.

"As you said, you've treated most of the people in this neighborhood. So I imagine you would know if there was anything unusual about those women."

"I really don't know much."

Doctor Dolittle spread his hands.

"They only come to see me when they feel unwell, and of course, it's usually something minor. Mostly, I give them some anti-inflammatory medicine, disinfect their wounds, and bandage them... Ah, Holy Lord, you have no idea what those children have suffered. You should see the scars on their bodies. Their clients don't treat them like ladies, but like children treat toys. This age is truly depraved. Back in our day..."

Before long, Doctor Dolittle began lamenting how depraved the current era was and how wonderful the idyllic old days had been. Well, just like everyone else his age.

"Back then, every household was self-sufficient. The skies were clear, and there wasn't all this steam down on the streets. They may have improved the chimneys now, but the sky is still hazy. I can't remember the last time I saw a clear sky. Those were good days. Everyone had work, and neighbors knew each other for generations and looked after one another. Not like now. In a place this big, so many people come and go without even saying goodbye. It's the same with those girls. They could have lived respectable lives, married men they liked, and had their own houses and land in the countryside. But now, they can only live in this mire, struggling desperately to get out. Poor things..."

"Then what if they become pregnant?"

Doctor Dolittle's endless reminiscences about "those days" stopped dead, like a quacking duck suddenly seized by the throat.

"You're a follower of the Holy Lord Church, aren't you?"

Li Wei stared at the emblem hanging on Doctor Dolittle's chest. It depicted an eye. The knowledge surfacing in his mind told him that it was called the All-Seeing Eye, the symbol of this world's Holy Lord Church, representing God's supreme authority, omniscience, and omnipotence.

The knowledge of this world that surfaced in Li Wei's mind told him that, in this world and this era, terminating a pregnancy was a crime. This stemmed from the Holy Lord Church, whose doctrine held that all life was created by the supreme Holy Lord, including babies who had yet to be born.

Thus, in this world, both choosing to do it and helping someone do it were explicit violations of religious doctrine and the law.

That was why the courtesans' meetings with Doctor Dolittle were conducted like clandestine deals with gangsters.

Under the laws of this world and this era, what they were doing really was illegal.

"You're a devout Holy Lord Church Follower, aren't you?"

Li Wei turned and walked to the other side of the counter, putting his back to Doctor Dolittle. He picked up the Creation Scripture from the counter, flipped to a random chapter, and began to read.

"The Holy Lord created all things in this world. All living beings are his miracles, and our brothers and sisters. Those who wantonly deprive others of life shall be punished... That's what it says, isn't it?"

Li Wei spoke casually while quietly watching the reflection in the glass display case before him. In his experience, people often did strange things behind others' backs. When he walked down the street, for instance, he often sensed people secretly taking pictures of him from behind... He watched the hazy glass, which looked as though it had been rubbed with sandpaper. He saw Doctor Dolittle reach up with his right hand and grasp the holy emblem on his chest. After a moment of silence, the doctor sighed.

"It's a difficult choice. But I want you to understand, Mr. Li Wei, that I am not only a believer. I am also a doctor. When my faith conflicts with my duty, I can only choose one. And I am still here, fulfilling my oath. I believe that speaks for itself."

As Doctor Dolittle spoke, he stared at Li Wei's back, his small, deep-set eyes filled with a complicated emotion. Li Wei could sense that the doctor's gaze was not really directed at him, just as his own attention was not really on the book.

"Sorry for wasting your time, Doctor Dolittle."

Li Wei turned and handed the Holy Scripture back. The doctor reached out with his left hand to take it. Just as his thick, powerful fingers closed around the book's heavy cover, Li Wei suddenly spoke.

"By the way, that name on the title page... who is Amelia?"

The pull on the book abruptly faltered. Then his grip tightened, wrenching it out of Li Wei's hand.

"She's my daughter."

"Your daughter?"

"Yes. She's passed away."

"Could your daughter have also..."

"It had nothing to do with the Courtesan Killer."

Doctor Dolittle shook his head.

"She died six months ago. An accident. Such a shame. I'd hoped she would follow in my footsteps. But it seems things don't always turn out as we wish... I'm very tired. I'd like to rest."

"Then I'll take my leave."

Li Wei was no fool. He understood the meaning behind those words, so he put on his hat, nodded to Doctor Dolittle, and walked out of the pharmacy.

The heavy wooden door closed, cutting off Doctor Dolittle's gaze. Only then did Li Wei quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

Doctor Dolittle was not the Courtesan Killer.

He was certain of that. The doctor was short and stout, and did not seem particularly agile on his feet. He was nothing like the man who had scaled walls and raced over rooftops that night, showing agility worthy of a martial arts master. Of course, if this were a martial arts novel, he could not rule out the possibility that the doctor was a master of lightness skills, but...

"Whooooo-!!"

Li Wei looked up and watched a train speed along the elevated tracks, trailing a string of carriages and belching steam.

Surely this world wasn't going to throw martial arts at me?

He remembered reading somewhere that excluding martial arts was an ironclad rule of detective fiction.

Still, he had not cleared the doctor of suspicion. Li Wei distinctly remembered that he had originally intended to begin his inquiries with the doctor's treatment of the courtesans, but Doctor Dolittle had swiftly given a perfectly ordinary answer, as though he had prepared it for just such a question.

Li Wei did not know whether this was his intuition or his attributes at work. At that moment, Doctor Dolittle had felt like an actor onstage, delivering his lines when his cue came... that was all.

Though beating the grass had not actually flushed out a snake this time, he had at least gained something.

Next... naturally, he would continue making inquiries.

As for the location, it was the same old place.

The Pink Lady Bar.

Unlike its daytime emptiness, the bar was livelier in the evening. Quite a few people drank outside while enjoying the song and dance performances. Upstairs, beneath the pink glow, an entirely different scene unfolded. Decadent and seductive-but that had nothing to do with Li Wei.

"Amelia?"

Jessie sat beside Li Wei, studying him curiously. This time, he had come not as a detective but as a customer. Naturally, as a courtesan, Jessie had to work once she accepted his money.

Of course, Li Wei had been generous. Three courtesans, including Jessie, gathered around him in the small room.

At the moment, however, Li Wei clearly had no interest in enjoying this rosy interlude. Nor had he hired the courtesans to keep him company over drinks.

Incidentally, Li Wei had tested it: one glass of sherry made his life countdown drop by an extra thirty minutes.

So he had decided to quit drinking.

"Oh, that doctor's daughter."

Another courtesan gave a faint snort. She was smoking and looked annoyed.

"I didn't like her."

"Why? I thought she was very nice. She always greeted us warmly whenever we visited."

The third courtesan was somewhat short and plump, her round face still retaining a trace of inexperienced innocence.

"That's because she was different from us, understand?"

The smoking woman rolled her eyes.

"What are we? Bugs in the muck. She was a noble white swan. She studied at the academy and was going to become someone useful. To her, we were just a bunch of pathetic creatures with no skills, who couldn't read and had to make a living this way... Of course she was kind to us. Does a lion care what a little mouse thinks?"

"I think you're being a little unfair. At least I never felt she looked down on us."

Jessie joined the conversation while Li Wei sat quietly to one side, sipping tea and listening. This was why he had chosen several courtesans to keep him company. In his experience, whenever more than two women gathered around him, they would start telling him bad things about other women. Of course, he had once thought these were merely baseless rumors. But after gaining some firsthand experience, he had discovered that many of them really were not rumors.

All he could say was that women behaved very differently around men than they did around other women.

"You were just fooled by her appearance."

But the smoking woman was clearly hooked on gossip.

"You thought she was a good girl, didn't you? Obeyed her father, studied hard, never went near men? Ha! I bet you didn't know I saw her meeting another man. I'm sure the doctor knew nothing about it."

"Really?"

At that, both the round-faced woman and Jessie perked up instantly. Sure enough, gossip was the most effective stimulant.

"Of course. That night, I went out looking for clients. On my way back, I passed an alley and heard... well, you know. So I got curious and sneaked over to see which of our fellow girls was working there. Instead, I saw that woman embracing a man. That's right, our proud little swan princess."

"Oh...!"

Jessie and the other woman made appropriately impressed noises, while Li Wei simply sat beside them without saying a word.

"Who was the man?"

"I don't know. I'd never seen him in the bar, but he was well dressed. I thought he might be one of that young lady's classmates or something..."

The smoking woman quietly exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"I was going to tell Doctor Dolittle about it. I'm sure he would've broken that young man's legs. Now that would've been a sight. But I landed a big job that night and forgot all about it afterward."

"About Miss Amelia..."

Li Wei took the opportunity to interject.

"Do you know how she died?"

"Well..."

The three exchanged glances, and Jessie was the first to shake her head.

"We don't know. We only heard she was ill. We all thought it was strange at the time. Doctor Dolittle was such a skilled doctor, so why couldn't he cure his own daughter?"

"I did hear something..."

This time, the round-faced woman spoke.

"I heard there was some kind of accident."

"An accident?"

"Yes. Doctor Dolittle sometimes performs operations in the basement beneath the pharmacy. He has a very frightening machine down there... It's a bed with a dozen or so tentacles holding scalpels above it. Some sort of new medical equipment, apparently..."

"And then?"

"Mr. Dolittle was getting old, so he had Miss Amelia learn to operate it. After all, she was clever and talented, and very familiar with these new steam machines. Later, I heard there was some kind of accident during an operation... That's just what I heard. Then Miss Amelia accidentally died."

That was quite an accident.

Li Wei toyed with his teacup as he listened to the courtesans' gossip, calmly turning things over in his mind. He did not know whether this lead was correct. After all, in many detective novels, the person who appeared innocent turned out to be the real culprit, while those who looked suspicious were merely red herrings.

But Doctor Dolittle was not completely unconnected to this case.

Li Wei still remembered what he had found when he first examined the corpse. The wounds had been clean and precise, unlike cuts made by an ordinary blade.

But what about a scalpel?

Wasn't cutting into human bodies exactly what they were made for?

And the round-faced woman had said that Doctor Dolittle had a steam-powered surgical apparatus in his basement... Well, he had to admit that even after hearing her description, Li Wei still could not imagine what sort of operating table would use such a thing. The imaginations of people in this era were so wild that he could barely keep up.

After all, modern people's imaginations were still grounded in common sense. In this era, though... that was another matter.

There was no hospital in this district. Doctor Dolittle's underground clinic might well be the only place here with scalpels. If so, he definitely had some connection to the case.

Still, this was not enough.

He needed to investigate further, and more deeply.

Li Wei took a sip of tea and looked again at the women, who were still eagerly gossiping.

"Do you know which school Miss Amelia attended?"

Then he posed his question.