Chapter 77

Chapter 77

At the same moment.

In the Tieliu City Court, the presiding judge, "Blazing Flame" Rilqin Oukanelu, sat down with two large dark circles under her eyes.

Opposite her stood Captain Huan Banxiang, Youzhao Wotebake, and an ordinary-looking cat person girl.

Bai Li was unaware that the purification room she was in had special settings, allowing her voice to pass through the one-way amplifying wall. She politely responded to the bear woman, “Of course, you can ask me anything.”

The light mage wearing a lampshade then asked a couple of small questions about her age and past, aiming to ease the atmosphere. Meanwhile, Rilqin, who had just sat down, once again reviewed the preliminary investigation report of the incident.

She first looked at the cause of death for her old rival, Fangying Masima.

Acute cerebral hemorrhage.

How acute?

According to the joint autopsy results from archaeologists and flesh doctors, Fangying Masima was still very healthy three seconds before his death, possessing the robust physique typical of most high-level professionals. In those three seconds, his blood pressure skyrocketed, causing widespread rupture of his brain vessels. He skipped the headache and unconsciousness stages, dying instantly without any struggle.

Along with the acute cerebral hemorrhage came myocardial infarction. In those three seconds, his adrenal glands suddenly released a massive amount of adrenaline and noradrenaline, causing his heart rate to spike to nearly three hundred. If not for the faster onset of brain death due to the acute cerebral hemorrhage, which caused his heart rate to gradually decline after brain death, Fangying Masima might have died differently.

But he was going to die anyway.

When she first read this autopsy report, Rilqin couldn't help but ask, “Did Lady Roubo happen to pass by here?”

Lady Roubo is the human apostle of the Mother of Sourceblood and also serves as the Pope of the Church of the Mother of Blood.

This female pope almost never leaves the Heart of the Continent, the headquarters of the Church of the Mother of Blood, which is the source of all rivers and thus requires the strictest protection.

Therefore, it was impossible for her to have passed by Tieliu City during the attack.

But if it wasn't her passing by Tieliu City, Rilqin found it hard to believe that Fangying Masima's cause of death was truly an acute cerebral hemorrhage.

Apart from the apostle who could forcibly manipulate an enemy's blood, was there a second person who could kill Fangying Masima like this?

It couldn't be that many priests of the Mother of Sourceblood were present, and the Mother of Sourceblood happened to glance over, could it?

Rilqin: "..."

Still, Rilqin sent an inquiry to the Church of the Mother of Blood.

Then, she submitted a report to the headquarters of the court.

Now, sitting here, she looked at the autopsy report, still puzzled.

What puzzled her even more was how Bai Li Bomei managed to find Lecai Xikadir.

Rilqin didn't know that this was something Lecai was puzzled about until his death, which led the deer person who had changed his appearance to flee with Bai Li, ultimately costing him his life.

The light mage happened to ask about this.

“How did you know that Lecai Xikadir was by the Ley River on the third level while you were still at Emme Theatre?”

“Didn’t Huan Banxiang say he was going to Spire City?” Bai Li Bomei’s confused voice came through. “If he went to Spire City, he wouldn’t take the subway; he would definitely go to the third-level dock to sneak across, right?”

“...Just like that?”

“I couldn’t do much else. Knowing he was probably on the third level was enough for me to act.”

“But there are five docks on the third level?”

“I could run to each one. What if I found Xiao Yu?”

The light mage fell silent.

Next door, Rilqin looked at Youzhao.

Youzhao thought for a moment and said sorrowfully, “I failed to notice this. To be friends with Huan Banxiang, their personalities must have been similar…”

“Huan Banxiang was a promising Saint Light Knight favored by the Church of the Dragon of Light. If she hadn’t wanted to come to the court, the Church of the Dragon of Light wouldn’t have let her go. A minor flaw in personality… forget it,” Rilqin waved her hand. “Most canine people have a bit of that, hmm.”

The cat person girl transformed into a canine youth, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “I represent the canine people in rejecting racial discrimination, Presiding Judge.”

“I didn’t reach the level of racial discrimination,” Rilqin glanced at him. “And you’re not really a canine person.”

“I am a canine person now.” The shapeshifter crossed her arms.

He paused, then said lightly, “But a mother who lost her child and had no other options decided to search every possible place where she might find her child. This is quite common, isn’t it? Canine people have naturally keen senses of smell and hearing, making them feel they can find clues. It’s a gamble, and in the end, she won, didn’t she?”

“This winning gamble feels too lucky,” Rilqin said. “Even throughout the entire kidnapping and assault incident, our luck has been good. Whether it was discovering that the ‘fake Lecai’ was a necromancer who saved you, or the sudden loud noise that drew everyone’s attention when the Aberrant Cult was about to kidnap civilians—those investigating found traces of magic near the sound source, and the magic traces were clean, confirming that someone helped at the time.”

Luck wasn’t just here.

Rilqin calculated.

Civilians completed a rapid evacuation during the conflict and were almost unharmed.

In the battle against the Aberrant Cult, despite being outnumbered, none of the priests of the Mother of Sourceblood died. Notably, three of these priests were not professionals.

Finally, Fangying Masima died suddenly from an illness… No, Rilqin didn’t believe it was truly a sudden illness.

Was it a curse? Or perhaps a plague mage who disliked Fangying Masima secretly planted the seeds of disease in his body?

Regardless, as she reviewed the events afterward, a nagging intuition kept telling her something was off.

For this reason, Rilqin listened carefully to the light mage’s questions.

“How did you discover Lecai Xikadir?”

"Discovered...?" Bai Li's voice carried a clear note of confusion. "I don't quite understand, what do you mean?"

"Lecai Xikadir has altered his appearance and racial characteristics through an evil spell. How did you recognize him?"

"Eh? He changed his appearance? ...It seems so, but I didn't notice much change. I was running to the dock and saw him duck into an alley. That back view, it was definitely him."

"...Madam, you made your judgment without even seeing his face?"

"The face isn't important. I know it was him."

The Light Mage sighed in admiration.

In the next room, Ruir Qin's ears, almost pressed against the wall, trembled with their gray fur and pointed tips, aiding her judgment.

Ruir Qin, blessed with the rabbit person's natural hearing, could hear another person's heartbeat without a lie detection ritual. She looked down at her pocket watch to count, saying, "No significant change in heart rate."

Finding nothing suspicious, the Tieliu City Court Judge returned to his seat, supporting his forehead. "A lie detection ritual would yield the same result. To know more details, we'd need a high-level flesh doctor to probe his brain."

But such an almost torturous method of lie detection was only used on confirmed cultists, and Bai Li was not one.

"Could it be that this delicate lady, who recently suffered domestic violence from her husband, has a special talent for identifying cultists and recognizing disguises? It's just that her impoverished past couldn't reveal her strengths?" Ruir Qin was very puzzled. "But even professionals don't have such sharp intuition, at least I've never seen or heard of it... Youzhao, wasn't it she who discovered the 'fake Lecai'?"

"It was her," the Shapeshifter answered quickly. "Youzhao said so when she directly hijacked the tram. As soon as the tram stopped, the 'fake Lecai' pulled out a bunch of ghosts, and everyone started fighting. It scared me; I'm not a combat professional."

"But at first, she didn't seem to notice anything wrong with the 'fake Lecai'," the Shapeshifter added. "If she had noticed from the start, she could have warned me, who was preparing to disguise myself as her."

"Perhaps at first, she had some doubts about the 'fake Lecai,' but didn't react to them," Youzhao, who handled Bai Li's case of killing her cultist husband, recalled. "I believe Bai Li's sharp intuition is probably related to the mental abnormalities that appeared after she killed her husband. There was a psychological evaluation report when she was discharged from the hospital. I think we can conduct a more accurate diagnosis later. In short, anyone threatening her daughter or showing romantic interest in her might trigger her."

"So, mental abnormalities, huh," the Shapeshifter mused, pinching his chin and raising an important question. "Is her current testimony really valid?"

Ruir Qin: "..."

Youzhao: "..."

What a good question.

If Youzhao were in her office, she would probably start massaging her temples to relieve her headache. But in front of her superior, she had to pay attention to her demeanor.

In the adjacent interrogation room, the questioning had moved on to matters related to Fangying Masima's death.

"...Well, I killed Lecai. Actually, I've always harbored a desire to kill him. His eyes were exactly like Tanbi's, no, even more disgusting. When I met him during the interview, he looked at me with those eyes, and I knew he was a cultist.

"That male rat person? I don't know... I just took Xiao Yu from him... He's dead? What a surprise!"

The three listeners continued to remain silent.

If Lecai Xikadir were not indeed a follower of the Black Sun and a ritualist, Bai Li's statements would sound no different from the illogical ramblings of a mentally ill person.

"Actually," the Shapeshifter suddenly said, "why don't we just test the accuracy of her intuition?"

This rare professional, who had considerable freedom of movement within the Tieliu City Court, gave a light bow to Ruir Qin and walked out.

Soon, Ruir Qin and Youzhao heard him enter the purification room's single cell and greet someone.

The Light Mage asked in surprise, "Who are you?"

And Bai Li's voice came a few seconds later.

The newly formed mental blade blinked, obscuring the faint magical glow in her eyes. The Shapeshifter hadn't expected to be affected by someone else's spell in the purification room, and a silent Detect Thoughts succeeded.

"It's you?" Bai Li said with some surprise. "Are you alright?"

"Wow." The Shapeshifter, who hadn't even spoken to her yet, exclaimed in amazement.

He hadn't expected to be recognized. If not for his countless successful infiltrations, he would have suspected he had accidentally revealed a flaw.

The young canine thought for a moment, then transformed again, this time into a female canine, specifically a Hisike canine.

She strode past the startled Light Mage and approached Bai Li, taking her hand.

"Bai Li, please," the Shapeshifter said sincerely, "come work as an advisor in our intelligence department."