Chapter 222

Chapter 222

Undead!

Luo Qiao's movements froze. Yes, she had a gun, but a handgun was useless against skeletons.

The old lady chose to call for her assistant first: "Neko!"

The skeleton began to move as she called out, but faster than the skeleton was a streak of green that shot out from the faucet.

The faucet had already exploded! Wet vines, which had somehow crept inside at some point, shot straight toward Luo Qiao’s eyes like spears.

The skeleton then shattered the mirror above the sink with an unimaginable force!

... They were guarding against me using the mirror to cast spells. The fact that they specifically guarded against this means the attacker knows I am a Seer of the Mirror ...

In an instant, Luo Qiao deduced that the possibility of it being Mrs. Hantaka was low.

After all, if Mrs. Hantaka had returned to White Feather Duck Village, she would be quite noticeable to the local villagers, and the client would have mentioned this.

Even if Mrs. Hantaka had become a practitioner after worshipping an evil deity in recent years, it would be unwise for her to attack Luo Qiao now. As long as she refrained from acting, neither the Inquisitors nor the police would have any evidence to arrest her. But if she chose to act, more and more flaws would appear.

Accusing her and then attacking Luo Qiao in her own house would be extremely foolish.

Even if there were clues left in this house, it would make no difference.

From Luo Qiao’s observations in the Black Market Camp, worshipping an evil deity did not affect one’s intelligence.

A person who could murder her husband so subtly would also know how to maintain her advantage...

It wasn’t Mrs. Hantaka.

It was someone from the Black Market Camp!

Luo Qiao came to this conclusion, but her body couldn’t react as quickly as her mind.

She couldn’t avoid the vine that shot out, so she decided to use her mirror doppelganger!

Luo Qiao firmly believed in her heart that she wouldn’t die, waiting for the moment of pain and the successful exchange of positions with the mirror after resisting death. However, the vine hit her eyeball heavily, completely unlike its initial momentum. It caused pain but no serious harm, instead melting and seeping into the conjunctiva of her eye.

...!

The attacker aimed to inflict non-fatal injuries!

But without fatal injuries, Luo Qiao couldn’t use her mirror doppelganger!

Luo Qiao’s eyes widened in rare surprise. At this moment, Neko finally teleported in upon hearing the call.

The hedgehog boy directly teleported into the bathroom, first sending away the skeleton in panic, then noticing the vine stuck to Luo Qiao’s right eye and its seeping action.

He opened his mouth wide, his first reaction being to help remove the vine from Grandma Luo Qiao, but the vine’s seeping action made it difficult to judge its size, preventing him from modeling it in his mind to teleport it away.

Of course, he could teleport without modeling, but since the vine was in direct contact with Grandma Luo Qiao, Neko couldn’t accurately teleport it away without modeling.

Neko hesitated for a second, watching Grandma Luo Qiao raise her hand to pinch the vine. He gritted his teeth and moved forward, grabbing the part of the vine still outside before Grandma Luo Qiao could.

Contact teleportation!

Contact teleportation didn’t require mental modeling because touching meant the object was already connected to the teleporter.

Gathering all his courage, Neko tightly gripped the vine and cast his spell. The gel-like vine disappeared from his hand and reappeared on the sixth floor, in the room rented by the Inquisitor.

The weeks of training hadn’t been in vain; the Inquisitor would understand there was an attack upon seeing the vine and come to investigate.

Neko chose the best way to seek help, but as the orange light flashed, his eyes widened.

Seizing the moment when he couldn’t teleport other items while handling the vine, a black shadow leaped up from the ground.

Neko successfully removed the vine from Grandma Luo Qiao’s eye.

But Grandma Luo Qiao vanished into the black shadow.

***

"So I was right!" a high-pitched female voice exclaimed, "She’s not a practitioner at all!"

"I saw her use magic..." a male voice protested.

"Was that really magic?" another female voice asked, "The spell only worked when she was about to die. It’s more like a divine blessing."

"Blessing means she is watched over by a deity—" the male voice tried to argue.

"But not being a practitioner makes a difference," the other female voice interrupted, moving closer to Luo Qiao.

"The old woman has woken up," she said.

Luo Qiao, who had been knocked unconscious upon falling into the shadow, woke up.

Though awake, she could see nothing.

"Don’t struggle," the hoarser female voice, whom Luo Qiao recognized as "Shadowstick," the manager of the Shadowblade in the Black Market Camp, sneered, "This room has no light, no mirrors, and your eyes have been blinded with poison and glued shut. Even a Seer of the Mirror can’t save you in this situation."

Luo Qiao tried to speak.

Her throat was dry, but she managed to talk.

"You can’t keep your eyes closed forever," Luo Qiao said, "Or stay out of the light forever."

"How dare you threaten us!" the high-pitched female voice shouted.

Luo Qiao recognized her too; it was "Pinky," the manager of the Aberrant Cult in the Black Market Camp, who had always targeted her.

As for the male voice speaking, it should belong to "Shadowstick's" husband, the hyena driver who initially delivered Luoqiao and Neko to the black market camp.

When Luoqiao was active in the black market camp, this man was one of the people she dealt with most frequently. However, in the darkness, was there another breath?

"We are indeed threatened, aren't we?" The person who made the breathing sound spoke, a man with a rich, deep voice, "If Mirror Eye will avenge her."

The other three people in the darkness held their breaths.

They couldn't say that Mirror Eye wouldn't avenge an old woman believer; humans were mere ants to deities, so avenging a human was as easy for a deity as a human exhaling lightly.

If a light exhalation could eliminate someone they disliked, the three evil god believers would exhale continuously every day, after all, breathing is a natural process, isn't it?

If even humans think this way, why wouldn't a deity lightly exhale to retaliate?

The hyena driver's teeth began to chatter, his wife remained silent, but "Fenfen" quickly overcame her fear and said in a sharper tone, "Then at least we kill this one! War has begun, believers are merely expendable to the gods!"

But I will be the one who survives and gains more power.

Before "Fenfen" finished speaking, the other three people in the darkness thought exactly that.

Every evil god believer believed they would be the lucky one.

If they didn't believe that, they wouldn't have embarked on the path of faith in evil gods, praying for power from the beginning.

Luoqiao analyzed the psychology of the evil god believers and didn't feel much different from them when she prayed to Mirror Eye.

She also believed she would be the lucky one, and indeed, she became the lucky one.

Unfortunately, this luck might end today.

Apart from "Fenfen," the three people in this room included two Shadow Walkers and one she guessed was a Plague Mage.

Both the Plague Mage and the Shadow Walkers belonged to the Black Sun profession. And Mirror Eye had already warned her to be cautious of the Black Sun believers.

Because of the warning, these days she only briefly appeared in the black market camp, trying to contact suspects outside the camp as much as possible.

Today, she obtained the final testimony, confirming that the perpetrator was not related to the smugglers, and immediately rushed back to White Feather Duck Village.

Neko teleported her away, theoretically making it impossible for the black market camp people to track her.

How did the believers of the Silver Moon Maiden and the Black Sun set up a trap in White Feather Duck Village?

Luoqiao pondered, trying to find a way to escape.

However, the evil god believers were dissatisfied with her calm demeanor. The vines binding Luoqiao suddenly tightened, cutting off her breath.

"Aren't you curious about how you were exposed?" the man who might be the Plague Mage asked, his tone indicating he was the curious one.

Or perhaps, he wanted to show off his analysis to Luoqiao.

The Plague Mage tugged at the vines, and "Fenfen," who wanted to torment Luoqiao, spat loudly but still loosened the vines slightly as he demanded.

Luoqiao could breathe and speak again. She gasped a few times, remaining calm, and replied, "Because I never truly performed any divination, I suppose."

Reasoning might fool someone temporarily, but not forever. True diviners chose clients willing to believe to make money, but Luoqiao couldn't completely avoid testing.

She knew she would be exposed eventually; she only planned to uncover the evidence before that happened.

In fact, when Neko asked her what to do next, she had already decided not to return to the black market camp anytime soon.

What? Her deity called her to investigate the activities of evil god believers?

No problem, she could find the next gathering place of evil god believers!

"Rather, it's you who are foolish for being deceived for so long," Luoqiao said directly, but before "Fenfen" angrily tightened the vines again, she asked, "But I want to know, how did you find me?"

The Plague Mage, as Luoqiao expected, stopped "Fenfen" once more.

He chuckled and said, "I suspect you've never encountered ancient human fossil bones before."

Ancient human fossil bones... special fossils involved in smuggling...

These concepts connected in Luoqiao's mind, but she indeed knew little more about ancient human fossil bones.

"These fossil bones have a unique property; when awakened by a necromancer, incomplete fossil bones will seek out their missing parts," the Plague Mage explained proudly. "Even if the missing part is ground into powder, the remaining bones will point to the direction of the bone powder."

So, there was bone powder on her? Luoqiao recalled the sudden appearance of the skeleton in the washroom, and a flash of insight struck her.

This special fossil bone actually had such a property...

The method of murder wasn't as she had imagined! Mr. Hantaka was just distracted at work, and Mrs. Hantaka couldn't ensure he would definitely die in the machine, but she could use this property of the special fossil bones! If so, she would leave evidence behind when committing the crime!

I solved it! All the puzzles in this case!

This voice shouted in her heart, and in the next second, she suddenly felt a mental tremor.

The silver-eyed deity frowned and tightened the fourth light ribbon amidst the vibration and noise.

His gaze fell upon her, His authority grew, new green leaves unfolded on the branches, and knowledge and magic flowed into Luoqiao's brain.

"Mirror Vision"—

You have received the blessing of Mirror Eye, He has stabilized your talent.