Returning from the abyss

Chapter 469 Crystal Broken
The case of the alchemist's attack stalled because the killer could not be found.In the next day or two, no new victims appeared, or at least no one was killed in the Moonstone area for the time being.

Afterwards, Lu Ning also fulfilled her promise with Jie Funi and went to the Bell Tower Academy to listen to a class taught by Dao He-A Xia.But if the first few courses are at least somewhat connected with her, summoning is something quite distant from alchemy. Lu Ning can only listen to it as a course to appreciate all kinds of strange beasts, and she really doesn't understand anything else. .

As for Dao He's style, it's a bit interesting.

He has really traveled to various places, and he is familiar with the customs and customs of many places. There is a story behind every strange beast.There are very few subjective colors in the story, it is all the cognitions of the local people, and gradually come to contact with strange beasts and understanding habits, even Lu Ning, who doesn't understand at all, thinks this is a very exciting adventure story, and can even remember it. The names of some strange beasts.

The only regret is that Do Hyuk doesn't take questions.

"To learn summoning, you must know that there are thousands of different people, and beasts have thousands of temperaments. I can't give a standard answer to the questions you ask. Summoning, contract... these things that have been said many times by countless people are not necessary. Talk more, the most important thing is how to approach, understand, and then become friends with a beast. The intelligence of any alien beast will not be low, and you can communicate with it if you have intelligence. This is what you really want to learn. I can’t impart any knowledge , I just hope that you can learn something from these stories I have carefully selected."

Dohyuk concluded his lecture with this passage, and the students gave him a standing ovation, and he bowed in return as well.

When Lu Ning got up and was about to leave with Jie Funi, she found Xue Ni walking down from the back row.At the same time, Xue Ni also saw Lu Ning.

"Lilian, I didn't expect you to come back to listen to the summoning lessons." Xue Ni smiled and glanced at Jie Funi next to her.

"Good day, Miss Xue Ni." Jie Funi said politely.

"Sorry, may I know your name?"

"My name is Geoffrey, you probably haven't heard of me."

"It's okay, now I know. It's a good thing that Lilian can make friends." Xue Ni smiled at Jie Funi.

"Xue Ni, why are you here?"

"...I am a three-level master of arcane, summoning, and formation. Have you forgotten our contract or did I start it?"

"But if I remember correctly, there should be a great magister-level summoner magician giving lectures in your academy. Why did you come to the bell tower farther away?"

"Aren't you usually very smart?" Xue Ni tilted her head and looked at Lu Ning, "Guess the reason?"

"...that person's lectures are repetitive, you have already heard it, right?"

"bingo."

While the three of them were chatting, the people in the classroom had almost left, and they came out together. Jie Funi seemed to be in awe of Xue Ni at first, but Xue Ni's few words made her become a friend. Attitude.

However, judging from the initial conversation between the two, Xue Ni seems to be well-known here.

Under the leadership of Jie Funi, Lu Ning and Xue Ni walked around the Bell Tower Academy together, and finally came to the cafeteria - a real cafeteria, not a place like a restaurant rented out to a few restaurants.

"Guanwu and Huoshi don't have this. Bell Tower College is the only place with a cafeteria in Moonstone District." Jie Funi introduced with some pride, "Are you two interested in tasting it?"

"It can't be that sacrament, right? I heard it doesn't taste very good." Xue Ni joked.

"The Holy Communion is only distributed when there are special sacrifices or services!" Jefni hurriedly explained, "This is the place where all kinds of meals are sold! And our chefs are very good!"

Another reason is that the price is cheap, which is what Lu Ning saw after walking in.The price of the dishes in the cafeteria is only about [-]% of the outside price. No wonder Jie Funi likes this place. As for the food, it is a normal big pot dish, which is not considered as Lu Ning who has eaten really delicious food in the distribution center. What a craft.

Of course, she would not say these words.

The three chatted while eating, after all, Lu Ning was not very familiar with the affairs between the two schools, so she was not able to talk.At this moment, a burst of heat in her pocket made her raise her eyebrows, and she took out the gem—it was actually Liz's.

Since getting these three gems, Xue Ni and Catherine have entrusted her to do a lot of things. Although most of them are small things like purchasing and delivering letters, they have established a good relationship between Lu Ning and the two.But Liz really never looked for her once. Over time, Lu Ning almost forgot that there was such a nominal "master".

She glanced at Xue Ni, and put the gem close to her ear.

"Lilian, where are you now?"

Liz's voice was cold and stern, with obvious anger, which was completely different from her usual mean tone. Lu Ning raised her eyebrows: "I'm at the Bell Tower Academy, and I just finished my class..."

"Now come to Guanwu Building No. [-], the VIP room on the second floor."

"What's wrong?" Lu Ning felt more and more that something had happened when she heard the tone.

"Collect the body." Liz spat out these words stiffly, and then cut off the communication.

She put down the gemstone and didn't hide the volume just now, so both Xue Ni and Jie Funi heard the content of the conversation, and their expressions were a little dignified.

"Let's go now." Xue Ni got up.

"I... I'll take a look with you too, maybe I can be of some help!" Jefni stood up hastily.The three left the Bell Tower Academy in a hurry, Xue Ni directly hired a car, and returned to Guanwu as quickly as possible.

There was already a circle of people outside Building No. [-]. Teachers from some schools sealed the door, while others were confronting the inside.

"Liz! Let's go in!"

"Sorry, it's locked down." A cold and heartless voice came from inside the building.

When Lu Ning and the others arrived, they happened to hear some teachers outside whispering to each other.

"What should we do? Let's rush in and disarm?"

"Those are the top students of the magic sword department, and we can't use killing magic. I'm afraid we will be knocked unconscious inside by force."

"Then what should we do? Are we going to find the guards?"

"How is it possible? There are our students inside! It's not some thugs!"

"But if you don't go in, you won't know what happened inside."

Xue Ni separated from the crowd and walked forward. The teachers here obviously all recognized this top student, and most of them knew about her relationship with Liz.

"Xue Ni, hurry up and persuade her. Liz suddenly closed the building, and all the people inside were kicked out by her classmate Demon Swordsman. We don't want to get rough."

"Teachers, please maintain the order outside. I will take care of it." Xue Ni nodded politely to the surrounding teachers, and led Lu Ning and Jie Funi directly into the gate.

The gate of the wide hall on the first floor was facing the wide stairs. As soon as the three entered, they saw the students and teachers of the magic swordsmen facing each other, as well as Liz standing on the stairs.She was wearing a combat uniform, holding a long sword burning with dark blue flames, and pressed her feet with a dignified expression.

"Liz, we are back." Xue Ni waved to Liz directly after entering the door, "What happened? Why did you have a conflict with the teacher."

"You're back too? Just right, let's go up together." Liz turned around slightly, and the magic swordsman students in front slowly made way for the three of them to walk through.

Turning the corner of the stairs and going up to the second floor, Lu Ning asked in a low voice, "What happened to Catherine?"

Liz nodded.

"What's going on?" Xue Ni frowned.

"A few days ago... Catherine also asked me to do something. I can't tell you because of the contract, but it made me feel that something was wrong. The most important thing is that Catherine has a doubt about her kingdom..."

"We can have a good talk about this later." Liz walked to the end of the corridor, in front of an open mahogany door, with a straight face.

The place where VIPs are received is naturally luxuriously decorated, with a vast space and an extremely grandeur.However, these are no longer the concern of the three of them. The only thing that attracts attention is the person lying on the red velvet carpet... or the corpse.

Catherine's eyes were half-closed, her expression was slightly ferocious, and a large number of crystals drilled out from under the skin on her body, even blocking the outflow of blood.She was wearing a truly expensive aristocratic dress that she wouldn't normally wear. Cobweb-like blood vessel bulges appeared on her arms and legs, and a large number of tiny crystal fragments were scattered around.

The most important place was Catherine's abdomen, a little bit above the navel, where a dark crystal was deeply embedded, and that was the only wound where blood flowed out.

"How could it be..." Xue Ni hurried to Catherine, lowered her head to check, while Lu Ning stopped Liz and Geoffney, and walked slowly by herself.

That crystal is the crystal of darkness, Lu Ning can recognize it.She looked around the scene, and based on the location where Catherine fell, there were three large armchairs with red velvet upholstery directly opposite. However, there were some chairs that were temporarily moved beside these armchairs, and there seemed to be a lot of people.

These people will not be gone for a long time, because the traces left on the flannelette have not disappeared.Liz gave her the news, and it took only 15 minutes to rush over. Where did so many people go?
Then she turned and walked back to the corpse.

It is clear that Catherine is indeed dead without an inspection, and the rest of the place may not be fatal, but the magic power imbalance caused by the dark crystal piercing the abdomen is enough to kill.The only problem is that...

She looked around carefully again, then reached out and raised Catherine's wrist.

The precipitation of crystals seems to come from inside the blood vessels, just like... what she described before, forming magic crystals in the body to control them.And since she did so, she must have taken the potion.As a pharmacist, Lu Ning knew very well that the potion would work very quickly, so Catherine probably wouldn't drink the potion in advance, after all, she used this bottle of potion as a preparation.

But—no pill bottle in sight.

Is it necessary for people who leave to take the medicine bottle with them?If Catherine took the medicine voluntarily, they didn't need to bear the psychological burden for it. Taking the medicine bottle would not take away the really important crystal of darkness, which is completely abnormal.

"Lilian, I..."

"Xue Ni, I thought of a question." Lu Ning lowered her voice so that only the two of them could hear, "Who was that bottle of fake death potion made for?"

"..."

"Catherine should have died in a suspended animation, but the current situation is that she really died. The panic on your face can't fool me. You know the specific situation of Catherine's country."

The reason Catherine gave her at the time was that she suspected that the royal family was secretly arming to provoke a war, so she would not give up the combat power of a crystal magician.But the deeper reason comes from her distrust of the entire royal family, and at the same time she does not want to betray the country.

"Lilian, I'm not calm right now." Xue Ni stood up with her head supported, and took two steps back, "You...check Catherine to see if there is still a chance."

"There is no chance for her to survive, at least I can't think of it. But I can do my best to restore the scene."

Just like what she paid attention to at first glance, what was more and what was missing at the scene, from which at least one could infer what happened at that time.If we want to go a step further and investigate the cause...

She reached out and took the small bag from Catherine's waist.

The style of this bag did not match her attire, so it must be something that a magician cannot leave. After Lu Ning opened it, she took a look inside, and there was indeed a space for a medicine bottle.

"Xue Ni, if you sensed Catherine's thoughts and used the fake death potion instead, what about the potion?"

"...I didn't change it."

"what?"

"I just realized Catherine's thoughts, then tried to find a formula, and prepared this potion for her. I gave the potion to her directly, and she accepted it and said she would consider it."

"When was that?"

"After you gave me the medicine, I will give it to her the next day."

That being the case, why did Catherine prepare another bottle of medicine?The Feign Death Potion was a better solution in every way - except for her own participation.

Lu Ning checked the package, but didn't see the bottle of potion that could delay magic power.

"So you don't know about the potion she asked me to refine?"

"We won't ask this level. Even the best friends have secrets to keep... But who would have thought that she would be killed?" Xue Ni gritted her teeth, "Liz! What was it when you found out? Happening?"

"I was worried about meeting Catherine with her family, so I secretly found a few people to come over. About three or ten minutes after the scheduled start time, the prince came out with two accompanying magicians, although his expression I can't see anything, but the pace of his footsteps is obviously much faster than when he came here. I really regret not stopping him!" Liz slammed her fist on the door frame, "When I came over, it will look like it is now, I Immediately ask those companions to find someone to block this place, and then notify Lilian to come over."

"Only three people?" Lu Ning asked.

"Only three left, that's why I'm going to block this place, the rest of the guys must stay here! I'm going to catch all those bastards!"

(End of this chapter)