Witch Redemption

After that, he stood in a vigilant posture for nearly an hour, until the terrifyingly noisy footsteps and the occasional urgent knocking on the door sounded again, and his heart, which had almost jumped into his throat, finally calmed down.

"It's back to normal now, is it safe?"

Although the occasional urgent knocking was frightening, it was a characteristic feature of the Viana Theocracy after nightfall, and it actually made him feel at ease, because no terrifying creature was forcibly breaking down the door.

However, even though he judged that he was probably safe at the moment, he still dared not be careless in the slightest.

Glancing over, Thomas, who should have been a kind and honest man, was now deathly pale. As a monster, he was most sensitive to the crisis that had recently broken out.

The moment Li Lan opened the door a crack, several incredibly powerful individuals focused their attention on their location. The overwhelming aura unique to superiors almost made this level-five creation tremble in fear.

However, what Thomas did not expect was that his creator, faced with such a situation, would still be able to recklessly risk his life without batting an eye.

Finally, that dangerous act of playing with fire almost terrified him.

Unlike creations made from the corpses of low-level monsters like Mimicry Chaos, Thomas, being an intelligent monster created by a mid-level intelligent monster, is much more strongly influenced by his survival instinct, which will become his greatest weakness.

"Thomas, could you please keep an eye on things for me?"

Li Lan immediately noticed that the servant's mood was a bit off, so he immediately used "Courage" on the guy again, and only then did Thomas's expression soften.

"Thank you, Master!"

Feeling somewhat guilty, Thomas stepped aside and continued to focus his attention on the commotion outside.

"Okay, now we need to figure out what's going on with this guy."

Turning around, Li Lan realized that the little girl Yu Hui was tightly gripping his right hand, as if trying to hold him back.

Li Lan looked down and saw the little guy's terrified face. Unlike the fearful Thomas, Yu Hui was also frightened by so many high-dimensional powerhouses outside, but her fear disappeared quickly.

At this moment, she was like a cat with its fur standing on end, staring intently at the half-dead figure on the ground, revealing extremely obvious fear.

"what happened?"

Yu Hui shook her head, tightly gripping his right hand, her pleading eyes seeming to say, "This person is terrifying, she wants to harm you! Don't go near her!"

Having barely guessed what the little guy was thinking, Li Lan sighed, "Don't worry, she's about to die, she won't pose a threat to me. At worst, you'll be there to protect me, so what's there to be afraid of?"

This explanation felt a bit suicidal, but he couldn't care less about that now.

The person must be saved, and the whole story must be found out!

So many incredibly powerful individuals want to kill this girl, what exactly is her identity? Or is she herself a similarly powerful individual?

Li Lan had a knack for this. His desire to save her wasn't just a whim; he felt he could glean some clues from it, perhaps even uncover the real culprit who had killed the two witch seniors and obtain deeper intelligence.

...... ...... ......

The girl with grayish-white skin had fainted. She lay on the ground like a zombie, her black clothes tattered and revealing numerous wounds.

"first aid!"

The open grimoire emitted a pure white glow, and under this light, Li Lan's attention was completely focused on this petite figure.

"A total of two hundred and forty-eight wounds, the most fatal being on the chest and neck. The wounds are corrosive and have a cursed nature..."

Upon tearing open the clothing, Li Lan gasped in shock at the sight of numerous, densely packed wounds. These wounds resembled grotesque black centipedes, deeply imprinted on her petite body, with over a dozen revealing the white bones beneath.

Such terrible injuries would have killed an ordinary person ten thousand times over. How did this guy manage to survive?

incredible!

"This person is definitely not an ordinary person! She is much more powerful than I imagined! Her identity and status are probably far beyond my imagination!"

In an instant, Li Lan made a decision. He continued to instinctively tear off the large amount of black rags, completely exposing the girl's body to him.

To be honest, having seen so many women's bodies, he was already immune to it.

He never imagined that he, with his strong sense of male identity, would be as calm as a sage after transmigrating to this world.

“These wounds are extremely difficult to treat. We must first use life elements to remove the corrosion and curse, and some of the necrotic flesh needs to be cut off first…” Quickly taking out a complete set of knives stored in the magic book space, in “emergency” mode, Li Lan, like a real doctor, began to perform surgery on the girl whose injuries were extremely serious.

It must be said that "life element" is a good thing. This special energy substance, which can only be collected by the secondary profession of "pharmacist", can produce anesthesia and disinfection effects, reduce the patient's pain to a certain extent, and also promote healing ability and enhance the efficacy of recovery medicine.

The raised, sharp blades, after being disinfected and tempered by the life elements, began to skillfully cut open these hideous wounds.

Each time a portion of the black flesh is removed, the dripping life elements completely purify the black wound, gradually turning it crimson. However, this process is extremely time-consuming and energy-intensive, requiring complete concentration.

The tenth wound has been treated, the hundredth wound has been treated, the two hundredth...

Completely absorbed in the moment, Li Lan forgot everything else, focusing intently on swinging her sword rapidly according to her instincts, until the noisy sounds of vengeful spirits outside completely faded away, until the last wound on the girl's back regained its color and slowly began to heal.

"Finish!"

"But this won't save her life; at most, it will only extend her life by a year... Strange, she doesn't have a heart. How can she live so long without a heart? Could she be some kind of strange creature?"

Inside the girl's chest was a closed sphere made of bones. The sphere was empty, but Li Lan instinctively felt that there should have been a heart inside. Unfortunately, her chest was later forcibly ruptured by external force, and her heart was taken away.

From the very beginning, the girl's chest had an astonishing indentation, and all the bones near her chest had turned into fragments, which perfectly confirmed this.

"She is not human; she must be some kind of more terrifying intelligent being. Her physical structure and composition are not found in any creature in this world, nor is she a demon. I don't know what's going on."

Unable to comprehend, completely unable to comprehend, Li Lan began to question the meaning of life after just one night, as if she had dissected an alien.

"Alright, it's all taken care of now. All that's left is to interrogate her after she wakes up."

After taking out numerous bandages and applying the highest-grade recovery potion to the severely injured girl, Li Lan bound her up like a mummy. Her appearance was no longer discernible in the short term; all that could be seen was that she was a young girl.

After finishing all this, Li Lan dragged her tired body and left the guy on the second floor without thinking. Then she cleaned the messy first floor spotless.

It was already past six in the morning. The night had passed, the world of the living had returned, and the footsteps of the living could be heard once again from the outside.

...... ...... ......

The news of Virginia Palmer's death was personally delivered to the Southwest Noble District by the Dark Order's Garan Priest. No one expected that after waiting all night, the result would be such a terrible piece of news.

At present, all the Imperial soldiers were plunged into grief, and in addition to the grief, an uncontrollable resentment surged into their hearts, and the desire for revenge almost blinded them.

"Where is her murderer?"

Arnold Hopkins, the handsome brown-haired Imperial Major General, asked through gritted teeth, his eyes bloodshot, like a raging lion.

Having secretly loved his goddess for eight years, he finally received a response and experienced the happiest moment of his life last night. However, this happiness was ruined by a terrible murderer. How could Arnold not feel pain and resentment?

He knew that Major General Virginia had been prepared to die from the very beginning of this mission, after all, it involved a battle at the demigod level or higher. If it weren't for the impending mission and crisis, how could this usually strong-willed captain have so easily accepted his love?

There was also one thing he was very clear about: Virginia had a very high probability of not dying from the very beginning. It was all arranged by those above, and she was just there to go through the motions.

But why is it like this now?

“I’m sorry, Mr. Arnold, it was all an accident.”

The Imperial soldiers stationed in Kobe City had already communicated with the higher-ups of the Dark Order beforehand, and aside from some confidential matters, both sides were generally aware of the situation.

So the old man sent by the Dark Order spoke the truth: "Lady Virginia died while pursuing that supreme being. According to the Archbishop, her death was quite bizarre. At present, the Archbishop's abilities are insufficient to determine the true cause of her death. It is said that a powerful being of god-level or higher may have blocked the clues. Therefore, we have not yet come into contact with her remains. We need to ask Lord Arnold to make a decision. If necessary, we may need to ask your country's Immortal Iris, who is proficient in divination, to take action."

Unbeknownst to Bishop Garan, a demon from the abyss named Fenrir died in Kobe City last night, its body taken away by the Pillar God Leragin and his followers. Meanwhile, the Archbishop of the Dark Order, in his pursuit of the Sixth Apostle, Kalamiti, traversed almost every demon-infested region within a thousand kilometers, only to lose track of the apostle forever.

The apostle seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth, and the corrosive aura characteristic of the "Plague Demon King" disappeared completely overnight.

In order to distance himself from the death of Virginia Palmer, an Imperial soldier, the Archbishop of the Dark Order did not choose to search high and low for the possible culprit after returning to Kobe City. Instead, he left the Imperial soldier's body exposed on South 12th Street and quickly dispatched Priest Garan to inform him of the soldier's death.

The reason is simple: the best solution is to leave this biggest problem to the Empire without getting involved on-site.

No matter what kind of investigation the Empire demands, the Dark Order will assist from the sidelines and clear itself of all suspicion.

"Please follow me."

After informing the group of imperial soldiers, the elderly priest of the order began to lead the way for them.

...... ...... ......

At six o'clock in the morning, the sky was gray. Due to the prior lockdown of the area, all residents of South 12th Street had been notified not to leave their homes.

Because of the major murder that occurred last night, all residents of South 12th Street must now be subject to a search by the theocratic army.

Led by the priest Garan, a total of thirty-seven soldiers from the empire followed them to this devastated place.

On one side of the wide street, the body of a woman dressed in the uniform of an Imperial Major General could be clearly seen lying in a dried pool of blood, with large amounts of shocking bloodstains scattered everywhere.

On the pool of blood, besides the already stiff corpse, there was a head with its eyes wide open in death. The beautiful face showed bewilderment and a little shock, making it impossible to imagine what had happened to the deceased before his death.

“Virginia…”

Arnold suppressed his inner pain and remained silent for a long time before he managed to regain his composure.

"Judging from the manner of her death, Virginia was likely ambushed and killed. Based on the direction of the bloodstains, it should be..."

Immediately pinpointing the building closest to Virginia, Arnold made another judgment: "If the murderer was hiding in this room, then there is a high probability that he would have made his move here... No, the battle Virginia was involved in was a fight between demigods. All the known demigods have the power to kill any major general of an empire at will, so they should not deign to use such methods to eliminate her."

"Furthermore, the main reason the Dark Order notified us to come and collect the body was probably to distance themselves from the matter. The night in the Viana Theocracy belongs to the domain of the Goddess of Darkness. Outsiders who come here cannot leave safely unless they are at least at the level of a Major General. Even if they could, with so many powerful figures present, how could they not catch the murderer?"

No matter how you look at it, the possibility that the murderer is hiding in this building contradicts reality.

What's the most important thing in murder? It's the motive!

Why did this murderer ambush and kill the major general sent by the Empire? What was his motive?

After confirming that Virginia's artifact was not lost and her spatial backpack was intact, Arnold could only conclude that the perpetrator was not acting for profit, but rather out of personal grudge or for a deeper purpose!

Speculation aside, regardless of how his goddess died, Arnold will not give up on any possible clues at the moment.

"Thank you for your trouble, Priest Garan. Now, please conduct a thorough search of this area! All residents must be interrogated by the Empire!"

Chapter 22 Crisis Approaches

The time is 6:40 a.m.

After treating the strange girl's injuries and carrying her up to the second floor, Li Lan cleaned up the large amount of grime on the first floor. Just then, a loud knocking came from outside the door.

At that moment, his heart pounded. "It's now certain that the nights in this city are very unusual. It's very likely that the living and the dead are separated into two worlds. Otherwise, it's impossible to explain why, despite the intense fighting outside last night, not a single native went out to watch."

No matter what world it is, there will never be a shortage of onlookers.

"If I had ignored the commotion outside, the fighting outside might not have affected me. However, I recklessly broke the rules, and as a result, I was immediately tracked down by those powerful figures. As for the fact that I was able to ambush and kill that empire's soldier, it's very likely that she wasn't strong enough yet, which gave me the opportunity."

"Killing this soldier is one thing, but judging from what happened afterward, the Book of Judgment must have taken effect, otherwise those powerful people wouldn't have let me go so easily."

"Therefore, for me, the biggest crisis right now is probably the series of interrogations and searches that will follow. After all, the beautiful woman I killed wasn't far from me. In other words, the person knocking on my door right now could very well be a soldier from the Viana Theocracy!"

For a fleeting moment, Li Lan had the idea of ​​escaping, but he immediately dismissed it.

"No! I can't run away! Running away would be a sign of a guilty conscience. Even if I really didn't lay a hand on this guy, I can't choose to escape. This behavior will definitely be defined as fleeing from justice, and the consequences will be even more unfavorable for me! Because the forces and opponents involved are too strong!"

Li Lan has never been a coward. With the blessing of "courage", he is a reckless man who is prone to courting death. Although it is not appropriate to describe him as "skilled and bold", he is indeed so calm at this moment that even he finds it frightening.

"Thomas, open the door."