Have you had enough, Miss Vampire? It's time to get down to business.

In the blink of an eye, several slender, sharp, and grotesquely shaped black claws emerged from the shadows under Marseille's feet at lightning speed and grabbed his hands, feet and throat respectively!

The malicious supernatural power surged into the body from the point of skin contact. The spiritual power circulation in Marse's body suddenly became disordered, and the original attack action came to an abrupt stop!

"The extraordinary power of the root of 'Shadow'... This guy is really John the Cleaner?" Astonished, Marcel stared at the figure outside the door with wide eyes, thinking, "Furthermore, he completely suppressed me with just one move... It seems he has really reached the fourth level!"

Hey, wait.

At this moment, he suddenly realized that the stranger outside the door seemed to be holding a magic spell in his fingers... a magic spell that had been used and was gradually dissipating.

So this isn't his own ability, but a spell he uses?

Marseille was a little confused.

Then, he saw the man slowly open his palm and summon a sword condensed from pure white light into his hand... At this moment, the two were only a few steps away from each other, and Marse could clearly feel the power of "holy light" contained in the sword!

what's the situation?

After "Shadow", this time we use "Holy Light" again?

Who is this guy?

Marseille was completely confused about the current situation.

The only thing that is certain is...this morning, that woman Della's divination was really correct...my fortune today is indeed very bad.

16. Trap in the Mirror

"Liu Guang" pierced into the chest of the illegal supernatural being Marse without any hindrance, killing him instantly.

As a third-level warrior, he is also the source of the "Fire" which is famous for its destructive power. To be honest, in a fair fight, even if he encounters an intermediate transcendent, he will not be completely powerless to fight back.

This way of dying now seemed a bit sloppy and a bit unfair to him.

But there is no way.

Who told him to meet Lor, an old silver coin whose skills became more and more skilled?

The enemy is in the dark, I am in the light.

Lor not only understood Marcel's abilities and level, but also knew his every move at the moment... In addition, Lor also held many chips in his hands, so there was absolutely no possibility of failure.

"We need to deal with the scene... Well, Marcel accidentally triggered the trap set by 'Cleanup Man John' in the room, and was trapped by the ghost hand of the Shadow Root." Lor muttered to himself, taking out a second-level fire talisman. "In a panic, he tried to use his extraordinary ability to escape, but ended up losing control of his spiritual power and seeking his own death... When I reached the second floor, he was already engulfed in flames and there was no hope of saving him."

boom!

The flames rose up and engulfed Marseille's still warm body.

When the body is burned and damaged to a certain extent, the real cause of death, that is, the wound in the chest pierced by the "flowing light", will become unrecognizable.

In addition, after destroying the corpse, other exorcists in the church would not be able to use the magic of "talking with the dead" to obtain information from him.

In order to use the second-level divine art "Talking with the Dead", two prerequisites must be met.

First, the corpse must be relatively intact and cannot be dismembered, burned, or severely decayed, otherwise it cannot serve as a medium for summoning souls; second, the soul of the deceased has not been purified or contaminated by evil supernatural powers.

"Then, next, we need to remove the effects of the Silence Barrier, then call in Vivian, who's waiting outside, and have her check Marcel's body."

But before that...

The FLAG voice in my head reminded me that there was something special hidden in this room.

"If nothing unexpected happens, it should be that mirror."

Lor frowned slightly, walked around the charred body of the illegal supernatural being Marse, and walked towards the mirror.

He also felt that the mirror was very strange and unnatural, but he couldn't figure out anything at the moment... He tried to reach out and touch it, but didn't feel any spiritual power in it.

"John, the Cleaner, why do you put a mirror here?" Lor looked at himself in the mirror and frowned slightly.

……and many more.

At this moment, a sudden flash of inspiration came to my mind.

This is just an unfounded guess.

But, it's worth a try!

After a brief consideration, Lor decided to follow this fleeting thought and quickly used the disguise illusion he learned from Isabella to transform himself into the appearance of John, the post-mortem man.

Sure enough, the strange mirror began to emit spiritual power!

Furthermore, the image reflected in the mirror began to change. The body of the illegal transcendent, Marcelo, had vanished, and so had the folders and newspapers he had rummaged through and scattered on the ground.

Inside the mirror is another space with furnishings similar to the room Lor is currently in, but not exactly the same!

"I see, that's how it works... This mirror only truly works when it reflects the face of 'Cleanup Man John'."

Lor understood and tried to touch the mirror again.

As a result, the finger sank into the mirror as if it were diving into the water!

The mirror is quite large. I can walk into it as long as I bend down and turn sideways... Moreover, there seem to be quite a few things on the bookshelf in the room in the mirror... a few books, a few small boxes... These things do not exist in the room outside.

Apparently, this is the secret room where "Cleaner John" hides important items!

Well, he probably doesn't come here often. He probably spends most of his time in the rented room below the tavern, otherwise he wouldn't have left his "account book" there...

Lor hesitated slightly, but still resisted the urge to go in and find out.

Firstly, he was not sure whether it was safe.

Secondly, Vivian was still waiting outside. If she delayed too long, the straightforward female colleague might start to worry about the situation inside and come in on her own initiative.

"However, I can't leave the mirror here, lest my colleagues discover anything unusual... Hmm, I wonder if I can hide it first and come back to investigate when I have the chance?"

The question is, where is it hidden?

...An alien space storage bag?

However, the size of this mirror is obviously much larger than the opening of the storage bag, about 50 centimeters wide, and it can't be stuffed in...

Having said that, Lor decided to give it a try.

He unexpectedly discovered that when he opened the bag and approached the lower end of the mirror, the lines on the left and right sides of the mirror began to twist and narrow, so that he put the mirror in effortlessly!

This seems to be some kind of space distortion phenomenon.

"So, no matter how big the object is, as long as I can lift it, I can put it in the storage bag?" Lor raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Hey, that's quite convenient."

……

A few minutes later.

Under Lor's guidance, Vivian carefully came to the death scene of the illegal supernatural being Marse.

"Be careful, don't touch anything in the room casually." Lor warned, "There may be other traps hidden here."

"Ah."

Vivian nodded seriously, then used the pure white light summoned by Lor's divine magic to carefully examine the scene, then quickly wrote down in her notebook:

"There are dark claw-shaped marks on the floor surrounding the corpse. These are traces left by the 'ghost hand' of the Shadow Root... According to Lor, this must be a trap set by John, the aftermath specialist."

There is no doubt about this.

No one could have imagined that Lor would actually have the Shadow Origin spell in his hand. As for why it was such a coincidence... after all, this spell was originally found on the corpse of John, the posthumous person.

"The ghost hand only restricted his movements. The real cause of death was self-immolation caused by the loss of control of his spiritual power." Lor added, "When I arrived on the second floor, this guy was almost burned to charcoal. It was too late to save him."

"But..." Vivian was a little doubtful. "This process should be extremely painful, right? Why didn't I hear any sound from outside?"

"His mouth was covered by the ghost hand, so he couldn't scream and could only make some muffled groans."

Lor explained, then he sighed and looked annoyed:

"It's a pity his body was so badly damaged. Otherwise, I could have used the 'Talking with the Dead' spell to get some information out of him... Also, if I hadn't been so cautious and rushed to the second floor earlier, I might have been able to treat him and save his life for interrogation..."

"There's nothing I can do about it. There's nothing I should blame myself for."

Vivian patted Lor's shoulder and comforted him:

"Besides, it's always a good idea to be cautious. The captain also said that I should learn more from you in this regard... Well, now that the target is dead, should we report this to Senior Joyce?"

"Yes." Lor thought for a moment and said, "Before we set out, Senior Joyce said that each group should send one person back to the church every two hours... The meeting time is almost here, let's seal off the scene here and then go straight back to the church."

17. Meeting

noon.

Gordon City Church, Captain Ronina's office.

It took some time to seal off the scene, so Lor and Vivian came back a little late.

The other two groups of contacts sent back, namely Ms. Helen and Rachel, the younger sister of the green-haired twins, have been waiting for some time.

"Huh? Isn't it enough for one person to come back and report the situation? Why did both of you come back?" Ms. Helen asked in confusion, "Don't we need to leave one person to keep an eye on the target?"

"The target is dead."

Lor didn't waste any time, recounting the circumstances of Marceau's "accidental death." As he did so, Vivian flipped through her notebook, adding details that Lor had omitted.

"So... this guy named Marseille went to two places in a row, but not only did he not find any clues, he even got himself implicated?" Captain Luo Nina, who was in charge of the remaining forces, frowned slightly, a look of doubt in her eyes. "This is... too unlucky, isn't it?"

“Sometimes, it’s just like that.”

Lor shrugged helplessly.

There was a period of three months when every assignment he received was a misunderstanding and he didn't get any decent credit. He was almost fired by the church, so he has a say in the issue of "bad luck".

"I don't think this is bad luck," Rachel interrupted. "They were overconfident and underestimated the cunning of 'John the Cleaner,' which is why they ended up like this."

indeed.

Even though they were in a strange city, these three guys dared to act separately... Although this is indeed more efficient, it would be difficult for them to take care of each other if they really encountered any dangerous situation.

Leaving aside Miles, a senior member of the Ferryman, his two followers, Della and Marcel, there is no guarantee that they can escape unscathed if they come into conflict with us church exorcists or local illegal supernatural leaders during the investigation.

But then again, the so-called "Brother Miles" may not care about the safety of these two followers at all.

Judging from the fear revealed in Marseille's words, Miles is definitely not a gentle and considerate good brother.

"What are the movements of the other two surveillance targets?" Captain Luo Nina asked again.

"Hey, don't mention it."

Ms. Helen spread her hands:

"That woman named Della sat in an open-air cafe on the street for most of the morning without doing anything special... Then she bought herself lunch and went to the lawn by the river to bask in the sun!"

Ok.

After all, Isabella had given her a hint, so she wouldn't do any serious work the whole day.

"All in all, it feels like this woman isn't serious about the investigation at all and is simply killing time... She's like a female version of Joyce," Ms. Helen commented.

"Don't say that." Captain Rhonina smiled faintly. "Joyce is still very reliable in critical moments... Unfortunately, that's only the case in critical moments."

"Oh, by the way, there's another little episode!" Ms. Helen suddenly snapped her fingers. "Lor's fiancée, Miss Isabella, happened to be at the outdoor cafe with her sister! She even talked to Della and asked her to do a divination!"

"Ah?" Lor quickly put on a shocked and anxious expression. "What a coincidence! Are Isabella and the others okay?"

"Hey, don't worry. Joyce and I are watching over you. What can possibly happen?" Helen quickly reassured him. "But honestly, the situation was quite unusual. Joyce and I were terrified... Fortunately, nothing happened in the end. But just to be safe, do you want to go home and see your fiancée?"

"Let's forget it." Lor deliberately let out a long sigh. "Since nothing happened, let's not tell her, lest she get scared later... Besides, Isabella doesn't belong to the church after all, so it's not convenient to reveal these mission details to her."

While speaking, he silently watched Captain Ronina's reaction out of the corner of his eye.

The captain is quite perceptive.

Two accidents occurred during the surveillance activities this morning. One was the death of Marcelo, and the other was the accidental appearance of Isabella... If you are suspicious and think deeply about it, you will find that they are actually related to Lor.

Will the captain have any doubts?

……Hard to say.

At least Lor couldn't read anything from Captain Ronin's expression.

But then again, even if the captain really had some doubts in his heart, it is unlikely that he would find any evidence against me... In the end, the only explanation for everything is "coincidence."

But I still have to be more careful. When I deal with the other two people next, there must not be any "coincidences" that can be linked to me.

Lor thought secretly.

"Next... Rachel, tell me about Miles's developments." Captain Ronina changed the subject, which made Lor temporarily relieved.