Chapter 130: There are new problems
“The other side?” Those detectives looked across, and indeed there were lights and patrol officers, but they couldn’t cross for now and needed to cross a bridge. One detective asked, “Are there water ghosts attacking on the other side too?”
“No, but there’s a trace of a magic attack over there. It’s not clear what kind of magic it is yet, but the power was immense, piercing the river embankment. We estimate it was fired from this side,” said the criminal investigation expert.
Sebastian pondered, this was a bit different from his guess. He thought water ghosts were naturally formed, but if the attacks weren’t indiscriminate, then someone was commanding the water ghosts to attack this slum? But what was the value in attacking a slum?
“This patrol officer died from friendly fire. We analyzed that he might have been affected by a mental spell, controlled by magic, and attempted to attack his comrades, which is why he was shot dead,” the patrol officer continued to explain their analysis.
Continuing the analysis based on this speculation, which was vastly different from reality, “So the attacker must be a mage. Undead beings acting on instinct alone cannot use such delicate spells as mental control; at most, they have some aggressive talents.”
“Not necessarily. There are also undead that can control people, like wraith possession, is that possible? And wraiths have no physical form, so they wouldn’t leave any traces even if destroyed,” a detective speculated.
“No, he wasn’t possessed by a wraith. There are no traces of undead erosion on his body,” Sebastian negated this speculation with a glance at the patrol officer’s corpse through his monocle.
At this moment, a detective suddenly thought of a doubt, “Wait a minute, you said the spell was fired from this side to the other side of the river?”
“Yes, that’s right. Theoretically, it should be like that,” the criminal investigators confirmed with a nod.
“Then, the zombies that came out of the river to attack were targeting the poor people hiding in the caves. Why would they cast a spell from this side to the opposite bank?” the detective asked.
“Exactly, unless there’s a target on the other side that a caster on the other side wanted to attack, or rather, there were… two mages present simultaneously,” Sebastian said.
Everyone fell silent for a moment. The mutual combat of two mages could explain the chaotic scene. As for the poor people and patrol officers, they were innocent victims caught in the crossfire?
“Alright, let’s assume there were two mages. Then one of them should be a necromancer, the attacker. What about the other one?” Sebastian asked.
“As for the other one, you might need to look at scene three to make a judgment. Scene three is the most chaotic, with many traces of spells left behind,” Officer Rothes said.
In fact, they could already see scene three. There were the most criminal investigators there, and many patrol officers were investigating and collecting evidence. A single glance was enough to know how chaotic it was.
There were all sorts of corpses there: floating bodies, scorched corpses, mummified corpses, dismembered body parts. But there was one strange thing: no human corpses, only water ghosts.
Actually, the entire crime scene had a fourth part deeper in. There were more human corpses than water ghost corpses there, but in this small third area, right in front of two or three caves, there were no human corpses at all.
The detectives began to analyze. From the number of fallen combatants, they could roughly assess the situation on each part of the battlefield. It was clear that the gangsters and water ghosts on the outermost part were roughly evenly matched, while the patrol officers initially had the upper hand and were then reversed. Scene three was an uphill battle throughout, and scene four was a downhill battle throughout. It was roughly like this.
While others continued to survey the scene, Sebastian said, “Putting aside how these water ghosts died, there are too many of them. How many corpses did you dump into the river? There are dozens of dead water ghosts here at first glance.”
“Mr. Cervantes, didn’t we already discuss this? It was the water ghosts brought by the necromancer, and it has nothing to do with the river,” one of the criminal investigators said with some displeasure at Sebastian repeatedly bringing up his theory.
“No, water ghosts can only form if they are soaked in magically polluted water for a long time. Even a necromancer has to follow this process. I’ve never heard of any necromancer who can summon undead out of thin air.”
Sebastian insisted, “With this water source, even without a necromancer, undead would surely be born. The magic concentration is too high. Or perhaps it’s precisely because the necromancer used this river to cultivate water ghosts that the river water became polluted.”
He rephrased it in a more tactful way. As soon as he said this, Officer Rothes’s expression changed immediately. If a necromancer deliberately polluted the water source to cultivate undead, then the problem would be very serious.
“You didn’t find the necromancer’s corpse at the scene, did you?” Sebastian asked.
“No, not even one that looked like it. They all seemed to be poor, low-level commoners and water ghosts, and there were no magic apparatuses left at the scene,” Officer Rothes said with a grim expression.
“Then it’s dangerous. It means the necromancer is likely not dead. He might attack again. If he summons undead in a downtown area next time…” Sebastian hinted.
Everyone else’s faces changed drastically. The consequences would be unimaginable, and they might all be fired.
“So, the river channel needs to be purified,” Sebastian said.
“But those people from the church charge a fortune, and they are unwilling to come to a sewer like this to purify pollution. I don’t have the authority to request them, I can only suggest it to the City Lord,” Officer Rothes said with difficulty.
While called a river channel, it was actually not a main river but a tributary used for factory discharge, so the pollution was particularly severe. Moreover, the City Lord didn’t care about its management, as long as the factories were operating, they would keep discharging waste.
Furthermore, Rothes was, after all, just a knight, and his position was only that of a senior police officer, not even a police chief. He had no power to make suggestions to the City Lord, and even if he did, the higher-ups wouldn’t listen.
“Then at least check upstream. Those residents and factories must be a problem,” Sebastian said, looking at the flowing river water with his monocle. The black river water appeared colorful in his eyes, with colorful currents like ribbons flowing down from upstream.
Just as they were still discussing the river problem, the criminal investigators surveying scene three finally shouted, “Alright, we’ve almost figured out how these corpses died. Uh, I mean, the reason they died a second time as undead. The situation… is a bit complicated.”
“Speak,” Officer Rothes impatiently urged. New developments were making him increasingly agitated.
“We suspect that a paladin or holy knight was involved in the battle, or perhaps a priest skilled in close combat,” said the person in charge of the autopsy.
“Huh?” Rothes was surprised and confused. What new development was this?
