Chapter 2116: Sealing the Ship
“My thoughts are so slow, and my line of reasoning has been continuously interfered with!” The police chief finally discovered the problem. His thinking had become very strange since a moment ago.
“You’ve fallen for the murderer’s ruse, old friend. Calm down, sit and rest. This situation won’t last; it will pass soon,” Detective Castiel said.
The police chief was very nervous and showed a hint of fear. For many years, being a detective relied on his mind. Now that his thinking was flawed, how could he not be nervous?
“How can you tell me to calm down?! That bastard actually tampered with the corpses! I should have discovered it earlier. Why didn’t you protect me earlier?!” the police chief questioned Detective Castiel loudly.
They had been good partners just now, yet the police chief was blaming Castiel, who had actively protected him. This surprised everyone whose minds were still clear.
However, upon remembering that his mind was currently affected and not normal, everyone understood. Detective Castiel wasn’t angry, but softly said to the police chief, “Old friend, you’re too tired and need to rest.”
The police chief seemed to suddenly realize. “Oh no! What did I just say? I’m sorry, you know, I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t control my mouth just now.”
“I know, old friend, don’t be anxious. I know you’ve been subjected to a malicious mental influence, and I don’t blame you. What you need most now is calmness and rest,” Castiel said calmly.
“Intelligence reduction,” I muttered to myself. I had already seen the effect of this mysterious aura. It must be interfering with people’s minds. Once a sharp and decisive person is affected by the aura, they can’t even think normally.
“Little girl, what did you say?” Detective Castiel, being very astute, heard my muttering and was suddenly guided toward the right path.
“Looking at the reactions of all the uncles, it’s obvious. Their minds are all not right. If it’s not intelligence reduction, what is it?” I said, pretending to be an innocent little girl. I have to say that Parul’s original appearance was cute and petite, making it easy for people to lower their guard.
As the saying goes, children speak the truth. They took my words as casual remarks and didn’t think I had any deeper thoughts. But this seemingly simple sentence made Castiel alert, giving me a Conan-like feeling.
“An intelligence reduction curse?” Castiel pondered for a moment. Intelligence reduction curses were not uncommon. Lowering intelligence was mainly to deal with mages who relied on their intelligence and brains to cast spells, but lowering it to this extent was very rare.
My words also cleared the police chief’s mind, and he discovered his mental problem. He began to try to empty his mind, not thinking about anything. Since thinking more only led to mistakes, it was best not to think at all.
“Tsk! It’s impossible to continue the investigation now. We can only preserve the corpses and the scene well and continue the investigation after everyone’s minds return to normal,” Detective Castiel decisively gave orders in place of the police chief, who had lost his ability to judge normally.
The police chief also knew his condition and did not speak. The police officers immediately obeyed Castiel’s orders and began to preserve the scene.
“Wait a minute, you want to investigate another day. Doesn’t that mean I have to dock the ship at the port and can’t set sail today?” Calo asked nervously.
The other merchants’ expressions changed. Many of them were in a hurry. Some of their goods had expiration dates, and some of their intelligence had time sensitivity. Every day of delay was a huge loss for them.
“I can’t help it, Mr. Calo. A murder case has occurred on your ship. You wouldn’t want to have a murderer on board while sailing, would you? Moreover, he is probably not simple,” Detective Castiel said regretfully.
“I don’t care about such things. I hired you hoping you could catch the murderer promptly, and you can’t even solve the case now!” Calo became somewhat angry. He was not affected and lose his mind; he was simply frustrated by too many unfortunate things happening.
“Right! If you can’t catch the criminal, does that mean we have to stay on this haunted ship for another night? I absolutely refuse! I’m going ashore to stay at the inn on the island!” the other merchants also refused to stay.
Anyone who saw the惨状 of the three dead people knew that the ship had become a dangerous place. Not every merchant had powerful magic artifacts like Calo to protect them, so how could they dare to stay?
“I apologize, everyone. Until the case is clear, the murderer might be hidden among you. Please stay on the ship voluntarily until the case is solved and do not leave casually,” Detective Castiel said immediately.
“What did you say? Are you treating us as prisoners?!”
“You want us to stay in such a dangerous place, where we could be killed at any moment!”
“Ultimately, you can’t even confirm if the culprits are still on the ship. Perhaps they’ve already escaped!”
“Know your place. You are just a detective, not the police. You have no right to seal off a cruise ship!”
As soon as they heard Castiel’s words, all the merchants exploded. They voiced their objections one after another, putting immense pressure on Castiel. These merchants were not easy to deal with.
“Bang!” Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, startling everyone. They looked over and saw the police chief drawing his pistol and firing a shot into the ceiling. “Detective Castiel will carry out all my orders in my stead while I’m unable to command. Anyone who disobeys, I’ll shoot!”
He was truly in a state of diminished intellect. If it were normal times, this would be a clear violation, but now he was half-mad. One couldn’t seriously argue with a madman, could they?
These merchants really didn’t dare to openly defy a police chief’s orders. Regardless of whether he would shoot them directly, if a dispute arose, it would be classified as assaulting an officer.
Not only would they face arrest and siege by the police, but they would also provoke the island’s defense forces. If they were directly blacklisted by Iberian, would they still be able to do business?
So, everyone quickly fell silent. Detective Castiel also had to make a promise: “I will do my best to solve the case. Additionally, during this period, I will arrange for police to patrol the ship in shifts to ensure your safety.”
The police patrolling in shifts made the merchants feel somewhat safer. However, even if they hadn’t made a fuss, Castiel would have arranged for police patrols. This would not only protect the scene but also potentially find the criminal.
But I felt this was not a good idea. Let alone being alone, even groups of two or three police officers would be no match for Despair Double Sound. In fact, I felt that even all the police here combined couldn’t defeat them.
At this moment, I heard Castiel sigh, “Alas, if Sebastian were here, perhaps the case would have been solved by now.”
