Whispering Verse

The smell during the examination of the stomach contents made both Schade and Mr. Bernhardt uncomfortable. Fortunately, Mr. Albert ended the process quickly, and then re-opened the abdominal wound, showing the two men the traces of what once existed in the abdominal cavity together with the internal organs under the skin and flesh tissue.

The traces were not obvious and had to be pointed out by a professional coroner for Messrs. Schade and Bernhardt before they could discover them.

"The shape of the thing that sucked her blood is uncertain, but it should be as big as two-thirds of my fist. Armand, use your blood vision to look carefully and distinguish the subtle traces of blood distribution. You can also find the traces of blood all over her body." All the blood has flowed here in a short period of time.”

So Mr. Bernhardt blinked, and Shade also activated [Echo of Blood]. Squinting your eyes to concentrate, those bright red traces mixed together gradually revealed the "echoes" left at different points in time according to their depth:

"The blood seemed to be surrounding an eggshell-shaped object."

he said softly.

"Oh? Mr. Watson, can you see it too?"

The coroner was a little surprised, and Mr. Bernhardt, who was still observing carefully, said for Shad:

"I said, Mr. Watson is quite powerful. Yes, I also saw it. There was an egg in her abdomen? This is much bigger than an egg."

"There's no way to prove whether it's an egg or something similar in shape."

The coroner continued to speak for the two of them, using tweezers to pick up the internal organs of the corpse for further analysis and explanation.

Shade frowned slightly:

"Eye of Edwards."

The thaumaturgy learned from Green Island to distinguish whether a person has undergone human body modification makes the red vision of "Echo of Blood" even more bizarre. Upon closer inspection, there was no abnormality in the abdomen of the corpse, probably because the egg-shaped object in the abdomen had disappeared. But if we look at other parts of the body, we can see that her bones are covered with abnormal light:

"There seems to be something wrong with her bones."

After subsequent testing, the bones of the corpse were significantly harder than those of normal people. Shade confirmed that this was not an innate talent, but something acquired. However, such an autopsy could not tell the cause of the bone abnormality. He could only guess that it was related to the egg-shaped object.

Schade and Herr Bernhardt stayed in the autopsy room until three o'clock that afternoon. After obtaining even a little too much information and asking about the location where the body was found, the two of them said goodbye to Mr. Albert, who had other jobs.

"I already regret that I have to participate in the autopsy. Let's go have a drink first."

After leaving the corridor behind the fence gate, at Mr. Bernhardt's suggestion, they returned to the Spider Tavern. The tavern in the lower town always seemed to have only a few customers. Under the dim light of the oil lamp, Shade believed that his face at the moment was similar to Mr. Bernhardt:

"I probably overestimated my adaptability. The impact of the picture is nothing. I have seen more terrifying scenes this morning, mainly because of the smell."

Mr. Bernhard shook his head hurriedly to stop his description:

"Please don't say it. I don't want to recall it. My sense of smell is also well developed. If this happens again next time, I must first get a charm that temporarily disables my own sense of smell."

The smell of bad ale washed away the stench of corpses and preservatives in the autopsy room. Both of them wanted to sit down and take a rest, so they didn't leave immediately.

"Speaking of which, how did you meet Mr. Ptolemy Albert?"

Shade opened up a new topic, and Mr. Bernhardt didn't mind revealing some privacy:

"I met him when I was still a student at Willendale. He was a student at St. York's Medical College in Willendale, and I was studying literature and political economics at Wang Liwen College. When the college organized an outing, I met this fellow of the same race. . Even though he seems to be in trouble now, he was quite famous when he was in school. Needless to say, he has excellent grades, and he has published papers on the projects and research results he participated in. "

"Did he come to Yuewan directly after graduation?"

"No, no, I went to the New World. Ptolemy aspired to become a doctor, and he liked all kinds of herbs and plants, so he joined the Carsonlik New World Exploration Corps and became a military doctor. After he went to the New World, because it was inconvenient to exchange letters, we The contact with me was much less. About eight years ago, I received another letter from him. He had settled in Yuewan by then.

After returning from the New World, he joined a small clinic as a doctor, was introduced by his friends to be a tutor for nobles, and even briefly served as a lecturer in a local school. He told me that if I came here, I could sit with him and have a glass of wine like we did when we were students. "

Recalling the past, Mr. Bernhardt also felt a little sad:

"I don't know why he chose such a job in the end. It's not that the coroner is not good, it's just... well, this job is indeed not very good. He said that he likes this kind of life, but in my opinion, his academic level It’s very high. Even if you don’t stay in the academy and open a clinic by yourself, it would be better than now.”

Shade raised his eyebrows:

"I am not doubting your friend, am I?"

Mr. Bernhardt nodded to express his understanding:

"I know what you mean. I have also read "Hamilton Detective Stories". The story in the third issue of "The Wind Rises" tells the story of the coroner himself being the murderer. But Ptolemy was a just man. He was like this when he was young, enthusiastic, friendly, and fond of fighting injustices. Although this caused him some trouble, no one would doubt that he was a truly good person."

"Justice. I understand."

Shade nodded slowly, choosing to trust his friend:

"I have other things to do in the afternoon, but I will also help investigate this matter later. I didn't expect to hear about this kind of thing just after arriving in the Yuewan area. I thought my adventure in the Yuewan area would be very interesting. "

"I wish you would encounter less interesting things like this."

Mr. Bernhardt said helplessly, raised his glass and touched Shade:

"Then let's celebrate our reunion in a foreign land, and thank you for your willingness to help with the investigation."

"It's nothing. Oh, speaking of which, I don't have a fixed address in the Yuewan area for the time being. If you come to me for anything, you can come here."

Shade took a sip of ale, then took out his notebook and wrote the address by hand, and Mr. Bernhardt also told Shade his temporary residence.

When he saw the address on the torn-off notebook, the middle-aged vampire was quite surprised:

"Princess Trading Partner? Is this a trading company in the Docklands? Is this your own business?"

Shade shook his head:

"No, no, I have a friendship with their boss. A very good friendship. You know, I usually travel everywhere, so I put my mailing address with them so that I can send and receive letters."

Mr. Bernhard nodded knowingly, but he did not know that the "Princess Trading Partner" was actually the local manpower of the Princess of the North. After all, this is the United Kingdom of Kasenlik, so in order to facilitate the movement of one's own people, it is of course necessary to establish a legal company.

"Princess Trading Partners" is nominally an enterprise jointly operated by a group of business partners. Its main business scope includes the import and export of raw materials, industrial products, agricultural products, etc. There are countless such small import and export trading companies in the Yuewan area, so they look quite inconspicuous. The company is located on Golden Harbor Street near the sea in the dock area. The name means wealth and prosperous business.

The company has an independent three-story building. On one side of the building is a small shipyard. From the entrance of the shipyard, there is a landslide leading directly to the sea with dense docks and piers in front. On the other side of the building is the company's warehouse, so the size of the trading company shows how small it is.

After bidding farewell to Mr. Bernhardt who was busy investigating, Shade set off there. It's just that he didn't visit immediately after getting off the carriage. Instead, he stood at the end of the dock trestle, with his back to the cargo boxes piled on the trestle and the busy sailors and workers, and took a deep breath into the sea, hoping to use the breath of the sea to dilute the strange smell on his body.

The dock area of ​​Yuewan City is no less busy than the Coldwater Port. The large and small ships moored next to the dock pier are stepping up their unloading, and there are countless ships waiting to be berthed on the dark sea. The dock area of ​​Yuewan City generally presents an "L" shape with an angle greater than 90 degrees, which is also related to the crescent-shaped coastline of "Yuewan". If it weren't for the bad weather, the scenery here would be pretty good. But at the expense of scenery in exchange for trade, probably only a few people in this era would object.

After walking off the trestle, we arrived at No. 45 Golden Harbor Street. The door of the three-story building was closed tightly. Shade knocked on the door and heard a sound before turning the handle and entering.

Although it was only a company established to disguise smuggling, the interior decoration of "Princes Trading Partners" is not bad at all. There are not many people on the first floor, there is no counter here, the sofa set is where guests are received. Maps of Yuewan City and the west coast coastline are hung on the walls, and there are bathtubs and shell specimens on display on the cabinets in the corner.

On the wall next to the door were various registration certificates of the company, and the person who received Sha De was a lady who was blind in one eye and even taller than Sha De.

Her black hair is tied into braids, her skin is rough, and her eyes are big. This is the typical appearance of the tribesmen in the central desert region of Kasenlik. The fierce-looking woman was very polite when she spoke. After the two parties sat down on the sofa, Shade explained his purpose:

"It was the lady who asked me to come. She was very dissatisfied with the delay in leaving the port."

"That lady is"

The one-eyed woman asked curiously, and Shade touched his pocket:

"Ms. Anne Bonny, I think there is no need for us to test each other. We cannot mention that lady's name lightly. This is the letter she wrote to you, and the contact mark she gave me."

He handed the letter and a silver-plated chess piece representing "Knight" to the other party. The latter opened the letter and read it carefully, then raised his head and said to Shade:

"According to the rules, we still need to check the password. Ahem - how is the situation at home?"

"The wheat harvest was bad, but the apple harvest in the orchard was good."

"A red apple, a green apple, or a blue apple?"

"No, it's a rotten apple. But that lady believes that even if it's a rotten apple, you can transport it."

The one-eyed Ms. Anne Bonny stood up immediately:

"Please allow me to express my apology to His Highness. The goods will leave the port as soon as possible."