141 A Study of Blood Words 3

"Hello, Mr. Claude." Faced with Claude's gaze, Ye Qingxuan took the initiative to greet him with a calm look.

However, Lestrade was pale, his lips trembled. He looked as if he wanted to run right then and there.

Perceiving his discomfort, Claude frowned slightly, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes. He looked to Ye Qingxuan, brow slightly furrowed. "Are you from here? Why don’t you have a badge?"

"This ... is my fault." Ye Qingxuan hesitated with an awkward look. "It was me. I begged Mr. Lestrade to bring me here. Please do not blame him. It’s because I have always wanted to join the police and become a good detective. Unfortunately, my family won’t let me.

"I will go back to my hometown in a few days, but I can’t just let it go. So, I asked Mr. Lestrade whether he could bring me here to have a look, so that I can be comforted."

Seeing Ye Qingxuan’s gentle appearance and skilled manners, Claude seemed to understand something and nodded in agreement. "Your family wants the best for you. No matter in what field you enter in the future, you can always make a career. There is no need to feel regret."

"Thank you for your advice." Just the right amount of relief was present in Ye Qingxuan's eyes, and Claude nodded with satisfaction.

"Take it easy, Lestrade." Claude patted Lestrade on the shoulder. "I came here to visit my friends and relatives. I’m not your superior today and I am not as strict as others. These small infractions are harmless to the secretary too, so just relax."

"Y-yes sir!" Lestrade lifted his head in disbelief, looked at the smiling Ye Qingxuan, and looked at Claude in wonder. He could not believe it. Had he really not been discovered? How powerful must the dark musician be that even the Starry Eyes of the School of Revelations could not see through him?

After a while, Lestrade finally snapped out of thoughts and realized that Claude had already left. In the light drizzle, the youth who had pretended to be a young elite looked at him with a smile, but his eyes were chilling.

"Just now, I was almost exposed." "Ye Qingxuan sighed softly. "You were really nervous. I thought you would just turn around and run away."

Lestrade’s hands trembled. He dared not to look at the man, and lowered his head, not knowing what to say.

"I don’t want something like this to happen again." The hoarse voice came to him as amnesty.

Lestrade nodded fiercely. "I assure you, sir, I promise."

"Then let’s continue." Ye Qingxuan took the lead, as if he was the man who was the most familiar with this place. "Time is precious. We better not waste it."

-

They were in the morgue of the Avalon Police Station. The acrid smell of disinfectants emanated from the silent cellar. Everything seemed ghastly under the dim overhead light. Here, even the moss in corner was dry due to the disinfectants. If a normal person stayed here for too long, he would feel as if he was lying in a coffin. The loneliness and silence was eternal.

Lestrade whispered something to the man who was guarding the morgue. The old policeman, who seemed to be limping, left obediently, dragging his lame leg.

"Here we are." Lestrade opened the freezer of corpses for Ye Qingxuan. Despite the chilly air conditioning, he pulled out the charred corpse.

Ye Qingxuan nodded. "Go out."

Lestrade wanted to say something, but he could find no words under Ye Qingxuan’s gaze. All he could do was walk out. The door was closed now.

Ye Qingxuan took off his hunting hat, placed it next to the corpse, and then shakily put on a pair of gloves. He looked down at the charred corpse and smiled.

"Since you left that signal, it means that there must be other traces. Whether or not your ridiculous revenge can be done depends on this now."

He reached out to lift the victim's wrist. On the charred upper body, the arm was still intact. Held in Ye Qingxuan’s hand, it felt the same as holding a living person’s hand, only if one ignored the coldness and absence of a pulse. Unfortunately, the dead are dead and the difference in feel was obvious.

Ye Qingxuan did not put in much effort to dissect the body. Instead, he just looked at the dead limbs. They were pale and very dead, of course, but were too withered. They were practically a bag of bones. Had the Professor evaporated all of this guy’s blood? That was too cruel.

Ye Qingxuan was even more sure of his hypothesis. He took out a ballpoint pen from his pocket, unscrewed the cap and took out the core.

"Sorry," he apologized to the body, and then pierced the hollow pen straight into the heart of the corpse. There was a sound like cutting leather.

He pulled out the pen. Looking at the practically charred heart, he smiled in satisfaction. "Next is the last step." He reached toward the neck, feeling along the charred skin. After a long while, he took a deep breath. "As expected, it’s a small world."

He took off his gloves and tossed them onto the corpse in disinterest, muttering, "Mr. Professor, counting you, I’ve dealt with most of Avalon legends now, but I never thought that the self-proclaimed ‘Professor’ was once like a demon..."

He did not know where the Professor was hiding, but he already knew how the Professor had punished the traitor, what the bloody word on the wall meant, and...The Professor’s big secret!

Just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly heard a cracking sound from the corpse. He looked back in shock, and saw that a part of the charred body—the part that he had touched—had cracked and caved in…

-

Outside the morgue, Lestrade waited patiently with his head down. At times, he would look up at the steel door, his expression changing. Other times, he would look back down sadly to continue waiting.

This was the Avalon Police Station, the headquarters for all Avalon policemen. All he needed to do was send out a small signal and thousands of armed men would surround this place. Even a dark musician, even Holmes, would not be able to escape! And if he moved quickly and shot Holmes, there would be no evidence! Only brand new glory would be left behind! Then he would not only have small and random cases on his resume. The dark musician that had been terrorizing the city would become a beautiful point in his profile. But just as he was hesitating, the door opened. Holmes walked out.

Lestrade quickly adjusted his expression and caught up to the man, giving a flattering smile. "Sir, did you discover anything?"

"Just a small secret," Ye Qingxuan said lightly. "In a while, your resume will have a new case. Congratulations."

Lestrade was overjoyed to receive Ye Qingxuan’s guarantee. "Thank you sir!"

"No problem. You deserve it." Walking ahead, Ye Qingxuan turned and suddenly asked, "Mr. Lestrade, do you know where a man’s biggest suffering comes from?"

"Huh?" Lestrade’s heart skipped subconsciously. Slightly panicking, he forced out a smile and shook his head stiffly.

Holmes laughed hoarsely as if he had seen Lestrade’s deepest thoughts. He reached out, patting Lestrade’s shoulder. "It comes from thinking that you’re clever when you’re not!"

In an instant, it felt as if Lestrade had fallen into icy water. He trembled but could not speak.

After berating Lestrade, Ye Qingxuan changed the subject. "Did anyone else come?"

"No." Lestrade shook his head reflexively. Perceiving the angry flash in Holmes’s eyes, he quickly explained, "Everyone who enters the morgue must register. I asked the guard, and no one came before us!"

Ye Qingxuan thought for a moment before saying lightly, "There are many ways to enter without being discovered by that old man. If you’re a musician, it’s easy to deceive his eyes."

"There are six musicians here. Other than the head’s office and highly classified files, they can go anywhere they want. There’s no need to deceive the guard."

"What if they come from outside?" Ye Qingxuan chuckled. "Like the man we just ran into coincidentally, Mr. Claude." He already knew who had just been here, as well as why the Professor turned the corpse into that state!

-

Just then, when the body's charred ruins broke apart in a strange way, turning to powder, Ye Qingxuan instinctively knew something was off. After examination, he discovered that it was just as he had expected. There were signs of aether erosion.

A large amount of aether had been forced into the body after the man had died. Although the body was still intact, the aether had weakened it to the point that it crumbled to dust as soon as Ye Qingxuan touched it.

If one used Bolero to analyze it carefully, one could even deduce that it had happened half an hour ago, based on the spread of the aether. That was to say that, half an hour ago, someone came here and used music on the body.

Coincidentally, a Royal Musician, who had nothing to do with the Avalon Police Department, came here to meet ‘friends and relatives' half an hour ago.

Ye Qingxuan would rather throw his brain onto the ground than believe it was a coincidence.

So a musician with the Starry Eyes, a Revelations musician who was skilled at deciphering the marks of all organisms, had suddenly come to the morgue, played music to a corpse burned by the Professor and then hurried away…

What did he do? He had evidently extracted the Professor's breath from the corpse to track the Professor! But was that so?

The corners of Ye Qingxuan’s lips curled into a mocking smile.

The Professor had completely toyed with the traitor. Would he really deliberately leave traces so that others could find him? Other than the apparent reason for burning the man, another reason was probably to leave a clue, right? He had left a clue so that the parliament would continue to hunt him down. Then he could prepare an ambush, quietly waiting for the killer hired by the parliament to arrive…After being betrayed by all, the Professor’s counterattack had begun!

"Well then, let me join the fun too," Ye Qingxuan whispered softly, and smiled subconsciously. Avalon was getting more and more interesting.