The Gentleman at the End-Chapter 650 - 648 Investigation

The oversized shoes moved up the old, narrow staircase, each step covering at least five stairs. Based on the comprehensive clues collected and inferred so far, they ultimately stopped in front of a certain guest room door.

Facing the antique door lock, the detective directly inserted his little finger.

Click~ As the door swung open,

both detectives had their arms inside the linings of their coats, making gestures as if they were drawing guns.

But the scene that unfolded before them was starkly different from what they had anticipated,

two middle-aged people, over forty and stripped of their clothes, were lying on the bed, trying to cover themselves with the bedding as much as possible, with a small card placed on the bedside table.

Before the detectives could speak, the woman took the lead, "We haven’t engaged in a cash transaction, it’s just a normal exchange between friends."

The man quickly got dressed at top speed, trying his best to hide his embarrassed expression.

The detectives quickly surveyed the interior of the room, faces full of confusion.

"Did we miss a floor? That shouldn’t be,"

The detectives didn’t care about the two people who might be engaging in illegal trade; they turned and continued up the staircase to the floor above.

But when they opened the door to the guest room, the same scenario was before them, a fallen woman, trying to put on her underwear, was startled into screaming by the arrival of the detectives again.

"Ah! Officers, if there’s anything, just say it..."

By then, the detectives had realized something was amiss.

They no longer ascended the staircase but stepped into the room of the fallen woman and directly climbed out of the window, proceeding to the higher floor by scaling the wall.

Because it was no longer a threshold space, the cycle of the stairs had been broken.

When they climbed into the target room, it was already empty.

A cup of instant noodles on the bedside table was still steaming, indicating that the occupant hadn’t left long ago, and there was also octopus slime similar to what was found in a cargo aisle on the pillow.

The window was open, with rain drifting in, and there were faint footprints left on the windowsill,

suggesting that the suspicious tenant had already left during the time the detectives were checking rooms downstairs.

The detectives didn’t immediately jump out of the window to chase after them,

They were well aware that if the other side had someone capable of altering spaces, they would become lost in the complex alleyways of the urban village even if they chased after them now, so they decided to stay and gather clues instead.

In the light,

the detectives’ "faces" were finally revealed. They had no facial skin—instead, they were covered with a linen-like fabric structure,

The whole piece of linen served as their skin, enveloping their skulls, their hair growing out through the gaps at the top of the linen, which was why their faces could not be seen clearly in the night.

On the front of the linen, at the position corresponding to the "face," there was the emergence of a dark red blood.

While the blood moved, it remained stable in the shape of a Chinese character.

The detective responsible for clue investigation and aura tracking had the character "Inspect" embodied on his face,

the detective who followed throughout the process and seldom spoke had the word "Urgent" on his face,

The "Inspect" faced detective carefully moved through each area, running his fingers across all the suspicious spots, smearing all kinds of dust on his face, where the blood would envelop the dust and run related analyses.

Ultimately, the two detectives sat on the edge of the bed,

"This is proving to be much more troublesome than imagined, it seems the fugitive we’re dealing with is not so simple~ Even if we now request the police department to block the main roads around the county, it won’t stop such an escapee, who can just slip away by altering the space a bit.

It looks like this case is going to be very tough to crack. Let’s head back for now."

The man with the urgent look on his face, who had barely spoken throughout the journey, now gave his opinion, "Do you remember the case classified as a ’Level II’ malignant incident three years ago? One of the crime scenes seems to be this urban village. I just thought of it."

The detective with the perceptive look tilted his head, "Hmm? Now that you mention it, I kind of remember... Back then, an average of one dismembered body was discovered here each day, and later a superior took it upon himself to handle the case.

It took a month of investigation, and a large police force was continually engaged.

Although they eventually claimed to have caught the suspect, it was common knowledge that the suspect was just a scapegoat the superior had found to protect his reputation."

The urgent-faced man continued, "When I was walking in the stairwell just now, I faintly detected some unusual aura. The owner of this hotel seems to harbor some unsightly secrets. Shall we investigate?"

"Sure... there’s nothing much for us to do back at the station anyway. Let’s investigate! However, the higher-ups definitely wouldn’t want to reopen the case, so if we actually find something, we’ll have to deal with it ourselves."

"It doesn’t matter to me. I didn’t become a police officer for a promotion or a raise."

As the two detectives descended the stairwell, the hunchbacked owner, wearing only a tattered vest and flip-flops, came shuffling over, "Didn’t manage to catch them? What a pity.

I initially thought they were a family of three traveling to our Yu Yuan County from abroad. While I had my doubts, I didn’t take it to heart.

I should have been more vigilant and reported it to you earlier."

The perceptive-faced detective put a hand on the owner’s shoulder, "It’s alright, you’ve been very cooperative. It’s our own lack of ability that allowed the culprits to withdraw in advance. free𝑤ebnovel.com

By the way, can we have a seat in your house? We’d like to inquire about the specific details of the foreigners to help us with our report."

"Sure, there is paper and a pen at the reception desk. Let’s discuss the details there."

"No... the reception is a public area after all. Our conversation might get leaked. It’s better to talk at your home."

"Officer, how about we talk in this guest room? My wife and child have already gone to bed, and if we go inside, we might disturb them."

At that moment, the hand resting on the owner’s shoulder suddenly tightened, "Haven’t you grasped my meaning yet? Besides wanting to investigate the foreigners, we also intend to take a look at your place.

My partner said he felt a bit uncomfortable the moment he stepped into this old building, so please cooperate with us."

"No problem, please follow me. Should I wake up my wife and child for questioning as well?"

"No need, we just have some questions for you for now."

Deep along the corridor to the right of the reception desk lay the living quarters of the hotel owner, marked by a curtain made of black bodhi seeds at the entrance.

A plethora of red candles of varying lengths and sizes dotted each corner of the room.

A shrine carved from ebony, adorned with numerous twisted and bizarre images on its lattice panels, was prominently placed on the central wall. On either side of the divine statue, there were couplets inscribed.

≮Blessing offspring to humanity, continuing the cherished lineage with joy≯

≮Guanyin bestows dew from heaven, gifting the people everlasting fortune and dispelling all disasters≯

The couplets alluded to the ’Fertility Guanyin’, but the statue in the center was rather strange,

Indeed, the main body was a plump ’Guanyin’, yet it wore no clothing, and it seemed to be nursing a child in its arms.

Upon closer inspection, one could see that the child was not cradled but embedded within the bosom, to be precise, the child didn’t appear to be an independent entity but more like a proliferation on the ’Guanyin’.

"A divine statue that has been consecrated? Has your family made some significant contribution, or won an award at a nationally recognized major competition?"

"Yes, my wife broke the Guinness World Record for the longest pregnancy, and the certificate is in the room. Please wait a moment, officers, I will go get it for you."

"Alright."

With the owner gone, the two detectives closely examined the shrine and discussed it, even comparing the statue’s rank to the one worshiped at the police station,

Unnoticed by them, a pregnant woman was already standing at the entrance, her belly alarmingly large and covered with countless purple veins protruding on the surface,

If one observed closely, they could see the facial outline of a child, peering through the mother’s belly, observing the strangers who had intruded into their home, or perhaps seeing a different kind of ’raw meat’, urging the mother to feed him quickly.

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