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Sounds and shadows of rats and cockroaches scurrying to and fro were ubiquitous.
In the lower district, a place littered with garbage heaps, these shadowy creatures were particularly rampant.
Su Mu frowned, a primal fear of such things stirring within him.
During his previous visit, Roland and the others had accompanied him, their conversation serving as a distraction that kept his attention away from the vermin.
Now, returning with Bai Ji, he truly began to grasp the squalor and desolation of the lower district.
Carefully, Su Mu stepped around black, unidentifiable decay on the ground, dodging the rats and insects that scurried everywhere. The journey had left him utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally.
He gazed at the labyrinthine, dilapidated alleyways before him, then steeled himself, ready to plunge in.
“Your Highness, this way.”
Bai Ji, ever-attentive, promptly caught Su Mu’s arm and gestured towards a side path.
As a Sword Saint, her memory was formidable; she recalled every path she had traversed. She corrected Su Mu just as he was about to wander down the wrong route.
Su Mu awkwardly rubbed his nose.
He was notoriously bad with directions, especially in complex alleyways devoid of any distinguishing landmarks. For him, it was essentially navigating blind.
Fortunately, with Bai Ji leading the way, Su Mu quickly found himself back at the Baron’s house.
However…
“Thump, thump, thump—”
Su Mu knocked on the door for a long time, yet received no response.
“Strange, where is everyone?”
Only a short while ago, an entire family had been inside, wailing in grief…
Su Mu exchanged a glance with Bai Ji.
Bai Ji understood immediately, drawing her sword.
“Clang—”
In a flash of lightning-fast movement, two streaks of sword light glinted.
In the blink of an eye, the thick wooden door had already splintered into several pieces of broken wood and fallen to the ground.
Though Su Mu had witnessed Bai Ji’s extraordinary power before, this display still made him inwardly click his tongue in amazement.
Kicking aside the shattered wood, Su Mu stepped inside.
The mansion’s interior still bore the mournful decorations, but strangely, not a single person was to be found.
Su Mu looked around, a frown creasing his brow, a sense of confusion settling over him.
Less than two hours had passed since his last departure and his return. In such a short time, the entire family had vanished without a trace.
The empty mansion, coupled with spiderwebs adorning the rafters, exuded an unspeakable eeriness.
After several turns through the residence, Su Mu found no clues whatsoever.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he seemed to glimpse that familiar pink figure once more.
This time, Su Mu did not hesitate, immediately pursuing the direction in which the pink figure had appeared.
“A’Bai, let’s go outside and check.”
Bai Ji followed behind Su Mu, sensing that he was pursuing something, and asked, “Your Highness, what is it?”
Su Mu jogged along, replying, “Did you see a pink figure? I think it might have been Laura?”
Bai Ji concentrated, sensing her surroundings, but found no trace of Laura nearby.
“No.”
Su Mu mused, yet he held firm to his conviction, trusting his intuition as he continued his pursuit.
He led Bai Ji through the labyrinthine streets and alleys, his mind entirely focused on the mysterious figure. He paid no attention to the rats, insects, or rotting debris beneath his feet.
Before he realized it, he found his vision suddenly expanding. He had arrived before an enormous garbage dump.
The phantom image that had been recurring in his mind now completely vanished.
Su Mu frowned, scrutinizing the area with a puzzled expression.
Suddenly, he noticed a familiar body wrapped in white cloth lying on the surface of the garbage heap.
Su Mu endured the overpowering stench, hesitating whether to go up and lift the white cloth.
The white cloth was already soaked with sewage. Su Mu tried to find something on the ground, any tool that might help him lift it.
Suddenly, his gaze fell upon Bai Ji behind him, and a slight smile touched his lips.
He had almost forgotten; he had a versatile and intelligent tool right here…
“A’Bai, could you help me retrieve that body?”
Su Mu asked with sincere earnestness.
Bai Ji acted without the slightest hesitation.
She seemed completely unfazed by the grime on the corpse, lifting it directly and bringing it before Su Mu.
Observing the appearance of the body within the white cloth, Su Mu’s expression grew solemn.
Indeed, it was the unfortunate girl from before, Rosie.
The Baron’s family had vanished, and she, unexpectedly, had been abandoned here.
Su Mu sighed inwardly.
This single corpse provided no useful information. So, what was the mysterious phantom guiding him here for?
Just as Su Mu pondered this, Bai Ji’s sharp gaze fixed on the other side of the garbage heap, and she warned, “Your Highness, someone is there.”
Su Mu looked as she indicated, seeing a hunched old woman with a wrinkled face, leaning on a stick, tottering as she rummaged through the mountain of trash.
She appeared to be a scavenger.
As Su Mu observed the old woman, she also noticed Su Mu and Bai Ji, as well as Rosie, wrapped in white cloth, at Su Mu’s feet.
The old woman’s pupils contracted, and her face contorted with expressions of fear and fury.
She raised a trembling, gnarled arm, pointed at Su Mu, and wailed, “You, what have you done?! My Rosie, my poor Rosie! You vicious villains! To commit murder in broad daylight! Rosie, my Rosie…”
The old woman appeared frail, yet her voice was astonishingly loud.
She stumbled over and knelt before Su Mu, cradling Rosie’s pale face, letting out a low, mournful cry.
Su Mu frowned, explaining, “Grandma, you’ve misunderstood. This girl’s death has nothing to do with us.”
However, the old woman was frantic, refusing to listen to Su Mu’s explanation. She lifted her eyes, clouded with murky tears, and stared intently at Su Mu, ceaselessly uttering harsh curses.
“Grandma, please let me explain.”
“You villain! Why, Rosie was such a good child, how could you lay a hand on her! You cold-blooded beast!”
The old woman cursed with fervor, her emotions escalating. She even began to lash out, frantically tearing at Su Mu’s clothes with her grimy hands.
Su Mu recoiled two steps in disgust, but the old hag showed no restraint, taking advantage of the situation to vent her emotions.
Bai Ji had long since grown impatient, her face covered in a frosty layer, looking as if she were on the verge of erupting.
Whether in his previous life or this one, Su Mu most feared these unreasonable, stubborn old ruffians.
He cast a pleading look at Bai Ji.
Bai Ji’s internal restraints were released. She immediately drew her sword, ready to eliminate this old hag who dared to be so disrespectful to His Highness.
The old woman flinched in fear, sensing Bai Ji’s killing intent, but still defiantly cried out, “It wasn’t enough to kill my precious Rosie, now you want to kill my old bones too? Come on! Come! Kill me! Let me die with my precious daughter!”
Su Mu raised an eyebrow.
*Good heavens, she’s practically begging for death, daring to provoke Bai Ji like this?*
At this, even Su Mu, who usually disliked taking lives unnecessarily, felt a surge of killing intent.
“A’Bai, make it quick, leave a full corpse.”
Bai Ji nodded, her eyes icy.
She had originally intended to sever the old hag’s hands for daring to touch His Highness’s noble body, but since the kind His Highness had spoken, she would follow his wishes.
Bai Ji thrust her sword, piercing the old woman’s chest amidst her astonished gaze.
Something seemed to be hidden within the old woman’s chest, causing Bai Ji’s longsword to momentarily pause. But it was in vain; the next second, the longsword, empowered by Bai Ji’s sword intent, pierced through both the item and the old woman’s chest.
Su Mu, who had been quietly observing, suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest.
A familiar, explosive pain, like his heart was tearing apart, erupted through his body.
*What is happening…*
Su Mu struggled for breath, the suffocating sensation engulfing him once more.
Life drained from his eyes, and he swayed, on the verge of collapsing.
In the final moments before losing consciousness, he saw a pear-yellow wooden doll fall from the old woman’s tattered clothes.
*This is…*
*The treasured doll I saw at Laura’s place before?*
*Why, why would this item be on this old hag?!*
Plagued by endless confusion and bewilderment, Su Mu once again lost consciousness, succumbing to death…
****
[Ding~ Master, congratulations on achieving the accomplishment: [Leave a Full Corpse].]
[Reward: 10 experience points.]
[Excellent, please continue your efforts…]
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Read : Can Love Be Styled Too?
