Chapter 22 : Inquisitors

“Seriously, you say you want to keep this from the public to prevent panic, but can you really keep it a secret if this goes on? We don’t have a single clue right now. I think we should report this to the higher-ups and have them send a superhuman who can locate and track to help us find Blake.”

Yuhui was silent.
He knew Rachel’s suggestion was the simplest and most efficient method, but he didn’t want to do it yet, because he had never intended for any information about Blake Morton to leave this Bureau of Abnormal Affairs in the first place.

Not just the citizens, but also the people above, it would be best if they didn’t know about this matter either.

But now it seemed that he had failed.
Blake had attracted the attention of the Church, and things were developing in an uncontrollable direction.

He still didn’t understand why Blake would take such a huge risk and keep killing people in a city.
There must be a demon behind such an abnormal event.
He must have a purpose.

“Let me talk to Luo Hao,” Yuhui sighed.
“The secrecy of this operation is not only to avoid panic, but also related to my mission. But you’re right, the safety of the citizens is more important. If it really comes to that, we’ll do it your way.”

Rachel pointed at the two Inquisitors.
“What about them?”

“Bring them up.”

Rachel walked to the front, gently pushed aside her colleagues, and said to the two Inquisitors:

“Come with me, I’ll take you to see the director.”

“Thank you,” the two said, and the female Inquisitor even bowed slightly to Rachel.

On the way upstairs, Rachel made a point of observing the appearance of the two Inquisitors.
Both Inquisitors wore white, form-fitting uniforms—the standard uniform of a Holy See Inquisitor—with a crucifix pendant with the corpus of Jesus hanging on their chests.

The man was about 1.9 meters tall, with a rugged appearance and a burly build.
He was bald and had a short-handled axe hanging from his waist, the handle tied with a white flower rope.

His expression was calm, with a hint of holiness in his solemn look, which created a strange fusion with his bold appearance.

Also incongruous with his appearance, he was holding a book.
The cover was made of brown leather, covered with raised patterns.

The woman next to him was a plain-looking person.
She looked to be in her thirties, with shoulder-length black hair parted in the middle and black-framed glasses.

She had a rectangular brown wooden box about twenty centimeters wide and half a meter long hanging from her waist.
A silver cross was printed on the wooden box.

“How… do you do?” As soon as Rachel said this, she felt a chill.
Some dark, shady fellow had been madly saying this in her ear yesterday.

“My name is Andrew, Andrew Jason, an Inquisitor from Nuowen Church,” the male Inquisitor said, his voice holy with a hint of depth.
“Her name is Diana, Diana Luther, an Inquisitor from Andrade.”

“Rachel Ronald, and that’s Yuhui,” Rachel said, putting her left hand in her pocket and extending her right hand to shake hands with the two of them.

The four of them entered the office.
Luo Hao heard the door open, looked up, and shook his head helplessly.

“Old Luo, this is Andrew Jason from Nuowen, and this is Diana Luther from Andrade. They are both Inquisitors, here to… help us, you could say.”

“I know the specifics,” Luo Hao said.
“I have a question now: what do you plan to do after you catch Blake?”

“We want to take him back to the Holy See, if possible,” Andrew said.

“No,” Luo Hao glanced at Yuhui.
“He must be handled by the Bureau of Abnormal Affairs. We are responsible for our own matters, and we will clean up our own mess.”

Andrew nodded.
“You have the right to refuse. We can only accept it, but I still hope you can hand him over to us.”

Rachel couldn’t help but pay more attention to Andrew.
This big man’s words and actions were unexpectedly peaceful and reserved, completely different from his rugged and bold appearance.

“Let me tell you about the situation first,” Rachel said.
“‘Arsonist’ has become more difficult to deal with than before. He has awakened a psionic ability. The ability is ‘Shadow Trick.’ You know what that ability is, right?”

The two Inquisitors nodded to indicate that they were clear.

Yuhui brought over a few photos and handed them to the two Inquisitors, saying:

“So far, Blake has committed crimes in three places in Sinhe: a villa in the suburbs, a warehouse in the city, and the local church.”

“Each time, in these places, he would kill a woman under the age of 35 and take a part of their body.”

“The first few times, there was only one victim. The church was the first time he killed more than one person. But the bodies of the priest, the nuns, and that Inquisitor were not taken.”

“Why? Does he have to take a part of a victim’s body every time?” Rachel pinched her chin and asked:

“So far, the chest and upper limbs, waist and abdomen, and lower legs have all been taken. Now, if we follow a normal logic, he should still want a woman’s thighs, and a woman’s head.”

“Of course, I don’t know if this guy is thinking like that. I think both he and his stand-in have some problems in their heads.”

“He might be planning to hold some kind of ritual,” the bald Andrew joined the discussion.
“A magical ritual that allows a sorcerer to kill and sacrifice people must be a high-level spell. The human body can only use a very conventional and narrow range of basic and simple spells without the use of a special medium.”

“Blake Morton is human. No matter how rich his theoretical knowledge is, he can’t use magic as he pleases.”

“Each woman’s body has a part taken, and the parts taken are not repeated… this plot feels a bit familiar,” Rachel thought for a moment and suddenly had an idea.
“The Tokyo Zodiac Murders!”

“The Tokyo Zodiac Murders” was a mystery novel Rachel had read in her hometown, Earth, before she transmigrated.
The book was about a murder case that happened in Japan during World War II.

It mentioned that the murderer wanted to kill six sisters in a family, take a part of their bodies respectively, and piece them together to form a new being—Azoth.

Of course, in the end, the case was solved by the protagonist, and the murderer was also found by the protagonist.
It’s just that there was no magic in that world.

“Is there a possibility…” Rachel raised her hand, like a primary school student who wanted to answer the teacher’s question in class.
“That he wants to find five different women, take a part of their bodies, and piece them together to create a new ‘person’ with magic?”

The room was silent for a few seconds.
Yuhui and Luo Hao exchanged a glance.

Andrew said, “There is indeed such a possibility. If that’s the case, then this is very bad.”

“Why is it very bad?” Rachel felt it was inexplicable.
“Isn’t the situation already very bad? Can it get any worse?”

Diana, who had been silent all along, spoke up.
Her tone was gentle, but full of worry.
“Blake Morton wants to use magic to create a new life.”

“That’s not the only possibility,” Yuhui said.
“It could also be to resurrect the dead.”