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Chapter 86
Chapter 86
Clara lifted the white cloth, and Suiyue exclaimed "Eek!" and took two steps back.
Nan'an has seen liquefied corpses and corpses overflowing with maggots.
An adventurer's daily routine involves dealing with all sorts of dead or dying things, and he is very experienced in this.
If Nan'an had to summarize the state of the rotting corpse before him in one word, it would probably be — wild.
They looked like fish that had been eaten piecemeal, bit by piece.
Every corner of the mutilated flesh and blood of the corpse was covered with bite marks.
The bite marks were crisscrossed and varied in depth.
The fascia adhesions caused by tearing and pulling are hanging in pieces from the bone, reminiscent of the remains of a hyena after it has eaten.
Nan'an circled the corpse on the table: "What's the explanation?"
Coralina put on her gloves: "The body was discovered this morning. The time of death was probably late last night. The location was in a potato field northwest of Keren. You saw the state of the body; it was not a peaceful one."
She pointed to the body with its head intact.
The deceased's right hand was missing, the cut was jagged, the tendons were torn off, the bone was broken, and there were clear teeth marks on the edges.
"Its divine and demonic power was concentrated in its palm. The murderer bit through the tendons and chewed up the bones—considering the bite marks on the corpse, I reasonably suspect that the murderer ate the severed hand."
Nan An frowned: "The Living Eclipse doesn't need to go to such extremes to absorb the power of the Nightmare God."
"It was roughly dried, and there were still some divine remnants on its arm: Under normal circumstances, the Living Eclipse would not miss the opportunity to completely acquire the power of gods and demons. Hunting each other is already a huge risk, so doing this is a great waste."
Suiyue murmured, "There's no need to gut him—has he eaten himself into a stupor?"
Corella glanced at the unstitched, ruptured abdominal cavity.
"Since the power of gods and demons is concentrated in the palm of his hand, assuming the murderer is also a living erosion, he has no need to tear the intestines of the dead. This is the hunting style of a wild beast."
Nan An rubbed his temples, signaling to Corella to continue.
She walked to the rotting corpse, which now only had half a head remaining.
"Her divine and demonic power was located in her right leg, but as you can see, it has vanished. The remaining leg bone was found at the scene, and it was thoroughly gnawed clean."
"Judging from the wounds on her throat and neck, she was not dead when her throat was bitten through, and she was bleeding heavily. Then—the killer shattered her skull with one bite."
Coralela said gravely, "It seems that the corpse we saw when we first met was also its doing."
Nan'an strolled slowly.
He originally thought that the first master of the fly mist, the necromancer who manipulated the minced meat, was the one who created the first mutilated corpse.
It seems the killer was someone else all along.
The mutual attacks and scramble for fragments of gods and demons to fuse are risky operations.
Like the bioaccumulation phenomenon in a food chain, the winner may not be able to perfectly integrate the residual power of the original owner.
Long-term hunting, lacking the ability to purify and filter the power of others to one's own advantage, and consuming too much at once, will lead to poisoning.
This behavior of engraving everything into DNA will result in the rampage of divine and demonic power, turning one into a living vessel that carries gods and demons.
The obvious "beast-like" behavior of cannibals is enough to prove this point.
"More than two months have passed since the last hunt, and then he replenished two portions of divine and demonic power in one go—this guy has a clear understanding of his own digestive abilities, and he is preparing to advance."
During the process of absorbing the power of gods and demons, there were two obvious signs of going berserk.
He was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown, yet he managed to forcefully recover.
Not simple.
"What are you thinking about?"
After spending a lot of time with Nan'an, Suiyue noticed him repeatedly rubbing his lips with his index finger and knew that he was deep in thought.
"The body was found in a field?"
Coralina was taken aback: "Yes, there is a piece of land in northwestern Karen that is not very fertile. It is simply cultivated and planted with a mixture of sweet potatoes and gray beans. Because they are easy to grow, they are often left unattended after planting."
As Nan'an led Suiyue away from the morgue, he still seemed lost in thought.
It was already dark outside, and the streetlights were turning on one by one.
The night breeze carried the chill unique to late autumn, causing Suiyue to instinctively pull her collar tighter.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Black Edge Workshop," Nan An said, "Let's see how the external magic device is being forged."
"I thought you already had a lead on the killer."
"I am a heroic spirit, a human being, not a spirit dog that can smell the killer just by being near a corpse."
Slightly tipsy, the miners came out of the tavern arm in arm, humming off-key songs.
The vendors on both sides of the road loudly proclaimed their proud skills, eager to draw the two people's attention to their stalls.
The aroma of food wafting from the street revealed the true form of the "dog".
If Nan'an hadn't been holding her back, Suiyue's route would have been seriously off course, and she probably would have ended up drooling in front of the stall.
As he walked, he suddenly stopped.
Suiyue didn't react in time and almost bumped into his back.
"What's wrong?"
Following Nan'an's gaze, she tilted her head slowly with suspicion, her slightly narrowed eyes flashing with great doubt.
A dozen or so steps ahead, there was a tall figure wearing a dark gray cloak with the hood pulled low.
Her gait was casual, like an ordinary resident who had just finished shopping at the night market and was heading home. She was carrying a covered wooden bucket in her left hand, and the golden strips on the corner revealed that they were French fries.
He was holding a metal cylindrical object in his right hand, which appeared to be a water bottle.
There was also a square piece of food wrapped in yellowish-brown paper, soaked in oil, tucked into his waistband.
The person seemed to realize they were being watched, raised their head, and looked through the crowd to meet the two people.
Half of the brim of her hood was illuminated by the warm yellow light cast by the streetlights.
Half a face is enough.
Karen's nightlife is so vibrant that anyone can leisurely stroll through the night market and find food.
Here, you might even encounter the Eye of Age, Almahern!
The streetlights cast their glow between the two, creating an invisible boundary.
Passersby came and went around them, and no one noticed the two pebbles that had suddenly stopped moving.
Almahern blinked.
She clearly hadn't expected to be here, in this situation, and to run into Nan'an right before she even ate.
Nan'an never expected that he would encounter the high-risk living erosion in this way.
Pirion built Kren too well; even the Living Eclipses couldn't resist enjoying the prosperity that stood on the frontier.
During their eye contact, Almahern spontaneously spread her arms and spun around in place.
Suiyue asked curiously, "What does she mean?"
Nan'an replied without hesitation: "You probably want me to twist your head around like this?"
"Although I don't understand it, old man, your interpretation is clearly wrong."
Almahern's gaze fell on the direction of the street corner.
There was a relatively quiet area where the streetlights couldn't reach, and a few wooden crates piled with miscellaneous items could barely block the view of passersby.
Without waiting for Nan'an's response, she grabbed her fries, turned, and walked toward the street corner.
Her gait remained casual, as if she were strolling in her own backyard. Suiyue understood: "Does she want to talk to us?"
Nan'an's gaze sharpened: "Interesting. Is she taking the initiative to challenge us to a duel? Does she not want her head?"
"Nan'an!"
"Alright, just kidding." Nan An shrugged. "Let's go see what she's up to."
Almahern casually lifted the lid of the wooden barrel, grabbed a handful of fries and stuffed them into her mouth, glancing sideways at the two people approaching.
"Hey, stop, stop, it's right there, and the distance is clear enough for us to communicate."
With that, she snapped her fingers, creating a soundproof barrier.
Almahern clicked her tongue in amazement: "She's really calm. I thought she would pounce on him the moment she cast the spell."
As she spoke, she moved slightly into the shadows.
"There are many people coming and going around here. Let's stay calm; it's better for everyone."
Nan'an knew that this distance was enough for her to cast shadow magic and disappear into the darkness.
What are you doing here?
"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about." Almahern revealed all the food she was covered in. "Of course it's food, what else?"
"Should I thank you for contributing to the economic development of Kren City, or should I help the poor people you murdered and stole your wealth, and twist your head off?"
Nanan cured Almahern's laughing disorder.
If it were someone else, she would be laughing mockingly and sarcastically.
But Nan'an—
She scoffed, "My money is perfectly clean."
"Did I hear that right? You, a complete swindler, are saying your money is clean?"
Believe it or not.
Alma Hearn felt as if she had swallowed a fly.
If it were anyone else, daring to be so arrogant, they'd be guaranteed to lose at least one second of their lifespan.
But she really had no confidence against Nan'an.
"I'm not some vicious criminal, there's no need to be so hostile towards me," Elmar Hern said. "Don't you have plenty of living erosion in your Sicklewater town too?"
Suiyue laughed angrily: "You call that ruthless? You slaughtered an entire village in the black fog!"
"Even if I don't massacre the village, you will."
"Shameless enough." Suiyue's chest heaved violently as she forced herself to give her a thumbs up, suppressing her nausea.
"Little Niu Niu, you don't think I'm talking nonsense, do you?" Elmar Hern sneered. "Erlu has always been ruthless in dealing with individuals who show signs of divine and demonic corruption. The villagers I killed that day perfectly met your execution standards."
"We were just following routine procedures; your actions were pure slaughter!"
"I'm not going to discuss the difference between the two with you, you idiot. Your brain can't understand it." Elmahern looked at Nan'an. "oi, as a Heroic Spirit who has been reborn into the world for so long, you're definitely smarter than me. You tell her, if I wanted to massacre a village, would those brats all be able to escape unscathed into the cellar?"
"You tell this stupid cow, can you just lift the lid of the cellar where a lot of grain is stored and hide inside?"
"Without me blowing on them, they'd just be waiting to rot into fertilizer along with the mud!"
"A stupid cow with no common sense!"
Almahern snorted dismissively, too lazy to even look at Suiyue.
Nan'an stopped Suiyue from flying into a rage, rubbing her large horn to interrupt the angry process.
"You did this on purpose?"
"Otherwise what?" Almarhern retorted. "When you awaken the power of gods and demons, your consciousness will experience a brief period of emptiness, and your power will surge uncontrollably. You should know that, right?"
"Do you think how many of their children would have survived until the fog cleared if I hadn't killed those unfortunate villagers beforehand?"
"The gleeful expression on your face when you killed someone didn't seem like you were acting."
"Can't the Living Eclipse indulge itself?" Elmar Hern mocked. "You like suppressing your desires so much, even deep in the black mist, in places no one knows, you insist on being bound by worldly rules and living an upright life. You weren't Chu Nan when you died hundreds of years ago, were you?"
Nan'an clenched his fist and then relaxed it.
He suddenly had a strong desire to own an elf skull as a collectible.
Almahern's head size is just right no matter how you look at it.