The eccentric doctor never makes a misdiagnosis!

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She was able to capture this vague "incongruity" through her psychic and empathetic profiling talent, whether it was through the memories of the Ant Scale Disciples or after hearing the song of the Sleeping Sand Bell Tower... but she couldn't quite articulate what that feeling was.

It's like a glass dish with a few crystals mixed in; unless you pick each one out and examine it carefully under light, it's almost impossible to tell them apart directly.

Is it some kind of special spiritual element? But spiritual vision couldn't detect anything.

However, this peculiar aura wasn't unpleasant. It just inexplicably reminded me of the melodious and ethereal singing from the Sleeping Sand Bell Tower.

Just as Haida was trying to deepen her impression of this peculiar aura, Vivian emerged from the shadows of the alleyway. She had just been surveying the surroundings from the perspective of a callbird and, like Haida, had not found anything unusual.

Mordeway is, after all, the political lifeline of the entire Abyss Kingdom, and the location of the Galonsen Royal Court.

Even though most of the country has become a lawless zone, this place still maintains a high level of security. Therefore, in most cases, no fanatic would dare to appear openly, as that would be tantamount to directly challenging the royal family.

"Sister Haida, have you found the source of that strange feeling?"

Vivian leaned close to Haida's ear and whispered the question.

Initially, after discovering that the area was safer than Foy, she wasn't too worried about encountering any dangerous incidents. However, after hearing Haida mention that a small group of people possessed a strange aura, her slightly relieved nerves tensed up again.

Could it be some kind of subtle infiltration? Like the "freaks" mentioned in some secret histories, capable of almost perfectly mimicking humans and integrating into social groups...

The mere thought of this possibility filled Vivian with dread. Therefore, even when conducting reconnaissance missions, she was unwilling to stray too far from Haida.

After a year of getting to know the nun, she had gained a fairly deep understanding of her. When faced with such inexplicable and strange events, Heda's intuition was frighteningly accurate…

"No."

Haida gently shook her head, her gray-chestnut eyes calm and deep.

"As it stands, those who possess a special aura are no different from others. Whether it's their voice, behavior, appearance, or 'human spirituality.' At least in my experience, I see nothing unusual."

If Dr. Fran were here, perhaps she could glean some clues...

Whenever this thought crossed her mind, Haida would force herself to stop thinking about it.

I have indeed developed a slight dependence on her, to the point that sometimes I instinctively want to seek answers from her...

However, Heda also cautiously followed Fran's warning. She refrained from rashly using profiling to empathize with Fran's way of thinking, lest her own personality be potentially tainted.

Just then, Vivian noticed something unusual about the crowd ahead through Raven Munin's overhead view.

“Sister Haida, the pedestrians ahead... seem to be deliberately avoiding an old man.”

"Oh?"

Haida became somewhat interested in this and then looked ahead.

She was an old woman with a hunched back, her clothes were tattered and worn, and her skin was dark, as if from excessive sun exposure.

In addition, she appeared dazed and haggard, and her behavior was somewhat unusual. She would frequently approach a passerby and ask them questions, and the person approached would immediately turn away with a grim expression.

As Heda and Vivian approached, they heard the old woman's murmurs, accompanied by a strong Golmouth accent.

"Sir, have you seen my child? He's 11 years old, about this tall, very thin, and not very fluent in Common Language..."

As Lu spoke, she would also take out a portrait that was already crumpled and creased with many folds and show it to passersby.

The portrait of San depicts a thin young boy with a round face, but his skin appears gaunt, seemingly due to long-term malnutrition. He wears a simple cloth shirt, the kind commonly worn by coastal fishermen.

"Never seen it before, never seen it before!"

The passerby who was being questioned gave an impatient snort and then hurried away.

Most importantly, the old woman also possessed a faint, peculiar aura.

Haida stood cautiously at a distance on the street, not daring to approach and ask questions rashly. There were too many pedestrians here, so any action she took would be conspicuous. It would be better to wait until she reached a quieter place before making any plans.

Vivian walked to a shop selling trinkets on the street, and after browsing around, bought a small and exquisite seashell pearl bracelet.

When paying, she gave an extra silver coin, and then casually asked about it with a curious expression.

"Shop owner, does that old lady often appear here? Why does everyone seem to deliberately ignore her?"

Her tone carried just the right amount of confusion, accompanied by a slight Foy accent. She sounded like a young girl visiting Mordway for the first time, finding everything fascinating.

The jewelry shop owner was a middle-aged woman nearing forty, with glamorous makeup. Upon seeing the extra silver coin, her face beamed with an uncontrollable smile.

Taking advantage of the fact that there were no other customers, she took the silver coin and began to recount the story in her familiar manner.

"That old woman is a refugee from the fallen city of Morion. She must have been traumatized by the natural disaster, because she asks everyone she meets about her children. But given the state of that city... the chances of her survival are slim. At first, the law enforcement searched among the refugees, but to no avail."

“She has been wandering this street for several years now. She usually lives in a tattered shack in a dark alley. Her mental illness is getting worse and worse. She survives by scavenging through garbage and by eating food given to her by kind people.”

Upon receiving the answer, Vivian, like any naive young girl, naturally showed pity in her eyes.

"That's so pitiful..."

"Sigh." The jewelry shop owner echoed with a similar sigh.

"But there's nothing we can do about it, nobody can help her. And her constant wandering around the streets is really affecting our business. Most people have seen her many times before, so it's normal for them to get annoyed."

Their conversation quickly came to an end, and Vivian returned to Haida's side wearing the seashell and pearl bracelet.

Although her methods weren't as direct and efficient as Fran's, intelligence gathering was, after all, the primary task of Secret Service agents, and she accomplished it with remarkable ease.

“She’s a refugee from a fallen city. People in the surrounding shops say she’s gone mad,” she said in a low voice.

"I see."

Haida nodded slightly, indicating that she understood.

"I have some questions I want to ask her, let's wait until she goes to a less crowded place."

The two mingled with the crowd, following the old woman at a distance until she returned to her secluded, dark alleyway. It was damp and reeked of human oils, dirty and shabby.

The alley was already remote, and after nightfall, it was even more deserted.

After Mu Ning looked around to make sure there were no spying people, Haida stepped forward and approached the old woman.

"Madam, have you come from the fallen city?"

In response to her question, the old woman simply raised her head blankly. Her eyes were unfocused and empty, like a soulless corpse.

But the moment she saw Haida's face, she suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion without warning. Tears welled up in her eyes, and her voice choked with sobs due to the intense emotional turmoil.

"It's you, it's you...it's you! I recognize you!"

This was an unexpected reaction. Haida closed her eyes slightly, thought for a moment, and then continued along with her words.

"Madam, when have you seen me before?"

"On the day the tsunami swept away my child, on the day the monster crawled into the city streets... on, on... Oh, I recognize your eyes! It was you who cut off the head of that thing in the city..."

"You know what? Bang! Its head just fell to the ground with a loud thud, and then turned to ash, a huge puddle of ash."

“I recognize you, I recognize your gray, cold eyes…”

The old woman uttered incoherent and fragmented babbling, her expression a mixture of reverence and sorrow.

Haida's expression immediately turned serious.

The description is far too pointed. Grayish-brown eyes are a characteristic of the Meredith family, and the only Meredith bloodline with such power now... can only be his own father.

"What exactly is the natural disaster in Morion? And what is this 'thing' you're talking about?"

She raised the question again.

This time, however, the old man seemed to have lost that brief moment of clarity and began to sob unconsciously once again.

"Oh, Paddy, my child... I knitted you a new winter coat, but you haven't had a chance to wear it yet... You always stubbornly refuse to wear more clothes, and you've always been prone to illness since you were little. Do you think it might be cold in the sea?"

Her condition was so unstable that Haida could only try to talk to her from a different angle.

"Madam, how did Paddy disappear that day?"

Upon hearing Haida's words, the old woman lowered her head and remained silent for a while. Then, she carefully took out the portrait, which had been folded several times but was not stained, from the cloth bag inside her inner garment.

“Miss Gray Eyes, have you seen my child? He is 11 years old, about this tall, very thin, and not very fluent in Common Language…”

Her words were almost identical to those she had used when speaking to strangers, but soon she began to elaborate on more detailed information.

“Pedi is not dead, he really is not dead! But nobody believes me… I saw him walk into the sea with my own eyes, and the monsters didn’t come near him.”

“Zhong●'Qun:≌·奺似×〇si＞=杉ˇ↑∥∫4 But why didn’t heed my call? And why did he so resolutely throw himself into the abyss?”

After saying this, the old woman fell into a deathly silence.

Only the tear stains around her eyes, which had not yet dried, proved that she had just experienced intense emotions, just like a normal person.

"let's go."

After confirming that she would no longer react to external stimuli, Haida led Vivian away from the alley.

Although her words were incoherent and illogical, they still revealed a great deal of important information. The chief hunter had appeared in the fallen city a few years ago... and according to the Hunter's records, he should have been assassinating Crown Prince Murphy during that period.

That is to say, the "thing" the old woman was talking about was very likely the crown prince who had become a demon.

But shouldn't the Crown Prince be hiding in the capital, Mordwe? How did he end up in a fallen city?

Most importantly, the old woman mentioned the whereabouts of the missing children. Those children who ultimately vanished, perhaps like her son Paddy, willingly surrendered to the abyss. Perhaps… it was the allure of the Sleeping Sand Bell Tower's song?

As her thoughts wandered, the door of an empty shop in front of Haida, covered with signs for sale, suddenly opened without warning, and wisps of mist poured out from it.

The next moment, Fran walked out from inside.

She straightened her clothes, brushed away the gray mist clinging to her body, and looked at Haida.

"Dear Sister Haida, good evening. Hmm... judging from your serious expression, you must have made some important discovery? A smile can reduce the chance of developing facial paralysis, don't end up like Yaheng, okay?"

Heda simply nodded in agreement to her teasing, and then began to recount her discovery.

“Indeed, Dr. Fran. According to a survivor of the Cataclysm, my father was in the fallen city of Morion. Around the time the Crown Prince was assassinated.”

Fran showed no surprise at the news, and even added a comment.

After all, she had just seen all the records in the Marquis of Jude's private library.

"Well, actually, Yaheng went to Morion to assassinate Crown Prince Murphy. The Crown Prince in the capital is his double. He himself wants to sacrifice the people of a city through a natural disaster to complete his ascension ceremony."

"……I see."

Haida's eyes narrowed slightly, and the previously scattered information in her mind was quickly pieced together completely.

With this in mind, she asked herself the question that was currently of most concern to her.

“There’s one more thing, Dr. Fran.”

"Ever since I heard the song in the minds of the Ant Scale disciples, I've been able to sense a special aura from some people. No, calling it an aura is probably inaccurate. It's more like a 'feeling'."

Faced with Haida's description, Fran narrowed his eyes slightly, pondered for a moment, and then gave a reply.

"In fact, I don't have a definite answer either. The special nature of that group of people is very subtle, and I haven't disassembled their bodies for in-depth examination yet, so it's inconvenient for me to draw a conclusion directly."

"However... we'll find out soon enough."

As she said this, she slightly pursed her lips, a gentle smile appearing at the corners of her moist lips.

"Let's take advantage of the good night tonight and go to the Sleeping Sand Clock Tower in Mordway. This time, I'll take you inside."

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soup!

Chapter Ninety-Three Inside the Clock Tower

Compared to Foy, the clock tower at the capital Modly has a different design.

Foy is close to the deep sea and has the largest port in all of Golmouth, making it more vulnerable to storms and evil spirits.

Therefore, patrol personnel are mostly fully armed and are distributed in various patrol posts in the surrounding area, ready to respond to emergencies at any time.

The orientation of the Modeway Sands Clock Tower is characterized by "contraction".

The Starcallers' patrol area wasn't large, but it was concentrated inside the clock tower, with a very high density of guards. It was almost impossible to find a gap to blend in using ordinary methods... However, even the most secure defenses will eventually have loopholes.

8 Moreover, even if Xingyuan Academy truly achieves perfect flawlessness, a certain doctor can still create loopholes out of thin air.

At this moment, Fran, wearing the same academic gown he had worn at the White Cup Academic Symposium, strolled naturally through the clock tower's corridor with Vivian and Haida.

Fourthly, to facilitate their movements, she had also sewed a set of Star Abyss Academy uniforms for each of them beforehand. Haida didn't have any other reaction to this and quite cooperatively took off her nun's robes and put them on.

Vivian was somewhat puzzled as to why this doctor had such a precise grasp of her body measurements... Even the fabric of her bra and waist was tailored to fit her perfectly, adhering to her skin as if it were custom-made.

"Um... Dr. Fran, how long can your hypnosis last? Will the guards notice something's wrong halfway through?"

Vivian asked cautiously, a hint of unease in her voice.