Chapter 295: Guzman

"Hm? Where is the system prompt?"

Toru Yamamoto’s laughter faltered midway.

Something was wrong.

The system notification for mission completion had not appeared.

By the time he realized the situation was not good and prepared to turn and run, a gunshot rang out.

A bullet passed cleanly through his forehead with perfect accuracy, killing him on the spot.

With the effect of One Hit Kill attached, the bullet wiped away his Fraudster Sequence with overwhelming force. Every contingency he had built upon that Sequence shattered in an instant.

Substitutes.

Puppets.

Dummies.

Whether it was deceiving the heavens and crossing the sea, shedding the shell to escape, or borrowing a corpse to return, every method lost all effect before that bullet.

Even in the instant of death, Toru Yamamoto did not realize it. He still thought he could rely on the other tricks of the Fraudster Sequence to escape calamity.

That strange, faintly smug smile froze on his face.

His strength left him, and his body fell heavily onto the ground with a dull thud.

Amid the roaring flames, Caelum walked out without a single injury.

He looked like a god of death stepping from hell into the human world, a revolver held in his hand as he calmly crossed over Toru Yamamoto’s corpse.

From beginning to end, he did not say a word.

Three hours later.

Cton Police Department was in complete disorder.

Every officer hurried back and forth, anxious and overwhelmed. The sheriffs of every district roared orders one after another, demanding searches across their own jurisdictions.

The whole place was chaos.

The disturbance Caelum and the others had caused had been far too great.

A gunfight in the street was one thing, but there had also been a powerful explosion, leaving more than a dozen dead.

Among them were five police officers and one sheriff.

For Cton, this was unquestionably an enormous case.

When the police chief learned of the casualties, he thought he had misheard.

Someone had actually dared to kill police officers, even a sheriff, in the middle of the city?

It was lawlessness.

The chief flew into a rage.

More than that, because the incident had happened in Cton, there was no need to wait for the chief to report it. Those above had already received the news and issued an order.

The killer had to be arrested.

Dead or alive.

With such a major incident, Geraldine naturally heard about it as well.

She had been brought back to the estate by Duke Hesmar to recuperate, but after barely two days of rest, she had already slipped out again.

The criminal investigation methods and concepts of this era were still relatively backward, but coroners and autopsy procedures had already appeared.

Accompanied by a sheriff, Geraldine entered the medical examiner’s office and saw the bodies of all the dead.

Apart from Cross, who had been blown apart without even residue left behind, Toru Yamamoto, Marbury, and the others were all lying here quietly.

There were seven players in total.

Five officers.

And one sheriff.

This case was too serious. Ordinary detectives had no right to intervene.

Geraldine had to use her father Duke Hesmar’s name to come and examine the bodies.

The coroner stood nearby and said, "Time is tight, so there has not yet been a more detailed autopsy. After a preliminary examination, Sheriff Marbury and one other citizen were determined to have died from gunshots. The rest, including the five officers, all died from blade wounds. Only, the situation is rather strange."

Geraldine asked, "What is wrong?"

"Yes. Very wrong."

The coroner’s face was full of confusion, as if he had turned it over in his mind many times and still could not make sense of it.

"Several of them had blade wounds, but their vital areas were not hit. By reason, those wounds should not have been fatal. Yet the fact is that they all died on the spot. I simply cannot understand this."

Geraldine turned to the sheriff beside her.

"Sheriff, are you certain of the killer?"

"Certain."

The sheriff nodded.

"It was Caelum. No doubt about it. There were many witnesses on the street at the time. Him killing police officers, the sheriff, and more than a dozen others in public with a blade is an established fact."

When he said this, his tone still carried disbelief.

He could not imagine how one person could be surrounded by five armed officers and still kill all of them without taking a scratch.

But according to witness testimony, Caelum had indeed used a dagger to kill five officers in the street.

He had even jumped straight to the third floor and kicked through a wall.

It was more absurd than something written in a novel.

The sheriff suddenly felt that the world had become ridiculous.

If more than a dozen bodies were not lying right in front of him, he would never have believed such a thing.

"Miss Geraldine, I heard you have some connection with this Caelum. His whereabouts are unknown now. Do you have any good advice?"

"I would not call it a connection."

Geraldine shook her head.

"I am sorry, but I may not be of much help with this case. As for advice, I suggest you do your best not to fight him."

Her understanding of Caelum was limited.

But she knew one thing.

Caelum was absolutely not merely a man whose combat ability exceeded ordinary people.

There were far too many secrets on him.

He was not an existence ordinary people could touch.

"I agree with this lady’s advice."

A man in a brown trench coat slowly walked over.

He had short blond hair bright as sunlight, and eyes as clear as sapphires.

Every part of him carried a mysterious air.

He continued, "Sheriff, you had better pray your subordinates do not run into that man. Otherwise, there may not be enough empty beds here."

At those words, the sheriff’s face turned dark.

He asked coldly, "Who are you?"

The blond man took out a black booklet.

Stamped on it was the seal of appointment from the king.

It immediately suppressed the sheriff.

His indifferent gaze swept past the sheriff and landed on Geraldine.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Guzman, a member of the Secret Investigation Bureau appointed directly by the king. From now on, I will take over this case. Cton Police Department only needs to fully cooperate with me."

Then he added, "Also, Miss Geraldine, I need to ask you for a favor. I wonder whether you would be willing."

"About Caelum?"

"Yes."

"I would be very willing."

Geraldine agreed without hesitation.

Caelum was far too mysterious. Geraldine could not suppress the urge in her heart to investigate him and trace him.

More importantly, she saw this as a contest.

If she could discover something, or follow Caelum’s trail, then in a certain sense, she would have won this contest she had decided existed between them.

That alone would bring her a small measure of satisfaction.

Geraldine longed to uncover Caelum’s secrets.

She longed to glimpse the truth of this world.

For that, she was willing to throw herself into this unknown vortex once again.

She had been so close.

Just a little more, and she could have pushed open the door before her and seen the true shape of this world.

Even if the price was her life, she would not hesitate.

Compared with death, she feared ignorance more.

That was why she had become a detective.