Chapter 443 [Naleka's Octopus Spirit-Seeking Spell]

"Are you sure this is the place?"

A fine drizzle fell, dampening his dark, messy hair.

Xia Nan peered down the cramped, gloomy alleyway ahead and directed the question to the young lackey standing beside him—one of Jerry's subordinates, whose right hand was wrapped in bandages.

Earlier that day, while returning to the tavern from the Adventurers' Association, Xia Nan and Hein hadn't simply killed the "Bloody-Nosed Rat" after interrogating him.

Although both were Adventurers with blood on their hands, one was a Druid who revered nature and cherished life, while the other was a transmigrator from modern society with a grounded moral compass.

Short as Jerry was, he wasn't a Goblin, and he actually possessed a decent amount of tact.

So Xia Nan had let the guy off the hook, merely breaking the arms of his two lackeys as a warning.

But he never expected they would cross paths again on the very same day in a place as sprawling as Barracuda Bay, amidst the vast expanse of the Saltwater District.

And the timing was remarkably delicate—right when the party's quest progress had stalled, and Alton, the favored of the Goddess of Luck, had just advised them to "let nature take its course."

Given the sheer coincidence, they had to approach and ask him, even if the man knew nothing.

Surprisingly, their interrogation actually managed to squeeze a bit of information out of this nameless, low-level street thug.

His boss, the "Bloody-Nosed Rat" Jerry, had recently taken his two lackeys—including the thug standing before them—back to Eel Alley where he lived, claiming he was going to fetch money for their clinic bills.

Strangely, the two subordinates had waited outside the alley for a long time without seeing Jerry return. When they finally went in to check, the "Bloody-Nosed Rat" had already gotten his throat slit, reduced to a corpse slowly cooling in the rain.

"I-it's right inside, sir!" the thug replied, shrinking his neck in a mix of flattery and fear. "We were so scared that we ran out immediately without even touching the body."

"Boss Jerry... should still be lying there right now."

"Cut the crap and lead the way!" Ryan, the older of the twin Warriors, stood next to him. The shadow cast by his tall, burly frame was enough to completely swallow the thug.

A massive hand grabbed the back of the thug's neck like a baby chick. Terrified into a violent shudder, the thug was hauled to the front of the party by Ryan to guide them.

Perhaps in front of fellow Class Holders like Xia Nan and Hein, these twins appeared quiet, tight-lipped, and somewhat wooden.

But when facing a street punk like this, they naturally wouldn't offer a pleasant expression, coming across as exceptionally overbearing.

The group of five squeezed into the alleyway behind the thug.

It was worth noting that even though all five were Class Grade Adventurers, and they weren't in a wilderness swarming with dangerous monsters, they still maintained a cautious formation.

Ryan took the vanguard right behind the thug, ensuring he could react to any sudden movements at a moment's notice.

Xia Nan followed a couple of steps behind him, shielding Hein, the Spellcaster safely positioned in the middle of the squad.

Alton stood further back, while Gordon, the younger twin Warrior, brought up the rear.

With such a lineup, barring special circumstances, practically no one in the Saltwater District would actively seek trouble with them.

In fact, ever since they entered Eel Alley, although Xia Nan occasionally felt a few gazes lingering from the dark corners around them, absolutely no one blocked their path.

Before long, they arrived at "Bloody-Nosed Rat" Jerry's residence.

The corpse was still lying there motionless. However, compared to what the thug had seen earlier, the ground around it was now covered in numerous footprints leading toward the open door of the shack in the back.

This was simply how the Saltwater District operated.

The greedy sniffed out rotting meat even faster than cockroaches and flies.

They might not have dared to touch Jerry on the ground, terrified of drawing unwanted trouble, which left the corpse's clothes intact.

But when it came to the ownerless belongings inside the house, there was no reason to turn a blind eye.

"Sir, I didn't do this," the thug explained in a panic upon seeing the ransacked, messy shack. "Everything was fine when I was here earlier."

A single glance was enough to determine that these footprints varied in size and didn't match the thug in front of them. They most likely belonged to other residents in the alley, so the group said nothing.

Xia Nan shifted his gaze to Jerry's corpse on the ground.

Despite his "Bloody-Nosed Rat" moniker, Jerry had remained at the very bottom of the pyramid in Barracuda Bay. In a way, he wasn't fundamentally different from his two lackeys.

He had died quietly in an alleyway, without family. The fair-weather friends he drank with would never come to collect his body. He would simply rot in silence in this corner, offering his own flesh and blood as one final contribution to the maggots of Barracuda Bay.

No one cared about the fate of a street hoodlum like him.

Even in the best-case scenario, a nearby neighbor would eventually grow unable to tolerate the stench and swarms of bugs drawn by his rotting corpse and report the location to the city's body collectors. Then, on some cold, desolate night, he would be carted out of the city and tossed into the sea.

Of course, before all that happened, he could still offer one last shred of value to Xia Nan and the others in the limited time before he decomposed.

"The fatal wound is on his throat. Hmm... judging from the signs of struggle around him and the posture of the corpse, someone covered his mouth and slit his throat from behind."

"The cut isn't too deep, or rather, it's just right. From the details of the wound, the killer must have used a short blade like a dagger."

Everyone present, even the Halfling Alton—who looked incredibly amiable and always wore a childish, cheeky grin—was an experienced, veteran Adventurer.

With just one glance at this kind of corpse, they could easily piece together a rough analysis of what had happened.

Since this concerned Baron Farrow's daughter and her own future livelihood in Barracuda Bay, Hein took the initiative to step forward and examine the body.

Thanks to an outstanding Perception that far surpassed other Class Holders of his level, Xia Nan had already noticed everything she pointed out the moment he laid eyes on the corpse.

Right now, he was observing the subtler details hidden deep within the shadows.

Jerry hadn't been dead for long. It had been a few hours at most, not even half a day.

And while it was currently raining, the downpour was nowhere near heavy enough to wash away everything.

Xia Nan detected slightly chaotic magic particles in the air that hadn't yet returned to their natural state, and he caught the scent of Transcendent Tier energy still lingering in the depths of the shadows.

Coupled with the clean, precise wound on Jerry's corpse, the killer's profile began to take shape:

—A powerful individual with extensive combat or assassination experience, walking the path of a professional, who very likely already possessed a Class Level.

But putting himself in the killer's shoes, what reason would he have to murder a low-level street thug like Jerry?

For money?

The profit from a hit like this probably wouldn't even match the bounty for killing a few Goblins. It wasn't worth the effort at all.

Just for the thrill of it?

In a densely populated area like Eel Alley in the Saltwater District, if someone truly wanted to go on a killing spree, there was no reason to single out Jerry alone.

Could it be an act of revenge?

Xia Nan frowned. He beckoned the thug—who was cowering like a quail, shivering slightly in the rain and too afraid to speak—and asked, "Did this boss of yours offend anyone?"

"Way too many people, sir!" the thug answered immediately. "Every street vendor in the neighborhood probably looks at us like enemies."

Right after he said that, as if realizing why Xia Nan was asking, he hastily added, "But if you mean big shots like you, then as far as I know, Boss Jerry really hasn't."

Their first encounter at the Salmon Roe grocery shop earlier this morning had already proven that this "Bloody-Nosed Rat" possessed excellent judgment. He knew when to advance and when to retreat, acting with slick pragmatism.

It was practically impossible for him to actively provoke Adventurers whose strength far exceeded that of ordinary people.

"What about the people he interacted with?" Xia Nan pressed.

"If you just mean interactions..." The thug fell into thought. "The most recent ones would be those big brothers from the Horned Shark Gang. Boss Jerry helped them keep watch this morning."

A flash of inspiration struck Xia Nan's mind.

Brought up by the thug and combined with Jerry's previous explanation of his ties to the Horned Shark Gang, all the disparate clues quietly linked together.

"Accidentally stumbling upon the Horned Shark Gang transferring the baron's daughter"—"Being ordered to keep watch with the promise of joining their ranks"—"Being silenced after the transfer was complete"...

Certain specific details remained fuzzy—such as why they didn't kill Jerry on the spot and instead waited until now to silence him, or why they gave him that Scalpel as a token of trust.

But the overall logic made sense, and it was the closest fit for the current situation.

When Xia Nan shared his theory with the rest of the group, they all agreed, acknowledging that it was highly probable.

"If it really is as you say, then Jerry's killer should be a member of the Horned Shark Gang too, right?" Hein reasoned. "In that case, doesn't that mean as long as we find this killer, we'll also find the Horned Shark Gang's current hideout?"

It wasn't a certainty, but right now, it was the only lead Xia Nan and the others had.

After discussing it with the group, Hein walked back up to the corpse, gripping the [Practice Staff] she had recently purchased from Xia Nan in her right hand.

As mentioned before, her tracking spells required a specific set of conditions.

Now, with Jerry's corpse present, those conditions had been met.

Buzz—

An emerald-green light surfaced at the tip of the staff. Like a tiny cluster of fireflies, it flickered in the air twice before gently landing on the corpse and vanishing.

The hum produced by the highly condensed magic particles faded in a flash. The air returned to tranquility, and the corpse lay exactly as before, as if nothing had happened.

However, Xia Nan's gaze subconsciously zeroed in on Jerry's right forearm.

Faint, squelching sounds of shifting muscle were coming from beneath the skin.

"Pop."

Down on the ground, the skin of the corpse's arm—turned a faint white from soaking in the rain—suddenly bulged. It looked like some small creature was burrowing through the flesh, pressing a blurred silhouette against the surface of the skin.

Only a few seconds later, accompanied by a muted tearing of flesh, the skin on Jerry's right forearm abruptly burst open!

It revealed a miniature, flesh-colored octopus underneath, no larger than a quarter of an adult's palm.

Its entire body was coated in slime, with bits of shredded meat clinging to certain spots, much like a newborn fetus.

Strangely enough, this little octopus had no eyes. Only its eight tiny tentacles flailed wildly amidst the gore.

A gentle, benevolent smile graced Hein's face as she bent down and extended her left hand toward the little octopus.

As if sharing some invisible connection with it, the moment the Druid's left hand drew near, the eyeless octopus proactively reached out with its tentacles.

In the instant they touched, it instinctively wrapped all eight of its appendages tightly around Hein's thumb.

From a distance, it looked like a bizarrely shaped, flesh-colored thumb ring.

[Naleka's Octopus Spirit-Seeking Spell]

A special variant spell from the Druids of the Coral Society. It had many applications but required physical flesh as a casting material. Its primary function was to summon a spirit octopus to locate and track targets connected to the source of that flesh.

"The duration is only thirty minutes. We need to hurry," Hein called out to the group behind her, already striding toward the exit of the alley.

On the surface, there was no obvious communication between her and the spirit octopus. In reality, the little creature's tentacles—wrapped tight around her thumb like a ring—were constantly constricting, using muscular squelches to guide Hein in the right direction.

"Hiss!"

Around her left wrist, the silver-banded snake Ayin—which had been incredibly docile and practically invisible ever since Xia Nan showed up—poked its head out from her sleeve, flicking its tongue and hissing at the little octopus below.

However, the short-armed octopus seemed to possess no senses other than touch. It didn't react at all to Ayin's hostile display, leaving the highly intelligent little snake feeling as though it had punched a ball of cotton, receiving zero feedback.

Like a wronged puppy, it swayed its diamond-shaped head and rubbed against the back of Hein's hand, hoping for some comfort.

But a second later, Xia Nan's approaching footsteps from behind startled it. The snake's body stiffened, and it darted back into the Druid's sleeve as a stress response.

Motionless, it returned to being an ordinary "silver-black bracelet."

...

Meanwhile, in a chaotic shantytown near the Wave-Breaking Wharf in Barracuda Bay's Saltwater District.

A lanky figure draped in a hooded rain cloak walked down the narrow, sewage-filled streets.

His footsteps were slightly rushed, making him look just like any other passerby hurrying to escape the rain.

But upon closer inspection, one would notice that his speed didn't match his stride frequency and length at all. Furthermore, the footprints he left in the mud behind him were significantly shallower than a normal person's, washing away into obscurity with a single splash of rain.

He seemed incredibly familiar with this labyrinthine shantytown. Weaving past identical, indistinguishable corners, he eventually came to a halt in front of a seemingly abandoned shack deep within the neighborhood.

"Knock, knock-knock, knock."

There wasn't the slightest stir from inside.

Yet the man simply stared into a gap in the dilapidated door and lowered his hood.

His eyebrow was severed by a scar, revealing a sinister face in the rain.

Creak—

The shack's door was slowly pulled open from the inside, the sluggish grinding of its hinges echoing faintly in the air.