This world truly has many coincidences.

Standing in the foul-smelling room, Duanmu Huai appeared speechless. In fact, he was already at a loss for words when he learned about the situation, and coming here only made it worse.

"Hello, Mr. Duanmu."

The detective in charge of the scene investigation was Detective Jiumu, who had met Duanmu Huai a few times before—well, that's normal, considering Duanmu Huai's appearance, police are always the ones who react to him the most.

"I didn't expect you'd take on this case."

"Neither did I, to be honest. I'd rather go home and sleep right now."

Duanmu Huai yawned, looking utterly bored and frustrated.

The reason he came here was simple: the principal called him.

As for why the principal asked Duanmu Huai to come here......

"Tell me about the situation."

"Sure."

Detective Jiumu nodded, then took out his phone and glanced at it.

"The deceased is Shizuko Matsushita, 32 years old, a former national gymnast, currently working as a physical education teacher at Qianyuan Academy......"

Duanmu Huai sighed silently.

This was the reason he was here.

Duanmu Huai still remembered when the principal invited him to Qianyuan Academy, they mentioned the PE teacher was on leave due to illness, so he could take her place as the PE teacher while conducting an investigation. At that time, Duanmu Huai just listened and didn't think much of it, but he didn't expect to meet the PE teacher under these circumstances.

According to Detective Jiumu's description, the discovery of Shizuko Matsushita's body was actually quite simple; an awful stench emanated from her apartment, disturbing others, who then complained to the manager. The manager used a key to open Matsushita's apartment door and discovered her body collapsed in the living room.

They immediately called the police, who came to investigate and identified her, then called the principal of Qianyuan Academy, who in turn called Duanmu Huai. So Duanmu Huai had to drag himself out of bed and rush to this stinking apartment in the middle of the night.

Going home later would definitely necessitate a bath and a change of clothes.

"What was the cause of death?"

"Currently unknown, but our investigations suggest Shizuko Matsushita died roughly five days ago. There were no signs of a struggle in the room, nor any traces left by anyone other than Matsushita. So we initially believe she died of a sudden illness, and the smell from the decomposing body was what led others to find her...this isn't exactly an uncommon event."

"Do you have photos of the body?"

"Of course."

Detective Jiumu handed over a photo, which Duanmu Huai took and glanced at, causing him to twitch his mouth slightly.

"What kind of illness causes death like this?"

It's no wonder Duanmu Huai was taken aback because the corpse in the photo was swollen all over—well, that was understandable. But what was incomprehensible was that from head to abdomen, the body was completely split open, with bodily fluids and decomposed organs spilling out, as if the person had been sliced open.

But of course, for someone as experienced as Duanmu Huai, it was clear that the body wasn't sliced open from the outside. Instead, it seemed like something tore Shizuko Matsushita's body from the inside and escaped, leaving an empty shell behind.

"According to the coroner, a bloated decomposing body does have a certain probability of exploding, causing this kind of strange phenomenon."

"Alright."

Duanmu Huai nodded, handing the photo back to Detective Jiumu.

"Do you mind if I conduct my own investigation?"

"No problem, our investigation is finished."

After a preliminary site investigation, the police seemed to conclude it was just an accidental death, even though the exploded body was a tad difficult to overlook; it wasn't entirely inexplicable. At least for now, there were no apparent signs of foul play or drug/alcohol traces on the body. Moreover, there were no signs of outsiders entering the room. So, for now, the police planned to wrap up, thinking it was an accidental death.

After the police left, Duanmu Huai began inspecting the room. Despite the lingering nauseating stench, the room was decorated with a distinct feminine touch. There were pink curtains and plush rugs, and trophies displayed on the bookshelf, though Duanmu Huai wasn't interested in these. He glanced around the room, then found the chandelier on the ceiling, extending his hand toward it.

Soon, before Duanmu Huai, time began to rewind.

"Bzzzz......…"

The sound of the air conditioner droned in the living room, and a woman in athletic attire curled up on the sofa. It wasn't exactly sweltering, but the woman was hardly dressed, wearing just shorts and a short-sleeved jacket similar to a basketball team's uniform, and she even had the air conditioner on.

It's strange, even if she felt hot, she wouldn't have reacted this way. She was shivering and pale-skinned, looking as though she was freezing. Yet, she didn't seem inclined to turn off the AC; there were even ice creams and popsicles on the table.

To be honest, even without any illness, living like that could make anyone sick.

The TV was playing commercials, and the woman shivered on the sofa, showing no interest in the ads. Instead, her hands clasped her phone tightly, seemingly looking at something. But with her long hair hanging down, her expression was obscured.

"———————!"

At that moment, the room suddenly darkened, the TV switched off, the sound of the air conditioner vanished, and everything fell silent.

Yes, put simply, the power went out.

"———————!!!"

However, at that moment, the woman suddenly stood up in a panic, intent on rushing to the door. But just then, she let out an indistinct wail and collapsed weakly to the floor.

Then, Duanmu Huai saw it.

The woman's face cracked open from the middle, stretching from forehead to abdomen, her body like a balloon being forced from within, swelling, splitting, and then bursting!

"Boom!"

The sound was no louder than a balloon popping, marking the woman's complete demise. She lay limply on the floor, unmoving. Next, Duanmu Huai saw countless black, rat-like, swarming things pouring from the woman's body and vanishing like scattered cockroaches.

Seeing this, Duanmu Huai raised an eyebrow before rewinding again—pause, enlarge.

He zoomed in, pulling his focus down from the ceiling light, and closely examined the phone in the woman's hands — on the phone was a selfie of the woman. But what caught Duanmu Huai's attention wasn't the woman herself but rather the book she held in her arms in the selfie!

A black, hard-covered book that appeared to be a Magic Book!

And this book, Duanmu Huai had seen it before!

It was brought by the Literary Girl!

At that time, Duanmu Huai used his phone to trace back the Literary Girl's past, but he wasn't sure how this book was obtained. Because in the phone's retrospection, the Literary Girl had put down her phone and gone out once. When she returned, she was holding this book!

It was after that, the Literary Girl excitedly declared that with this book, she could increase the probability of summoning a Spiritual Body, and then she happily went to tempt fate.

And now, in the teacher's phone photos, there was also this book!

Duanmu Huai didn't believe that the two had each bought a copy, after all, they were both from Qianyuan Academy, one a teacher and one a student. And when the Literary Girl got the book, accounting for the time, the gym teacher wasn't even ill yet...… hmm?

Wait, could it be that because the Literary Girl took the teacher's book, it eventually led to her death?

So how did this book come to be...… that becomes a bit of a problem!

...…Forget it, keep gathering clues, and then go home and let my brain team think it over.

Duanmu Huai decisively gave up on thinking, his brain itched, he couldn't figure it out.

The teacher's phone was taken into custody as evidence, because it wasn't a murder case, Duanmu Huai wasn't qualified to retrieve it. But he didn't care about this little inconvenience. Duanmu Huai first went to find the apartment manager to inquire about the situation. And in front of Duanmu Huai, the apartment manager obviously told everything they knew without holding back.

"The electricity usage for room 308...? Now that you mention it...…there does seem to be a bit of a problem."

"What exactly do you mean?"

"Although I don't remember very clearly, indeed starting from some time ago, the power consumption in 308 began to show an upward trend. I was also worried they might be doing something illegal in the room, and went to ask about it, but...…"

"And then?"

"She was just running the air conditioning without turning it off."

"Just that?"

"That's what she told me, said she was afraid of the heat...…"

"But it's not even summer yet."

The summer break hadn't even started yet.

"That's how I saw it too, but since she was willing to keep the air conditioner on all day, and also willing to pay the electricity bill, there wasn't much I could say. In fact, it was only because they ran out of power that we noticed this time. If it wasn't for the power running out, we probably still wouldn't have realized she was already...… hey...…

"Was her air conditioning set to a very low temperature?"

"Approximately around ten degrees...… to be honest, even I couldn't stand it."

"Do you know when this started? Or was it like this since she moved in?"

"When you put it that way...…"

The manager scratched his head.

"It seems she wasn't like this before; at first, she was just normal...… oh, right, if I remember correctly, it should have been a year ago, when she went back to her hometown, and after she came back, it was like this!"

"A year ago?"

"That's right, I remember she went back home for the New Year, and after she came back, she specifically brought me a local specialty, so I remember very clearly. It was after that...…it seemed she kept the air conditioning on, and the temperature was very low. To be honest, her room felt like a cold storage, sometimes just walking past outside felt a bit chilly...…"

"Do you know about her having a book?"

Duanmu Huai gestured to the manager.

"A black book, with a big cover?"

And hearing Duanmu Huai's question, the manager was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hand.

"Yes, there was such a thing! About half a month ago, she approached me, asking if I had seen such a book. We even checked the surveillance footage together at that time, but we didn't find it. At least it wasn't lost in the apartment."

Oh?

Upon hearing this, Duanmu Huai narrowed his eyes.

"And how did she seem back then? Was she anxious?"

"Now that you mention it, she did seem quite anxious at the time. Maybe that book had some special significance to her...…

"Alright, thank you."

Having gotten the information he wanted, Duanmu Huai left the apartment directly. He first emailed the principal explaining the situation, then immediately called Yuko Shionji to inform her of the matter.

"...… So, the person didn't die by accident?"

"I suspect that this case may be related to previous events. By the way, can you investigate where that teacher's hometown is? She went back home a year ago, so there should be a record."

"Let me check...… hmm...…"

Soon, the sound of typing on a keyboard came through the phone, followed by a brief pause.

"Hmm? You're going to be very interested in this news."

"Let me guess."

Duanmu Huai's face darkened.

"Does it have something to do with the Light of the Universe?"

"Correct, her hometown is in Yangchen Town, Aomori, which is one of the addresses on the list...…is this a coincidence?"

"It could be a coincidence, or it could be a result of spillover."

Duanmu Huai snorted coldly.

"Keep investigating, the rest we'll discuss when I return."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.