Chapter 275: Dance Again
In the Feiteng Theatre, the performance on stage continued in the vast main hall. Although there was some visible dissatisfaction among the audience due to Adele’s prolonged absence, the quality of the current show was still decent enough to prevent people from leaving. However, if Adele did not appear soon, the situation might escalate.
Around the nearly full main hall, there were private boxes surrounding the seating area. Those who could afford such boxes, even in Tivyan, usually held some status or position. Byron was one such individual. He was the son of the chairman of Pirite Harbor Shipping Company and a true wealthy young man, handsome and with a lot of money. Living an easy life since childhood, he sought out various thrills and pleasures, often found in nightclubs. It was during one of these occasions that he found the ultimate thrill and joy.
Dressed in a well-fitted suit with his hair slicked back, Byron sat on a sofa in a private box at the edge of the hall, sipping red wine while gazing distantly at the stage. His expression carried a hint of indifference.
“Being entangled in trouble isn’t pleasant, Adele.”
Inside the private box, Byron munched on dried fruits while muttering, “Aren’t you feeling uncomfortable, Adele?”
On the coffee table in front of him, there was fine wine and desserts, the luxurious offerings of the private box. At this moment, the door opened, and a servant entered. After closing the door, he approached Byron and respectfully bowed.
“Young Master…”
“How’s the situation outside?” Byron turned to look at the servant beside him and asked. The servant immediately responded.
“The police seem to have taken control of the scene. The area where Maria died has been sealed off, and it’s impossible to get through. The theater staff and police are patrolling everywhere. The theater’s entrance is heavily guarded, and no one is allowed to leave for now. They say they won’t let anyone go until the performance ends.”
The servant reported the information he had gathered to Byron. After listening, Byron nodded slightly and continued asking.
“What about Adele?”
“I haven’t seen Adele. Given the circumstances, she might be under close surveillance by the police,” the servant replied. Byron continued to murmur pensively.
“It should be so. With something like this happening, if she runs away or attacks the police, all the hard-earned reputation would be ruined. Even though we failed to eliminate her this time, at least we need to tarnish her reputation. That’s the bare minimum.”
“Hmph… But thinking about it, it’s really frustrating. I patiently approached that woman, spending a lot of time and money to please her, all to use her to get close to Adele and assassinate her. I never expected this thing to malfunction at the last minute. How disappointing!”
As he spoke, Byron looked at his hand, where he held a small, button-like accessory. On the accessory, there was an engraving of tiny figures holding hands and dancing. This was the extraordinary item Byron used to control flesh puppets, which he obtained from the society.
Originally, according to the plan, he intended to use this item to control Maria, the puppet, to stab Adele. However, to his surprise, Maria’s puppet suddenly stopped responding. Byron initially thought the button was faulty or that Adele had some extraordinary item that could interfere with the puppet’s control.
After the assassination attempt failed due to the unexpected incident, Byron immediately manipulated Maria to stage a gruesome m*rder in the restroom. This was his fallback plan after failing to assassinate Adele, aimed at destroying Adele’s reputation.
Byron, who received the task from the society, understood the importance of Adele’s reputation. If Maria’s situation was exposed, regardless of whether Adele could be convicted, the media would surely give extensive coverage.
“d*ath of famous dancer Adele’s dance partner in the restroom, pointing directly to Adele herself.” Such sensational news topics wouldn’t escape the attention of reporters. Once the news spreads, even if there isn’t enough evidence to prove Adele’s guilt, as long as the real culprit isn’t found, Adele will always be considered a suspect, and these negative news stories will forever damage her reputation.
Byron was already eager to see tomorrow’s headlines.
“However, come to think of it, I arranged for Maria to be ‘killed’ in a restroom near the audience area. The first people to discover the body should be unrelated spectators, causing commotion and spreading the news throughout the audience… But why was this matter suppressed so quickly…”
Byron continued pondering. His intention was to make things bigger, so he chose a restroom near the audience area as the “crime scene,” hoping to draw the attention of as many spectators as possible and spread the impact quickly. However, to his surprise, the news was suppressed right after the body was discovered.
“According to some theater staff, besides the police, there seems to be a detective involved in investigating this matter. It appears that after Maria was found, this detective immediately informed the theater staff and the police, suppressing the news. The first people who discovered the body are still being detained.”
Listening to Byron’s words, the servant responded. Hearing this, Byron frowned slightly.
“A detective? Hmph… Why is a detective suddenly involved? It seems it will take some time for this matter to come to light… If only I could get detailed information about what’s happening over there.”
Byron said in a solemn tone. His biggest concern was not being able to accurately grasp Adele’s situation and not knowing how far the police investigation had progressed. Byron had once wanted to use his extraordinary items to control some small zombie puppets for reconnaissance, but he abandoned the idea when he realized Adele was a high-ranking “Cup.”
At the White Chalk Tier, extraordinary beings possess their own spiritual perception abilities. Adele, with her “Cup” spiritual perception, could easily detect the traces of “Cup” spiritual energy on a flesh puppet. Larger flesh puppets were easier to handle; they could wear “Shadow” extraordinary items or use “Shadow” sigils to shield against spiritual perception, similar to the necklace he gave to Maria.
But small flesh puppets couldn’t do this. Passive effect extraordinary items required correct usage or wearing to function, and most items designed for humans couldn’t be worn by small flesh puppets. Byron’s flesh puppets also couldn’t perform complex operations like using sigils.
Due to these reasons, Byron had virtually no information about Adele and the police’s current situation, but he wasn’t overly worried.
“Paper can’t hide fire. In such cases, no matter how much they try to suppress it, the truth will eventually come out. Without finding the real culprit, Adele will be detained at the police bureau, and just this alone would attract media attention. Now, the police probably don’t want any unrest in such a crowded place, so they’re helping to suppress it. Once the performance here ends and the witnesses are released, I’ll send someone to leak some inside information, and the entire matter will immediately blow up. It will be impossible to suppress then.”
“Huh, what kind of headlines will the media create for this? ‘Famous Dancer Adele Kills Dance Partner, Jealousy Suspected?'”
“Although that woman Maria is disgusting, at least her d*ath served some purpose this time.”
Byron thought to himself as he watched the ongoing performance on the distant stage, waiting quietly for the end of the performance and the eruption of the incident in public opinion.
In the cramped private box, Byron occasionally glanced at his watch, continuing to watch the performance and eat the snacks and wine in front of him. Unbeknownst to him, in the ventilation duct, a pair of eyes was watching him.
That was a mouse hiding in the narrow ventilation pipe, and Dorothy was using its senses to observe, listen, and smell the information within the box.
“I finally found you, murderer, Mr. B.”
Sitting in his seat, Dorothy thought in his mind. After Ed obtained the tracking sigil and spiritual storage item from Adele, he took the opportunity to transfer them to his main body and used spiritual vision to confirm that there were no landmark sigils or similar items.
