Chapter 297

Chapter 272 Desire

“Miss Adèle?”

Seeing Adèle appear at the door, Dorothy felt a slight surprise. Then she instructed Ed, who was still in the Theater Manager’s office, to stop his divination and put away the crystal pendant. She turned to Adèle again and said,

“As a key suspect, you should be under strict police supervision right now. Are you planning to escape?”

“If I were to run away, it would only confirm my guilt, and I wouldn’t fall into their hands. I haven’t been that foolish. Right now, I’m just using some small tricks to move around freely for a while. I can handle the mortal police,” Adèle said slowly as she looked at Ed, smoking a slender cigarette. After exhaling, she gazed at Ed with an intrigued look and continued,

“Besides, with the help of the wise extraordinary detective Mr. Ed clearing my name, how could I possibly run? The case is the detective’s stage; I can’t undermine the dancers on stage.”

Adèle continued talking to Ed. Hearing Adèle’s words, Ed raised his eyebrows slightly and replied,

“Miss Adèle, how did you know I wasn’t an ordinary person?”

“Hehe… It’s a woman’s secret.”

“Secret…” Ed repeated softly, and Adèle nodded and continued,

“Yes, a secret, just like you, Detective, have your own secrets. I don’t think you would tell me why you got involved in something that had nothing to do with you. Even to the point of spending heavily on divination, you must know that the price of ‘Enlightenment’ in Tiwian is exorbitant.”

‘I understand this; it’s the price I inflated,’ Dorothy thought to herself, and Adèle continued speaking.

“Spending such a great cost to catch the real culprit of a case that has nothing to do with you, Detective, I find your identity and motives even more intriguing.”

Holding a slender cigarette between her fingers, Adèle said lazily, and Dorothy thought in her heart,

‘Well, for me, this isn’t much of a cost. As long as I find that guy and eliminate him, everything will come back with interest. My main goal is this.’

Dorothy thought this, but with her hand, she manipulated Ed to smile at Adèle and say,

“If I say my purpose as a detective is simply to uncover the truth and clear the innocent lady’s name, would you believe me?”

Hearing Ed’s words, Adèle paused slightly and then laughed softly,

“That sounds nice. I almost believed you had a way to accumulate spirituality through solving cases, Detective.”

“Why can’t there be one?” Ed shrugged and responded, and Adèle waved her hand and said,

“Alright, alright, whatever you say. Regardless of your purpose, since you want to find those people, we can consider ourselves temporary allies with shared interests. Although I don’t know what other means you might have after divination fails, if you can continue investigating, perhaps I can provide some assistance.”

“Really? That would be wonderful, Miss Adèle. Actually, I wanted to ask, do you know how much anti-divination resources they have?”

Ed asked Adèle, and she looked at him and directly replied,

“Divination resources? No one knows for sure. But I can tell you this: they are backed by the Placenta Wolf bl**d Association. If the Wolf bl**d Association provides anti-divination protection, then no divination can uncover any information about them. Unless you have a society of similar scale supporting you, willing to engage in a comprehensive divination battle with the Placenta and you, otherwise, forget about it.”

Adèle revealed to Ed, and Dorothy finally understood what kind of opponents they were facing.

‘The Placenta Sect… the Wolf bl**d Association, old acquaintances… but this is somewhat troublesome. If they truly have the anti-divination protection from the Placenta Wolf bl**d Association, then divining them won’t be easy. The Eight Pinnacle Nest alone can spend tens of thousands of pounds to buy over ten ‘Enlightenments.’ The reserves of ‘Enlightenments’ within the Placenta Sect must be substantial, and they have high-ranking extraordinary beings guarding it. It’s not wise for me to attempt divination against the Placenta Sect while facing the penalty of crossing levels.

‘Although I have many ‘Lamps’ and can return them, this is not how they should be used, and ‘Lamps’ are limited. Without a necessary reason, wasting them…

‘In this case… perhaps I cannot rely primarily on divination to solve the problem…

‘However, I controlled Ed to say to Adèle,

“Thank you for your reminder, Miss Adèle. I’ll take care of it myself. But I’m very curious, why do you have a grudge with the Wolf bl**d Association? I wonder if I can learn about your grievances?”

“Let’s talk about it after you solve the case. If Detective can indeed solve this case and save my reputation from damage, not only will I tell you what you want to know about our relationship with the Wolf bl**d Association, but we will also gain friendship and gratitude.”

Taking another puff of her cigarette, Adèle muttered, and Dorothy keenly sensed a hint in Adèle’s words.

‘Adèle referred to us… This means she is not alone, she is part of a society, and an enemy of the Placenta Sect and the Wolf bl**d Association.

‘More than the potential secular trial she may face, Adèle cares more about her reputation. Yes, the Wolf bl**d Association’s false accusations can’t harm Adèle herself, mortal police can’t hold her back, but Adèle’s reputation in the secular world can be destroyed by these accusations.

‘They failed to assassinate Adèle, so they decided to create these false accusations to ruin Adèle’s reputation as a secular star. It seems… this reputation holds special significance for Adèle as an extraordinary being.’

Dorothy quickly analyzed the deeper meaning in Adèle’s words, and then she controlled Ed to smile at Adèle and say,

“I’ll do my best, Miss Adèle.”

“I’ll be watching, Detective. I’ll wait for your news at the police station. If you need anything, come find me.

“By the way, I should give you a hint. Maria was already dead before the fourth performance of ‘The Crimson Mother.’ The one dancing with me was just a flesh puppet.”

“So it was a flesh puppet,” Ed pretended to be surprised and said, and Adèle smiled mysteriously in response.

“I thought you had already figured it out, Detective.”

Winking at Ed, Adèle threw the cigarette b*tt into the trash and then walked out the door. For a moment, only Ed remained in the room.

‘This woman…’

Dorothy thought to herself, then she controlled Ed to sit down on a sofa, assuming a contemplative pose, and she herself fell into deep thought.

‘So, next, try to find clues to identify the murderer.

‘Now, we need to confirm the true cause of Maria’s d*ath and the time of her d*ath. Maria was alive during the second performance, but when she appeared in the fourth performance, she was a zombie puppet. Therefore… her actual time of d*ath was between the end of the second performance and the start of the fourth performance… If I remember correctly, that was between 6:32 and 6:55.

‘Someone had controlled Maria’s body previously, and there were no external injuries, so she might have died from poisoning or suffocation.

‘Anyway, let’s first confirm this…’

After determining these points, Dorothy controlled Ed to stand up from the sofa, tidied up the area briefly, and left the management office. He went to the backstage of the theater, where he found other dancers from the Flying Dance Troupe being questioned by the police.

“Gentlemen, may I ask these ladies a few questions?” Ed said to the police officers who were currently conducting inquiries. Because of Douglas’ previous promise, Ed now had investigative authority, so the police allowed him to question them.