Chapter 329

Chapter 291: Investigation

“Well… in the absence of the ability to perceive a specific target, can the Desire Dancer’s ability still be effective?”

“Yes, but it becomes uncontrollable and blind; using the ability without being able to sense a target is like a lottery—it will affect the surroundings randomly and aimlessly, and these effects are usually uncontrollable.”

Adele provided an example, and listening to her, Dorothy gained an intuitive understanding of the strength of the Desire Dancer’s ability when not using dance. Its effect is quite limited against extraordinary beings above the Black Tier, but it can still easily drive ordinary people to madness.

That being said, the situation occurring in the Coal Ash District could indeed be attributed to the uncontrollable power of the Desire Dancer. In any case, there is a definite need for a deeper investigation here.

“Thank you, Miss Adele, for your explanation. Clearly defining the Desire Dancer’s ability is one of the necessary preliminary pieces of information for investigating this incident… Next, we should gather some other information. Miss Adele, please assist me with your ability shortly.”

After gaining a rough understanding of the Desire Dancer’s information, Ed nodded and said, while Adele curiously asked another question.

“Other information? From where? Do you need me to use my ability?”

Hearing Adele’s question, Ed glanced out the window at a distinctly tall building across the street, at the entrance of which hung a large police emblem, with two policemen guarding the door.

“It’s the police bureau in the Coal Ash District. I want some files from inside.”

Looking out at the police bureau, Ed replied, and Adele nodded with a smile after seeing it.

“Alright… I understand.”

…

Afterward, Ed and Adele went to the police bureau in the Coal Ash District. Under Dorothy’s control, Ed feigned a request to check files and needed access to some archive rooms. With Adele’s enchanting assistance, Ed easily tricked the collectively dulled officers and successfully entered the police archive room. Here, Dorothy successfully found the files she was looking for.

After using her ability to memorize all the file contents, Dorothy controlled Ed to quickly retreat. They then hastily found a private booth in a nearby café, and shortly after ordering coffee, Ed pulled out a large map, unfolded it, and placed it on the table. Adele focused her attention and found that this was indeed a map of the surrounding urban area.

“Detective, what do you need the map for? Are you doing divination? I’ve already tried; the information regarding my teacher has been integrated into some anti-divination system—most likely the Wolf bl**d Association. Divination won’t work.”

Watching Ed lay out the map, Adele remarked, to which Ed lightly responded.

“This isn’t for divination, just for locating…”

Ed said, then took out a pen and started marking dots on the map laid out on the table. Watching those dots appear, Adele voiced her confusion again.

“Locating? What kind of locating?”

“Crime location. Didn’t you mention that the consequences of your teacher’s ability going out of control weren’t just those four street murders, but also the rising crime rate in the Coal Ash District recently? That means every case that has occurred in the Coal Ash District over the past half month may have been influenced by the Desire Dancer’s ability. If we mark all the locations of the cases, we might uncover some useful information.”

Ed explained, continuing to mark points on the map. Each point represented a crime occurrence—there were thefts, robberies, fights, assaults, and even public nudity… all acts of crime resulting from uncontrollable emotions.

These were all the cases that Dorothy had noted from the police bureau’s archive room. Dorothy had previously attempted to sneak in with a Small Zombie Puppet to steal the files, but unfortunately, they were all locked in iron cabinets, making it impossible for the puppet to retrieve them. Thankfully, with Adele’s assistance, she managed to acquire the files without causing any major disturbances.

“Crime localization?”

Hearing Ed’s words, Adele murmured, and as more points were marked on the map, her eyes couldn’t help but brighten.

“This is…”

“See? As long as we mark the points, a lot of information will become clear.”

Putting down his pen, Ed said. At that moment, the map was dotted with numerous points. A closer look revealed that these points actually had a specific distribution pattern, all emanating from a central point—dense in the center and sparse towards the edges, showing a radiative spread.

According to Adele’s previous explanation, the Desire Dancer’s ability could extend its range by consuming extra spirituality, but this ability still exhibited a trend of being stronger the closer the distance and weaker as it got further away.

If the abnormal spike in crime rates in the Coal Ash District was indeed due to the Desire Dancer’s uncontrollable power, then the areas closer to the source of the power going out of control would certainly experience greater influence and higher concentration of crime. The mapped points on the table demonstrated this quite well.

Now, Ed and Adele both focused their attention on the densely radiating points on the map, and Ed circled a spot, marking it with the name “Charred Wood Intersection.”

…

While Ed and Adele were in the café analyzing the map, at that same moment, another pair of eyes was fixed on a similar map inside the police bureau they had previously visited.

In the office of the police chief of the West Tivyán Coal Ash District, the once arrogant chief was now trembling by his desk, while another person was seated in his chair.

This was a middle-aged man in his thirties, clad in a loose coat, with disheveled shoulder-length yellow hair, stubble all over his chin, and a contemptuous expression on his face; his feet were propped up on the chief’s desk. Despite the extremely uncouth posture, the police chief did not show any dissatisfaction because he knew that the person in front of him was someone he couldn’t provoke.

This man was Edmond, the stationed captain of the Anonymity Headquarters in Tivyán. At that moment, he was leading a team to investigate the bizarre phenomenon of rising crime rates in the Coal Ash District. The unusual situation in West Tivyán had already attracted the attention of the Anonymity Headquarters, and shortly after Ed and Adele left, Edmond burst into the police station with his men.

In the chief’s office, Edmond sat in the center while the police chief nervously accompanied him. Meanwhile, several black-clad hunters were busy; they were reviewing a pile of files just moved from the archive. After carefully examining each one and organizing the information, they began marking black dots on the urban map in the chief’s office.

As more black dots accumulated on the map, Edmond’s attention gradually focused on an area where the black dots were dense. From the map, it was clear that this area was an intersection.