The Five Hundred and Fifteenth Poison
Conquer the South Coast of the Sea, Kankdar.
During the day in Kankdar, near the outskirts in the foreigner’s residential area, the Citizens’ Mansion stood by the roadside. This large mansion was funded by the Kankdar municipal government for various purposes. During normal times, free cultural performances, exhibitions of rarities, citizen activities, and speeches by the mayor were all held here, making it a comprehensive activity center.
At this moment, the Citizens’ Mansion was hosting an event. Inside, there was a bustling crowd of citizens from the foreigners’ district, dressed in black with solemn expressions. They had gathered to attend the mourning ceremony for Prince Mazale, the only victim in the recent assassination attempt at the southern station.
A few days after the assassination attempt, the Kankdar municipal government organized a memorial service at the Citizens’ Mansion to express their condolences to the exiled Baruch royal family. Prince Mazale, known for his noble character and respect, was mourned as a leader of the exiled royal family. With extensive media coverage supporting the exiled Baruch royal family in recent days, many citizens came to participate upon hearing about the memorial service.
The grand Citizens’ Mansion, built with white marble, stood on a vast lawn. People in plain clothing walked along the path leading to the entrance of the hall. Among them was a man wearing a trench coat, a low hat, with deep-set eyes and a hooked nose, his skin pale. He observed his surroundings while walking towards the hall.
Shortly after, he entered the hall through its grand doors. Looking around, he saw an open space adorned with flowers, large carpets on the floor, and traditional tapestries from Northern Ufeiga hanging from the pillars, depicting various legends. In the center of the hall was a high platform covered with flowers, and atop this platform lay a coffin wrapped in white cloth.
Priests in Northern Ufeiga style were reading scriptures to the mourners gathered around the covered coffin. A somber and ethereal music played throughout the hall.
Inside the hall, the pale-skinned man looked around before approaching the coffin. From afar, Dorothy couldn’t help but whisper softly.
“There’s no extraordinary detection… It seems they don’t take this seriously…”
Controlling the puppet Edric, Dorothy remotely attended Mazale’s mourning ceremony. She initially thought there might be extraordinary detection set up, but there wasn’t, which was good news for her future plans.
Dorothy used the puppet to attend the mourning ceremony not to pay respects, but to scout the location and gather preliminary intelligence. Her goal was to steal Mazale’s corpse to clear the Envoy Group of suspicion.
According to Evie, to clear the Envoy Group’s name, they needed undeniable evidence. After some deliberation, Dorothy decided to target Mazale’s corpse to extract the remaining poison and prove that his d*ath was due to poisoning rather than gunshot wounds.
Due to the disruption caused by Dorothy on the day of the assassination, the plan of the assassins was disrupted, and the final attacker acted hastily, missing the vital points. To prevent the victim from being saved, the Kankdar municipal government attempted to use a medical team to inject poison into the victim, causing immediate d*ath.
Based on Vania’s treatment of the two victims, Dorothy knew that these medical teams used poison, directly killing the injured victims through injection. Therefore, Mazale’s true cause of d*ath was poisoning, not a gunshot wound.
Dorothy thought that if she could obtain Mazale’s corpse and successfully extract the residual poison, proving that his d*ath was due to poisoning, it would clear the Envoy Group’s suspicion. The official statement claimed that Mazale died from a gunshot wound, so poisoning was impossible.
Confirming Mazale’s d*ath by poisoning rather than gunshots would overturn the entire assassination case. Since Vania used her abilities and medicines to neutralize the toxins in the two victims she healed, there were no traces of poison on them. Therefore, the residual poison could only be found in Mazale’s corpse.
If it were a regular investigation team, Dorothy only needed to suggest performing an autopsy on the victim’s body. However, given the possibility that the investigation team might collude with the real assassins, such a suggestion could lead the assassins to destroy Mazale’s body immediately. Hence, Dorothy decided to steal the body herself, handing over the results of the autopsy along with the body to Evie. With this evidence, Evie could pressure the judges to release the suspects.
Dorothy controlled the puppet Edric to wander around the hall, observing the terrain and guards, checking for any extraordinary signs. After a round, she found that the mourning ceremony seemed like a routine one for wealthy families, with nothing particularly noteworthy. Stealing Mazale’s corpse did not seem too difficult.
“There’s no extraordinary detection, weak guard force, no extraordinary signs… It looks like just a regular mourning ceremony. Although it might not be difficult to steal the body, could this be a trap?”
Sitting on the sofa in the hotel, Dorothy thought somewhat worriedly. Although she was concerned about whether this mourning ceremony might be a trap, she ultimately decided to steal Mazale’s corpse.
“Even if it is a trap, it’s worth trying. I’m using a puppet, so nothing bad will happen in general. Even if an extraordinary person with Red Tier strength discovers me, I can seek refuge in the White Dove Hotel. With Evie there, as long as they don’t want to escalate things, they won’t attack in the White Dove Hotel…”
After some consideration, Dorothy decided to act tonight. She manipulated the distant Edric to leave the Citizens’ Mansion and head back, then began preparing for the night’s operation.
Time passed quickly, and soon the sun set, bringing night to Kankdar. The mourning ceremony at the Citizens’ Mansion ended at dusk, as there was no custom of overnight vigilging. Thus, the Citizens’ Mansion closed early, and the once bustling place became quiet.
As night deepened, the Citizens’ Mansion gradually turned silent. By late night, the large mansion was almost devoid of life, with only a few ordinary guards keeping watch, yawning as they waited for the relief shift.
Soon, several figures carrying lanterns entered the mansion through the main gate, greeted by the guards with visible relief.
“Well, it’s finally time for the shift.”
Several men in guard uniforms carrying coal lamps entered the hall, and the waiting guards couldn’t help but smile. After a brief exchange, the on-duty guards returned, leaving their colleagues to continue the watch.
Standing at the entrance of the hall, the off-duty guards watched their colleagues leave with a slight smile on their faces.
These off-duty guards were Dorothy’s living puppets. Not long ago, Dorothy had attacked these guards with living puppets, knocking them out and marking them with puppet marks, turning them into living puppets under her control to take over the defense of the Citizens’ Mansion.
With the weak defense of the Citizens’ Mansion under her control, Dorothy hesitated no longer. She immediately controlled several puppet guards to enter the hall and approach the high platform where the coffin was placed. They removed the flowers on the platform and approached the coffin.
Controlling the puppet guards, Dorothy pulled off the white cloth covering the coffin and had them work together to open the sealed coffin. When the lid was opened, a plump, pale corpse dressed in fine clothes lay inside, eyes closed. This was the last prince of the Baruch royal family, Mazale.
After confirming that Mazale’s body was indeed in the coffin, Dorothy felt a sense of relief. Then she used her abilities to manipulate Mazale’s body, turning it into a puppet. Under Dorothy’s manipulation, Mazale sat up from the coffin and opened his eyes, revealing hazy pupils.
After manipulating Mazale’s body, Dorothy sensed something amiss, frowning slightly and feeling a hint of doubt. However, in this critical moment, she simply noted this doubt and continued without further hesitation. She controlled a puppet that resembled Mazale closely but was actually a real corpse, dressing it in Mazale’s clothes and placing it back in the coffin. Then, she directed other puppets to close the coffin lid and return the flowers to their original positions.
After thoroughly examining Mazale’s body and confirming everything was in order, Dorothy controlled the puppet Mazale to quickly leave the Citizens’ Mansion and disappear into the night. The puppet guards were instructed to find suitable spots and erase the puppet marks, sitting down against the wall to rest.
Thus, Dorothy successfully stole Mazale’s body. Her next goal was to manipulate Mazale’s corpse to another area, where she had prepared the necessary reagents to detect the poison.
…
In the early hours of dawn in Kankdar, when the first rays of light appeared in the sky, Robert, who was “recovering” at Kankdar Hospital, was awakened from his sleep. As he got up from his bed, the door of his room opened, and a servant entered. Robert asked directly,
“What’s the matter?”
“Sir, we have received word that Prince Mazale’s body has been stolen from the Citizens’ Mansion.”
After bowing, the young servant informed Robert directly. Hearing this, Robert paused, then a subtle smile appeared on his lips.
“As expected, they went after Mazale…”
Robert muttered thoughtfully, and the young servant continued,
“Sir, should we send people to search for Prince Mazale’s body now?”
The servant suggested, but Robert responded with a soft laugh,
“There’s no need… The Saviors will likely seek out Mazale’s body to gather evidence. Let them take it if they want. That suits my purpose…”
As he spoke, Robert looked out the window at the breaking dawn, his eyes filled with a sense of inevitability.
…
On the other side, after successfully stealing Mazale’s body, Dorothy immediately used the pre-prepared carriage to transport it to the local residential area of Kankdar. After wandering through the much larger local residential area, the carriage eventually stopped in front of a small dilapidated house.
Dorothy controlled Mazale to get out of the carriage, carrying a lamp and entering the dilapidated house directly. After wandering around the decaying interior for a while, she found a descending staircase and descended into a dim basement.
In the basement, several puppets wearing Northern Ufeiga robes and masks surrounded a grass mat. On the edge of the mat was a large medical box.
Mazale approached the scene and lay down on the grass mat. Nearby, a puppet opened the medical box and took out an empty syringe, drawing bl**d from Mazale’s pale skin after rolling up his sleeve. Meanwhile, other puppets retrieved various items from the medical box—beakers, test tubes, alcohol lamps, reagents, medications, and microscopes—and laid them out on the ground.
Then, Dorothy began remotely controlling the puppets to conduct tests on Mazale’s bl**d. Previously, Dorothy had obtained samples from fabric at Vania’s place and, after some effort, confirmed the type of poison using her self-taught knowledge of medicine and chemistry in this world.
This poison was a type of snake venom originating from a highly toxic desert snake called the Sand-scaled Yellow-spotted Snake in Northern Ufeiga. Its venom was a bl**d toxin that destroyed the circulatory system, leading to massive destruction of bl**d cells and anticoagulation, resulting in d*ath if untreated. Due to the nature of the toxin, traces of it could be detected in the bl**d of the deceased, making the poisoned bl**d distinct from normal bl**d.
After focused testing, Dorothy completed the analysis of Mazale’s bl**d. The results showed that Mazale’s bl**d contained significant amounts of Sand-scaled Yellow-spotted Snake venom. This result alone was enough to confirm that he was killed by poisoning, not a gunshot.
Dorothy couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
“Phew… It worked… The obvious presence of this poison clearly indicates he died from poisoning. This is solid evidence.”
“If I hand this evidence over to Evie and let her confront the judges and Kankdar officials, it will overturn the entire assassination case and clear the Envoy Group’s suspicion… right?”
Dorothy pondered, noting that everything seemed to be going smoothly. She had detected the poison in Mazale’s body, proving that the entire assassination case was problematic. Now, if she could just give this evidence to Evie, everything could be reversed. However, her heart was still filled with doubts.
Some seemingly insignificant details made Dorothy cautious before she succeeded. One of these doubts was about Mazale himself.
“Come to think of it, I originally thought Mazale had been dead for days, and his body would be too decomposed to be controlled as a puppet. But he was still controllable tonight, even though it felt awkward and he moved stiffly. This was unexpected.”
