Beating Instances through Words Left by the Dead

But judging from the woman’s tone and expression filled with resentful thoughts, it seemed like she was high.

It was the first time he could see the resentful thoughts but couldn’t find the cause of death from them.

The resentful thoughts were ineffective, but fortunately, he had means other than resentful thoughts and inspiration.

He moved his hand to an angle unseen by Raventon, took out the All-Knowing Crystal from his personal space, and asked it for the cause of the woman’s death.

In the Desolate Realm, there was no better tool for inferring information from existing data than the All-Knowing Crystal.

The All-Knowing Crystal flickered once and then immediately drew a conclusion.

The cause of death for the woman in front of him was the excessive depletion of her soul and life force in a short period.

The All-Knowing Crystal also kindly offered an explanation that the soul and life force of ordinary people can be overdraft to a certain extent. A small overdraft can be compensated through rest, with the cost being a shortened lifespan and frail health.

But if the life force is overstrained beyond the limits of natural recovery in a short time, there’s a certain probability it will lead to a life force cut-off, resulting in premature death.

The woman in front of him was already physically weaker than ordinary people, suffering from long-term sleep deprivation and malnutrition, and she had just recovered from a mild malaria infection.

At this moment, she might not fall over with a gust of wind, but a strong breeze could make her catch a cold and fever.

Under these circumstances, she overworked for eighteen hours, depleting her life force, as if she was heading towards death.

He looked up at Raventon and shared everything he had discovered.

Raventon was already used to Wu Chang’s overly detailed inspiration, but every time he saw it, his emotions were still complicated.

Because the clues that he couldn’t discover through observing various details and relying on extensive logical reasoning were all clear as day to Wu Chang with just a couple of glances thanks to his "inspiration."

It was as if, in the same exam, despite his full effort, including various deduction processes, he could only solve the first half, while next to him, Wu Chang’s sheet was already printed with the answers.

This disparity, without a doubt, filled him with a sense of defeat.

Fortunately, freaks like Wu Chang were rare, or else the detective profession would lose its necessity to exist.

After a brief silence, he said:

"So, you’re saying she was influenced by some reason to work tirelessly without sleep, and literally worked herself to death?"

Wu Chang nodded, "Her working status definitely had issues, let’s first check the other deceased and determine if this situation originates from the textile factory, some special drug, or spiritual control methods."

Raventon nodded, re-covered the woman’s body with the white sheet, and walked out the door.

Due to their rapid pace, the gang members interrogating Green outside hadn’t yet left.

Raventon pointed at the gang members and said, "Don’t move, if you dare run, I’ll shoot you dead."

The gang member showed a bitter expression, standing there without daring to move.

Raventon brushed his clothes, as if to dispel the ominous air of death, then turned to Green and said:

"There’s nothing abnormal on the body, but she worked herself to death, you can go register at the guild later with this garbage and demand compensation from the factory."

"And you," Raventon looked at the gang member.

"You really aren’t afraid of death. Just tell me, do you want me to break all your teeth or take you back as a murder suspect for questioning?"

The gang member was so scared he knelt on the spot because he saw Raventon actually draw his pistol and start loading bullets.

Raventon, seeing the gang member’s trembling legs, laughed and kicked him to the ground, cursing ’trash,’ then waved his hand and left with Wu Chang.

On the road, Wu Chang quietly said:

"I felt you act more naturally as a cop than as a coachman, it doesn’t even seem like acting, more like your true nature revealed."

Raventon retorted, dissatisfied, "I clearly acted like a coachman very well too."

Wu Chang, surprised, said, "I’m surprised you didn’t refute the part about revealing your true nature."

Raventon chuckled, "Finding trouble with such weaklings gives me no sense of accomplishment, only exposing the tricks of those who think they are clever and revealing the dark secrets deliberately hidden by important figures brings me pleasure."

Wu Chang smirked, "It seems your personality is even worse than you showed earlier, but it’s a coincidence, I like it too."

They soon arrived at the second reporter’s house; this one had reported three days ago, and even though it’s winter, the body had already started decomposing.

Someone had already registered the case, blaming the death on malaria, but the reporter didn’t believe it, insisting the deceased’s malaria had improved and shouldn’t have been fatal.

After Wu Chang and Raventon’s examination, they confirmed the second deceased had died from the same cause as the first, both due to excessive loss of life force.

Before leaving, they asked around and found that both deceased had worked for the largest textile factory on the South Shore, the Sloan Textile Factory.

From an investigative standpoint, the two cases might just be coincidental and don’t definitely prove something’s wrong with the Sloan Textile Factory.

But Wu Chang and Raventon are neither police nor judges; they don’t need conclusive evidence to suspect something’s wrong with a target.

For them, two targets are already enough to focus on the Sloan Textile Factory.

However, the two weren’t in a hurry to act; instead, they followed Jimmy and his group stealthily with their extraordinary abilities to see if they’d report to anyone.

If they found their contact, perhaps they could catch the factory’s management.

Unfortunately, whether due to Raventon’s brilliant acting or Jimmy and his group’s lack of crisis awareness, they didn’t notice anything unusual about their identities, simply treating them as ordinary cops without any action.

They waited until midnight, with night-shift workers heading to the textile factory, and day-shift workers finishing dinner, entering their dreams.

When people’s spirits were at their weakest, the two lurked outside the Sloan Textile Factory, preparing to investigate the inside situation.

Wu Chang didn’t blindly sneak in with the disadvantage of social phobia; like during the Cursed Dungeon, he created a micro drone using Condensing Void into Reality and controlled it to infiltrate the Sloan Textile Factory.

Raventon saw Wu Chang suddenly stop and close his eyes, puzzled, "What are you doing?"

Wu Chang gestured for silence, "I’m using inspiration to remotely perceive what’s happening inside."

Raventon: ...

Isn’t your inspiration ability a bit too excessive?

The drone flew into the Sloan Textile Factory, and soon he saw the scene inside, with the outer textile workshop being no different from other textile factories.

The only things he saw were numb textile workers and fierce overseers patrolling everywhere.

He continued inward, remembering that Green’s mother’s place of work, as seen in her resentful thoughts, was the workshop producing high-end fabrics.

As the drone approached the core of the textile factory, the atmosphere inside began to change.

The further inward he went, the faster the workers’ movements and the heavier their work burden, but the numbness on their faces lessened, even showing sickly smiles.

Peeking through the door crack of the high-end fabric workshop, the textile workers’ faces inside showed pleasure and enjoyment, without a trace of sorrow.

Just as he wanted to control the energy drone to enter the high-end fabric workshop, the transmission from the drone was instantly cut off, along with his connection to it.

The disappearance of the energy drone wasn’t because another Transcendent discovered and shot it down.

It felt more like his ability suddenly failing.

Recalling the final view from the energy drone, he saw a steam-like mist of Power of Root in the air.

That Power of Root was blocking all extraordinary powers from entering.

Wu Chang opened his eyes, glints flashing in them.

Only an Extraordinary Steam Engine, or creations of it, could release such Power of Root.

The anomaly hidden within the textile factory, I’ve found you!