I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 394 - 394 393. Show me the Hunger (Monthly ticket extra)_1

Chapter 394: 393. Show me the Hunger (Monthly ticket extra!)_1 Chapter 394: 393. Show me the Hunger (Monthly ticket extra!)_1 The layout of the Abandoned Capital Parlor was different from others.

A normal parlor would have the mourning hall and crematorium all connected; after paying last respects to the corpse in the mourning hall, it would be directly taken to the crematorium for incineration.

However, the parlor near Grey Alley, located between the slums of Black Street and the residential areas of common people, was somewhat tainted with undesirable affairs, and it also had a spacious morgue and an autopsy room.

“People die every day in Black Street. In the beginning, nobody dealt with those bodies, but they were prone to causing epidemics and polluting the water supply. Later, probably someone higher up couldn’t stand it anymore and donated a sum of money here. The interest from that money is used to deal with the corpses from Black Street—of course, only the ones that can be found.”

The staff member was leading the three of them towards the morgue as he explained.

The paint of the parlor conveyed solemnity and gravity, dominantly black. The mottled walls seemed as though they had been scorched by fire, with traces of charcoal staining.

The halls were long and slightly narrow, making one wonder how a cart carrying a corpse could possibly navigate through.

Occasionally, one could see photos hanging on the walls, mostly group pictures of the parlor’s staff, black and white, faded, lonely, more like memorial portraits.

The parlor was somewhat dim in the afternoon but at least there was light.

Passing by some rooms, the sound of soft talking could be heard from behind the doors.

Lu Ban looked up at the name on one of the room’s doors, Morgue Zero Two.

Perhaps it was family members or staff discussing the examination of a corpse.

Upon reaching the room at the end of the hallway, just as the staff member was about to unlock the door, he glanced at Lu Ban who was behind Cui Siter.

“This young man, why does he look familiar?”

Upon hearing this, Lu Ban’s response was unhurried.

“I once had a relative cremated here. Thank you for your care.”

“Oh.”

The staff member didn’t probe further and inserted the key into the lock, trying to turn it.

“Huh, strange, I thought it was locked.”

He pulled out the key and pushed the door open.

The morgue room was empty except for one bed with a corpse on it.

“He seems to have had no relatives. The police said it was a homicide and told us not to rush with the body. Honestly, Doctor Howes looked after our business quite well before. I’m quite saddened by his death. Mm, you are assistants from the police, right?”

The staff member asked as he walked into the morgue.

“Here’s the identification.”

Cui Siter pulled out his credentials and took another glance at the body covered with a white sheet.

“Why do the police think it’s a homicide? Couldn’t it be possible that the doctor choked while eating hastily, then as he stood up to drink some water, he accidentally fell and hit his head, causing a severe hemorrhage that led to his death?”

Lu Ban inquired.

“?”

The staff member gave him a puzzled look.

“You’ll understand when you see the body.”

He lifted the white sheet.

Lu Ban finally understood why this mission was called “Glass Flower.”

Because what lay before them was a Glass Flower.

Doctor Howes was a composed middle-aged man, but at that moment, within his well-trained body, bloomed a crystal-clear flower, its splendor so intense it was unforgettable.

All the organs of this man had been forcibly dragged out by something. Most of his spine and ribs had been shattered, mixed with the organs, and at the moment of extraction, frozen in time, perfectly preserved by solidified glass, becoming a flower blooming atop the remains.

Such a posture in death left no doubt—it was certainly a homicide.

Moreover, Lu Ban estimated that in all likelihood, it wasn’t a regular human who killed him, but one of those Evil God’s Kin, a creature from a Foreign Domain.

“Is this really glass?”

Lu Ban instinctively wanted to reach out and touch it, but then he suddenly realized that it might be someone else’s internal organ, and that touching it casually might be a bit impolite. So he drew his hand back.

“It is, sort of. It’s something like bones that melted instantly under high temperatures and then solidified again. How did this thing come about?”

Cui Siter put on gloves and gently touched one of the “Glass Flowers.”

The remains were as hard, cold, and smooth as real glass. Surprisingly, the organs inside, though damaged, had not decomposed due to the heat and looked as though they had just left the body of their owner.

“Have you heard of any similar cases?”

Shia held a bag of doughnuts, bought to make up for the last missing cookie she had. In the morgue, filled with the strange smell of disinfectants, she still held a doughnut in one hand, eating and talking at the same time.

“No, the people who die in Black Street aren’t so tragic—they are mostly beaten to death or die of disease. Like this… I have never seen anything like it before.”

The staff member sighed.

Lu Ban’s “True Sight” glanced at the corpse.

Many details became vividly clear.

He saw the calluses on the hands of the corpse, likely caused by long-term surgery as a doctor, and the remnants of the last dinner in the organs—grilled beef ribs, boiled potatoes, red wine, pan-fried fish, vegetables… It made Lu Ban hungry.

“Could people of their income eat steaks every night?”

Lu Ban couldn’t help but ask.

“How could that be? Even if doctors are high-income earners, those running clinics in Grey Alley have to think twice before having a steak.”

Cui Siter immediately denied.

“So he must have attended some sort of banquet that night?”

Lu Ban shared his findings with his two companions.

“I want some too.”

Shia offered her guiding opinion.

“Strange, according to the information provided by the police, Dr. Howes should have been in his own clinic that night, and he didn’t go out. His body was found the next morning by the newspaper delivery person, and the time of death must have been in the early hours of the morning.”

Cui Siter flipped through his notebook and glanced at the records inside.

“It recorded his activities for the day of his death: morning rounds as usual, received two patients in the afternoon, and met with a supplier—that was his last sighting with others.”

“So that supplier was the last person he met?”

Lu Ban confirmed.

“Yes, we can go talk to that supplier later, or we can first check out the clinic where the first incident occurred.”

Cui Siter nodded.

“You just mentioned there might be two other victims. If they all died in the same manner, it should be easy to investigate, right?”

Shia swallowed the doughnut in her hand and picked up another, enjoying it so much that it made Lu Ban hungry.

Yet, considering how Shia could also relish eating bugs, Lu Ban thought that maybe the doughnut wasn’t that appetizing.

“Indeed, but so far, we haven’t received any similar reports. Perhaps for people like gang members and call girls, even if they die, it’s not necessarily the case that someone will find out,” Cui Siter added.

“By the way, have you heard about a woman who has recently appeared in Black Street?”

An Abandoned Capital Parlor staff member suddenly spoke up.

*

November’s first monthly ticket bonus update 2/3