Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 315 - 27 Autopsy_1

Chapter 315: Chapter 27 Autopsy_1

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A foul stench permeates the building, the smell of decomposing bodies. As Catherine lands after jumping into the room, she reaches behind her to catch Vivian, swinging nearby with the help of a magic activating rope wrapped around her waist.

"This stench is such a turn-off." Vivian pulls out a handkerchief to cover her mouth and nose, grimacing, "I think I’m going to catch some corpse poison."

"Can’t be helped. The bodies have been left here too long." Indulgence seemed to think the smell was spreading too fast and casually closed the building’s door, "This body has been here for just over ten days. We found one that has been left for over 50 days. That was even more overpowering."

"Thank you for successfully scaring me." Vivian deadpans, handing both Catherine and Yarra a crystal vial each but skipping Indulgence, "This is my way of thanking you. You’re not getting one."

"Enough messing around." Catherine knocks Vivian on the head, takes the potion from her and passes it to Indulgence, "Let’s get back to work."

"A Breath Retention Potion," Vivian mumbles as she takes out another and swallows it, "Useful for blocking breath, perfect for this moment."

Indulgence and Passion pause, their expressions revealing evident hesitation. Nevertheless, after a moment, Passion grits her teeth and downs the potion, Indulgence follows with a wry smile. Seeing their reactions, Vivian pouts but doesn’t say anything, just huffs lightly.

"Thank you, sorry," Passion manages to squeeze out a faint smile from her rigid face. "We’ve done nothing wrong, though."

"It’s touching enough that you trust us to drink it," Catherine thanks them with a smile, "I only realized after I handed it over. Thank you for not causing any more awkwardness."

"Mutual trust," Passion replies softly, "The basis for cooperation."

"Enough, sis," Vivian interrupts, "Check the body first. It’s my turn afterward."

Although it’s winter, the indoor temperature isn’t that low. The body has been left there for almost twenty days and has severely decomposed. A dark green corpse fluid seeps from the body’s back, drying on the ground, spreading an area almost covering the bloodstain from the corpse that makes one want to throw up. Upon closer observation, the body appears to be of a naked woman in her thirties with a small figure. Almost twenty long nails fasten her limbs to the ground. Her mouth is gagged, preventing her screams. Yet, from her bulging eyes on her rotting face and the fingernails on her hands nailed to the ground, you can still see the pain she underwent before her death. She must have suffered immensely, bleeding out.

"This is a bit tricky." Catherine squats beside the body with her gloves on, nonchalantly turning over the decomposed remains, "It’s been too long. It’s hard to find any clues from the body, however, it’s clear from the state after death that at least two men and one woman were the perpetrators."

"Yes, the bloody footprints on the ground," Indulgence nods, "Unfortunately, they don’t match with anyone from the Guild. They likely aren’t the ones who left them."

"Are you mainly trying to identify the mole?" Catherine turns back and asks, "Or do you want to find the murderer?"

"Both. Find the mole, eliminate the culprit," Indulgence answers, "Either part is incomplete without the other."

"Alright, I understand." Catherine responds, "There are no traces of a mole here, but one must exist. The perpetrators could bypass all traps, easily bringing the victim here with them. This alone indicates the mole’s involvement and guidance for them. It’s also highly likely the mole was present during the entire sacrificing process, exactly like what you are doing right now."

"Indeed, we’ve considered that too," Indulgence admits, "And the mole’s skill in trap detection might not be weaker than ours. As we first arrived, one of the traps almost got both Passion and me. But our suspect was able to get in undisturbed to conduct the sacrifice."

"So, you should have a list of suspects," Catherine questions further, "There shouldn’t be many capable of this."

"Suspicions are useless, our skills are all similar, we can’t fully monitor them." Indulgence shook his head, "The ones we suspect are also high-ranking members. Without any solid evidence, it’s not possible to recruit the Guild leaders to look into it. That’s what makes it hard to act against the traitors from within."

"It’s a pity Lina isn’t here, otherwise she might have been able to spot something in the fine details." Catherine sighed, "In terms of tracking and exploration, we rely on Pannis. As for magic, we count on Vivian. Without Pannis, Vivian, it’s up to you to see what you can find."

"Are you done, sister?" Vivian was snapped out of her reverie by Catherine. "Leave the rest to me."

Just as Catherine moved away from the body, Indulgence and Passion were startled to find that the corpse, which had been dead and decomposing for several days, had actually started moving on its own. It rubbed its eyes as if it had just woken up, and then, supporting its body with its arms, it sat up. Noticing the living people around, it staggered to its feet and stretched out its hands, shambling towards Indulgence. It also let out a howling cry from its throat as it walked.

"Hey." Indulgence was both amused and annoyed as the corpse pushed her back a few steps, she stared at Vivian and said, "This prank isn’t funny at all. It’s filthy, don’t let it come over here."

"Huh?" Vivian asked in surprise, "How did you know I was controlling it?"

"Do you think I’m a fool?" Indulgence rolled her eyes in anger. "That howl is coming from you. I can tell the difference."

Vivian licked her lips regretfully, manipulated the walking corpse to go to the corner of the room, and lay down again. She then kicked a few chunks of decayed flesh next to the corpse and laid out a square white cloth several meters long on the ground. As she sat on the cloth and sketched the incomplete and damaged Magic Array on the ground, which had been destroyed after the sacrifice, she explained, "Sacrifice is in the realm of religion, but in the end, it relies on the effects of magic to achieve religious aims. The so-called Sacrifice Array is a kind of Magic Array, simply with a different function. So to find out who’s behind this, we first need a complete Array. The fragments you gave me were incomplete so they weren’t very useful. Now, we have the opportunity to get a complete one."

"But the Array on the ground has already been destroyed." Indulgence questioned, "The version I gave you guys was the most complete one, selected from these destroyed Arrays."

"That’s why you need me, a genius Mage." Vivian said without raising her head, "In theory, a professional mage, through residual mana, can restore an array, although it is hard to do. Luckily, you guys have a genius right here in front of you who can do it. But for now, be quiet. I need to focus all my attention on restoring it."

Vivian was already hastily sketching the remaining parts of the Magic Array on the white cloth. She then pressed her face to the cloth, tuning into the residual mana waves on the ground through what little touch response her skin had left. Under ordinary circumstances, although most parts of her body lost their sense of touch, they were still capable of sensing mana. But for this destroyed Array, the residual mana waves were very blurred. Vivian had to make the best preparations to avoid mistakes. After all, sometimes a tiny difference in the Magic Array could result in a completely opposite effect. At this moment, Vivian showed all the qualities of a professional, fully engrossed in her task, crawling around on the white cloth. Could she have been thankful that the corpse water under the white cloth had already dried up after more than ten days? Otherwise, she would have been smeared all over with it, and wouldn’t have been able to get rid of the smell for months without a special purification method.

"Ugh." Suddenly, Vivian, who was lying on the white cloth, let out a dry heave. She jumped up like a rabbit and dashed to the corner of the room to vomit. The grilled red-tailed fish and fruit salad she had for dinner gushed out of her mouth and nose like a fountain, making her cough continuously.

Almost at the same time, the other three ladies, who had been watching Vivian’s movements anxiously, felt a rush of stench pour into their noses. They then realized that the effect of the Breath Retention Potion had unexpectedly ended, as their bodies automatically switched from skin respiration back to nasal respiration. Vivian had just been breathing heavily where she had been in close contact with the corpse, or rather, the residue left behind after the corpse water had dried. It’s no wonder the smell of decay had evoked such a strong reaction from her.

Catherine fought the strong smell and ran over to Vivian, pounding on her back to ease her coughing. After a while, Vivian managed to take another gulp of the Breath Retention Potion and, holding her chest, she spoke to the three women who had also taken the potion, "That was close, I nearly suffocated myself. Next time, I have to be more careful. I was too focused on sketching the array that I didn’t pay attention to the potion’s duration. But luckily, I managed to restore the Magic Array."

"You’ve finished?" Indulgence asked with a surprised joy, "Did you uncover any clues?"

"I haven’t looked yet, I was too busy sketching." Vivian took out some paper and a portable sketchpad, copying the patterns on the white cloth onto the paper. "Once I’m done sketching, I can dispose of the cloth. It’s disgusting. I don’t want to carry it around. Oh, this array is interesting."

"How?" The three ladies all leaned in together, staring blankly at some patterns and symbols they couldn’t understand. "Did you find something?"

"I’ll explain later." Not lifting her head, Vivian continued to sketch and muttered, "This pattern is interestingly set at seventy-five degrees. I’ve never seen anyone use it this way. But if you put it in the context of the Array’s main idea, it’s surprisingly feasible."

As Vivian continued to sketch and murmur, another five or six minutes passed. Finally, she packed up her pens with satisfaction and said to everyone, "Well, this is interesting. Their sacrifice process was successful, but unexpectedly, it failed." (More fresh content of my novel ’Yarra’s Adventure Logs’ will be available on the official WeChat platform, where there’s also a 100% chances to win big gifts! Follow the official account "qdread" right now! Don’t hesitate!) (To be continued. If you like this work, please cast recommendation votes and monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users can go to m.qidian.com to read.)