Chapter 70 Further Exploration
The professor raised his head and stared at him: "How credible do you think what those people said is?"
Another person calmly replied: "It is impossible for most people to lie to me."
——The guy in front of me is an exception.
"Well, let's think about it another way—Bill Farm is so upset about 'Circe' that he has no desire to drink."
Nova pondered for a moment, then suddenly walked towards the entrance of the clock tower without saying a word. Another person followed him silently. The "no entry and exit" magic circle set up by the Public Security Bureau was useless to the two of them.
The air inside the bell tower still lingered with a stagnant, sweltering atmosphere. The light was dim, with only a few rays of light filtering through the skylight barely illuminating the winding stone steps. Climbing to the top platform, the guardrails around the skylight were rusted and looked as if they would break at any moment. From there, one could see the entire Baita Town, and beyond them was the bell tower's mechanical floor, the heart of the entire structure.
This time, without having to rush to conceal the unfavorable anomaly, the professor had time to carefully observe the crime scene. Soon, his eyes locked on the movement composed of hundreds of large and small mechanical gears.
"The magic circle protecting the movement has malfunctioned. It's not human-caused." The God-favored One whispered behind him.
"In disrepair?"
You should know that the cost of setting up a long-term magic circle is quite high.
"yes."
The professor narrowed his eyes, his smoky gray eyes gleaming in the dim light.
"Give me a hand," he said suddenly, "and take that big gear off."
After the bulky gear, which was almost as tall as a person, was moved away by magic, the two fell into silence.
Corpses, more than a dozen densely packed, bloody crow corpses, their rotten flesh, bones and black feathers completely blocked the gears of all sizes, like a deformed giant composed of flesh, blood and machinery. The scene was weird and eerie - no wonder the bell tower of Baita University was no longer silent.
Nova came to his senses and, with the help of another person, carefully took out one of the bird corpses that was barely intact. He examined it carefully and found that the rotten blood had stained his white gloves black and red.
"These are all the corpses of mature crows. It doesn't look like an infectious disease, but more like poisoning. However, atropine is metabolized quickly in the human body, usually within 24 hours. Even if the crows ate the carrion, they wouldn't die..." His voice gradually lowered. "Could it be that the mass deaths were caused by alcohol consumption?"
He had heard rumors of birds dying in large numbers after eating the grape residue left over from winemaking, and the only thing here that could be related to the wine was Bill Farm's body - but where was the wine?
"Bill Fam received the note, but it's unlikely he would recognize the handwriting, so perhaps there was also a verbal message like 'Come to the bell tower of White Tower University and you will learn the truth.'"
The black-haired young man began to nervously pace around the bell tower, his voice soft, as if he was talking to himself, trying to recreate the dusk that brought death.
"As a sorcerer, he could hide his whereabouts and avoid being discovered by the other people at White Tower University... He arrived at the bell tower and wandered around for a while, worried that it was a trap. Dusk happened to be the time when crows go out to forage, and the crows took flight, so he subconsciously looked up and stared at the skylight at the top of the bell tower for crows to enter and exit - but then he saw something, and then he immediately rushed into the bell tower without hesitation and climbed to the top in one breath..."
He suddenly stopped and motioned for another person to come and look.
"There's a missing piece of brick here, but the cross-section looks very new—Bill Fam climbed to the top of the bell tower and then saw something at the entrance to the platform. He was frightened and subconsciously threw a hard object out, and the thing he saw disappeared."
"...You mean this?"
The black-haired young man was stunned for a moment, then suddenly turned his head, stretched out his hands, and caught the portable wine jug floating in the air.
"It's stuck in the deepest part of the gear," Azuka added, and then saw with some amusement that the gray eyes suddenly burst into a light like boiling molten iron.
"Yes, a hip flask," the man said cheerfully. "How could a drunkard not carry a hip flask?"
The outer shell of the wine jug was made of silver, the lid was crooked, the body of the jug was exquisitely carved and inlaid with gems, but it had obviously been pecked off by crows. There were traces of pecking and scratching on it, as well as a brand new scratch - which happened to be consistent with the professor's reasoning.
The man held the wine jug like a treasure, pacing excitedly, his speech accelerating. "The tension and intense exercise sped up his blood circulation, and he began to feel thirsty, so he picked up the jug and drank from it in big gulps—but soon he began to feel dizzy. This time, the dizziness was different from when he was drunk before. He fell to the ground, suddenly realizing that he seemed to have been tricked. His body gradually lost its ability to move, and he was unable to climb down the already steep and difficult bell tower stairs... So, taking advantage of his last moment of clarity, he stuffed the paper ball into his mouth and tried to swallow it, but the epiglottis reaction caused him to vomit. Unable to turn over, his vomit eventually blocked his trachea—"
The professor suddenly paused, then seemed to remember something. He squatted down without any image and knocked the wine jug heavily on the ground several times. The soft silver bottle mouth was immediately deformed, and a thin silver-white inner liner seal also peeled off.
Then, a few tiny, pebble-sized dark brown fruits fell out and rolled to the ground.
"...Datura seeds."
In the dim and smelly bell tower, a man squatted on the ground alone, muttering to himself nervously, like a madman.
"Didn't Bill Fam eat the Datura seeds at the Birchwood Restaurant? Someone sealed the seeds in his wine flask with a thin layer of tin. As the toxin spread, the wine became toxic, and the crows that accidentally ingested it were poisoned and died in large numbers. But the person behind the scenes didn't anticipate that Bill Fam would throw the wine flask away, cracking the seal. This led to him swallowing a few Datura seeds mixed with the wine in a fit of excitement."
Just five datura seeds are enough to completely kill an adult—the person behind this hadn't intended for Bill Fam to die so quickly. Unable to find any clues related to "Circe," and driven by the atropine-induced feverish hallucinations, who would the nearly insane Bill Fam turn on next? The answer was self-evident.
——If the other party dies of poisoning in the next conflict, he will have no way to explain himself.
"This is truly...amazing." Azuka sighed softly as he stood aside.
The other person was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously raised his head to look at him. Because of the excitement just now, there was still a happy and sparkling light in his gray eyes.
"Indeed, the person behind the scenes is very meticulous." He paused. "Now there is still one question left. What did Bill Fam see? I guess it was a vision of Sersi, but that belongs to your field."
"No, I'm talking about your reasoning." The God-Favored One lowered his eyes helplessly and praised him gently and sincerely: "This is a miracle that only you can create."
Once again, when the Savior gazes intently at someone, any creature with a soul in the world will be moved by those blue eyes.
"...You're not bad either." Nova was stunned for a moment, then suddenly gave him a quick, somewhat stiff smile: "Well done, 'Watson'."
“…”
Someone was silent for a moment, then a gentle, heart-throbbing smile gradually appeared on his face. His voice was soft and gentle, yet with a strong allure: "'Watson', who is it?"
Another person was completely clueless: "The best friend and most loyal friend of the great detective in a famous detective novel... Never mind, forget what I said."
Seeing someone looking down at him condescendingly, half his face shrouded in shadow, the corners of his lips curved upwards in a perfect and creepy way, he added expressionlessly, "It was just a not-so-funny joke. Forget it."
——It’s completely unimaginable who this guy would truly be loyal to.
"Am I to understand," the Savior asked slowly, "that you already consider me your best friend?"
"If a friend is defined as someone with similar ideals, similar interests, and mutual trust, then of course, you are my friend," his nemesis replied cautiously - damned cautiously.
"But if we have to talk about comparatives..." The other party fell silent, his eyes lost focus, and he didn't know where to look.
A huge, familiar fatigue and loneliness enveloped the man, like gray sea mist covering his pale skin.
He raised his head, looked at him, and calmly stated the established facts: "I can't define what is 'best' - but in this world, you are my only friend."
"...Do you have anything else to check?" another person suddenly asked with some forbearance.
Nova inexplicably felt a dangerous force stirring and lifting him up.
"Not yet." He stared at the guy's face suspiciously - he couldn't see anything unusual. Ever since he knew that he could observe micro-expressions, the other party's disguise became more and more impeccable.
Then, his waist suddenly tightened, and before he could react, he was carried off the bell tower's rooftop. The wind whistled past his ears, and the uneasy feeling of weightlessness made him subconsciously want to grab the man's clothes, but then he remembered the man's mysophobia. Between them, they landed gently on the ground, and the blood-stained gloves instantly shattered into powder.
The startled professor: "..."
A waste of money!
Before he could frown or curse, his nose suddenly felt slightly heavy and his vision suddenly became clear.
"Temporary glasses." The other person gently gathered his wind-blown hair back. His expression was unclear, but his voice was gentle. "I brought them back from Solini's Optician Shop. I'll use them for now."
"……oh."
The black-haired young man opened his mouth dryly, thought for a moment, and then said, "Then forget the rest. You don't have to pay for it."
"I know it was you who took over, regarding my destroyed specimens and collections." He added somewhat stiffly, "If it were you, it would be completely unnecessary."
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