Chapter 320 The Devil's Family
"According to the information provided by Arrods yesterday, we checked the alley where the demon dog's body was found, the file room where the serial murder case files were stored, and conducted some research on the black viscous liquid he left behind. We ultimately locked onto this building in the West District."
Ikanser turned sideways and spoke to the several extraordinary people following behind him.
Except for Lydia, the other four people who were at Isengard's house just now had already followed the butler of the "Mechanical Heart" to the West District and entered a private residence on Edward Street.
The house was three stories high and covered a large area, surrounded by a garden with a fountain. Several black carriages with police emblems were parked at the gate, and figures in black windbreakers flashed through the garden from time to time.
"Is the evidence sufficient?"
Kaslana still had the normal thinking of a detective and asked subconsciously.
"We'll notify you after we confirm it," Ikanser nodded, walked around the fountain, and headed for the main entrance. "The owner of the house is Patrick Jason, a shareholder of a bank in Backlund. He's single, cheerful, enthusiastic, and has many mistresses... Although he doesn't take photos, there are some portraits left, and the face we know is consistent. Most importantly, all the neighbors know he has a big black dog."
Devil Dog...
The few people understood and stopped asking questions. They followed the deacon, opened the door, and walked into the building.
As soon as I stepped over the threshold, a foul odor hit me in the face, like the rotten smell of meat that had been fermenting in a basement for a long time.
"It's the stench of a corpse."
Angel frowned and whispered.
Although she rarely smelled this smell in this world, she had a deep memory of it before.
The three detectives also had serious expressions on their faces. Smelling such a strong stench of corpse in the home of such a serial killer, it was self-evident what had happened.
As they walked into the first-floor lobby, footsteps approached quickly, and several members of the Mechanical Heart came to greet them. The leader wore a mask made of layered white gauze, and his eyes were hidden under thick glasses. But with the exposed upper half of his face, Angel easily recognized him as Carlson, whom he had met in the craftsman Kavi's shop.
The latter obviously recognized the young woman who had asked where to buy mummy ashes, but business was more important, so he just glanced at her curiously and then looked at his captain.
"Deacon, we've found a lot of bodies here," Carlson said, his eyes complicated, a mixture of anger and helplessness. "Under the garden outside, inside the living room walls, deep in the basement stove, in the attic, there's body after body hidden. The oldest ones are just bones, possibly dead for over a decade, and the newest ones haven't even started to rot yet!"
As he spoke, figures appeared behind him, their faces serious. They walked past the group of people in pairs, carrying corpses wrapped in shrouds. These were members of the Mechanical Heart, as well as elite Backlund police officers who had the authority and courage to come into contact with extraordinary events.
Some of the corpses they were carrying were still largely intact, with varying degrees of decay, and most of the stench came from these recently deceased people; some shrouds contained loose "body parts", and the shrouds soaked in dirty blood swayed as the police lifted and lowered them; other corpses made crackling sounds, and bony outlines could be seen under the cloth, which were obviously the white bones of a long time ago.
Including Carlson, who had just been speaking angrily, several people watched silently as the victims were moved out and carried away, and their bodies were neatly placed one by one on the garden lawn, until the door was filled with shrouds of different colors.
"Those new bodies, are they his neighbors, servants, or victims from somewhere else?"
Klein asked in a low voice.
"These are his newest batch of servants. Haha, this guy used to have a good reputation. He paid his servants a full salary, gave them generous vacations, and even gave them gifts during festivals. The servants employed by Patrick Jason all spread his good words. Of course, this batch will definitely not be the same..."
Carlson replied, his eyes following the last body as it was carried out of the hall.
"A well-disguised devil."
Kaslana commented in a muffled voice, holding her nose.
"He's been giving up his pretense these past few days. He's killed all his servants and sold off all his valuables. He even sold off all his bank shares just for this act of revenge and his subsequent escape."
Ikanser said, pointing to the hall which was luxuriously decorated but lacked common aristocratic furnishings such as paintings, wall clocks and porcelain.
"He's a calm guy, but deep down he hides a madness," Isengard said as he took out his pipe, but put it away under Carlson's stern gaze. "I'm curious, would such a crazy guy, who might even be a Beyonder who committed many serial murders years ago, abandon everything for his 'demon dog' and go on a killing spree even at the cost of exposing his identity?"
Everyone thought silently and followed Carlson's footsteps to the depths of the building.
In the living room, they found a portrait of Patrick Jason. It was consistent with what Ikanser said. The painting showed a middle-aged man with blue eyes. He was slightly sideways, with a serious expression, high cheekbones, and short hair combed back. He was exactly the same as the blue-eyed black shadow that "Arrodes" had seen.
In addition, in the bedroom and the basement, they found a lot of evidence proving that the other party was a Beyonder with a lot of problems, even including a large magic circle deep in the basement.
In Isengard's judgment, this was a ritual magic powerful enough to summon a powerful demon, but for some reason, Jason did not complete it.
"The 'devil' of the Belia family, Patrick Jason's real name should be Jason Belia."
Said this knowledgeable "keeper of knowledge".
Angel had seen this family in the Nighthawks' internal information. They had been active among humans since the Fourth Epoch. They were an important branch of the Blood Cult, a loose alliance that worshipped demons. They claimed to have received gifts from the abyss and worshipped the evil god "Dark Side of the Universe". They regarded Him as the master of the abyss and believed that He would erode and corrupt the entire world, and even the entire universe.
Even though this ancient family had declined recently in the Fifth Age and became a vassal of other demon families, its profound heritage allowed its members to still live a comfortable life, and they even had enough spare money to raise a demon dog of the same origin.
After searching everywhere, the few people found no clues to confirm the other party's whereabouts except for more evidence proving the identity of "Beria". Since they did not bring the silver mirror "Arrodes", Ikanser discussed with Carlson and decided to temporarily stop the search, protect the scene, and wait for subsequent detailed investigation.
But Angel discovered that when no one was paying attention, Sherlock secretly put a handkerchief that was obviously used in the ritual next to the devil's ritual circle into his pocket.
"Can we use Jason's blood relationship as a starting point to find other members of the Belia family? They may all have similar identities and experiences, and may even have killed many people."
She pretended to frown and asked a question, attracting everyone's attention.
"We're already investigating, but the connections within the demon family are very loose, and there's even no apparent blood relationship. For example, if Patrick Jason didn't reveal his identity, no one would know he was Jason Belia."
Carlson answered on behalf of his deacon.
Seeing that Sherlock had succeeded, Angel nodded to show that he understood and stopped asking questions.
The group returned to the surface from the basement and prepared to go to the garden to check the remains of the servants who had died recently, looking for some additional clues, but at this time, a member of the Mechanical Heart team quickly walked into the hall and whispered a few words in Ikanser's ear. The latter's face became serious and he looked at the outsiders.
"The Nighthawks are here, carrying a dangerous sealed artifact. To prevent any accidents, we must leave first."
Is this the "1-42" Isengard mentioned earlier? That full-body armor that could destroy a city...
Angel subconsciously looked outside the door, only to see the Mechanical Heart and the carefully selected policemen put down their work, not even bothering to wash the dirt off their hands, and walked out of the garden, got on their carriages and left the scene.
Feeling the tense atmosphere, they did not bother to continue the investigation, but followed Ikanser and Carlson out of Jason's house, returned to Edward Street, and boarded the carriage they came in.
Standing in front of the carriage, Angel glanced at the corner of the street. Two four-wheeled carriages, also with police logos but painted black, were slowly approaching. The driver, not very skilled in controlling the horses, parked the carriages on the side of the road not far from her. Several men in black tweed coats came out one after another, as if they were being chased by something, and rushed into Jason's house.
At Carlson's urging, she did not delay any longer and stepped into the carriage. From the corner of her eye, she saw the door of the Night Watchers' second carriage. A leg covered in heavy silver armor stretched out of the carriage and stepped heavily on the ground.
"Kick!"
The heavy noise seemed to hit her heart. Not daring to watch any further, Angel hurriedly got into the car.
…
"Step, step."
Leonard Mitchell breathed a sigh of relief as his feet touched the ground, and he looked curiously at the carriage that was speeding away beside him. According to Captain Soest, that should be the "Mechanical Heart" that arrived at the scene before them, but there seemed to be a familiar figure in it. Unfortunately, the opening on the visor was limited in width, and before he could further confirm it, the carriage disappeared from his sight.
"Hurry, get into the building and change people, time is running out."
Beside him, the "Requiem Master" Soest also walked out of the carriage, holding an exaggerated gold pocket watch in his red-gloved hands.
"Yes, Captain Soest."
Leonard retracted his gaze without hesitation. He controlled the heavy armor and walked into the garden, step by step, as if it were a thousand pounds, and into the home of the demon Belia Jason.
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