Chapter 88: Two Moments of Trance

Chapter 88: Two Moments of Trance

Who?

As a Sheriff, Xio had a keen intuition regarding surveillance and being surveilled. Her heart immediately tightened, and her thoughts raced as she considered what exactly had happened.

Over the past two or three weeks, she had not encountered anything that required special attention. The few criminals she had caught had not been Beyonders either. At most, they had some connection with a certain gang. No one would offend a bounty hunter with some reputation in the East Borough for their sake. Therefore, she quickly narrowed down the target range and vaguely guessed which faction the person watching her from the shadows might belong to.

Members of the Aurora Order? I didn’t attend Mr. X’s gathering last time, and then an accident happened there. The scene was apparently astonishing… The person from MI9 told me that Mr. X was killed on the spot, and his corpse was taken away. The assassin used demigod-level power… Is the Aurora Order investigating who did it? Is every person who received an invitation to the gathering their target?

Although Xio was sometimes rash and careless, and her way of thinking rather straightforward, she had powerful intuition in such fields and could always think of the key point at once.

Regarding Mr. X’s death, on the one hand, she rejoiced that Fors had pulled her away and she had not attended the gathering, allowing her to avoid the accident. On the other hand, she believed she had no problems and could withstand any investigation by anyone in any form. Therefore, when she had met the masked man from MI9 last week, she had been calm and confident, and had casually accepted the mission to investigate the truth of the case. Unfortunately, she had no idea which Beyonders had attended that gathering and had no way to begin.

Mm. That gentleman from MI9 told me that people from the Aurora Order are either already-mad lunatics or hidden lunatics. Their actions cannot be predicted using normal logic. Even if they confirm I have no problem, they might still casually kill me to vent their anger and warn the real culprit…

Highly tense, Xio walked forward while replanning her route through the East Borough.

Along this route, she could obtain her friends’ help at any time. If she encountered an attack, she would have a decent chance of escape or counterattack.

As she walked, Xio’s mind suddenly went hazy. She discovered that, at some unknown point, she had returned to her residence in the Cherwood Borough.

Xio entered in confusion, drank a glass of water, and was patted on the shoulder by Fors.

“Come with me to the East Borough.”

Xio froze for two seconds, then spoke words that felt very familiar.

“You… want to go out for material?”

Fors immediately denied it, explaining that she had previously accepted a mission to help someone find dust left behind after ghosts dissipated. However, the spirits of the dead in cemeteries had long since been purified and sent to the respective kingdoms of their gods, so they could only search in the East Borough.

Xio hesitated and said, “I am preparing to attend the gathering summoned by Mr. X. Can your matter not be delayed by one day?”

Fors’s face immediately became bitter. She said that she had procrastinated too long, and the mission was nearly at its deadline.

Xio sighed and agreed to accompany her friend to the East Borough to look for the newly dead, or those who had been dead for some time but had yet to be discovered.

The two were just about to go out when the wind outside blew across Xio’s face. She shivered and abruptly came awake. She saw a minstrel sitting at the street corner, playing a seven-stringed lyre and singing a folk song popular in the southern countryside.

Xio frowned slightly and raised a hand to rub her forehead. She always felt as though she had briefly lost focus, yet could not remember what she had been thinking.

She continued maintaining a high state of vigilance. Following the route she had…