Investigation

The old man's pleading gaze fell upon the two of them. Xia De lowered his head, pondered for a brief moment, and then spoke up:

“Did they meet anyone or experience anything strange before they died?”

The village chief replied, “No, everyone just died suddenly like that.”

Suddenly?

If it were a mental-type magical beast, that would indeed be possible.

But if it really were a magical beast, why didn't it kill everyone at once? Killing only five people in a month like this was far too merciful.

Besides, Xia De had already investigated and hadn't felt any fluctuations of magic or mental energy.

Xia De's mind began to race, his brow furrowing slightly as he felt a bit of a headache coming on.

This was exactly why he hated taking mystery and investigation quests. At the beginning, one would be completely in the dark, forced to make guesses based on whatever information was available, with a high chance of guessing wrong.

Still, Xia De only found it slightly troublesome. He already had a concrete plan for what to do next.

After all, this world was nothing like the ordinary world of his past life. Just like using his Perception Domain, he could employ unconventional methods to investigate the truth.

“Have you preserved the bodies of the deceased?” Xia De asked.

“Oh, heavens no. They died so strangely that we didn't dare keep them around, so we cremated them all.”

The village chief shook his head, paused for a moment, and then continued, “But because I was worried that we might destroy some clues on the bodies, I kept the corpse of the most recently deceased villager. I told the villagers to stay away from his house, so that body should still be intact.”

Nice job.

Xia De praised him in his mind. Even Hilia looked at the village chief in surprise.

She had done quite a few quests before, and in situations like this, most clients would simply destroy the bodies. After all, most ordinary people felt uncomfortable being in the same environment as a corpse.

However, doing so posed a massive obstacle to the adventurers who took the quest, sometimes even destroying crucial clues and stalling the investigation entirely.

Xia De stood up, and Hilia immediately followed suit, standing by his side. Looking down at the short, sorrow-stricken old man, Xia De said, “We have a general grasp of the situation now. We'll begin our investigation.”

He didn't make any grand promises, believing that actions spoke louder than words.

“Then I shall leave it to you, Lord Xia De and Lady Hinaya! I beg of you, please save our village!”

The village chief's small frame seemed to hunch even further, his hoarse voice trembling slightly.

“By the way, what's up with that kid?”

Unmoved by the old man's plight, Xia De pointed a finger behind him.

Hilia and the old man followed his finger and saw an eye peeking at them through a half-open crack in the door.

Realizing he had been spotted when everyone turned to look, the owner of the eye scurried away in a panic.

The village chief's expression shifted instantly. He grabbed his cane and made his way toward the room, explaining to the two of them as he went:

“Lord Xia De, Lady Hinaya, that is my mischievous grandson, Lop. He has always been a good boy since his parents left the village, but he's been throwing a tantrum lately.

“Because he offended several groups of esteemed adventurers who came to help us before, I forbade him from showing his face this time.

“I didn't expect the boy to be so disobedient and actually eavesdrop! I'll call him out right now and give him a good scolding.”

The village chief fumed, his cane tapping sharply against the floor. Xia De raised a hand to stop him, indicating that he didn't mind:

“It's fine. It's only natural for children to be curious. Don't worry about him. In that case, we won't waste any more time and will get straight to the investigation.”

With that, Xia De led Hilia out of the house.

Hilia stole a glance back and saw the hunched old man sitting by the table, wiping away his tears with his wrinkled hands, his cane resting lonely against his side.

“It seems the village chief wasn't lying. His grief over the village's plight feels genuine. He was only hiding something at the end regarding his grandson, Lop,” Hilia whispered to Xia De, withdrawing her probing gaze.

“Yeah.”

Xia De nodded slightly, agreeing with her.

What a joke. It was understandable to ban his grandson from appearing out of fear that the boy might offend them, but that final burst of anger didn't look like an attempt to call him out. Rather, it seemed like a deliberate act to scare him away, as if the chief was terrified of the boy making contact with them!

So, why didn't he want his grandson to interact with them?

The two began to ponder this question. They hadn't fully believed the village chief's words from the very beginning. While they naturally felt pity for ordinary people, caution was the most crucial requirement for survival in this world.

This was true whether it was Xia De, who had witnessed a Combat Power of ten million right from the start, or Hilia, who traveled around as an elf, a race highly rare among humans.

Though they didn't speak a word, they were in perfect, unspoken agreement.

“Then let's go examine the corpse next. In my experience, there are bound to be some clues,” Hilia suggested as they walked along the village path.

Xia De simply shook his head, rejecting her proposal.

“No need. I've already investigated it using my perception magic.

“If the range of my perception magic is too broad, I can only vaguely sense life energy signatures.

“But this village isn't large enough to limit me like that, so I can clearly see every single detail. To put it in perspective, it's like having X-ray vision.”

Before Hilia could open her mouth to ask further, Xia De explained.

Hearing his explanation, Hilia's face twitched beneath her spacious hood. She grumbled at him with a hint of envy: “You really are a pervert. I've never heard of anyone's perception magic being able to act like X-ray vision.”

Her words caught Xia De off guard instead. Furrowing his brow, he asked with a trace of uncertainty, “Are you sure no one can perform perception magic with complete X-ray vision?”

Hilia nodded, speaking in an extremely certain tone: “Of course. Currently, known perception magic can only roughly detect mana sources, life energy, direction, numbers, and so on.

“Something like yours, which is basically an X-ray hack, is completely unheard of. If such magic really existed, wouldn't that mean there's absolutely no privacy, and people could be peeked at anytime, anywhere?”

At this point, she suddenly realized something. She took a sharp step back to put some distance between them, hurriedly wrapping her arms around her chest.

A rosy blush spread across her cheeks, and a hint of shyness flickered in her emerald eyes as she stammered, “H-H-Have you already seen everything?!”

Even though he was her savior, they had met less than two days ago. This was moving a bit too fast for her.

Though she didn't mind it all that much, she was still a princess of the Elven Royal Family. How could she be so unrefined? If her father, mother, brothers, and sisters found out later, she would definitely be criticized.

She repeatedly scolded herself in her mind, warning herself to maintain her composure.

Her reaction completely derailed Xia De's train of thought regarding his own strength, leaving him momentarily speechless.

Did he really look like such a pervert?

But on second thought, he understood Hilia's reaction. After all, a complete lack of privacy was indeed a terrifying prospect.

For instance, if an opponent were to figure out your strength and all your trump cards without your knowledge, you'd be finished if they targeted you.

Xia De raised a hand to scratch his head, then sighed, putting on a “what on earth are you worrying about” expression as he said to Hilia, “Don't worry, I don't have a habit of peeping. Most of the time, I only look at the surface. I only turn on the X-ray function when there's a specific need.”

Hearing him say this, Hilia finally let out a sigh of relief. Releasing her chest, she stepped back to Xia De's side.

Yet, she felt a tiny, faint trace of disappointment.

At the same time, a thought planted a tiny seed in her heart.

She would definitely make him peep at her of his own accord in the future!

Redirecting her attention back to the quest, she asked, “So, did you find any clues?”

“On the surface, it's just as the village chief said—completely intact. But when I turned on my X-ray vision to check, the interior of the corpse has been heavily damaged. The internal organs are completely ruptured.”

“Ruptured organs?”

Lowering her head slightly beneath her spacious hood, Hilia rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought.

She was trying to think of what kind of magical beast could shatter a person's internal organs directly without harming the exterior.

Beside her, Xia De was also deep in thought, though his speculations spanned a wider range.

He expanded his pool of suspects to humans. Who was to say only magical beasts could kill? Why couldn't it be a human?

Again, this world was not like the ordinary world of his past life. If someone wanted to kill a person without leaving a trace, there were far too many ways to do it. Xia De himself knew of at least a hundred methods.

However, anyone capable of doing such a thing would undoubtedly be an extraordinary individual.

But if it really was an extraordinary individual, they might have already left, because his perception hadn't detected any other extraordinaries besides himself and Hilia.

Moreover, there was one thing he couldn't wrap his head around: why go through the trouble of killing five ordinary villagers for no apparent reason?

If it were him and he truly wanted to kill, he could wipe out this entire village in a single second.

Thus, it left him somewhat confused as to whether an extraordinary was actually behind this mischief.