"Is this what you call infighting?" Flandre poked her head out to look at the receding building, then turned back and asked.
"Not exactly. I know that young man; he's Professor Zhang, a specially appointed chemistry professor at Lungmen United University. I hear he's quite skilled, and our Guard Department does cooperate with him quite a bit," Ch'en Huijie replied.
"He's Professor Zhang? I've heard his name for a long time but never met him. My colleagues said he was young, but I didn't expect him to be this young!" Hoshiguma added in surprise, following Ch'en's words.
A short while later, the vehicle drove back into the Guard Department. Ch'en Huijie took Flandre Scarlet to interrogate the five suspects. When the third one entered, Flandre said there was no need for the others; he was the murderer.
"The scent of fresh blood on him is exactly the same as in that house, and it's so thick it's as if he bathed in it."
Hearing Flandre's words, the man's expression changed, and he rushed toward the door, trying to make a break for it. But standing at the door was the toughest woman in Lungmen, the wall among walls, the great Lady Hoshiguma who spins everything like a windmill. She reached out, grabbed the man, and slammed him heavily to the ground with a beautiful shoulder throw.
Although Flandre said the remaining two didn't need to come in, Ch'en still arranged for Flandre to see them. There was indeed no second murderer among them.
"You have no evidence!" The man's personality changed drastically once he was pinned to the chair, not at all like the humble and cautious person he seemed when first arrested. He shouted at Ch'en Huijie with an arrogant expression.
At that moment, Flandre Scarlet pointed a finger slightly at him. Then, with even more arrogance, he began to recount the entire process of how he killed the family and then set up an evil god ritual to bathe himself in blood. The listeners, including the nearby recorder, were dumbfounded. Only Hoshiguma, who had seen Flandre's movement, winked at her. Flandre nodded back with a smile.
Ten minutes later, the man clutched his head and wept bitterly. He couldn't believe what he had just said—not only the process and method of his crime but also the location of the murder weapon and the fallback plans he had arranged to prove his innocence. Now, even if he wanted to make excuses, he wouldn't find any opportunity.
Ch'en Huijie shook her head and walked out with Flandre and Hoshiguma.
"This guy... with a brain like that, how did he come up with such a precise plan? If he hadn't spoken up himself, convicting him would have been a bit troublesome," Ch'en complained after stepping out.
"Then you'll have to ask little Flandre," Hoshiguma said, reaching out to pick up Flandre as they walked.
"Ah?" Ch'en Huijie was puzzled.
"A simple Confusion Charm. Flandre can't do anything too delicate, but that man was quite foolish and seemed to have a strong desire to show off, so Flandre just gave him a little help," Flandre replied with a chuckle.
"You used a spell on him?" Ch'en Huijie finally realized.
"A Confusion Charm, a very simple spell. It's harmless, it just causes brief mental confusion. He probably wanted to say something to mislead or deceive you just now. But after being hit by the charm, he forgot about that and ended up telling the whole truth."
Flandre's words left Ch'en Huijie not knowing what to say. In principle, a confession obtained this way should be invalid. But the facts the man described were so heinous that she couldn't accept letting him go for such a reason.
"Sigh, Old Ch'en, don't be so stubborn. He said the words himself, the details are easy to verify, and there's nothing wrong with the recording in the interrogation room or the written confession. There's no need to deny this just because of a tiny bit of procedural injustice. After all, our responsibility is just to catch the criminal and obtain conclusive confessions and facts; as for the sentencing, that's the court's business."
Knowing Ch'en was starting to overthink again, Hoshiguma patted her shoulder. This sister of hers was too persistent about justice; in her view, it was good, but also not so good.
By the time Professor Zhang, the bloodstain expert, finally found evidence and came out of the house on the other side, Flandre had already been taken to the city's largest library by Hoshiguma. Entering the library naturally drew some attention because of Flandre's status as a Blood Demon, but with Hoshiguma from the Guard Department by her side, it didn't cause any commotion.
"What books does little Flandre want? Picture books and children's stories are over here..." Hoshiguma said, pointing to a spot on the first floor.
"No, the book I'm looking for is 'Prevention and Treatment of Oripathy'. It should be a medical book."
Flandre's words left Hoshiguma stunned for a moment. What book did she want to read again? 'Prevention and Treatment of Oripathy'? What kind of kid reads that? But Flandre is a Blood Demon! A Blood Demon kid is still a kid, and no kid reads this stuff.
"Are you planning to study medicine?" Hoshiguma asked, puzzled.
"No, I'm just interested." Flandre shook her head. One medical Blood Demon was enough; having more would be a bad character overlap...
Hoshiguma led Flandre to the reference book section and soon found it among the medical books. Then Flandre saw the author: Kal'tsit... Well, it turns out it's a Rhodes Island internal product, no wonder it was recommended so enthusiastically. But Hoshiguma felt it was improper to bring a child to the library and only buy one reference book, so she insisted on buying two large story collections before walking out the library doors.
After leaving, Hoshiguma drove Flandre back to her residence.
"Thank you, Sister Hoshiguma."
"Sigh, little Flandre is so good!" Hoshiguma said after patting Flandre's head. "Thank you for today."
"No problem, Sister Hoshiguma. I had a lot of fun going out today. If you need anything, feel free to come find Flandre for help!"
Perhaps because the memories she obtained showed that this Hoshiguma had an inexplicable connection to the Hoshiguma Yuugi of Gensokyo, Flandre's attitude toward Hoshiguma was very polite.
"Alright, alright. Flandre is so capable, there might be many times I'll need your help in the future!" Hoshiguma expressed that she really liked this child. She was obedient, sweet, and sensible, completely unlike the cruel, tyrannical, and fickle Blood Demons in stories.
After returning home, Flandre contacted Alina, stating she had bought the last book Alina mentioned. Hearing Flandre's words, Alina on the other end was very happy. Over the past few days, through Flandre's reading and her own recording, she had basically transcribed several books that the Rhodes Island doctors told them they needed to understand.
When the Rhodes Island Operators saw those brand-new handwritten copies, they were also amazed. Regarding the special professional terms Alina asked about, everyone was generous with their guidance. Even Kal'tsit couldn't resist flipping through the handwritten books herself. She then found that, except for the lack of pictures, these handwritten copies were basically identical to the originals. Everything from technical terms to special notes was recorded.
Recalling what she saw that night, and the observations she ordered over the past few days showing that a large amount of fresh plants were sent to Alina's room every day only to come out as withered wood or branches, and that Alina was also responsible for slaughtering livestock, etc.
With the Old Cat's rich experience, she guessed a possibility: this Ms. Alina was an Elafia with Blood Demon blood, and she didn't rely on drinking blood to sustain her life, but on absorbing the vitality of other things to survive. As for how she relied on consuming vitality to gain knowledge, she didn't know. Because from the observations of the past few days, Alina hadn't left the village, and no one in the village had died by accident. Furthermore, she had very little contact with others, and every person she observed was not a Blood Demon.
This left her very puzzled. Blood Demons have the ability to gain knowledge from blood through witchcraft, but there must be a subject for the spell. But the observation these past few days was that, besides needing a large amount of vitality every day, she could obtain this knowledge without any consumption. This made the Old Cat feel it was ten thousand percent unscientific.
But since both parties were only in the early stages of cooperation, she couldn't make too many judgments on this. Fortunately, the other party made a request: their leader, Talulah, had a very troublesome curse planted in her body that affected her will—likely from Kashchey—and they hoped Rhodes Island could have relevant personnel help check it.
She planned to arrange for Logos and another Sarkaz specialist to come after returning this time. Both were top Sarkaz individuals and were very familiar with various incantations and curses; they would surely be able to figure out Alina's background.
As for the Reunion Movement, they naturally knew Alina's methods could easily draw attention. They had advised Alina, but Alina felt that since she had the ability to do it, there was no need to hide it. Anyway, even if the people from Rhodes Island were suspicious, so what? They had no way to find out how she obtained the content of these books. In a case of mere suspicion, Rhodes Island wouldn't bring it up for the sake of the cooperation between the two sides.
So, an action that wouldn't affect the Reunion Movement and only involved a bit of unrealistic suspicion in exchange for obtaining urgently needed medical books many days in advance was, in Alina's view, a guaranteed win. Therefore, every time she produced a book, she openly brought it out for others to read and transcribe. With these books, the speed at which Rhodes Island trained medical personnel for the Reunion Movement also instantly increased quite a bit.
After receiving the news from Alina, Flandre Scarlet was very happy. Because she had helped. Her sister used to say that when she grew up, she could help her sister. Now that she was already able to help others, she would definitely be able to help her sister the next time they met. Thinking of this, Flandre Scarlet happily flew several laps around the room.
"Flandre, Flandre, I've come to play with you~" Swire's voice came from outside.