Sally and Crystal looked pleadingly at Whitney before running out of the convenience store, looking chastened.When Crystal and Sally had left, Sebastian walked out of Whitney's room with Larys, Vince, and the others."Sit down," Sebastian said to Larys and Vince as he pointed at the couch in the living room.After he was seated, Vince didn't wait for Sebastian to ask anything before he sighed and said, "Sebastian, we shouldn't have troubled you for this, but you're an expert in traditional medicine. Look at this photo."Vince took out a photo and handed it to him.There was a dried corpse in the photo, but based on what it was wearing, it wasn't a corpse from ancient times. It was wearing a modern school uniform. Judging from the height of the corpse, it was a young girl no older than 15. "Is this…" Sebastian frowned, trailing off. "Mr. Ballard, this girl went missing on the 8th. We thought she had run into some kind of pervert, and we were searching for her as a missing pers
Sebastian shook his head slightly. Even a witch doctor wouldn't be able to turn a living human being into a dried corpse within just two days, let alone a traditional medicine doctor.Sebastian had seen something like this before in Elton's home. There had been over 20 dried corpses there.However, those corpses hadn't had their internal organs removed. That meant that there were people capable of doing such a thing, but Elton had just been slightly less cruel.Or perhaps the internal organs hadn't held any value for him, while the organs were very valuable to the current murderer."I'm very sorry, but there is no such technique in traditional medicine. However, it does seem very similar to some of the corpse refining techniques found in the mystic sects. Elton Reynolds once used this kind of black magic as well," Sebastian said to Larys and Vince as he pointed at one of the photos. Vince glanced at the photo and looked as if he had been forced to swallow a bitter pill. He asked,
"Are… are there really… ghosts in this world?" Whitney asked, trembling.Sebastian laughed wryly and shook his head. He pulled Whitney over to him and said, "Actually, people are sometimes more frightening than ghosts. You're tired. Go and rest. I'll think of a solution and see if we can find Shannon."Whitney hesitated for a moment before getting up. She said, "Alright. I know I can't help, but if there's any news, please tell me as soon as possible."Sebastian nodded, and Whitney turned to return to her room.After she had gone, Sebastian turned to Lyanna and asked, "What were you talking about? Corpse-devouring ghosts?"Lyanna nodded heavily and said, "Corpse-devouring ghosts are a kind of revenant. They aren't hard to subdue for experts in yellow paper charms."Sebastian thought for a long time. He suddenly remembered a passage recorded in the Sacred Medicine Secret Annals.There was a kind of spiritual being that only ate human hearts. These spiritual beings weren't corpse-
Drew would never dare to offend someone whom even Harold, the mayor of Sunway, had to flatter."Mr. Tennyson, Vince mentioned that Mr. Ballard might have valuable insights into this case," Drew said in a carefully calibrated tone. He was only delivering Vince's will without adding any personal input, aiming to gauge the state's stance. "Oh?" Rufus Zenton, the state minister, was rather surprised.Earlier, he had called Belinda, hoping to enlist the Warrior League's assistance, but she had also recommended Sebastian to him.Rufus said firmly, "Very well. Tomorrow morning, your task force team will head to Steinberg and you will meet Mr. Ballard personally. Remember, Mr. Ballard will be leading this case, and you will personally assist him."Drew was startled. Sebastian would be in charge? What could a traditional medicine doctor possibly know about criminal investigation? Still, he dared not disobey Rufus. After all, Rufus had very strong connections. Even Tripp had only been ab
"Alright, alright. Let's just follow the orders from our superiors," Gerard said, turning to look at Sebastian and Whitney as they entered the office. There was a smug look on his face.Drew quickly introduced them to Sebastian. "Mr. Ballard, this is Officer Bellamy, the previous lead investigator. He's a criminal investigation instructor at the police academy and an experienced criminal investigator. He's been working with the state department in this field for more than 20 years."Gerard glanced arrogantly at Sebastian and inclined his head slightly. He didn't even stand up to greet him. As for Whitney, he barely even looked at her.Why would Sebastian have brought a woman here while working on such a big case? He didn't seem to be the right man for the job at all.Gerard was a famed criminal investigation expert throughout the whole of Sartvale, and he had been responsible for solving numerous high-profile cases.Even the crushed corpses case that had shocked the nation over te
Shouldn't Sebastian have tried to assure them and establish a good working relationship with them?None of the officers had expected him to be so aggressive as soon as he appeared. He had even told them all to leave!"Sebastian, we should probably tone it down," Whitney whispered. "After all, we'll need their help to find Shannon."Sebastian chuckled and said, "You want to rely on them? They won't find her even if they have ten years to do so!"The officers looked even more grim, especially Brody. He had never imagined that Sebastian would be so hostile to them when they were the experts in criminal investigation! He found himself at a loss for words."Hmph! Fine, I'll go! I'd like to see how you're going to solve this case!" Brody snapped, turning bright red with anger. He spun on his heel, ready to leave."Sit down!" Drew roared, slamming his hand on the table. "Which one among you is going to be bold enough to leave?"Brody jumped in fright, startled by Drew's outburst. The o
Sebastian didn't spare Gerard another glance. Turning to Whitney, he said gently, "Let's sit."Whitney's mind had gone blank. She could never have imagined that Sebastian would interact with the men from the state department in this manner.As Brody watched Sebastian lead Whitney by the hand to sit at the head of the table, he clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his palm. He said through gritted teeth, "Mr. Ballard, you've never even attended a criminal investigation class. What makes you think you can solve this case?""What makes me think so? It's because I'm Sebastian Ballard! I don't care how amazing you are or how many cases you've solved in the past. Right now, I'm in charge!" Sebastian said impassively.He turned to look at Gerard and asked, "Do you disagree? If so, tell me what leads you've found. Any lead at all would suffice."The room fell silent; the officers were dumbstruck. Any leads? They didn't even have the faintest inkling. They had no idea what
The photo was of a long-abandoned construction site that had two unfinished buildings on it. It was surrounded by barren mountains, which were covered in dense woods. Ordinarily, very few people went there.Gerard glanced at the photo and sneered. It was a photo of the site where a young woman had died tragically just four days ago.From a criminal investigation perspective, crime scenes like that were not worth investigating at all. It wasn't the place where the first crime had been committed, nor was it the place where the last crime had been committed.They would be able to glean the murderer's modus operandi at the first crime scene and compare it to subsequent cases. However, that was clearly not required for this particular case, as there would be no other way in which someone could turn people into dried corpses.As for the last crime scene, Gerard and the others had already scrutinized it at least 80 times. There were no leads at all, which was why they were all at a loss.
Sebastian nodded slightly. Yorrick had probably killed the young man because the latter was proficient in mystic spells and was already on the brink of the threshold. That could be the only reason for Yorrick's senseless deedThere were some people who couldn't bear seeing people who were stronger than them, which was why they made their move before their opponent could grow and develop."Are you really going to concede three moves to me, old man?" Sebastian stepped forward, grinning."Of course!" Yorrick answered, staring arrogantly at him.He still hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary with Sebastian, so he assumed that Sebastian was just an ordinary guy. He had probably only been able to defeat so many experts—including Egbert—because he had used some kind of trick. Egbert had lost because he had fallen into Sebastian's trap, not because of the latter's skills. That was why Egbert ended up suffering from the backlash of the ghost he had nurtured and lost his powers."I'll
"Young man, you're so cruel. Have you ever thought of the consequences of your actions?" Yorrick asked. He put his hands behind his back as he walked slowly toward Sebastian. Sebastian eyed Yorrick, whose training was at least on the same level as Egbert's. Besides, what he had studied was also a kind of spell. He and Sebastian specialized in the same study.The moment Yorrick got angry, Sebastian had sensed the faint power of Dainist principles from him."No blows are kind, and neither are harsh words! Why do you people feel that others should meekly allow you to beat them up? When your people are injured, you immediately think of it as the other party's mistake! That doesn't make any sense!" Sebastian answered coldly."Mr. Irving, kill that asshole!" Kayden said viciously. He was still clutching his crotch with one hand while he pointed at Sebastian with his other hand. Beside them, Jayden said defiantly, "Mr. Irving, you must not let this guy go! He's ruthless and extremely
Huh? Egbert frowned involuntarily. He had never felt that way before. What was going on? There was a loud blast, and the gigantic statue suddenly appeared out of thin air. At the same time, Egbert suddenly felt his blood churning inside him, and he immediately felt a sense of foreboding.He was about to turn and run when a black bolt of light hit him in the back. He immediately spat out a mouthful of blood and flew through the air like a broken kite. "Oh! Are you actually a sadist, old man?" Sebastian asked, smiling.Before Egbert could scramble up again, yet another bolt of dark light flew toward him."Damn it!"Egbert could no longer be conscious of his image and dignity. He swore at once. The dark light was aimed at his energy reserve. If he was hit, his decades of training would be completely ruined. However, he had plenty of life experience and had been through many such situations. When he saw the dark light flying toward him, he rolled across the floor like a bal
The dark shadow stretched out a large hand toward Nina. It appeared to be planning on tearing off her clothes. "Die?" Nina burst into laughter. How dare a ghost who was only around 300 years old talk to her about dying? As the smile stiffened on Nina's face, she bared her teeth, revealing fangs. Her scarlet eyes looked up impassively at the dark shadow above her head. "Aargh!" When the gigantic, dark shadow saw Nina's true form, it turned to try and escape, but it was too close to her that it was impossible for it to do so.It had only taken one step backward before Nina reached out and yanked it back."Have mercy, my lady!" The giant shadow disappeared and became a dark and scrawny-looking ghost that was less than five feet tall. "How dare you disrupt my dreams? You deserve to disintegrate into nothing!"Nina raised her hand and pressed down on top of the dark and scrawny ghost's head. "No!"The dark and scrawny ghost fell to its knees with a thump before Nina and sa
The Sacred Medicine Secret Annals also contained mystic spells from the Demon Sect. However, it was clearly written that those who practiced them would suffer divine punishment if they were to excel in it!Those were very heavy words indeed. How evil did those spells have to be if they would bring down divine punishment on those who excelled in practicing them?"Hmph! Stop trying to act as if you're smart in front of me. Have you ever seen such amazing spells? Believe it or not, I can kill your entire family with a click of my fingers?"There was a sinister tinge to Egbert's smile. With ordinary people, Egbert would only have to send out a thought to kill the entire family of his opponent instantly.However, Sebastian was being very dismissive of him. Evil spells like those required the supernatural spirit behind Egbert to sense the opponent's energy, after which they would use the same energy to find their family members.The process wasn't as mysterious as Egbert made it out
Those deceptive tricks appeared impressive, but those who Egbert healed would only end up in an even worse state, suffering even more."I haven't committed any crimes. How can I accept my punishment?" Sebastian asked disinterestedly.Brayden sneered. "You're not the one who decides whether you've committed a crime or not. Come! Subdue this defiant man!"Subdue Sebastian? Who would dare to do such a thing?The law enforcement hall members exchanged looks.Upon seeing this, Egbert stepped forward and said arrogantly, "Young man, you've seen what I can do. Compared to me, you martial arts practitioners aren't worthy of mention at all. I'll be lenient on you because you're young and ignorant. Just give up and come quietly!"Egbert was different from ordinary deacons in the Martial Arts Court. He had been hired specially as a mystic spells expert.When compared with mystic spells or cultivation, so-called martial arts weren't worthy of mention at all.That was because all mystic spe
Brayden sneered. "Kill you and cover this up? You overestimate yourselves. This is an act of protecting officials!" The bare fact of the matter was that they were going to kill everyone who knew about the Berkeleys' depraved acts. Once they had done so, the Berkeleys' perfect image would be restored. "Do you think that it's reasonable and lawful for Kayden to act the way he does?" Sebastian asked in a cold, accusing voice. "There's no helping it. Those in power must have some privileges. That's an accepted fact in the world. It's your fault for not being part of this class of people. If you're going to blame anyone, blame yourselves for being born in the wrong family!" Brayden said smugly as he shot Egbert Galen a glance. Egbert strode over to Kayden and crouched down to inspect his injuries. He tapped him with a finger. "Aargh!" The pain made huge beads of sweat drip down Kayden's face."Alright. You can stand up and take a few steps, Mr. Kayden!" Egbert said, putting his
"Oh?" Brayden glanced twice at Sebastian before asking, "What crime has Mr. Kayden committed? Tell me!" Sebastian couldn't be bothered to argue with him and just played the phone recording. The two old men frowned involuntarily when they finished listening to it."You're Inspector Jefferson, aren't you? I'd like to ask you how anyone could want to sleep with a bride at a wedding banquet in front of thousands of guests. Is he an animal? Don't the Berkeleys do this sort of thing in private?"Does this mean that when someone in the Berkeley family gets married, any of the guests or even a mere passerby can have their way with the bride in front of all their friends and family?"Javier turned red, then pale as he listened. He pointed at Sebastian and cursed him loudly. "You bastard! Stop talking nonsense!""Inspector Jefferson, since you admire Mr. Kayden's genes so much, why don't you let him improve your family's gene pool as well? You should especially let Mr. Kayden help out wi
Two black-clad men came up to the car door and opened it for Brayden, who then got out of the car. As he alighted, two elderly men also got out of the black car behind him. They came up beside Brayden and said, "Inspector Jefferson!" Brayden clasped his hands behind his back and nodded as he said, "Mr. Galen, Mr. Irving. Come and get rid of this nuisance with me today. Remember, we must not show any mercy!" The two old men nodded slightly and said, "We'll do as you say, Inspector Jefferson!"Brayden nodded slightly and said to Jayden, "Lead the way!" Jayden hastily gestured for them to go ahead. He led them happily into the Aequor.He had fled the hotel just a while ago, but in the blink of an eye, he seemed to have transformed into a different person. He walked into the hotel with his chest puffed up, and his entire demeanor had changed. The attendants on the first floor looked at him in surprise. "Did that handsome young guy go and get himself an invigorating shot of so