Chapter 738: Chapter 539: Invitation_3 Chapter 738: Chapter 539: Invitation_3 Originally, Asherica planned to have a serious chat with Mary, but then, Shirley, who had been comatose, disappeared and returned, fully alert. Her joy didn’t leave her time to think about other things and the trio were back to their old relationship, so she put the matter to the back of her mind for the time being.
However, now that they were on the train, seeing her best friend wearing an expression of a girl in love made her feel irritated!
Who was it exactly? The mysterious man who took advantage of the vulnerable girl, using underhanded means to get close to her!
Mary, who showed no interest in dating matters, was being played as if she were a lost child!
Such a man! Absolutely unforgivable!!!!
Duanmu Huai sneezed heavily, rubbing his nose.
“Are you alright, Sir Knight?”
Hearing the sneeze, Lorena poked her head out to look at him, but Duanmu Huai just shook his head.
“I’m fine, someone must be talking about me.”
While saying this, Duanmu Huai looked at Lorena.
“Ah, yes, I have finished.”
In response to Duanmu Huai’s question, Lorena put down her copy of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” and nodded.
“According to the book, the crime was committed by an illegitimate son trying to claim the family wealth, using the legend of the demon hound of the Baskerville family. And in the end, wasn’t the criminal caught?”
“Exactly, that’s the angle the police are investigating from.”
Duanmu Huai tapped the case file in front of him.
Ever since “The Hound of the Baskervilles” case, the Baskerville family’s reputation in Fog City had soared. A series of subsequent incidents seemed to have dispelled the so-called curse due to the publication of this novel. But a few years ago, similar incidents started happening again in the Baskerville family.
Simply put, members of the Baskerville family were attacked by a large, dark demon beast in their mansion, resulting in several deaths. This included the last Baskerville family head, his eldest son and wife, and then his eldest grandson… When the police initially received the report, they investigated according to the description in the novel, trying to catch the person who might be using a hunting dog to kill people. The local police even set up a cordon with the guards of the Baskerville family, trying to catch this black dog.
The problem lies here.
The cordon was successful, and then…… there was heavy casualties.
According to the survivors among the police and guards on the scene, they encountered a black hound that looked bigger than a human being. It was immune to weapons and moved in and out of the mist. The policemen trying to stop the black dog were knocked away and killed. Just on that one night, thirteen or fourteen policemen and guards fell under the claws of the black dog. Consequently, they asked for help from the Fog City police, who then introduced this case to Duanmu Huai.
This was the reason for Duanmu Huai’s invitation from the Baskerville family.
“But that doesn’t matter, if it’s a criminal case, it has nothing to do with us.”
Duanmu Huai directly denied any possibility of real-life events – the existence of the Tribunal wasn’t to deal with ordinary murder cases.
“Let’s trace back to the origin of the Baskerville family’s demon hound incident, you should have seen it in the book.”
“Hmm, according to the records, the Baskerville family’s demon hound legend originated from one of their absurd ancestors who kidnapped a girl, intending to violate her. The frightened girl ran away and the ancestor who discovered her escape became furious, sending hunting dogs after her. They also chased her on horseback, ultimately finding the girl and the Baskerville ancestor’s corpses beside a bizarre altar. Some people even saw a terrifying black dog tearing at the ancestor’s body. After that, people started the rumour that the evil deeds of the Baskerville ancestor had brought a curse and punishment…”
“Disregarding the irrelevant literary embellishments here, what do you think?”
In the face of Duanmu Huai’s question, Lorena pondered for a while.
“The Baskerville family’s ancestor might have wanted to perform some type of cult ritual, with the girl serving as the sacrifice?”
“Exactly, that’s what I think too.”
Duanmu Huai snapped his fingers, which was why he brought Lorena with him. They weren’t investigating a common murder or a crime case – as Duanmu Huai had said, crimes and murders didn’t concern them, the Tribunal was more concerned with the hidden evil.
An ordinary inheritance murder could simply be left to Sherlock Holmes to solve. It had nothing to do with them.
“So, do you think the ritual was successful or not?”
“Looking at it now, I suspect that the ritual was a failure.”
Lorena reopened her novel.
“Maybe there was a problem with the steps, or something went wrong somewhere, causing the summoned demon beast to backlash upon them…”
“Yeah, those cultists might not have much skills, but when it comes to messing things up, they are top-notch.”