abcnovels
Chapter 140: 138, Duke You Come_1
Chapter 140: 138, Duke You Come_1
Chapter 140: Chapter 138, Duke You Come_1
The beast-girl stood up, made a beastman-like gesture and said, “Captain Wu Heng, I am ‘Mata,’ a Level 7 Ranger.”
Uh…
Wu Heng paused.
That’s right, my team isn’t fully formed yet, I forgot about that.
“Do you have your documents with you?” Wu Heng asked.
The beast-girl handed over the personal details prepared by the association.
Wu Heng glanced at it and found it to be the same as written in her details.
The person who recruited her was the agent Gomez.
“How old are you?” Wu Heng continued to ask.
“22, Captain!”
“Hmm, welcome to the team…” Wu Heng looked at the name on the document again, “Mata.”
“Thank you, Captain.” Mata responded immediately.
Wu Heng felt that beastmen were easier to communicate with than human races.
At least these two team members were fairly respectful towards him.
“Sit!” Wu Heng gestured for her to sit down and continued, “My name is Wu Heng, the captain of the 12th team, and he is Duke, a member of our team.”
“We met a bit before you arrived,” Duke directly said.
Lundham City is actually not small, and it’s divided into several areas.
Even though they were all beastmen and local residents, but the two did not know each other.
“Okay. From now on, we’re all teammates and should take care of each other.”
“Yes, Captain,” Mata nodded again.
After a small chat, Duke leaned forward and said, “Captain, I came today to discuss some information about the fugitives.”
“Do you have any leads?”
“I do, but I’m not sure how reliable they are,” Duke scratched his head.
“Let’s hear it!”
“Captain, do you remember the fugitive who killed and drained the blood of people in the bar we investigated the other day?” Duke asked.
“Hmm, I remember, anything happen over there again?”
The first mission when coming to Lundham City was to investigate the death incident at the bar.
A freaking murderer used money to lure bar girls into alleys and slit their throats to drain their blood.
Wu Heng cornered him in an alleyway and gunned him down on the spot.
He included this event in the letters to ‘Yuli’ and ‘Slyther,’ so the memory was still fresh.
“Nothing happened at the bar, but similar incidents have occurred beyond the city. The guy we killed was a fugitive, and I think this perpetrator might be a fugitive too,” Duke said.
“Murdered and drained of blood?”
“Yep, the wounds are similar, so I think we can still catch the fugitive,” Duke continued.
Wu Heng then looked at the newly joined beast-girl, “Mata, have you heard about this?”
“It seems that I have heard a bit about it. Recently, the ‘Hammer Party’ has been making quite a ruckus, and the outside city area is rather chaotic,” Mata said.
Wu Heng nodded, looking at the somewhat dim sky outside.
He said, “Let’s go, let’s go out to take a look and investigate.”
“Ok, Captain!” Duke excitedly stood up.
The group grabbed their weapons and headed out together.
They walked out of the Association’s main gate.
Mata whistled towards the sky.
A Black Winged Eagle descended from the sky.
It landed on Mata’s leather-gloved forearm, its sharp eyes fixed on the people nearby.
“This is my tamed beast, Black Feather.”
Then she said to Black Feather, “This is my captain, and this is my teammate.”
Black Feather looked at the two men and nodded quite humanlike.
Wu Heng glanced and didn’t say much.
The tamed beasts of human rangers are usually smaller eagles or more docile birds.
This one was more like a vulture.
Its neck was thin and a bit drooping.
Ugly, but somewhat handsome.
After the introductions, the group headed straight outside the city.
…
As soon as they left the city gate, they were in the outskirts.
Besides the main road in the middle, houses of varied heights were densely built on both sides.
Perhaps due to the gloomy weather, there were hardly any people on the road.
In contrast, it gave off a creepy vibe.
Duke led the group to the door of a wooden house, gently knocked on the door, and a man cautiously peeked out of the door crack.
Seeing that it’s Duke, he then opened the door, saying, “Oh Duke, it’s you!”
“Yes, this is my captain. We’re here to investigate the recent deaths,” Duke introduced him.
“Oh, hello Captain, what exactly would you like to investigate?” the man asked.
Wu Heng replied, “The dead body, is it still there?”
“Yes!”
“Take us to it.”
“Oh, this way please.”
The man led the way with the group following him towards a wooden house on the outskirts of town, “It’s in here. The dead were all women or children, causing panic among the people. Even the gangs couldn’t figure out what happened.”
Wu Heng nodded, “Alright, we’ll take it from here, you can go.”
“Okay.” The man continued, “We’ve pooled some money together. If you can solve this problem, we’re willing to pay you a reward.”
He probably feared that they wouldn’t take the investigation seriously, so he prepared some money to expedite the process.
“Alright, we will inform you of any updates,” Wu Heng said.
“Thank you.” The man backed out, muttering about how life is tough, and left.
In the room, several bodies covered in burlap were laid out.
From their physiques, it seemed some were humans, and some were beastmen.
Wu Heng released a “Dancing Light Skill” to illuminate the room.
He had Duke uncover the body at the front.
It was a woman, seemingly not too old, with a deep wound on her neck. Her skin was pale as if all her blood had been drained.
This killing was indeed similar to the murder that happened at the bar.
Wu Heng didn’t say much, he just directly cast the spell [Communicate with the Dead].
The corpse, with skin as pale as paper, abruptly sat up, its pale pupils gazing ahead.
‘Mata’, the newly joined Beastwoman, looked suddenly alarmed and involuntarily stepped back.
Wu Heng then directly asked: “How did you die?”
“I was attacked by several people who then slit my throat,” the corpse responded.
“Did you recognize any of them?”
“No, I didn’t see their faces clearly.”
“Where were you attacked?”
“In the outskirts of the city, on a small path to the north.”
“What time…?”
“After dusk!”
After thinking for a moment, Wu Heng asked one final question: “Did you notice any distinguishing features?”
“They reeked of blood and wore black capes.”
After responding, the corpse fell back onto the ground with a thud.
Wu Heng then proceeded to question the second body, a female Beastwoman.
Her green skin turned gray from loss of blood. She had obviously fought as her face and body bore injuries, but the killing blow was still to the throat.
Her skin and flesh turned white and twisted inside out.
Wu Heng, asked the same questions as before.
The locations and timing of the incidents were different, but the perpetrator’s characteristics were the same.
After asking the five questions, he questioned the remaining corpses to collect as much useful information as possible.
After all the inquiries were completed…
The three of them regrouped.
“Captain, is this the same as the last incident?” Duke questioned.
“Hmm, indeed it is the same.”
“Could it be a fugitive?”
“Whether it is or not isn’t important. Our handling this matter is in itself ridding the people of a menace,” said Wu Heng.
“Right, that’s a good word to use.” Duke agreed.
Mata interrupted their conversation to quietly ask, “Captain, what do we do next?”
Questioning corpses was efficient.
However, this time, there was no clear direction.
They couldn’t possibly go door-to-door looking for suspicious black cloaks, or sniffing to see who reeks of blood.
Wu Heng gave it some thought and said, “Actually, it’s simple. The killer only targets women. Let’s lure them out.”
“Understood!” Duke glanced at the newly recruited female Beastwoman.
Mata nodded, “Alright, I don’t have a problem with that.”
Although Beastmen are tall and large, the corpses included female Beastwomen. The killer did not target the weak but leaned towards targeting females.
This was rather twisted.
Looking at ‘Mata’, Wu Heng shook his head, “There could be danger. The killer acts in groups. Mata, if you use yourself as bait, it’s too risky.”
Rangers in this world were not the high agility type that could make themselves scarce at will. They were more like the reconnaissance and long-range support types.
If she was surrounded and their support wasn’t quick to arrive, it could lead to irreversible consequences.
Joining the squad in the morning and disappearing in the afternoon would turn them into a laughing stock.
“Shall we find another woman?” Duke suggested.
“Duke, you go!”
“What? Captain, I’m a man! Aren’t they attacking women?” Duke exclaimed in surprise, even patting his chest to demonstrate that he possessed none of the traits of a woman.
Mata also awkwardly laughed at the side, not knowing what to say.
Having the robust Duke play the part of a woman was indeed a… creative idea.
“Disguise yourself,” Wu Heng pulled out the ‘Illusion Veil’ and handed it to him, saying, “Put it on, let’s see.”
Duke took it in confusion. At Wu Heng’s indication, he put it on his head.
A beam of light shined down from his head, and his body began to change, morphing into the image of a female Beastwoman.
The external appearance was modified by the illusion, but the height still remained towering.
Wu Heng looked at Duke, nodding in approval, and the wide-eyed Mata could only stare in disbelief.
This must be a special kind of item.
“There’s no change…” Duke started, but quickly shut his mouth.
His voice had altered, more like a female’s.
“Alright. The effect is quite good. Go to the north area and have a walk around. We’ll protect you from the shadows. Duke, don’t whimper and scare the killer away.”
“Ah? Captain, this won’t work, this really won’t work.”
“Stop talking. If I weren’t a mage, I would go myself.”
“This, this…” Duke stuttered, then in the guise of a female, he walked off to the distance.
…
The sky grew darker.
On the small path to the north, a female Beastwoman was looking around apprehensively.
Her buff body and waterfall-like long hair made her a popular type among the Beastpeople.
Whoosh~!
Suddenly, the sound of running came from a dark alley. Three shadows darted out, forming a triangle around the female Beastwoman.
“Damn, what a huge body, what did she eat to grow this big?”
“As long as it’s a female, the fuller blood is better.”
“Enough with the trash talk. The people from the city outskirts are investigating. We need to make it quick.”
“Damn, she’s even winking at us…”
The men spoke without any inhibition.
However, the female Beastwoman, upon hearing the phrase ‘winking at us’, instantly lashed out in fury.
With a roar, she charged at them.