CHAPTER 102: DYING MESSAGE?

After Leonard accepted the invitation to join Wesley to investigate the crime scene, the latter wasn’t finished.

"Does Miss Caroline also wish to join us?" Wesley gazed at the sitting Caroline.

"Your expertise would be well appreciated in the case that the crime scene had been altered or modified."

Given that the crime scene happened under the nose of the Merchant Guild, especially with many patrol guards. Wesley couldn’t help but shake off the feelings that the culprit could still be in the guild and was possibly lying low amongst them.

Moreover, there was still the absent bodyguard whom Leonard had previously slapped away.

If the time of death matched precisely with the bodyguard’s absence, then Wesley wouldn’t be polite anymore.

To dare to commit a murder under his very authority was a slap in the face.

If news got out, then he would have lost all his prestige in one night.

’You better not be the culprit, Mr. Vincent. Even if you are a certified gold merchant, I will still have your life if that’s the case.’ Wesley hoped.

Ultimately, there was a bottom line to his patience.

If the bottom line wasn’t crossed, then he would simply put the incident to heart but wouldn’t act upon it.

However, once crossed, his opponents could forget about any reconciliation.

"It would be impolite of me to refuse when a major crisis had happened, right?" Caroline mused and stood up. "Let’s get a move on in case there are still some residues left for me to investigate."

"I thank you on behalf of the Merchant Guild for this favor," Wesley smiled lightly.

He then held a stern expression as he shifted his attention to David. "Bring us to the crime scene."

"Yes, Lord Wesley!" David hurriedly saluted and began to guide them.

While they all followed behind, Wesley secretly signaled for Ethan to search for the missing bodyguard on Leonard’s side. The bodyguard was a sixth circle mage, so he would be a fool to ignore such a potential threat and suspect.

Time quickly went by, and before long, the group arrived at the storage room.

"Greetings, Lord Wesley," the nearby guards who had secured the premises hurriedly greeted him upon spotting his arrival.

Wesley simply extended his hand to stop their formal greeting. "Who can tell me the overall gist of the situation?"

A few seconds later, Jay, who was the first to discover the body, stepped forward and explained the situation.

"I was told to search for Bryant after he was gone for so long. Along the way, I suddenly smelled something foul and decided to track the source. The trail led to the storage room." Jay reported.

The moment he discovered the body, he hurriedly informed David, who then rushed over to the Round Table.

"Hmm, there is the presence of a smell concealment formation active not long ago. How were you able to smell it?" Caroline furrowed her brows. Since she often had to use ingredients that had a foul smell, she had learned to study some smell concealment techniques to safeguard her precious nose.

"Replying to Miss Caroline, Jay has a high sensitivity when it comes to smell," Ethan explained.

"Yes, that is correct." Jay bowed his head slightly, paying his respect to Caroline.

While they were busy conversing, Leonard had already proceeded to enter the storage room. Although some of the guards intended to stop him initially, they all stepped back upon seeing Wesley waving his hand.

’Let’s see if you are trying to wipe the evidence or investigate the culprit.’ To be honest, Wesley couldn’t care less about the deceased guard.

All he cared about was what the culprit was going after to make such a move!

So if Leonard was truly innocent, then he might as well allow him to investigate on his behalf.

Leonard didn’t bother to comprehend what was going on in Wesley’s mind. He was merely curious about the link between this and the Sunfire Road incident.

’That David mentioned it showed previous symptoms of the past victims. What kind of symptoms could it be?’ His eyes quickly scanned the surroundings.

Looking at the surroundings, the Merchant Guild’s storage room was in chaos, yet chillingly silent. The scent of spilled wine, burnt parchment, and something coppery hung heavy in the air.

There were crates that had been smashed open, their contents scattered across the floor in disarray, with silks shredded like paper, coin pouches torn apart, dried goods crushed under frantic boots.

Leonard’s eyes narrowed as he knelt down on one knee to inspect the crates.

’This is...’ A look of confusion appeared on his face. He felt like he had witnessed something similar, but also not quite in the content remnants.

Unable to recall what it was precisely on the spot, Leonard ultimately decided to move on for now.

Staying on a topic that you were stuck on was simply going to be a waste of time. It was better to move on to another easier topic and then return later on.

His eyes quickly trailed to a toppled crate near the far wall.

There lay the corpse, Bryant!

His boy lay slumped against the crate, his guard’s robe soaked dark red from the deep cut across his chest. His lifeless eyes were wide, frozen in shock, his jaw locked as though he had died mid-breath.

One suspicious matter was that there was a single gold token, smeared with his own blood, that had been clenched tightly in his right hand.

On the wall just behind him, jagged streaks of blood had been drawn in uneven lines, almost as if there had been desperate writing from trembling fingers.

The letters were barely legible, but they formed a single name: Leon... the rest trailed off in a smear, as though his strength had failed before finishing.

’Leon? What the heck is this?’ At this moment, Leonard was starting to feel a cold chill.

His disguised identity was that of a merchant with the name Vincent Bond.

Why would there suddenly be a Leon in the dying message?

What was stranger still was the pattern of violence!

The wounds were crude, ragged, inflicted with inhuman strength rather than blades.

The metallic steel support beams bore deep indentations from blunt impacts, with some of them splintered completely. Even the metal storage racks had been bent out of shape.

In addition to that, there were several sets of bloody footprints being led in and out.

But they were uneven in size and step, some appearing barefoot, others twisted in unnatural angles, depicting clear signs of frenzied, uncontrolled movement.

’What is this dying message about?’ Leonard couldn’t comprehend the meaning behind Bryant’s final hint.