The next day, dawn broke.
Colin rose from the soft, large bed in his bedroom, and after washing up, Renee had already brought the steaming hot breakfast to him.
He glanced at his pocket watch, 6:43 AM. He had slept for only about four hours last night.
But now he felt refreshed, without a hint of fatigue.
He looked again at the Golden Paper, noting improvements in every category.
It was undeniable; seeing progress each day, feeling oneself constantly improving, was addictively satisfying.
In fact, since arriving at the Patrol Department, his workload had decreased compared to his previous night shifts with the West City Guard Team.
He could afford to enjoy life a bit more.
After all, in Blackstone City, with the purchasing power of Magic Stones, he was undoubtedly one of the top tycoons.
But this world hardly had much entertainment.
More importantly, he could not resist the temptation of slowly pushing forward his progress.
Cultivation had become his biggest hobby...
Perhaps it was a strange aspect of human nature—without progress, without visible improvement, it was hard to continue.
Yet, with progress, even the dullest, most tedious activities could generate an almost alien persistence and determination, pushing one to keep going.
"Unfortunately, I can't spend all my time on cultivation," Colin couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Even though the tasks at the Patrol Department were very relaxed, the continuous trivial matters still took up much of his time.
But he merely sighed lightly.
After all, he enjoyed the resources and benefits that came from the School.
Naturally, there was a price to pay.
Compared to the benefits he gained, working like this for the School was quite worthwhile.
After breakfast, Colin took a carriage straight to 79 Tulip Street.
He had agreed to meet Regina there this morning.
They planned to carefully examine the scene again, hoping to find more useful information.
Upon reaching Tulip Street,
two carriages were already parked in front of No. 79.
One was Regina's, with a chestnut horse and a beige carriage, adorned with patterned gilding.
The other carriage looked substantially larger than Regina's, with two horses pulling a simple black carriage.
"Perhaps it belongs to Captain Flower."
Colin alighted from his carriage and walked into the yard, heading towards the master bedroom.
Regina was standing by a pink bed,
and the large figure of Flower next to her confirmed Colin's guess.
"Captain Flower."
Flower nodded almost imperceptibly, his focus remaining on the woman's corpse on the bed.
"Colin," Regina turned around and whispered,
"Captain Flower came over after hearing that we hadn't found any traces."
Colin nodded, a flash of realization crossing his face.
"In fact, I had already been here once at the very beginning," Flower suddenly interjected,
"I just glanced briefly back then, without giving it much thought. But I didn't expect that even your cat, Regina, wouldn't find any traces."
He spoke while casting witchcraft.
Sensory enhancement!
The misty Magic Power flowed from his lower abdomen upwards, gathering in his eyes, the tip of his nose, his ears...
Colin's expression shifted slightly as he concentrated his mind.
It had been only a day, yet the odd sensation seemed to have faded considerably.
He focused his attention on the body of Lisa on the pink bed canopy, the unusual feeling gradually clarifying, like a bluestone sculpture being cleaned of its dirt, revealing its original reliefs.
A swirl of red and black miasma, like mist over water, slowly appeared over the woman's corpse.
This red and black color was not visual; he didn't see it but felt it.
And as this trace of red and black became apparent, a chilling sensation, as though needles were pricking his forehead, enveloped him.
Colin frowned, suppressing this inexplicable fear and looked more carefully.
Apart from that most noticeable red and black trace, there were also faint wisps of red mist on other parts of the woman's body.
Did this represent... longer contact time in the deeper colored areas?
No, that wasn't right.
Rather than prolonged contact, it was better to say the traces were fresher...
Those fainter red mists seemed like earlier red and black traces that had faded.
"If that is the case... Could the murderer have come last night as well?!"
Colin's eyes flickered with a trace of fluctuation.
If he had rashly entered last night...
"There's nothing to be found." At this moment, Flower turned around and suddenly spoke.
He shook his head, and the Magic Power that had gathered on his face quietly dispersed.
Colin paused, let out a slight breath, and no longer paid attention to the red mist.
As his focus shifted, the sense of fear in his heart gradually disappeared.
"Thank you, Lord Flower." Regina replied, with an unmistakable disappointment on her face.
Colin looked at Flower without a change in his expression.
'Even Flower couldn't find anything unusual?'
Flower shook his head again and tried walking around the room once more, finally stopping and sighing:
"There are indeed no traces... Perhaps this is yet another strange event."
Regina nodded noncommittally, "I think so too."
Colin nodded in agreement.
This world had always harbored inexplicable, unexplainable strange events, locations, and objects.
They were collectively termed as strange phenomena.
But this incident, it was obviously not an unexplainable strange event...
Colin stood in the spacious master bedroom, his expression inscrutable.
Bright sunlight streamed in from the window, brushed across his body, and fell on the beautiful moon-patterned carpet.
This scene should have been fresh and bright—
But underneath the pink bed canopy lay a twisted, naked female corpse, with barely discernible faint red mist dispersing...
And that draped the scene with a terrifying hue.
"This incident…" Flower stood by the bedroom door and slowly began, "try investigating it again."
"If there's still no lead, then temporarily treat it as a strange event and seal it off."
Flower let out an almost imperceptible sigh; he was increasingly doubting his previous judgment.
'This matter is most likely unrelated to the Blood Meat Thorns Sect... It's just a coincidence.'
But one couldn't blame himself for overthinking… Lap the Wizard had just solemnly established the Patrol Department, and the incident with Catherine had just passed not long ago...
It was inevitable for him to initially associate this matter with the Blood Meat Thorns Sect.
"Clean up and process the scene." Flower instructed again.
Even he could not discern any traces now; preserving the scene clearly had no use anymore.
Additionally, with the weather being hot, if it wasn't cleaned up soon, the body here would start to decay and breed maggots.
He trudged with heavy steps and slowly climbed into the coach.
"Drive!" the Coachman cracked his whip.
The two tall horses neighed, straining forward, pulling Flower gradually away.
Colin watched the black coach drive past him, about to withdraw his gaze.
But he suddenly paused,
His turning head hesitated for a moment, then feigning nonchalance, he directed his gaze again towards the street corner at the far right end of his vision.
There, several street vendor stalls were set up.
He focused on a stall selling roasted fish and bread in the middle.
But his actual attention was on a stall selling live fish in the periphery of his eye.
There, a middle-aged man was packing up, seemingly preparing to leave.
Dressed in nothing more than plain grey linen clothes, with a dusky complexion and a numb expression, his appearance was as ordinary as could be.
Such common people could be found on practically every street in Blackstone City.
Yet to Colin, the faint red mist emanating from the middle-aged man, identical to the one from the female corpse in the master bedroom, rendered him extraordinary.
He stood out like a crane among chickens.
"Colin, what's wrong?" Regina asked, puzzled,
Following Colin's gaze, she let out a bemused chuckle and said, "Didn't you have breakfast this morning?"
Colin hesitated, then replied, "I did, but I'm feeling a bit hungry again now."
"It looks like your maid isn't competent enough," Regina laughed, "not preparing enough breakfast for you."
"Perhaps." Colin smiled and shook his head, then pointed towards his coach, "I'll have my Coachman get me something to eat; could you ask the Guards to clean up the scene first?"
"Sure."
Colin nodded and strode towards his own coach.