Lu Xun rushed to the third floor and entered the bedroom.
The elderly man with graying hair and beard lay on the ground, his "tentacles" all severed, and a huge bloody hole in his heart area, killed with one blow.
"It really is you!"
Lu Xun gritted his teeth, tempted to rush over and kick him twice.
But the person was dead, and desecrating the corpse was meaningless.
He really wanted to ask Old Octopus why he came back? How did he return? And so quickly?
The plane had already taken off, it wouldn't reach the Elf Race until tomorrow, did he parachute back midway?
Old Octopus had no reason to return to Jinghai City.
Because both the black and white paths were targeting him, he had no other choice.
Yet he returned, and damn it, he died!
The corpse was just lying there in front of Lu Xun.
None of this made any sense, it didn't conform to logic, nor emotion.
It made Lu Xun's CPU overheat!
It was absurd!
"Hoo~"
Lu Xun took a deep breath, stopping his chaotic thoughts.
He squatted down, examining Old Octopus's body, and immediately his expression grew grave.
Old Octopus's head was split open, and a large piece of his brain was missing.
The situation just got serious.
Lu Xun suddenly realized the person who killed Old Octopus wasn't that combat robot earlier.
After committing murder, why would someone cut away part of Old Octopus's brain tissue?
The reason was simple.
It was to extract Old Octopus's memories from when he was alive.
With advanced technology now, the technique to extract memories from brain tissue had long existed.
According to the masked man, anyone related to him would be hunted down and exterminated.
Once they bring the brain back and check, Lu Xun's identity would be exposed, and he too would be hunted!
"What on earth happened? Where did it go wrong?"
Lu Xun felt a chilling numbness in his hands and feet, as if an invisible hand clutched his heart, suffocating him.
He thought his plan had no issues, but never imagined things would escalate to this point.
Old Octopus's actions had exceeded the comprehension of human logic.
A path to paradise he didn't take, coming back just to die?
Did you come back on purpose to mess with me?
Lu Xun couldn't understand, but was deeply shocked.
He first thought of escaping!
Leaving Jinghai City with his entire family.
But that was the last resort, his uncle's life depended entirely on a bunch of equipment, breathing, pumping blood, excretion... all relied on machines, he couldn't leave those machines.
He couldn't contact the airline and arrange a special patient cabin in a short time either.
Choosing to escape meant abandoning a family member.
'Calm down, don't panic.'
'Maybe there's still a turnaround…'
His heart was racing, and after a few deep breaths, he calmed down.
He squatted down, reached out his right hand to touch the corpse.
"Analysis!"
After ten seconds, Lu Xun opened his eyes, a hint of joy appeared on his face.
Old Octopus's time of death hadn't exceeded 20 minutes.
The murderer left a combat robot to handle the aftermath after killing, and returned with the brain tissue before him.
The killer was still on the way back, not far, he still had a chance to reclaim the brain.
Even if they had returned to their lair, extracting memory using machines would take some time.
Theoretically, there's still a chance to turn the tables.
Better late than never to mend the pen after losing the sheep!
But now the problem was, Lu Xun didn't know who the murderer was or where they went?
In a vast sea of people, where could he find them?
At this critical moment, Lu Xun's mind became incredibly sharp.
He quickly thought of a "person" — his desk mate from the Undead Race, Wuer.
Despite looking just like a skeleton, Wuer was proficient in over four hundred types of undead magic and was a famous prodigy of the Undead Race!
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been sent by his race to study abroad within the Human Federation.
Magic inherently defied logic.
Some magic could foresee the future, reveal matters of ghosts and gods.
For Wuer, finding someone was all too simple.
Thinking of this, Lu Xun immediately raised his hand to contact Wuer.
He then discovered his wrist was empty, realizing the communication device's strap had broken during his earlier transformation and it had fallen to the ground.
"I remember it was around here…"
He turned around, his gaze like lightning towards a pile of clutter, walking over quickly.
...
Jinghai First Middle School, Class 4 of Grade 12.
At the back near the window.
Wuer lay idly on the desk, his skeletal face filled with vivid sorrow, pondering over the homework issue.
Suddenly, the communication device on his wrist bone vibrated.
He glanced down, it was Brother Lu calling!
Wuer felt pleasantly surprised, quickly picking up the call, just about to greet, he was taken aback by the other party's opening—
"Da Gu, don't speak yet, listen to me. I'm in big trouble, I need you to use magic to help me find someone. I remember you mentioning there's a similar magic before, right?"
He was momentarily stunned, then very nervously lifted his head, glancing around.
He then lowered his voice, concernedly asked, "Brother Lu, what trouble are you in?"
"An acquaintance of mine was murdered, I need to find the killer, otherwise I'll also be in trouble."
"Time is tight, no time for details, can you come over? The sooner, the better," Lu Xun said in a deep voice.
Upon hearing it was a matter of life and death, Wuer couldn't help but feel a sense of panic.
"I have a search magic, but even if I go, I can't help you, Brother Lu."
He said, "All of us Other Race exchange students signed an agreement with the Human Federation, prohibiting the use of magic during our studies, unless in life-threatening situations where self-defense is appropriately permitted."
Lu Xun knew about this, Wuer mentioned it to him before.
The Other Race exchange students all wore a magic element sensor, appearing as a silver bracelet.
Once magic is used, it senses it and automatically alerts.
Removing the bracelet arbitrarily will also trigger an alert.
At which time Wuer wouldn't just be deported back to the Undead Race, upon returning, he'd face very severe punishment.
It was a cost he couldn't bear.
But now his good buddy was facing a life-and-death crisis.
The soul fire in Wuer's eye sockets flickered, hesitating whether to break the taboo for his brother.
Yet he heard Lu Xun say—
"You don't need to do it yourself, I can guide the fire attribute magic essence, you just need to teach me how to use the magic, that's not difficult for you, right?"
Huh?
Wuer was shocked.
Unable to understand how Lu Xun, as a human, could control magic essence?
But this wasn't the time to discuss this.
Since he could use magic essence himself, the matter became much simpler.
"I know a ritual divination magic for seeking out culprits, very simple, requires drawing ritual patterns with the deceased's blood, combined with three spells to track the killer. No additional casting materials required, no requirements for magic attributes either."
Wuer said in a deep voice, "But there are two essential conditions."
"1. The deceased must have died within three hours."
"2. The murderer must be someone the caster had seen before, otherwise, tracking and locating would fail."
"Lastly, the divination result will only display a brief moment of the scene, and will not be clear."
"How about it, Brother Lu? If not... I can come over to you."
...
In the bedroom.
After listening to Wuer, Lu Xun couldn't help but furrow his brows.
This tracking magic was too low-level, while beginners could easily pick it up, the effect was poor and the limitations were significant.
Of the two prerequisites, the first was manageable, but the second was quite troublesome.
How could he learn the murderer's appearance?
He subconsciously looked at Old Octopus's corpse, suddenly, a light bulb went off in his mind—the solution dawned on him.
...He had the ability to read memories himself!
And it was newly acquired, fresh and ready!
Hope surged in Lu Xun's heart, telling Wuer to "hold on a moment," before dipping his finger into some of Old Octopus's blood, bringing it to his lips to lick, activating one of his three special skills—
"Blood-Hunting Soul!"