Chapter 56: Stormy Night

“Turn on the light!”

Levi closed 【Soul Sight】 and shouted.

Before his voice had even fallen, Inspector Lestrade, who was standing at the door, immediately turned on the surrounding lamps.

Very quickly, the light came on, forcing everyone who had just been in the dim environment to instinctively close their eyes, then open them again.

And then……………

“Ah—————!”

A scream rang out once more.

This time, it was the newlywed wife who screamed.

Her face turned deathly pale as she looked at the table in front of her, shrieking as she staggered backward.

Her husband also held his wife tightly, his own expression frozen stiff, staring in shock.

At this moment, Levi had already leapt forward with the agility of a leopard, staring at the table.

The others had retreated far from it, but one person still sat there, as if asleep, their head collapsed onto the table, face tilted to the side, convulsing non-stop.

It looked like he was having a seizure.

And this person was none other than the innkeeper.

“Move aside! Let me see!”

Inspector Lestrade rushed over and stared at the convulsing innkeeper.

He froze for a moment, then quickly reached out and laid him flat on the ground.

At this time, the innkeeper’s convulsions grew worse, to the point that he began foaming at the mouth.

“Who’s a doctor?”

Inspector Lestrade pressed down on the innkeeper and shoved a handkerchief into his mouth to stop him from biting through his tongue, while shouting loudly.

At this, Levi sighed and walked over.

“Let me take a look.”

After all, he did have the 【Diagnosis】 skill.

Though he specialized more in gynecological diseases, ordinary conditions were not outside his ability to examine.

Levi signaled the maid to bring over a gas lamp, then examined the innkeeper’s pupils and checked his pulse.

“How is he?”

“Doesn’t look like illness or poisoning.

More like his spirit suffered some kind of shock.”

“Spiritually shocked? This fool set this whole thing up himself, and ended up scaring himself mad? What an idiot, I knew it—…”

But before Inspector Lestrade could finish, the innkeeper suddenly struggled violently.

His strength was so great that even Inspector Lestrade, who was all muscle, could not restrain him.

In a careless moment, the inspector was forced back upright.

Seeing this, Levi was already prepared to draw his gun, just waiting for the man to attack so he could let him taste the special style of American police—emptying the whole magazine.

At worst, he’d just write up a report afterward and take a two-week vacation—oh wait, he was MI7.

It seemed there wasn’t such a perk after all.

However, the innkeeper did not attack.

Instead, he raised both hands high, eyes wide, staring at the ceiling as if someone were up there.

“Spare me! Spare me! Spare me! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”

As soon as he finished shouting, the innkeeper collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

Levi immediately stepped forward and felt his pulse, then regretfully shook his head at Inspector Lestrade.

Seeing Levi’s expression, the inspector tensed.

“He’s dead?”

“Dead.”

“…………………”

Hearing this, Inspector Lestrade stared at the corpse without a word.

Levi also stood up and looked around.

The newlywed couple were huddled together, shivering in a far corner.

The two maids stood nearby, completely at a loss, unable to speak.

The middle-aged man stood far off on the other side, staring silently.

Though he was trying hard to remain calm, his trembling legs betrayed him.

As for the medium, she was kneeling on the floor, holding some strange charm of unknown material, muttering incomprehensible gibberish.

“No one is allowed to leave here.”

Inspector Lestrade’s face darkened as he immediately began his work.

“W-why?!”

The first to speak was the middle-aged man.

“Because a death has occurred.

Now we need to investigate everyone.”

As he spoke, Inspector Lestrade flashed his badge.

At his words, everyone present except Levi was stunned.

“Dead?”

The newlywed wife heard this and immediately fainted, her eyes rolling back.

Luckily, her husband caught her in time, or she might have hit her head on the table and added another casualty.

The two maids covered their mouths with both hands, eyes wide in horror, trembling uncontrollably.

The middle-aged man looked increasingly anxious.

He glanced nervously at the door, then at the others, and finally turned to head toward the entertainment room exit.

“Where are you going?”

Seeing the man trying to leave, Inspector Lestrade immediately drew his gun and aimed it at him.

“I need to go back! My wife and child are still in our room! I can’t stay here alone!”

“This……………”

Hearing his shout, Inspector Lestrade felt torn.

On the one hand, the man’s worry was justified.

On the other, someone had just died here.

If he let people leave… Thinking of this, he glanced at Levi, who instantly understood.

“I’ll escort him back to his room.”

Levi picked up his suitcase, stood up, and nodded at the man.

“Two people at least can look out for each other.”

“Fine.”

The middle-aged man, already impatient, hurried out of the entertainment room as soon as Inspector Lestrade agreed.

Levi followed close behind.

The two moved quickly one after the other, but in the vast manor, under the bright lamps, not a single other person could be seen.

It felt as if the entire manor’s inhabitants had vanished into thin air.

“Tell me what happened just now.”

Levi walked beside the man, speaking.

“What do you mean? Weren’t you there watching too?”

The man wasn’t surprised by Levi’s question.

Since Inspector Lestrade had shown his identity, and everyone knew Levi came with him, it was natural they assumed Levi was also a policeman.

“I don’t know the details of what you all did.

Explain.”

“………………”

“Or should I wait until we reach your room before asking?”

“Fine.”

The man clearly didn’t want to be interrogated in front of his wife and daughter.

Without stopping, he headed up the stairs, muttering in a low voice.

“It wasn’t much.

We each just put a finger on the wooden board.

Then that old woman chanted a bunch of words I couldn’t understand.

After that, she told us to each ask a question—anything at all.”

“You asked one?”

“I didn’t get the chance.”

The man shook his head.

“The innkeeper went first.”

“What did he ask?”

“I don’t know.

The old woman said we only had to silently think of the question, and the evil spirit would answer directly.”

“The one who screamed was him?”

“Yes.

He closed his eyes, touching the board.

His expression… I couldn’t tell, but he seemed very nervous, wiping sweat with his other hand.

Then suddenly, he opened his mouth and screamed, scaring the rest of us half to death…”

As they spoke, the two reached the man’s room.

He knocked, but there was no reply.

“…Maria?”

The man’s face changed.

He knocked again, harder this time, then tried pushing the door, but it was locked.

“Maria!!”

He shouted louder and pounded desperately on the door.

Levi’s expression also shifted.

Damn it, the more you hope nothing happens, the more something happens!

“Break the door down!”

Levi didn’t hesitate.

He gave the order decisively—someone had already died, and this place would be sealed off anyway.

A door hardly mattered anymore.

“Oh!”

The man came to his senses.

The two stepped back, bracing themselves against the door.

“One, two, three!”

They rammed into it together.

With a loud “thud,” the door burst open.

Levi rushed inside, gun already raised, half-expecting the classic scene from TV—bursting in only to see the culprit’s back vanish, too late to chase.

So the instant he entered, Levi activated 【Eye of the Reaper】, scanning the room.

Anything that moved, he was ready to unload everything he had.

But inside the room, he saw no fleeing figure.

Only a woman lying on the ground.

“Maria!”

The man dashed forward, scooping his wife up and shaking her frantically.

“Maria! Wake up!”

“Uhh… mm…”

Under his cries, she slowly stirred awake.

Seeing her husband, her expression eased slightly.

“Carl…”

She murmured, then suddenly widened her eyes, looking around the room.

“Where’s Alice? Did you see Alice?”

“Alice?”

Hearing his daughter’s name, the man immediately panicked.

Levi also swept the room with his gaze—but the lovely little girl was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Alice? Where did Alice go, Maria?!”

“I-I don’t know… We were just together.

But then—then lightning struck outside, it startled me.

I only looked out the window for a moment, and I think I saw something…”

Faced with her husband’s demand, the wife was filled with terror.

“I heard Alice crying… then I don’t remember anything…!”

“Rumble—————!”

As if to confirm her words, a series of thunderclaps roared.

Pale lightning lit up the room again and again.

The storm winds drove sheets of rain against the window with urgent rattling sounds.

Seeing this, Levi furrowed his brows.

Sure enough, trouble had come.

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