The Miss Red-Hair put away the red crystal pendant, not forgetting to take out the iron box and throw another candy into her mouth. She gently shook her head: "Captain, there's no danger."
Lewis, pushing up his black-rimmed glasses, nodded and said, "Good, but still be careful."
He walked towards the eerie farmhouse in the distance. Martha complained softly, "You don't believe my divination."
She must be a Seer, following the same path as my Transmigration countryman. At this moment, Lex's spiritual intuition was stirred, feeling a gentle ripple-like fluctuation passing through the surrounding space.
Subsequently, the two black-skinned dogs, which had been barking joyfully, simultaneously fell into a deep sleep.
Lewis, who had already reached the vicinity of the two black dogs, turned back and gestured for everyone to come over.
Arriving in front of the farmhouse, Old Cook shouted, "Ain, are you there? Open the door, I have something to tell you."
He called three times, but there was no answer from inside the house. However, a horse's whinny suddenly sounded from behind the farmhouse. Lewis's expression changed, and he rushed out with Jeffrey. The two ran towards the back of the farmhouse, and moments later, gunshots were heard.
Soon after, they returned. Lewis frowned, making the lines on his forehead even more pronounced: "Someone rode away on a horse. Jeffrey, did you get a good look at him?"
Jeffrey, pale-skinned with half a store discount flyer sticking out of his pocket, shook his head and said, "I didn't see him clearly."
Lewis looked towards the door: "Jeffrey and I will go in first. You wait outside the door."
Lex, worried about potential danger, whispered to Old Cook, "You go back to the car."
Even Martha took out a revolver. The other two Inspectors, Lewis, used a black revolver, while Jeffrey took out a short stick with some patterns and symbols on its surface.
The two men came to the door and exchanged glances. Jeffrey then lifted his foot and kicked it hard. Despite being slightly shorter than his colleague, his strength was astonishing. The wooden door completely detached from its frame and crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Lex looked through the doorway. The light inside was dim, but with the keen vision of a Hunter, he still saw two dark figures sitting on chairs.
At the same time, he smelled a scent like dead rats. The foul odor made Lex frown, and he knew that the owner of the house had likely met a tragic end.
Just then, there was a flapping sound inside the house. The two black human-shaped figures inside actually dispersed, revealing themselves to be red-eyed, black-feathered crows!
Countless crows circled and shrieked in the room, then flew out from the doorway, windows, and all other openings to the outside.
"Goddess above, why are there so many crows?" Martha's face turned pale, and she brushed at her shoulders, making one or two black feathers that had landed on her shoulder fall off, afraid of catching bad luck from them.
Looking back into the house, Lex suddenly felt a discomfort in his stomach and almost threw up his breakfast.
There were two bodies in the room, sitting on chairs with their heads bowed: one an elderly male, the other a young female.
The two bodies were dressed in simple clothes, which were now torn, exposing the bodies beneath.
The bodies were covered in decaying flesh and rotten skin, with large and small bits of flesh scattered on the floor. Maggots squirmed in and out of the pitted and uneven parts of the bodies.
Recalling the large number of crows that had been clinging to these two bodies, Lex knew that those birds had been pecking at the corpses, and his face grew even more unsightly.
Martha beside him was already dry heaving, her eyes moist from retching. Lex quickly pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her, thinking that the work of official personnel was not easy either.
"The death occurred more than 48 hours ago. No residual spirituality can be found; it has probably dissipated." Jeffrey seemed very skilled in the Domain of bodies and death. After quickly making his judgment, he took out a small transparent glass bottle containing some emerald green liquid.
He unscrewed the cap, wiped the opening of the bottle against his nose, and then handed it to Lewis.
The Inspector, who had been covering his nose with his hand, lowered his hand after smelling the scent emanating from the liquid in the bottle.
Jeffrey then offered the small glass bottle to Lex and Martha. When the bottle's opening appeared before him, Lex smelled a mixture of mint leaves and tobacco.
The strong smell made him cough a few times, but it blocked out the intense stench of decay coming from the house, at least preventing him from feeling nauseous. Martha also stopped vomiting.
Inside the house, Lewis found some curtains and covered the bodies with them, then went upstairs.
Moments later, the Inspector's voice came from above: "Jeffrey, Martha, come up."
Lex followed the two officers upstairs, but was told to stop when Martha and the other entered a room.
Lex, remaining in the corridor, heard gasps from inside the room, followed by deliberately lowered voices, and then the door was closed by someone.
Using the hearing of a Hunter, Lex heard phrases like 'evil ritual,' 'Puppet,' and 'secret organization.'
At this moment, his attention was drawn to a partially open door ahead.
Lex pulled out his Snake Scale Revolver, moved silently, and cautiously pushed the door open.
Inside was a bedroom. On the bed by the left window, the covers were messy. There was a table by the windowsill, with a pen on its surface and a notebook fallen under the table.
The narrow room was clear at a glance. After confirming that no suspicious person was hiding, Lex put away his revolver, entered the bedroom, and picked up the notebook from the floor.
It turned out to be a diary.
He turned to the first page, where the following content was recorded in neat handwriting.
"March eighteenth, I finally landed. Damn Sea journey, I will never take a boat again in my life. But I must thank this journey, it's a new beginning. I will prove to that guy, Follett, that I am the one favored by the gods!"
"March twenty-first, thanks to this Town, thanks to these ignorant farmers in the Town, especially that fool Old Ain. He already believes what I said, believing that I can let his intellectually deficient daughter live a normal life. Haha, it's time to test the suggestions Mr. Heimerk gave me."
"March twenty-ninth, it's truly amazing! Mr. Heimerk's suggestions are indeed effective. I modified the prayer incantation according to the information he provided and immediately received a response from the gods. Follett, you just wait for me. When I return to Oravi Island, you'll be kissing my shoes, hahahaha."
"April fifth, through the gift bestowed by the gods, Sera has successfully conceived. She is pregnant with an important child. Old Ain is overjoyed, that idiot."
Upon reading this, Lex's heart sank. He knew that Sera was Old Ain's daughter, and from the content of the diary, her pregnancy was related to the so-called gift bestowed by the gods, not natural conception.
So, what kind of god did the diary's owner believe in?