In the urban divisions of Tivian, besides the central Royal District, North Tivian and East Tivian are areas with relatively good infrastructure and living conditions.
North Tivian, due to the presence of a large number of government agencies, Church institutions, and educational institutions, is considered the cultural, religious, educational, and administrative hub of Tivian, thus having relatively good living conditions and being considered the best area in Tivian. East Tivian, being near the sea, has the busiest port in all of Prit, making it the financial and commercial district of Tivian, which is very lively.
In contrast, the situation in South Tivian and West Tivian is much worse. Most of Tivian's main factories are located in the industrial zone outside South Tivian, so the pollution in South Tivian is quite severe. Most residents of South Tivian are workers, living in dense and crowded residential areas with low-rise buildings and poor environments. West Tivian, being the transportation hub connecting Tivian to the rest of Prit via railway and road, has become the preferred residential area for many people who come from the Prit interior to make a living in Tivian. It has the highest population density, an environment not much better than the south, but with even worse public safety. Overall, it's a mixed bag, home to the largest slum in all of Tivian.
Noon, West Tivian, Coal Ash District.
The dazzling midday sun shone on the street. On both sides were low and dilapidated buildings, only three or four stories high. Many of these buildings were not even stone-built but made of wood, some constructed very simply, almost like stacked shacks.
A layer of black coal ash covered the street surface and the surfaces of the buildings. Simply dressed, even somewhat tattered, pedestrians stepped on it, leaving footprints. Soon after, horse-drawn carriages laden with goods sped by, and new black coal ash was shaken down, covering the newly made footprints. Ragged homeless people could be seen by the street, and in the distance, black smoke continuously spewed from the towering chimneys on the horizon. The sound of train whistles could be heard in the distance. Although the weather was clear, the entire environment here seemed to be covered in a layer of gray.
This is the Coal Ash District. Due to its proximity to South Tivian, coal mined from outside Tivian and transported in large quantities by train is transshipped here. Coal trains gather here, and coal-carrying horse-drawn carriages constantly rush through the streets. Coal ash is scattered and deposited everywhere here, hence the name Coal Ash District.
On the streets of the Coal Ash District, pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages came and went in a hurry. Although it was lively, everyone's face carried a hint of seriousness and solemnity. Pedestrians deliberately kept their distance from each other, cautiously scanning their surroundings. If one looked closely, many of them carried portable clubs or knives. A tense atmosphere seemed to permeate the entire street.
Meanwhile, on the second floor of a slightly more upscale tea house by the roadside, a pair of sharp eyes were observing the scene on the street.
"It seems the atmosphere here is a bit tense," Ed said, sitting by a window in a chair, still wearing his trench coat and top hat, as he looked at the scene on the street outside the window. Facing him, another voice quickly replied.
"Naturally. After all, such a series of events has occurred within just half a month. Anyone would be tense, right? To people who only read newspapers, these are just four on-site murders, but in reality, the overall crime rate here has significantly increased during this period. However... the most impactful events should still be those four public assaults."
The voice that responded to Ed was Adele's. She was sitting opposite Ed, wearing a simple and avant-garde yellow dress, a wide-brimmed hat, her long hair coiled and hidden, and large sunglasses covering her face. Despite deliberately concealing her appearance, a hint of captivating charm still emanated from her plain attire.
"Yes... if everyone around you could suddenly turn into a crazy person who kills indiscriminately, no one would feel safe, right?" Ed continued Adele's words, while Adele, after taking a sip of tea, shook her finger and replied.
"Rather than saying people suddenly turn crazy, it's more accurate to say that we are all essentially crazy. Everyone has dark and terrifying desires in their hearts. The ability of the Desire Dancer only stimulates these desires. We don't conjure thoughts out of thin air. The fact that those four people were killed on the street proves that the murderers who killed them actually had similar thoughts long ago, which were merely stimulated by the guidance of the Extraordinary ability. They weren't just killing indiscriminately, Mr. Detective."
Adele said with a smile to Ed, further explaining that the Desire Dancer's ability primarily induces, intensifies, and transfers desires, and cannot create thoughts out of thin air that someone has never had before.
"Are you so sure that these events are all caused by the Desire Dancer's ability? Don't you have to dance and let the target see your dance to use your ability on them? And I remember you said your ability's range is only a little over a hundred meters... Although the events here are strange, it's not necessarily confirmed that they were caused by the Desire Dancer's ability, Miss Adele."
Inside the distant carriage, Dorothy controlled Ed to speak to Adele, who replied calmly.
"A distance of a little over a hundred meters is just the basic range for my ability to activate. By consuming extra Spirituality, this distance can be greatly increased, extending beyond one kilometer. The farther the distance, the harder it is to affect... Also, dancing is not necessary, it's just a means to amplify the ability. Even without dancing, the Desire Dancer's ability can be activated, but the effect will be reduced."
Adele further explained her ability to Ed. Listening to Adele's words, Ed paused, then continued to ask.
"Then, Miss Adele, to what extent can your or your teacher's ability reach without using dance? Please tell me, Miss Adele... Of course, if you don't trust me and are worried about revealing information about your ability, then I apologize for my offense."
Ed said this to Adele, who replied with a smile.
"Heh heh, since I have officially hired you, Mr. Detective... then what is there not to trust now? When my teacher disappeared, her Rank was Chalk. When I escaped, I was a Black Rank 'Instigator', and only later was promoted to the Chalk Rank Desire Dancer. The reason my teacher had been studying 'Qi' (Awakening/Enlightenment) was to find a way to advance to the Red Rank, but she never found it. If my teacher is truly still alive... then she should be the same as me, still at the Chalk Rank..."
Adele explained, stating that she understood the principle that to hire a Detective to handle a case, one must provide clear information. Therefore, she continued.
"The Path of Depravity Chalk Rank, which is us Desire Dancers... without using dance, as long as we can clearly perceive the target's location, we can also control their desires. For ordinary people, this level of control is enough to make them lose control and go mad. For Extraordinary, the effect of this control without meeting or using dance will be much worse. It's still okay for those below Black Rank, but for those at Black Rank and above, the effect is very limited... probably only enough to make you choose to eat roasted chicken when you're considering whether to eat steak or roasted chicken tonight..."
"Then... can the Desire Dancer's ability still work without being able to perceive a specific target?"
"Yes, but it becomes uncontrollable and blind. Using the ability without being able to perceive the target is like drawing a lottery; it will have a random and blind impact on the surroundings, and these impacts are usually uncontrollable."
Adele gave an example. Listening to Adele's example, Dorothy gained an intuitive understanding of the Desire Dancer's ability strength when not using dance. It is very limited for Extraordinary above Black Rank, but for ordinary people, it can still easily drive them mad.
This being the case, the situation currently happening in the Coal Ash District could indeed be due to the Desire Dancer's ability going out of control. Regardless, it is certainly necessary to investigate this area thoroughly.
"Hmm... Thank you for your explanation, Miss Adele. A clear definition of the Desire Dancer's ability is one of the necessary preliminary pieces of information for investigating this incident... Next, we should go collect other information. Later, I'll need Miss Adele to cooperate with me using your ability."
After roughly understanding the information about the Desire Dancer, Ed nodded and said, while Adele asked curiously.
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"Other information? Information about where? Do you need me to use my ability?"
Listening to Adele's question, Ed glanced at a distinctively tall building across the street outside the window. A large police badge was prominently displayed at the entrance of the building, and two police officers were guarding the door.
"It's the Police Station here in the Coal Ash District. I want some of the files inside."
Looking at the Police Station outside the window, Ed said, and Adele, after seeing it, also smiled and nodded.
"Okay... I understand."
...
Next, Ed and Adele went to the Police Station in the Coal Ash District together. Under Dorothy's control, Ed claimed to be there to inspect files and needed access to some archives. With Adele's charm assistance, Ed easily fooled the police officers whose intelligence had collectively decreased, and successfully entered the police archives. Here, Dorothy successfully found the files she was looking for.
After using her ability to remember all the contents of the files, Dorothy controlled Ed to quickly withdraw. Then, she and Adele quickly found a private room in a coffee shop and sat down. Not long after sitting down and ordering coffee, Ed directly took out a large map in front of Adele, unfolded it, and placed it on the table. Adele looked closely and found that it was indeed a map of the nearby urban area.
"Mr. Detective, what are you doing with the map? Are you going to use a pendulum? I've already tried. Information related to my teacher has been included in a certain anti-divination system, most likely belonging to the Wolf Blood Society. Pendulum divination is useless."
Seeing Ed arranging the map, Adele said this, while Ed replied lightly.
"This isn't for divination, just positioning..."
Ed said this, then took out a pen and began marking point after point on the map on the table. Looking at these points, Adele asked with some confusion.
"Positioning? Positioning what?"
"Crime positioning. Didn't you say? The consequences of your teacher's ability going out of control are not just those four public murders, but also the rise in the crime rate in the Coal Ash District recently. This means that every case that has occurred in the Coal Ash District over the past half month or so may have been influenced by the Desire Dancer's ability. So, if we mark the locations of all cases, perhaps we can obtain some useful information."
Ed said this, then continued to use the pen to mark point after point on the map. Each point represented the location where a case occurred, including theft, robbery, fighting, assault, and even streaking... all criminal behaviors resulting from uncontrollable emotions.
These were all recorded from the Police Station archives earlier by Dorothy. Before, Dorothy had tried to send in a small Corpse Puppet to steal the files, but the files were all locked in iron cabinets, and the small Corpse Puppet couldn't steal them at all. Fortunately, Adele was here, and in the end, she relied on her charm ability to get these files without causing a big commotion.
"Crime positioning?"
Listening to Ed's words, Adele murmured, and as Ed marked more and more points on the map, her eyes lit up.
"This is..."
"Ah, see? As long as the points are marked, a lot of information becomes clear."
Putting down the pen, Ed said this. At this moment, there were countless points on the urban map. If observed carefully, one could see that the distribution of these points had a certain pattern. All these points were centered around an origin point, dense in the middle and sparse on the periphery, showing a spreading radial pattern.
According to Adele's previous statement, the Desire Dancer's ability can expand its range by consuming extra Spirituality, but the ability still shows a trend of being stronger the closer the distance and weaker the farther away.
If the reason for the abnormal surge in the crime rate in the Coal Ash District is indeed due to the Desire Dancer's ability going out of control, then the areas closer to the source of the uncontrolled ability are definitely more affected, and crime is more concentrated. The map marked with points clearly demonstrates this.
Now, both Ed and Adele focused their attention on the center of the radially spreading cluster of points on the map. Then Ed circled that area, and the place name there was marked as "Carbonwood Crossroads."
...
Just as Ed and Adele were staring at the map in the coffee shop analyzing the information, back at the Coal Ash District Police Station they had visited earlier, another pair of eyes was also staring at a similar map at this very moment.
In the Police Station of the Coal Ash District, West Tivian, in the Chief's office, the formerly arrogant Chief was now standing nervously beside his desk. Another person was sitting in what was originally his office chair.
This was a middle-aged man around his thirties, wearing a loose overcoat, with messy shoulder-length yellow hair, and stubble all over his chin that hadn't been cleanly shaven. His expression was contemptuous, and both his feet were resting on the Chief's desk in front of him. Although his posture was extremely unrefined, the Police Chief beside him showed no sign of dissatisfaction, because he knew very well that the person in front of him was someone he could not afford to offend.
This man was Edmund, the Captain stationed at the Tivian Hidden Security Bureau. At this moment, he had brought his team to the Coal Ash District to investigate the strange phenomenon of the abnormal surge in the crime rate here. The unusual situation in West Tivian had already attracted the attention of the An-Yin Main Bureau. Not long after Ed and Adele left, Edmund and his men had burst into the Police Station.
In the Chief's office at this time, Edmund was sitting in the center, with the Police Chief accompanying him nervously. In the rest of the area, many black-clothed Hunter were busy. They were currently going through a pile of files that had just been moved out of the archives, carefully reviewing each one, organizing information from them, and then starting to mark black dots on the urban map in the Chief's office.
As the black dots on the map gradually increased, Edmund's attention also gradually focused on an area with a dense concentration of black dots. From the map, it could be seen that it was a crossroads.