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Shadow's Hand
The Unraveling

The Unraveling

Shortly after Sheila made her exit, Jasmine patiently waited for a command.

"Jasmine, get Lucas over here," Damien demanded. "You can also tell him to forget about Kyle. Since he still hadn't appeared, then he could forget about showing up anymore."

Nodding, Jasmine received the command and was about to contact him through the tablet.

However, she was quickly halted by Damien.

"I said get him, not contact him." Damien said and continued, "Besides getting him, I also want you to question Coachman Karl about the road within the vicinity. He should know a lot about it as a Coachman."

"Y-Yes," Anxious, Jasmine failed to realize the intent of Damien and subtly regretted her previous action.

'Ugh, his impression of me is definitely lowered now.' Frustrated, Jasmine was positive she did well piecing the clues together and relaying the story to him.

However, that small mistake of hers could have just caused all the favorable impressions to vanish into thin air.

As Jasmine swiftly exited the scene, the only one remaining was Damien.

After he confirmed there were no more presences, Damien turned his gaze to Olivia.

He breathed a soft sigh and said, "You're dead, but I'm sure you can still perceive us and our conversation."

Silence took over the atmosphere. At a glance, it appeared as if Damien went nuts and was attempting to talk to a dead corpse.

However, Damien was certain that the corpse was conscious.

Similar to how the people in this world could conjure magic, any supernatural stuff was positive. Additionally, the constant linking and clues in his investigation were definitely not a coincidence.

Another few seconds later, there was still no reaction.

"You can keep pretending, but I supposed I should request an autopsy on your daughter's corpse. After all, it's the perfect way to get a clearer idea of what happened, right?" Damien calmly said.

Autopsy should have been the first thing done whenever there was a corpse in a murder. But because there had been a delay in his arrival, the corpse remained as it was to allow the TIs to spot anything unusual first.

And now that the investigation part of the corpse was completed. If Damien didn't intervene further, then the Skyler Division would transfer the corpse to the forensics department for autopsy.

An autopsy usually involves the dissection of a corpse for a thorough examination to determine the cause and manner of death.

Sure enough, Olivia's corpse started to show signs of responding. But rather than the body being resurrected as if it were a zombie, a transparent-like figure appeared instead.

The transparent-like figure held the same facial appearance and body measurement as Olivia.

'Is this what they called a soul?' Damien thought. Soul was a concept that he had heard about back in his original world, but it had never been confirmed or verified.

After all, who could see the soul of a person? And even if someone did, they would find it difficult to prove much.

"As expected of a Seventh Order TI. Your reputation precedes you." The soul, Olivia, said in a bittersweet tone.

While completely startled by the sight, Damien remained unfazed on the surface.

"You're the one who's been giving me clues secretly, right?" He questioned, completely ignoring her statement.

Olivia took a moment before responding. "You're half correct and half wrong. I'm merely a lingering soul who has anger and regret. That will is what allowed me to remain here for the time being. I do not have the power to direct you, but the laws of the world seemed to have permitted me."

"The laws of the world?"

"Mhm, as a Transcendent, you receive your power from the laws of the world. You should be aware of this, but somehow, I cannot communicate nor direct any hints to the fellow detectives or TIs except you."

'So the laws of the world were what permitted to see the flashing Diamond 3 card.' Damien was alarmed.

Did this mean that the laws of the world had already noticed his presence and were watching him constantly?

Although such information should have been confusing and hard to accept, he didn't feel such emotion. Rather, he felt as if it was common knowledge that he had long known but forgotten.

Such a phenomenon was usually equivalent to a comatose patient who woke up with some loss of memory and time may or may cause their lost memory to resurface.

Shaking his head, Damien decided to not stray off too much.

"Since you're capable of communicating with me now, can you direct me to the culprit? Such as showing me his face or describing him?" He asked.

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Unfortunately, Damien thought too much. A deceased victim capable of pointing out to you who the culprit was?

Maybe in the form of a dying message, but definitely not in this type.

"I cannot reveal anything related to the culprit," Olivia said with much regret. "The laws of the world would restrain me if I tried to reveal any detail of them. I can only pinpoint a thing out to you as a hint."

"Is that the case with the Diamond 3 card as well?" Damien pressed on.

Yet contrary to his expectation, Olivia showed a dumbfounded expression.

"Sorry?" She tilted her head. "The only clue I informed you was the lighting. That bastard transformed—"

Before Olivia could complete her words, her soul started fluctuating heavily and turning more transparent. It appeared as if she dared to say another word, then she would vanish.

Meanwhile, Damien was utterly confused.

"Are you telling me the only hint you gave me was the lighting? You didn't link your memories with me or bring me over here through the hints?" He asked for confirmation.

Olivia nodded. "I'm only a soul and completely powerless. I couldn't even manifest to communicate with you but for some reason. After your threat, there was a mysterious power surging from me, allowing me to manifest."

Hearing that, Damien regretted asking questions. The more he asked, the more confused and mysterious it became.

Nevertheless, he still had to question further, but it was just a pity. Olivia's soul began to fade.

"I guess this is the limit of my sinful fate. Seventh Order, I know this is shameless of me, but please avenge my deceased daughter. She is innocent." As Olivia said her final piece.

Fragments of lights scattered from within her body. These fragments of light that were scattering seemed to be dissipating like dust until an unknown phenomenon occurred.

From within his shadow, a powerful suction force started absorbing all the fragments, startling Damien in the process.

The fragments of light that originated from Olivia were completely absorbed by him.

"What the…" Alarmed, Damien was rendered speechless. He was utterly clueless as to what just happened.

How did his shadow absorb the fragments of light?

Despite this action, nothing seemed to have changed in his body. He didn't feel nauseous or anything abnormal regarding the absorption.

"The Laws of the World and the hints. Olivia claimed to have only mentioned the lighting part as a hint." He murmured, feeling more and more perplexed.

There was no reason for Olivia to lie, given that she was the most eager one to capture the culprit. She had an affair with the culprit, but it ended up with the death of her daughter.

She didn't even bother mentioning the husband, which made it evident their relationship was indeed terrible.

The unknown variables in the equation Damien made up had only increased and not one of the unknown was resolved.

Nevertheless, he was now made aware that the Laws of the World had been overseeing. It was intangible, but its presence could not be underestimated.

However, the most alarming matter was that Olivia wasn't the cause of the Diamond 3 card appearance or the linking that he experienced.

'She called me a Transcendent, but what power do I wield?' Damien furrowed his brows. Till now, he couldn't sense any type of magical power, but at the same time, he never felt any danger.

Even now, when he was supposedly facing the soul of a corpse, he didn't feel danger. He was only astonished and startled by the sight, but nothing related to fear.

He took a glance at his hand that was covered by the gloves and paused for a second. He wanted to test some common theory out such as making a cut in his hand to see if he had recovery ability.

"Forget it… I can't risk injuring myself and end up in a miserable state." In the end, Damien rejected the notion. He only had one life, and using his life to test out some theories wasn't worth it.

He took a few minutes to scan around the room. When he discovered nothing new or even a hint, Damien finally shook his head.

"Looks like that's all the hint I can gather." He murmured.

It was surely a bit disappointing that he ended up with more confusing information, but that was just life. No life was easy after all.

However, the grateful part of his life was that he really wasn't that eager to return to his original world. The only reason why he wanted to was because this world's survival rate seemed extremely low.

Just like how Burke—a detective could easily be demoted and met the end of his life, the same could have occurred to him.

He merely remained safe due to his acting and avoided any slip-ups. But now it appeared that wasn't the only thing keeping him safe.

As Damien shifted his attention to the shadow of his figure, he narrowed his eyes.

"Are you only going to appear when I'm in danger or if there's things for you to absorb?" He asked softly. He hoped for some form of reaction at the very least. Given that any reaction meant the unknown shadow was aware of his surroundings and sounds.

Alas, it was a pity that the shadow remained unresponsive and appeared no different than a regular shadow. Though to be fair, he didn't hold much hope either.

If it were that easy, then he wouldn't have treaded so carefully and even put on a facade upon hearing news of a person's death.

Life was indeed very fragile and worthless in this world.

Time went by, and Jasmine returned with Lucas.

Upon spotting only these two, Damien's expression was cold.

"It seems like I only have two TIs following me around." He uttered, clearly referring to Kyle's absence as resignation.

Yet contrary to his words, Jasmine and Lucas didn't seem to flinch or react to his statement.

Confused, Damien was sure they would have reacted somewhat.

Not to mention, their gaze seemed different. It wasn't the gaze used for admiration or fear, but the one you used for a guilty person.

'Was my identity exposed?' Damien wondered. Nevertheless, he still remained nonchalant and questioned, "Has the city been put on lockdown yet?"

Despite his question, Jasmine and Lucas took a glance at each other before nodding their head.

In the next instance, Jasmine propelled herself ahead and apologized, "Sorry, Seventh, but we're just acting on an order."

"Please don't blame us." Lucas chimed in and conjured a powerful spell. The spell illuminated and created a spherical ball. Soon, the spherical ball started to unleash some chains from within it.

Without a doubt, the spell was some form of lock meant to detain or restrain a person in place.

By that theory, Jasmine's action should be equivalent to restricting his movement and preventing him from escaping the range of Lucas' spell.

In the blink of an eye, Jasmine constructed an ice wall of barrier that blocked off any open spot. The ground was then covered in ice and Jasmine utilized the environment to skit across to gain momentum.

A second later, Jasmine was already behind Damien's back.

"Do it now, Lucas." She shouted and was about to freeze Damien's legs.

Lucas received the signal and was about to launch the chain.

However, not a moment later, they heard an extremely calm voice.

"I don't know which clown gave you such an order, but to act in the crime scene when there are corpses here as well. I supposed whoever was your lecturer back in your academy was blinded." Damien said and snapped his fingers.

As soon as the snap was heard, the ice environment collapsed in an instant. Jasmine fell in place with the disappearance of her ice field, and Lucas' spell was subsequently canceled by some abnormal means.

However, their horror had yet to end when they found their body restricted, unable to move a single limb of theirs.

While they remained locked in place, Damien calmly turned around and glanced at Jasmine.

"Care to tell me what you mean by, 'do it now, Lucas?'" He questioned coldly, his eyes flashing in a glinted light.