Madam Dakota had shown Caelum a photograph of her husband before.
His face could not be seen clearly at night, but judging from build and clothing, it should have been him.
After quietly climbing out of the estate, Madam Dakota’s husband vanished in the blink of an eye.
He moved with a nimbleness that did not resemble an ordinary person at all.
A moment later, several servants ran out of the estate.
If Caelum guessed right, they had been arranged by Madam Dakota.
But they had not followed for long before her husband shook them off completely.
All they could do was stand in the street, gasping for breath.
"Master runs way too fast!"
"How did I never know Master could run like that?"
"We lost him again!"
"Forget it. Let us go back and get scolded."
The servants cursed under their breath as they turned back toward the estate.
Caelum remained in the shadows without moving a single step.
At present, he was only an ordinary person. There was no way he could keep up with Madam Dakota’s husband’s speed.
That was absolutely not a speed a normal human could reach.
His guess grew more certain.
Only, from the look of it, following the man would not work.
He had to think of another way.
The next day.
"Major news! The serial killer has struck again. Another prostitute has been murdered. The method was brutal beyond belief. Cton Police Department remains helpless!"
On the streets, newsboys waved newspapers as they ran through alleys and roads, shouting the day’s front page headline at the top of their lungs.
Citizens immediately rushed to buy copies.
"What a bunch of useless fools!"
"How many victims does this make?"
"The seventh, I think!"
People held the newspapers in their hands.
When they saw the victim’s photograph, cold unease ran through them.
Starting several months ago, this serial killer had committed one crime after another, leaving all of Cton in fear.
Yet Cton Police Department still had not solved the case.
The citizens’ resentment and anger could easily be imagined.
But faced with such a troublesome case, Cton Police Department was also overwhelmed.
The murder had taken place in a narrow dark alley.
After the police finished handling the corpse, they lifted the blockade nearby.
Limited by technology, the investigative methods of this era were quite restricted.
The procedures for handling cases and crime scenes were likewise rough and careless.
Because of that, many cases ultimately became unsolved mysteries.
Barring any accident, this serial murder case would very likely end the same way, fading away without a conclusion.
Caelum stood at the scene of the crime.
He looked around.
Some bloodstains still remained on the ground.
Most conspicuous were the few deep claw marks, like traces left behind by some large beast.
At that moment, footsteps came from behind.
A tall young woman walked over.
Unlike most women of this era, she was not wearing a dress. Instead, she was dressed almost like a tomboy, rather similar to a private detective.
There were many private detectives in this era.
However, most of them came from wealthy families and possessed broad connections and deep resources.
Rather than a profession, it was more like a social identity and a method of building influence.
They specialized in helping rich and powerful people deal with difficult matters, or extremely private ones, thereby building closer personal relationships.
The young woman studied Caelum.
With just one glance, she became guarded.
She believed Caelum was the same as her, a detective who had come to investigate this murder.
A neat black suit.
An unusual bearing.
Both showed that Caelum was most likely not an ordinary person.
"Detective, are you also interested in this case?"
Caelum did not answer.
He only looked at her quietly, then turned and brushed past her.
At that instant, the young woman’s vigilance reached its highest point. She was ready to draw the revolver at her waist at any moment.
For no other reason than this.
The man gave her an extremely dangerous feeling.
As a detective, she had absolute confidence in her own intuition.
Only after Caelum walked far away did she release a breath.
Time passed quietly.
Half a month later, the serial murder case still had not been solved.
Cton Police Department endured enormous pressure every day, but even after half a month, they still failed to identify the killer.
Because all the dead were prostitutes from the slums, the police naturally strengthened patrols in that area, hoping they might get lucky.
At first, the patrols were intense.
But as time went on, the officers began to loosen up and grow careless.
And on that very night, a nimble figure slipped into the slums.
Under the night.
A gray white figure crawled through a dark alley.
By the faint moonlight, it could be seen clearly.
It was a rat with a huge humanlike body.
Its long thin tail dragged along the ground, making a soft rasping sound.
The enormous gray white rat carried a savage, violent look in its eyes as it silently stopped before a door.
Through the crack in the door, an eerie smile formed on the rat’s face.
Behind the door, a prostitute happened to be facing the gap.
The rat’s huge eyeball stared right at her, yet she knew nothing.
Just as the gray white rat was about to push the door open, fire burst from the shadows of the alley.
A gunshot shattered the silence of the night.
The bullet shot from the barrel pierced through the gray white rat and triggered One Hit Kill.
In that instant, the gray white rat collapsed to the ground.
All life vanished from it completely, even though the wound caused by the shot was not fatal.
The prostitute behind the door was terrified by the gunshot. At once, she dragged a table over and jammed it hard against the door.
She covered her mouth and did not dare make a sound.
Caelum walked out of the shadows and put away the flintlock musket.
Then he drew a dagger from his waist, came before the enormous gray white rat, and neatly dug out both of its eyeballs.
The eyes of one who was human yet not human.
Done.
After that, Caelum left at an easy pace.
To him, this commission ended here.
Without question, this giant rat was Madam Dakota’s husband.
Caelum did not care why he had become like this.
Nor did he intend to continue Madam Dakota’s commission and tell her the truth.
The money was already in his hands.
The final ingredient for the Stage One secret potion of the Investigator Sequence was also in his hands.
That was enough.
In fact, all the murdered prostitutes shared one trait.
Each of them had once done business with Madam Dakota’s husband.
Perhaps it was some kind of ritual, or perhaps it was a habit.
After visiting these prostitutes, Madam Dakota’s husband would turn into a giant rat, kill them, and eat their internal organs clean.
It would be very difficult for others to discover this.
Caelum, however, had locked onto the culprit first, then investigated backward from there.
Naturally, it was easy for him to follow the trail.
That was why his ambush had been so precise.
For this pair of eyeballs, he had waited here for a full half month.
Very soon, the patrol officers nearby arrived.
The moment they saw the giant rat on the ground, they nearly lost their souls from fright.
None of them could believe their eyes.
"Such... such a huge rat!"
"Notify the police department immediately!"