East Tivian, Soaring Theater.
In the afternoon, inside a private dressing room at the Soaring Theater, Adèle, dressed in a vibrant costume, sits alone, preparing for the evening's performance. On her makeup table lies a magazine, with words magically appearing on its blank pages.
"Memories... huh? So that Aka can directly share memories with others?"
Putting down her eyeliner pencil, Adèle murmurs to herself while checking her makeup in the mirror, her expression tinged with curiosity.
“What a peculiar divine being, able to assist its followers in such a direct manner. However, helping followers communicate like this seems too trivial to be handled by Their conscious will. It’s likely some kind of passive prayer-processing mechanism...”
Adèle analyzes the operational mechanisms of the mysterious Aka in her mind. After a brief moment of thought, she picks up her pen and writes on the magazine in front of her.
"Mr. Detective, it seems that stele holds significant importance to you or your society. But I must remind you, I’ve carefully reviewed all of my teacher’s memories of Davic, and they’re mostly about interrogations. There’s nothing of real value, and the memories are quite negative. Reading them might affect your mood."
Adèle responds in this manner. Shortly after her words fade into the text, a new reply appears.
"Don’t worry, Adèle. If it’s just affecting my mood, it’s no big deal. Perhaps I’ll find something more valuable in there."
At her makeup table, Adèle pauses as she reads the content on the magazine, then smiles and murmurs.
"As confident as ever..."
With that, Adèle closes her eyes and silently prays to Akasha. As she prays, she recalls all the parts of Darlene’s memories related to Davic.
"The Great Aka, Recorder of All Things, please reveal my memories to the detective..."
…
Tivian North Suburbs, Green Shade Town.
Inside Green Shade Town No. 17, Dorothy, sitting by the fireplace, suddenly stiffens. She closes her eyes as if sensing something. After a while, she opens her eyes, exhales, and picks up her pen to respond in the logbook.
"Thank you, Adèle, for recalling these memories for me."
"It’s the least I can do. After all, we’re friends, aren’t we? Well, I need to finish my makeup and prepare for tonight’s performance. If you get the chance, come and support me a couple more times."
Adèle’s words appear once more on the logbook in front of Dorothy. Dorothy smiles slightly, responds with a simple "Of course," and closes the logbook.
Then, Dorothy leans back in her armchair, takes a deep breath, and closes her eyes again, beginning to examine the fragmented memories of Darlene that Adèle had transmitted to her.
As Dorothy closes her eyes, darkness envelops her vision. Then, a scene gradually emerges. In her mind’s eye, she sees a dimly lit room with cracked floor tiles stained with blood and even bits of flesh. On a nearby table, blood-stained torture tools hang, and in the corner of the room, a pile of human skeletons with flesh still clinging to them lies stacked. The sound of heavy breathing echoes in her ears.
In the center of her vision stands a figure—a man. He is short and thin, with a dark red complexion, dark hair, small eyes, and prominent cheekbones. He wears a thick, ordinary men’s overcoat, his shoes and clothes covered in fine black dust, making him look somewhat dirty. He speaks to Dorothy—or rather, to Darlene.
"Let me remind you, Ms. Darlene, you are now our prisoner. You have no right to bargain. If you cooperate with me, I might plead with my colleagues to treat you better. Otherwise, you’ll regret it. First, tell me, where is the key to the safe in your workshop? What’s the password? What’s inside?"
“So this is Davic Jones?”
Looking at the short man in the memory, Dorothy confirms in her heart. She carefully watches this fragment of Darlene’s memory, confirming that this man is indeed Davic, the member of the Wolf Blood Society she’s been searching for.
Dorothy begins to scrutinize the memory. In it, Davic questions Darlene extensively about her workshop and her research. Darlene, having been tortured by other members of the Wolf Blood Society, seems mentally unstable and can only occasionally answer a question or two. Dorothy finds no useful information in these exchanges that could help locate Davic.
After finding nothing useful in this memory, Dorothy switches to another. This time, Davic’s appearance changes. He’s now wearing a thin shirt and black trousers, looking much cleaner than before, though his interrogative expression remains unchanged.
"Speak! Do you have a translation of that Eagle Script mystical text? If you do, confess! I’ll have you know... the other mad dogs have already decided to serve you up for dinner. If you cooperate with me, you might live a few more days!"
In this memory, Davic continues to interrogate Darlene, but Darlene, having been tortured for so long, is in a terrible mental state and can’t provide any valuable answers. Dorothy gains no useful information from this memory either, though the despair and pain in the memory affect her mood. Fortunately, as a Revelation Beyonder, Dorothy has strong control over her mind, or she might have fallen into depression.
Despite finding no useful information, Dorothy doesn’t give up. She begins to examine the other memories one by one.
There are over a dozen memories of Davic in Darlene’s mind. In these memories, Davic’s appearance varies, with his clothing changing from thick to thin, indicating that Darlene was imprisoned and tortured for a long time.
From these memories, Dorothy deduces that Davic often wears outdoor clothing, suggesting that the place where he lives is different from where Darlene was imprisoned and tortured. Davic seems to spend most of his time studying the contents of Darlene’s workshop at his own base, only coming to interrogate her when he hits a snag.
In the memories provided by Adèle, their conversations revolve entirely around the contents of Darlene’s workshop, with no mention of anything else. Early on, Darlene could still answer Davic’s questions, but as the torture continued, her mental state deteriorated, making it difficult for her to provide useful information.
Initially, Dorothy hoped to find some clues in Davic’s questions, but it seems there’s nothing useful. This leaves her quite disappointed.
Dorothy repeatedly reviews these dozen or so memories, noticing that the topics of their conversations never deviate, always focusing on research. As Adèle said, Dorothy can’t extract any useful information about Davic’s residence from these memories.
"Sigh... No clues at all. This is really troublesome..."
Opening her eyes, Dorothy scratches her head and murmurs in frustration. After spending so much effort reviewing these memories, she’s found nothing useful, which leaves her quite frustrated.
"If there are no clues in Darlene’s memories... where else can I look? Should I resort to divination? No, my Lantern reserves aren’t exactly abundant..."
Dorothy murmurs to herself. Currently, she has only 1 point of Lantern spirituality and 3 points of stored Lantern, totaling 4 points. She doesn’t want to waste them. Moreover, organizations like the Wolf Blood Society, with their deep resources, have strong anti-divination measures. While Dorothy has an advantage in divination, her foundation is still lacking. Although she could design a clever divination ritual to bypass anti-divination measures, the complexity of such a ritual has its limits. The level of complexity she used to find the golden client with the coded message was already the limit. Adding more elements would make the ritual too cumbersome and ineffective.
Recently, Dorothy’s speculation on Revelation items caused a stir in Tivian’s divination market. Not only did Revelation prices soar, but Lantern and Shadow prices also skyrocketed. After Dorothy bought 3 points of Lantern last time, the price of Lantern storage items has been rising steadily. Now, a single Lantern storage item costs several times more than before, nearly over a thousand pounds. To avoid losses, Dorothy decides to wait for the price to drop before buying more.
“Hmm... If possible, I’d prefer not to use divination to find him. But now, there are no clues at all... What should I do?”
Lost in thought, Dorothy crosses her arms and falls into deep contemplation. After pondering for a while, she decides to revisit Darlene’s memories, hoping to find some overlooked details.
This time, Dorothy doesn’t focus on Davic’s words but instead examines the details of his appearance, hoping to find some clues.
And this time, she finds something.
"This dust on his clothes... it looks familiar..."
Opening her eyes, Dorothy murmurs. She recalls Davic’s appearance in Darlene’s memories. The first time he appears, Davic is wearing a thick overcoat, and his clothes and shoes are covered in fine black dust.
Dorothy recognizes this dust—it’s coal ash. In Tivian’s largest coal distribution area, Coal Ash District, people often have coal ash on their clothes. The last time Dorothy and Adèle went to the Coal Ash District to find Darlene, they were ambushed by the Werewolf Alex and had a prolonged confrontation with him and the Serenity Bureau in the Coal Ash District. So, Dorothy is very familiar with this kind of dust.
“So... does Davic live in the Coal Ash District?”
Dorothy considers this possibility but quickly dismisses it.
“No... the Coal Ash District is in the West District, and according to the information I got from Gregor, Davic seems to be active in the South District. Moreover, in these dozen or so memories of Davic, not all of them show him covered in dust. About half of the time, he’s clean and wearing lighter clothes. If he lived in the Coal Ash District, he’d get dust on him every time he went out. This inconsistency suggests he doesn’t live there.”
Dorothy continues to ponder, realizing that the dust on Davic’s clothes is still a clue. She decides to follow this lead and expand her reasoning.
“Even if Davic doesn’t live in the Coal Ash District, the dust on his clothes might still come from there. If I can figure out the pattern of when he has dust on him, I might be able to find a connection between him and the Coal Ash District…”
With this thought, Dorothy carefully examines the pattern of dust on Davic’s clothes across the memories. She notices that Davic is more likely to have dust on him when he’s wearing thick clothes. When he’s wearing lighter clothes, like a shirt, he’s usually cleaner, with little to no dust.
"Hmm... So, he has more dust on him when it’s cold and less when it’s hot? Interesting..."
Dorothy murmurs with a smile. After discovering this pattern, she has a clear idea. She closes her eyes and recalls the many mundane books she read in the Royal Crown University Library, including one titled "Pritt Geography."
Dorothy recalls the contents of "Pritt Geography." Pritt is an island nation separated from the mainland by a sea. It has one large and two smaller main islands. The climate is relatively mild year-round, with noticeable but not extreme temperature variations. The autumn and winter seasons are windy, while spring and summer are less so. Additionally, westerly winds prevail throughout the year...
"Windy in autumn and winter, less windy in spring and summer, with westerly winds prevailing year-round..."
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy murmurs the words from "Pritt Geography," then raises an eyebrow. Comparing this information with the pattern of dust on Davic’s clothes, the answer becomes obvious.
The Coal Ash on Davic’s clothes is blown from the Coal Ash District by the wind, which is why it’s sometimes present and sometimes not. Due to Pritt’s climate—windy in the colder seasons and less windy in the warmer ones—Davic’s thick clothes have more dust in the windy, colder seasons, while his lighter clothes have less dust in the less windy, warmer seasons.
Moreover, Pritt’s prevailing westerly winds mean that, barring interference from wind-manipulating Beyonders, the wind in Tivian generally blows from west to east.
With this in mind, Dorothy immediately stands up, opens her magic box, and pulls out a large folded map. Unfolding it, she reveals a detailed map of Pritt. She spreads the map on the floor and locates the Coal Ash District on the western side.
Westerly winds blow from west to east, so if coal ash from the Coal Ash District is carried by the wind, it would drift eastward and potentially settle in the South District.
Dorothy takes a ruler and pencil and draws two lines extending eastward from the Coal Ash District, marking the area where the coal ash would likely drift and settle. The overlapping area between this region and the South District could be where Davic’s hideout is located.
Soon, Dorothy successfully narrows down the area—a relatively small section in the northern part of the South District.
Looking at the circled area on the map, Dorothy exhales in relief. Finally... she has narrowed down the target area to a manageable size.
"Phew... It seems I’ll need to visit this area in person tomorrow..."
Looking at the circled area on the map, Dorothy murmurs while stroking her chin.
…
South District, Tivian.
The South District is home to Tivian’s largest slum, with some of the most chaotic and poorest living conditions in the city.
Since Tivian’s industrial zone is mainly located in the southern suburbs, the southern end of the South District is densely populated with industrial workers and suffers from even worse pollution than the Coal Ash District.
In the northern part of the South District, closer to the Moonflow River and the royal palace, lies the Basket Neighborhood, where conditions are slightly better. However, the residents here have their own troubles—the coal ash blown in from the Coal Ash District by the wind significantly worsens their living environment.
Morning, Basket Neighborhood, South District, Tivian.
A plain gray carriage stops on a street in the Basket Neighborhood. Inside the carriage, Dorothy opens the window to look outside, but a gust of wind blows in, carrying coal ash that makes her cough.
"Cough... cough... This must be the place..."