Chapter 148: July 1st, Weather, Overcast

July 1st, Weather, Overcast

In the cold and gloomy room, a red-haired young woman leaned against the bed, hugging her knees, covered by a quilt, her face buried in her knees, sleeping just like that.

A few minutes later, as if drowning in a dream, she abruptly lifted her head, her toes already gripping the bedsheet tightly, wrinkling the originally smooth sheet.

She looked around somewhat blankly, the hair before her forehead scattered messily before her eyes.

Quickly, her gaze gradually turned cold, as if the momentary look of helplessness and confusion never existed.

“System.”

Ciel called the system inwardly, looking at the current time.

6 AM...

It seems, apart from the gas pipe leak on the first floor at 4 AM, there were no other misfortunes...

Without the interference and influence of meeting Tara, the following rhythm should be consistent with the records in the simulation.

Just don’t know if this time’s misfortune will provoke Lucy or Oppold, thereby creating even greater misfortune.

But it should be fine... At this point in time, they probably haven’t linked the misfortune to sealed artifacts or anything else yet.

The further she thought, the stronger the ominous premonition in Ciel’s heart became. She shook her head, stopping this imagination based on deep-seated fear.

She had never felt time pass so slowly before.

Her simulated self went directly to the prison on the 25th to retrieve the female thief. But Ciel decided to contact Tara early in the morning, so from the evening of the 25th onwards, she was basically at Amy’s house, with no time to execute this plan.

Moreover, Ciel contacted the tailor in advance to ensure the items could be made faster, as this involved uncertainty.

Anyway, the female thief would always be in prison, so her priority was adjusted downwards by Ciel.

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Now that other actions have been initiated, it’s time to go to the prison to retrieve the person, avoiding complications from delays.

Ciel opened the wardrobe, found a set of clothes that could cover her entire body, then spent one Fate Point to redeem something from the system store.

A recommendation letter from a police department official.

This recommendation letter wasn’t written by Avena—in fact, such a small matter didn’t require Avena’s personal involvement—it was directly a recommendation letter from a police department official.

Avena seemed to have many such formulaic recommendation letters, and all were genuine.

After putting the recommendation letter into a newly bought satchel, Ciel stood before the mirror, looking at her current appearance.

Hair color basically completely covered. Wearing a necklace and bracelet from the Church of the Savior Goddess around her neck and wrist—these were obtained from Tara; she was very adept at disguising herself as a member of the Church of the Savior Goddess.

The current Ciel, judging by appearance, looked completely like a believer of the Church of the Savior Goddess. As long as she didn’t show her face, walking on the street wouldn’t attract anyone’s attention.

After all, in this city, the Church of the Savior Goddess was the dominant church; there were too many people dressed like this.

Ciel actually didn’t want to get involved with the Church of the Savior Goddess either, but if she wanted to disguise her identity without causing trouble or getting into fights, disguising as an ordinary believer was indeed the best way. Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

When everything is over, she would naturally go to the Clock Tower Church to donate some money to the Goddess, consider it an apology to the Goddess.

Ciel walked downstairs and opened the door.

It was now six in the morning, the sky not yet bright. There were basically no people on the street. Occasionally, a carriage loaded with building materials or goods passed by. Those coachmen busy with their livelihoods wouldn’t notice Ciel dressed in black by the roadside.

She just kept walking towards the Berren City Police Department.

About fifteen minutes later, she reached the entrance of the police department.

At this hour, even the detectives hadn’t started work. Except for the people at the entrance and in the underground prison, the entire police department seemed empty.

At the entrance, a night watch detective leaning against the wall dozing off was slowly sliding down the wall. A voice directly startled him awake from his sleep.

“Yes, sir!”

The suddenly awakened officer quickly stood at attention, eyes still hazy, already saluting.

When he saw clearly it was just a short person dressed in black before him, the initial panic immediately turned into anger. Then, seeing the recommendation letter handed out by the fair hand, the anger on his face quickly transformed into respect.

Changing three times in one second, the Ansu intangible cultural heritage heir of face-changing.

“Don’t you need to open it and look?” Ciel asked.

“Oh, no need, madam.” The guard shook his head, smiling, “If you need to bail someone out, just tell me.”

The guard had seen such recommendation letters many times. Just by glancing at the envelope, he knew the contents inside must be exactly the same as before.

If you really took the letter to the superior who wrote it to verify its authenticity, he would instead blame you for being tactless—he had sent out so many favor letters in exchange for money, how could he remember who this one was for?

Calling it a recommendation letter, it was actually just a pass that could be bought with money, allowing one to do certain things within the police department’s authority—such as bailing out an unimportant prisoner, or detaining someone for a few days under the pretext of investigation.

After accepting the letter, the guard raised his hand to adjust the black steel helmet on his head, waiting for Ciel to speak.

“The woman arrested for burglary two days ago, I need to bail her out.” Ciel had already forgotten the woman’s name, could only inquire using the crime.

“Burglary? Woman?” Hearing this, the guard instantly understood who it was.

There were relatively few people locked up in the police station prison; most serious criminals had already been sent to other prisons to serve their sentences. So he had a very deep impression of who was locked up, especially female prisoners.

After all, that female prisoner was a repeat offender. Previously backed by the Blackwater Gang, she made a fortune. After the Blackwater Gang recently fell apart, she started her old trade of robbery and theft again.

“Sorry, madam, I’m afraid this request is difficult to grant.” The expression on the guard’s face was somewhat subtle. He looked towards Ciel and said.

-

“Why?” Ciel frowned slightly.

Her simulated self came with the Roswell family crest. Unless absolutely necessary, Ciel didn’t want to exchange Avena’s family crest for this matter, as she couldn’t explain the crest’s origin to Avena.

“She’s already dead,” the guard shrugged, saying, “Just a few hours ago, drug addiction flared up, scratched her own neck open. By the time we found her, her body was already stiff.”

Dead?

Just last night?

The sudden turn of events made Ciel frown slightly, but she didn’t lose her composure, directly asking, “Then where is her body?”

“Still in the cell, just waiting for someone to collect the body... After all, keeping it here is quite unlucky.” The guard’s face was full of disgust, seemingly genuinely uncomfortable about a prisoner dying within the police station.

After all, this was an era where even autopsies were considered vulgar by detectives. People still held some taboos regarding corpses.

“No need to find someone to collect the body,” Ciel felt slight relief inwardly upon hearing the body was still there, saying, “Just let me take it away directly. I will handle her funeral ceremony.”

“Oh? Are you her acquaintance? Of course, no problem.” The guard nodded repeatedly. He was certainly very willing to get rid of the body sooner.

The guard led Ciel to the underground prison, opened one of the cells. Ciel saw a brown burlap body bag.

This crude body bag was stained with hardened black blood. Ciel didn’t shy away too much, half-knelt down, directly untied the body bag, and saw the female prisoner’s head.

Scratches on the face... neck also scratched open, complexion already purple... indeed looks like death from scratching herself open and excessive blood loss.

Good thing I came early... Later, the body might have been buried in the mass grave outside the city.

The facial damage didn’t matter much, because she was going to take skin from other parts to replace it anyway... As for the issue of facial color, makeup could compensate.

If really necessary, buying some animal blood to fill in would also work. Anyway, it wasn’t to resurrect her, just to give the corpse a bit of color.

Ciel retied the burlap sack tightly, dragged the body directly, and left the police station.

At this time, figures gradually appeared on the street. Many people cast curious glances towards Ciel...

An ordinary believer wasn’t much to look at, but a believer dragging a body bag was quite a sight—probably soon, this scene would be spread by word of mouth into various gossip versions, enriching their boring daily lives.

Ciel also noticed this problem.

Her current appearance was indeed somewhat conspicuous.

Realizing this, Ciel dragged the body bag into a dim alley.

At this time, the sky had only turned a faint lake blue; no sunlight had shone down yet. The alley remained extremely gloomy.

“No.4.”

A silver light flashed. Ciel’s Fate Points decreased from 168 to 163.

She directly spent 5 Fate Points, transforming into the “Coroner” save file in advance.

Ciel half-knelt beside the body bag. A strange, flesh-colored spider crawled out from the shadow of her cloak, crawled along her clothes to the back of her hand, then jumped onto the body bag, bit through the sack, and directly crawled inside.

In the quiet alley, came a teeth-grinding sound, like tiny rodents gnawing on a skull.

Soon, the body bag before Ciel began to twitch.

She reached out, directly untied the rope binding the body bag, opening the mouth of the bag.

A stiff, pale hand, almost purplish, reached out from the body bag, pressing onto the ground.

Footsteps sounded from behind. Ciel quickly stood up, turned around, walked towards the alley entrance, brushing past the newcomer.

And behind her, the long-dead corpse, now slowly stood up in the darkness, supporting itself against the alley wall. In its hand, it held the body bag that previously contained itself.

Thump—

The shoulder of the man walking into the alley collided with the corpse. The man’s steps faltered. He seemed not to notice someone else standing nearby, turned his head, and quickly said, “Sorry, this... madam.”

By the dim morning light at the alley entrance, he could see the woman’s silhouette. But somehow, he felt the woman’s movements were somewhat... strange?

But before he could think further, the woman completely ignored him, just swayed slightly, supporting herself against the wall, walking towards the alley entrance.

Hungover? So strange...

The man scratched his head. Seeing the woman didn’t pursue the matter, he directly turned around and continued walking deeper into the alley.

What he didn’t notice was that his white shirt, when colliding with the woman just now, had already been stained with a patch of dried blood.

...

Ciel, carrying the corpse, rushed back to her room, almost at a jog, before the sun fully emerged.

After placing the corpse in the living room, Ciel went out again with money to buy some simple suturing tools and large pieces of cheap cloth, finally returning home again.

Ciel spread the purchased cloth on the larger dining table, then summoned the corpse, letting her lie on the waste cloth.

Before the “Coroner” effect ended, Ciel cut off the corpse’s clothes. Without time to clean the bloodstains on her body, she began disassembling and suturing at the fastest speed possible.

The corpse didn’t need to worry about any infection issues, so Ciel’s crude tools wouldn’t affect the suturing result—at most, the facial sutures would be slightly more obvious.

After all, this era didn’t have things like cosmetic sutures. Achieving truly hidden sutures was unlikely; she could only make it look somewhat human.

In the simulation, Ciel had already seen the portraits and prompts given by her simulated self in the simulation notebook. So this time, when suturing, Ciel’s speed was extremely fast.

Originally, her simulated self, still exploring, used two save file transformations—meaning one hour—to completely finish suturing the corpse.

But the real Ciel knew in advance which piece of skin or muscle to cut, how much bone to shave off to make the final product closer to the appearance of the woman in the quill pen’s impression. Plus, with the 【Tailoring Lv.2】 skill in hand, her suturing speed was quite rapid.

Soon, Ciel completely disassembled and reassembled the corpse’s face, and in the last few tens of seconds, completely sealed the corpse with spider silk.

The moment the spider web enveloped the entire corpse, Ciel took a few steps back, looking at the corpse wrapped like a mummy before her.

Done...

-

A silver light flickered on Ciel. Her black and blue long hair was covered again by red, the dark purple in her eyes quickly faded.

Ciel looked at the corpse before her, dragged it into the cabinet under the kitchen counter to hide, placed all the tools on the dining table, finally took off the blood-stained long robe she wore, also placing it on the dining table.

Finally, she used the waste cloth spread on the dining table to wrap everything together, packing it into a bundle, like kitchen garbage, placed beside the trash bin.

These things just needed an opportunity to be disposed of later: burned and buried, or simply sacrifice an inexpensive transcendent item, throwing these things in when the Other Side gate opened.

Thinking about it, the Other Side is quite convenient for disposing of such “garbage,” and almost impossible for anyone to trace... just don’t know if it can be thrown in.

After handling everything, Ciel went to the washroom, washed her hands clean, then leaned back on the sofa, feeling slightly exhausted.

The smell of blood lingered in the living room, impossible to dissipate. This cozy little house, originally rented to live with her sister, now completely lacked any cozy feeling.

Save file transformation also consumed Ciel’s spirit. She leaned back against the sofa, closed her eyes, preparing to sleep for a while, not wasting any time that could recover spirit.

For the current Ciel, sleeping had changed from enjoyment and relaxation into something like a task.

About half an hour later, Ciel opened her eyes from her light sleep.

Now, everything she could do was done. The only thing Ciel could do was wait, and pray.

No... what she could do wasn’t just this.

Ciel remembered the scene from the previous simulation.

At that time, her simulated self very clearly left such a condition.

If Ciel completely obeyed the “misfortune rules,” she would also gain benefits.

If she actively maintained “calm daily life,” Ciel would receive “luck.”

But if she deliberately created a calm daily life now, is it still possible?

Her simulated self back then had absolutely no contact with transcendents, even brought her sister to the house, and found a job.

If calculated at the fastest rate, Tara should return to Berren City tomorrow. At that time, she would have to contact Tara again...

Thinking of this, Ciel shook her head.

The incident of the female thief dying early this time served as a warning to Ciel.

Any action different from her simulated self could potentially cause butterfly effects, whether serious or minor.

Ciel decided not to perform unnecessary operations that her simulated self didn’t perform last time.

Finally, Ciel decided to go upstairs, picked up the books Avena sent over before, began reading them, and when tired, started trying out drawing.

Now, whether learning or drawing, both could let Ciel temporarily forget the mental fatigue, allowing her temporary relaxation, like stepping into a comfort zone.

After all, in the three years before the simulation came, Ciel lived like this too: study, life, point A to point B.

Just like that, on the second day, the evening of the 27th, Tara knocked on Ciel’s door.

Knock knock knock—

“Lord Ciel?”

Ciel, standing behind the door, heard the familiar voice at the entrance, then directly opened the wooden door, letting Tara straight in.

After Ciel closed the wooden door, Tara, dressed in casual clothes, wearing a round-topped small beige hat, directly half-knelt before Ciel, lowering her gaze, and said:

“Lord Ciel, I have completed the task you assigned... The letter was delivered under my full supervision. Gemma had no suspicion. Just now, she has already gone to visit the Roswell family residence.”

At this moment, Tara’s small nose twitched slightly, seeming to detect a faint unusual smell, but didn’t ask.

This is... the smell of blood and corpses?

“Good.” Ciel nodded.

Then, there was nothing more for Tara to do.

Just as Ciel was about to find an excuse to send Tara away, Tara spoke again.

“Lord Ciel, do you... still need sacrifices? I can go get some more for you,” Tara looked up, towards Ciel’s face, continuing, “Letting myself be the sacrifice is also fine.”

Actually, Tara’s heart was also somewhat conflicted at this moment.

Not because her faith was shaken.

But because she was slightly divided between her spirit ascending to the divine kingdom after death to serve the Mother Goddess, and staying in reality to serve the Mother Goddess’s human vessel.

If the Mother Goddess wanted her to sacrifice herself, she certainly wouldn’t hesitate. But at the same time, Tara preferred serving the Mother Goddess’s human vessel nearby.

Does this count as betraying the Mother Goddess?

Tara struggled for a moment, then quickly gave up thinking.

One side is the Mother Goddess’s supreme spiritual kingdom, the other is the Mother Goddess’s flesh body. Both sides are the Mother Goddess, same thing.

Just that she prefers the Mother Goddess’s flesh body a bit more, this doesn’t count as betrayal.

At this moment Ciel, hearing Tara’s words, felt slightly speechless.

Ciel knew Tara was somewhat sensitive to smells; the smell of corpses and blood definitely couldn’t be hidden from her. But Ciel didn’t expect Tara to link all this to blood sacrifice again.

Making herself seem like some kind of murderer.

“Did you forget what I told you?” Ciel said calmly.

“Sorry, Lord Ciel,” Tara quickly lowered her head, whispering, “Please forgive your foolish servant. I shouldn’t have mentioned anything about... things.”

“Please punish me, Lord Ciel. Tara is willing to accept any punishment.”

Saying this, Tara drew the ritual carving knife from her waist, held it with both hands, and offered it towards Ciel.

This person... could she be a masochist?

Ciel looked at Tara kneeling before her, somewhat speechless.

Why does she ask for punishment at every turn? Why do the Divine Advent Church members she encounters seem to have strange fetishes?

But it makes sense, “Ascetics,” or rather, fanatics, are basically no different from masochists. Impossible to understand their thinking with common sense.

If she really used the carving knife to cut Tara once, maybe Tara would be ecstatic, use a transcendent item to preserve the wound, preventing it from ever healing, treating the wound given by Ciel as a medal.

Thinking carefully, this really seems like something Tara would do.

“Just find a place to settle down, remember, stay far away from me,” Ciel thought for a moment, then continued, “Do not take any action until I notify you.”

“Yes, Lord Ciel.” Tara immediately agreed, but judging from her tone, she seemed slightly disappointed.

Just don’t know if the reason for disappointment was that she didn’t cut her, or being driven away by her.

-

After Tara left Ciel’s house, Ciel returned to her room, continued reading books, and incidentally started waiting for Avena’s reply letter.

Just don’t know if Avena would be suspicious.

Just happened to lack a brainwashed second-tier to complete the ritual, and a brainwashed second-tier cultist delivered themselves to the door, almost in a form of surrendering without resistance... This is like getting a pillow when sleepy.

With Avena’s suspicious nature, she would definitely feel this matter wasn’t simple, just don’t know if she would suspect Ciel.

Studying, resting, timing the elimination of misfortune... Ciel spent another two days almost formulaically. Time arrived at the 30th.

On this day, two pieces of good news arrived.

One, the clothing was finished, now delivered into Ciel’s hands, and Ciel also paid the remaining balance.

And the other, was Avena’s early advancement.

Missing two wrong attempts, Avena advanced to Tier 2 more smoothly, removing Gemma’s cultist brainwashing. However, Tara left a failsafe in Gemma’s memory. After the brainwashing was removed, Gemma lost all memories after becoming a cultist.

Equivalent to a three-year blank in her life.

This was something Tara did considering the interests of the church. Moreover, time was limited; she couldn’t precisely eliminate only memories related to the church, could only make a clean cut.

Avena mentioned lightly in the letter about advancing to “Psychologist.” The rest of the letter was basically concerned about Ciel’s current situation.

And Avena also mentioned she now had the ability to help Ciel treat mental problems, confirming with Ciel when her matters would end so they could schedule a consultation.

Ciel considered for a moment, then picked up the pen and wrote a reply letter.

In the letter, Ciel congratulated Avena on her smooth advancement, then mentioned she indeed needed her help.

As for the date... Ciel hesitated repeatedly, finally setting it for July 1st.

That day was when her simulated self dealt with the quill pen. Ciel didn’t know if advancing the time would encounter any unknown events, so decided to still execute the plan according to the original time, which is tomorrow.

To ensure she had sufficient spirit to cope with tomorrow’s confrontation with the “Contaminated Renegade’s Touch,” Ciel had to get enough rest tonight.

According to the records from her simulated self last time, tonight was also a day she could sleep safely... But Ciel wouldn’t actually sleep through the whole night directly, instead diluting the tranquilizer into three bottles, sleeping in three segments, avoiding any accidents in between.

Clothes, corpse, Avena for cleanup, everything was ready.

After drinking the diluted tranquilizer, Ciel’s mind began repeatedly replaying the steps drawn by her simulated self, continuously strengthening the impression, imagining the scene, then falling asleep under this condition.

This was something she had been doing these past few days. Moreover, sleeping like this would likely let her experience a small segment of the dream within the nightmares she frequently had recently—although most times the dreams were very distorted and abstract.

Besides recovering slightly less spirit, doing this had no disadvantages.

After sleeping intermittently for three rounds, Ciel could no longer fall asleep.

Early morning, before the sky brightened, she had already used the purchased burlap to wrap the corpse from the net, dragged the corpse towards Clock Tower Alley.

Ciel deliberately took a large detour, bypassing all places where Church of the Savior Goddess members might appear, especially staying far away from the location of the Clock Tower Church, finally arriving at the abandoned factory building that was never completed.

Tara had already scouted the vicinity for several days under Ciel’s command. No children would come here to explore or play, and normally no one would come in... Unfortunately, this factory building had no basement, still not hidden enough for Ciel.

However, her simulated self had already worked here twice. This place was still fine—it was on the city edge, remote enough.

Ciel knew Avena would arrive at 3:30, but still set the appointment for 5:00.

If the appointment was set for 3:30, Avena might arrive at 2:00 or even earlier, which might lead to witnessing some unpleasant scenes.

Ciel dragged the corpse into a dark corner of the factory, sat on the ground leaning against the factory wall, watching the time flow continuously, quietly waiting for time to pass.

Reality cannot be skipped. Even knowing the entire process, Ciel could only wait for the specific time point to arrive.

What she could do was ensure she utilized all information obtained from the future or past, completing the process at the fastest speed possible.

Playing multiple rounds is indeed boring...

Ciel’s heartbeat began to accelerate, pounding, but she still made a small joke in her heart to alleviate her current nervousness.

Whether all this can end depends on today...

At this moment, Ciel was no longer thinking about the subsequent process in her mind. Instead, she emptied her brain, trying her best to alleviate her inner tension.

Actually, she didn’t need to be so nervous. Logically speaking, her rest time was more ample than her simulated self’s; her spirit should definitely be in a better state than her simulated self’s.

The sun rose bit by bit, shining through the damaged roof of the factory, illuminating a small half of the area, but couldn’t dispel the darkness in the depths of the factory.

Soon, clouds gathered, obscuring the sun’s brilliance. The entire sky began to turn gloomy, seeming ready to rain at any moment.

But the rain never fell.

7... 8... 9...

13... 14... 15...

The moment the pointer pointed to 3 PM, a silver light flickered in the darkness deep within the factory.

A few minutes later, a swaying, tall figure wearing luxurious golden clothes, her face flushed unnaturally red, walked out from the darkness, stood in the sunlight, looked up, towards the sky.

“**.”

Under Ciel’s control, the corpse faced the sky, slowly opened its mouth, uttering an ancient and unfamiliar name.

Slade.