Chapter 1782: Chapter 1782

As Silver Flute Miss explained their findings, Jenkins started toward the moaning corpse to inspect it, but Mr. Black Cat quickly stepped in his way.

"Don't get near it," he urged. "Within the range of its curse, a normal person is almost certain to be affected. Fortunately, the range is small, and we discovered that if we get its feet off the ground, we can shrink it even further."

With that, Mr. Black Cat pointed to a circle drawn on the floor in chalk.

"This is the range we determined through trial and error. Do not step inside."

"And how exactly did you test it?" Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs novel-fire.ɴet

Jenkins asked curiously. Meanwhile, Magic Miss walked past him to the window, parting the heavy curtains just enough to peek down at the street below. She was on lookout duty.

"I tested it... accidentally."

Mr. Hood gestured grimly for Jenkins to look at his arm—his right arm, to be specific.

"The right side of my body entered the curse's range first. It's a good thing it was my right, since this arm isn't entirely flesh and blood, the effect wasn't as severe. If I'd walked in facing forward, I'm afraid I'd be in the same state as that thing by now."

Since the tulip seed he had planted before was still there, Jenkins could still draw on it to channel life energy.

"Your arm never fully recovered, and now it's taken another heavy blow..."

His eyes scanned Mr. Hood, confirming that he wasn't contaminated with the same black aura as the corpse before continuing.

"This injury is even more trouble than the last one."

He suddenly seized Mr. Hood's arm and squeezed. A puff of black smoke hissed from the point of contact. Mr. Hood let out a pained groan, drawing the attention of the other three.

Mr. Hood finally spoke after the smoke stopped rising, but the way his brow was furrowed and his teeth were clenched told a different story.

"It feels much better. A moment ago, it felt like little insects were crawling around inside my arm. Now it just feels like their corpses are in there."

"It's the power of a curse, similar to that of a Cursed Item, but very weak. I suggest you go back to that mechanist from the Church of Creation and Machinery for treatment. The seed I planted in your arm won't last much longer, and your condition is worse this time."

Jenkins warned, releasing his grip.

"Alright, then. I'll contact my friend tomorrow. Mr. Candle, thank you again."

Mr. Hood carefully pulled his sleeve back down as he spoke.

They weren't entirely clueless about this mysterious curse. In fact, when Mr. Hood and Mr. Black Cat had burst in, Luther was not yet dead. But neither of them was a healer, and since they had only come to demand their money back, they certainly weren't carrying any of the healing talismans Jenkins had only ever heard of. With no time to prepare a ritual, they could only watch helplessly as Luther died.

Then, his corpse inexplicably fused with the steam engine in the corner of the room.

Jenkins thought he had misheard. The cat ears on his shoulders twitched as he, too, looked at Mr. Hood.

"After he died completely, his body lunged uncontrollably over there and fell onto the steam engine in the corner,"

Mr. Black Cat explained, pointing to the northwest corner of the room.

This was an exceptionally high-class hotel in the city center, and the room Luther had rented was one of its most expensive suites. Not only was it spacious, but the hotel had also spared no expense on its decor. The steam engine in the corner must have been an ornamental piece, practically an antique, meant to fill the space.

The corner was empty now, but a closer look revealed the faint impression of a heavy object on the wooden floor.

"It was an old Mark I dual-valve steam engine, probably something that belonged in an antique shop or a museum. I don't want to describe what I saw a few hours ago, but... flesh and steel just fused together. Mr. Hood went to check on the situation and unfortunately discovered the curse. It took a great deal of effort for us to restrain this thing afterward. Luckily, it isn't very strong."

As Mr. Black Cat spoke, the suspended corpse hissed, spewing another jet of hot white steam.

"Speaking of which, a body fusing with machinery... haven't we seen something similar before?"

Jenkins asked. Mr. Hood nodded.

"I was thinking the same thing. That time you, White Cat, and I ran into each other at night, the monster we were chasing—the one fused from a textile machine and flesh—it seems similar. But that thing was predominantly mechanical in form, while this one is mostly human. And that one didn't have a transmissible curse. We touched it multiple times while chasing it, but nothing happened."

"If this really is a curse, does that mean it has evolved?"

Silver Flute Miss asked. She was the one controlling the ropes binding the corpse. As a believer in the God of Nobility and Order, her abilities were strange and varied, not fitting into any specific system, much like Jenkins's.

"It's possible. If I had some time, my friends and I could study it in depth. A lot of them have arrived in Nolan now,"

Magic Miss said, eyeing the corpse with curiosity. But Jenkins shook his head.

"We should leave this for the Church to handle. It would be great if it was a man-made curse. But if it's a naturally occurring curse from a Cursed Item, this could be very troublesome."

"Are you suggesting this is another effect of the coming doomsday?"

Magic Miss frowned, then immediately answered her own question.

"It's certainly a possibility... The corpses of the dead spontaneously fuse with machines, and then this fused state spreads to the living. If this curse is incurable, and the strength of the corpse is linked to the power of the machine it merges with, then this would indeed be a doomsday scenario perfectly suited for our Steam Age."

The others also realized just how terrifying this was, especially since the "Factory Phantom" that Mr. Hood and Mr. White Cat had pursued last time showed no trace of Enchanter involvement, making it a clearly natural phenomenon.

If Luther's grotesque transformation was also a natural event, then Magic Miss's theory was correct. In that light, the political fallout from Luther's death was a minor issue. Her decision to call on Jenkins Williams instead of Jessica Windsor to handle this was absolutely the right one.

The way Luther and Mr. Hood had met was also highly suspicious. As far as Jenkins knew, this distant relative of the Middleton royal family was not very wealthy. Forget being down on his luck, there was simply no way he could afford to stay in a luxury hotel suite .

Let alone go into business with Mr. Hood. Jenkins had inquired about the amount of capital his two friends planned to invest and was astonished by the figure. It was clear that a transaction of that magnitude was not something Luther could have been a part of.

There were no tulip farms anywhere near Nolan. Furthermore, the flowers Jenkins had released into the city were rare varieties he had "bred" over several generations. Even if someone went looking elsewhere, it would be difficult to impact the local market so suddenly. Mr. Hood and Mr. Black Cat needed a major distributor, not a foreign nobleman with a certain background like Luther.

"He was very suave, and he explained his channels to us. More importantly, he only asked for a three-thousand-pound deposit, so we didn't suspect him at first,"

Mr. Black Cat lamented. He couldn't believe he'd walked into such a mess right after returning to Nolan.

"Did you find anything else?"

"Some letters. They indicate that he had completely accepted that he had no chance at the Fidektri throne, so he wanted to make a big score and then return to his country, severing all ties with Nolan. Besides that, there was a diary."

Silver Flute Miss tossed the diary from the bed. Its pages fluttered in the air before Jenkins caught it.

"The man was a swindler. He wasn't just scamming Mr. Hood and Mr. Black Cat. He had accomplices, and they wanted to cash in on Nolan's tulip 'craze'. I think it's true; he hid the diary and his plans together in the safe over there."

Jenkins glanced sideways at the safe, which looked as if it had been blown open from the side by a steam bomb, and nodded lightly.

"He had accomplices, you say?"

"Yes, a whole group of them. They used Luther's identity for convenience, with some posing as local merchants already working with him and others as out-of-town farmers who had the supply. If I didn't know the Believers of Lies rarely make public appearances, I'd almost think they were accomplices of Miss Fabry."

Mr. Hood remarked, not noticing Magic Miss trying her hardest to stifle a laugh.

"Do you know where his companions are? If you do, this becomes much easier to handle. I'll find a way to pin his death on them. My friends at the Church can help; we'll say they took the money and fled. The Church found a new lead in Tackwen's death today, so Luther is no longer a person of interest. They won't pay any attention to you. Their focus will be on the curse... Speaking of which, did you find your money?"

Only when Jenkins mentioned it did Mr. Hood and Mr. Black Cat remember their original purpose for being there. But they had already thoroughly searched the room before Jenkins and Magic Miss arrived. Apart from three large 10-pound notes in a wallet and a few coins in the pocket of a coat hanging on a chair, they hadn't found so much as a single penny.