Chapter 1014: Chapter 1014

"It is impressive; otherwise, the Criminal Investigation Bureau wouldn't have been unable to catch him. But though he's strong, his strength is limited. According to the security personnel involved in the capture attempt, Nahuo's spiritual energy is crippled, only capable of certain fixed uses, mainly for escape or defense."

"Those victims weren't killed by his spiritual energy but were tortured to death with various tools in his house after being guided into a dream by him."

"A scholar once studied the Kuanyang race, believing their spiritual energy isn't derived from innate talent or learning. Instead, it's acquired from deities or other races, so they can only use what they've obtained and can't learn other uses of spiritual energy, no matter how hard they try, unless they can break the source's shackles."

"Of course, since there are too few Kuanyang people in the Metropolis, that scholar only proposed this hypothesis without sufficient evidence."

"You know so much, Brother Pai, impressive!"

Liu Zheng looked at him with fresh eyes.

"Hehe, actually, I've always wanted to create my own board game, with a massive worldview, an abundance of races, a complete range of professions, and an incredibly open storyline. So when I have nothing to do, I study wanted posters. Those on the wanted posters all have some deadly skills, perfect for stitching into a board game."

The Ace said proudly and with embarrassment.

"Your description sounds like DND."

Liu Zheng said thoughtfully.

The Ace asked curiously.

"Dungeons and Dragons, a large-scale tabletop role-playing game. It's quite rich in content, and I'll tell you more about it when I have time."

In fact, he wasn't very familiar with DND, but he knew the general framework, which was just right for the Ace to improvise and create a Metropolis version.

"Sounds great, can't wait!"

The Ace said happily.

"Do you have any clues about Nahuo?"

"I've carefully chosen this one, so of course, I have clues. Someone saw him appear in the black market and then never again. So, the Criminal Investigation Bureau strongly suspects he's hiding inside the black market. They've sent several teams in to investigate, but all returned empty-handed."

"However, their investigations must be covert, careful not to attract the attention of the black market people, hence they're restricted."

"But you are different; you can act openly, which is much more convenient than the people from the Criminal Investigation Bureau."

He wasn't as optimistic as the Ace.

Not to mention whether finding someone in the black market is that easy, he didn't even know if the black market was open today.

If the black market opened only in a few days, by the time Liu Zheng caught Nahuo to trade with the Criminal Investigation Bureau, it'd be the Sphinx's corpse instead of the Sphinx.

He should ask Niu Ma when the black market will open again.

"What about the remaining wanted posters?"

"Hold on, I'll send it to you right away."

Soon, the Ace sent over a second wanted poster.

The fugitive on this poster was a peculiar-looking creature with a chubby, inverted triangular face, large and round yellow-green eyes, a nose as wide and long as a finger, and pig-like ears.

It had dozens of short, thin, sparse hairs on its head, nothing else in terms of fur.

Its body was slim and timid, appearing pitiful, but its sharp teeth gave it a somewhat fierce look.

Its crime was betraying and murdering its owner's entire family before setting their villa on fire.

"This guy's name is Wangcai, a house elf. Do you know what a house elf is?"

"I've heard of it. It's a race that serves as servants to wizards, right? They look so similar to goblins that you can't tell them apart."

Liu Zheng thought for a moment and said.

"There's actually quite a difference. First, in terms of appearance, goblin ears point upwards with larger ear flaps, whereas house elf ears droop, with much smaller ear flaps. Secondly, in terms of temperament, goblins are irritable and arrogant, while house elves are gentle and humble."

"Of course, I'm talking about the Three-Island Goblins from the same place as house elves; other branches of goblins differ. For example..."

"Look, Brother Pai, let's get back to Wangcai. We can talk about those racial things when we're discussing the board game."

He hurriedly interrupted the Ace.

"Okay. Let me continue with Wangcai."

"Originally, house elves only served wizard families, but after selective breeding, they can sign contracts with any spellcaster family."

"These contracts are intangible and vague, unlike ordinary slave contracts that are rigidly defined, but they are more powerful."

"Some slaves, after acquiring great power, can and almost invariably try to escape the comfort of a contract, but house elves, even if many times stronger than their owners, willingly accept their owners' commands and even mistreatment."

"Almost all house elves, regardless of the level of family they work for, don't own a single complete piece of clothing. They often wear pillowcases, large rags, or even their owner's discarded underpants as covering."

"Once given a complete piece of clothing, it signifies the contract has ended, and they are granted freedom."

"But house elves don't like freedom. If their master grants them freedom, they feel humiliated and may even threaten suicide to force their master to rescind the decision."

The Ace continued to explain.

"That's quite pathetic of them."

"Different races have very different values, so I won't comment on that. In any case, house elves are very loyal to their owners. Forget about harming their master; disobeying their owner's commands is extremely rare, which is why Wangcai's case had such a terrible impact. Many spellcasters who keep house elves jointly demanded the Security Department solve the case quickly and find the true reason for Wangcai's heinous crimes."

"I see Wangcai is wearing normal clothes in the photo, though."

On the wanted poster, Wangcai was wearing a black single-breasted woolen coat, underneath was a brown vest, and beneath that, a crisp shirt with a gold collar pin, better dressed than Liu Zheng.

"That's the front; the back is a moldy floor mat."

"Uh... okay. Looking at it this way, Wangcai's owner seemed pretty decent to it."

Liu Zheng thought for a moment and said.

"Why do you say that?"

"The moldy floor mat couldn't have been on the coat from the start; it must have been sewn on deliberately to prevent triggering the ceremony for its freedom."

"You mentioned that almost all house elves wear ragged clothing, so it's unlikely its owner forced it into such clothes for the sake of dignity. Moreover, there's no dignity in wearing such clothes."

"So, in conclusion, it should be that Wangcai's owner wanted it to dress well but also considered that it didn't want to gain freedom, so they specially made a set of bug-exploiting clothes ."

He concluded his analysis.

"Impressive, impressive; it's a pity you're not with us in the Security Department."

"With your deduction skills, the position of head of the Heavy Case Team in the Criminal Investigation Bureau is yours sooner or later."

"That's overblown, overblown. So, what's the truth?" ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel·fiɾe·net

"Based on inquiries with the family's relatives and friends, they were indeed kind to Wangcai, and it even had its own room. They were shocked by Wangcai's betrayal and suspected someone might have used mind control or some such ability to manipulate Wangcai. Alternatively, the real perpetrator might be someone else who framed Wangcai."

"It's really complex."

The case's complexity was already enough, adding extraordinary abilities only exponentially increased the complexity.