Chapter 112 - Escaping from Arcanum Train (V)
Thank you so much, Soapy & Kofi-Supporter for the Kofis—Bonus Chapter (1/2)
Editor: Kitty
In the end, Crow did not take action. When he held the knife in his hand silently, he quickly retracted his hand back into his pocket again.
I shouldn’t have thought about that, Crow repeated to himself. He felt he should not have such an… idea of trying to solve problems by killing others though, in his opinion, Owl’s behavior was very abnormal and very likely to attack others, and Crow would definitely be the first person to be hurt and threatened by his actions.
But Crow was still unwilling to take action, but not because he was kind and filled with compa.s.sion. He didn’t think that he was a great person before losing his memories, but he didn’t think he was a bad person either.
In this world, there would be no absolute kindness and evil. When most people thought that something was right and just, it would be defined as good, and people who had done it would be regarded as good, and vice versa.
The definition of kindness and evil was very simple, but it also determined the difference between man and beast. After all, no beast defined its own kind with kindness and evil.
So why choose? If one thought something was the right thing to do, then one should just do it.
Crow took a deep breath. He relaxed and leaned against the wall. Owl was still grabbing one of his hands. Owl’s fingers were still as piercing-cold as before, and he had a temperature unlike a human’s, but for a moment, Crow forgot about these miniscule details. He straightened up, looked up at Owl, and said, “I think we need to talk about it.”
Owl c.o.c.ked his head with a smile: “What should we talk about?”
“I know you suspect me to be the murderer…” Crow stated.
“I’m not suspecting you of it,” Owl interrupted him and sneered, “I’m sure of it.”
“So since you put it that way, you should have some evidence, right?”
“I have solid proof.” Owl paused for a moment, and he tightly grasped Crow’s hand. Then, he reached over to touch Crow’s neck. Crow felt the cold touch caressing his fragile neck, and he could not help but shiver.
“You have a ligature mark on the back of your neck.” Owl touched the back of Crow’s neck, and there was a bit of a depression there.
Crow did not feel much. He did not even feel pain. However, at the moment when he reached out to feel his neck, he felt something slender slithering across his neck.
“What you wore on your neck, and what I got it within the palm of the corpsek2014;” Owl took out the black cross pendant and looked at Crow. “Did you lose it?”
Crow glanced at the black cross and said, “I don’t have any impression of it—If I put it this way, would you have a feeling of pleasure when you interrogate me like a prisoner?”
Owl’s expression was extremely bleak: “There is only you, me, and the corpse in the enclosed train car No.13. The corpse is holding the cross in his hand tightly, and the chain the cross is hung on is also broken. It is obvious that it was forcibly pulled off someone’s neck, but between us, only you have this mark on your neck. Is this not enough to explain the problem?”
“I did not kill anyone.” Crow did not alter his statement. He took a deep breath again and said, “I don’t have any relevant memories of it. My memories start from the moment when I woke up and read that note! I don’t know what I’ve done before, but my heart tells me that I’ve never hurt anyone!”
Owl did not believe Crow and continued to compel him to confess: “Come on, under the circ.u.mstances when you do not have any memories, even your brain could possibly lie to you!”
“I don’t know why you are so sure! But all this was clearly designed by others! Put two people and a corpse into a closed carriage and deliberately design various criminal traces and evidence so that you can be sure that I am the murderer, and afterwards, we’d start to fight each other?”
“Fight each other? No! Of course we wouldn’t.” Owl suddenly squinted and said something strange:
“Even if you’re the real murderer, I won’t take action against you.”
“What do you mean by that?” Crow was puzzled, but Owl did not answer his question. He stood up straight and released Crow’s hand. Crow felt his hands were stiff, but the lingering coldness remained.
“By the way, are you cold?” Crow could not help but ask Owl, and he could not help shaking his wrist—the wrist that had been held by Owl.
“I feel your body is very cold.”
The tension between the two seemed to simmer. Owl even laughed and said, “I’m not cold. Don’t worry—it’s just temporary.”
Owl’s words are full of strangeness, but at the moment Crow didn’t want to go deep into it. He felt tired, but he did not want to waste time. He squatted at the corridor connection of carriages No.12 and No.11 and started to read the relevant hints provided on the door—
[There is no one in carriage No.12.]
[But the poor kitten was killed.]
[No, no, no! Of course, this is not an implication to ask you to find the killer.]
[Because the key to the door is in the cat’s stomach.]
“This time, the hint clearly and simply stated it. Is it that easy?” After reading these lines, Crow couldn’t help but feel suspicious.
Owl said, “It would be nice if it is that easy. After all, we have to clear 13 enclosed carriages within six hours and stop this d.a.m.n train.”
At this time, Crow had to ask, “But I haven’t found anything that can show the time, such as watches, mobile phones, or clocks… I mean, how can we know how much time has pa.s.sed?”
“Don’t think too much. When we really need to know the time, there will always be something to remind us of the time,” Owl replied vaguely, and he said, “I think we need to rip the stomach of the dead cat and find out if the key is really there.”
So Owl and Crow picked up the dead cat again from the puddle. They turned off the water basin tap, placed the poor cat on the ground, and saw the wounds haphazardly scattered all over the cat. After that, they soon discovered something unusual.
“I originally thought the cat was wounded by a knife… but now it looks like…” Owl unconsciously stroked the dead cat’s fur. Although the poor kitten had pa.s.sed away, its corpse was still dripping wet, and it looked b.l.o.o.d.y and disgusting.
“What does it look like now?” Crow frowned as he questioned.
“Don’t you think that the wound doesn’t look like it was caused by a knife?”
After Crow heard Owl’s words, he narrowed his eyes to also carefully examine the wound on the dead cat. Indeed, if it had been cut with a knife, the wound should be smoother and appear slightly nicer-looking. The sharp blade would create a neat incision, and the strength used to hold the blade could easily be determined.
But the wounds on this cat appeared more like those left after being attacked by a wild beast.
After using its ferocious, crooked, and sharp claws to scratch and disembowel it, these wounds were left on the poor cat.
“It makes me feel uncomfortable just looking at it.” Crow had to take a deep breath as he a.s.sessed the cat.
“I’m more curious about what made it like this.” Owl chuckled and raised his head to look at Crow: “Do you have a knife?”
Crow also raised his head and gazed warily at Owl.
“Come on, I’m just trying to rip the stomach of the cat. I know you have it—right?”
Crow was silent for a while. He did not know whether he was doing the right or wrong thing, but he took a deep breath and took the knife out of his pocket. Although the blade of the knife was thin, it was really sharp. It was not difficult for someone to use it to cut the belly of the dead cat.
Crow handed the knife to Owl in silence, and Owl also took the knife in silence. However, Crow couldn’t help but ask him, “I think you should also have found some weapons. There was a wide array of items in carriage No.13.”
“No, it’s lamentable that I didn’t.” Owl stabbed the dead cat in the stomach and replied to Crow, “In carriage No.13, I only obtained the cross pendant necklace from the corpse.”
“That’s unexpected. Aren’t you scared? What if I am a murderer that kills without batting an eye? Crow half-jokingly mentioned.
Owl cut the belly of the dead cat in half, exposing the bleeding viscera. When he heard Crow’s words, he raised his head and looked at Crow, and because they were both squatting on the ground, when Owl raised his head, Crow clearly saw Owl’s dark pupils.
But… it felt a little strange.
It was not known whether it was an illusion or not, but Crow thought that Owl’s eyes were a little strange. Although like him, he was a typical oriental man with dark eyes, his pupil always reminded Crow of the abyss.
Owl did not respond to Crow’s words. He quickly opened up the belly of the dead cat, nimbly stuffed his hands in, and rummaged through the b.l.o.o.d.y viscera. Finally, he found a b.l.o.o.d.y key. This series of actions almost made Crow vomit. He could not adapt to the smell of blood and the disgusting scene, although for a moment, Crow actually felt excited seeing it.
“Isn’t this enclosed chamber too simple?” Owl washed his b.l.o.o.d.y key in the pool until his fingers were clean. Crow noticed that his fingers turned white when soaked in water.
“Are you really not cold?” Crow unconsciously voiced out his concerns: “Just now you were holding my hand… Heavens, you were as cold as a block of ice.”
“Maybe I was born with a body that has a lower temperature,” Owl said optimistically, holding the key as he headed to open the door.
The enclosed carriage of carriage No.12 was really simple. One could get the key just by cutting open a dead cat. But when they opened the door to carriage No.11, they suddenly realized that the road ahead was not easy to walk.
Because when they opened the door, they saw two men standing in carriage No.11.
To make matters worse, the two men seemed to be trying to kill each other when they opened the door.