Seeing the fleshy cavity in the rock crevice, Ashley was not startled but delighted. This was a C-grade relic—”Sweet Home.”
Before her transmigration, she had watched Man vs. Wild, where Bear Grylls spent a night inside a camel’s carcass. Flesh, fat, and fur provided the best insulation, warding off the drastic drop in nighttime temperatures.
The principle behind “Sweet Home” was similar. This relic was a tent-like shelter made of tough fascia and highly elastic soft tissue composite materials, fifteen centimeters thick. Even in the Arctic at minus fifty degrees, it kept inhabitants as warm as spring.
It could be folded and compressed to fit in a suitcase. Once released, it extended root-like tubules that climbed everywhere, burrowing into the ground to plunder nutrients from soil and plants. It secreted crystals primarily composed of sugar and protein, along with drinkable filtered water.
Although Ashley had studied the illustrated handbook carefully, encountering it in reality still shocked her deeply.
Relics from C-grade onward possessed powerful functionality and practicality. Those three grades higher had inconceivable abilities that could upset the balance of power between factions, improve vast areas of environment, or even change an entire era.
But Ashley’s joy lasted only a moment before her face fell. The thing was too big and inconvenient to hide. Moreover, a C-grade relic fell short of her psychological expectations.
Doing the right thing meant learning to let go.
She suppressed her greedy impulses and skirted around it.
Without rushing ahead greedily, she took it one step at a time, mapping every location she passed through.
As she groped her way through the darkness, she suddenly heard faint screams amid the silence broken only by dripping water.
Chills ran down her spine in an instant!
This was twenty or thirty meters underground—what could possibly produce human screams down here?
Ashley held her breath and listened intently.
Though intermittent and muffled, the screams were undoubtedly real, and her mind was clear. It was no hallucination.
“Don’t scare yourself. There’s no such thing as the supernatural in this world. If someone is screaming, then someone is definitely screaming.”
Ashley took a deep breath, overcame her fear, and followed the sound.
But endless rocks, soil chunks, blockages, and collapses obstructed the path. She could only get as close as possible to the source.
She was very close now. Pressing her ear to a smooth section of the rock wall, she faintly heard someone speaking.
“Don’t kill me… please… I’ll do anything… Aaaah… It hurts so much… Spare me…”
In this pitch-black underground, behind a single rock wall, someone was indeed screaming and begging.
Another voice didn’t speak but let out a series of manic laughs, gasping for breath, laced with a pathological pleasure.
“Aaaah—!”
The screams suddenly turned utterly shrill!
After a while, the sounds ceased, leaving only deathly silence.
Ashley raised her hand, and an illusory bullet materialized in her palm, its casing wrapped in interwoven orange-red fire patterns, radiating intense heat.
Though separated by rock, “Oriole Harmony” wasn’t blocked by physical matter. As long as it was within range, it could activate. The opponent had used a supernatural ability, triggering Time Bird’s automatic recording and generating the bullet.
Undoubtedly, a murder had just taken place within arm’s reach! It was committed with supernatural power, burning the victim alive in an exceptionally cruel manner!
Karst terrain’s acidic waters could erode caves, but Ashley was helpless against the thick rock wall. She had no choice but to retreat the way she came.
Returning to the dorm, the hot pot was ready.
Thanks to the abundance of fish and meat, the broth was milky white, with chicken meatballs rolling in it and neat blocks of tofu arranged inside.
Once Ashley sat down, Flora rolled up her sleeves and added vegetables to the pot. The rising steam moistened her face.
Compared to the stiff family dinners around the table in the past, the blonde loli preferred huddling together for a small hot pot with just the two of them. She could stretch her legs relaxedly, slouch without decorum, prop herself up on her elbows, free from the pressure of elders.
Ashley held her bowl, lost in thought about what she had seen underground, slightly dazed.
She faced a tough inner dilemma.
Overhearing a murder through a wall—she ought to report it. But reporting meant confessing her own crime: being there in the middle of the night screamed tomb raiding. She couldn’t claim sleepwalking twenty to thirty meters underground, swimming through dark rivers with an Aqualung. No one would believe that, not even her.
Choosing silence was selfish, abetting crime. Claiming to be a good person afterward would be disgustingly hypocritical.
The labyrinthine underground caves were perfect for hiding bodies. That flame-wielding lunatic was clearly deranged and might kill again.
Though she had participated in relic digging, Ashley didn’t think it was wrong. Relics were useful tools—better to unearth them for humanity’s benefit.
But letting a murder slide was wrong. Silence made her an accomplice.
Ashley bit into a big chicken meatball, pondering a win-win solution: a way to be a good person without turning herself in… Got it!
She decided to catch the culprit herself.
“I’ll play the role of a detective, giving my actions legitimacy. When the Tribunal big sis asks why I was there—’Because I’m a loli detective!'”
She had to shout the last line in full chuunibyou mode. The more chuunibyou, the stronger the motive.
Her body might have shrunk, but her mind was as sharp as ever. The phantom thief Ashley would solve the case while thieving.
Her thoughts returned to the case. Ashley figured the killer murdered underground for easy body disposal. Without a corpse, it would be ruled a disappearance—even if caught, no conviction.
Since the killer needed to hide the body, they had to lure the victim into the cave. So, watching the cave entrance was key.
Ashley tasked Sasha with 24-hour surveillance of the entrance. To keep it from getting bored, she made it a little pouch filled with nuts and hung it around its neck.
The sukiyaki hot pot was delicious, the rich chicken broth perfectly blending with the bean products’ aroma.
Flora was curious about this completely different eating style. Accustomed to separate dining, sharing a single pot with someone was a novel experience.
But since it was Ashley, it was fine, she thought.
She sneaked a glance at the blue-haired loli’s lips, glistening translucently with chicken oil—more enticing than the food itself.
Gradually, Flora felt a warmth. Scooping from the same pot was a wondrous ritual, a tacit game, a happiness that brought a knowing smile.
What was this? How could it be used so deftly to eat?
Flora stared at the two “wooden sticks” in Ashley’s hand.
Ashley licked the tips of her chopsticks. Truth be told, she wanted to eat alone.
For someone with germophobia, eating food touched by others’ saliva was torture.
But wolfing it down alone while leaving Flora aside would be too much.
Fortunately, the blonde loli scooped into her bowl with a public spoon before eating, though occasionally brushing against something still made Ashley’s heart clench.
“You’re familiar with those juvenile offenders. Anyone arrested for fire-related crimes? Like arson,” Ashley asked.
“There were a few arson arrests. Let me think…” Flora named several.
The next morning, Ashley conferred with the parrot. No suspicious individuals.
Since the Four Heavenly Kings’ people were also exploring caves, lone entrants weren’t conclusive. Only pairs entering warranted suspicion.
As the saying went, one person doesn’t enter a temple, two don’t peer into a well—easy to push them in for murder.
That evening, Ashley returned to the rock wall from before. After searching for half a day, she found a path winding around it and reached the crime scene.
Even a day later, the cave still reeked of scorched stench. A female corpse lay on the ground in a curled, rigid pose, feces and urine leaked out, emitting a foul odor.
She was about 1.5 meters tall, her skin baked to a waxy yellow and cracked, exposing charred fat and dark red muscle layers.
Her hair was burned off, but faint red roots showed it had been a redhead.
Checking her belongings revealed a small mirror and some loose change.
Ashley noticed burn marks from jewelry on the corpse’s neck and fingers, plus drag and peel traces—the killer had taken her ring and necklace.
Flame powers could melt precious metals, making fencing easy.
After a moment’s thought: someone dead meant someone missing. Time to investigate the victim’s identity.
Back in the community, inquiring about 1.5-meter redhead girls and narrowing by jewelry pointed to one: a girl named Hulda Dobbin.
But strangely, when Ashley checked Hulda’s dorm, Hulda was still alive!
