Chapter 5: Talk to the corpse of a puppet

"Daji..." Rahab pondered for a moment, then asked, "Xiaonuo, can you see any of Little Swallow's friends or colleagues in her mind?"

I shook my head and said, "No, I've only had this 'Eye of Reminiscence' for a week, so I can only look back at what happened in the last 24 hours before the deceased's death."

Rahab sighed and said, "In that case, we need to speed up. Although we don't know who the mastermind is, if they find Daji first, it will be bad."

"Fear not, for he should not be far from here. With the aid of the Demon eye, I can easily catch up," I said, and then I concentrated the demonic energy into my left eye, awakening the "Eye of illusions."

As soon as the Demon eye was activated, I felt my body become a hundred times lighter instantly. At this moment, I could distinctly discern every scent in the room.

"Jump in, I'm about to take off." After catching the man's scent, I had already mapped out his escape route in my mind.

Rahab silently leaped into my shirt through the collar, holding on tightly.

I flexed my joints and took a deep breath, then channeled the demonic energy into my legs. Like an arrow released from its bow, I leaped from the balcony and dashed down the street at high speed!

Fortunately, the streets were deserted, allowing me to sprint without worry.

Due to the incredible speed of my run, the scenery around me blurred, and I followed only the faint scent left by the killer.

The trail of the scent was always on the road, clearly indicating that the man had fled by vehicle after committing the crime.

Following his scent, I left the bustling district of Mong Kok and headed straight onto the highway.

As the scent grew stronger, I knew I was close to catching up with him.

"Hmm, it seems we're a step too late," Rahab suddenly said from within my embrace.

Just as I was about to ask, my nose already caught a faint smell of blood not far ahead.

A little further on, under the dim streetlight, lay a black sedan, silently sprawled in the center of the road.

The man's scent and the smell of blood were emanating from inside the car.

With a surge of energy, I precisely landed next to the driver's seat.

The car windows, as dark as the vehicle's body, were like thick ink, making it difficult to see through. However, with the Demon eye, my vision was far sharper than ordinary people's, allowing me to clearly see the situation inside the car.

Looking down, I saw a person lying face down on the steering wheel, motionless - the psychotic killer.

I listened intently, and all that could be heard were the heartbeats of Rahab and me, along with the car's engine noise.

"He's dead, showing no signs of life," I stated.

"Let's take his body out first," Rahab emerged from the collar and sat on my shoulder. "Then use the 'Eye of Reminiscence' to see how he met his end."

I nodded and reached out to open the car door, but upon pulling, I found it was locked.

So, I gathered a bit of demonic power in my hand and gave it a forceful tug.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Suddenly, the car exploded in a series of blasts, sending up a tremendous roar!

Countless tongues of flame swept out from the car, like the palm of a fire giant, instantly pulling me into the inferno!

Fortunately, I was well-trained. The moment the flames burst forth, I immediately shielded my head with my hands and pushed off with my feet. When I opened my eyes again, I was already leaping into the air.

Looking down, I saw the car's original position had turned into a sea of fire, with countless flames swirling within it, and thick smoke rising like a dragon into the sky.

"Xiao Nuo, over here!" I heard Rahab shouting from behind me. Turning around, I saw that Rahab had already taken a seat on a street lamp.

I performed a double somersault, using the momentum to extinguish the flames on my body, and then gracefully landed atop the lamp post.

"Fool! After so much training, your reactions are still as sluggish as a pig's," Rahab chided.

"How can I compare to you? I've only been a devil for four years," I replied with a laugh.

Though I spoke as if it wasn't my fault, seeing Rahab's fur shining like new - he must have leaped onto the lamp post before the flames even began to spread, while most of my clothes were nearly destroyed - I couldn't help but feel a sense of inferiority.

Rahab then shook his head and sighed, "Alas, in your current state, how can you fulfill the task your master entrusted to you?"

At the mention of my deceased master, my heart immediately sank.

Seeing my mood, Rahab said nothing, just like me, silently observing the fiercely burning car.

The raging fire cast our faces in alternating shades of darkness and light.

Just as I was about to speak to break the silence, suddenly, a chilling laugh emanated from within the inferno, followed by a fire-enshrouded figure slowly emerging from the car.

The figure was enveloped in flames, yet seemed oblivious to it, clumsily crawling out of the sea of fire before suddenly standing up, hunched over, and staggering towards the lamp post where we were perched.

When I had looked into the car from the outside, I had confirmed there was only one person, the killer, who had long since expired.

The figure before us had no heartbeat, indicating it must be a puppet corpse being manipulated by someone else.

"Rahab, is it a corpse-driving technique?" I asked, frowning.

The art of animating corpses has a long and widespread history, with tales of zombies in Chinese lore being examples of bodies controlled through such techniques.

However, practitioners of this art are few and far between nowadays. I once encountered a tomb raider in Egypt who used corpses excavated from tombs to do his bidding.

"It's not the corpse-driving technique. That technique requires drawing talismans with the caster's blood on the controlled corpse, and the range of control is at most one kilometer," Rahab shook his head. "Not to mention the absence of anyone around, we cannot detect anyone's presence for miles. Even if the killer had blood talismans on him, they would have been destroyed in the explosion, so it couldn't be the corpse-driving technique."

"Could it be the Demon eye then?" I speculated. The only thing more powerful than sorcery would be the eyes of a devil.

Rahab nodded slightly, "This fire corpse must be controlled by the 'Puppeteer's Eye.'"

"The 'Puppeteer's Eye'? Sounds quite formidable," I said with a laugh.

"Yes, I'll explain that later. For now, let's go down," Rahab said, looking at the fire corpse with a cold smirk. "This fire corpse wasn't summoned just to scare us; it must have a message to convey."

With that, Rahab leaped down, and I followed closely behind.

A man and a cat landed right in front of the fire corpse, which seemed to sense our presence and stopped, hesitating. After a moment, it suddenly let out a 'Hehe' laugh.

Impatiently, I said, "Speak up if you have something to say. Don't just stand there laughing like an idiot."

The fire corpse seemed to hear my words and suddenly raised its head to look at me. At that moment, I noticed that its gaze was different from what I had seen in Xiao Yanzi's memory.

The killer's eyes were originally filled with cruelty; but now, the left eye of the fire corpse lacked the killer's murderous intent, replaced instead by a dread-inducing, abyssal gloom.

"I advise you to stop pursuing the whereabouts of other devils and live quietly in seclusion. Wouldn't it be better to be an ordinary devil?" the fire corpse said in a deep, laughter-filled voice. "You are alone and weak, unable to fight against me. If you continue this relentless pursuit, disrupting my plans, do not blame me for being merciless!"

The voice and tone that came from the fire corpse clearly belonged to its manipulator, not the killer.