Shadow's Hand-Chapter 32: City Gate

Damien didn't wish to waste too much time on this case nor did he care about the conspiracy that was being plotted.

All he cared about was his survival and clues about his predicament.

Therefore, anyone who got in his way was considered an enemy. He would not hesitate to eliminate them if necessary.

His life had never been rainbow and sunshine. Death was quite common even back in his original world.

Corpses would appear in some dark alley every few days, and they were all people no one cared about. To simplify, they were like the scum of society.

Scums who didn't deserve any attention as they were just parasites. Naturally, Damien was also such a scum as well.

The only difference was that he wasn't as foolish as them to allow himself to be a target. Even on the off-chance he did become a target, he had always made sure there was an escape path whenever he made a big action—until he encountered the damnable Joker.

No one could have calculated or predicted a random Joker card would suddenly appear and turn your life upside down!

As Damien promptly stopped his emotions from going awry, he turned his attention to Dexter.

"You can get a few people down the sewer and collect the corpse." He said and glanced at the sky. "The culprit should be eager to flee, so let's make haste over to the City Gate."

"Yes, Seventh." Dexter saluted and received the order. There wasn't a need to change their clothes either, given that the culprit must have recognized him already.

It would have been more suspicious if he were to change his clothes and inadvertently alert the culprit that they were stepping on a trap.

The thing he least wanted was for the culprit to stay in hiding and stall him further.

'The murder happened a few days ago, but they chose to stay. This meant that they still had businesses left to do until now.' Damien would make sure the culprit regretted their decision by staying for another few days instead of fleeing from the start.

Sometime later, Damien and Dexter began heading toward the City Gate. Along the way, Dexter was muttering to himself, seemingly trying to piece the clues together.

The current clues were like a jigsaw puzzle, completely separated and unable to paint a clear picture. Not to mention, there were many missing pieces to complete the puzzle even if they managed to unravel the current clues.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

"This murder case is too peculiar." Dexter twitched his brows and failed to comprehend the reason for the crime.

At first, it was thought to be a common rape and murder case, but once Damien made his conjecture. The severity and conspiracy behind the case expanded.

"There's no need to overthink it." While Dexter was filled with confusion, Damien suddenly commented. "Whatever the motive and action behind it, we'll capture them. They even dared to target TIs, so it goes to show how daring these criminals are."

Nodding in agreement, Dexter acknowledged the saying. "You're right, Seventh. By targeting the TIs, they are simply declaring war against us."

With Damien's comment, Dexter no longer thinks much of the case. He regained his focus and proceeded to pave the way for Damien.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the City Gate. The City Gate was filled with commotion, and many protested against the lockdown order.

"Why is a TI locking down the city because of a mere criminal?"

"Even if it's a Seventh Order, there should be a limit to their authorization. To lock down a city like Velgrave is unprecedented."

"I respect the TIs and their immense work, but this isn't a viable solution. The city's revenue would be down with merchants being blocked and traffic being impeded."

Most of the shouting was more or less the same. They were displeased and dissatisfied with the lockdown order. But at the same time, they dared not be overly rude in their words. Or more specifically, they didn't dare to speak ill of the Seventh Order TI.

The existence of a TI was just a different level. Thus, it didn't take long before the civilians started to change their target to the uniformed officers.

"You officers are so incompetent. Not only did you fail to capture the culprit, but you even troubled the TI. Do you have any shame?"

"I'm of noble status and have a meeting at Kodacrest. Could you afford the consequences of delaying me?"

As the crowd started to curse at the uniformed officers, many began to gather their courage.

They weren't afraid of them—especially those of noble status. A TI could ignore the nobles, albeit the lower ranks dependent on their ranking order, but the officers couldn't.

"Hmph, these people are always the ones to complain about culprits being on the loose, but when we try to do something. They also complain." Dexter had enough of listening and was about to step forward to stop the protest.

However, he was quickly suppressed and halted by Damien, who shook his head in return.

"Stay put and wait," Damien said and shifted his attention to an inconspicuous carriage. The commotion was getting louder but the carriage remained still. It was clear to Damien what Karl was thinking about.

'This man wants to maximize the profit. Not bad.' He approved of Karl being patient and not making a move immediately.

To reel in the big fish, and possibly the one Damien wished to search for, Karl played the waiting game.

As long as the people in the city believed the lockdown would remain indefinitely, the culprit would soon panic.

After all, with no one being able to enter and exit, it was equivalent to having the Velgrave being a massive prison cell.

Not to mention, the nobles and those displeased by the lockdown would also join in to assist the police officers. Of course, it was more so for the TI to ensure their life could return to normal.

As the commotion continued to fester, with the officers starting to lose control of the situation, Karl knew it was his time to shine.

'Can't disappoint the first mission that Master gave me.' He thought to himself and leaped on top of his carriage.