“So, she never went to participate in this festival at all, but she invited me, which should mean she was preparing to go participate in this festival together. But because I spent too long at the bar, she planned to leave a message for me, and then go to the scene ahead of time by herself to participate in the activity.” Igris continued.
“But her message was not finished. In other words, she may have encountered something while writing the message, forcing her to be unable to finish the letter, and this may also be the biggest reason for her disappearance.”
The most, most, most important point was that the earlier burst of insight was absolutely not a coincidence.
Since the key words mentioned faith and church, then this matter would definitely be connected to the church.
“Why did Flower Leaf Festival end so early? An annual festival only held for less than half a day?”
“This was an accident.” Pasa explained.
“The normal planned ending time for the Flower Leaf Festival was five in the afternoon, but because of some accident, the activity ended early.”
“What accident?”
“Someone took something they should not have taken.”
Igris paused and, looking at Pasa’s expression, tentatively asked.
“For example?”
“You should not ask either.”
“This is of great help to the case.”
Pasa hesitated for a moment, then still turned around, went to the evidence storage cabinet, and tossed a sealed bag to Igris.
“This is… a sunflower?”
“This is called a Sunset Sunflower. It is an anomalous plant disguised as a sunflower. It will actively spray spores at people who come close, confusing their sense of time. It is not originally a particularly dangerous plant, but the nights here are not safe.”
After saying this, he sat down opposite Igris.
“Do you think this kind of thing will help the case?”
“Where did this come from?” Igris did not answer Pasa’s thoughts, but instead looked toward Ling beside her.
“Ling does not know about this matter. She was just transferred here. This area has always been my responsibility.” Pasa tapped the table and pulled Igris’s line of sight back, continuing.
“This matter has already been resolved. The reason for the birth of the Sunset Sunflower is still unclear, but it often appears in sunflower fields, or disguises itself as sunflower seeds. Before maturity, they are no different from sunflowers, and there is no situation where they can be easily distinguished. Only after maturity, the Sunset Sunflower does not produce seeds, only spores. This is their difference.”
Igris also imitated Pasa’s manner and tapped the table, asking back.
“Chrisuna runs a flower shop. How can you be sure there is no Sunset Sunflower in the flower shop?”
“Is there something wrong with your brain? I said, the effect of this thing is only to make people lose their sense of time. Even if she really was affected, if she wandered on the street, would we not see her?”
“Watch your wording, Officer Pasa. I am only raising any opinion that may help the case.”
“Then you had best raise some meaningful opinions.”
Igris pursed her lips, too lazy to say much more to him, and continued asking.
“What about churches? How many churches are there in this city?”
But speaking of this, Ling instead raised a different opinion.
“But according to my investigation, before this, there was still another church here. The specific name is no longer recorded, but that was indeed the oldest historical faith here. The existence of that church was not for the sake of believing in a deity. Its existence represented a symbol: belief in the moon, or rather, the night.”
“Cult.” Igris said very decisively, interrupting Ling’s desire to continue narrating history.
“…Indeed, a cult. So it was very quickly uprooted and demolished, but that was almost a hundred years ago.”
“Have you not gone to look at the ruins?”
Ling shook her head and said with a somewhat odd expression.
“Actually… the ruins are Chrisuna’s flower shop. That place was already demolished and renovated a long time ago.”
“…”
Igris slowly stood up, and under the simultaneous gaze of Ling and Pasa, slowly sighed.
“Then, now let me help you sort this out. First, all kinds of anomalies appear in this city at night. And during the Flower Leaf Festival, there appeared a flower that makes people lose their sense of time. And the predecessor of Chrisuna’s flower shop was the so-called cult church that believed in the night. There was even a demented old man who came here to wander around when he had nothing to do, looking for his son. Do you think this is really normal?”
Hearing this, Ling also reacted, frowned, and said.
“You mean, this case itself is not only targeted at Chrisuna alone. The actual situation is that the group of cultists from back then are trying to use this method to make people lose their concept of time, and take the opportunity to attract them to the increasingly dangerous night, to achieve some kind of goal?”
“At least you are still willing to use your brain… So have you never thought, why is it only this city that is so dangerous at night?”
“This is only a relative comparison. Other cities are also not safe. It is just that this place is relatively more dangerous.” Pasa was still stubborn, and Igris was already too lazy to pay attention to him.
“So have you checked whether there are other Sunset Sunflowers in Chrisuna’s flower shop? This is the only flower shop in this city, and also the most likely transmission route for them to appear.”
“We will go check. This needs some time, and it would be best to act during the day.”
Distinguishing sunflowers from Sunset Sunflowers was extremely difficult, so even if a specialized investigation were conducted, results might not necessarily be obtained in a short time.
Going out at night was even more extremely dangerous.
“But… even if we know who did it, we still do not have any clues that can point out their specific location.”
“Chrisuna would not disappear into thin air.” Igris supported her chin and slowly said.
“Even if there are few people in the square, if she appeared on the street, she would be noticed. No one would fail to notice such a beautiful lady. But clearly, no one did.”
“So, either she did not walk toward the street, or she never left at all.”
Listening to Igris’s conjecture, Derrien, who had been at the side, could not help but laugh, and very cooperatively clapped.
“Truly worthy of being my assistant. The angle of your thinking is so ingenious… Do you want to look at the clue I found?”
“Of course.” Igris had been reasoning there for quite a while, almost forgetting that she was only an assistant, and the real detective had been watching her perform from the side the whole time.
“Chrisuna once complained to me that there were mice in her flower shop. They would always come out in the middle of the night, sneak-eat the flowers she grew, and make petals scatter all over the floor. Even putting down rat poison did not have much effect. This made her even want to keep a cat specifically to catch mice.” As he said this, he put the pipe into his mouth, chuckled lightly, and continued.
“The sewers?” The conversation between the two was like speaking riddles, and Derrien’s smile also made Igris understand many things.
For example, he knew everything, for example, he was unwilling to say anything.
“This money is really hard-earned.” She turned her head and looked toward Pasa.
“Have your people check carefully, and do not miss the sewers either. Be careful, there may be mice inside.”
Pasa gave the two before him a meaningful look, then stood up from the chair.
“Today’s investigation ends here. Tomorrow we will carry out operations. You two can also rest early. I do not suggest you leave now, so you can stay at the station and wait for dawn before leaving.”
Igris did not care much about this.
After all, sleeping anywhere was still sleeping.
Going home to sleep might mean having to smell that disgusting vampire odor.
She did not want that.
“Officer Pasa, a friendly reminder.” Derrien stood up.
When Pasa turned his head, he also took his pipe out of his mouth and slowly said.
“Being too obsessed with the past will not have any good outcome.”
“I do not need your reminder.” Outside of work, Pasa always spoke so annoyingly.
“Fine, you two can continue arguing here, but I need rest. Can you give me a quieter place?” Igris stretched.
She was indeed tired.
Whether it was those few steps she ran, or the fight with that piece of charcoal, both made her feel somewhat exhausted.
“You can go sleep in the morgue. It is very quiet there.”
It sounded terrifying, but the police station morgue generally would not keep corpses for long.
When there were no cases, it was empty most of the time.
“You can also sleep with me.” Ling blinked at Igris, but what responded to her was Igris’s roll of the eyes.
“Officer, do you really think you are very cute?” Although what Igris said was somewhat hurtful, Ling actually did look quite pretty.
However because of her age and personality, she could hardly be associated with the word cute, this officer seemed especially fond of acting cute.
“I do not know, but I think you probably cannot beat me.”
“What is wrong with you police people?!”
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T/N: Story is giving the vibe of Igris being the only person who has common sense which in turn makes her overpowered.