Jacob stared blankly at the crowd. All the people were between two houses, in a tiny alley used to put clothes to dry on top clothing lines.
The barrier of hanging clothes had blood splatters all over. A half-naked body lay there. Its throat had been ripped, and its belly had been torn apart.
More than one person had started crying and vomiting, with most doing both at the same time.
Jacob knew that this would turn ugly any second now.
"Auntie, go home and start cultivating. I'll tell people you felt too sick."
His aunt Linda had a pale face and discolored lips. Seeing a corpse for the first time had deeply shaken her to her core.
"Please, auntie, go. We need you to get stronger."
Jacob almost pushed her aunt Linda away from the scene. But, instead, she started stumbling and began sauntering toward their place like a ghost.
We need power.
Not even a minute later, he heard many shoes batting the ground and saw Luis Albert and his clique heading towards the scene. They had horrified faces but also a solemn and judgemental composure.
They already feel like the owners of this place.
During the change, many rose to fame and leadership. Naturally inclined people would sweep up all the power and lead humanity through this dark age. However, some of them just wanted power for the sake of it; they were not interested in the wellbeing of their fellows but just in exerting control over people.
Jacob had a deep hate for the cowardly principal. The guy was trying hard not to vomit. He failed when he leaned to the side and emptied the content of his stomach.
Jacob ignored those idiots and started looking, really looking this time, at the body.
Vanessa, a senior.
The corpse belonged to one of the most beautiful girls in his school. Vanessa was a redhead with crystal clear blue eyes. She had been sought after by many, but she had always been focused on school and sports.
In the school beauty hierarchy, she had been second, or third, at most.
The corpse had ripped pants and, even if slightly hidden from the rest of the liquid, blood between her legs.
Sh*t. This did not happen in my past life. Something has already changed.
There were no charred marks on the body; that meant the fireball they saw before came from someone else.
"What the hell is happening?" Luis Albert murmured, looking at the corpse. Right after, a very common reaction took place.
"Damn it, who is the monster who did such a thing?" he screamed.
You should never lose that much composure if you want to be the leader. No matter how big or horrifying the problem is.
Anger. It was a simple reaction and all it took to show that you had no control over what was happening.
"Has… anyone seen anything?! We have to find who did it!" Luis Albert shouted after a second.
People started murmuring in little groups and put some distance between them and him. Everyone was afraid of being falsely accused.
The fireball must have come from Vanessa. That means there was an altercation, and she could already summon some Mana. Unfortunately, I cannot examine her body in the open, so I have no idea what her body strength was like. If she had already discovered her Qi too, it's unlikely that anyone below the Cockroach realm 2nd or 3rd level could have done anything to her.
Jacob approached Luis Albert.
"Principal, my aunt felt very sick after seeing…" Jacob acted lost and pointed the hand toward the body, "that… Could you send someone to check on her?"
The principal looked at him with confusion in his eyes. Poor bastard had no idea of what to do. Jacob had decided to play some pity card and try to weasel his way into the future investigation.
He got no response, but he also just created an alibi for his aunt's departure. In fact, admitting it upfront would guarantee him more credibility. Jacob sorely needed his aunt to get strong enough to act as a deterrent for both. Without any power, they would likely end up dead soon.
The killer is a cold-blooded bastard. There are clear signs of him cleaning his face and hands in order to avoid dripping blood all over. If I must make a guess, he just took his clothes off, mostly, and went for the forest. He's going to loop back to his place, but first, he will get rid of whatever he's wearing: there is no way someone would bring his bloodied clothes back to their place. Not unless they are incredibly dumb, I guess.
"Goddammit, kid, back away from the corpse!" Luis Albert told Jacob.
The principal had a clear look of frustration on him: he had no idea where to start from.
"Principal, are you going to scour the woods?"
Luis Albert turned toward him to reprimand him but then frowned.
"Scour the woods…?" the principal muttered.
"Yeah, that's the only way the murderer could have gone. We came from the street. If we go in groups, we may very well catch him while he tries to go back to his place", another guy offered from the crowd.
Thank God people watch crime shows all day. Come on, you dimwit, take the hint.
"Let's divide into groups of threes and catch this bastard," Luis Albert said as if he had had the idea.
Well, town hall meeting has just gone to shit, uh? This bastard didn't even recognize his student. He barely has a hundred students in his school and doesn't know their names nor faces.
Jacob left the place while absorbing more Three-Colored Stalk's energy from his blood and flesh.
There's a big chance they won't be able to catch that person. Or, if they do, whoever did that might just kill his pursuers.
They will make him nervous, in any case. So whatever comes from the search, it will still make the killer more prone to make mistakes.
If things took a wrong turn, Jacob was ready to face the killer himself. He might not have any talent and just be in the 1st level of the Cockroach realm for now, but he could probably take any idiot in the first Great Stage of the realm without any real problem if it came to it.
While going back home, he found Joseph sitting on a porch.
"Jacob, I have to talk to you."
He looked ragged, and he had some blood on his hands.