The smell of disinfectant was overwhelming.
It hurt—every breath he took brought pain.
*Who am I?*
I am Zhou Xun…
No,
I am Orpheus.
Orpheus slowly opened his eyes. The sunlight was too blinding, forcing him to shut them again.
After a long while, he gradually adapted to the brightness and tried once more.
He saw white sheets, a white blanket, and the blue-and-white hospital gown he was wearing. Sitting at the foot of his bed, doing homework, was his cousin Mina.
Mina seemed to sense something and turned her head to look at him. When she saw that Orpheus had opened his eyes, she quickly covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes.
Immediately, she kicked her younger brother Lent, who was also doing homework beside her, causing him to fall over.
"Brother's awake! Brother's awake! Lent, go get the doctor, quick!"
"O-Okay!"
Lent scrambled to his feet, abandoning his homework as he bolted out of the room.
"Brother, are you feeling alright?" Mina asked, her voice full of concern.
"Water… water…"
Orpheus's lips felt painfully dry, as if touching them could peel the skin right off.
"Okay, brother."
Mina quickly brought over a cup of water with a straw and held it up to his mouth.
Orpheus bit down on the straw and began drinking.
When he was done, he opened his mouth, and Mina wiped his face with a damp cloth.
At that moment, Lent returned, bringing a doctor with him.
The doctor first checked Orpheus's condition, then unwrapped the bandages around his chest to examine the wound. Smiling, he nodded and said,
"You're lucky, young man. Though the wound was deep, it didn't damage your spleen. Really fortunate."
Orpheus gave a faint nod in response.
The doctor gave some instructions to the nurse—probably regarding the changing of dressings—before turning to Orpheus again,
"Make sure to get plenty of rest. Now that you're awake, we'll monitor you for a couple of days, and then you should be good to go home."
"Thank you, doctor," Mina said on Orpheus's behalf.
"You're welcome."
With that, the doctor and nurse left the room.
Orpheus tried to sit up, and seeing this, Mina and Lent rushed to help, one on each side, until he was propped up with two pillows behind him.
"Mina, how long have I been asleep?"
"Two days. The doctor said you lost a lot of blood."
"I see."
Orpheus gently rotated his neck. As long as he avoided his chest wound, the rest of his movements were relatively unrestricted.
"Officer, you can't smoke in here—this is a hospital room!"
"I'm not smoking; it's a pipe."
"Well, you can't smoke a pipe either—"
"I haven't lit it. Now move aside."
Chief Duke walked in, laughing heartily,
"I just got to the hospital and heard from the doctor that you woke up."
"Chief…"
Chief Duke pulled a chair over and sat beside Orpheus's bed.
"You were right. Absolutely right. The killer really is as dumb as a post. If we hadn't spent so long identifying the first victim, we would've caught them much sooner."
Orpheus looked at Chief Duke and asked,
"Mrs. Hughes…?"
"I'm sorry. By the time my team arrived at Hughes' crematorium office, you were already tied to a chair with a knife in your chest." Chief Duke mimicked the motion with his hands. "The only thing to be grateful for is that you were still alive when we got there. We managed to get you to the hospital in time."
He sighed before continuing,
"Unfortunately, our arrival must have startled Mrs. Hughes. She escaped, and we couldn't catch her."
"Sigh…" Orpheus let out a deep sigh of his own.
"I heard the whole story from your aunt. That woman was a lunatic, going after the people closest to her!"
Orpheus nodded in agreement.
"Any idea where she might've gone?"
Orpheus shook his head in response.
"Lunatic. She's a lunatic!" Chief Duke repeated the word, emphasizing how irrational Mrs. Hughes had been.
Since the chief had already dealt with the madness of Mrs. Hughes, he saw no need to further analyze the case. There was no sense in overanalyzing someone so senseless.
"I talked to the doctor about your condition. You'll be fine with some rest and recovery," Chief Duke said as he lightly patted Orpheus on the cheek.
"Most importantly, that handsome face of yours is intact. Thank God for that."
Orpheus turned his head away, clearly unimpressed with the chief's comment.
"Hahaha!" Chief Duke stood up, still laughing.
"The warrant's already out. Thankfully, the press hasn't gotten wind of this case, so there's no extra pressure on the department. Once you're better, I'd like to discuss your methods of analysis. I was really impressed."
"Sure thing, Chief."
"Alright, I'll be on my way then."
The chief was always in a rush, not even sticking around to peel an apple.
However, as soon as Chief Duke stepped out the door, he ran into someone.
"Huh, what are you doing here?" Chief Duke asked.
"We're here to ask some questions," a man's voice replied.
"What's there to ask?"
"We didn't want to come either, but it's our job." This time, it was a woman's voice.
Shortly after, a man in a gray wool coat with a hooked nose entered the room, followed by a woman in a gray dress.
Orpheus immediately recognized them. They were the same pair he'd encountered the day he left the Crown Ballroom and hailed a cab—the same woman who had mentioned "demons."
The hooked-nose man flashed a badge at Orpheus, but he retracted it before Orpheus could properly read it and then sat down.
Chief Duke stood at the door, observing the situation.
"Mr. Orpheus, first of all, congratulations on waking up. I also wish you a speedy recovery."
"Thank you."
Orpheus noticed that from the moment the man fixed his gaze on him, he had been scrutinizing his every move—watching his hands, his throat, his eyes. He was paying close attention to Orpheus's subtle gestures.
But what he didn't realize was that Orpheus was an expert in this field himself.
On top of that, after the intense scrutiny he had endured from Alfred, this guy's attempts at observation felt amateurish.
"Mr. Orpheus, may I ask—during your interactions with Mrs. Hughes, did you notice anything strange about her?"
Orpheus's face twisted with a hint of disbelief.
"She did this to me. Isn't that strange enough?"
"No, I mean outside of the fact that she's the culprit. Did you notice anything… unusual about her?"
"Yes."
The hooked-nose man's eyes sharpened at this answer, and the woman behind him immediately opened her notebook, ready to jot down notes.
"She was remarkably stupid for a killer."
"Pfft!" Chief Duke, who was still standing in the doorway, let out a loud snort.
The hooked-nose man's mouth twitched slightly as he tried to formulate a response. After a moment, he continued,
"What I mean is, did she display any unusual behaviors? For example, during her attack on you, did her appearance or voice make you feel like she was someone else?"
Orpheus's mind flashed back to the moment when Mrs. Hughes tried to kill him—the changes in her appearance, the black mark…
But he shook his head.
"Sir—"
"You can call me Roddy."
"Alright, Mr. Roddy, I really don't know what you're asking. Your questions are confusing me. All I can tell you is that I drove my aunt home that evening, and on the way, Mrs. Hughes offered to help me 'say goodbye' to my virginity."
"I couldn't resist, so I agreed, and we went to the crematorium."
"Why not her house?" Roddy asked.
"She said it'd be more exciting there."
Orpheus deliberately crafted his response to highlight Mrs. Hughes's character.
Lent blushed furiously beside him, while Mina shyly lowered her head.
Roddy glanced at his female assistant, who nodded and noted everything down.
"Then she told me she'd teach me some things, asked me to sit on a chair, and I complied."
"And you just let her?" Roddy seemed puzzled.
"She said that if I let her, she'd… well… you know…"
Roddy was momentarily at a loss for words.
Orpheus continued,
"Mr. Roddy, I know this sounds ridiculous. Normally, I'm a very composed person, but at that moment, I realized my brain had stopped working. I was acting on pure instinct, doing whatever she told me, just hoping the next step would come faster."
Chief Duke nodded from the doorway. "Men, right? Totally understandable."
The woman in the gray dress lowered
her head and whispered into Roddy's ear,
"Is that really how it happened, Captain?"
Roddy didn't respond but instead asked another question,
"And then she attacked you?"
"No, she said she wanted to create a masterpiece. Originally, she planned to use my aunt as the model, but since I was the one who brought her home, I became the substitute."
"Then she started talking a lot about the composition of the piece and kept asking for my input."
"And then?"
"She stabbed me in the chest. I watched myself bleed while she kept talking about the composition. After that, I passed out and woke up here in this hospital room."
Roddy nodded and stood up. It seemed like the questioning was over.
Orpheus had no intention of steering the conversation toward "demons" when it came to Mrs. Hughes. That would only bring trouble—not just to him but to the entire Immerles family. It was better to let this end as a twisted serial murder case.
Well, not exactly "end." The police would continue their search for Mrs. Hughes—unless, of course, they somehow managed to open Mrs. Molly's stomach.
Or rather, Mrs. Molly didn't have a stomach.
Roddy turned to leave but suddenly paused, looking back at Orpheus with a smile.
"Mr. Orpheus, you're quite young. I'm curious—how did you come to develop such a keen sense of psychological analysis?"
"I learned it."
"From whom?"
"A friend. I've always been interested in psychology. I had mild autism as a child, so I tried to pull myself out of it by reading psychology books, with guidance from my friend…"
"Which friend?"
"That would be me."
At the door, a figure appeared—it was Piaget. Dressed in casual clothes, he still managed to exude the elegance of nobility.
"And you are?" Roddy looked at Piaget.
"I'm Orpheus's friend. He's a very talented young man when it comes to psychology. Here's my card."
Roddy took the card, and when he saw the surname on it, his eyes narrowed slightly.
"Your father is…?"
"Compa Adams."
Minister of Energy and Development for the Kingdom of Ruran.
"Is your questioning over? My friend just woke up, and I think he needs rest, not more questions."
"We're done here."
Roddy left the room, his gray-skirted assistant following closely behind.
Chief Duke waved goodbye to Orpheus and also made his exit.
Piaget approached Orpheus, smiling.
"My friend, I heard about your ordeal yesterday. I prayed to God for your swift recovery, and it seems my prayers were answered."
"Thank you, Piaget."
"Oh, and here."
Piaget handed Mina a thermos.
"Please get a bowl and spoon and feed this to your brother later."
"Of course, sir," Mina replied.
Piaget turned back to Orpheus and, lowering his voice, said,
"It's a herbal chicken soup, a tonic."
Herbal remedies had been used by many ancient civilizations and passed down through tradition.
When Mina opened the thermos, the fragrant aroma of chicken and herbs filled the room.
Orpheus had never appreciated the thick soups his Aunt Mary and Aunt Winnie made at home, but this one smelled almost like a perfect chicken stew.
"Did you make it?" Orpheus asked curiously.
Piaget smiled and shook his head.
"I had Linda 'wake up.' She controlled my body to cook it. You know I'm hopeless in the kitchen."
"Heh," Orpheus chuckled.
Perhaps such eerie topics could only be discussed so casually between the two of them.
"By the way, I heard from your family that you dropped out of high school?"
"Yeah, because of my psychological issues—autism."
*Ah, autism. The universal excuse.*
"What a shame. Once you're feeling better, would you consider going back to school? I mean university. If you can pass the entrance exam, I can write you a recommendation letter."
The weight of a recommendation letter from someone like Piaget was undoubtedly immense. Orpheus had noticed the shift in Roddy's expression when he heard Piaget's last name. Clearly, Piaget's background was much more than just a university psychology professor.
"I'd have to discuss it with my family. You know, I still need to make money for them."
Piaget looked puzzled.
"Money? Why would you need money?"
"..." Orpheus didn't know how to respond to that. Although the Immerles family wasn't exactly poor, compared to Piaget's wealth, they were practically paupers.
"Apologies," Piaget said, realizing his mistake.
"You can discuss it with your family. And if money ever becomes an issue, feel free to come to me for help."
"Thank you."
True friends are the ones who offer to lend you money unprompted, regardless of the era or situation.
"Take care. I'll be heading out now."
"Safe travels."
After Piaget left, Mina spoon-fed Orpheus the chicken soup, which he eagerly drank. It tasted exquisite.
When he couldn't finish the rest, he had Mina and Lent share the remaining soup and chicken between them.
Afterward, Orpheus took a nap.
When he awoke, he felt someone touching him.
Opening his eyes, he saw his Aunt Mary by his bed. She had pulled back his blanket, and his pants had been removed.
Perhaps due to his injuries, Orpheus had slept deeply earlier.
Aunt Mary's eyes were red and puffy from crying. Realizing that Orpheus was awake, she quickly explained,
"Don't move. I'm just giving you a sponge bath. You can't take a proper shower right now, and you've always been so clean."
"Thank you, Auntie."
"No need to thank me, Orpheus. You took this pain for me. If I hadn't insisted on dragging you out for barbecue that day, none of this would've happened…"
At this, Aunt Mary began to cry again.
"Everything's fine now, Auntie. You're okay, and that's all that matters. Really, I'm fine."
"Don't say that, Orpheus. Just lie down and rest. I'm so sorry."
"Really, Auntie, it's nothing."
"Just lie down, dear."
And so Orpheus lay still, letting Aunt Mary wash him.
He felt perfectly at peace—no awkwardness at all—because this was the care of a family elder.
And she was quite skilled at it.
He didn't need to wonder how she had become so good at it.
Later that afternoon, Aunt Mary stayed with him, feeding him some fruit.
But finally, after Orpheus insisted, she agreed to take Mina and Lent home. Mina and Lent had school the next day, and the family business couldn't run without her.
Besides, this was a VIP hospital room. The call button next to his bed ensured that nurses would come to take care of his every need—eating, drinking, even going to the bathroom. There was no need to hire a private nurse, although the cost of this service was higher than hiring one.
That evening, Orpheus asked a nurse for a newspaper to pass the time.
The kind nurse also brought him a novel she had been reading.
Orpheus quickly lost interest in the newspaper and found himself absorbed in the novel.
It was a Mary Sue romance novel.
The funny thing was—he found it oddly captivating.
Late at night, the door to his hospital room opened.
A black cat darted in, jumping onto the bed.
And right behind it came Dies.
Orpheus licked his lips and tried to sit up straighter.
Dies approached his bedside.
"Does it still hurt?"
"It's fine. The doctor said the wound missed anything vital," Orpheus replied with a smile.
Perhaps he should fear Dies. After all, that night, without warning, Dies had stabbed him in the chest with a knife.
But then again, he had no reason to fear Dies—he was still alive, wasn't he?
"What would you like to eat?" Dies asked.
"I heard that cat stew is great for healing wounds."
"..." Puer.
Dies chuckled and walked over to the window.
Puer glared at Orpheus, who simply glared back.
"Orpheus."
"Yes, Grandpa." Orpheus immediately turned his attention back to Dies.
"You must have a lot of questions."
"I do."
"Do you want to ask them?"
"I've never been sure if I should."
For a long time, Orpheus had feared that asking the wrong questions would force Dies's hand, and he'd end up dead.
But that night, when he and Alfred and Mrs. Molly had stood by the window, staring down at Dies, that fear had already shattered like broken glass.
Now, he felt a strange sense of relief. Dies had already stabbed him once, after all.
"Next time, if you sense danger and I'm not home, make sure to take Puer with you when you leave."
"Yes, Grandpa. I understand."
"This time, if it hadn't been for the two at 128, you would've died."
"Yes, Grandpa."
Dies
sighed deeply, his gaze still fixed on the window.
"The mistake I made… should be ended by me."
Turning around, Dies looked directly at Orpheus.
"No one else has the right to interfere."