Once she is connected to the nearest gatekeeper, Aezel immediately explains the strange conditions on the highway. However, the possibility of infiltration is not the first thing that comes to the gatekeeper's mind.
[It could be his doing?]
"What are you talking about? Who did what?"
[There's a forensic expert in your group, right? Ask him to check those carcasses first! Try to find out the estimated time of their death! Maybe they are just taking a nap. You never know!]
"I'm dead serious. If you don't believe me, why don't you…"
[I know, I know! I was just joking. Please check their condition first!]
Aezel gets out of the truck and finds that the midibus behind has also stopped, with Elea and the police officer already getting out of it.
Those two look around as they walk toward Aezel. Their faces seem so concerned with the fate of those monsters. But the carcasses' foul pungent smell completely kills their sympathy.
"I never like these ugly dogs' look. And seeing them like this… Wurp!" Elea gags dramatically.
"Officer Barry! Can you check them for me?" Aezel asks.
"Check what? My social media?" The cop replies nonchalantly with a raised eyebrow.
"Their estimated time of death! You are a detective, so you can definitely do it, right?"
"Sure! But only a rough guess. I need a lab for a real deal, and maybe a cup of coffee."
Barry strolls over to the nearest carcass, with Elea trailing behind, curiosity piqued. But her enthusiasm quickly turns to horror as Barry examines the monster's rear end, which looks like it lost a fight with a butcher.
"What the heck? Don't tell me it died from… being raped!"
"I don't think so!" Barry counters, shifting his attention to the other dead monsters. "Look at these poor guys! They have similar wounds, mostly on their weakest spots."
"What do you mean?"
"These Spiky-spine White Fangs have tough skins. Killing them isn't a walk in the park. But it seems like the killer knows so well about their weakest spots; the chest, belly, and oh boy, this butthole."
"So you think this is done by someone from inside the city?" Aezel asks with a serious tone.
"The job of a local nutcase?" Elea follows with a squint.
The previous detective gets up only to give Elea a serious nod. "Most likely yes! And it's done directly by a sharp object, like a sword or something like that!"
Elea grimaces at the thought. She's had her share of unfortunate encounters, but this one is definitely off her menu. Barry, sensing her discomfort, gives her an expressionless nod, as if to say, "Welcome to the club."
"What about the estimated time of their death?" Aezel interjects.
"About 30 to 36 hours," the detective concludes confidently, as if he just solved a murder mystery.
"So, it's Saturday night, huh? Party time?"
"Yes, around 10pm to 4am, prime monster-hunting hours!"
With that juicy tidbit, Aezel rushes back to the truck to relay the news to the previous gatekeeper over the radio. And…
[Just as I thought!]
"So it's really done by an insider, and you know who the culprit is?"
[I don't know the name, but maybe you know the person.]
"What do you mean?"
"He is an Ezlenmir student, looks skinny, around 170 cm. He had messy dirty hair, maybe brown or gray, I'm not so sure since it was quite dark that time.]
"Was he alone?"
[Yes! He said he was doing some kind of training by fighting the Spiky-spine White Fangs and almost died because of it. Not his first late-night adventure, either. I believe he was the same guy to go out there the night before. It could be one of those Seed A kids. Just looking at him gives me the creeps!]
This clarification puts Aezel in a deep thought as she looks at the monster carcasses scattered in front of the truck like a bad yard sale. There are too many for just one Ezlenmir student to handle in a solo raid. She herself isn't sure whether she could pull it off.
After all, Seed A students aren't that many and she knows each one of them. She can't imagine any of them being able to scare a Fracklosk gatekeeper - who is actually a professional soldier - with just a look in the eyes.
"Please go visit Ezlenmir garden and find that guy! We need to make sure this wasn't an outsider's work."
[Okay! My night shift is almost over. I'll check it out as soon as someone takes over.]
After wrapping up the call, Aezel hops out of the truck to share the intel with Elea and Officer Barry. Naturally, Elea finds the gatekeeper's story hard to swallow.
"Are you sure this is done by an Ezlenmir student? Sound like a plot twist of a bad movie if you ask me!"
"Well, I've told them to investigate. But we can't just hang out here forever. We need to reach the Reflecting Valley before dark. Or else we'll be the stars of our own horror flick."
Elea and the detective nod in agreement and head back to the bus. Aezel strides over to the truck, half-shouting at Oughan to clean up some of the carcasses.
"Why not just run over them? It's more efficient!" Oughan whines.
"No thanks! If you run them over, the stench will follow us all the way to Flemur," Aezel shoots back as she approaches him.
But as she passes the truck, she suddenly stops and glances at the truck bed on her left side. Curiosity piqued, she rushes to the back of the truck to check on the situation. There she finds Irvine snoozing like a baby.
She squints suspiciously. With whatever mischievous thought springs to mind, she slams the truck body, waking Irvine with a start.
"Enemy! Where's the enemy?" Irvine yells, drawing his army knife like he is ready to take on a dragon.
His face looks so pale, showing so much fear because of the shock. But that look doesn't last long when he spots Aezel's unimpressed gaze.
"Uh, sorry! I fell asleep! So, we've reached Flemur?"
"We haven't even hit Morbid District yet! Get over here! We've got a monster traffic jam!"
In fact, he was actually just faking his sleep earlier for a reason. And now, he keeps his innocent and ignorant look.
He doesn't forget to show his shocked reaction when finding the monster mayhem that are actually the result of his own doing.
"Wooa! What happened to these monsters? Did I miss the party?"
"An unknown Ezlenmir student turned them into training dummies!"
"That's wild! It never crossed my mind that there would be a student like that at the academy. What's next? A Seed A student wrestling with Ifrit?"
"And they also said it was done by some guy with messy gray hair," Aezel adds, raising an eyebrow.
At that moment, Irvine slowly turns his attention to Aezel, and finds her staring sharply with suspicions, giving a look that clearly says "you better not hiding anything from me!"