Chapter 158: A Cliche Love Story

Chapter 158 A Cliche Love Story

Mrs. Lake's workshop;

Cullen sat to one side while Mrs. Lake was applying mortuary makeup to the deceased, her body covered in a faint layer of black as a protective coating, which was the Order purification blessing Cullen had cast upon her.

"Are aberrations all such dangerous entities?" Mrs. Lake asked in a low voice, "My husband rarely spoke to me about these things before, I am sorry, I am somewhat curious."

"You can think of them as people who contracted an infectious disease," Cullen replied, "At least, that is the case for a large portion of them."

"Then Dora and Dorine, do they also count as aberrations?"

"If it were not because their father is an inquisitor, their end would very likely have been purification, the kind that is a very thorough purification process."

"I understand."

Mrs. Lake continued the work in her hands, and Cullen noticed that her tools might not be as good as Aunt Mary's, but in terms of technique, she was not inferior to Aunt Mary in the slightest.

"Madam, how long have you been doing this?" Cullen asked.

"My maternal grandmother, and my mother, both did this."

"Oh, so that is how it is."

Cullen stood up and began to observe this female corpse which had already undergone preliminary processing.

The first area to be processed was certainly the face, because other places could be covered with clothes and accessories, but the face could not.

The meaning of a mortuary makeup artist lay in letting the deceased and their relatives and friends see each other one last time, and the face here meant exactly the face.

The two fangs had already been pulled out by Mrs. Lake and placed on the tray beside her, and at the same time, Mrs. Lake had filled the places where the teeth were pulled out, so that her mouth would look natural after closing.

The skin on the face was pulled and adjusted again, because her expression before death was too hideous, leaving extremely clear creases, and after this treatment, her facial expression could appear somewhat dignified.

In addition, the ten long black nails were also cut short, for when she lay in the coffin during the funeral, her hands would be folded over her lower abdomen, and long black nails would appear unseemly.

"The most difficult part of the work is already over," Mrs. Lake said with a smile, "Next is the makeup and the clothes."

"Mm, truly efficient."

"Thank you for your compliment."

Cullen reached out to pick up one of the extracted fangs, held it before his eyes to examine it closely, and with his prior experience of breaking the ring, Cullen also tried to snap it with both hands, finding it very hard.

Then, he rubbed the tip of the fang back and forth against the steel plate bed, producing a piercing, sharp screech, but when he picked it up again, he found no signs of damage on the tip of the fang.

Being pierced in the neck by this thing to have blood sucked must surely be very uncomfortable.

Cullen put down the fang and picked up one of the clipped long black nails, the blackness within the nail feeling slightly hot to the touch, and Cullen knew clearly this was because there was still a rather dense pollution remaining inside the nail, or to put it more simply, the nail was laced with toxins.

All sorts of signs indicated that this was a relatively mature blood-sucking aberration, and its rank would not be too low.

Because it was recorded in Mr. Hoffen's notes what those low-grade blood-sucking aberrations looked like, those fellows were more like living corpses with an instinctive obsession with fresh blood.

"The teeth, nails, and the things that fell off during processing, find a box specifically to hold them, well, just place it underneath her hands, in this posture."

"Alright, I understand what you mean, these things are very important to her, right?"

"Mm, though it is more to show that we did not steal her things, these teeth and nails still hold some value."

"Like ivory?" Mrs. Lake joked.

"You could say that."

"Thank you for your hard work, needing to stay up all night with me."

"It is not hard, you are the one taking risks to apply mortuary makeup to her."

"I am fine, when covered by this layer of black, I actually have a sense of security in my heart, it is very comfortable."

At this moment, Mrs. Lake looked up, glanced at the radio placed on the workshop cabinet, and asked, "Excuse me, can I use the radio to listen to some songs, that way I can apply makeup faster."

"You can."

Cullen walked over, turned on the radio, and began to tune the frequency band, and after a short while, lyrical singing flowed out.

Mrs. Lake clearly knew what song this was and began to hum along, and the movements of her hands indeed became much faster.

Cullen sat back in his original position, as he could not leave this place now, otherwise the purification protection he gave to Mrs. Lake would be interrupted.

Listening to the song and looking at the corpse of the blood-sucking aberration lying on the steel plate bed before him gradually recovering her "youthful appearance", Cullen fell into deep thought;

When her husband called, he said he had heard that Mr. Pavaro was a good man, so he came to seek Pavaro's help.

Indeed, standing from Pavaro's perspective, facing an aberration who chose suicide before losing herself just so she would not harm ordinary people, it was hard not to give her a little help, such as a decent funeral.

Back when he had just "awakened" Mr. Pavaro, Pavaro looked at Annie lying on the ground, and what he was most concerned about was her funeral.

Her husband actually did not know Pavaro, and it could even be said he had never interacted with him at all, because when Cullen answered the phone and admitted he was Pavaro, the other party believed it, without discerning the difference in voice.

Although the voice timbre would be somewhat distorted during telephone communication nowadays, there was still a very obvious distinction between his voice and Pavaro's voice, and he was not wearing a mask at that time, nor had his timbre changed.

Recently, who told him that Mr. Pavaro was a very good and upright man who would take this job?

With just a slight bluff, the other party actively took up the words, confirming that it was Neo, the captain of the Whip of Order squad, who told him.

Neo knew them, and when Neo faced his plea, Neo also suggested he come find Pavaro, so he came;

He did not even know that Mr. Pavaro actually did not know the "captain" at all.

Because Neo replaced the position of the recently deceased Tyers and was still setting about rebuilding this Order squad, he had never had any real interaction with Pavaro, and the only time they met, Neo was still a cautious clerk by Mion's side.

Therefore, straightening out the whole matter, it was roughly that;

Before the woman lost herself, she chose suicide; the woman's husband pleaded with Neo, wanting to give his wife a decent funeral, and Neo recommended the Pavaro Funeral Parlor to him.

What exactly was the relationship between Neo and this couple?

Was it purely helping to recommend, or did he have other purposes?

"Alright, it is finished," Mrs. Lake said, putting down her tools.

Only then did Cullen realize that he had actually been in deep thought for so long, and Mrs. Lake had even helped the corpse change into a clean set of new clothes, a white dress.

"It is done very well."

"Thank you for your compliment, I would like to go take a shower first now, is that alright?"

"Of course you can."

"You are also hungry now, after I take a shower, I will go prepare late-night snacks for you, without adding sauces."

"Thank you for your trouble."

"No trouble, no trouble at all."

Mrs. Lake walked to the door, and Cullen waved his hand, lifting the purification protection from her body.

After she left, Cullen continued to sit in his original position.

"Young master, young master?"

Cullen heard Alfred's voice, coming from inside the radio.

"Young master, can I come in now?"

"You can."

"Alright, young master, I am coming."

The radio came back alive, picking up the previous melody once more.

It was a good while before Alfred arrived in the backyard with a heavy sack slung over his shoulder, spotting Karen sitting inside the workshop.

"Weren't you just at the entrance?" Karen asked.

"No, I was still driving and nearly here when I called out to you, Young Master."

"You can control it from that far away?"

"It is something I only discovered recently," Alfred said with a smile. "Most likely due to how often I listen to it, I found that the distance from which I can control the radio has suddenly stretched by quite a bit."

"Is everything settled?"

"All taken care of. I bought the scrolls and handed them over to Pu'er and Kevin. At Lemar’s pottery shop, I spent two thousand Order vouchers in total; not only did I replace the previous sack, but I also brought back another large one. Mr. Lemar said that thanks to your prior warning, Young Master, he managed to hoard a batch of Blood Spirit Powder. Now that the supply channels are disrupted, the price on the market has skyrocketed, and he made a handsome profit reselling it, so he gave us a cheap price again this time."

"Just leave the things by the door across the way."

"Understood, Young Master." Alfred set the bag down over there and then walked back. "Young Master, I have looked into that organization in white clothes carrying torches from earlier today. It is a group formed by people who harbor hatred toward illegal immigrants. Their slogan is to use a great fire to burn away all the illegal immigrants who steal their job opportunities and pollute their city.

Organizations similar to this one are actually quite numerous here in Wien."

"Very well, I see."

Only then did Alfred notice the corpse on the steel-framed bed. Stepping closer to inspect it, he said in immediate surprise, "Young Master, is this a Bloodthirsty Aberrant?"

"Yes."

Karen related everything that had happened to Alfred, including his own deductions.

"So, is Young Master now worried that there might be some sort of conspiracy at play?"

"It is too early to call it a conspiracy. I am merely curious about the relationship between Neo and the Bloodthirsty Aberrant."

"And the funeral?"

"The body has already been prepared for the shroud, so it must go on. Since we have already agreed to it, we will put forth our full effort to satisfy the client’s request. Those were the words Diss spoke back then."

"Late-night supper is ready. Oh, who might this be?" Mrs. Lake asked with deep curiosity.

"Madam, you should remember me. Back when I was injured in the explosion, it was you and your husband who drove the hearse to take me to the hospital."

"It is actually you! You are well now?"

"I am well."

"Alfred, thank you for the helping hand you and your husband extended back then. Furthermore, I am the Young Master's servant."

"You... you are his servant." Mrs. Lake recalled Karen saying before that this man was his boss, but she quickly realized she had no need to pry. She simply smiled and nodded, saying, "So that is how it is. No wonder, no wonder."

The supper was simple: vegetable soup paired with cheese and ham burgers. Karen ate two and finished a bowl of soup.

After clearing away the plates, Mrs. Lake excused herself and returned to her room to rest.

Karen and Alfred then returned to the workshop.

"Young Master, actually, the simplest way would be for you to use 'Awakening' to revive her and ask. Wouldn't everything become clear then?"

"What you see now is a corpse that has been prepared. In truth, her state at death was quite hideous. I feel she had already entered the Lost state. Awakening her would only give us one more bloodthirsty lunatic."

"What Young Master says is true. She must have waited until the very last moment before choosing suicide. Who would willingly die unless driven to the absolute final step."

"Alright, let's head home first."

Karen locked up the workshop, keeping the key on his person.

As he walked out, he saw Pick curled up in his bedding in the corner of the shop, snoring away. Under Karen’s instructions, from now on, one person had to stay behind to keep watch every night between Pick and Dincom. Tonight was Pick's turn.

"I did not conceal myself when I walked in, yet he noticed nothing at all," Alfred noted.

"We never expected him to be able to do much anyway. But for this shop, which is left with only a mother and two daughters, having the sound of snoring at night is already a great source of security."

"Young Master speaks truly."

"In a while, once the money on hand is more plentiful, we can remodel the backyard. It is also a hassle to run back and forth between both sides every day."

"Rest assured, Young Master, I will begin planning tomorrow."

"Right, tomorrow you will continue to come along with me to set up the mourning hall."

"Understood, Young Master."

Karen sat inside the car. Just as Alfred was about to start the engine, he noticed a blue sedan driving past. As it crossed the entrance of the funeral parlor, it suddenly slowed down, and finally, it pulled up against the curb and came to a stop.

Alfred halted his hand turning the car key, while Karen reached out and tapped on the car radio.

Soon enough,

Static filled the car radio, and then the static dissipated, giving way to the sound of a man weeping.

He was truly crying, and weeping most sorrowfully. As he wept, he kept calling out a woman’s name:

"Elisa... Elisa... my Elisa..."

Karen reached out to touch his ring, transforming into the appearance of Pavaro. He stepped out of the car and walked straight toward the blue sedan ahead.

Arriving at the passenger side, he saw a man with his face buried against the steering wheel, weeping.

Karen reached out and tapped on the car window. The man was startled and immediately turned his head to look over. At the same time, Karen noticed him reaching into his coat—an action meant to draw a gun.

Needing to draw a gun... meant he was very weak.

Yet for a brief moment, Karen hesitated over whether he should chant a layer of shield in front of himself first.

Nevertheless, Karen pointed his finger toward the funeral parlor across the street instead.

The man seemed to realize who the person before him was. He immediately pulled out the handgun and tossed it onto the passenger seat. Karen opened the car door, picked up the handgun first, and then sat down into the passenger seat.

"Are you Lord Inquisitor Pavaro?" the man asked.

"Mhm."

"Thank you for being willing to help complete my wife's funeral."

The man actually knelt down toward Karen. Although the space inside the car was cramped and small, he still managed to complete the gesture.

"Do you know Captain Neo?"

"Yes, I know Captain Neo. I knew him even before he became a captain. Uh? Your voice?"

The man detected that Pavaro's voice now was different from the one over the telephone.

Karen heard the other man's doubt but had no intention of explaining anything for it, saying directly:

"I want to know the relationship between you and Neo."

"After my wife and I fled from the family, we made our way through various places to Wien. In the past few years, we had been living in Sampu City. At that time, Neo was the Captain of the Whip of Order in Sampu City."

York City was of a different rank, so Neo’s transfer from being the captain of the Sampu City Order squad to York City appeared to be a lateral move, but was in truth a promotion.

"At that time, Captain Neo was investigating a case and was ambushed and injured. It was my wife and I who aided him, and that was how we came to know each other. Later, with his help, my wife was able to delay her time of turning Lost for this long.

If not for him, my wife might have turned Lost as early as two years ago.

After he was transferred to York City, he brought us along with him as well. Moreover, he stated clearly to us that we had to come with him, because he also knew my wife was about to fall into the Lost state, and he could not bear to watch her hunt ordinary people for blood after losing herself."

"When did your wife die?"

"This morning. Neo was present as well."

In the morning…

Cullen recalled that when he had gone up to the office floor to look for Neo, Neo had claimed he too had only just returned.

Yet in truth, he must have returned with Deputy Director Mion far earlier than himself, especially given that he had spent a considerable amount of time earlier getting his God-servant certificate.

"Was your wife's death a suicide?" Cullen asked.

"It was a suicide.