Chapter 9: Vanishing dead body? I'm Sure That's Not Normal

•National Science Academy, 1st Ward•

Ambrose

As Ambrose stood in front of the dead body, he felt his own freeze in fear. He could feel the bile rising up from his stomach, his hands started shaking unconciously and he fought the urge to throw up.

Ambrose was on his way to the academy laboratories that night. Earlier, another missing person case was reported to the Spes Law Firm. His name was Kalix Dyle. A 2nd year student with brown chesnut hair, hazel eyes, and caramel-colored skin.

He was losing time so he decided he had to follow his only lead to get closer to solving the case. After further investigation, Ambrose managed to find out that Emily Stuart volunteered at a dog shelter in the 2nd Ward with her classmate Beatrice Ward the week before school started.

The dog shelter was apparently her last known location. He would have wanted to visit the dog shelter in person but since the academy was a boarding school, they weren't allowed outside the school's borders except during the holidays.

So, Ambrose settled for the next best thing: talking to the head of the volunteer program. He didn't know if it was luck of misfortune but the that person just happened to be his elder sister, Amelia Riese.

He must have taken a wrong turn somehow because the next thing he knew, he was not at the academy laboratories but in front

the old clocktower, with a dead body.

'Kalix Dyle' he thought to himself as he noted his features whuch was identical to theone he saw from the mossing person report.

As the cold evening air bit fiercly against his skin, he felt a chill run up his spine.

"You're the killer..." He muttered

In front of his stood the perspn in question, He gad always thought she was quite a peculiar girl, in more ways than one. But perhaps "dangerous" was the more fitting term.

"H-how could you?!" He could feel the shakiness in his voice. "I trusted you..." he added

Ana massaged her temples and sighed as if annoyed that Ambrose caught her red-handed.

"You've known me for 2 days." She deadpanned implicitly telling him that he was an idiot for blindly trusting a person he just met. Perhaps he was.

"Y-you're under arrest!" He shouted

"You can't arrest me"

"Yes, I can! Article III of the RA 2034 states that civilian arrest may be induced given the following conditions are met:" He started. He may be bad at a lot of things but he was confident in his memory.

"1. You catch the culprit--A.K.A. you-- in the act pf commiting the crime. 2. Of the civilian -- A.K.A me-- is under life-threatening circumstances which--"

Ana him off and raised her hand at him. "You're implying you're life is threatened right now?" She asked.

"You could kill me!" He shouted.

"So you're scared." She scoffed at him. Ambrose tried to reply but Ana started to get closer to the body and proceeded to crouch on the ground right next to the body.

"What are you doing?! "

"I didn't kill him. He was dead when I arrived." She explained.

"You just arrived? You want me to believe you just "arrived" by coincidence in an abandoned building meeters away from the dormitory and in the dead of night which is a prime time and location for a crime. " He crossed his arms.

"A likely story" Sarcasm was evident in his voice.

But he had to admit, it was unlikely that she was the culprit for the other murders around the sanctuary. Which would mean that the academy was completely unrelated to the other murders.

"He fell from the window but apart from broken bones from the fall and a severe skull fracture, he doesn't seem to have any other injuries," Ana explained.

Ambrose gave it a thought. If it was homicide there should have been traces. Wounds, bruises, even scratches that would mean he was assaulted. Unless it was suicide. Which could also be likely.

"It's likely the cause of death was subarachnoid hemorrhage and subdural hematoma" Ana continued

"What?"

"Internal bleeding," Ana answered as if it was the most obvious question.

"So it was suicide?" Ambrose asked.

"No, it was a homicide. I saw the murderer." Ambrose gaped at her.

"You should have said so!"

"You wouldn't have listened" She retorted.

"But he looked gravely wounded. His clothes were bloody and he had a huge gash on his upper arm. Which makes no sense." She continued.

Indeed. It made no sense that the killer was the one badly injured while the victim didn't have a trace of resistance. If she was telling the truth, it would mean the fight was one-sided. The victim could have fought with the killer and the killer in self-defense pushed him out the window.

"Suicide or self-defense. That's the suspected reason for the death." She finished.

"Did you see his face? The killer?"

"Yes." She said grimly

A cold breeze suddenly blew making Ambrose shudder. But her following words made him shudder more. "Valerian."

After a few seconds of silence, Ana said,

"We might find clues in the tower" and with that, they climbed up the stairs.

"Forgive me for asking but why are you so obsessed about this Emily Stuart case?" Ana asked as they reached the top floor.

It was a small room with wooden floors and high ceiling beams. The room smelled like wood and dust. At the center were gears that made the clockwork.

"Have you heard about the sanctuary murders?" Ambrose asked in return.

"You mean the serial killer who kills their victims and gouges out their intestines?" Ana clarified as they started looking for clues.

"I'm afraid Emily might be the first victim from the 1st ward" Ana stopped in her tracks. "What?"

"I'm sure you're aware of this but over the past year, the murders have increased in number. First, it started in the 5th ward gradually travelling towards the inner wards. And finally, the last target would be us: the first ward." Ambrose explained

"But there are dozens of missing people cases each month she must just be one of them."

Ambrose shook his head. "The killer's motive is always the same. First one person goes missing. After a few days, more and more people go missing. Then, dead bodies appear with their insides gouged out or parts of their bodies bitten off--as if a monster had eaten it."

Ana sighed "I guess the Academy is the 1st Ward's weak spot." She was right. Since the academy was extremely exclusive and completely disclosed from the rest of the 1st Ward, security robots from the ward aren't used in the academy--they use their own security system.

After a while of searching Ambrose noticed a tiny object shining from the corner of the room. He picked it up and saw an empty syringe.

"Look" He called to Ana. "Who do you think used it? The victim or the killer?" She asked

"Only one way to find out."

They hurried down the flight of stairs, skipping over a few steps along the way. But the moment they managed to exit the clock tower, the body was gone. Leaving only a pool of red that stained the grass.

"Where is it?" Ana asked in shock.

"He was like dead-dead right?" Ambrose tried to calm himself but to no avail.

"Yes! The last time I checked, someone with a smashed skull with no pulse and no breathing doesn't just go around walking."

"Then, where is it?!" Ambrose asked frantically.

But only the dead silence of the night answered him.

"We have to go see Valerian"