They returned to the gate where they had first emerged. Without pause, Lai Tan and Feiyun Xing teleported to the southern entrance of the kingdom. With any luck, the culprit was in the outermost ring—if not, they’d be forced to comb through every district.

  Following the compass’s pull, the prince glanced around, taking in his surroundings. This part of the kingdom was worse than he had ever imagined. The air reeked of horse dung, sweat, and mud. Beggars huddled in corners, slaves trudged past with vacant eyes, and even the cultivators looked worn down and destitute. He had known it would be bad—but not like this.

  “Look,” Lai Tan said, leaning over to nudge his arm. “The needle’s pointing at that kid.”

  The prince followed the direction. A small girl, no more than ten or eleven, sat by a crooked stall, her clothes damp and ragged, clutching a pouch in her lap.

  “A child?” His brows furrowed. “You’re joking.”

  “Doesn’t matter if it’s a child or not.” Lai Tan slipped off his horse. “Anyone can do terrible things.”

  After a heavy sigh, the prince swung down from his mount. “So, what’s your plan for questioning her?”

  “You’ll see.” He pulled out the crystal-clear orb as they approached the girl.

  “Hello, my name is Lai Tan, and this is Feiyun Xing,” the investigator said lightly. “Is your name Ren Lin?”

  Hesitantly her small head nodded. No reaction from the orb.

  “Good. I'll be direct.” He glanced at the prince, who gave a curt nod. “Did you kill the princess?”

  Little Ren's throat tightened, but her master's warning echoed in her mind. She shook her head.

  The orb flared to life—bright and damning.

  “A lie?” The prince's eyebrow arched as he studied the Core.

  “Yes. So, either she killed her or believes she did.”

  “Believes?”

  “The orb reads belief, not truth.”

  “I see…” Feiyun Xing crouched to the child's level. “How did you kill her?”

  “With a Core.” The words came through gritted teeth. She turned her head away.

  “But you're mortal. How could you possibly use a Core?”

  Little Ren's eyes blazed with fury. “Does it matter?! I killed the worst of the worst! Now people like me will matter too!”

  His hands shot out to the child's shoulders, gripping. “The worst of the worst. Who are you to spout such bullshit?!”

  Tears spilled down Little Ren's cheeks.

  Lai Tan's hand locked around the prince's wrist. “Enough.” He pulled him back firmly. “This child may have been manipulated. Or another Ren Lin did it.”

  Shakily, Feiyun Xing inhaled slowly. “How so?”

  “Let’s say another Ren Lin killed your sister. And then what if they… gaslighted the kid into believing that she was the one who did it.”

  “Why would someone do that? It would only do good if they knew you were coming.”

  The investigator shrugged and clicked the compass. “There’s only one more. We have nothing to lose by going.”

  The prince stared. "Only two? In a population of how many?"

  “Approximately sixty million.”

  A beat of silence.

  “...That was rhetorical.”

  “Ah.”

  An awkward pause stretched between them.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Finally, Feiyun Xing cleared his throat. “Let's find the other Ren Lin. Perhaps she's our true culprit.”

  Gradually, the yellow shining ball in the sky started losing its proud personality. It sank down, hiding in a pink fog while another circle of light began taking over.

  While Lai Tan and Feiyun Xing arrived—the people entered the end of the day. Children getting called back by their moms, and owners closing their shops.

  The compass guided them through it all. Past a woman selling prayer candles. Past a butcher with red-streaked hands. Past a pair of drunks laughing too loudly. And finally—to a small worn-out house of poverty.

  A faint flicker of light spilled from the crack beneath the door.

  “That’s our destination,” Lai Tan yawned.

  Feiyun Xing stepped forward and knocked. Firm. Three times.

  A pause.

  Soft footsteps.

  The door creaked open.

  There she stood—framed in the dim light, tall and poised. With bamboo sandals, a black ordinary robe, a bronze tag, and her eyes shined green. The scent of paper and ink drifted out, clashing with the market’s greasy smoke.

  The prince froze.

  She was so beautiful. Not in the way of palace ladies with their superficial perfection, but like a blade unsheathed—dangerous, quiet. Her gaze swept over him, lingering on Lai Tan’s compass before settling back.

  “Can I help you?” Her voice was smooth, edged with a hint of mockery beneath its courtesy.

  Lai Tan stepped forward, blocking Feiyun Xing’s view. “Did you kill Princess Feiyun Qingru?”

  A flicker of amusement. “No.”

  The liar’s orb Core in Lai Tan’s palm didn’t shine. It was the truth.

  “So it was the little girl…”

  “Or a third party.” The investigator mumbled.

  Feiyun Xing’s gaze dropped to the ground, his expression worn. The weight of the last few days pushed his shoulders down, turning his silence into something thick and suffocating. If it was manipulation, things would be hard to figure out.

  “It seems like you two had a long trip, would you like to rest here for a while?”

  “Hm...” Feiyun Xing began; even though he was lacking sleep, he wasn’t lacking caution. “I can’t sense any essence from you. Yet you have a tag?”

  Ren Lin thought carefully, an answer that she believed to be true and wasn’t suspicious. “Sadly, this world put obstacles into my cultivation… sigh, it was over before it started.”

  The orb Core was unchanged, understanding this, the prince’s heavy eyes softened. “I’m sorry to hear that, a First Order getting crippled is truly a shame.”

  “I can live with it. I’ll fetch some water for you both—make yourselves at home in this humble place.” Ren Lin made way for them and then went to the well.

  Without further delay Lai Tan brushed past her. Of course he didn’t hesitate. The investigator was a man of impulse, of motion. “Don’t mind if I do,” he mumbled. As though the room already belonged to him.

  But the prince? He stood there for a bit longer, not as a prince, not as anyone meant to rule or command, simply as a man. Tired, grieving, and unsure of himself. The title felt like a costume now, something absurd and heavy in the doorway of a peasant’s home. What was a crown worth here? No, rather what was a crown worth to himself?

  His feet moved, following Lai Tan inside.

  The air was thick with the scent of old poems and cheap candle smoke. Before she came, Lai Tan plopped on the chair and stored his Core. Similarly, by the desk, Feiyun Xing’s fingers grazed the scattered pages.

  “So,” Ren Lin said, arriving with two mugs. “Why the question? Why ask me if I killed the princess?”

  Feiyun Xing’s throat tightened. He said nothing. He couldn’t…

  Thus, Lai Tan spoke, only mentioning the essentials. The princess’s disappearance. The desperate search. The beggar girl, and the name that had surfaced—Ren Lin. However, he couldn’t help but wonder if the two Ren Lins had a connection.

  At the mention, Ren Lin’s brow furrowed in what appeared to be quiet confusion. She let Lai Tan finish, then calmly offered an explanation of her own. About the girl—a starving child she’d pitied, nameless and forgotten. Out of compassion, she’d taken her in and named her. Sadly, she found a dark side in her. At times she seemed to be attentive, behaving… At other times she had disturbing thoughts—like she had two personalities. So Ren Lin made the hard decision to throw her out.

  It made sense. A tragedy. A name passed from one lost soul to another.

  Lai Tan nodded, absently tapping his finger on the wood. For him, it was late and his job was done.

  Still standing, the prince’s gaze fell to the desk. Just paper, ink, more noise in a noisy world. But then… one page. A poem, or almost. It was more of a mess:

  “Out of

  Nowhere.

  Red and sharp.

  Shattered on the ground!

  Shattered for me?

  A weight then,

  Absent noise, absent thoughts,

  Absent except for what happened—

  Out of

  Nowhere.”

  He read it once. Then again. Something inside him surfaced.

  It was the page where Ren Lin let out her emotions.

  His shoulders shook, once, twice—he bowed his head, his fingers scratched the desk turning into fists, his arms leaned against the desk as if they were the only thing keeping him upright. A single sob slipped through—quiet, then louder.

  Both of them turned to him.

  His jaw clenched—tight, but it didn’t stop the sting behind his eyes. He needed to be strong. He should be… but he couldn’t. As if he were a wounded animal, his body turned slightly to shield himself, but it was too late.

  He was crying.

  Not when he found her body. Not when he rode through the woods in silence, her name stuck in his throat. But now.

  He pressed his palm to his face, then both hands, trying to stop it, but it didn’t matter. The structure had found something raw, buried and tore it open without asking.

  For a moment, no one moved. Lai Tan shifted uneasily, awkwardly, he was an investigator, he could interrogate, he did many times, he killed, and he analyzed. But against a wounded soul, even he failed to win.

  However, Ren Lin did not look away.

  Composed, but not distant, her face remained still. No. In that stillness was a terrible intimacy, a knowledge born of her own countless nights spent choking on silence. She stood—not hurriedly, not delicately, but with a sort of quiet inevitability, like a truth rising from the dark.

  Dark Resurrection: Shadows of Nekrom

  by SOMBRAcorpDT

  "... Even if I'm devoured, even if my body is torn apart, even if my head is ripped off, and even if my heart stops… I'll come back from Death. Such is my fate."

  [Death and Resurrection], capable of bending the fabric of space and time in order to bring Tristessa back to life.

  Points of interest:

  ?? Dark High Fantasy. The story is going to be brutal, with gore, extreme violence, psychological horror and uncomfortable topics. Be aware about it.

  ???? LitRPG and Soulsborne genre. No System. Statistics appear from "Chapter 76 - Divinity of the Dark Room" onward.

  ?? Slow-burn progression. Very weak MC. Acquiring skills and progressing comes with its share of suffering and pain. Nothing is free in Nekrom.

  ?? Lots of worldbuilding and lore. Currently creating a map of the world with the Inkarnate app!

  ?? Some romance here and there. That be Het, GL, BL, it doesn't really matter since characters try to grasp some happiness amidst a very bad context. (Also no harem, but our lovely MC is a greedy teenager with a big, troubled heart. Keep that in mind).

  ?? Release schedule: Monday-Wednesday-Friday, at 15:30 UTC. The average is about 1000-1500 words/chapter, but once in a while I'll release a 2500-3000 words chapter if the gods of literature are willing.