Chapter 251: The Convergence of Fate
In East Tuck County, due to its proximity to the capital Beckland and a relatively prosperous coastline, the overall economic level is quite good, and daily public security is relatively stable.
However, today, an explosion occurred on a steam train arriving from Beckland at the train station, resulting in hundreds of casualties among passengers, including the mysterious disappearance of an earl.
This incident has mobilized the entire East Tuck County police department, the Night Watchers, the Punishers, and members of the Heart of Machinery.
Crestai Sesima no longer concealed his identity. As one of the three leaders of the Red Gloves squad, he took over the local Night Watchers team and was responsible for coordinating this incident.
After working from dawn to dusk, he finally obtained the information he wanted.
"All statistics are complete. A total of 42 people died in this incident, 90 were injured, and currently, twelve people are missing."
"The identities of these twelve people have also been investigated: Morey Lahan, Leia John, Hastur Campbell..."
Crestai Sesima silently listened to the report and then instructed the local police to start investigating the whereabouts of these people, but not to alarm them too much, just to find out their hiding places.
...
A few kilometers away from the train station, in a luxurious hotel on North Street.
On the second floor, in a large luxurious room, Hastur stood by the window, watching the patrolling police officers on the street.
"Meow."
aisala walked along the window and also lay by the window, staring outside, occasionally glancing at a small tuft of her fur that had been singed.
During the previous train explosion, Hastur had taken a slight risk to leave the escort team in the fire.
The price was that aisala's tail was almost burned, but fortunately, only a small tuft of fur was singed by the high temperature.
As for the goods on the train, Hastur didn't care much. He had already carried all his 500,000 gold pounds with him, and the items on the carriage were just daily necessities, not very valuable.
After quietly leaving the train station, Hastur took a carriage to this hotel and checked in, deliberately hiding his identity to avoid being discovered.
Now, the track from East Tuck County to Southwell County has been destroyed, and it will take some time to fully repair. He planned to purchase some items in East Tuck County and then secretly head to Southwell County.
"Miss Sharon, do you need to buy anything?"
"No."
"Then let's rest for the night and set off tomorrow."
"Okay."
After talking to Sharon in the mirror, Hastur left the room and went to the room next door on the right. He had booked two rooms earlier for Sharon's convenience.
...
At night, around nine o'clock.
Ince Zangwill found a suitable place to stay, a homestay, which was cheap and hidden deep in an alley.
On a small square table, there was an obviously outdated oil lamp, and a notebook was open under the dim light, with a pen automatically writing paragraphs of text.
"Ince Zangwill's luck is as bad as ever. This time, he seems to be attracted by some force, no matter how he tries to change direction, he will eventually converge at the source of fate."
"That Baron Hastur Campbell, oh, now Earl Campbell, did not die in the explosion and escaped. He seems to be planning to secretly head to Southwell County."
"This choice coincides with Ince Zangwill's. Will they meet on the way? What kind of story will unfold? It's hard to see."
"Strange, why am I particularly concerned about baron Hastur Campbell? Am I also influenced by some force?"
"Curious, but unfortunately, Ince Zangwill is too timid to confront him directly, which makes my predictions of the future inaccurate."
Ince Zangwill silently looked at these paragraphs, holding a pen, wanting to write: "Ince Zangwill and baron Hastur Campbell have no intersection, their fates always miss each other."
But after thinking for a while, he put down the pen and did not add a single symbol to the notebook.
He still remembered the lesson from Beckland last time.
The more he wrote scripts related to baron Hastur Campbell, the more likely he was to be countered, increasing the chances of meeting him.
Ignoring it and turning a blind eye was a better way to handle it.
Late at night, Ince Zangwill, who had not yet fallen asleep, suddenly had a spiritual warning. He opened his eyes, quickly grabbed 008 and the notebook, opened the window, and jumped out.
He was on the second floor, and his figure quickly landed in the alley, leaving the place along the complex alleys.
Having been wanted for years, he had developed the skill of leaving at a moment's notice.
As long as there was an abnormality in his spirituality, he would leave.
Sure enough, after three to five minutes, Crestai Sesima led a team of Night Watchers to the homestay. After a search and verification, they confirmed that Leia John was Ince Zangwill's fake identity. Unfortunately, they were a step too late, and Ince Zangwill had already left.
"Sigh."
Crestai Sesima sighed. With 008 on him, Ince Zangwill's spiritual warning ability was too strong. As long as there was a potential threat, he could sense it in advance and escape.
In this regard, Ince Zangwill was even more troublesome than those demons.
"Continue searching, don't miss any suspicious places."
Crestai Sesima could only chase Ince Zangwill like a hound.
At this time, Ince Zangwill had already left the alley and was heading towards the dock, relying on his memory from the day.
He needed to catch the first ferry to leave East Tuck County and then disembark at Southwell County, before transferring to the southern continent.
At the dock, the ferry had not yet departed and would set sail at 7:30 the next morning.
Ince Zangwill changed his identity again, bought a ticket to Southwell County, and chose the cheapest ticket to blend in with the crowd and avoid the Red Gloves' pursuit.
He squeezed into a cabin with a few other early ticket buyers, resting and waiting for dawn.
As morning came, more and more passengers crowded into the ferry, making the already narrow cabin like a sardine can.
Ince Zangwill's place was a small bed that only allowed one person to lie down, making it difficult to turn over.
The cabin had three layers of small beds, arranged in two rows of five columns, totaling 30 small beds.
Surrounded by small beds, this almost airtight situation made him feel more at ease.
Despite the constant smell of sweat and the stifling environment, he endured it, knowing that once he reached the southern continent, he wouldn't have to worry about his identity being exposed.
At 7:30, the first ferry set sail from the dock, heading to Southwell County.
The not-so-calm sea rocked the ship, and the ship rocked the already crowded cabin, making people sway like wild grass on small beds, creaking.
Some people got seasick and vomited in the cabin, making the environment even more unbearable.
In a luxurious single room, Hastur sat by the window, enjoying the captain's private wine and food, watching the sunrise over the sea.
Last night, he dealt with two small mice that followed him secretly. To avoid being affected, he chose to take the first ferry to Southwell County today.
He paid ten times the price of a regular ticket for a luxurious single room and gave the captain 10 gold pounds for some food and wine. He was getting more skilled at enjoying life.
He wouldn't buy a regular ticket, especially the cheapest one, as even a prison cell was better than that environment.
This ferry would take about seven days to reach Southwell County, and the conditions in the cheapest ticket area were barely better than those of slave transport ships.
Hastur wouldn't let aisala and Sharon suffer like that.
"Meow?"
aisala squatted by the window, watching the occasional fish jumping out of the sea, waving her little paws eagerly.
"Want to eat?"
"Meow!"
aisala came to Hastur's side, rubbing his cheek affectionately.
Hastur skillfully used the magic of gold pounds to get the crew to bring three fishing rods, giving one to aisala, one for himself, and one for Sharon.
"Meow?"
aisala looked at her little paws and then at the fishing rod several times longer than her body, feeling troubled.
Sharon came out of the mirror, stood by the window, holding two fishing rods, casually fishing, and gently stroking aisala's little head.
"Meow."
aisala lay obediently in front of Sharon, eyes fixed on the fishing float.
Splash!
The sound of a big fish being pulled out of the water made aisala look over. It was her master who had caught a fish.
The fish was large, several times bigger than her, with sharp teeth and a row of silver spines on its back.
She didn't like this kind of fish and looked away, quietly waiting for her little fish to bite.
Splash.
Another big fish was pulled out of the water by her master.
aisala looked up at Sharon, who was expressionless, and let out a puzzled meow.
She wanted to express a simple question: why couldn't these two fishing rods catch any fish?
What went wrong?
Sharon didn't answer, her eyes just deepened.
(End of Chapter)