H48~49~50

Chapter.48 Prayer and Rejection (Page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    After spending nearly an hour testing her abilities and another hour teaching her, Alice finally managed to teach her new familiar Eve the qualities she should have.

    First, there are two familiar skills engraved in the crystal core: "camouflage" and "ghost hand".

    The effect of the former is just as the name of the skill describes, it can provide the familiar with camouflage illusions that match the environment, which is more conducive to disguise and lurking.

    Considering Eve's own feather color, she will be very conspicuous in most cases.

    For a "thief", this is not a good thing.

    However, this smart little guy quickly learned how to use the core skills and tried various colors of camouflage without getting tired of it.

    As for the latter, it is a modified spell based on the trick "magician's hand" with Alice's personal understanding.

    This modified spell allows the caster to control an invisible "ghost hand". The spell performance is purely composed of spiritual power, which can move and carry objects weighing no more than 7 pounds, and can control the movement of fingers to complete some more delicate actions, such as unlocking, writing, etc.

    Basically, the actions that humans can do with their hands can also be done with the "ghost hand" after practice.

    The significance of this spell is that it gives Eve, the familiar, an invisible hand similar to that of humans, which can complete some things that were originally too difficult for her.

    In addition, the "thief" potion improves Eve's physique and physical agility, allowing her to learn the skills of using a short sword and a dagger - although she claims that she does not intend to use weapons - to take items from other people's pockets silently, and her flexibility in using the "ghost hand" is also somewhat unexpected.

    Of course, the results are not all good for Alice.

    The problems, or shortcomings, of the familiar Eve are quite obvious and fatal.

    Even though she has the same level of intelligence as an adult human, Eve's mind is still no different from that of a child, lacking common sense, being curious, and greedy for fun...

    Most importantly, although she is smart and alert, if Alice does not give clear instructions and only gives a general range of commands, it is difficult for her to think about how to complete the task alone.

    Exploring the trick of "acting method" is a typical example.

    In fact, strictly speaking, only a few days have passed since Eve gained intelligence, and she herself is just a little robin that is less than one year old and barely reaches the adult standard. It is

    normal for her to become dependent on Alice as her master and develop a baby bird complex. However

    , Alice has no interest in being a nanny.

    After a little hesitation, she made a decision - to find someone who knows how to act to teach her familiars on her behalf.

    As for the candidate... well, she has already thought about it, and there is an idle person who is very suitable for this kind of hard work.

    It just so happens that the subsequent formula of "Thief" has not been found yet, so the exploration of acting can be slowly carried out.

    The Church of the God of Steam only has the formula of Sequence 9, and it is hidden in the most confidential Kuxue area, as if it does not want ordinary members to discover this formula.

    And according to Alice's observation, there is indeed no member in the Tingen City Mechanical Heart team who chooses to pass through the "Thief".

    It seems that there is no hope for clues in the direction of the Church.

    But she couldn't use the cheating prayer technique like she did last time when she obtained the "Fire Mage" formula for Hunter Sequence 7...

    That was originally just a simple attempt.

    In the world she once lived in, the prayer technique was the manipulation and manipulation of the world's rules, and it was a miracle that could be achieved without the help of any divine power - of course, no miracle was without a price, but this was not the point she wanted to discuss now.

    The point is, here, in the world she is in now, the nature of this spell has changed.

    When she made a tentative wish in the wishing spell, the spell fed back a voice, and told her the formula of the Hunter Path Sequence 7 potion in the form of intelligence, and pointed out the main areas where the materials are distributed.

    The price taken by the spell has also changed, becoming quite strange...

    She should have fallen into a spell-casting weakness for about five days, but in fact it was not the case. Instead, the voice that seemed to be the feedback of the spell asked her for a price.

    A request.

    A very simple request, so simple that it was a little strange.

    "Tell me, who are you."

    What's so difficult about this?

    Alice reported the pseudonym she used most in this world, and the effect of the wishing spell ended.

    Thinking back, she thought that she might have accidentally connected to a being that was almost like a god... Well, surprisingly, the other party's personality was so kind, so helpful, and did not ask for anything in return...

    But such an attempt was enough, one time was enough for her to understand the changes in the rules of the world, and she would no longer think about problems in the same way as before. Using the wish spell a few more times would probably cause trouble at the god level. Just imagining it was a headache.

    We had to take it one step at a time. We had to find another way to solve the subsequent potion problem of the familiar Eve.

    Thinking of this, Alice interrupted the spell effect of the magic house, erased the traces she left in the wilderness, and finally took out the materials needed for teleportation, facing the direction of the city.

    ...

    In the early morning, Jin Wutong District.

    A muffled thunder woke up many light sleepers in this block. Some people were wearing pajamas, walked to the bed and looked outside. They found that it was not raining on the street and the thunder did not strike their yards. They complained and went back to bed to continue their previous sweet dreams.

    Like many of her neighbors, Danitali was also awakened by the previous thunder, but her first reaction was to pull out the revolver under her pillow, instinctively release the safety device, then leap up and close to the wall, holding her breath and concentrating, even the sound of her breathing gradually became inaudible.

    As a "hunter", her intuition told her that something was approaching her on the other side of the wall.

    About ten seconds later, there was a slight noise from the window.

    Danitali turned her sight silently, and saw the window bolt being pulled up by itself without any external force. With a seemingly extremely cold wind blowing, the window next to her slowly opened outward.

    Was it a thief, or a burglar?

    In any case, the guy who touched her head was in bad luck.

    Danitali thought while holding the gun with one hand and aiming at the windowsill without relaxing her vigilance, so that as long as someone appeared there, she could pull the trigger and send the bullet out at the first time.

    At the same time, her seemingly empty right hand was also behind her back, and something seemed to be brewing in her fist.

    At this moment, she saw a shadow that almost blended into the night and rushed into her room quickly.

    Danitali was obviously stunned for a moment.

    Her dynamic vision was very good, and there was a street lamp in the garden by the window to provide light, so she could clearly see that it was a small bird the size of a sparrow, with gray-black feathers on its body, which was very inconspicuous.Chapter.48 Prayer and Rejection (Page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    Before she could react to what was happening, and before she turned her eyes away to observe the seemingly ordinary bird, the person who appeared in her field of vision the next second almost made her forget to breathe.

    Alice calmly jumped off the windowsill and casually flicked away the revolver with a drooping muzzle.

    "What's wrong? Are you so surprised to see me?"

    As if she was awakened by her action of flicking away the revolver, Danielle almost immediately removed her vigilant and serious expression, and put down the revolver with a shallow and resentful smile and walked over.

    "Of course it's a surprise. Have you calculated how long it has been since we last met? Five days, five whole days! I even wondered if you disliked me. When I thought of this possibility, I felt like a knife cutting my heart..."

    "Stop." Alice glanced at her and interrupted these greetings, which were not sure whether they were true or false, without any patience. "Don't waste any more time on nonsense. I came to you because I want you to do something for me."

    After that, she waved her hand to call over the familiar who was lying quietly on the bookshelf beside her, and let the little robin stand firmly on the back of her hand. Then she raised her eyes and looked at Danielle, who was wearing silk pajamas and had her hair loose.

    "Let me introduce you. This is Eve, my newly tamed pet. She's also a Sequence 9 Beyonder... well, in this case, should I say Beyonder animal?"

    Alice paused for a moment, stroked the bird's soft down-feathered head with her fingers, and instructed:

    "Eve, you can talk to this person now, and tell her what I want her to do."

    Under Danitali's astonished and curious gaze, the bird with gray-black feathers flapped its wings twice exaggeratedly, then opened its beak, vibrating the air and making a clear singing sound like a child.

    "Alice, Alice, the beautiful and smart Alice wants me to find Danitali, the servant Danitali! She said she would teach me all kinds of common sense in life, and how to play a good role as a 'thief'!"

    "Is this what you want me to do? Train an extraordinary animal, teach it how to play..." Danitali tried to reach out and touch the wonderful bird, and felt the touch was soft and warm, "Aren't you worried that it will not recognize you as its master after getting along with me for a long time?"

    "This is not a problem you should consider."

    With the connection of the familiar contract, Alice was not worried about the situation she mentioned.

    Danitali herself was a person who loved novelty, and nodded and agreed after just a little thought.

    "Since you said so, how could I refuse."

    Sure enough, her focus was not on imparting the experience of "playing method"... This only daughter of Sir Deville obviously knew the existence of "playing method", and it was even very likely that she had some connection with a secret organization.

    Alice had vaguely guessed the other party's reaction before, and now she just felt that it was as expected.

    She was not interested in finding out the details, so she nodded slightly and warned Eve not to instill any strange ideas or knowledge. Finally, she said:

    "These are the things I need to explain. If there is nothing else, I will leave."

    "Wait a minute!"

    After finally meeting the person she was thinking about, how could Danitali let her go so easily?

    Taking advantage of her height, she put her hands against the wall and surrounded the cold and distant beautiful witch in front of her in a cage where she could look down. Her half-long dark golden hair fell down, softening the beautiful face that was always shown from a masculine angle.

    "Alice, don't you have anything to tell me? Huh? At the cafe, you only left a message saying that you were going to resign, and you never went there again... Did you have a good time at the dinner on Saturday? I wanted to ask you this, but you just played the missing game with me, and I couldn't find you no matter what..."

    The girl who was called by name was about to push her arm away, but when she saw the actions of the familiar Eve, she almost couldn't hold back the expression on her face.

    The little guy covered his eyes with his wings hypocritically, but the pair of green eyes happened to show through the gaps between the feathers, and cast a curious look in this direction.

    "...After what you said to me, do you still want me to be nice to you?" She replied half a beat late.

    "Well... are you really angry?" Danita Li smiled, with a strange inquiry flowing from her blue eyes. "I didn't think about it at the time, and thought you behaved like that because of my 'provocation'. But afterwards, when I recalled the experience of that night again, I had a strange feeling... It was as if your anger was just pretended, just an acting in front of me. In fact, you were not angry at all, right?"

    ... Is her acting so bad? Not really.

    Alice raised her head slightly, just looking at the beautiful lady in front of her, without answering.

    "You are not angry because of my 'provocation', but you want to act angry... I can probably guess the reason." The smile on Danita Li's face became deeper and more charming, "In other words, you are a rare witch who has not experienced the stage of sex change - you have been a woman from the beginning, but you don't want others to find out about this, so you pretend to be a man... Am I right?"

    "Whether it is right or not, what's the point. Do you think you can use this incident to blackmail me to do something for you?" Alice deliberately let herself sneer contemptuously.

    "Threat? How could you think of that?"

    Unexpectedly, Danita Li showed a surprised expression, then immediately blinked, lowered her head and gradually moved closer to her.

    "I feel that after realizing this, I seem to be more fascinated by you... Alice, do you really want to reject me? Even if it's just for the sake of acting, you should consider it. I promise to bring you the ultimate pleasure experience..."

    "Stop." She had a blank expression on her face and easily pushed away the female hunter whose arm was covered with thin ice crystals.

    "That's it... That's the thing about you that makes me uneasy. I also asked you before why you know so much about witches. Before you met me, you were just a Sequence 8 who was troubled by the 'Fire Mage' potion, but now? You're just about to say the name of the Sequence 6 potion of the Assassin Path. Since you know so much about 'Witches', why don't you choose this path and have to be a 'Hunter'?"

    Seeing that she seemed to be annoyed by her, Danita Li was not surprised but happy, not caring about the ice layer on her body that spread more and more the closer she got to her.

    "Do you want to know? If you want to know, we can--"

    "No... forget it, I'm not interested." Alice shook her head slowly, "You don't have to test me anymore. I have very picky tastes. Not everyone is qualified to experience pleasure with me... As for the reason for rejecting you, do you think I didn't make it clear last time and need to repeat it again?"

    "...Just because, I'm not a man?" Danielle showed a somewhat strange expression.Chapter.49 The follow-up to the wanted list (page 1/2)Previous ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Page    Her original words were that her current sexual orientation was male...

    This was a completely tricky excuse that could be changed at will according to the context.

    Anyway, gender was never something worth caring about...

    "That's about it, let's stop

    talking about this topic." Not wanting to explain more, Alice raised her chin with a slightly arrogant attitude, and quietly removed the frost layer on Danitali's body.

    "Then, Eve's education will be handed over to you. In addition, if you have anything to contact me, you can also tell Eve directly, and she will tell me through the corresponding ritual magic." "

    Are you leaving?" Danitali's tone was full of reluctance.

    "Well, see you next time."

    As she spoke, she had stepped onto the windowsill, only turned back and smiled softly, and then jumped down like a weightless feather, falling into the night.

    On the silent street, the figure of the witch Alice gradually disappeared into the night, and her outline could no longer be distinguished.

    Danitali stood by the window, retracting her gaze that was chasing her. Her expression seemed to be thinking about something all the time. After a while, she sighed with some regret.

    "What a pity. I was thinking that we could exchange our past experiences and deepen our understanding of each other... It seems that this opportunity can only be saved for next time, or later..."

    She seemed to want to say something else, but the words that followed were drowned out by a sudden loud noise.

    Clang -

    the tall and well-proportioned beautiful lady suddenly turned around and subconsciously cast her eyes to the collection shelf in the corner of the bedroom. A few cracks appeared on her expression uncontrollably.

    The little bird named Eve had pushed the ceramic doll that she played with the most off the shelf and smashed it to pieces, but she also found a cold iron key inlaid with rubies from the wreckage, grabbed it and flew to the special moisturizing room next door, while chirping happily.

    Damn it!

    Unable to hold back and secretly curse the dead bird, Danitali quickly picked up the revolver at hand, replaced the live ammunition with rubber bullets while running, and rushed towards it.

    Her collection... her cigar!

    ...

    At nine o'clock in the morning on a sunny day, Klein walked with his back to the light, walked underground, and came to the guard room outside the Chanis door, where all members of the Nighthawks team had gathered.

    "Every Thursday, we have a routine meeting to summarize the past missions, discuss future action plans, and so on." After the new Nighthawks sat down in the vacant chair, Dunn nodded and looked at the team member Koenli on his left, "Tell me about the follow-up of yesterday's case first."

    "Sleepless" Koenli recalled and began to narrate.

    "Regarding the out-of-control person killed by Klein yesterday, Sirius Arypis, we found a large number of books and items in his hiding place. It is preliminarily confirmed that he should be a 'secret praying man', a junior member of the secret organization 'Aurora Society'."

    "He and the Antigonus family's notebook..."

    "The valuable items include the formulas of three sequence potions..."

    After the muscular and capable brown-haired night watcher finished telling the follow-up of yesterday's incident, Captain Dunn made some summaries, and another night watcher, the white-haired and black-eyed "midnight poet" Siga Theon, began to report on other cases.

    "The whereabouts of the instigator 'Tris' are still unclear. I think he may have left Tingen."

    "The case of ghosts knocking on windows in the area of ​​Iron Cross Lower Street in the West District has been clarified. The so-called ghosts are just rumors. The actual situation is that several children live nearby..."

    "A corpse the other day occurred at the Raphael Cemetery outside the North District. There are currently no suspects involved, and the possibility of a Beyonder committing the crime cannot be ruled out..."

    "Since the member of the witch sect codenamed 'Mirror Witch' was sealed, the secret organization behind her has remained silent and has not responded... In addition, the whereabouts of the defected Archbishop Ince Zangwill are still unknown..."

    "..." "

    ..." ...? Wait! He seemed to have heard something that could not be ignored.

    Klein couldn't help but show a somewhat surprised expression, and Leonard, who noticed his reaction, stopped narrating, his mouth slightly curled up, and smiled with a relaxed and casual expression:

    "What's wrong, Klein, did I say something incredible?"

    "...Ah, no, nothing..." Klein felt as if he paused for two or three seconds before he barely found his voice, "I just, just heard the codename 'Mirror Witch', and remembered that it seemed to be on the wanted order issued some time ago... It turns out that the church has caught her."

    - Caught a ghost! He said good morning to this wanted witch lady this morning! Could it be that he was saying hello to the illusion?

    No, no, the illusion would never smile like that, and tease him in such a relaxed tone that he was still sleepy...

    Instinctively, Klein immediately ruled out this hypothesis.

    "It is said that a certain high-ranking member of the church took action and used the power behind the Chanis Gate to seal the witch. And the location is right here, in the basement of our Saint Selina Church." Leonard smiled and pointed to the direction of the mysterious black iron gate outside the guardhouse.

    "Behind the Chanis Gate?" It seemed that even I hadn't been behind the gate yet, and I didn't know what it looked like inside...

    Klein was stunned when he heard it, and his thoughts couldn't help but diverge.

    Seeing the new teammate's eyes drifting to the outside of the guardhouse, "Corpse Collector" Frye's lips moved slightly, and he spoke in a tone without any flatness:

    "That was a few days ago."

    "Frye means that the wanted witch should have been sent to the church headquarters now, and you probably don't have a chance to see her." Coenley supplemented for his cold and taciturn teammate.

    "Don't feel sorry, Klein. In fact, it's not just you and me. I'm afraid even our captain hasn't seen the witch." Leonard crossed his right leg and smiled calmly.

    "Ahem..." Dunn slightly closed his deep gray eyes, clenched his right hand and put it to his mouth and coughed softly, "Maybe, maybe there were too many things to do in the past few days, and I was too busy to mention this matter... Anyway, this wanted notice has been lifted, and the discussion about the witch ends here. Whose turn is it to report and speak now?"

    ...

    After finishing the first regular meeting of the Night Watchmen in his life, Klein stood up and left the duty room without any abnormality, went upstairs to find Old Neil to study the mysticism course, then had dinner, and went to the combat teacher Gawain's residence to exercise in the afternoon.

    In the mechanical and regular aerobic exercise, his thoughts gradually became clear, and the problems that puzzled him began to be organized, no longer as chaotic as before.

    ——She.

    Alice might have really encountered a Beyonder from the church's upper echelons, and even fought with him...

    But the result was obviously impossible to be as reported in the morning meeting. After all, he had seen her with his own eyes more than once and confirmed that she was still alive and kicking.

    How could a sealed witch be so enthusiastic about her new job and work overtime until late at night every day before going home? ... No, after all, how could a witch go to work as a wage earner... I'm afraid Leonard and the captain wouldn't believe it if I told them.Chapter.49 The follow-up to the wanted list (page 2/2)Previous pagebookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    Then, the notice issued by the church is unlikely to be false, but the facts are obviously contrary to it. Klein thought about it and finally came up with an explanation.

    Alice found a poor guy to replace her and let him take the blame!

    Yes, this can be explained. She went to the dinner to find the trace of the witch. Considering her varied and wonderful magic methods, it may not be difficult to make a witch be regarded as her substitute!

    But no matter what, the wanted order on Alice has been removed, and he can rest assured and no longer have to worry!

    God knows he can't help but think, if the captain comes to talk in his dream one day, should he pretend to be bewitched by the witch and clarify his innocence, or just learn from Leonard and pretend that he has never seen the photo printed on the wanted order.

    But now he doesn't have to worry about the charge of harboring a wanted criminal.

    Klein felt that a heavy burden was lifted from his heart, and his body seemed to be much lighter. He couldn't help but speed up the dumbbell push with joy.

    "Left forearm, wrong posture! The center of gravity of the body is crooked! These few times can't be counted!"

    Fighting teacher Gawain's roar came from the side, making Klein's head buzz with pain.

    "Keep going, don't stop! There are still 157 arm strength exercises, you can rest after you finish them!"

    ...hiss.

    Klein made a bitter face and stopped his wandering thoughts, and devoted himself to the devilish training time in the afternoon.

    After three hours, which was neither long nor short, he quickly took a shower, changed back to his original clothes, said goodbye to the fighting teacher, and then took a public carriage to Bexie Street.

    The experience yesterday afternoon did not make him lose his way. On the contrary, Klein felt an almost anxious urgency to find the mastermind behind the scenes.

    Of course, what he cared about was not limited to the house with the dark red chimney. Considering that Miss Justice had become a "spectator" at the Tarot Club, he decided to find a man who was suspected to be a member of the Psychological Alchemy Society, whom he had met in the underground trading market before, hoping to get clues about the "spectator's" subsequent potion formula through this man.

    These things were not suitable for continuing to go deeper as a night watchman, and his time was precious, so he didn't have so much free time to waste on searching and investigating.

    Walking forward along the stone brick road, Klein turned his eyes to a nameplate of an agency not far away.

    "Henry Private Detective Agency, specializing in finding people, finding things, investigating extramarital affairs..."

    After lowering his head and reading the advertisement on the newspaper in his hand, he coughed lightly, lowered his hat, pulled up the mask and the collar of his windbreaker, and walked up the stairs and knocked on the door of the agency on the second floor.

    "Please wait!" A familiar voice came out, followed by a series of footsteps coming from far away.

    The beautiful girl wearing brown-framed glasses and with her hair loosely tied into a side ponytail opened the door, and then seemed to be slightly surprised to look at the fully armed visitor in front of her.

    Klein was stunned for several seconds before he remembered that his current outfit was very different from usual, so he couldn't help but mutter to himself: Don't recognize me, don't recognize me...

    As if his prayers worked, the light-blonde-haired office employee first smiled at him apologetically, then turned back and shouted loudly: "Mr. Henry, please come over, I have a new commission."

    Good! She didn't recognize me!

    He was about to be happy when he saw the girl in front of him turn back to him, with a familiar evil smile on her face, and then she called his name softly.

    "Klein? Is there something shameful that requires you to sneak someone in to investigate like this?"

Table of contentsSave Bookmark⋯Previous pageChapter.50 Two commissionsPrevious ChapterbookshelfTable of contentsSave BookmarkNext Chapter    Fuck...

    Klein's mouth twitched, and he almost blurted out this exclamation that was very characteristic of the Great Foodie Country.

    She had only told him that she had changed jobs before, but she didn't tell him what the specific job was!

    Who would have thought that she would actually work as an assistant in a detective agency! It was

    just as suffocating as when she applied for a waitress at a maid cafe!

    No, you said that you are a self-proclaimed magician with strength comparable to that of a mid-sequence Beyonder... Well, plus a part-time bard... Then you should do something that fits your personality!

    You came to the detective agency as an assistant. Are you planning to use your superpowers to solve the case, and then let this Mr. Henry be the sleeping Mao ● Kogoro?

    He had too many complaints that he wanted to say but couldn't say, and his thoughts were out of control like a wild horse.

    Alice naturally didn't know what Klein was thinking. Seeing that he just tensed up awkwardly and didn't answer, she curved her eyebrows and smiled softly.

    "Next time, if you want to avoid being recognized, I suggest you put a pair of stockings on your head, the black kind... If you don't have any, you can borrow some from me."

    ... Fuck, does this witch know what she is talking about!

    Klein was stunned.

    Who would wear black stockings on their head? Just thinking about it makes him look like a pervert!

    Moreover, the stockings in this world are all high-end products made of silk, and a pair is at least one pound. How could he bear to use them as headgear?

    While he was complaining, Alice in front of him had returned to her original formulaic smile, and greeted him with a brisk but enthusiastic tone:

    "Please follow me, sir, ah, be careful of the steps under your feet..."

    The girl took him to the sofa in the reception area and sat him down, then turned and left. Then, a man holding a pipe, wearing a white shirt and a black vest came over and began to ask Klein about the commission.

    He thought for a moment, organized his words, lowered his voice and said his request, and handed over two portraits drawn with the help of ritual magic.

    Since he didn't want the detective in front of him to remember his characteristics, Klein didn't bargain. After the other party reported the deposit required for the two commissions, he nodded and signed the contract, then took out two 1-pound notes and handed them over.

    Fortunately, I still have the 20 pounds I received from Alice, otherwise my private money would be almost empty again...

    He silently touched the sewn pocket on the inside of his windbreaker and sighed in his heart.

    After entrusting the matter to others, Klein didn't stay in the office for long. He quickly walked out of the door, pretending to take a walk and turned into the alley beside the street. Then he quickly took off his hat and mask, turned up the collar of his windbreaker, walked quickly through the narrow alley, and left Beswick Street from the other direction.

    My anti-tracking awareness is professional, but I don't know if the relevant skills are professional...

    He carried his cane and walked to the public transportation station facing the street in a slightly absent-minded manner, and took the carriage home.

    As a result, this night, a slightly unexpected but reasonable situation happened.

    Alice actually returned to his house at around eight o'clock. Although she still missed dinner time, she was much earlier than the time she returned home late at night a few days ago!

    After she smiled and greeted Benson and Melissa, who seemed to be happy in their surprise, she turned her gaze to Klein.

    "Do you have time? I want to talk to you about something."

    With the silent support of the brother and sister behind him, Klein nodded stiffly.

    "Okay, let's go upstairs and talk." He

    went upstairs, closed the door, pressed the door lock, and then turned to face Alice.

    He did all this in one go, and deliberately started with the afternoon commission:

    "If I remember correctly, I am now your... your firm's client, a paying customer. You came to me, are you trying to tell me that the investigation has made progress?"

    Hearing this, the girl blinked her green eyes with amusement.

    "Well, the detective assigned me the task of finding the man you mentioned who 'has terrible observation skills' and occasionally appears in the Dragon Bar. He also told me to take my time and make sure I find clues within two weeks." Is

    n't this just condoning his employees to be passive and lazy...

    Klein was speechless for a while, thinking that if there was a rating board in this world, he would definitely write a bad review for this detective agency anonymously.

    "Are you looking for a Beyonder?" Alice keenly grasped the key point from his description and took a step forward with curiosity.

    Considering that an accurate description would help her search and investigation, Klein nodded and explained:

    "Yes, I think this may be a Beyonder from the 'audience' path. His strength should not be strong, but he is good at hiding his Beyonder identity among ordinary people..."

    After briefly describing the characteristics of the Beyonders of the Audience Path, he noticed that the smile on her face gradually faded, and he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

    "Well, 'audience'... Hearing you say that, it seems to be quite good. I regret it a little..." Alice seemed to be inexplicably melancholy and sighed, "If you had told me a few days ago, I might have been happy to serve you for free and find out where this person is, but now..."

    "Why do you say that? Is there any difference between now and a few days ago?"

    Klein was confused, but this did not prevent him from understanding something from her words - he seemed to have missed a great opportunity to get something for free!

    Before he could feel sorry for the opportunity he had missed, he saw the girl in front of him raise her hand to take off her glasses, hang the legs of the glasses into the collar of her shirt with the top two buttons unbuttoned, and at the same time, a sweet angelic smile appeared on her face.

    "There is a difference. A few days ago, I said I would find this person for you for free. Now... I can help you locate him right away, but you have to pay an expedited fee, otherwise you will have to wait two weeks."

    When he mentioned money, Klein felt his heart hurt even more: "What does expedited fee mean? How much do you want?"

    Alice raised her index finger.

    "1 pound... no, 10 pounds?" Klein asked tentatively.

    "No, 100 pounds. Well, I know you can't afford it." The girl with a beautiful smile like an angel ruthlessly uttered the bad words that only a devil would say.

    "Why don't you go rob!" Klein complained distressedly.

    "Because I'm a good person, and a smart one, I can achieve the same effect as robbing money through trading." She just spread her hands, with an innocent look on her face, "Just tell me if you want it or not. You get what you pay for. Give me 100 pounds, and I can not only provide the location of the 'audience' immediately, but also provide a free round-trip service, and I can take you to his doorstep immediately. What a good deal."

    "Good deal..."

    Klein wanted to say something, but finally swallowed his words, gave up arguing with her about this topic, and sighed.

    "I don't have so much money, and even if I did, I don't want to spend it on something that's not too urgent..."

    As he said this, he couldn't help but feel a little moved in his heart.

    The commission to find a suspected member of the "Psychological Alchemy Society" was not urgent, but the house with the dark red chimney and the person behind the scenes who arranged so many coincidences around him brought him a great psychological burden!

    If adding money can solve this problem...

    Klein gritted his teeth, forced himself to be cruel, and asked her about the expedited labor fee for the first commission.

    "Are you referring to the commission to investigate the Red Chimney House? But that's not within my scope of business." Alice answered very professionally.

    "... Then if I want to commission you to complete it as soon as possible, how many gold pounds do I need to pay for this investigation? ... Or," he glanced at her expression and added cautiously, "or any price I can give."

    The smile on Alice's face seemed to fade a little. She took a small step back and answered the question a little irrelevantly.

    "You should know that the price I just offered... That 100 pounds is still a huge amount that you can't afford for the time being."

    Klein nodded and admitted frankly:

    "Yes, and I also understand that money doesn't mean much to you... At least, you won't lack this 100 pounds."

    Otherwise, she wouldn't have given him that frighteningly expensive high-end tuxedo casually...

    Klein pretended that he didn't feel envious.

    But after thinking about this clearly, it was easy to understand why Alice offered a huge price that he couldn't afford.

    She didn't really want to solve the problem for him [immediately].

    "Let's talk about the commission. Find the house with a red chimney and collect information about the residents?" Alice closed her eyes for a while, and then said, "The information you want should be more than that. You have a certain condition, a condition that you have not told the detective and only you know... You are looking for a specific person or thing, but apart from knowing that the other party is related to the house with a red chimney, you don't have any more information."

    "Yes..." Klein wanted to describe something, but suddenly realized that he had encountered too many coincidences. If he wanted to start from the beginning, he would have to start from the death of the original owner who was involved in the Antigonus family notes!

    He needs to think carefully about which part of the "safe" things that will not expose his own secrets to let Alice know.

    ""