The red moon returns

Chapter 26 Encounter
  There is a square, three-story building on the bank of the Rand River in Crown District.

Four slab buildings tens of meters long form a square, with an open square in the middle. In the middle of the square, a tower tens of meters high rises straight into the sky. On the top of the tower is a huge clock, which makes a clicking machine all the time. Voice.

The Hall of Order, Order Square, and the tallest building, the Tower of Justice, are among the landmark buildings in the Rhine City.

This is the headquarters of the Rhine Police, which can accommodate thousands of police officers. It has been guarding the order of the Rhine for more than 100 years.

But today, there was billowing smoke.

Natalie grabbed Lynch's arm, and the two of them ran hundreds of meters and appeared outside the Hall of Order within a minute.

As soon as he stopped, Lynch immediately fell to his knees, his vision blurred, and his chest was panting like a bellows.

Officer Natalie was not even breathing, but her face was even uglier than Lynch's, and she was staring gloomily at the chaotic Hall of Order.

The basic order remains.

But groups of police officers gathered in Order Square, and a large amount of debris was piled up in empty spaces.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo, burn, burn, burn, ha, ha, yes, where..."

Lynch was sweating profusely. He grabbed Officer Natalie's hand and climbed up. Before he could take a breath, he couldn't wait to ask.

Officer Natalie shook her head solemnly and looked at Lynch with a frown: "Can you leave?"

His legs were still shaking, but Lin Qi reluctantly moved a few steps and gritted his teeth: "Yes, let's go in and take a look."

"What can I do? Your physique must be exercised. When your trouble is solved, I will go for a run with you every night."

After glaring at Lynch, the police officer turned her gaze away, reached out to take his arm, and helped him into the Order Square.

The air was filled with a strong smell of burning, fine ashes were flying everywhere, there were large areas of water on the ground, there were obvious black marks on the walls, and black smoke was still pouring out from several broken windows.

In fact, if you look closely, the accident is not serious. The open fire has been extinguished and the fire has not spread to the surrounding areas. The fire is basically under control.

Only a room on the inner floor of the west building was affected by the disaster. It looked very badly burned, but in fact it did not cause any damage at all. It was a very ordinary fire, and I don’t know what was burned to cause such a huge amount of smoke and fire.

When they saw the two people entering the square, they were immediately greeted by people in blue uniforms who shouted at them. However, when Officer Natalie showed off the emblem on the inside of her windbreaker, she immediately put on a smile.

"Which department is on fire?" Natalie asked.

"Sir, this is the archives, the rooms where data from recent years are stored."

The policeman's understatement made Lynch feel a chill rising from behind.

I was worried that the fire was actually in the archives, and it happened in recent years. It happened to be a room where materials related to the Rhine-Norling Railway might be stored.

How is it so coincidental?
  Lynch felt his heart go cold. He looked at Officer Natalie, let go of her arm, and slowly approached the still smoking room.

The moist scorched smell hit your face, and there was still steam inside. Looking through the thick smoke, you could see that almost nothing was intact inside. The papers that had been burned by the fire had been repeatedly splashed with water, and they had long since been shattered into ashes and completely lost. Possibility of recovery.

"What's the cause of the fire?" the police officer asked from behind.

"Sir, we are not sure yet, but our initial guess is that the staff smoked illegally indoors and randomly put the ashes of their pipes on the wooden table."

"You... often do this kind of thing?"

The blue uniform's eyes drifted away awkwardly.

"Okay, great, where is this person now?"

Before the blue uniform could answer, a group of people in white robes covered in dust ran out of the building carrying three stretchers.

It was covered with a sheet, but there was still a body leaking out from underneath. It was pitch black and charred, and the body had been carbonized.

Lynch immediately covered his mouth and took a few steps away. His stomach was churning and he almost vomited on the spot, but he still managed to ask: "Did you find this from the scene on the first floor?"

"Otherwise? Where else?" The man in white robe looked at Lin Qi as if he were a fool, and walked away without stopping.

Good question. The corner of Lynch's mouth trembled, and he heard Officer Natalie asking behind him: "Is that smoker among them?"

"Sir, I don't know either, but it seems to be the case. It is said that the administrator was not seen running out."

This time there was absolutely no evidence. Lin Qi frowned and glanced at several burning archives. He always talked on paper, so he really couldn't tell anything when he surveyed the scene, but he still gestured to Natalie, and the two of them found an uninhabited corner at the gate.

"There's something wrong with their deaths." Lynch looked around and lowered his voice and said, "I'm very suspicious..."

"They lost consciousness before the fire?"

"Well, you think so too?" "I heard the question you just asked the people in the Hall of Misery. They died on the first floor, but the window on the first floor was less than two meters from the outside. They could have jumped out of the window to escape. But the three people No one did this, it’s obviously not normal.”

After all, he was a professional police officer. Lynch was secretly glad again that he had roped her into his investigation team, only to hear her continue:
  "Did you discover anything just now?"

"No, I've already sensed it from the window, and I didn't find any mysterious filth. But that doesn't mean it has nothing to do with the mystery, it's just that there's no filth left." These were the exact words that the traveling companion had just said in his mind.

"Is this someone deliberately preventing us from seeing the information?" Officer Natalie apparently thought about it as she stroked her sword and lowered her head in thought.

"Can't it be just a coincidence?" Lynch still had a hint of fantasy.

"Don't make such a joke." The police officer glanced at him, realizing that he was still a newbie, and explained, "Someone said that believing in coincidence in the mysterious world is the easiest way to death."

"Ok?"

"The correlation between things in the mysterious world is distorted to the greatest extent. The causal relationship cannot be understood by people, and many things will be mistaken for coincidence. But being unable to understand does not mean that the causal relationship does not exist. If you treat it as a coincidence, you are not far away from death. .So when you encounter mysterious-related events in the future, any sudden situation that you think is special, it is best not to regard it as a coincidence. Mystery hunters prefer to call it a sign. Remember, we can be oversensitive a hundred times, but as long as there is If you are not alert enough once, there will be no next chance.”

"I understand." Lin Qi nodded seriously and kept it in mind, "But I don't think it's artificial. No one knew that we were going to come here to check information. Even we ourselves made a temporary decision this morning. "

"I hope it's man-made, otherwise it will be even more troublesome." The police officer sighed, "That means this is a mysterious incident, and it can automatically erase the connections that may expose itself, which means the mystery is quite strong. "

"Is it also a strange object?"

"Not necessarily, anything can happen in the mysterious world. I hope I'm wrong. It would be quite difficult to encounter such a strong mystery." The police officer shook her head, "It's hard to tell yet, but the fire in the archives is not a small matter. Question, the Department of Order will definitely send specialized personnel to investigate. Let’s wait for the professional investigation results before making a judgment. Unfortunately, it is impossible to access the case files for the time being. I really can’t think of where to find relevant records, otherwise I really want to Look at that information, there might be something weird hidden in it."

"Actually, I think of a place where some of the information may be retained, but they must be allowed to cooperate voluntarily, and those people cannot be forced."

Officer Natalie frowned and said, "Where?"

Lynch opened his mouth and was about to speak when his expression suddenly changed and he rushed towards Officer Natalie.

The police officer looked stern and raised her fists. However, when she saw Lynch rushing towards her unprepared, her heart softened and she retracted her fists. Then she was grabbed by Lynch and dragged into the porch with her mouth covered. In the dark corner, the two of them were huddled together.

Um?Something seems wrong.

With waves of subtle touches coming from his body and a faint scent of hair coming from his nose, Lin Qi finally realized what he had done, and cold sweat instantly covered his back.

The person in his arms was tense and motionless, not even struggling, but the more this happened, the more frightened Lynch became, as if he had heard the death knell ringing in his ears.

However, he still gritted his teeth and huddled in the corner with the police officer. Then he saw an old woman wearing a headscarf and wearing simple clothes, walking tremblingly in front of the two of them on crutches.

At this time, Lynch could no longer care about his own state. He lowered his gaze to avoid exposing himself, but he raised his ears and listened carefully to the movement on the porch.

The old woman staggered unsteadily, but without stopping, she slowly walked out of the porch.

Lin Qi was afraid that the other party would suddenly turn around, but he still did not move until a moment later, someone seemed to poke his arm.

As soon as he lowered his head, he met a pair of murderous eyes. Only then did Lynch realize that he was still covering the police officer's mouth and pressing her against the wall with his body.

There was even more cold sweat on his back. He retracted his hand as if touching red-hot coals, took a few steps back, raised his hands and said with a dry smile: "Um, I, do you think it's too late for me to explain now?"

"You have enough time, just say it." The police officer said calmly, rolling up her sleeves and flexing her wrists, "I will help you carve it word for word on the tombstone."

"No tombstone, please listen to my explanation."

"Stop talking nonsense." The police officer covered her blushing cheeks by arranging her hair, and then glared at him fiercely, "What's going on? Who is that old woman? Do you know her?"

"Karena's makeup."

"Ok?"

"The strange object I sensed in the city hall just now was on the old woman." Lin Qi glanced at the direction the other party left and whispered, "I suspect that the old woman belongs to the noble family in the city hall. The eldest daughter is dressed up and transformed into an old woman with this magical item. In addition, she is also a soul changer."

"Hiss, a soul-changer appeared in the city hall before the tragedy, and in the Hall of Order when the fire broke out. He also disguised himself to hide his identity..."

The two looked at each other and realized the problem here.

"Go, follow."

Officer Natalie nodded vigorously, and suddenly as if she remembered something, she 'gently' kicked Lynch on the calf.

"The tombstone will be written down for you first, asshole."

"Ow."

(End of this chapter)