The red moon returns

Chapter 29 Don’t even think about running away (I really can’t break this chapter, so I’ve posted one chapter, one update today)
  The trench coat and top hat were hanging on the hangers, and the cane was leaning against the wall.

A note board has been hung on the wall next to the fireplace in the living room, with several newly written notes pinned to it, and a map of the Rhine City hanging next to it.

I bought it new on the way home for 7p.

Lynch found that he had made a mistake and did not withdraw the five pounds consultant fee before Natalie quit, so now he only had thirteen shillings left.

Let’s talk about it tomorrow, I’m not in a hurry to use it anyway.

Fortunately, the pistol was still there, so Lynch sat on the sofa and loaded the new pistol.

A very ordinary small revolver, heavy in the hand. He didn't know how to use it, let alone disassemble it. He just loaded the bullet and inserted it into the holster, inserting and removing it several times.

It has no feel at all. It feels less useful than a brick.

Can I really protect myself with this thing? If only Officer Natalie was still here.

After leaving for just over an hour, Lin Qi started to miss the silhouette that was always in front of him.

Thin but strong, like an insurmountable barrier.

Lynch sighed. Although he was a little surprised that the police officer quit on her own initiative, he understood that the police officer's decision was the right one.

The police officer didn't owe him anything and had no obligation to accompany him to his death.

What's more, the other party doesn't know that this is related to his life or death.

Therefore, Lynch was not angry about this, but...it was not pleasant to be alone in a strange world.

Fortunately, you have always been with me, thank you.

Lin Qi clutched the moon pendant on his chest and thought in his mind.

The gentle female voice did not respond, and the moon outside the window did not rise completely, but Lin Qi seemed to have returned to the cold crimson moonlight again and saw the crimson moon that had been with him for thousands of years.

It doesn't matter, the two of us are enough, traveling companion, let's find out the truth and get you back.

Shaking his head vigorously to get rid of distracting thoughts, Lynch looked at the hanging board again.

Although today's day-long investigation encountered obstacles everywhere, after careful sorting, I actually gained a lot.

1. City Hall (information) - Department of Order (case files, burned) - Investigator Newspaper (?)

Although the case file in the first clue chain was burned, it shows that there may be problems in it, and some may be recovered from the newspaper, so it is not a complete break. Then one of tomorrow's tasks is to go to the Investigator's newspaper office and find other ways if they are unwilling to cooperate.

2. The eldest daughter of the Valente family - Mountain Man (super strong) - Purple Sarcoma (suspected of delivering medicine, earthen jar).

The eldest daughter of the Valente family is also connected to the first city hall and the Hall of Order.

Under this second clue, Lynch drew a row of question marks, just like the current situation in his mind, he was confused.

The trajectory of this person's actions is very suspicious, and she is probably closely related to the case. However, she has not done any substantive actions, at least she has not been discovered. It is too hasty to determine her identity now, not to mention there is such a powerful person behind her. The mountain people are hiding, and they can only understand the situation of the Valente family first.

But this is a big problem. Without the help of Officer Natalie, there is no channel for in-depth investigation, so the back of the man in men's clothing flashed before Lynch's eyes again. This guy is still very reliable. Just wait and I will come find you when the crisis is over. You still owe me two conditions. I will not let you go.

But now... let's go to the Cathedral of the Dark Night tomorrow and ask Trinleth to at least help find a channel or identity to facilitate the investigation. Well, that's a priority.

3. William's holiday surprise (extremely dangerous) - Donny Nutton (death, suspected of mysterious erosion, newspaper reporter, unknown) - thorn flower (!!!).

Donny Nutton seemed to be an unrelated person, but Lynch heard the police say he was a newspaper reporter and wrote him in anyway. Although the police don't know which newspaper he belongs to, they cannot rule out that he is related to the Investigator. If so, he will be included in the first clue chain.

As for the thorn flower, Lynch specifically labeled it with oversized fonts and an even bigger exclamation mark.

Here he decided not to touch it for now.

It's obviously an extremely dangerous place, so I just rushed in without thinking. If all other clues are cut off, then consider this dangerous area.

Moreover, Lin Qi didn't know where this place was. He searched his memories carefully and couldn't find any relevant content. He also searched on the map several times, but also found nothing. Lin Qi couldn't help but feel a little lucky.
  While I was thinking about it, I suddenly heard a rustling movement at the door of the living room. When I turned around, I found a golden little head sticking out from the outside.

Little Martha was peeping at the door with a pot of black tea.

Looking at the girl, Lin Qi felt quite complicated, but he still waved to the little guy to come in.

"Are you helping mom with work?"

"Ah."

The girl ran in clatteringly carrying the tray, and put the tray on the coffee table with a clean and neat movement.

"Do you often help mom deliver tea upstairs?"

"Ah."

The girl nodded vigorously with a sweet smile, skillfully placed the tea cup and filled it with tea.

The smile was gentle and well-behaved, but when he thought about the little bastard smiling so well and giving him a clay pot yesterday, and his back was still aching, Lin Qi felt a chill in the back of his head. She was a pretty child who knew how to do bad things. Now Lin Qi wanted to push her to the ground and beat her up.

"Are you ready to explain your behavior yesterday? I've given you a day to think about it."

"Well, I will explain it to my uncle." The girl showed a coy expression, "But, can you... borrow the bathroom first? I'm afraid my mother will be suspicious if I go downstairs to use it."

A lazy little brat.

Lin Qi pouted, muttering in his mind, and pointed to the bathroom door. The girl became even more embarrassed and ran in with a blushing face.

But in less than a minute, a scream came out, and the bathroom door was slammed open. Little Martha's clothes were disheveled, her hair was messy, as if someone had done something to her, her face was full of panic, and there were tears in the corners of her eyes. With tears in his eyes, he rushed out of the bathroom. As soon as he came out, he covered his face and let out an even more violent scream.

However, after calling twice, the little girl found that there was no movement around her. It was different from what she expected. Instead, her mother's panicked questioning came from down the stairs outside the door. At the same time, there was the sound of walking up the stairs quickly. It was just footsteps. There are two voices.

Ok?
  Little Martha put down the hand covering her face and was surprised to find that Lynch, who was in the room just now, was gone. When she turned her head, she saw Lynch running up from downstairs with her mother.

Before the girl could react, her mother rushed over and held her in her arms. Looking over her mother's shoulder, she could see Lynch clenching his fists and smiling evilly.

Lin Qi was actually secretly rejoicing that he was almost fooled again.

At first, when I saw how skillfully the girl moved, I was still sighing that the little girl is a child from a poor family and is quite sensible and knows how to help her mother with work.

But when I thought about the children from poor families, I suddenly realized that the family was not rich and needed the rent income from the tenants.

But when they first met, Mrs. Maggie accidentally revealed that the last visitor was driven away temporarily by her.

She needs rent so much and yet evicts the tenant temporarily. The other party must have touched her taboos. Mrs. Maggie is gentle and gentle, but Lynch has seen how terrifying it will be once her taboos are touched.

Naturally, her taboo is little Martha. The reason why the previous tenant was kicked out must have something to do with this little thing.

Thinking of this, when he saw the little girl entering the bathroom, Lynch immediately rushed out of the room and ran down the stairs as fast as possible.

No matter what conspiracy she has, let's find an alibi first.

Mrs. Maggie was still arranging the tableware in the kitchen, looking at Lynch suddenly coming down, looking confused. Before Lynch could speak, Martha's scream came from upstairs.

Sure enough, Mrs. Maggie rushed forward immediately, and Lynch followed behind as if in a panic, appearing together in Martha's eyes.

"What's wrong? Are you okay? What happened?" Mrs. Maggie held her daughter's face in panic and looked around.

Seeing Lin Qi's smile, the little girl quickly came to her senses, rolled her eyes, pointed to the bathroom and cried: "Bugs, bugs..."

Hiss, this little bastard's reaction is quite fast.

Lynch clenched his fists, but he didn't want to complain to Mrs. Maggie. He really wanted to compete with this little thing in person.

It would be better if I could beat her with my own hands.

Realizing that it was a false alarm, Mrs. Maggie breathed a sigh of relief, slapped her daughter a few times, apologized to Lynch, and then grabbed her daughter and went downstairs.

Lin Qi sat back on the sofa dumbfounded. Looking at the black tea on the coffee table, he didn't dare to drink it. However, within a few minutes, the little blond and blue-eyed thing slipped up again.

Sitting on the sofa, he picked up the tea he had just poured, drank it all in one gulp, and said angrily in a childish voice: "You win this time, tell me, under what conditions can I not tell my mother about this?" ? Just let me give you x and x?"

The smile froze on his face, Lynch frowned, and asked seriously: "Have you ever done this?"

"No, I heard it from the last guest, don't you adults like these things?"

"So you told mom to kick him out?" "Huh, disgusting adults are the same."

"Well done, remember if someone says that to you in the future, just tell your mother, um, you can tell me." Lynch thought for a while and said sincerely, "I'm not a policeman, and I'm not like your Aunt Natalie. That's how to maintain order, so what you do has nothing to do with me. But since you have offended me, and I am under the care of Mrs. Maggie, it is necessary to think about her. So now I need an explanation as to why I do these things."

"This is also my first time, being forced by them..."

"The experience just now should let you see that I can know a lot of things in advance that I shouldn't know. For example, I can know who is their leader. So think about it before making up a story. I will only give you one chance to explain. .”

Martha bared her teeth as if she wanted to bite someone, but she secretly glanced at Lynch's eyes and whispered: "I admit that I lost to you. Yes, I am their leader, and I will lead them to do it." These things.”

"What's the reason?"

"Money, everyone can share a little money every time, they all have to live, and so do I. My mother has to support the family, maintain this house, and most importantly, she has to send me to school. Primary education can barely be afforded right now. She can afford it, but she also wants me to continue studying in secondary education. The school spends too much money, and if I hadn’t used the extra income to subsidize it, the family would have been very difficult.”

Lynch nodded. Education in the Rand Kingdom is not cheap. Primary education is similar to primary school and junior high school. The four-year course costs about eight pounds per year. Intermediate education is similar to a vocational high school and is more expensive. A three-year course requires at least twenty pounds per year in tuition fees, which is not affordable for ordinary families.

"And if I don't lead them to do bad things, will they stop doing it? I have at least read a little book and know what can be done and when to control myself. Those fools don't know. In the past, they did more excessive things and made trouble Not only did I end up on the gallows, but I also made people outside become more and more afraid of the King District and no longer dare to come. If I quit, they would soon go back to the way they were before, and their normal lives would no longer be the same. It’s all over.”

Instead, Lin Qi poured her a cup of tea, watched the little girl drink it all in one gulp, wiped her mouth, and said angrily:
  "They don't have a good mother. The family doesn't care about them at all. The only difference between them and street children is that they can eat one bite a day and won't starve to death on the street. Thanks to the gentlemen in the city government for their kindness and not allowing factories to employ child labor. They are so kind. If they want to eat a little more, they can only steal and rob. The children of the King's District were already a slang term in the Rhineland at that time, and the whole city knew us uneducated bastards."

Lin Qi sighed, and suddenly felt that compared to these low-class people, the original owner of his body was already in good condition, and now he was living an even better life.

Well, if you ignore the fact that I only have thirteen shillings in my pocket.

"It's better now. They can take home a few pennies or even a shilling or two every few days. Their parents are much better to them, and the police are much better to them. At least they won't beat them up when they see them. Adults, come to the king." District won’t be so scared anymore. Even women dare to come in by themselves. Isn’t this bad? Did I do something wrong?”

Lin Qi asked, "What about me, I'm just soft-hearted, and I was beaten and robbed by you. Did I do something wrong? Do I dare to be soft-hearted again in the future?"

The girl was silent, and after a while she muttered: "You are the ones who usually steal money from the King District and discriminate against us residents. You deserve it."

After muttering a few words, the girl still lowered her head and whispered: "I also know that this is wrong, but if you want to change, you have to find other ways for them. During this time, I have found other ways to make money, and there are fewer bad things to do." More, everyone is getting better slowly, please give me a little more time."

"Huh? Other ways?"

Lynch was a little nervous. Children's ideas are different from adults. Who knows what other dangerous methods she mentioned.

"Children from the King's District are running wild all over the city and can be seen everywhere, so no news in the city can be hidden from us." The little girl said proudly, "In the past two years, people from several newspapers have approached us to buy news, especially A big sister has made many purchases and given us a lot of money. She also said that she would find a way to find a job as a newsboy for them, so that they could supplement their family income and no longer have to run around on the street. Now this is available to everyone. Good thing, just give me some more time and don't let mom know she's sad."

Children's Intelligence Team, this group of naughty kids running around have unique conditions. They are really suitable for this job, even if they become newsboys.

Although intelligence dealers are often more dangerous, providing information to newspapers is much safer.

Moreover, the information within this kind of team is common, and there is rarely information that only a certain individual knows. If you want to silence them, you have to kill all the street children. This is obviously unlikely, so the possibility of individual exposure to risk is very low.

This little bastard is really precocious, and he does have great ideas, but his behavior really deserves a beating.

Thinking of how he almost lost his reputation just now, Lin Qi felt itchy in his hands. As if he had guessed it, the little thing covered his butt and moved to the side to stay away from Lin Qi.

Lynch rolled his eyes. In fact, he no longer wanted to complain to Mrs. Maggie.

Each class has its own way of life, and it is difficult for an outsider to comment on whether a girl is right or wrong. But if she didn't lie, she really wasn't a culprit, and from a practical point of view, everything was changing for the better, but...

"But what about you?" Lynch sighed and his voice softened, "The benefit to you is the least, right? You are so smart, don't you think about yourself?"

"Me? I can't live for a few more years. What's there to think about? I just want my mother to have less hard work in the past few years. If I die early in a few years, my mother will be relieved. I have nothing to regret. ”

"Huh?" Looking at this hateful but immature face, Lin Qi couldn't help but feel sympathy and asked softly, "Why?"

"They thought I was a child and didn't understand anything, so they kept it secret from me. In fact, I already knew when something happened to my father, and it was all because of me." The girl pursed her lips, her eyes were red, and she rubbed her eyes. Rubbing his nose, he whispered, "I overheard Aunt Natalie and the others talking about my special constitution, which makes me suitable to be a container for something. Very few people like this can live long, and they will all be infected by something called a mysterious thing. Death. Huh, I'm not afraid. I'll die. I've thought about it for a long time. As long as my mother is happy these few years, that's fine."

container? what is that?
  Could the mysterious filth on her ring have something to do with it?
  Lin Qi was not sure, so he thought for a while and reassured: "Although my uncle doesn't agree with your explanation, he has no position to condemn you for doing something wrong. So, I will keep it a secret for you and your mother for the time being. But you must be good, Don’t use those tricks on your uncle anymore, and try to tell the truth to him.”

The girl pouted and hesitated for a while, then finally nodded.

"Very good." Lynch high-fived the girl and agreed, "Now tell uncle who else has touched your ring recently."

"Ring? No one touched it."

"Did it hit anything?"

"Oh, I remembered. The reporter sister asked me to help deliver a small bag of photos to one of her colleagues the day before yesterday. I was afraid that the bag would be lost, so I hung it around my neck and sent it." The little girl didn't know why. 's said, "So the ring should have only touched that bag."

Hiss...a reporter again? And it has something to do with mystery?

Lynch hesitated for a moment, pointed to the name on the hanging board and asked, "Could that colleague of hers be this Donnie Naton?"

"I don't know, I don't know that person's name." The girl raised her head and looked at the hanging board, "Huh?"

"what happened?"

"Uncle, do you know that place too?" The girl pointed to the largest word 'thorn flower', which was right next to the name Downey.

Ok?
  Lin Qi felt that every pore on his body was tightened, his breathing paused, and he asked nervously: "Do you know this place?"

"Yes, Aunt Natalie took me and my mother there two years ago. It seemed to be related to my father's affairs."

"Oh, no wonder you know, wait, what did you say?" Lynch suddenly reacted, staring at the little girl and leaning her back, "Natalie also knows? Or did she take you there?"

"Well..." The girl huddled in the sofa in horror and nodded.

Huh, it turns out that the police officer already knew where this was from the time Mrs. Bessie mentioned this name, but she never mentioned it until she left.

She hid it on purpose. But why, why should she hide it.

No, not only that, but everything about her performance in the end was wrong.

After realizing the problem and recalling it, Lynch immediately discovered something unusual.

The scene of parting came to mind again, the police officer whispered her farewell words.

"Nice to meet you, Lynch."

The tone was gentler than ever before. It didn't feel like a farewell, it was simply a farewell.

Lin Qi suddenly slapped himself hard on the face.

"Damn, I'm such an idiot, why didn't I think of that."

He always thought it was strange that the other party was suddenly scared off, but it just happened to suit his wish so he didn't think much about it.

However, looking back now, her performance has always been abnormal.

He will run all night to save Lynch's life without any complaints, is willing to face hundreds of monsters to protect his deep-rooted memories of strange objects, and will considerately try his best to help him fight for his interests in the Watcher, because he can fight with him in just one sentence Let's abandon the clues we have and escape the scene.

Such a person would suddenly change his attitude and shrink back in the face of danger?
  It could only be posturing.

but why?
  Lin Qi hammered his head in frustration, without even thinking about it, the answer was already coming out.

She trusts Mrs. Bessie's judgment more than I do, and is more aware of the dangers that the truth may contain. When I was thinking about how to trick her into exiting safely, of course she could also have the same idea, and she could implement it earlier than me. .

It's ridiculous that I thought I was smarter than this simple-minded stupid woman, but I didn't notice at all, and was deceived by her into believing that she wanted to quit.

She had no intention of backing down at all. Whether it was because she guessed the importance of the case to me or to maintain order, she had no intention of backing down. Even though she knew she might die, she still wanted to continue investigating. She just didn't want me to do this. Ordinary civilians went on adventures and tricked me into staying.

She also specifically told me to wait for news at home. In a day or two, either the matter will be resolved, or her death will make the situation more serious. With everyone paying attention, I will no longer be in danger.

Damn it, this stupid woman, could I be so stupid, could I be so obedient?
  Lin Qi stared at the darkening sky outside, feeling that his mind had never raced so fast.

She left in a hurry in the end because she was afraid that I would see a problem. In order to prevent me from going to the club to find her tomorrow, she also specifically asked me not to be a consultant again. In this state of mind, to be on the safe side, she would probably take action tonight without waiting for tomorrow to explore the 'Thorn Flower' alone.

With this woman's personality, she would definitely not drag other people along to take risks. She is probably already there alone now. The one who is helpless is not me, but her.

This is my business. Why are you more anxious than me? You still owe me two demands. I won't watch you take risks for me. Don't even think about running away. If you want to take risks, let's go together.

"Martha." Lynch stared at the shivering little girl seriously, "Tell me where the thorn flower is, right now."

　A small patch was added to the previous chapter. Mrs. Bessie's description of danger was too straightforward for me before, but it didn't have that looming pressure and force. So I changed a few words slightly, that's all.

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)