Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 366: Is it being secretly investigated?
The ancient sycamore tree has stood here since the birth of the city, witnessing the long process of the land's transformation from a wilderness to a neighborhood. The stone houses and thatched sheds of King Ingver's time are long-faded memories in its eyes, and the barbarians and their ancestors have disappeared for ten centuries. Adventurers in the great pioneering era may have walked under its branches and leaves, talking about the strange monsters in the mountains and the gold and silver that can be found everywhere... Describing it as a living fossil is absolutely appropriate, and respectfully calling it an elder is not an exaggeration. But now it has disappeared and turned into a microscopic model in the fairy's treasure box. There is only the wind blowing through its original place, rolling up a few colorful fallen leaves.

The small park is still lush, with grass and bushes growing wildly, and gray-billed sparrows chirping in the flower beds. My simple mind cannot figure out where the branches that branched and stretched like giant arms have gone. Will a seven-hundred-year-old tree also fade away with the ebb of the tide like the ocean seventy thousand years ago? There has never been such a distant memory in their blood vessels.

One day in the near future, a resident who happens to pass by this place may be surprised because he finds that the small park in front of him is so unfamiliar that he can no longer recall the happy time he played here as a child. But what is missing, perhaps even he himself can't explain it clearly.

Human thoughts are so fragile that they are always crushed by heavier things, leaving no soil for a tree to take root and grow.

Linger said to the shepherdess beside him: "I finally understand why bards and playwrights like to mention the goblin's treasure."

In all kinds of fantasy stories, adventure and treasure hunting has always been an enduring routine. Where exactly the treasure that the protagonists are looking for comes from can be derived from many different sources, depending on factors such as the background of the story, the characteristics of the times, and even the personal preferences of the creator.

The famous literary magazine "Boers Review" once conducted a vote on this topic and finally announced the "Treasure Inspiration Ranking Most Favored by Creators". In addition to the more common "Legacy of the Lost Nation", "Pirate Treasure", "Legacy of the Secret Cult" and "Ancient Family Treasure", the top ten included the three results involving fantasy creatures, namely "Dragon Treasure" in second place, "Mountain Troll's Secret Treasure" in fifth place, and "Fairy Treasure House" in tenth place.

There is no need to explain the stereotype of a giant dragon who loves treasure and even sleeps on a pile of gold coins; the mountain troll is a widely circulated folk story in the central and northern regions of Sigiriya, which mentions a giant monster with a huge body, short limbs, and a silver sword. It likes to travel through the mountains and ridges, looking for gold, silver and gems buried underground, and take them to the common tomb of the mountain trolls after death. Throughout the ages, countless people believed it to be true and searched for it persistently, but they never found anything, so many legends were derived, collectively known as the mountain troll's secret treasure.

As for the goblins' treasure trove, most of them have nothing to do with gold, silver, and other treasures. What are more well-known are some incredible treasures, such as holy spring water that can fulfill wishes, silver marrow crystals that bring good luck when worn on the body, and jewel necklaces that can understand the language of birds and beasts.

But the stories only mentioned what kind of treasures they had, but never how they collected them, and Lingge had now witnessed it with his own eyes. If every fairy would shrink their favorite treasures and store them in the treasury, the scale would probably be more amazing than the mountain of gold coins in the dragon cave or the secret treasures in the mountain troll tomb.

Although they are indeed small in size, gentle in temperament, and do not like to fight, we should not underestimate these lovely creatures. Just like Shaymi, when she was cornered, she would bite Alice - she actually did so.

"What's wrong?" Ling asked.

By the way, the bartender, Cialis, was sitting on Saint Cialis's left shoulder. She was in a relatively relaxed posture, with her hands slightly supported backwards, her legs crossed, and her little feet in black leather boots swaying. While Shaymi was sitting on the right shoulder, with his hands raised high as if cheering, his expression excited, as if he couldn't wait to go back and announce the good news to his friends.

Shesta sat cross-legged in an elegant posture on Saint Shallia's soft and bright emerald hair, and said with a smile, adjusting the corners of her skirt which were slightly upturned. The rose pattern on the hem of her skirt was smooth and bright, setting off her calves as smooth as jade, and at the end were high-heeled boots tied with bows with white satin ribbons.

Linger frowned: "Night Watchman?"

After putting away the miniature sycamore and the hotel, the group planned to leave Rostin City and return to the mountain castle where the Cloud Whale Floating Island was temporarily docked. The movement of the fairy magic just now was not small. Although Saint Xia Liya used the thread of fate to cover it up a little, it was hard to guarantee that the traces of the magic power change would not be leaked out and caught by the eyes and ears of the night watchmen, so it was better to leave this area as soon as possible.

"Let's go, Xiao Xia."

Although it was a bit impolite to think so, Ling Ge still felt that Saint Xia Liya seemed to be regarded as a very convenient means of transportation by these three sisters?
The girl herself didn't care much about it. After putting away the thread of fate, she planned to leave. When she was about to take a step, she suddenly paused and looked back, but there was no one in that direction. There were only a few gray-billed sparrows jumping around in the corner of the street, pecking at the dead leaves scattered on the ground.

Saint Shalia replied: "Someone is coming."

How could it be so fast?

"It should be." Saint Shallia said, stretching out her hand and pulling it in the air like plucking the strings of a guitar, and then said to Ling Ge and the three traveler fairies: "I have used the thread of fate to distract their attention. Those people will probably stay around for a few hours. Before that, let's go back to the island."

The mountain roads in Sossen were rugged and difficult, but with the help of the traveler goblins, a few hours would be enough, so no one raised any objections and they soon left Sherrel Street in another direction and headed towards the Sossen Mountains. At least they had to run a safe distance before the night watchman noticed anything. But before leaving, Linger still had some doubts in his heart.

Even if the Night Watch could use some sophisticated magical instruments to monitor the changes in magic power in the city and thus lock onto the target of magic, the speed was still too fast, with a difference of less than five minutes.

If the Night Watchmen's magical instruments were really so advanced, none of the aliens in Rostin City would be able to escape and they should have been completely wiped out by them long ago. Why would they need pathogens in the plant garden to monitor them?
Unless, it wasn't the Night Watch.

……

"According to the investigation results, the target's life experience is basically consistent with the information provided by Lord Langning, except for some deviations in details. For example, Lord Langning mentioned that Mr. Yang Ke, the first resident pastor of Tianxin Church, only adopted two children. After his death, his adopted son Linger inherited the position of pastor, and his adopted daughter Meidian began to study medicine and herbal medicine with the goal of taking the pharmacist qualification examination. Apart from this, there are no other members of Tianxin Church. However, residents of the same street mentioned a girl named Alice. Her origin is unknown. She seemed to appear in the church suddenly. No matter from which angle you look at it, it is very suspicious. The target, who was evaluated by Lord Langning as 'calm, rational and not emotional', took in this suspicious girl of unknown origin and hired her as a maid. It is hard not to suspect that this is to cover up his true identity - for example, a magician?"

"The target was involved in the Blood Moon Incident, which was led by the cult organization Blood Red Feast. Fialli Jane Edward, a reporter from the Citizen Evening News sponsored by the Red Prayer Society, visited the church in the name of an interview and later wrote a report on the Religious Decree. It should be noted that Fialli's true identity is actually a cult member of Blood Red Feast, so there must be some connection between the two events."

"After the Blood Moon Incident, the target, who had never left Linville City, took his sister Metien and a mysterious girl who was suspected to be a magician, Alice, to Rostin City by train, and disappeared on Scherer Street. After that, his whereabouts in Rostin City became secretive, as if his existence had been erased by some force. At least there is no relevant record in the files of the night watchmen in this city. When the target appeared again, he was in the Sosen Mountains adjacent to Rostin City, and happened to be in the same area as the animist Rochelle who was being hunted. And the witnesses at that time were... us."

Wade Locke said this, and he exhaled lightly, with a sigh of emotion: "I didn't expect that we would actually miss the target of the A-level mission."

Sally, who was sitting in the passenger seat, took a bite of the mutton pie in her hand and said vaguely, "Captain, you also gave him a Type III magic generator. Although it is about to break down, if it is sent back to the Construction Management Department for repair, it may still be usable."

"He wasn't a magician at the time." Wade said with a wry smile, "So the instrument didn't detect the magic in him, so I naturally thought he was a tourist who didn't know how to live or die and went to the mountains for fun. Although we have to hunt down Rochelle, we can't just sit back and watch the ordinary people in front of us. That would go against the original intention of establishing the Balance of Order, right?"

Sally shrugged and said nothing more.

"Very suspicious." Michelle stared at the text on the file with a gloomy look. "From an ordinary person with no magic power to being able to confront the Earth Mother Titan head-on, it took less than a month. This is a change that cannot be described by talent. I can only suspect that he used some kind of taboo ritual to quickly enhance his own strength."

As we all know, this type of ritual usually requires a large amount of extraordinary materials. And the cheapest and most common ritual material in this world is... human life.

Wade was silent for a while, then said: "Perhaps this is why he was listed as an A-level target. In any case, we can't let such a dangerous magician continue to exist. Aegir, haven't arrived yet?"

He asked, and Aegir, who was driving the steam car, shook his head blankly: "I don't know, Captain. In fact, I have been around several times, but I didn't find Scherer Street shown in the information."

Wade was stunned when he heard the answer, and then he became alert. He turned his head to look at Michel, who had taken out a brass watch with a mottled shell and looked a bit old from his pocket. He opened the watch cover and looked at the scale where the hour hand pointed. His expression suddenly became ugly: "Six thirteen in the evening, Captain."

Now, not only Wade, but everyone else also felt something was wrong.

Because they came to the neighborhood around three in the afternoon.

Three hours have passed and I'm still going round in circles.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)