Chapter 16 Lost and Found (big chapter, updated today, please read it)
Go through the bar and out the back door, and the stairs leading to the second floor appear in front of you.
However, Officer Natalie did not go upstairs. Instead, she led Lynch into a small door under the stairs.
It was an ordinary utility room inside, but when the police officer pulled the lever on the wall, the utility room was no longer ordinary.
With the sound of gears colliding and rubbing in the wall, a door cracked open on the opposite wall, and a spiral staircase appeared behind the door, extending all the way down.
The secret base of a secret agency.
Lin Qi instantly felt as if he had seen the headquarters of the Men in Black. His heart beat a few beats faster with excitement. He took a deep breath to suppress his excessive excitement and followed the police officer through the secret door.
The secret door is closed, but the light is still there.
Under the gridded glass lampshades, the gas nozzles spit out firelight, all the way down the wall, illuminating the deep space.
"I have already reported your matter to him. Although it is a bit troublesome, there should be a solution. He will explain it to you in detail later. Don't worry."
Lin Qi forced a smile , now I feel like I am on the way to the hospital to get the pathology report. No matter how big-hearted a person is, he will inevitably feel uneasy. He just feels that the road in front of him is extremely long.
After going down the stairs, there were five or six forked roads underground. Knowing that he was an outsider, Lin Qi followed Officer Natalie carefully and took a forked road on the left.
This is a typical underground corridor. Even if there is a gas lamp on the wall, it still has a dark and depressing feeling. Not far away, a door is ajar, and a warm orange light shines from inside.
Natalie knocked on the door, and a male voice with a strong nasal voice came from inside. It was the special accent of Nolin City, the capital of Rand.
"Please come in."
There was a harshness in the voice, which gave people a headache just hearing it. Lynch frowned instinctively, but still followed Natalie in.
Inside the door is a very typical office space, with a large desk, a large bookcase, and a high-backed leather chair. Opposite are two couches. Two gas lamps extend from the wall, illuminating the entire office.
A middle-aged man is sitting behind the desk, with his hair neatly combed back. He is wearing a white shirt, a formal suit and a hat hanging on a hanger, wearing a single-sided glasses, and a cane leaning against the desk.
The man had a very serious expression and was reading a report on the table. As soon as Lin Qi saw him, he immediately felt a heavy pressure on his face, which made his heart beat faster and his palms broke into cold sweat.
‘Travel companion, what’s going on? ’
[That is a reminder from inspiration, the awakened one, you have sensed the mystery hidden in his body. 】
‘The soul-diverger? But Natalie, why don't I feel this way. ’
[He is more powerful. 】
"Please take a seat, Mr. Lynch Leviev."
The man stood up, nodded, pointed to the sofa opposite, and then closed the report on the table:
"I am Victor, the person in charge of the Watch in Rhine City, code name V, you can call me Mr. V , you can just call me Victor."
Lynch bowed slightly and sat down next to Natalie.
"I know everything about yesterday's situation. Let's get straight to the point and talk about your experience. This case is initially judged to be a sacrificial ceremony planned by followers of the evil god Ancient Flicker."
Lynch last night I also carefully searched the original body’s memories related to evil gods and cultists. Evil gods are just like mysteries and are only spread among the people as legends. Cultists are a group of madmen who are obsessed with stories about evil gods and are poisoned. They hide among the people and cause destruction everywhere.
This is also the understanding of the vast majority of people towards the taboo knowledge related to mystery. Few people really believe that there are countless weird things outside common sense. Therefore, even though he already had the mark of the evil god on his body, he still couldn't help but ask: "Are there really so many evil gods in the world? What are they?"
"There are many. In addition to the ancient and mysterious meteor gods, there are hundreds of evil gods hiding in the memories of dreamland in the form of old rulers. As for what they are, someone will tell you later. Among the evil gods, the ancient ones Flicker is not a very powerful evil god, but because he once usurped the power of communication and diffusion for a period of time, there are many cultists who believe in him, including some emerging talents..."
"Capitalist?" Lynch somewhat understood why Randall became a cultist.
“Yes, they have received intermediate education after all.” Mr. V nodded, “So it’s not surprising that they have sufficient funds and are secretly causing trouble. In fact, if we only perform a few sacrifices, we usually won’t be very serious. It is the task of ordinary police officers to intervene.”
"Ahem." Lin Qi's expression was a little subtle.
"Mr. Leviv, this is the truth. Cultists who only hold a few sacrifices to please the evil gods are the cutest cultists. They just kill a few ordinary people. If I were not worried about the impact, I would be willing to give them Each person is given a medal, but unfortunately, they often involve more complex and dangerous purposes. This is the case where we need to intervene, otherwise we will send out ten times more manpower for a few ordinary people who have been sacrificed. It’s not enough.”
Thinking of the difference between ordinary police officers and special police officers, Lynch nodded.
"Now let's talk about your own affairs. I know that you must complete the soul alienation within a month to survive. Natalie hopes that I can help solve this problem, but unfortunately, this is theoretically impossible."
Lin Qi’s expression was calm. In theory, he did not ignore this keyword.
“Soul alienation must be based on a certain god that fits your heart, whether this god is the twelve main gods who sit on the throne or the ancient meteor gods who have gone far away. You need to learn from the mysterious things they left in the dreamland There are not many holy mysteries that can allow you to complete your first soul alienation. The easiest to encounter are the initial holy mysteries of the twelve main gods, but those are all in the hands of their churches. . They control this very strictly. Even if you become a devout believer of a certain main god, you still need to go through many years of testing before you are qualified to contact the holy mystery. One month is not enough."
Lin Qi pursed his lips. Even though he knew that the other party might be manipulating his posture, he still felt a little nervous. After all, this was directly related to his life and death. And everything the other party said makes sense. If it were him, he wouldn't let outsiders come into contact with something that is directly related to his own cohesion.
“It seems that you understand. It’s not that there is no room for them to be accommodating, but this requires an exchange of interests. The price is very high. It is not worth paying for an ordinary civilian, even if one is favored by Natalie. The same goes for civilians. No one will agree to such a request. There is no need to discuss it."
"Sir..."
Officer Natalie raised her head suddenly, frowned and wanted to say something, but before she could say anything, she was severely stepped on by Lynch beside her. The police officer hesitated for a moment, and finally lowered her head again, just using He glared at Lin Qi fiercely. "So, Natalie's request cannot be passed unless a member of the royal family or a government official speaks out, or there is a real reason to make the kingdom pay these prices." Mr. V placed his hands on his chin with his fingers clasped together, staring at Lynch and said, " Do you have it?"
Lin Qi suddenly realized the other party's prompt, smiled and nodded: "I do"
"Huh?"
"There is a 'master' behind Randall. He is specifically targeting me. He even sent me a letter just now. This is proof. He is not a madman, and I am not. Having come into contact with him, he must have a purpose for targeting me. We must find out his purpose and what kind of threat he used my death to pose to the kingdom and His Majesty the King's people. Therefore, we must continue to investigate. This is what watching It is the responsibility of the investigator, and I am the breakthrough point for the investigation, and I must be alive."
"So that's the case, it does make sense. So your survival is directly related to the investigation of the case, and it may also be related. To the safety of the kingdom, then for the sake of the kingdom’s interests, your survival must be guaranteed, otherwise the direction of the investigation will be cut off.”
"Yes."
"Then there is no way, Natalie, you will continue to communicate with Mr. Leviv. Once there is any progress, you will immediately launch a follow-up investigation. During this period, in order to ensure that Mr. Lynch Survival..."
Even though he was confident, Lynch still nervously held his breath and waited for the next step. Then he saw Mr. V take out a large envelope that had been prepared from the drawer and throw it away. It landed squarely on the coffee table in front of me:
"Watcher's letter of introduction. Although the Rand Royal Court and the major divine churches only have a cooperative relationship, Rand is one of the seven major powers after all, and the major forces will also give them enough respect. With this letter of introduction, as long as you The soul compatibility is just an initial soul alienation. Those churches will not make things difficult for you. If your soul is really not compatible with the twelve main gods, you go to Natalie and she will bring you into contact with some secret societies. It can find the sacred mysteries of some meteor gods. This letter of introduction is also effective for those secret societies, oh, it is partially effective."
Lin Qi looked at the envelope and then looked at Mr. V, knowing that this was a big favor. You can feel the weight of this thing by listening to it, not to mention it is directly linked to your own life. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a priceless treasure. Although you have been playing with the posture, the things that have been prepared are enough to explain the other party's attitude.
Lin Qi thought for a while, said nothing, stood up, bowed deeply, and brought the envelope to himself. He never liked to owe favors, especially such a big favor, so he was already worried. I have made up my mind that if I have the opportunity in the future, I will definitely repay the favor with all my strength.
"Actually, it's not as serious as you think, because it's impossible for a person to choose two god templates to deviate from, so you can only use it once. The watcher only needs to exchange benefits with one force, and it will not be open to all forces." V Instead, the husband gave a few words of persuasion in an understatement, and then knocked on the table, "Now we need to talk about the second more serious issue, Natalie's request for the cost of rare items."
Lynch's mouth twitched. He sat up straight like a primary school student, put his hands on his knees, and looked extremely focused.
“These requests are illegal and unreasonable. Natalie Angell, you actually made such a request. I am very disappointed in you. The ghost of Danis House is the stolen property of the Randall family. Although you found it, it has nothing to do with you, so it should be confiscated and no compensation can be provided. And the statue itself is a contraband of the cultists. Mr. Leviv bought it without holding him responsible for buying and selling dangerous goods. You are tolerant, but you still want to compensate for the six pounds of payment? According to which rule, who do you think will approve your unreasonable request? Find it in the regulations and I will approve the money for you immediately."
The police officer's face turned red and she lowered her head and could not say a word.
Lin Qi also sighed softly in his heart. Although I have been mentally prepared for it, now is the time to spend money, so I am inevitably a little disappointed. However, looking at Officer Natalie next to him, Lynch still felt warm in his heart. It turned out that she seemed not to care, but in fact she took everything to heart and was a good friend.
"In addition, Natalie Angell, you made more serious mistakes in your report."
The police officer was a little dazed and blinked blankly.
V knocked on the report on the table and said in a serious tone, "You said that in order to track down the statue, you commissioned a private detective to assist in the investigation. You can't just report this to me verbally. Why didn’t I see it on your report? Where did you write it?”
Lynch’s eyes lit up and he took a deep breath. For the first time, he felt that there were interesting individuals among the officials, but Natalie The police officer still tilted his head with a confused look on his face, and there seemed to be a substantial question mark on his head, as if he was asking: When did I say that?
"And you entrusted a private detective. Did you apply for funding in advance for the commission? If you didn't apply, do you want others to work for you for free or do you plan to pay for it yourself?"
V threw the report back to Nata angrily. Li:
"Take it back and rewrite it. Complete the details of how you entrusted the private detective to assist in the investigation. Don't let the commander guess. Also, add another description of the situation and self-reflection. Even if the situation last night It’s too late to apply for funds in advance. What did you do this morning? Do you still need me to remind you? After you finish writing it, submit it together with the grant application. No, the grant application will be given to me in a moment. Hurry up and settle the entrustment money with others. Our government agency You can’t owe anyone money. By the way, how much is the commission fee?”
Natalie also understood at this time, glared at Lynch fiercely, and whispered: "Six pounds and fifteen shillings."
"Say it again? Do you know what six pounds means? V showed a strange expression, "It means that I will also write a situation statement and self-reflection to the headquarters. Then I will be the one sitting in your position and getting scolded. Is this what you want to see? So no more than four pounds?" Discuss."
"Four pounds is enough."
Lin Qi breathed a sigh of relief. With three pounds to spare, most of the problems could be solved. At least he wouldn't starve to death on the street or sleep on the street.
"This is what's wrong with you, Mr. Lynch Leviev." V's face darkened and he said seriously, "Aren't you ready to continue serving the kingdom and His Majesty Rudolf? ”
“Huh?”
"Or do you think the Watchers will mistreat their partners?" V knocked on the table, "As promised, you will continue to cooperate with Natalie in pursuing this case, so this is the second commission besides tracking down the statue. The commission fee... The government departments are not very generous, so you have to understand us, so please pay six pounds in advance. If there are any changes later, you will make adjustments at that time. Natalie, you will write this part of the grant application later. Pay the money together. Also, for the two entrustments last night and today, you will complete the two entrustment contracts and complete the procedures. We must be able to live up to the trust of His Majesty the King and withstand the supervision of the House of Commons. . ”
Lin Qi was already breaking out in a cold sweat, and had only one thought in his mind.
It turns out that administrative regulations can still be played like this.
Moreover, officials from another world are actually so good at playing. They can figure out the truth behind the scenes, and they do it so neatly that no one can find any faults.
But no matter what, I finally have money in my pocket. Damn Randall, hey, the money you stole is back again.
“I advise you not to be happy too early, Mr. Leviv, because you will soon realize that in the mysterious world, ten pounds may only be considered abject poverty, and you may not even have a useful thing. Can’t even afford it.”
Until then, Mr. V leaned back in his chair and showed a gentle smile:
"Mr. Lynch, in fact, what I said at the beginning was not a cover-up. It is indeed our normal attitude. But you last night You have won our respect with practical actions, and we believe that you are qualified to be a partner of Watchman and worthy of this letter of introduction. Therefore, I sincerely hope that we will have the opportunity to continue our cooperation in one month. As for the fee, it is as follows. It is stipulated that we cannot give you a penny, but the cooperation fee is of course another matter. Who asked you to help so much?"
Lynch stood up, pressed his hat to his chest, and bowed again. : "I will remember the friendship today."
"Haha, you're welcome. You go up and have a drink and have fun. I won't disturb you young people."
Both of them had smiles on their faces. Only Officer Natalie looked at it. He fell into deep melancholy while reading the report on the table.
Finally, we have come to the most criticized part of harvest settlement, and I feel uneasy.
(End of this chapter)