Chapter 26 Encounter
On the bank of the Rand River in the Crown District, there is a square, three-story building.
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. There is a mechanical clicking sound all the time.
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 a hundred years.
But today, there is 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 the empty space.
“Hoo, hoo, hoo, burn, burn, burn, ha, ha, yes, which...”
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 with a stern face and frowned at Lynch: "Can you leave?"
His legs were still shaking, but Lynch reluctantly moved a few steps and Gritting his teeth: "Yes, let's go and have 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."
Glancing at Lynch, the police officer turned away and reached out to hold him With his arm, he helped him walk into the Order Square.
The air is filled with a thick smell of burnt food, fine ashes are flying everywhere, there are large areas of water on the ground, there are obvious black marks on the walls, and there are still a few broken windows. There was black smoke outside.
In fact, if you look closely, the accident is not serious. The open flame 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, but when they saw Officer Natalie flashing 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 information from recent years is 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.
What a coincidence?
Lynch felt cold in her heart, 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 in embarrassment.
“Okay, very good, 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.
Lin Qi 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 the one smoking among them?"
"Sir, I don't know, but it should be. It is said that the management did not see The members ran out.”
Now 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 abnormal.”
After all, she was a professional police officer. Lynch was secretly glad again that he had roped her into his investigation team. She continued:
"Did you find anything just now?"
"No, I have sensed it from the window and found no mysterious filth, but this does not mean that it has nothing to do with the mystery, it is just that there is no filth left." This is The exact words that my traveling companion just said in his head.
"Is this someone deliberately preventing us from seeing the information?" Officer Natalie obviously thought about it, stroking her sword and lowering 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 newcomer, and explained, “Someone said that believing in coincidence in the mysterious world is the most convenient way to death. .”
“Huh?”
"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, it is best not to regard any unexpected situation that you think is a coincidence. Mystery hunters prefer to call it a sign. Remember, we can be overly sensitive a hundred times, but as long as there is. If you are not vigilant enough once, you will not have another chance."
"I understand." Lynch nodded seriously and kept it in mind, "But I don't think it is artificial. No one knows. We want to come here to check information. We made the decision on the spur of the moment this morning."
"I hope it's man-made, otherwise it will be even more troublesome." The police officer sighed, "That's it. It means that this is a mysterious event, and it can automatically erase the connection that may expose itself, which means that the mystery is quite strong.”
"Is it also a strange object?"
"Not necessarily, anything can appear in the mysterious world. I hope I am wrong. It may be quite difficult to encounter such a strong mystery." The police officer shook her head, "It's impossible to tell yet, but the fire in the archives is not a small problem. The Department of Order will definitely send specialized personnel to investigate. Let's wait for the professional investigation results before we judge. Unfortunately, it is impossible to access the case files for the time being. I really can't think of anything. Where can I find the relevant records? Otherwise, I really want to see the information. There might be something weird hidden in it. "
"Actually, I think of a place where some of the information might be preserved, and they must be allowed to do so. Cooperate voluntarily and cannot be forced on those people.”
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 hugged by Lynch. , covering his mouth and dragged him into the dark corner of the porch, the two of them squeezed 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 she did not stop and 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.
The cold sweat on his back became even more. He retracted his hand as if he had touched red-hot coals, took a few steps back, raised his hands and said with a smile: "Well, I, I will explain to you now. Is it too late? ”
"There's enough time, you say." The police officer said in a calm voice, rolling up her sleeves and flexing her wrists, "I will help you carve it word for word on the tombstone."
"You don't want a tombstone, just 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 on earth is going on? Who is that old woman? Know? ”
"Karena's makeup."
"Huh?"
"The strange object I sensed in the city hall just now was on the old woman just now." Lin Qi glanced at He glanced at the direction the other party was leaving and whispered, "I suspect that the old woman was dressed up as the eldest daughter of the aristocratic family in the city hall. She turned into an old woman with this strange thing. In addition, she is also a ghost." ”
"Hiss, a soul-shifter 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 both looked at each other. Realize the problem here.
“Let’s go, follow.”
Officer Natalie nodded vigorously, and suddenly as if she remembered something, she 'gently' kicked Lynch on the calf.
"Mark the tombstone for you first, bastard."
"Ouch."
(End of this chapter)