The officers' residence was built separately at the foot of a mountain far away from the coast. It is closer to the stone arches garrisoned by soldiers, making it easy to quickly enter and exit the military port and the old city.

Under normal circumstances, students from military academy were unhappy to come here—either to review the punishment of the station or were arranged to clean up.

William led Charles to copy a broom from the warehouse, swaggered through the checkpoint where the soldiers were on duty, and walked straight to the second floor. The officers were also provided with dormitories by the Royal Navy, but most of the nobles from prominent backgrounds also had private houses in Plymouth City, and most of the time they only used dormitories in the military port as office space. Old Joe was obviously not among them.

Charles was familiar with the road and quickly touched the door of the room where Lao Qiao lived.

William tried to push the door, but it was locked. It was not easy to unlock the lock without arousing suspicion. While he was worried, he was shocked to see Charles take out a key from his pocket.

"I dare not take the pendant, but I didn't say I dare not take the key." Charles shook it proudly and inserted it into the keyhole. "There are spare room keys in the warehouse, and they should not be able to find it in a while."

When they opened the door through the spare key, they looked more like they had a legitimate reason. They became more courageous and even took the initiative to greet the two officers who were talking to each other.

Old Qiao's room was not very messy. On the one hand, it was thanks to Charles's cleaning not long ago, and on the other hand, it was because he didn't have much money to buy things. Just like all the bachelors who are in the world, he only stayed on land for a few months a year, and just prepared a bed in the house could meet all needs.

"The East India Company is so fat that he lives a life tightly." William covered the door and went straight to the desk to open the drawer and searched one by one, muttering words, "It doesn't seem to be a good thing, and I don't know what to do..."

William looked around and turned to look at Charles who was guarding the door and was holding the wind: "Are you sure he put the things in the drawer?"

"Confirm. The second one on the right, you can look for it." Charles was about the first time he was a thief and seemed very excited. "If someone comes later, should we hide, or just climb the window and run away?"

"If it's Lao Qiao, let's run away, just hide from others." William said perfunctorily. He looked around again, but still found nothing, and couldn't help but feel a little irritated.

Has the pendant been handed over to the East India Company? This is the worst possibility, William is unwilling to admit it. He forced himself to think calmly - if Isaac was facing this situation, he would definitely not be too anxious to overturn the table - Old Joe took Regulus away two weeks ago. If he really wanted to hand it over, then Charles would never be able to see it while cleaning.

Unless Old Qiao is also weighing the pros and cons, he is not sure what to do with this thing.

Thinking through this, William began to re-examine everything inside and outside the desk. A stack of letters attracted his attention. Judging from the date, Old Joe communicated frequently during this period.

He picked up one of the letters suspiciously and opened them, his brows raised. The letter was anonymous, but he still recognized that the handwriting was from Alphons. He was impressed by the university rejection letter Isaac had.

The letter was very brief, omitting greetings and blessings, and more like some concise instructions: "The risks are known, and I am mediating with the Admiralty. They will arrive in Plymouth around mid-July, and be sure to ensure their personal safety. As far as I know, there are quite strong opposition voices within the Navy."

It seems that what they are discussing is related to the plan to go to sea next month, and this plan has not received everyone's support.

Out of curiosity, William then opened another letter: "The royal family has limited patience, and the last time the goods shipped back from India did not show good results. It is best to travel through Malacca and directly contact the Chinese. The women of Zheng's family once promised assistance to ask them to find a navigator who is versed in the Eastern languages, and if necessary, they can resort to force."

This is in line with the usual violent style of the East India Company. William curled his lips. Based on the content of the letter, he could probably guess the destination of the trip this time. However, Alphons never mentioned the navigation plan and goal in the letter, probably to beware of the letter being intercepted halfway, which shows that this matter is extremely secret.

When he recalled the moody Alphonse, William was tight for no reason. Whether he was a gentle and charming gentleman or a violent and arrogant vicious spirit depends entirely on which status he appeared. I hope everything is fine.

William continued to check, and his fingertips touched something hard.

It is an unsealed envelope. A letter that Lao Qiao has not sent.

He slowly pulled out the envelope, and took it back without paying attention. Immediately, a small piece of silver-shining metal slid down the seal - Regulus.

William breathed a sigh of relief: "Finished!"

He raised Regulus to show it to Charles, and the two looked at each other and smiled.

Charles tilted his head towards the door and signaled: "Retreat?"

"Give me a minute," William thought, "I want to see what Old Joe wrote in this letter. He should have planned to send it out, and for some reason he gave up again."

He sat on the ground, unfolded the letter only when he could take a quick glance, and heard Charles yelling in panic: "Someone is coming!"

William only raised his eyelids and said, "What are you afraid of? We are here to clean up."

Charles snatched him without saying a word and pulled him up and drilled into the closet: "They came to this room! Let Old Joe know that we've been here is bad!"

Charles was right, they took Regulus away. If someone had caught him "cleaned" here, it would be better for Old Joe to follow the clues to find them. William had no time to put the letter back in place, so he had to bring it into the closet with him.

Two people came in one after another, and couldn't see it through the narrow crack of the cabinet's door. William was sure that one of the voices was familiar to him. It was not Lao Qiao, but who could not match it for a while.

They were whispering to discuss the plans for the Eastern navigation, with a rapid and intense tone.

"I don't think it's necessary..." said the familiar voice, "What you are looking for is under your nose."

"Do you think I don't know what you are talking about? We have experimented many times in London and did create that substance. But it is not very pure - our interpretation of jadeite slabs is likely to be wrong." Another voice flatly refused, "In the East, the alchemy used by Chinese people is very likely to be the same as what we are looking for! The informant has touched their secret network, and delaying departure may miss the opportunity."

"This is a complete gambler's behavior!"

"This is a loyal support for the country and the kingship. The search for ancient oriental alchemy can bring endless glory and wealth to England."

"For England? Or for the company-"

"Or both. This is not a conflict." The strange voice said coldly and arrogantly, "Please, what do you want me to see?"

There was a sound of rummaging about searching for something, and the drawer was repeatedly pulled open and closed. Then there was an embarrassing silence.

"He took it away." said a familiar voice. "I have seen it once. Although it is relatively small, it is already in a solid solid form and should be further than the substance you purified."

The other party let out a contemptuous sneer. He lazily suggested: "Maybe I can find you again-in the closet?"

The two young men's hearts fell at the same time. They looked at each other in the darkness, and even if they couldn't see each other's eyes, they could hear each other's hearts pounding.

The man approached, and most of the light in the crack in the cabinet door was blocked by him. William could feel that he had placed his hands on the closet door handle.

He obviously noticed something strange. With the light injected, he saw two big boys curled up in the closet with a confused look on his face. He was about to turn around and say something, but he couldn't speak a word.

——A pair of big hands choked his throat from behind, and the confusion on his face turned into shock and fear.

Through the thin cabinet door, the two teenagers saw him kicking, holding his hand that was choking his neck hard, and then being pulled backwards.

They hurried in the darkness of the closet, and they didn't dare to come out.

After a slight rustling sound, footsteps left the room, and then everything returned to peace.

"Are they leaving?" Charles pushed the door out with a slight slight foot, and then almost jumped up in fear, "This person! That person just now!"

The strange man lay on his back on the ground, his face resting on the terrifying look of staring at his eyes and sticking out his tongue, and he had stopped breathing.

"Go! Go quickly!"

William pulled Charles and rushed to the window.

More footsteps were coming from the other side of the corridor, and they had to leave quickly before they were discovered.

The invisible vortex began to stir, and the torrents surging under the calm water surface.

William did not care about the pain all over his body and jumped over the windowsill to the lush bushes on the ground. After landing, he did not dare to stay, so he hurriedly continued to run wildly - he had just seen clearly that the cross pendant hanging on the victim's chest was a crimson rose blooming in the center.
Chapter completed!