It can be seen that the police officers of the St. George District Police Station have entered a tense and orderly state of preparation.

As soon as you enter the lobby of the police station, you can see several police officers holding batons standing near the entrance and exit. Whenever a citizen who comes to handle business comes in, one person will approach and ask in a low voice to check their identity and confirm the matter.

Details. They will not let people pass until this step is completed and go to the reception desk to register information.

In front of the notice board, an elderly police sergeant was sorting out the posted notices. Behind him, from time to time, agile trainee police officers would climb up the steps and pass by in a hurry, perhaps holding something similar to a file bag in their hands.

At the back of the hall, in the transit corridor that connects the archives room, the evidence room and the detective office, you can see several police officers acting as temporary porters transporting cardboard boxes that seem to be quite heavy in their hands. This makes those waiting in line to take notes

, various citizens who paid bail had to move closer to the wall to give them enough road space to pass.

As he followed Cons and the two police officers up to the second floor, Arthur Watson received looks with different expressions and many looks. Until the young man from MI9 knocked on the door at the end of the corridor on the right side of the second floor.

Opening the office door, she reported her work content to the deputy director of the police station who was waiting here. Alice, who had to maintain two-line operations, relaxed a little. She casually walked to the vertical bookshelf to the right of the deputy director's desk and looked at the volume.

The volumes are neatly arranged on the spine.

Soon, Kang Si finished explaining the situation of the supervisees. The two part-time police officers from the Extraordinary Team of the Church of Steam looked at each other and consciously began to continue the statement, talking about the results of their examination of Ian.

"Like those carriage drivers who were involved in the incident but did not encounter any life-threatening danger, the boy showed no traces of being affected by supernatural powers. However, there were a lot of unnatural gaps in his recent memory up to yesterday evening. We

The needle holes left by the injection were found on his arm. There were not many, and some were old and new, so it is very possible..."

"Hallucinogens, or those low-grade drugs that can damage people's heads? When did such things become available to children?" The deputy director, who had a slightly chubby face and looked quite kind, frowned.

.

"Maybe it's just that the boy named Ian is in a special situation. Ordinary children are not adopted and raised by Fusac's spies like him. They use the knowledge and skills they learned to spy on other countries and collect intelligence." Another person said.

The Machine Heart member in police uniform said, "Of course, he doesn't know the truth about why he was taken in. He still thinks that the man is just a detective."

His companion nodded in agreement:

"The most important thing is that we did not find the marks on the boy that the victims should have...the marks of the devil."

As soon as these words came out, all four pairs of eyes in the room immediately turned to the only outsider present.

Arthur Watson turned around with a smile, silently opened his tie, and unbuttoned his coat and shirt, exposing his collarbone that was so white that it seemed pale and sickly, thus allowing others to see clearly the figure that seemed to be engraved in blood and bone.

The ferocious claw marks.

It was not made public by the authorities. It was the same mark on all the victims who died in the murder. Five non-parallel winding lines formed a simple spiral pattern, but it gave people a strange sense of evil and grotesqueness.

.

Investigators who know the inside story know the meaning of this mark on his body.

Arthur Watson is the survivor who actually encountered the "demon" but survived. No matter what his purpose was, and whether he instructed the boy Ian to obtain the Hermoshuin manuscript for himself, the deal is now concluded.

Calculating these has long been meaningless, his survival itself has value, and may even bring a new entry point to the current status of the stalemate case!

"Okay, this is not the first time that this 'devil' mark has been confirmed. Put away your seriousness and let's talk about the case itself."

Arthur Watson quickly buttoned up his coat and waved his hands without any nervousness:

"In one month, there were six murders, and on average one accident occurred in less than a week... Before I touch the evidence, I want to hear the conclusions you have drawn so far. With so many on-site investigations, more than ten people were killed.

Summary of the identity of the perpetrators and the correlation between them... Well, I am just making an analogy, you are the experts in investigating cases, you can always find something."

The deputy director, who had a fat beer belly, nodded and looked at the policeman wearing the inspector's shoulder badges.

After receiving the signal, the Extraordinary members from the Heart of Machinery stood up and skillfully circled the points where several accidents had occurred on the urban map spread out on the deputy director's desk.

"If you have paid attention to the incident before, or sorted out the incidents of all cases like your detective friend, you can find out——"

He quickly marked six locations on the map. Without exception, they were all located near the Backlund Bridge, collectively referred to as the urban area of ​​the bridge area, and the southern area of ​​the bridge, which included the lower reaches of the Tasok River.

"On August 29, the first accident occurred at the intersection of Norden Street and Youhao Street in the South District of the Bridge; three days later, on September 1, the police handled the second accident at the intersection of Coal Street and Hongbailing Street in the Bridge area.

Accident; after that, we didn’t hear any more similar accident reports for five or six days, but the ominous premonition was finally fulfilled on Tuesday of the next week, and the third accident still happened, also in the bridge area, monument

The intersection where the square is located..."

As this official extraordinary person narrated, a certain feature of the first four crime sites became apparent.

Near these intersections, or not far away, is the Tasok River flowing through the city.

Arthur Watson pointed to the latter two locations in unison, comparing the long distances between them and the river:

"What about the two recent cases? These two intersections are not very close to the Tasok River."

As if guessing that he would ask this question, another member of the Heart of Machinery who was not responsible for the narration task came over and pushed two black and white photos on the table.

"Although these two intersections are far away from the river, their common point is obvious. They are that there are manhole covers leading to the sewers at the intersections." The extraordinary man who looked like a middle-aged police inspector knocked on the table.

The photo made a clicking sound, and he affirmed, "As early as after the second case, some people concluded that the 'devil' used waterways to move and complete the murder. However, due to too little evidence, we can only transfer

A small number of members went to patrol and inspect qualified intersections in the bridge area and the south area of ​​the bridge to verify their suspicions..."

"As a result, the two recent cases occurred at intersections far away from both sides of the river?" Arthur Watson showed a clear expression.

Conseil added and corrected sternly:

"Including the accident you encountered yesterday evening, there are already three cases."

"Yesterday afternoon, I returned from the dock area. When the carriage approached the southern area of ​​the bridge, I felt that the speed of the carriage suddenly lost control. The coachman began to shout in panic, trying to get the horse to stop, but the carriage came anyway.

After a sharp turn, the carriage suddenly turned sideways in the other direction... Thinking about it carefully, after I jumped out of the carriage, I did not notice whether there was a sewer manhole cover on the ground." Arthur Watson nodded softly to himself.

.

"In fact, that street is still part of the dock area in terms of jurisdiction, and has not been divided into the south area of ​​​​the bridge. That's why our members responsible for neighborhood inspections missed the report." The extraordinary man who looked like a middle-aged police inspector said, looking at

Taking a look at his formal leather collar, he looked like a standard Loen gentleman, "And according to the coachman's testimony, after you jumped out of the carriage, you rolled directly to the front of the carriage, preventing the car accident from happening with brute force... So even

The police station has not received any relevant report information.”

Arthur Watson just pretended that he did not understand the vague words "Why didn't you call the police?" and "You are making it difficult for us to deal with this." Gu Zi opened his mouth and confirmed:

"So you believe that the 'demon' moved through waterways?"

"...Let's clarify another question first." The fat deputy director said in an unfriendly tone, "What do you think of the 'devil's' modus operandi?"

"You mean, what kind of ability can covertly kill the passengers in the carriage, then twist their limbs into pieces, fold them and stuff them into the belly of the horse? To be honest, apart from the artificial sense of horror, I can't see it.

What's the point of doing this?" Arthur Watson replied truthfully.

The extraordinary man who looked like a middle-aged police inspector cleared his throat:

"First of all, let me correct your statement - the passengers in the carriage were not stuffed into the horse's belly after they died. They had all their bones crushed and suffocated to death in the horse's belly."

"The first suspected target that can do this is flesh and blood magic, but flesh and blood magic cannot shorten these processes to the moment when the carriage passes the intersection, nor can it complete the entire process silently in the presence of pedestrians and witnesses.

The process of killing passengers. Of course, if the corresponding abilities cooperate, these contradictions can be explained." Kangsi, who had filled in the case information, explained in an orderly manner.

Arthur Watson raised his eyebrows slightly:

"Are you trying to say that although the murderer's code name is 'Devil', his entity may be 'Bishop Rose' who is good at flesh and blood magic, or even a higher-level 'Shepherd'?"

"Perhaps we have to face more than one 'devil'." The fat deputy director returned to his desk and lightly hammered the palm of his hand with the unlit pipe. "One is hiding its whereabouts and using malicious perception to avoid it.

The 'demon' being pursued, a 'demon' who uses flesh and blood magic to commit murders."

"Why not consider the possibility of a single person committing a crime? Whether it is concealment or rapid transfer through waterways, it should be possible to use the power of magical items." Arthur Watson realized that the deputy director's determination seemed to have another reason.

"The traces remaining at the scene point to a variety of different abilities, at least the existence of multiple units." Kang Si took the initiative to explain, "In addition to flesh and blood magic, we also found depraved and filthy power on and within the body of the deceased. It can be determined.

What is true is that it is the remnant after the demonic language that originated from the abyss broke out in ordinary people. And we have reason to believe that the users of this filthy language and the people who cast flesh and blood magic are two different entities.

The action trajectories at the scene did not overlap, and there were even contradictions and contradictions."

"Can you answer me a question? Why don't you arrange for high-sequence experts to patrol the areas where the crime may occur? Let's not mention the southern area of ​​the bridge for now. The area around the Backlund Bridge is under the jurisdiction of the Church of Storms. They can definitely arrange one or two

A highly maneuverable mid-to-high-sequence Extraordinary is waiting in the air, and when he senses something is wrong, he immediately rushes to the ground. Maybe with luck, he can successfully prevent the tragedy from happening." Arthur Watson showed his confusion very well.

untie.

"Do you think we don't want to do it? If not -" Kang Si almost blurted out certain trends that were classified as secrets by the organization, but fortunately, he shut up in time and subconsciously turned to look at the kind-faced deputy director.

"There are already enough manpower assigned to the 'Crossroad Devil' incident. The pests that threaten the tranquility of this city are not limited to this one. We must be alert to other crises that are occurring or are about to come." The deputy director waved his hands and said no.

He explained his position again, and then gestured to the door, "That's pretty much what I should say in advance, you can go to the evidence room."

On the way downstairs to the evidence room of the police station, Arthur Watson did not shy away from the presence of others and smiled at Conse:

"It can be seen that Mr. Deputy Director is also your boss. He seems to be unwilling to let me test out your recent movements."

"Don't play tricks. You have only one mission, and that is to find out the real murderer." Kang Si pursed his lips, "Those hateful journalists, for the sake of the sales of their own newspapers, time and time again use exaggerated and false articles to incite

The public’s emotions and dissatisfaction made them pay attention to this series of extraordinary events, which caused a lot of trouble for our investigation..."

"In other words, without the publicity of those news reports, the 'Devil at the Crossroads' is not really a criminal worthy of special attention, and you would not consider setting up a special investigation team for them?" Arthur Watson

He said somewhat suddenly.

"You are deliberately misinterpreting it! No matter what the current situation is, we will take every incident seriously, but... well, it's just..." Kang Si suddenly felt a little short of words, because he found that the tasks piled up in the to-do list

, not all of them have been solved. Some incidents have not made any progress for a long time, and no new victims have been discovered. They are just shelved at the bottom, gradually forgotten, and then labeled as archived, turning into unsolvable puzzles.

.

Alice, who was playing Arthur Watson, passed over the tall and thin young man who stopped next to her, pushed open the door of the evidence room, and walked towards the on-site evidence collected in heavy cardboard boxes with a smile on her lips.

She actually already knows a lot.

Including the fact that MI9 and the Storm Lord Church have been too busy recently to take care of other major events - the fire she set in the underground black market in the East District finally burned some forces that should not be affected.

The similarities between MI9, which is loyal to the Kingdom of Loen, and the Royal Family of Loen, the "Lord of the Storm" that the Augustus family has believed in for generations, were actually exposed by a turmoil spreading in the East District slums, which is enough.

interesting.

Of course, the most important point is...

She indeed encountered the rumored "devil" on her way back to the Jowood District after leaving the Aurora Society's stronghold.

Everything she said and did was true, except for one thing.

If "Arthur Watson" is really an ordinary human being with life, then he will inevitably die at the moment he is marked by the "devil".

Because it is a special mark that means failure in hunting and symbolizes "sacrifice" and "food".
Chapter completed!