"Why do you even have to come with me?"
The next morning at the Paris Airport, France, Mary was walking angrily in the departure hall carrying a suitcase. Behind her was Bai Heqing, who was also carrying a suitcase and looked as calm as ever.
"Sorry." Bai Heqing replied after hearing her complaint.
During this period, a visa was still required to travel from the UK to France, but with the help of MI6, this was quickly resolved.
Just after making the phone call last night, Bai Heqing and Mary got short-term visas to France this morning. By the way, they also received activity funds from Stuart.
"I'm not blaming you..."
Slowing down a little and waiting for Bai Heqing to walk side by side with her, Mary sighed softly.
"I just didn't expect the director to be so casual in doing things. My French is only good enough for some simple daily communication, so why did he call me over? Is it because I took Shirakawa and you called my house?"
Mary raised her hand and touched her chin. She felt as if she had discovered the truth.
"So the director feels that we have a good relationship? Does he think I am the best choice?"
Mary also knew very well that her purpose of accompanying Bai Heqing to Paris was to serve as his translator and to help him recover the stolen cultural relics as soon as possible.
Under this premise, instead of finding another agent that Bai Heqing didn't know, it would be better to just let Mary, who had been working with Bai Heqing all day, follow him.
"There is a possibility." Bai Heqing thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
"well……"
Mary was not the kind of person who would complain all the time. After sighing again, she raised her hand and patted her face, cheering up again.
"Okay, cheer up, we're here anyway, so let's get those cultural relics back as soon as possible!"
If it is resolved sooner, she can return to the UK sooner.
"Yes." Bai Heqing smiled and nodded, seemingly infected by her energetic look.
"Then how about we first find a hotel to stay in, and then go to the Louvre to check out some things?" Mary suggested.
"good."
"..."
It is not difficult to find a hotel in a city like Paris where there are often foreign tourists, especially since Mary and Shirakawa Kiyo have no need for enjoyment, there are more choices to choose from.
It was easy for the two of them to find a small hotel at a reasonable price in the center of Paris near the north bank of the Seine River.
It is also relatively close to the Louvre.
With Stewart's financial support, the slightly heroic two people each booked a room, and then went to the Louvre together.
As the most popular museum in France and possibly Europe, even if it is not the peak season, there are still many tourists visiting the Louvre.
The visitable floors of the Louvre Museum can be roughly divided into four floors, one underground and three above ground.
After entering from the glass pyramid in the middle to the second underground floor and completing a series of operations such as buying tickets, you can take the elevator from the triangle of the pyramid hall and enter the three main exhibition halls of the Louvre from the underground first floor: Denon Pavilion and Symphony Hall. Lee Hall and Richelieu Hall.
But this does not mean that the Louvre has only one entrance and exit, the glass pyramid.
On the contrary, there are actually quite a few entrances and exits to the Louvre, and they are evenly distributed in all directions of the Louvre. These convenient entrances and exits have greatly facilitated Black Rose's theft tonight.
Of course, there is not all good news for Shirakawa Kiyo and Mary.
The information that the Black Rose will appear at the Louvre tonight to steal cultural relics has been informed by the London police to the Paris police in advance.
Although the Paris police did not inform the public of this information in order to minimize the impact on society, both Shirakawa Kiyoshi and Marie noticed many plainclothes police officers disguised as tourists in the Louvre.
"It seems that the Paris police also attach great importance to the mysterious thief..."
On the second floor of the Louvre, standing in front of the famous "Mona Lisa Smile", Mary spoke.
"Yeah." Bai Heqing nodded and responded. His responses were always concise, and he wouldn't say a word more if he could speak less.
As for his habit, Mary had almost adapted to it.
"Walking all the way up from the first floor below, what I noticed was that there were already close to thirty plainclothes people." She said again.
"Twenty-eight."
Bai Heqing added for her.
"And most of them are located near the entrances and exits of each floor."
Perhaps because they stayed in front of the Mona Lisa for too long, both of them noticed that some plainclothes police officers wandering around had begun to look over with suspicion.
In order not to cause unnecessary misunderstandings, the two turned around and walked towards the third floor of the Louvre Museum.
"What are you going to do? Are you going to cooperate with the Paris police?" Mary asked.
"It's too troublesome." Bai Heqing shook his head and said, "It's more convenient to act alone."
He and Mary are both foreigners in France. Even if Shirakawa Qing can use his identity as a Japanese police officer to endorse him, it may be difficult to gain the trust of the Paris police.
By then, let alone investigating together, it would be good if our movements were not restricted by the Paris police.
And from a personal perspective, Bai Heqing actually trusts his own abilities more than cooperating with these unknown police officers.
"Is this the cultural relic that Black Rose announced to steal tonight?"
Arriving near a booth on the third floor of the Louvre, Bai Heqing looked at the jade statue in the booth and asked.
This is a jade statue from the Big Rabbit. It is said that it was looted from the Big Rabbit by the then French government during the wars of the last century, and has been kept in the Louvre since then.
The carving technique of this jade statue is extremely exquisite and has extremely high artistic value. Starting last week, the Louvre Museum issued an announcement that this jade statue will be publicly displayed for a week, and today is the last day.
"That's it." Mary nodded back.
This is Black Rose's goal tonight, and because of this, there are many more plainclothes policemen around here compared to other places in the Louvre.
These policemen mingled with the surrounding tourists and wandered around the exhibition hall, always monitoring the surrounding tourists, so that neither Bai Heqing nor Mary dared to get too close to the booth where the jade statue was.
"You two, you must be tourists from abroad, right? Is this your first time visiting the Louvre?"
However, although the two of them were very restrained, they were still noticed by the extremely sensitive plainclothes policemen around them.
A female staff member suddenly came over and looked at the two of them with a smile.
(﹃)
(End of chapter)
