The moon peered through the gaps in the clouds, casting a faint flash of light on the broken wine bottle. In a locked cabin on the side, a drunken husband was arguing with his wife, followed by the sound of a window closing in the distance.
Ed led the old and frail mule, and the wheels of the two-wheeled pickup truck behind him rotated regularly along the stone road, occasionally running over the debris on the road.
The box on the car contained the black gold armor of "Black Jazz".
He hired the cart and mules for a shilling. For this car, it was definitely a great value. The owner of the mule cart handed the leash into his hands almost gratefully.
After casually feeding it half a carrot, the old mule became closer to Ed. The ride was extremely quiet, making the night seem particularly peaceful.
He circumvented the night patrol route of the Bureau of Special Operations and arrived at Lanli Street in no time. Due to the existence of rat trails, this night patrol actually has little effect and is more like a routine.
"Hey Ed, this way."
Catalina's voice came from the alley. She was wearing a black hooded raincoat, as if to reflect her "title".
Ed leaned over, only to see a huge head sticking out of the darkness above Catalina's head——
It was a monster-like huge war horse, almost twice as tall as an old mule, and its hair was so bright that it looked like it was bathed in burning fire.
Seeing this giant beast, the old mule who had been keeping quiet couldn't help but snort, kept backing up, and almost broke away from Ed's hand.
"Oh my God, is this...?" Ed could only tighten the reins as much as possible and pray that the old mule wouldn't scream.
"This is my new partner Fire Rain."
Catalina signaled Huo Yu in the alley to take a few steps back, then walked over alone, gently patted the old mule to comfort it, and gave it a piece of oatmeal cake with raisins.
This old guy who was about to lose all his teeth might have eaten such a high-end snack for the first time. He quickly calmed down and Ed took the box off the car.
"Is your leg injured?"
"Just give it a try, you should be fine walking normally." Ed stayed in place and said matter-of-factly.
"That's enough. You just need to help me put on my armor. When I bring that vicious 'Mr. Smile' to justice, the entire Silvermist City will remember the names of 'Blackadder' and his loyal servant 'Gray Hat'." "
"Mr. Smile"? Miss Knight obviously read the latest newspaper...
It’s no wonder that information about this murderer has been on the front page of local news in Silvermist City recently - although most of it is fabricated fake news.
Ed doesn't have a good impression of the media. From the perspective of the Bureau of Investigation, this kind of poor-quality reporting, apart from causing social panic and making the newspaper make a fortune, does not help solve the case and will also usher in more copycat criminals.
"Mr. Smile...what do you mean?"
Doesn't she want to cause trouble for this serial murderer?
According to the files, Mr. Smile has the same strength as a third-level extraordinary person, and is good at using the "puppet" secret text. The special way of using the secret text is precisely the reason why he is the most difficult to deal with:
He did not commit the crime himself, but manipulated others to complete the crime through the "puppet" secret text.
There is no criminal motive, no scent trace, and no identity information left at the scene. He does not even need to hide in a dark corner, because the crowd is his perfect night cover.
Like other types of secret texts, there are schools of practitioners specializing in different fields:
The mainstream field is that mechanics like Ed (or Arthur) use the connection between crystals and personality crystals to manipulate constructs without autonomous consciousness.
The other is the field that the "Rat King" is good at, directly controlling creatures with weak autonomous consciousness. The danger of doing this is that the two consciousnesses will merge to a certain extent in the brain of the host, and the controller's thinking will gradually be assimilated by the host - in the ancient Druid proverb, "the host Those who live with rats are cowardly, and those who live with wolves are cruel."
As for using the "puppet" secret text directly on humans, it is a taboo among taboos. Human self-awareness is the most complex and obscure of all living things, and using mind penetration on the same kind often leads to unpredictable and disastrous consequences - so this method of use is permanently prohibited by the church.
"Yes, I have discovered his hiding place through the newly established intelligence network. All we have to do is go and catch him personally and bring him to justice."
Katarina spread her hands and said with a confident look.
"Uh... excuse me, how did you know?" Ed asked as least sinisterly as possible.
First of all, Mr. Smile died seven years ago, and this case is more like a copycat crime. Moreover, even if he is not dead, even the Divine Bureau can't find any trace of him at the moment. He doesn't believe that Catalina can find this serial killer on her own.
Catalina seemed to be possessed by the god of detectives at this moment, and wanted to tell the clues when solving the case. She took out a torn newspaper:
"Killian once said that there is a certain connection between the development of things. As a perverted murderer, he must not only be satisfied with the current crime. Therefore, I made a bold guess that the recent murders, There are also bizarre disappearances, all of which may be inextricably linked to this smiling Mr.”
She was probably talking about the recent disappearances. This is not the way Mr. Smile behaves. If he was that stupid, he would have been caught and brought to justice by the Bureau of Investigation. Why did it take three years?
Killian is called a "liar" for good reason. Ed, who is in the Bureau of Divine Investigation, knows very well that most of the disappearances were committed by the woodcutter and fishermen gangs, and most of the missing persons have already been fed to the fish.
"So I asked the newsboys about the recent rumors, and one person told me that when night fell, he saw a strange red light burning in an alley on Langley Street."
Maybe some homeless man was warming up a fire in the middle of the night and ignited the firewood pile he was sleeping on - fires like this happen almost every week in winter, and reporters are too lazy to report it. It's still early for summer and the weather is still very cold.
"So you think Mr. Smile might be hiding there?"
"Actually, I'm not sure. But my intuition tells me that I'm getting closer to him."
"Okay, sir." Ed sighed, "Why don't we do this: I'll put on the armor for you first, and then use the one-eyed spider to check the situation in the alley. If he is really there, we will Bring him to justice; if nothing happens, we will go back to our homes now and turn off the lights early to rest, what do you think?"
