Lumian was no stranger to Maggot's performance.
If it were him, he would do the same!
Considering that Aurore had mentioned that Beyonders on the Hunter Path were more common in the Republic of Intis, Lumian initially suspected that Maggot was also a Beyonder, and that he was on the Hunter Path, but he was not sure what sequence he was at.
"If his Sequence is too high, he won't be a gang leader unless he needs to act... If Maggot is really a Beyonder of the Hunter Path, then he shouldn't be higher than Sequence 7. Moreover, he is an arsonist, so his card potential is very small. Leah and Valentine are only Sequence 7, which can be called elite investigators. Are they not as good as a high-level thug who patrols the territory, kidnaps women and oppresses prostitutes
Lumian muttered silently as he took two steps back and looked away, no longer looking in that direction.
Although it was unlikely that Margot’s rank would reach or even exceed Sequence 7, he still did not dare to be careless.
What if his sequence name is similar to that of a villain and needs to be played that way
What if the Sting Gang is not as simple as it seems, but is actually a tentacle of some secret organization or underground cult, possessing sufficient resources and trying its best to restrain itself from being too conspicuous so as to avoid being overthrown by the authorities
The probability of these situations is very low, but for Lumian, who lacks intelligence and relevant knowledge of mysticism, he has to be on guard because he cannot rule out options or determine how low the probability is.
In the corridor on the second floor, a man wearing a red shirt and a black waistcoat, who was suspected to be Maggot, kept his hands in his pockets and glanced sideways at his three men.
His brows furrowed slightly, somewhat dissatisfied and puzzled by the unnecessary scent of perfume they were wearing.
He then cast his eyes to the ground and sniffed.
He smelled that the perfume was not only present at the staircase, but also extended to Room 207 without any disguise. Moreover, there were fresh marks on the bottom step caused by a small but not heavy object.
In an instant, the man suspected to be Maggot reconstructed what had happened before in his mind based on the information he had collected from the environment; the occupant of Room 207 might have gone to the bloodbath room or visited a neighbor, and on the way back to his room, he intended to spray perfume, but did not hold it firmly, and the bottle fell on the steps at the entrance of the stairs. Afterwards, he or she smeared the spilled perfume on his or her body with a pained look, leaving only a few traces.
This is in line with the mentality of the tenants of the Golden Rooster Hotel.
The man who looked like Maggot cleared his doubts and said to his three men, "When we get back to the Mill Ballroom, Lumian in Room 207 heard their conversation and basically confirmed that the man who looked like a Beyonder of the Hunter Path was Maggot.
"After chatting with Charlie in the morning, he walked around the Honest Market area and chatted with many vendors and neighbors in the bar. He learned that the Mill Dance Hall at No. 3 Luan Street was one of the bases of the Sting Gang.
After Maggot and the others had gone all the way down to the first floor, Lumian put on his wide-brimmed round hat, slowly walked out of the room, and followed the lingering scent of perfume into the depths of the street.
Seven or eight minutes later, he arrived at the Mill Ballroom, and the smell of cheap perfume from other places proved that Maggot and his men had returned here.
The Mill Ballroom lacks the impressive statues and inscriptions of the Breeze Ballroom, but it only occupies part of the street side road and has a golden foyer.
On the four stone pillars supporting the entrance hall, gas lamps surrounded by glass covers and black grilles dispelled the evening darkness.
By this time, the ballroom was already quite lively. Lumian could hear singing, noise, and the sound of musical instruments before he even entered.
The layout here is very similar to that of the Breeze Ballroom, with a dance floor in the middle, surrounded by small round tables and chairs, and a half-high wooden platform in the front, on which stands a hot girl.
The girl was wearing a seductive white short top, and one could almost see the row of bows above her bra on her chest. She had a black mole on the side of her lip, and her brown hair was tied up and powdered. Her blue eyes were outlined with black lines, making them look big and deep. Overall, she had both decadent charm and sweet temperament.
She sang softly, kicking her right leg high from time to time, lifting her off-white loose skirt that just reached her knees, attracting many drinkers to squat and peek into her private parts.
"The attending doctor is a charming man. He would roll up his shirt sleeves first, which reminded me of my first lover. The only difference is that this doctor can find the position immediately. I found that, dear, he really knows how to use his fingers. In the obscure and seductive singing, Lumian walked to the bar counter inside and said to the bartender; "What to eat?" The bartender smiled and asked, "How about meat pie? Or do you like sausages, bread, this common dinner?"
Lumian, who had long known that the people of Trier liked meat patties, nodded and ordered two meat patties. "And a glass of apple punch? It can help to reduce the greasiness of the meat patties."
Seeing that Lumian didn't ask about the price of the meat pie, the bartender knew that this was a generous customer and could recommend him a slightly more expensive wine.
Punch is a fruit juice cocktail.
Lumian smiled and said, "Okay."
He still had nearly two hundred Felgin on him, so he didn't need to be too frugal on food and drink. After all, the balance of the intelligence dealer Anthony Reid could not be saved up by just likes.
The meatloaf is 3 grams each and the apple punch is 12 grams.
The bartender quickly quoted a price.
Lumian nodded, took out a one-cost gold coin with an angel relief and radiating lines on the surface, and threw it to the bartender.
After receiving the two 5-copek copper coins, he waited patiently.
At this time, the female singer on the stage had finished singing, and the band started playing slightly intense drum beats.
Many drinkers entered the dance hall and twisted their bodies to the rhythm, venting the stress, fatigue and pain accumulated during the day.
A male drinker sitting near Lumian smiled at his companion and said, "I love this atmosphere so much. I don't know who invented this Niuniu dance, it's much more attractive than the previous four-team dance! Can you imagine? I often hug my dance partner, but I have to wait a long time before it's my turn to dance, and my enthusiasm has cooled down by then."
The quadrille is also called the square dance. Four teams of men and women form a square and dance in turn to the music of the violinist, and finally circle around each other.
Another male drinker chuckled and said, "I still prefer the cancan and striptease."
The Cancan dance is very popular in the Red Princess District, with high kicks and splits as its signature moves. The girls, wearing short skirts and stockings, line up in a row and keep kicking high, which always draws cheers, and some people even throw coins onto the stage.
Of course, this is also a technically demanding dance, and skilled dancers need to kick their legs higher than the tip of the nose or close to the ears.
Lumian listened to the various sounds around him, and from time to time he glanced out of the corner of his eye toward the staircase where the smell of cheap perfume had disappeared.
Soon, two thick meat patties were brought to him along with a glass of transparent and dreamy alcoholic beverage with a dark red bottom, light red top, and some ice cubes floating on it.
Lumian first took a sip of the apple punch and felt the refreshing sweetness, the slight sourness, the spicy taste of alcohol, and the coldness of the ice, which refreshed him.
Then he picked up the meat pie and took a bite.
The rich and sweet taste of the unleavened dough, the texture of the minced meat, the fragrance of the fat, and the stimulation of the spices made Lumian almost unable to stop eating.
After finishing a whole meat pie, he picked up the apple punch to eliminate the greasiness in his mouth.
After finishing dinner, Lumian held the alcoholic drink in his hand, listened to the girls singing, and looked at the people in the dance floor.
He himself seemed to be infected by this passionate and frenetic atmosphere, and from time to time he would sway his body to the rhythm in the dim bar.
Whenever he did this, Lumian would glance at the stairwell to observe the movements of Maggot and his men.
It was almost midnight when Maggot, wearing a red shirt and leather vest with his short blond hair standing up, came downstairs with three thugs and walked out of the Mill Ballroom.
Considering that the other party might be a Beyonder from the Hunter Path, Lumian did not catch up immediately and was mentally prepared to lose them. After all, the three gangsters had changed their leather shoes that were stained with cheap perfume, and he could no longer follow them from a distance by relying on his sense of smell.
However, he still held out some hope, because he had just observed that most of the customers in the dance hall were too engrossed and too frantic, and from time to time someone accidentally spilled drinks on the ground, so that there were many wet marks from the stairs to the door.
As the beats twisted, Lumian noticed from the corner of his eye that Maggot always accurately avoided the slightly wet ground, which made him more and more certain that he was a Beyonder from the Hunter Path.
Although Maggot's three men were reminded and tried to avoid the situation, due to their lack of observation ability and the poor lighting effect of the gas wall lamps, it was inevitable that half of their feet or one-third of their heels would get wet.
At this time, there were very few pedestrians on the road, with only a few drunkards singing and cursing from time to time. Under the broken gas street lamps, there were large areas of darkness, illuminated purely by the crimson moonlight from the sky.
Thanks to the presence of four gas wall lamps at the entrance of the dance hall, Lumian found a lot of footprints with slightly wet marks. Some of them had left a long time ago, while others had just passed by.
Among them, there were three pairs of footprints that were close together and always appeared at the same time. After careful inspection, Lumian found that in front of them there was a pair of faint footprints that were very difficult to find and had no traces of moisture.
Lumian chuckled and whispered to himself, "It will only hurt you if you always hang out with idiots and worms."