After the meal, the five people gathered in Zhou Qing's room.
"Why didn't you call me Brother Mutuo?" Wen Zheliu was curious.
"That's what you said. Muto is still under suspicion." Du Zijun twisted the cigarette butt in his hand, "What's more, we need someone to hold those three down."
Wen Zheliu: "Okay, what do you want to say now?"
"Tell me about the evidence we found yesterday." Zhou Qing said, "Take a look."
She handed a paper bag to Wen Zheliu. Wen Zheliu opened it and found that it was an ancient appointment document with thin and brittle paper.
He carefully pulled it out and studied the contents with He Qin.
"We stipulate that... this town has the permanent power to establish legal persons and political groups... Mr. Wesley Carter is hereby appointed as the Sheriff of the town of Arlington..." He selected a few important sentences to read, looking through the layers of red paint. The seal falls on the final date, "…July 15, 1740."
Above the letter of appointment, an eagle spreads its powerful wings and holds a bunch of golden wheat ears in its beak.
"A letter of appointment from 1740." He Qin concluded with interest, "Things are starting to get interesting."
"The key is that we don't know what era we are in now and how long it has been since this letter of appointment was issued." Zhou Qing frowned in distress, "If there are no conspicuous reminders, I really can't tell."
"Victorian period." He Qin said, "roughly estimate, after 1837."
Zhou Qing and Zhou Yao were both surprised, and Zhou Yao asked suspiciously: "How do you know?"
"Architectural style, clothing styles, and many works of this era in the bookcase, there are even ideological treatises such as "The French Revolution" in 1837 and "Past and Present" in 1843..." He Qin looked at the letter of appointment in his hand, He smiled at the big guy hypocritically and said, "More importantly - I'm a staff member."
Everyone: "..."
Wen Zheliu had entered a very serious thinking mode and said, "Okay, let's get down to business. Looking at it this way, it means that Marianne told a very serious lie."
"That's right!" Zhou Qing shouted impatiently. She counted on her fingers, "She said this was her uncle's house, but the eagle's family emblem was everywhere in the room. Comparing it with the letter of appointment, it turned out to be this. It’s the Sheriff’s!”
"Yes," Wen Zheliu said, "When I asked her on the first day, she said her name was Marianne Hill, but the sheriff's last name was completely different from hers..."
"Moreover, if this letter of appointment is not forged," Wen Zheliu held it up with an extremely ugly face, "Marian's actual age should be over 100 years old. She is not human at all."
He Qin said nothing, and the rest of the people were shocked and said: "How is that possible?!"
Du Zijun was the first to react: "No, you mean, the town where Marian originally lived was Arlington?"
He Qin replied: "According to the version of the story we know now, there was indeed a small town called Arlington that was slaughtered because the sheriff allowed his guards to bully men and women, and committed all kinds of evil."
"The dates of all the books in the study that mention this matter have been blackened with ink." Wen Zheliu continued, "What Marianne said is half true and half false. The only thing that can be confirmed is her identity. He Tian must be very unfriendly to players. She is not an NPC who mainly watches and guides, she may be an accomplice... or the mastermind of the small town tragedy."
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"—A ghost that has been wandering here for many years." He Qin added.
A numbing chill ran down everyone's backs in the room.
Du Zijun chewed on his cigarette and sneered meaninglessly: "Okay, become a good teammate of the traitor, become the owner of the haunted house of the villain, what else?"
"But why does she keep this thing?" Zhou Yao took the paper bag and waved it in his hand, "If there is another player with lock-picking skills like me, wouldn't she be exposed very quickly?"
Wen Zheliu said seriously: "No, it can't be the same. The Sheriff not only has judicial management and security functions, but also an honorary position used to highlight social and economic status. Anyone who holds this position in the county must have at least 20 employees each year. Asset income of pounds... So since this is another property owned by the Squire Sheriff, Marianne probably holds this warrant to avoid unnecessary trouble."
Zhou Yao wondered: "What's the trouble? But in comparison, I'm more curious about how you two brothers can remember these side knowledge so well?"
Wen Zheliu smiled modestly: "When I was a child, I liked to read some messy books, so I remembered them. When the Sheriff took office, George IV was still in power, and until the Victorian era - when any country changes dynasties, there is inevitably a Turmoil. Marianne can completely forge an identity for herself. She keeps this letter of appointment, which is very useful whether it is to prove the ownership of the house or to get rid of some troubles in the transfer of property rights. "
Zhou Qing said in a daze: "So this magnificent house is actually the sheriff's house more than a hundred years ago, and the jungle we are in..."
"It's the small town of Arlington that was almost wiped out more than a hundred years ago." Du Zijun continued.
"I don't know the true face of Mount Lu, just because I am in this mountain..." Zhou Yao also murmured.
As if he thought of something, He Qin lowered his eyes, and the seductive lines flew from the inner corner of his eyes to the end of his eyes, just like the meticulous and smooth painting of an artist. His beauty has cold and sharp edges. Although when necessary, this sharpness can be transformed into silk-like gorgeousness and gentleness, but when his expression fades, a kind of animalistic, inorganic coldness appears. It will be displayed vividly on him, making it impossible to shake it at all.
"The most important thing right now is to collect the tokens from the monsters." He said indifferently, "The longer you stay in this world, the worse it will be for you—"
"That..." Zhou Qing seemed to remember something, raised his hand weakly and said, "I forgot one thing."
Wen Zheliu: "What?"
She stood up, ran to the bedside table, took out something, and handed it to He Qin.
"Well, last night, you cut off a monster's finger, and something flew into the grass under my feet, and then I picked it up subconsciously..."
It was a tattered and dirty bow with no color.
Prop name: Broken Bowknot
Level: None
Launch type: None
Cooling time: none
Attack power: none
Effect: None
Equipment level: 1
Prop introduction: The bow on the girl's neckline once felt the warm body fragrance, the touch of soft fingers and the owner's joyful love.
Wen Zheliu said subconsciously: "The third item."
Zhou Yao and Du Zijun glanced at him keenly, but neither asked about the whereabouts of the remaining token. Du Zijun took a drag on his cigarette, and the slightly spicy mint smell of the lady's cigarette spread faintly. He reminded: "By the way, I looked at the boy whose name I can't remember with a telescope. It's genuine. The prop he got is called Thief's Hand, you can go and communicate with him, maybe you can gain something."
Although his tone was strangely sophisticated, Wen Zheliu still nodded: "Okay, thank you."
Farewell to the three of them, in the corridor, Wen Zheliu counted the number of tokens in their hands, "Bow ties, photo frame pendants, and lace... they are all things girls wear."
He Qin said: "As long as the next stage of the plot begins, we will know all the truth."
Wen Zheliu instinctively felt that something was not right, and he asked doubtfully: "Brother, what's wrong with you?"
It was not his illusion. From the moment Marianne's lie was revealed, He Qin's expression became extremely gloomy.
He Qin lowered his head and saw the handsome young man staring at him with clear and warm eyes like a young buck. He rubbed Wen Zheliu's head and did not answer. He just reached out and knocked on the door of Mu Tuo and Xie Yuanyuan's room. knock.
"Let's resolve the plot line first," he said.
Through the door, a slightly dull voice came from inside, saying: "Please come in!"
Wen Zheliu could only open the door first and discuss secondary issues with He Qin later. Entering the room, Mu Tuo was not there, only Xie Yuanyuan was left. He saw the person coming and said quickly: "Ah, are you looking for Brother Mu Tuo? He went out just now..."
Wen Zheliu smiled. Xie Yuanyuan's sense of presence was too low. He had to try his best to stare at his face to prevent his eyes from drifting to other places: "We are not looking for Mu Tuo, we are looking for you. .”
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a bang and He Qin closed the door with his backhand.
The three men were in a small, closed environment, and the atmosphere suddenly became subtle. Xie Yuanyuan sat on the chair, looking left and right at He Qin and Wen Zheliu who were condescending, subconsciously crossed his arms in front of him, and shrank his neck.
He stammered and shouted: "I... I'm so inferior, okay? I can't drink! No, Brother Jack!"
Wen Zheliu immediately responded like a reflex: "You want to understand? There are some good things in my room~"
"Hello? It's a new game."
"What new game? It's more exciting than a game! It can also teach you how to become a human being~"
He Qin's face was expressionless: "...Excuse me, are you filming an educational video?"
Wen Zheliu: "..."
Xie Yuanyuan: "..."
The room fell into a dead silence. After a while, Wen Zheliu suddenly woke up and hurriedly cleared her throat loudly, covering up: "... We are actually here for business today... not for good health, no!"
Xie Yuanyuan also coughed twice and replied covertly: "Oh, oh! Please speak!"
"Then I'll tell you straight to the point." He Qin put his arm around Wen Zheliu's shoulders and stood between him and Xie Yuanyuan unceremoniously, like an alert leopard holding a young buck behind him. "We need your thieving hands to get our hands on something."
"Ah?!" Xie Yuanyuan was shocked, "How do you know I have the hands of a thief?"
"On the third day, the props owned by teammates are no longer a secret," Wen Zheliu returned to his serious state. "The only thing that is truly properly hidden as a secret is our true identities."
Xie Yuanyuan said in confusion: "I, I don't understand..."
Wen Zheliu said with a smile: "It doesn't matter if you don't understand. We just need trust in each other."
"So... what do you want me to steal with the hands of a thief?" Xie Yuanyuan was very hesitant.
He Qin replied decisively: "Customs clearance props."
Wen Zheliu also raised the bow in his hand: "There are six eyeless monsters in total, and each one has this little thing on him. If we collect them all, we may get the final clue to clear the level."
Xie Yuanyuan stared at the bow, hesitating and stammering for a long time, and finally took out a cylindrical rag from his backpack.
"This, this..." He swallowed, "I stole it last night..."
"Last night?" Wen Zheliu asked in shock, "When did you steal it?!"
Xie Yuanyuan said: "Your brother caught you, and then the monster chased you within the range of the thief's hand, so I... tried to steal it, and then this thing was added to the package."
The shape of this cylindrical rag was so blinding that Wen Zheliu had no choice but to look at the system attributes.
Prop name: half sleeve
Level: None
Launch type: None
Cooling time: none
Attack power: none
Effect: None
Equipment level: 1
Prop introduction: Even if a sleeve that has been torn into half is washed with clean water and sewn back with embroidery thread, it will never return to its original intact appearance.
Wen Zheliu looked at it in silence for a while, then returned the sleeve to Xie Yuanyuan, "You should keep this first. By the way, can I see the properties of your thief's hand?"
Xie Yuanyuan quite trusted the two handsome guys with unpredictable abilities in front of him, so without saying anything, he took out a pair of translucent thin gloves from the package.
Item name: Thief’s Hand
Grade: c
Activation type: Instant activation
Cooling time: none
Attack power: none
Effect: The activation range of this prop is within a 1.5-2 meter radius of the player holding it. When the player activates this prop, the player will have a 40% chance of stealing the props equipped by 1 unit of the target. The stolen props The level must not be higher than 2 levels higher than the prop, that is, b- level.
Limit number of uses: 3 times
Current usage: 1 time
Note: The higher the concealment of the player holding it, the greater the chance of successful theft.
Equipment level: 5
Prop introduction: Gloves specially prepared for beginners. If you no longer need it one day, just let another beginner steal it.
Wen Zheliu was completely speechless after reading it.
"The higher the concealment of the player, the greater the chance of successful theft"... This attribute is simply a naked trick for him! From this point of view, the so-called 40% limit is of no use at all. For Xie Yuanyuan, this item is a 100% effective nirvana.
"Okay..." He scratched his head, "So, what we mean is..."
He thought about what to say for a moment, but He Qin had already taken over and said: "I just want you to use the hands of a thief to steal the remaining two key items during the night patrol tomorrow night."
Xie Yuanyuan hesitated: "Is this possible?"
"It depends on your cooperation." Wen Zheliu sighed softly, "As long as no one makes trouble, everything will be easy."
The author has something to say: Thank you everyone for your comments and encouragement, take a bow~