"What happened?"
Shade asked curiously, then noticed the noise coming from outside the window.
He leaned out of the car window and found that the entrance to Stonemason Street was blocked by two horizontal horseless four-wheeled carriages, with sandbags and stones placed on both sides of the carriages to fill the gap.
At this time, the Stonemasons Street was more lively than ever. In addition to the people watching the excitement, the stonemasons with sledgehammers and hammers seemed to have run into the street. Although the police tried their best to maintain order, they still couldn't stop the stonemasons from being divided into two groups and swearing at each other and insulting each other with the most vicious language.
Although Shad was only at the corner of the street, when he jumped off the carriage, he could still see that smoke seemed to be coming out of the best building on the street where the Stonemasons Guild was located. Someone must have set fire there just now.
"What's going on here?"
Yin Luna also got off the carriage. After Xia De paid the fare to the onlooker, he found other onlookers and asked around. Only then did he find out who had spread the rumor that the top leaders of the Stonemasons Association had accepted money from the royal family and were planning to negotiate with the royal family.
The anger that had been accumulated for more than a decade against the Anjou royal family was ignited. Before Shade and Yin Luna arrived, some stonemasons had planned to besiege the Stonemasons Association and drag out the "traitors" for trial. Fortunately, some people were more rational and wanted to stop them, which led to the current scene of the two sides almost fighting with weapons.
"Princess Margaret's plan will be further disrupted because of this incident, right?"
Yin Luna asked worriedly, and Xia De nodded:
"Margaret told me yesterday that she was almost certain that she had solved the problem, but something unexpected happened today... It might be related to her brother."
There was a riot on Stonemason Street and a large number of police were rushing in from other parts of the city, so the flower girls nearby had left long ago. Xia De and Yin Luna did not find the "little Lianna" that the country girl had mentioned just now.
Fortunately, Xia De gave the beggar on the street two small copper coins, and the beggar who was busy watching the fun impatiently provided information:
"If those little girls aren't selling flowers here, they must be going to the Peace Church two blocks away. That's a nice place. If 'One-Eyed Jeff' hadn't occupied the spot there, I would definitely go there to beg. Oh, get out of the way! There's a fight going on over there. You're blocking my view!"
He jumped up with his mat and bowl, and Xia De and Yin Luna turned around and saw the two stonemasons wrestling with their bare hands.
“Has this city always been this crazy?”
Yin Luna asked curiously, but Xia Deke couldn't answer this question.
Although the local Peace Church is located in the old town, it is still close to the river like other churches. Once you leave Stonemason Street, the oppressive feeling of impending storm disappears.
The city was still foggy today, but at least the visibility near the church was better. I don't know if it was Shad's illusion, but he actually felt that there were more people going to the local Peace Church than when he and Luvia went to the Dawn Church a few days ago.
But later I realized that it was probably the insecurity in the city that made people desire the protection of God more than usual.
Because Stonemason Street was not far from the Peace Church, and Yin Luna was more willing to walk with Xia De, the two walked to the vicinity of the church. At the street corner, they happened to see a group of people carrying a fainted old man onto a carriage, and the priest with a dove-shaped holy emblem on his chest told the driver to go directly to the Sun Church.
"The Petrifying Plague."
Xia De whispered to Yin Luna, and the two stood outside the noisy crowd and watched the carriage leave. From the discussion of the people, it was known that the old gentleman had come to the church with his family to worship, but an accident happened just a hundred steps away from entering the church.
However, this incident did not affect the appearance of the girls selling flowers.
What the beggar at the entrance of Stonemason Street said just now was right. There were indeed many girls selling flowers nearby. Xia De and Yin Luna randomly found one. After Xia De paid Yin Luna, who repeatedly said she didn't need it, to buy a rose that was probably grown in a greenhouse in winter, the flower girl took them to find little Lianna, who was indeed nearby but eating black bread in the alley.
The girl called "Little Lianna" looked about thirteen or fourteen years old, but her eyes were more shrewd than all the flower-selling girls that Xia De and Yin Luna had met so far.
After she finished listening to Yin Luna's self-introduction, she did not ask Yin Luna more questions, but looked at Xia De:
"Sir, may I ask if you bought this flower in Miss Beas's hand for her?"
Yin Luna was a little embarrassed, and Xia De nodded:
"Yes, what's the problem?"
"I have never heard that police officers can bring their boyfriends along when they go out to investigate."
The girl looked at Xia De and said, Xia De smiled and nodded:
"Yes, it is indeed against the rules. So, I will buy you a flower too. Can you keep it a secret for Miss Beatrice?"
So the little girl called "Little Lianna" immediately nodded and picked out a beautiful red rose from her basket.
Although Yin Luna was very happy that Xia De gave her roses, she was not happy at all that Xia De was "blackmailed" by others:
“Don’t waste this money.”
"It's okay. How can it be considered a waste to give you flowers? Ask the question quickly."
Yin Luna could only nod somewhat unhappily. When she looked at Xiao Liana, her expression was obviously not very good:
"We are here to investigate the serial disappearance of flower girls. Yes, it's for your own good. We have already gone to look for other flower girls who have returned after disappearing. Although they don't have any other clues, they think you are well-informed and can provide assistance to the police."
Judging from Yin Luna’s expression, if the little girl in front of her said that she knew nothing at this moment, Yin Luna would probably really teach her a lesson.
"I know!"
Fortunately, the girl, like Xia De, noticed Yin Luna's emotions:
"There are 11 girls missing in total. Seven of them have returned, including the Baron's daughter and maid who caused a stir a few days ago. The remaining four are missing! When all of them disappeared, they were alone. Even the Baron's daughter disappeared first, and her maid disappeared when she was looking for help."
Yin Luna nodded:
"So, what's in it for us?"
"You can find someone to disguise as a flower girl, act alone, and lure that bad guy into a trap!"
The girl looked at Yin Luna:
"Miss Detective, I think you are a perfect fit."
"We can't take this kind of risk lightly. Besides, this city is so big, how can we possibly run into that bad guy after disguising ourselves?"
Xia De tried to stop him immediately, but the flower girl said:
"I know this. The missing girls all disappeared when they were passing through empty alleys. So, the adults are right. Children shouldn't go into alleys alone."
Yin Luna was obviously moved, but Xia De was still worried:
"I'm sure you guys have had your own discussions about the girls' disappearance. So, what do you think it is? Is it really human trafficking specifically targeting flower girls?"
"No no, it's the flower girl monster!"
The young girl said:
"This is a rumor that's spread among the flower-selling girls. The rumor goes like this: if a flower-selling girl acts alone late at night and sells flowers to single men, she may be kidnapped and harmed by men who have transformed into monsters."
Although she looked mature, she was still too young to understand what she was saying:
"But it sounds strange. Why would anyone go out to the streets at night to sell and buy flowers?"
Yin Luna tried hard to hold back her laughter, but she had already made up her mind that maybe she could really try to lure out the enemy behind the scenes.
When he touched the girl's forehead in the village just now, Xia De did sense a very low trace of the whispering element. The whispering element has no other conditions except that it is produced by the relic, which means that this matter is really related to the relic.
Since it involves unknown relics, he definitely does not agree with Yin Luna using himself as bait, but Yin Luna thinks this is a good idea.
So after saying goodbye to the flower-selling Lianna, the two chatted all the way to the Wilde Opera House. The three witches were not here at this time, only Miss Lathers had just returned from going out. After Shade learned the truth about the guardian, although pursuing the truth about Mr. Lathers became less important, she still did it.
The three of them had lunch together at the Wilde Opera House, during which Shad told Miss Lathers what they were doing.
"In fact, have you ever considered another way?"
So the young blonde girl asked curiously:
"Our sect is best at reading and rewriting memories. Although the True God Church cannot read those erased memories, I might be able to. Why don't you ask me for help?"
Miss Lathers's idea makes a lot of sense, and most importantly, it is safe.
It so happened that among the girls who had returned after disappearing, several were selling flowers near the Wilde Opera House, so Shad and the other two went out to find the flower girls, and then asked Miss Lathers to try to read the forgotten memories and erase her memory of having met the three and having them do strange things to her.
"I also can't access complete fragments of memory."
When they returned to the opera house, Miss Lathers admitted:
"However, I saw some scattered fragments. In the first fragment of her lost memories, she met another flower girl in the alley. The other party was very young and dressed strangely. You should understand that most flower girls come from poor families, but the little girl she met was dressed like... she walked out of the story, with layered skirts, lace-decorated hats, and shiny black buckled leather shoes. I have never known a flower girl who would dress herself like this."