Xia De did not respond to this question, but asked about something that happened a while ago:
"What's the situation now? Have the people from the Mirror Association investigated the three locations we haven't investigated yet?"
"The two places in the city and by the lake haven't been found yet, and the information from the Glass City hasn't been sent back yet. But since it's getting late, we won't go to the black market store of Rotten Eye Barry in the Glass City.
Although the Mirror Association has not taken any action, others have already begun to seize other territories of Bad Eye Barry. It is now 3:03. After you have lunch, we will set off. First, we will go to Bad Eye Barry's secret private villa in the city, and then we will see if we can go to Bad Eye Barry's own cruise ship on Green Lake. That is where he goes when he meets important people. "
"No need to eat, I'm in good shape now."
Shade shook his head, so the witch mustered up some courage and asked:
"Since you're not having lunch, how about having dinner with me after today's operation? If you still want to take care of your cat, you can bring it with you, but I don't think it's at the Green Lake Inn."
Shade smiled:
"If the operation goes smoothly, of course. Let's set off now. I hope this rain won't delay our time."
As a well-known local gang leader, the ring wizard Rotten Eye Barry has more than one residence in the city, and each one is very hidden. The one Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals investigated was considered by Audrey and Megan to be the most important residence. Shade asked them the reason for their judgment, and Audrey, who was in control of the body, gave a surprising answer:
"Of course it's divination."
"Divination? You know divination?"
"Of course. I am a modern sorceress who possesses both wisdom and knowledge. Isn't it normal for me to know a little bit about everything?"
It was called a villa, but when the carriage stopped, the first thing Xia De saw was the tall white courtyard wall. Because of the rain, the white courtyard wall was a little yellow, and it was very quiet inside the courtyard wall.
"Right here, let's start investigating immediately. If we run into any strange people again, we'll handle it the same way we did this morning."
The witch said, this time she did not open the barrier, but she and Shade each held an umbrella and left the carriage.
After Xia De got off the car, he found that there were already two carriages waiting for them.
The witch waved to the two carriages, and seven or eight girls in maid skirts got out of the carriages.
With the sound of "bang bang bang", the black umbrellas in the hands of each girl who lowered her head and walked through the carriage door opened one by one. Each of them was from the Central Ring.
I have to admit that the scene of young girls wearing black and white maid skirts, white socks and black buckled low-heeled leather shoes, holding umbrellas together, is indeed pleasing to the eye.
"These are my most loyal servants. Among my followers, they are also the most trustworthy."
The witch explained, nodding to the girl dressed as the head maid who was leading the group.
"Yes miss."
The latter spoke in standard Draarionese, and then took the lead to walk towards the tightly closed metal sliding door. All the maids pushed forward together, and under the spell of nearly ten middle-ring warlocks, the door bounced inwards like a cannonball.
Shade heard the barking of dogs and the panicked voices of the men. The maids entered the door together, holding umbrellas in one hand and casting spells in the other. Megan also motioned Shade to go in with her.
"I have a question."
Shade and the witch walked side by side:
"Don't you think that in rainy weather, it's easy to get their clothes dirty if they dress like this? The complicated skirt is secondary. The key is the shoes on their feet and the white..."
He realized that he seemed to be observing too carefully. As "she" chuckled in his ear, Audrey also smiled and asked:
"Are you observing my maid carefully? Mr. Watson, you probably haven't come into contact with professional maids. They have undergone professional training, and they are not ordinary people themselves. They can maintain decency and elegance in any situation."
Shade had come into contact with professional maids, and now that he thought about it, Tifa indeed remained beautiful, elegant, and attractive to Shade in any setting.
Now doing serious work.
"Her" voice sounded gently in the rain, and this voice seemed to have the ability to dispel the chill. Xia De immediately put all distracting thoughts behind his mind. When he entered the yard with Megan, he saw more than a dozen men with guns and two black wolfhounds lying in the yard. Blood was flowing from the bottom of each of them, merging with the puddles on the ground.
As for the maids, except for two who were checking other locations in the courtyard, the rest had already entered the four-story villa.
"This doesn't look like a fight between ring sorcerers, but more like a gang vendetta scene."
Xia De, holding an umbrella, said to the lady beside him, who agreed:
"An old city that has been left behind by the times. Perhaps this kind of scenery also fits the atmosphere of the city."
With the maids leading the way, Shade and Megan only needed to follow behind with laughter. Although Barry the Rotten-Eye was not here today, there were indeed quite a few guards here, which indirectly proved that this secret villa was indeed worth exploring. In addition to the guards, the maids also found other people in the house.
When Xia De heard the news, he was really surprised:
"There are four women in the bedroom on the fourth floor?"
The maid did not answer Xia De's question. Megan nodded, and the stern-looking maid said:
"They are Bad-Eye Barry's mistresses. According to them, Bad-Eye Barry is scheduled to stay here tonight. When we went upstairs, they were putting on makeup and dressing up."
"You have quite an appetite."
Megan said, glancing at Shade, and then instructed her maid:
"I won't go meet those women. You take the people to interrogate them. Since she is a mistress, she must know the private affairs of Rotten Eye Barry."
"Yes, ma'am."
After the maid left, Shade and Megan waited for a while on the third floor. After making sure that all the enemies on the fourth floor had been cleared, they went to the most important private study on the fourth floor.
The lock on the door of Barry's study is very special. It is not an ordinary spring lock, but a mechanical lock powered by a steam engine. The body of this lock takes up at least the volume of two adults in the room, but the advantage is that if someone enters the wrong password, the falling metal plate can protect the room as safe as a bank vault.
But this is useless to Shad, who has the "Key to the Door".
The study was very large, and it looked like it was renovated by connecting three rooms on the fourth floor. The interior decoration was also very luxurious, with all kinds of gold items on the display shelves, and the crystal chandelier above looked like it was custom-made by a craftsman from Tobesk. Even the red cashmere carpet on the wooden floor, according to Megan's estimate, cost more than five hundred pounds.
On the imposing wooden desk were a pen holder and several books. The pens were all gold-plated, and the books were quite incompatible with the identity of a gang leader:
"Success Studies: What a Qualified Leader Should Know," "How to Cook a Fish," and "Green Lake Area Travel Guide"? What are these? Are these books really what gang leaders want to read?"
The witch was flipping through the books, while Shade had already started to unlock all the drawers skillfully. He opened the top drawer and found a stack of letters without any words written on them. But these letters were definitely used because there were creases on them.
"Miss Pharmacist, do you have any Apparition potion?"
Shade asked, the witch nodded and handed the potion to Shade. After Shade poured the potion on him, he was surprised to see dense numbers appearing on the letter paper. The numbers were in groups of eight, and the last digit of each group was one of "1", "2" or "3".
"A code, huh? It looks like it requires a code book to decipher, and it might be encrypted."
Audrey stretched her head to take a look, only to find that Shade had a sighing smile on his face:
"Three books that appeared at inappropriate times, and the contents of the books do not match my identity. I really miss them. Look, isn't the code book right here?"
He pointed to three books on the desk:
"As for the decryption method... This is the code commonly used by the Gray Gloves of the Carsonrick Secret Service. Although it may be different from what I know, it should not be difficult to crack it... So what do you think I do? I have a part-time job as a Gray Glove, and I earn some pocket money to subsidize my cat's food."
Xia De explained, then put away the letter and the code books, intending to give them to Miss Carina when he returned. He didn't come here for the secrets between the two countries, and it was really stupid to spend time here to crack the code.
"I remember I asked you, are you short of money?"
The lady with brown shoulder-length hair asked curiously, and Shade shook his head:
"It's just to find something for myself to do and expand my interpersonal relationships... Let's not talk about that. In fact, the gang leaders in border cities sell state secrets and even eat both sides. Even novelists can think of it. I'm not surprised to find those coded letters."
As he said this, he opened the second drawer from the top on the left and found the letter without words in the brown paper bag again. After using the developing potion to decipher it, this time some meaningless letter combinations appeared.
"Oh, this is... the MI6 code."
Although Xia De has been in single-line communication with Director Anros, he knows the password of the department where he works.
"You also work part-time for MI6?"
The witch asked in surprise, and Shade nodded as a matter of course:
"Earn some money for cat food, and then expand your interpersonal relationships... Rotten-Eyed Barry really wants to have it both ways."
"It's hard for me to imagine how old your cat must be to require you to work so hard to make money."
Listening to Audrey's teasing, Shad collected the second letter he found, then continued to pull down the drawer and found some blank letters in brown paper bags again.
Now, Audrey's smile became even more intense:
"Why, you don't have another third party identity? What force's password is this time?"