Whispering Verse

It was half past one in the afternoon when Shade returned home from the north of the city. Little Mia, who had nothing to do all day and lived a happy life, had already eaten the high-end cat food left by Shade and was lazily lying on the window sill taking a nap in the sun. Although he was awakened by the sound of Shade going upstairs, he just ran to him and let him pet him twice. While Shade sighed, "This cat is really warm and soft," he jumped up on the window sill and continued his nap.

So Shade went to Belindel Manor in Moon Bay City to visit Miss Belindel as Luvia said in the morning. But unfortunately, the witch was not in the manor that afternoon. Fortunately, the maids at the manor knew about Shade's "cousin", so they informed him that Miss Belindel had gone to the city council to attend a meeting.

Since she still had things to do, Shade planned to wait until the evening to visit again. Taking advantage of the afternoon, he first went to the Spider Lane Autopsy Room, intending to tell him about yesterday's visit to the coroner's fellow vampire "Magician Sean", but at the same time he also wanted to inquire about the situation from him, and wanted to take a look. Bernhardt's investigation has also made progress.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I reached the end of Spider Alley, I saw Mr. Bernhardt walking out of the Spider Hotel nearby, his face still a little ugly:

"Good afternoon. I just came out from Ptolemy's place. He is dissecting a corpse. I advise you not to go now. Even if you refuse because of shame, I will never watch his work again."

Mr. Bernhardt, who still felt sick to his stomach, didn't mind going back to the Spider Inn for a drink with Shade. When the two sat down, Shade first talked about what he had learned from Hawthorne's "interrogation" on the ship yesterday, and talked about the dragon egg fossils and the erased memories. Mr. Bernhardt nodded. The situation on his side was similar:

"I have been in contact with Georgia Blake, and he is in the same situation. I didn't even find any trace of his memory being wiped. Yes, there is no trace at all, but my instinct tells me that there is definitely something wrong with his memory. This is not an ordinary method. , I suspect that the power of the relic played a role."

He took a big gulp of wine:

"But I haven't met the ring warlock with dragon scales you mentioned. I did some research around Georgia Black, and I didn't find that he had any contact with the ring warlock. Also, my acquaintances in the church told me that the church also The true identity of the body has been found out, and the four people we are tracking will probably be investigated soon."

Shade frowned:

"This shows that the other party is really confident, and may even induce the church to investigate whether the deceased was attacked on the way home. I want to find a way to solve the memory problem. I know a girl who is very good at thaumaturgy related to memory. Georgia Black, Freeman Hawthorne, we have no more contact with these two. Now only Herman Wood remains, and I will see him tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night?"

Mr. Bernhardt thought for a moment, then was a little surprised:

"He is going to participate in a card game with Earl Eddington and Earl Belindell tomorrow night."

"Yes, Miss Belindle asked me to play cards in her stead."

"You are really as capable as before."

Mr. Bernhardt praised and clinked glasses with Shade:

"The other party is hiding deep, and the situation is worse than we thought. Ptolemy just told me that last night, a vampire injured someone in the city. Yes, this time it is definitely a vampire, But it’s not humanoid vampires like us, it’s those hybrid hybrids, vampire monsters.”

Shade was a little surprised:

"I thought it was magical enough that there were werewolves in the local area. How could a vampire monster appear in a densely populated place like Moon Bay?"

"Vampire monsters" are also a member of the vampire race, but unlike the advanced vampire species that can stably switch their own forms, that is, Mr. Bernhardt and Mr. Albert, the physical and mental states of "vampire monsters" They are extremely unstable and must frequently drink blood to maintain their survival.

They also look like humans during the day, but are very afraid of sunlight. And once it transforms into a huge bat-like monster at night, its combat effectiveness is much stronger than ordinary low-level vampires.

As for Mr. Bernhardt's statement that this is a "mixed hybrid", the reason is that most advanced vampires believe that "vampire monsters" are a race formed through experiments on human body refinement and the fusion of advanced vampires, bats, and beasts. . But there is no evidence for this idea. After all, "vampire monsters" have been clearly recorded since the third era. Traditionally, they are considered to be a degraded vampire race.

Because of the chaotic state of "vampire monsters", they are rarely seen in cities where humans gather. It is said that large settlements of vampire monsters can only be found in the New World, the glacial areas in the northern part of the Old World, and the rolling Rommel Mountains in the central and eastern part of the Old World.

"You said there are werewolves in the area?"

Mr. Bernhardt raised his eyebrows, and Shade shook his head:

"Yes, but it should have nothing to do with what we are investigating. Coming back to the topic of vampire monsters, it can't be such a coincidence. Just as the church linked the unknown female corpse to vampires, vampire monsters appeared in the city. .”

"It must be another frame-up. This is to confirm the accusation of vampires. Even if the church will be suspicious, they still have to waste their manpower to catch the vampire monster first. And during this period, they can create more evidence To get rid of suspicion.”

Mr. Bernhardt shook his head, knowing how good those "fellow beasts" who were more like beasts were at hiding at night:

"Ptolemy said that judging from the traces on the victim's body, the vampire monster is quite powerful. If you want to act locally at night, you must be careful. Oh, since you can see Herman tomorrow Wood, I’ll leave his matter to you. I’m going to continue investigating the Crowley Steam Bath, I always feel like there’s something wrong there.”

"Okay, be careful. We should meet here on Sunday morning. Currently, surrounding this matter, there have been four forces: the vampires, the church, the Dragon Feast Order, and the New World Mutual Aid Association. The truth will probably be far beyond our knowledge. Expected.”

Shade talked with Mr. Bernhardt for a while, and then the two of them left separately. However, due to Mr. Bernhardt's kind persuasion, Schade did not visit the coroner again.

"Just to satisfy your appetite for dinner."

Lord Vampire Seed said this at the time.

Shade then went to the dock area from Spider Alley and asked "Princess Trading Partner" how the investigation on the "mysterious fortune teller" on Herring Street was going.

It was still Ms. Anne Bonny who received Shade. A week had passed since Shade asked them to help with the investigation. However, the lower city of Yuewan City, centered on Herring Street, was too large, so the current investigation was not very thorough. Big progress.

Shade didn't pay much attention to this, and asked a few more questions about the three cargo ships, and then asked a very strange question:

"Ms. Bonnie, you have lived in the dock area of ​​Yuewan City for many years, right?"

"If you include the time before I met Miss Prince, it should have been twenty years."

She seemed to have been a pirate before, and she frequently visited Moon Bay at that time.

Shade nodded:

"So have you heard any strange noises in the dock area in the evening?"

He squinted slightly:

"A long, ancient cry, like a wild beast."

The one-eyed woman thought carefully:

"I haven't heard of it, but your question reminds me of a legend on the dock. It's not appropriate to say it's a legend, it's just a story and rule circulated by dock workers. It is said that if the sailors and workers working at the dock, If you hear strange noises at dusk and sunset, you must stay away from the dock as soon as possible and go to the church to pray. However, what they said is that there is a terrifying ghost in the dock area of ​​Yuewan City, but they did not mention things like wild beasts. .”

Shade nodded to express his understanding:

"Other than that, is there anything else weird about the docks? Especially with the calls and the dusk."

Ms. Bonny recalled again:

"Let me think about it. No, at least I can't remember it for a while. When I was a child, the old fishermen living here always had all kinds of strange stories in their mouths, but now those people have passed away. , the children who grew up on the docks of Yuewan City have never paid attention to these stories. The legends have returned to smoke and dust, and we are always bidding farewell to the past."

Thousands of years have passed since the divine war that Miss Eleser mentioned. If there really was news that Shade could know by asking, the local church would have noticed it long ago. In fact, if it hadn't been for the clue given by the long-haired Luvia, Shade would not have thought that the densely populated pier could still have traces of the war between gods.

But since he couldn't find out what he wanted to know from the locals, he had no choice but to find it himself. But before saying goodbye to Miss Bonny, she mentioned that someone had sent Shade a very thick package.

After getting the package and seeing that the address was a bookstore in the city center and the sender was Mr. Dylan, Shade remembered that when he went to the local Gray Glove organization to help release Lesia's fleet, he asked local agents to help him in order to confuse the situation. Investigated some inconsequential matters. This huge package seems to contain various accounts and lists of suspicious persons since the construction of the "Moon Bay Bridge". Other matters are still under investigation.

However, Shade didn't really care about this, so he didn't rush to check it out. Instead, he thought about taking it home and watching it when he was bored to pass the time.

When we came out of "Princes Trading Partners", there was already the shadow of dusk in the distance on the sea level. Sails are scattered all over the harbor of Moon Bay, and people who have been busy all day are doing their final work before dinner.

Seagulls hovered over the harbor, making Shad worried about the falling bird droppings. He touched Fiona's glove in his pocket, thinking that since he couldn't find any clues, he might as well explore it himself.

PS: Thank you to the reader @Shanhe Wanduo, the leader of the alliance. Thank you for your support. I will add another chapter. Thank you.