Whispering Verse

Shade did not return to his home in Tobesk until after dinner that day. Shortly after returning home, he received the doctor who came to visit him again.

"The time has been determined. At eight o'clock on Sunday morning, we will meet at your place and set off to Yuewan to eliminate the demon."

Of course, Shade also mentioned to the doctor that the devil had appeared in a clone today, but this was also part of the plan, so Dr. Schneider just reminded Shade to be careful. He had great confidence in Shade.

It's Friday and the new Time Key is ready for use. But considering that the devil's matter was imminent, Shade decided to postpone the key until Sunday to prevent himself from being distracted by dealing with too many things at once.

As for the address in Tobesk that [Desire] gave him, Shade did not visit it on Friday night, but set out after breakfast early on Saturday morning.

The address was Thomson Lane in the North District of Tobesk City. Both sides of this alley were rental apartments rented to out-of-towners. Of course, the North District is a slum area, and most of the outsiders who can live here are not rich.

"No. 6 Thomson Lane."

After getting off the carriage from the alley, Shade quickly found his destination by counting the house numbers. If a three-story rental apartment is partitioned with wooden boards to form compartments, it can probably be rented out to more than a dozen families. Shade tried knocking on the door downstairs, but found that the door was not closed.

The stairwells and corridors in the house look particularly messy because they are filled with all kinds of clutter, but they also have a very lively atmosphere. Shade went all the way to the third floor and found the third door from the left of the stairs. The door was closed, so he knocked on it out of courtesy. Almost the next moment, a very familiar voice asked from inside the door:

"who is it?"

"Huh? Priest Augustus?"

Shade was startled, turned around and looked around to make sure that he was not suddenly transferred to other places by space, and then said to the door:

"Detective Shad Hamilton, I've been hired to investigate something."

The sound of footsteps came, and standing inside the opened door was indeed Priest August.

The old priest did not wear a priest's robe today, but his ordinary clothes. He was equally surprised by Shade's appearance. After letting him go in first, he asked curiously:

"Did you also hear that there was a problem here, so you came to investigate?"

Shade couldn't talk about "desire", so he just nodded vaguely:

"It is said that there are relics nearby. What is the situation now?"

"It is indeed a relic. It is not very dangerous, but it is quite tricky. The person we are looking for is not at home now, but I can probably guess where he has gone. Come with me and take a look. I will explain the current situation to you on the way. "

As expected, Priest August appeared here because he heard the news from the believers who visited Dawn Church. Specifically, the Mr. Vincent Taylor who lives on the third floor that Shade and Priest August are looking for today is a student who came to Tobesk from other places to study.

Starting about two weeks ago, he started exhibiting some strange behavior. For example, when reading the newspaper, he always likes to complain loudly about the outsiders who have taken away the living space and urban welfare of Tobesk locals. Another example is that when he sees a stranger who looks like a Kasenlik on the road, he always spits. , and then complained a few words in a low voice.

"Wait, does that sound weird?"

Walking together in the alley, Shade asked curiously:

"Isn't this kind of people very common after the border conflict in the Green Lake area? Especially in pubs at night, you can find a lot of drunken lunatics who claim to kill all foreigners, not to mention those who are just hostile to foreigners. He's just a human being. Although Mr. Taylor sounds very unqualified, isn't that strange?"

"Listen to me and continue, this is just an early stage."

The priest continued to explain:

"If you just complained or spit in the street, of course it was just a lack of quality, but then Vincent Taylor's character became worse and worse. First, he yelled at the boys living downstairs in his house, just because he thought these Children who grow up in slums will definitely become worms in society in the future, and may even become murderers, thieves and robbers. Then, he pointed at the girls passing by on the street, thinking that they were still wearing cool clothes in such a cold summer this year. , must be doing flesh and blood business."

If this were the case, although this person's character problems were indeed serious, Mr. Vincent Taylor would at best be regarded as mentally ill and would be sent to a local hospital for treatment soon after. But Priest August learned something else from his old acquaintance, Mr. Vincent Taylor’s landlord:

"What he said began to become very inflammatory, and people who were originally peaceful would agree with his strange ideas after hearing his views. Old Mrs. Louise told me that Mr. Taylor was not a A person who is good at public speaking, but now he seems to have the ability to read people's inner thoughts and spread his own prejudices through negative remarks.

The old lady is a devout believer. She has been going to church on time every week since she was young. But even such people, after listening to Vincent Taylor's words, began to suspect in their hearts that the church often misappropriated donations to allow priests and priests to squander it. "

Priest Augustus shook his head:

"I only heard about it when she felt guilty in her heart because of this thought and came to me to confess."

Shade thought about it carefully and understood what Priest August wanted to express:

"Bias and demagogy? Did the church find out about this?"

"Not yet. After all, there are no harmful incidents at present. The church's ring warlock teams have more important things to deal with. But if it continues to develop, I think there may be problems that may break out, and I'm afraid it's not just someone getting hurt. It’s easy.”

Priest August led the way, and they were walking through the intricate alleys of the slums in the north of the city. The boys pushing the hoops passed them by, and the women gathered together at the entrance of the alley to wash clothes. After the two of them had gone away, they laughed and talked about the handsomeness of the strange young man.

"Detective, I conducted some preliminary investigations before coming here. So far I have basically determined what it is: a poet-level relic - [Prejudice]."

"Only poet level?"

“Only poet level.”

The priest nodded:

"This is a curse-like relic, which manifests itself as an individual spreading his or her prejudiced ideas to more people through speech and writing. It is secretive and difficult to detect, but apart from being extremely inflammatory, it basically does not show other extraordinary powers. , so it is only at the poet level. This kind of relic can appear in different places at the same time, and according to church statistics, the more complex the social situation, serious political opposition, or the implementation of regional discriminatory laws, the more common this kind of relic is."

The foreigner thought for a moment:

"So, this relic has basically never disappeared from this world?"

"It seems that your level of knowledge and knowledge is even greater than I thought."

Priest August turned his head to look at him unexpectedly, took a deep breath and nodded heavily:

"Yes, [prejudice] has almost never been cut off for a long time in the civilized settlements of the material world since records began. Although it is only at the poet level, it is one of the few types of relics that are considered to have no possibility of being completely contained. one."

"Well unless all intelligent life is wiped out?"

"Detective, you are a bit too extreme. But you are right, the only way to completely eliminate prejudice is to completely eliminate ourselves. I hate to admit this, but from now on, this is the fact."

As for stopping the spread of [prejudice], it is also easy. After finding the source of "prejudice" in the area, you can either use words to persuade him to give up his extreme thoughts - which is quite difficult, or eliminate it from the physical level. The second method sounded very similar to the "malicious serial curse letters" that Shade helped Emilia deal with some time ago. When Shade told Priest August about this, the priest also nodded:

"Prejudice itself is a curse-like phenomenon, and this classification is correct. Unfortunately, there is no way to undo the curse of prejudice."

Both of them let out long sighs, and the priest continued to lead the way. When they turned again at the entrance of an alley with a pile of wooden boxes, Shade gradually felt that the surrounding scenery seemed familiar:

"Speaking of which, are we going to the Three Cats Hotel?"

"No, but it's very close. On the street east of the Three Cats Hotel, there is a courtyard that is rented out all year round to the 'Jasmine Opera Troupe' to perform some shows that are popular with the citizens of the lower city. Ahem, I mean serious shows. You know where it is? ?"

"certainly."

Shade nodded. One of the main sponsors of the Jasmine Opera House is Dorothy and Lesia. Shade followed them there:

"That Mr. Vincent Taylor is an actor in the opera company? But isn't he a student?"

The priest then explained softly:

"A poor student from out of town always has to find a job to support his expenses. You have also seen his living environment. He is not a rich man. But let's agree first to see how Mr. Taylor behaves later. If he is not easily persuaded, we will find a way to get him. After all, we can no longer let him talk nonsense in the city."

Shade nodded to express that he had no objection.

Although the weekend system in this era is not yet perfect, Saturday morning is undoubtedly the busiest time of the week. Of course, if you want to go to the theater, you must buy tickets in advance. When Shade and Priest August walked in, they found that there were already many people who had entered the theater in advance.

There are rows of stools under the open-air stage, and half of these seats are now occupied. It's just that the performance hasn't started yet, the staff on the stage are still setting up the scene, and the audience below the stage are talking and laughing.

PS: An update will be added as usual on New Year's Day tomorrow, and updates will be added whenever the author has time during statutory holidays. In addition, the editor gave a good recommendation on January 2nd, and we will add another update at that time. The current plan is to add three updates, that is, five chapters will be updated on January 2nd.

In addition, the usual extra updates during the Spring Festival will continue, but that will be in February.

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