Chapter 180 is dominated by 0-08
In an ordinary house on the outskirts of Backlund.
It looks like a residential house from the outside, but the interior is decorated quite exquisitely.
In a study with a solid wood desk and chair, a middle-aged man with dark golden hair, classically sculpted features, and one blind eye is writing furiously with an ordinary quill pen.
The middle-aged man was Ince Zangwell, the murderer who attacked the Blackthorn Security Company in Tingen and killed Captain Dunn Smith.
The "ordinary" quill pen, however, was the pen of "0-08" Alshoghod.
On the notebook marked "0-08", some words had already been written: "...Triss's escape failed again. Although she did it very cleverly, and it wasn't discovered until today, the important clue she left behind, the address, did not attract Hena Mir's attention. Hena Mir, because she comes into contact with too many people every day, has basically forgotten what Triss looks like..."
"…Darren Mill was afraid that the church would take his wife away forever, so he decided to help a wizard. But generally speaking, some wizards who have a reputation but haven't been arrested by the authorities don't have any real skills…"
"...As expected, that wizard didn't notice Triss's attention-grabbing arrangement, so he had to try it little by little... Unexpectedly, the wizard Gandalf was actually a true 'wizard,' he was extremely knowledgeable... Haha, this was Ince Zangwill's mistake. If he had gone directly to the official Beyonders, perhaps he could have bought some more time..."
Ince Zangwell, who only had one eye, looked at the quill's sarcasm and sneered: "Just a 'wizard'."
"...Gandalf the Wizard found a crucial clue and understood what was going on, but he was unwilling to take the risk, so he planned to wait for the official Beyonders to arrive so they could arrest Triss...Although Calderon, who was investigating the case, knew Gandalf the Wizard, he refused Gandalf's help out of a responsible attitude and instead conducted the investigation himself..."
As I was writing this, the quill suddenly jumped up and wrote on a new line: "Gandalf the wizard actually knew about the existence of the 'Lip of Althurod'! He has many secrets, but I never imagined he knew so many more!"
Ince's one eye narrowed: "Another troublesome fellow."
This reminded him of a member of the "Night Watch" he had met in Tingen City who had made him repeatedly revise his "story".
Fortunately, "0-08" didn't continue writing, which means that this guy named Gandalf is no threat to Ince. Otherwise, "0-08" would definitely have used this as an excuse to put Ince Zangwell in some danger.
He took a deep breath, glanced at the clock on the wall outside, and realized he needed to buy some more time to let the "Witch Cult" deal with Triss's matter.
"What a hassle," Ince said coldly.
...
Longster Street.
The sweet witch, with her unique design and jeweled ring, along with Captain Karl's unusual behavior, led Odis to a terrifying suspicion.
Although he had a deep impression of the character Triss the Witch, the written description was different from seeing a portrait of the real person, which caused him not to think of these clues immediately.
But the next second, Odis used the power of "meditation" to stop herself from thinking about it anymore.
Because if you keep thinking about it, that damn pen will learn even more about you, it might even write down what color underwear you're wearing.
So Odis continued to observe Carl and the others' investigation. The Darrens were somewhat nervous, but they had no choice but to cooperate with the police investigation.
Fortunately, these police officers were quite polite, and they seemed to possess some amazing investigative techniques, although their methods didn't appear as sophisticated as those of the wizard from before.
Karen and the others were quickly stumped by the problem at hand. Like Odis, they had fallen into the same misconception that Hina's skin had disappeared.
Odis was not in a hurry. He had no intention of investigating thoroughly or arresting the witch. His only goal was to help Darren and his wife solve their problem.
So, seeing the official extraordinary being deep in thought, he not only didn't offer any advice, but also asked Darren to pour him a glass of water and lit his pipe again.
Suddenly, he felt that he had inexplicably digested a lot of his potion, which surprised Odis, because his performance today would never have allowed him to digest so much potion.
He certainly didn't know that just now, "0-08" had admitted that he was "a real 'wizard'." Even if he continued to play the role for another month, it wouldn't be as effective as that admission.
One of the "night watchmen" glanced at the leisurely wizard and the smoke coming from his pipe, frowned, and said, "Don't cause trouble here."
Karl seemed to suddenly snap out of his reverie, remembering Odis's existence, and he smiled, "What clues did you find?"
Odis also finished thinking about the sudden digestion of his own magic potion, but he did not answer directly. Instead, he said, "Generally speaking, if I provide clues to 'Mechanical Heart', I will receive a tip fee. In particular, if I provide clues that can solve the case, I will receive a large tip fee."
"In addition, we had an agreement that I would only provide intelligence to 'Machine Heart'."
Karl thought for a moment before saying, "How about 300 pounds?"
The two members of the "Night Watch" team were stunned for a moment, not expecting that their captain would actually give them money, and so much at once.
Odis pondered for a moment: "It's not much, but let's do it this way. Consider it a discount for Captain Karl."
He didn't overcharge on this point; "Mechanical Heart" has always been very generous when it comes to paying.
Carl added, "After the case is investigated, I will submit a request for assistance to 'Mechanical Heart' and I will not let you get into any trouble."
Odis laughed and said, "That won't be necessary. Next, I need to explain to my employer why his wife encountered such strange things, not that I'm helping you solve the case."
Carl nodded, thinking that this would save both sides a lot of trouble.
Odis said to Darren, "When I saw your wife Hena's appearance, my first thought was that it was a curse of the dead that caused her skin to fester and turn her into a skeleton."
"But in that case, the skull would be mindless, and I ruled out that possibility by using powder made primarily of 'sunflower' and 'chrysanthemum' from the start."
"Subsequent attempts all followed this line of thought, but no clues were found. However, these investigations were not entirely fruitless. I noticed that Hina's skin was still there, we just couldn't see it."
"It must be said that this is a very special curse, and it is a curse from a 'witch'."
"A witch?" Darren broke out in a cold sweat. "We haven't offended anyone like a 'witch'…"
He didn't know what a witch was, but it seemed similar to a wizard, someone who possessed magical abilities.
"It's not necessarily because we've offended them." Odis took a deep breath. "They've always enjoyed bringing disaster and suffering to people."
And of course, there is pleasure.
One of the "Night Watch" members said, "I remember the 'witch's' 'curse' is something like making people sick, or harming their spirits, or even a 'curse' that makes people gradually disappear?"
"This 'curse' is rather special," Odis said to Darren. "It's not just a 'curse,' but rather the negative effects of a certain sealed object have been transferred to Hannah."
"Use your brains! Have you forgotten that the 'Pleasure Witch' sequence includes the ability to 'invisibility'!"
"Henna's current situation is a slow process of 'disappearing'. If this continues, her bones will also disappear, but she will still exist; she will not cease to exist."
Karl and the others all envisioned the same scene: food suddenly "floating" in front of them at the table, then slowly disappearing. Or perhaps they were suddenly bumped into by something, but when they looked back, there was nothing there.
But there was still a problem. Karl frowned: "Are we facing a very formidable enemy?"
He didn't recall seeing any information about "witches" that mentioned they didn't have the ability to "transfer" their powers. So either his access level was too low to see information about high-level witches.
Either the other party possesses some kind of peculiar seal, otherwise it would be impossible to complete such a strange curse.
Odis said, "She must have a very high-level sealing artifact on her."
That ring! If he remembered correctly, that ring seemed to be a very high-level sealing artifact.
Carl nodded, then looked at the portrait on the table: "This is what the murderer looks like."
Odis smiled and said, "And the address."
After a moment's thought, Carl said, "Let's go back and find some help first, then we'll head to this address."
Odis nodded: "That's a good idea. I wish you success."
The opponent should be a Sequence 6, or even possibly a Sequence 5, and possesses a peculiar sealed artifact. Karl and the others simply cannot deal with such an enemy.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Carl replied, "I'd like to invite you back with me, and then we can act together."
He remembered that Odis was also an extraordinary being. Of course, the main reason for the invitation was that the senior deacon of the Backlund region had said that if there was an opportunity, he should try to get to know Odis.
After all, such a top-notch intelligence agent is popular wherever he goes.
They might not realize that if they wanted to cooperate with Odis on anything, all they needed to do was prepare enough gold pounds.
Odis laughed and said, "My appearance fee is very high."
By Sequence 8, an arrow was already worth 10 pounds.
"You don't need to do anything," Karl smiled. "Just provide us with some ideas or intelligence when needed."
After all, the goal was to befriend Odis, not to make Odis a cannon fodder.
Carl left one member of the Night Watch squad there, and he took Odis and another member back to the Night Watch headquarters.
The three of them chatted along the way, and for some reason, none of them seemed to be in a hurry. It was as if they weren't on their way to arrest the murderer, but rather on a picnic.
Halfway there, the carriage suddenly slowed down, and the driver said that a carriage had broken down on the street ahead.
Karl glanced outside and saw the "Black Night Emblem" on the broken carriage. On the other side of the street, stood a young man with black hair and green eyes, with striking good looks, wearing a black trench coat.
Carl said, "Wait a moment, it's an acquaintance. I'll go down and ask if we should take him back with us."
Odis looked at the young man and thought to himself: Will I run into another "acquaintance" today?
He overheard Carl's conversation with the other person from afar and learned that the guy really was Leonard Mitchell.
On his way back to Pesfield Street, Leonard's carriage broke down. Since he had nothing urgent to attend to, he did not take a taxi back immediately, but waited for the driver to fix it.
Odis's interpretation was: the carriage broke down on the way back from the mission.
Leonard accepted Karl's invitation because the headquarters of the "Red Gloves" were also located on Pesfield Street.
Once in the car, Leonard glanced at Odis and asked, "These are the prisoners you arrested?"
Odis thought to himself: You are the prisoner, your whole family are prisoners!
Carl, with a wry smile, introduced, "This is Mr. Odis Garr, an informant for 'Mechanical Heart.' He provided crucial intelligence for a very peculiar case."
Leonard smiled slightly, then casually asked, "Very peculiar? How peculiar?"
Carl briefly recounted the details of the case.
Odis recalled that, regarding extraordinary cases, the official extraordinary individuals rarely took the initiative to inquire about the cases their colleagues were handling, unless a colleague asked for their help.
Furthermore, Leonard is a "Red Glove" and Karl is a "Night Watcher." Although they are both extraordinary forces of the Church of the Goddess of Night, they do not belong to the same department. They only communicate with each other at some meetings and usually have little communication about cases.
But at this moment, neither Leonard nor Karl realized that there was anything wrong with the topic they were talking about, which was very strange.
Sure enough, after hearing about Haina's plight, Leonard said, "I happen to have a sealed artifact that might be able to help her."
Then he looked at Odis: "If we use a sealing artifact with 'witch' abilities, can we remove the opponent's 'invisibility' status?"
Odis thought for a moment: "Theoretically speaking, that's true."
Leonard said, "If we go back, I will have to return this sealed artifact, and it will be very troublesome for you to apply again. It is very likely that the lady will disappear completely."
"How about we go to Longster Street together, help that poor lady solve her problem first, and then go back to Pesfield Street?"
Odis and Karl both thought the suggestion was quite good. For Odis, his goal was to solve Haina's problem; whether or not the murderer was found was irrelevant.
Carl, on the other hand, felt that the murderer was unaware that he had been exposed, so it wouldn't be a problem to catch him later, and he nodded in agreement.
So they went to the Darrens' house together, and just as they had guessed, Leonard used the sealing artifact corresponding to the "witch" pathway. After ending his "invisibility" state, Hina's skin quickly reappeared.
The problem was resolved smoothly, and the Darrens were extremely grateful, asking Odice how much payment she needed.
Odis said, "Three pounds."
Darren breathed a sigh of relief; their savings were enough to cover the cost.
Leonard looked at the scene before him and realized that Odis's asking price was within the other party's acceptable range, and the cost of this commission was definitely more than 3 pounds.
This left a deep impression on him regarding the "mechanical heart" informant, the "wizard gentleman."
The group first went to the headquarters of the "Night Watchers" to report again, and then headed to Hailin Avenue, only to find that the people there had already disappeared.
The case could only be investigated to this point. Odis said goodbye to Cullen and the others, returned to No. 66 Rose Street, and found nothing unusual.
It wasn't until evening, when he ventured into the "wilderness of knowledge" to research, that he suddenly "realized": Had Karl and I lost our minds? Arresting criminals was like a leisurely picnic!