The woman’s voice sounded so cold to my ears.

“Detective Hitzfeld has an agreement with the Sinzer Parish, and the Sinzer Parish has an agreement with you. Does this have anything to do with me?”

“Shadow Lion is on the case.”

“Out of here, outsiders!”

No one spoke in the room for a moment. The maid, who had been sobbing quietly in the back, became silent after seeing the noise, not daring to breathe.

“let’s go.”

Sheriff Cole twisted his face and tried to suppress some of the emotions in his heart.

“Boss…”

A plainclothes officer nearby looked embarrassed.

“It’s just a small notebook…”

“If you are obstructing public service, Blackie can just shoot you to death here without any legal responsibility.”

Sheriff Cole interrupted him, then turned around and bowed to Xia Yibing very carefully.

“Really sorry.”

“Everything that comes next… Nan Xinze, is left to you.”

Chapter 13: United, yet independent

“how do you feel.”

After watching these people leave and closing the door considerately, Xia Yibing turned around and asked Hitzfeld.

Hitzfeld frowned slightly: “I don’t like him.”

Joe Cole…to put it bluntly, this guy is definitely a scheming person.

She witnessed every change in the other person’s expression after he came in.

When I first saw them, they looked violent and erratic.

When Xia Yibing stood up, she became cautious and suspicious.

When his identity was revealed, he felt surprised and solemn.

Then, at the end, Shadow Lion Xiaobenzi appeared. In just a few seconds, he experienced anger, confusion, resentment… and finally returned to his calmness like water, and politely bowed to them to apologize.

But it wasn’t actually an apology at all.

His actions, behavior, and final words were all about retreating to advance.

It seemed that he had given in and surrendered to Xia Yibing’s identity as a Shadow Lion agent. But in fact, this also meant that he had completely thrown away this huge burden.

The terrible consequences that the local police had been worried about due to the “newspaper war” were all thrown away by him at this moment… and all onto the Xinze Parish, himself, and Xia Yibing.

If something went wrong in the case and the parish or the royal family investigated, he could use the conflict that took place in this room today to defend himself.

She didn’t like such speculators, and even found it hard to believe that such people could become police officers and even climb to the position of sheriff.

Comparing him with Sheriff Rand from Blackwood City, Sheriff Rand immediately becomes lovable.

“That’s because you haven’t seen enough.” Xia Yibing shook her head. “For the sake of profit and to climb up, humans can become very scary. Sarado is such a person, and there is no shortage of channels for him to climb up.”

“I am now very worried about the local administration and security in Nanxinze.” Hitzfeld whispered.

Judging from the limited information, if someone like Joe Cole can be so successful in the local area, we can probably imagine what kind of people his colleagues, his superiors, the people who promoted him, and the people who are involved with him are like.

As she spoke, she glanced at Xia Yibing once more.

Before coming to Nanxinze, she thought Villefort was playing a trick on her. He knew that she had been avoiding Xia Yibing for a while, but he still insisted on sending her to go with him.

But now she understood…it was really Villefort who understood too well. He had long anticipated the local situation in Nanxinze and the resistance she would encounter.

Therefore, there must be a Shadow Lion agent who can serve as her personal bodyguard and establish a close alliance and cooperation with her and the Xinze Parish. He can also stand out and use the banner of the Security Bureau to suppress others when there is a conflict between the two sides.

This person can only be Xia Yibing.

If this was a game, sending Xia Yibing as a chess piece to her side… was simply a stroke of genius.

Thinking of this, Hitzfeld walked carefully to the floor in front of the door, squatted down, and carefully observed the marks on it.

“I can’t say for sure if he committed suicide.”

On the other side, Xia Yibing was holding the mummy’s head and talking to herself.

“He had almost no blood in his body. It was impossible for him to lift the gun and pull the trigger with his body like that. He should not have been a mummy when he did all this.”

“But when the bullet hit his head…”

Having said that, she actually reached out and dug into the deep hole in the mummy’s head.

“No rolling in the skull, no perforation, no bullet.”

This was what she found most bizarre—it was as if the bullet had disappeared into thin air after it had shot into the man’s head, and then as if this behavior had triggered some special mechanism, he had suddenly and instantly turned into a mummy.

This must be related to evil.

Something had attacked Bella Haytham directly from the Dream Realm, draining his lifeblood and turning him into this.

From this perspective, Haytham’s shooting was not necessarily an act of suicide. It is possible that the entity in reality was hidden in his brain, and he wanted to kill it, but failed, which ultimately led to a terrible backlash.

Picking up the “big notebook” on the table, Xia Yibing stared at the strange text while distractedly looking at Hitzfeld.

“What about you? What did you find?”

“There’s no one else.” Hitzfeld stood up and exhaled. “There are only eight footprints. He really lives in seclusion…”

There were eight people, one was Haytham himself, one was the maid, two were her and Xia Yibing, and the other four were the plainclothes policemen and Joe Cole.

This means that at least in the last 1-2 weeks, Haytham has never seen anyone other than the maid in this room.

“Others may not be willing to see him.”

Xia Yibing walked around other parts of the house and found that the wooden floor was covered with potholes. The furniture placed nearby, such as clothes hangers and low cabinets, had traces of collision and friction on some of the top corners.

The rumors were true, he really did like to smash things.

The two men searched the house again, sorting out all the newspapers, notes, and manuscripts, and found a large stack of various letters among them.

Fifty percent of them were reported by the Trumpet News, and the content was always the same, indicating that the current manuscript fees had been paid.

Fifty percent of the letters were from readers. Judging from the tone and handwriting, most of them were from young girls, and some were bold enough to directly propose to Haytham in their content.

The response of the Nanxinze system was not too slow.

When the clock pointed to 7:30, several cars stopped downstairs with shrill brake sounds. Nanxinze Mayor Fima-Ponditch rushed upstairs with a large group of people, including Chief Cole and Knight Carl, who had been separated from the two not long ago.

Pondich first apologized to them in front of everyone, but did not mention that he did not discuss the case directly with them tonight.

It was Xia Yibing who went forward to communicate with the other party, while Hitzfeld observed secretly.

Pondicherry was tall, strong and strong.

Hitzfeld previously thought that the strongest person among ordinary people should be Sheriff Rand, but Pondich is even stronger than Ayn Rand. When you look at him from behind, he looks like a giant human-sized bear. Just standing there gives people a sense of oppression.

This man had extremely thick, brown-red hair, and a beard that extended from the base of his chin to his temples, completely merging with his hair.

“This must be Detective Hitzfeld.”

After communicating with Xia Yibing, he turned his attention to the girl.

He first looked at the collar around her neck, then quickly stared at her exposed right eye.

“You participated in the death ticket case that troubled the Royal Capital Police Station at the beginning of the year, and uncovered the century-old mystery of the Crystal Sea… I have heard of Miss Hitzfeld’s name in Nanxinze. It is my honor to have someone like you to cooperate with me. It is an honor for all the residents of Nanxinze.”

Hitzfeld was a little surprised that Pondich had actually done his homework in advance.

“They are all empty names.” She nodded and gave the other party a questioning look: “Then according to the agreement…”

“According to the agreement, everything in this case will be left to Miss Hitzfeld to judge and deal with!” Pondich said immediately.

There were whispers among the people he brought with him. Hitzfeld really looked too young… Could a girl under 20 really be capable of taking on such a heavy responsibility?

“The Diocese of Sinze can guarantee it.”

Carl, who had been standing still, suddenly spoke.

“The Security Bureau can do that, too.”

Xia Yibing followed.

The voice gradually became lower.

Pondich and Sheriff Cole looked at each other, both of them looked unhappy.

The “newspaper war” triggered the emergence of a large number of new novelists. The direct consequence of this incident was that the major printing factories in Nanxinze could hardly stop production and were printing newspapers day and night.

This is not as simple as economic growth.

Not to mention anything else, just by dividing the work into day and night shifts, the number of jobs in public and private newspapers and printing factories has increased by nearly 1.5 times from the original basis!

There are fewer refugees.

Taxes are high.

The huge fame can also attract foreign investment. Many well-known newspapers and novelists have already used this opportunity to generate “publicity fees”.

Compared with these, what does it matter if some people disappear from time to time?

If this had not happened, the number of people who lost their lives in the violent incidents caused by the refugees alone would have been far greater than the number of novelists who have gone missing today.

As for the threats from evil spirits… they are not blind.

The texts written by “problem novelists” do not have polluting properties during the dissemination process, whether in daily life or in the eternal night – this is the professional judgment made by the bishops and knights of the Xinze Diocese.

Therefore, whether from a political perspective or from an interest perspective, maintaining the status quo is best. They don’t want anyone to stop the phenomenon of “novelist boom” at all.

They had already decided that when “Esun Hitzfeld” arrived, they would do their best to please her and give her whatever she wanted – they would never offer any help that would advance the case.

But I didn’t expect that she didn’t come alone.

There is also a Shadow Lion agent.

And this wasn’t just any Shadow Lion agent… this was the “Sword Ghost of the Summer Night”!

When these two people are put together, on the one hand they can take advantage of the cooperative relationship between the young girl detective and the parish to get free assistance from them, and on the other hand, any attempt they make to interfere with the case will be blocked by Xia Yibing.

United, yet independent.

Plus, there is Knight Carl watching nearby, and this guy is notoriously unreasonable!

Pandichi was filled with frustration.

What is he thinking? Can Wayne Port sense it from such a distance…

He felt a little discouraged for a moment, and it was only after Sheriff Cole pushed him a few times that he realized that Hitzfeld was talking to him.

“Oh…! What did you say?”

The name has quietly changed.

“I wish to speak to the maid alone.”

Hitzfeld felt relieved.

For the time being…the biggest apparent obstacle has been resolved.

“correct.”

“If you can, please call over Mr. Haytham’s neighbors and his acquaintances in the Bugle.”

——–

Thanks to: Princess Defeats Demon King Aili, Blue is Not a Vegetarian Fox, Salted Fish Old Dog, Forbidden Quadruple Existence, ω’s Be, Madoka Is Not Home Today, God Aki… The above readers’ blades and rewards~

Thank you for your support~

Chapter 14: Haytham’s Obsession

The maid is married.

Her husband, Fredo, was a street cleaner who lived on South Bridge Street—214, right across from 215, exactly the kind of neighbors Hitzfeld wanted to call together.

Mrs. Feredo was still a little trembling when she re-entered the living room of No. 215.