Chapter 308 Big and Little Kings

A group of people came to stand No. 6 and saw a young man in a suit and bow tie standing at the door, looking around, fidgeting and anxious like an ant on hot pan.

Seeing Fusolus walking at the front of the group, the man was excited and said hurriedly: “Mr. Milicato! You are finally here!”

“Who is he?” Ning Zhe asked casually.

“The deceased Diesel’s personal driver.” Fusolus said without turning his head, “The deceased was participating in the ‘gift auction’ in the theater. He was waiting for his employer in the tea room.”

As they spoke, two sturdy male waiters pulled open the door curtains on the left and right. Ning Zhe then looked inside the door and saw a crescent-shaped sofa on each side of the oval room. An old man with gray hair was lying on the table with his upper body slumped over. His gray and bloodless face was staring straight at the door, and his eyes were already white.

“This is what the body looked like when it was first found. After the doctor examined it, we put it back to its original position. There shouldn’t be much difference,” said Fusolus. Strange events cannot be judged with ordinary thinking, just in case it is useful.

Ning Zhe nodded and walked into the oval room.

“Sir, this…” The driver of the deceased Diesel opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Fusolus raising his hand: “Don’t say anything more.”

The San Goliath Opera House is the private property of Fusolus, and behind it is a long and complete human trade industry chain. Slave trading is the core industry of the Milicato family, and the “gift girl” is only a small part of the highest end of this industry chain. As the white glove that has made money for the Dyke family for hundreds of years, when the Milicato family’s industrial interests are violated, the Dyke family members have the responsibility to provide assistance.

Just like the bloody suppression of workers’ riots in small African countries.

Based on the principle of equal rights and responsibilities, Van Dyke had the responsibility to solve the strange incidents in the opera house, but Ning Zhe did not. He weighed the pros and cons and decided to stay and see what happened. If he could calm the situation, that would be the best, but if the risk was too great, he would have to give up the identity of “Van Dyke” and get away.

Ning Zhe entered the room, his eyes silently sweeping over the body of the deceased ‘Bruno Diesel’, and finally landing on the oval glass table in the center of the stands.

As mentioned before, after the doctor’s examination, Diesel’s body had no external injuries and no obvious signs of poisoning. He was still excitedly looking forward to going home to “open presents” in the evening 15 minutes ago, and the next second he suddenly died without warning and fell to the ground on the table, like the old man in the old story who died suddenly while sitting in a recliner in the sun, or the internet-addicted teenager who suddenly died on the camera after staying up all night for several days.

Diesel didn’t order any food or drinks. The room was empty, with only a jug of ice water and two glasses on the table, as well as a few randomly scattered playing cards.

Ning Zhe bent down and picked up a card that had fallen at the foot of the sofa. It was a black and white joker, commonly known as the “king” in Kyushu. He picked up another card from the table, which was the Ace of Hearts.

“Is he the first person to die?” Ning Zhe asked.

“No.” Fusolus shook his head.

He came into the room and activated the electronic screen embedded in the desktop, which showed the urban construction map of Vivian Port. Fusolus enlarged the map and drew a few small red circles on it with his finger:
“The first victim was here, in a public restroom in the residential area west of the hypermarket. A woman with a child found his body. His condition was exactly the same as Diesel’s. The second victim was here, in a tavern…”

As Fusolus gestured on the map, the eye-catching red dots were connected in chronological order to form an S-shaped curve: “This ghost first appeared in the residential area west of the hypermarket, and then moved all the way south. People kept dying mysteriously along the way. Diesel was the latest victim.”

“Have there been any new deaths since Diesel’s death?” Ning Zhe asked again.

“No, he is the closest one.” Fusolus answered without hesitation.

Well, it seems that he successfully blocked the opera house with the ink fountain, trapped the ghost in the theater, and the bright red curve did not extend further forward.

“That means the ghost is still in the opera house.”

Ning Zhe collected the playing cards scattered on the table, the floor, and the foot of the sofa one by one. They were: King, Joker,

Ace of Hearts, Jack of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, King of Hearts,

Ace of Spades, Jack of Spades, Queen of Spades, King of Spades.

There are 10 cards in total, each card is different, and can be roughly divided into red and black – the Joker probably belongs to the spades side, intuitively speaking.

“Can you turn on the surveillance in the room?” Ning Zhe asked after arranging the playing cards.

Fusolus shook his head. “The Milicato family’s business reputation is more valuable than gold. There is no surveillance or listening equipment here.”

“Okay.” Ning Zhe was not surprised at all. He knew it was useless to ask, so he just hoped that something might happen.

“Although there was no surveillance in the private room, the corridors and other public areas of the opera house are all monitored.” Fusolus added, “The surveillance shows that except for the first time when the waiter asked Diesel if he wanted a drink, Diesel was alone in there all the time, with no one else present.”

“When was the last time he was confirmed to be alive?”

“Ten minutes ago, he bought ‘Elemia’ and asked his men to send her to the hotel where he was staying. He then returned to stand 10. The surveillance camera in the corridor showed that he was still alive at that time.”

After Fusolus finished speaking, he pulled up the surveillance footage of the corridor and the opera house gate on the screen. Ning Zhe fast-forwarded through the footage and found that the situation was indeed as he had described.

“That is to say, Diesel died after he saw the girl off and returned to Stand 6. He was the only one there when the incident happened. No one else was there. No one or any machine witnessed anyone else entering the stand before or after the deceased.”

“That’s right.” Fusolus nodded.

“Okay…” Ning Zhe had already started to back down in his heart. Diesel’s death was too strange and there were almost no clues to use.

Ning Zhe sighed, and her graceful figure swaying faintly appeared in the center of the room. She was wearing a wedding dress as red as blood, holding an almanac that was as withered as a dead leaf, and using her white knuckles to push a page of paper upwards.

[The first day of the eighth lunar month]

[Suitable for: offering sacrifices, praying for blessings, opening the eyes of the Buddha, removing the evil spirits, and extinguishing fire]

[Avoid: burial, funeral, logging, planting, acupuncture]

Today’s luck is neither good nor bad, it’s better to be half and half.

Ning Zhe was thinking about how to trigger today’s “Yi” without making any noise, when suddenly there was a scream from outside the door. The two looked in the direction of the sound, only to see two male servants standing on both sides of the door curtain looking at each other, and Xia Yubing standing in the middle, covering her mouth with her hand, her face pale.

“One person is missing.” Ning Zhe ran out of the door without saying a word. There were originally four people waiting in the corridor, but now there were only Xia Yubing and two male waiters, a total of three people.

“Where’s Diesel’s driver? He’s gone.”

(End of this chapter)