Chapter 122: Madman's Ramblings (Requesting double monthly votes)

Anthony Reid looked at Lu Mian and said calmly:

"Is there something you need?"

"I heard from Paval that you are a very reliable intelligence peddler." Lu Mian pointed out directly who had sent him, not wasting time on mutual probing.

Anthony Reid, whose cheeks were slightly chubby, revealed an understanding expression and pointed to the chair placed in the center of the room:

"What intelligence do you want, or rather, what information do you want to entrust me to collect?"

Facing the seemingly honest and reliable Anthony Reid, Lu Mian always felt a bit uneasy. He sat on the chair and said concisely:

"I want to find two people."

"Name, appearance, characteristics." Anthony Reid glanced at Lu Mian's left waist.

Lu Mian recalled and said:

"One is named Guillaume Bénet, formerly a parish priest of the 'Eternal Blazing Sun' church. One is named Pualis de Rochefort. More than a month ago, she came to Trier with her husband Béost, her butler Louis Longde, and her maid Cassie."

"I don't have their photos. I can only tell you that Guillaume Bénet has short black hair, blue eyes, is serious in manner, has strong desires, and his biggest characteristic is his aquiline nose. Pualis has very long brown hair, bright brown eyes, eyebrows that are relatively light and sparse, and a temperament that is clean but alluring..."

Anthony Reid listened quietly, stood up, walked to the wooden table by the window, opened the drawer, and took out a stack of white paper and a sharpened pencil.

He sketched rapidly, and before long, he had completed two portraits.

"Take a look and see if they look like them." Anthony Reid handed the two sketches to Lu Mian.

Lu Mian took them and saw that both the parish priest and Lady Pualis were lifelike and vivid. Except for the lack of color, there wasn't much difference from a photo.

He looked up at Anthony Reid standing in front of him with surprise and said in astonishment:

"Very similar."

"You restored them to this degree just based on my simple description?"

He had thought Anthony Reid would draw multiple drafts for him to choose from, then further revise and refine them.

Anthony Reid smiled rarely:

"I restored the photos from the official wanted posters."

"The authorities are also looking for them."

No wonder... Lu Mian suddenly realized.

Both the parish priest Guillaume Bénet and Lady Pualis were followers of an evil god who had obtained "Gifts." After Ryan and the others reported it, it would inevitably attract corresponding attention!

Thinking of this, his unease instantly intensified.

"I must also be wanted... Has Anthony Reid seen my portrait? Did he recognize me?" Lu Mian's heart hung in the air, and he asked the intelligence peddler in front of him with feigned composure:

"I'm not surprised by this. I want to know how much the bounty on them is?"

"Guillaume Bénet, 20,000 Vergold; 500 Vergold for every clue provided. Pualis is the same." Anthony Reid's tone was very steady.

Lu Mian smiled:

"If you can find useful intelligence, you can take double the bounty."

He meant that one could be collected from the authorities, and another could be collected from him.

Anthony nodded:

"I accept your commission, 500 Vergold, 100 in advance."

"This is my rule. You can choose not to accept it and go find another intelligence peddler or bounty hunter."

Since the other party had spoken to this extent, Lu Mian couldn't bargain anymore and could only nod slightly:

"No problem."

Just as he was about to take out the money, a gunshot suddenly rang out outside the window.

Anthony Reid immediately trembled all over, as if encountering a natural enemy, curled up his body, and zipped under the wooden table.

Lu Mian was a bit stunned:

Isn't this reaction too exaggerated? Isn't this the daily state of the Sijie?

There were gunshots, fights, and large-scale conflicts here from time to time. People living here should have been used to it long ago. The only thing that needed to be done was to stay away from the window to avoid being hit by stray bullets.

Soon, the noisy sounds subsided initially.

Anthony Reid relaxed for a few seconds and crawled out from under the wooden table.

He smiled bitterly at Lu Mian and said:

"Sorry, in the war a few years ago, I suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and had to retire and return to Trier."

Then why do you live in the Sijie, where there are gunshots from time to time? Lu Mian didn't pursue the question; he had no interest in Anthony Reid's psychological problems.

He took out a 50 Vergold banknote and gently slid his finger over the bust of Levancus and the commercial street and merchants coming and going within the silhouette.

Feeling the remaining texture, Lu Mian handed the gray-blue banknote, along with two gold Louis and two 5 Vergold coins engraved with sunbirds, to Anthony Reid.

His wallet suddenly became a third lighter, and he couldn't help but feel that spending money was like flowing water.

Looking at the honest market scene on the back of the banknote, Anthony Reid curled his fingers, flicked the surface, and checked its authenticity in the sunlight.

After confirming it was correct, he asked Lu Mian while putting away the money:

"Are you coming to me at a fixed time to see if there is any intelligence, or should you give me an address, and I will throw the corresponding information into your room when I have a harvest?"

"I live in 207." Lu Mian knew that the fact he lived in the "Golden Chicken Hotel" couldn't be hidden from Anthony Reid at all, so he reported the room number directly.

After leaving Room 305, his expression gradually became solemn, and he muttered to himself in his heart:

"I must be extra careful in the next few days to prevent Anthony Reid from selling me out...

"Should I find an opportunity to show my strength in front of him and let him believe that I have a grudge that must be avenged?"

Lu Mian walked toward the stairs while thinking.

Suddenly, he heard someone shouting with laughter and tears:

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die!"

Lu Mian followed the sound and saw a man squatting at the entrance of Room 310.

The man was wearing a dirty linen shirt and yellow trousers, and his black hair had reached his shoulders, hanging down in a mess.

At this time, he was pressing his head with both hands, looking at the ground, and constantly muttering to himself:

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die!"

This voice was sometimes high and sometimes low, sometimes fearful and sometimes manic.

The madman Charlie mentioned who was occasionally sober? Lu Mian sized him up for a few seconds, approached, and asked curiously:

"Why do you think you are about to die? Do you have a terminal illness?"

The man didn't even lift his head and continued to shout:

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die!"

Lu Mian smiled, stepped over him directly, and walked into Room 310, where the wooden door was wide open.

The layout of this room was the same as 207, where he lived, and it was kept relatively clean, except for the bedbugs that couldn't be driven away appearing occasionally.

As Lu Mian's gaze swept across the surface of the kerosene lamp, thick books, fountain pen, suitcase, and other things, the madman stood up and said foolishly:

"This is my territory."

"I know." Lu Mian answered with a smile, "But aren't you about to die? I see you don't have children or relatives either. Why not use your inheritance to help us poor neighbors?"

He noticed that the madman was only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. His black beard didn't know how long it hadn't been shaved, and it was dense everywhere, making those blue eyes look like they were hidden deep in a jungle.

The madman was stunned for a few seconds, grabbed his hair, and shouted in extreme pain:

"They are all dead, they are all dead!

"I saw the Monsouri ghosts, they are all dead, and I am about to die too!"

Monsouri ghosts? Lu Mian finally heard different words from the madman's mouth.

He had deliberately provoked and stimulated the other party just now to see if he could get a different reaction.

The good feedback made him suddenly feel signs of his potion digesting.

One of the acting rules for a "Provoker" is: provocation is just a means, not the end? Lu Mian looked at the madman thoughtfully and said:

"Why can the Monsouri ghosts make them die and make you about to die?"

The madman lowered his head and muttered to himself:

"Those who see the Monsouri ghosts will die, and his family will also die, all within a year!"

Is it the madman's hallucination, or is there really such a thing? If there is, is it a curse? Lu Mian asked tentatively:

"Where did you encounter the Monsouri ghosts?"

"Underground, underground! Right under the market district!" The madman squatted down again, leaned against the wall, wrapped his arms around his body, and shivered.

The underground world corresponding to the market district? Why not report it to the two churches and let them send people to clean up the unclean things? Lu Mian muttered silently twice.

Seeing that the madman had returned to the state of "I'm going to die, I'm going to die," he gave up on pursuing the question, walked out of Room 310, and went down the stairs.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Lu Mian decided to go around the Mason Café in the Botanical Garden district at noon to grasp the general situation of that area, and in the afternoon, go to the vicinity of the underground cemetery to see if Aosta had received a "reply" from the gathering convener.

There were many obstacles made of stones, wood, branches, and various kinds of trash in the alleys around the Sijie. Even on the main road, one could encounter one from time to time, only a path wide enough for two carriages had been opened in the middle.

They were called barricades, and could be seen in many districts. Most had traces of smoke and fire, and some still had blackened blood remaining. They were a unique landscape of Trier, standing exactly at the opposite end of the scale from the arcade pedestrian streets.

Lu Mian stepped over the low edge of a barricade, walked out of the dark alley, and came to the main street.

He immediately walked toward the bus stop, wanting to take this means of transportation to the Botanical Garden district.

On the way, Lu Mian saw many homeless people lying in the corners of walls sunbathing and catching lice. Each one was dirty, thin, and listless.

This reminded him of his previous life as a wanderer.

Unlike the Kingdom of Loen, which forbade homeless people from sleeping on the streets and in parks, the Republic of Intis didn't have any regulations for homeless people, only that they couldn't enter paid places and private premises. They often used this to mock Loen for lacking humanistic care.

As his thoughts drifted, Lu Mian's eyes suddenly narrowed while walking.

He felt someone was following him!

PS: Requesting double monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 123 =====