Chapter 128: Finding Prey (Requesting double monthly votes)

Lu Mian quickly browsed through the reply from "Magician" lady and extracted the key points to remember.

Obviously, the first and third methods to solve the Monsouri ghosts problem were just jokes from the other party. The only truly useful one was the second, which was to rely on the "Fallen Mercury" to exchange the fate of "encountering the Monsouri ghosts."

Frankly speaking, Lu Mian hadn't thought of stabbing himself with the "Fallen Mercury" to actively change his fate before, until he was attacked by the Monsouri ghosts and pushed to the edge of the cliff of death. Only then did he grasp the only chance of survival from the various thoughts that were flashing through his mind.

Due to the urgency of time, he couldn't pick and choose. Lu Mian only exchanged the fate of "being attacked by the Monsouri ghosts" rather than "encountering the Monsouri ghosts." This meant he hadn't completely escaped the shadow of death, just escaped the first danger.

Of course, when choosing the fate to exchange before, even if he had enough space to distinguish and think, Lu Mian would likely have chosen "being attacked by the Monsouri ghosts" rather than "encountering the Monsouri ghosts," because the attack had already truly happened. He had no certainty whether it would stop as the fate of "encountering the Monsouri ghosts" was exchanged, so he could only use the most certain plan to protect himself first.

Simply put, what if the Monsouri ghosts killed him only to find they hadn't encountered him and had mistaken the target?

"Hmm, must find someone as soon as possible, use the fate of 'being attacked by the Monsouri ghosts' stored in the 'Fallen Mercury' to exchange for a good fate of his, and then, make full preparations, and when in a good state, stab myself to complete the exchange of that better fate and 'encountering the Monsouri ghosts,' sealing the latter into the 'Fallen Mercury'..." Lu Mian combined his own experience and the reminder from "Magician" lady and quickly had a plan on how to solve the current difficulty.

By then, the "Fallen Mercury" could be called the "Blade of Curses," and those stabbed by it would bear the fate of "the whole family dies, including oneself."

The disadvantage is that the effect takes a period of time to ferment.

Lu Mian drew the "Fallen Mercury" from his waist and looked at the blade wrapped in layers of black cloth, feeling more clearly than ever before how useful this extraordinary weapon was.

He seriously considered the possibility of finding a professional to repair the "Fallen Mercury," otherwise this magical short blade would be used up by the end of the year at most.

And the extraordinary gathering convened by Mr. K might provide resources in this regard.

"My guess was indeed correct. The purpose of 'Magician' lady letting me contact Aosta Truel was to use him to attend Mr. K's gathering and join the mysterious organization behind Mr. K..." Lu Mian put on his wide-brimmed round hat, put on his black jacket in a formal style, walked out of Room 207, and walked down the stairs.

As a "Hunter," he had to start looking for prey.

Just out of the main entrance of the "Golden Chicken Hotel," Lu Mian saw Charlie sitting on the three-story steps leading to the street, looking at the sky with a pale face and melancholy eyes, holding a lit white cigarette in his right hand.

"What's wrong?" Lu Mian walked over and sat beside Charlie quite casually.

Charlie didn't take back his gaze, took a puff of the cigarette, and sighed:

"I feel like I've lost my soul; it has fallen."

He was wearing a white shirt and red vest, with a black formal suit draped over his left arm, seemingly having worn the hotel uniform back.

Lu Mian laughed and asked directly to the core:

"Did you do that kind of thing with that old lady?"

Charlie turned his head rapidly, looked at Lu Mian, and emphasized seriously:

"Please call her a lady; she is only over fifty years old."

He then took another puff of the cigarette and exhaled a cloud of mist:

"Do you know? She gave me a diamond necklace, worth at least 1,500 Vergold. I couldn't resist. It was so shiny and so alluring, it broke directly into my heart."

"It." Lu Mian corrected a word.

Charlie smiled sheepishly:

"Lady Alice is also very alluring. It's really not easy for her to maintain such style at her age. She said she would live in Trier for half a year and could give me 500 Vergold a month..."

As he spoke, Charlie's voice became low, and his gaze revealed a melancholy color again.

Just when Lu Mian thought he was going to lament that he had lost his soul again, Charlie sighed longly:

"Why can she only live for half a year..."

Lu Mian stretched out his left palm, patted Charlie on the shoulder, and said earnestly:

"Take care of your body."

Charlie's eyelids jumped:

"Usually, I should be more restrained. Lady Alice is really too enthusiastic. I was so tired last night that I didn't even have that wonderful dream."

Lu Mian smiled and said:

"You actually told me directly that you got a diamond necklace worth 1,500 Vergold. In the Sijie, this is wealth that can make many people lose their minds. Aren't you worried I'll rob it?"

Charlie chuckled:

"I have to share it with someone, otherwise, I'll be very uncomfortable."

"I've observed that you don't look short of money at all, and can even be said to be very generous and magnanimous. You won't commit a crime for just one or two thousand Vergold."

Lu Mian laughed:

"Is there a possibility that I'm deliberately pretending to be not short of money to lure people like you into letting down your guard?"

Charlie's expression froze instantly, and he almost burned his finger with the cigarette that was about to burn out.

Lu Mian didn't continue this topic and asked as if chatting:

"Do you have anyone you particularly hate, feeling that they deserve to die?"

Charlie crushed the cigarette butt on the stone steps and asked back suspiciously:

"Why do you ask this?"

He originally intended to put the extinguished cigarette butt into his pocket, but after thinking about it, he raised his arm and threw the cigarette butt out.

A homeless person nearby saw it, immediately rushed over, picked it up, and took a few deep puffs while it was still warm.

Before Lu Mian could answer, Charlie said to himself:

"The one I hate most now is our waiter foreman. You don't know how abominable he is, haha, but I haven't thought about letting him die, just hoping to cover my face one day and beat him up."

"Yeah, even suicide is dared, why not think of a way to kill Baron Brignard and those people?" Lu Mian nodded slightly.

Charlie turned his head in astonishment and looked at Lu Mian:

"Your thinking is a bit extreme."

He then added:

"The second one who deserves to die is Margot. He is the leader of the Poison Sting gang, likes to find people to cheat women who have just arrived in Trier, and after squeezing their money dry, forces them to become streetwalkers. Miss Isance in Room 8 on the 4th floor settled in the hotel like this. Most of the money she earned was taken away by Margot. She tried to escape several times but couldn't walk out of the Sijie and was beaten half to death."

There are really quite a few gangs in the market district. No wonder it's so chaotic at night... Lu Mian glanced at Charlie and said:

"Sounds like you are very sympathetic to that Miss Isance."

Charlie puffed out his chest:

"True Intis gentlemen will sympathize with the tragic encounters of ladies and are willing to provide certain help when appropriate."

Lu Mian said "Hmm":

"Do you know where Margot lives?"

"I don't know." Charlie shook his head, "But he often comes to the hotel in the evening to take money from Miss Isance. If you hear the crying, shouting, and cursing of women on the 4th floor, it should be Margot and his men."

Lu Mian nodded slightly and asked thoughtfully:

"Who else do you think deserves to die?"

Charlie thought for a while, his expression slightly twisted as he answered:

"Monit, that islander, he cheated me out of 10 Vergold!"

"Can you believe it? At that time, I had been unemployed for a while and hadn't found a new job. That was my last savings. I almost starved to death because of it!"

"Where does he live?" Lu Mian asked casually.

"He originally lived in the hotel, but moved away after cheating me out of my money. I don't know where he went." Charlie was still full of anger when talking about this matter now, "I've been waiting for him to introduce me to a good job..."

Calming down, Charlie looked at Lu Mian suspiciously and said:

"Why is your hair different?"

Some long, some short, gold mixed with black.

"Don't you think this is very fashionable?" Lu Mian asked back sincerely.

Charlie said "Uh," revealing a suspicious expression.

The matter of the fool's instrument made him instinctively suspect Lu Mian's purpose in similar things.

After a few seconds, Charlie looked at the peddlers on the street and waved his hand:

"I should go to the hotel. See you tonight."

Lu Mian didn't stand up, still sitting on the stone steps outside the hotel, waving at Charlie's hurried back.

…………

In the afternoon, Lu Mian took a bus to the Botanical Garden district and then walked more than three hundred meters to arrive at the Mason Café.

This café is near the Botanical Garden, located on the ground floor of a rice-white four-story building.

The outer wall of this building is wrapped in green plants, and the ground floor shop doesn't face the street directly, but shrinks inward by nearly a meter, leaving the pillars to support the outer corridor for passersby to walk.

The walls of the Mason Café are painted dark green, with many large windows. Sunlight penetrates the glass, illuminating the tables and chairs placed all the way to the door.

Lu Mian, wearing a dark formal suit and a wide-brimmed round hat, walked into the café.

What first caught his eye were the various plant statues with artistic sense on the walls, scattered with sentences written in Intis:

"Who holds the highest power in the country? Is it the President, or the Parliament?"

"It's the café!"

"Who judges the final appeal of judicial cases? Is it the Supreme Court?"

"It's the café!"

"Who is the authority in literature? Is it the Intis Academy of Literature, or the 'Debate Newspaper'?"

"No, it's the café, it's the café!" (Note 1)

Note 1: Adapted from the opening of "History of Paris Cafés," which in turn quotes a document from the early 20th century. The original text was too long, so I simplified it.

PS: Requesting double monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 129 =====

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