Chapter 342: Black Cat

Opera District, Lomba Street.

This street is famous for selling candy, and colorful candies can be seen everywhere.

The Mechanical Coffee Shop is located at the bottom of Lomba Street, adjacent to a small candy factory.

Its appearance is plain, and even looking through that row of glass windows, one can't see any connection with machinery. The black triangular holy emblem on the heavy wooden door is probably the only thing that makes people think of "machinery."

Lu Mi pushed the dark brown door, finding it motionless, as if locked from the inside.

He observed for a moment and pulled the doorbell hanging on the side window.

Amidst the ding-dong sound, Lu Mi heard the movement of metal colliding slightly and saw the heavy door slowly push open.

Behind it was fixed a mechanical arm, this metal creation extending all the way to the bar position, looking more like a decoration.

Lu Mi looked at the environment here while approaching the corner of the coffee shop, where two single-legged tables were piled up, with five or six people sitting around them.

Most eye-catching among them was a middle-aged man with a full head of red hair. His skin was piled very white with powder, and there was a circle of black lines around his eyes, setting off his brownish-red eyes even more deeply.

He didn't have a beard and wore an open brown velvet coat and an untied red shirt, both exquisite and casual.

This was precisely the Puifu "Count" Lu Mi was looking for, a member of the Solon family of the Intis former former royal family.

He inherited his father's generous legacy, didn't enter politics, didn't join the army, and wasn't a businessman, always mixing in various art circles as a literary critic. The place where he could be seen most often was the gathering of "Black Cat."

Lu Mi walked over and asked with a smile:

"Are you Count Puifu?"

Puifu Solon looked up at him and asked back in a relaxed manner:

"Are you the friend Martin mentioned?"

"Yes, Xia Er Dubwa." Lu Mi wasn't restrained and sat down directly by pulling over a chair.

Puifu sized him up a few times and smiled satisfactorily:

"Not bad, a beautiful friend.

"Do you like literature, oil painting, sculpture, poetry, or music the most?"

"Novels." Lu Mi answered without hesitation.

Puifu stretched his body and pointed to the short, fat middle-aged man diagonally across:

"Anoli, the writer with the most literary temperament in recent years."

The erotic writer who forgot his purpose was to write about human nature? Lu Mi naturally thought of Aurora's evaluation of this novelist.

His early works used love to manifest human nature, but later he became more and more obsessed with the former. If it weren't for official control, Aurora believed he would definitely write an erotic novel similar to "The Monk Chasing the Dog."

Of course, Lu Mi didn't care about human nature; he just loved watching those embellishments.

"Your novels made me grow." He said to Anoli from the bottom of his heart.

Anoli, with black hair and blue eyes, was smoking a pipe and said:

"It's good you didn't say you liked my 'Death of the Pioneer'."

"Death of the Pioneer"... Isn't that Adri's work? Hmm, Aurora said that the names of these two writers are spelled similarly and are often confused... Lu Mi had an epiphany and asked back:

"Are you talking about that Adri who is kept by the government, takes tens of thousands in salary every year, but can only write a pile of dog shit?"

Anoli laughed out loud:

"That sentence is worth a glass of absinthe!"

While saying this, he patted the silver-gray metal button on the single-legged table in front of him three times in a row.

Count Puifu was also quite appreciative of Lu Mi's performance and introduced the other members of the "Black Cat" organization:

They were the painter Ma Lun, who looked pale and tired; the literary critic Anyong, who looked a bit mean; and the poet Ilet, who was holding a cherry wood pipe.

Lu Mi had just finished a round of greetings when he saw the iron-colored surface of Anoli's single-legged table suddenly crack, blooming like a flower.

At the "stamen," a glass of absinthe shimmering with dreamy luster was placed on a tray, set in a mechanical elevator, and rose slowly.

Writer Anoli picked up the glass of wine and threw a silver coin worth 1 Felkin onto the tray.

The mechanical elevator sank steadily, causing the cracked metal surface to close, and the single-legged table returned to its original appearance.

Anoli pushed the absinthe to Lu Mi and said with a smile:

"For that sentence just now!"

It really is a mechanical coffee shop... Lu Mi re-recognized this place.

He cast his gaze toward the wide and thick single leg of the table, believing that it should be hollow, connecting to pipes buried underground.

After drinking a sip of absinthe and feeling the familiar bitterness, Lu Mi looked at the single-legged table again:

"No change?"

"Here, a glass of absinthe costs 1 Felkin." Anoli smiled and said.

This is too expensive, right? The Wind Dance Hall and the basement bar only sell them for 7 Ricks, and the quality is about the same... Lu Mi silently complained twice.

1 Felkin equals 20 Ricks.

At this time, the painter Ma Lun, who looked pale as if he hadn't slept for a long time but was definitely handsome, drank a sip of coffee and said:

"I heard that the Trier Zoo has an elephant. That is a very rare animal."

The short and fat Anoli muttered:

"What's there to talk about with an elephant? Don't you think this is meaningless?"

Count Puifu laughed:

"Then shall we talk about the conflict between the Parliament and the two major churches, talk about government officials who can't do anything right, talk about the hateful publishing censorship, talk about spies hovering around us like hyenas?"

Anoli sighed helplessly:

"Let's talk about that elephant."

Amidst the laughter of the other members of the "Black Cat" organization, Count Puifu crossed his right leg and said:

"Since there is a new friend, why don't we play a game involving occultism."

A game involving occultism? Lu Mi's eyebrows moved slightly.

"What game?" asked the poet Ilet, who was smoking a cherry wood pipe.

Count Puifu smiled:

"The King Cake game."

Seeing that the others were puzzled, Count Puifu said with amusement:

"Don't you have a childhood or a family? Haven't you played this game?

"The rule of the game is to cut the King Cake evenly, the number being the participants plus 1. The extra piece is offered to a certain god we believe in or a certain ancestor we respect through a ritual. Among the remaining ones, there is one hidden with a broad bean or a coin. Whoever bites it is the king of the day and can order other participants to do anything. Of course, it must be within a certain degree."

The part involving occultism is offering the extra King Cake? Lu Mi scanned the eager Anoli, Ma Lun, and others, not knowing if there were any Beyonders among them.

Of course, judging only from their appearance, none of them looked like it.

In just over ten seconds, Count Puifu's proposal received a response from everyone except Lu Mi.

He began to tap the corresponding buttons on the single-legged table, telling the kitchen to send a King Cake with the corresponding number of taps.

That was said to be a dessert that became popular during the Solon Dynasty.

…………

Under the ground of St. Robert's Cathedral, inside the Religious Court.

Valentine, Imre, and other Purifiers gathered in Deacon Angouleme's office.

Angouleme, wearing a light golden shirt and light white trousers, picked up the file in his hand and said:

"It has been confirmed that the corpse at No. 50 Vincent Street in the Red Princess District belongs to the wanted former priest Guillaume Bénet. Remember to ask the Police Headquarters to withdraw the wanted notice in the Market District."

This case didn't belong to the "Purifiers" of the Market District. Valentine just knew there was such a matter, and now it was finally confirmed.

Wearing a blue formal coat, he looked at Angouleme and said:

"Deacon, has it been investigated who killed Guillaume Bénet?"

"There are no suspects for the time being." The golden-haired, golden-browed, golden-bearded Angouleme glanced at the file. "What can be determined at present is that there are obvious traces of fire burning at the scene, and Guillaume Bénet likely died from a witch's curse."

"'Hunter' of at least Sequence 7 and a witch? Such a combination is rare." The mixed-race Imre was quite surprised.

As far as he knew, the "Witch" pathway was mostly mastered by witch families, which were secret organizations with not-weak strength and didn't need to cooperate with others much.

"Rare doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Angouleme refuted.

As a deacon of the "Purifiers," he could read files with higher confidentiality permissions, and his experience was also richer than Imre, Valentine, and others, even having personally executed two members of witch families.

Valentine frowned and thought:

"Could it be Lu Mi Li who did it?

"He has enough motive."

"But he doesn't have enough strength." Imre shook his head. "How long has he left Cordu Village? How could he have already promoted to 'Pyromaniac'? Isn't he afraid of losing control? Moreover, according to your description, even a 'Pyromaniac' definitely wouldn't be Guillaume Bénet's opponent."

Valentine insisted on his guess:

"That's why he needed the witch's help.

"Could it be that in order to take revenge, he joined a witch family and will turn into a 'Witch' in the future?

"If that's really the case, things will be very troublesome. Lu Mi Li hides very serious problems, and as you said, witch families are keen on spreading disasters."

Angouleme nodded:

"This indeed needs key attention. I will report it up, and at the same time, increase the investigation of suspicious personnel in the Market District."

After making the decision, he comforted Valentine a few words:

"Don't be too nervous. People with the motive to kill Guillaume Bénet aren't just Lu Mi Li, but also powerful bounty hunters, formal members of the 'Aurora Order,' and gifted followers of other evil gods."

Valentine said "Hmm," indicating he was very clear.

After discussing several occult cases that needed to be handled recently, Valentine and Imre walked out of the deacon's office, passed by Charlie, who was learning how to use a mechanical typewriter, and walked toward the tunnel leading to St. Robert's Cathedral.

"You say, what does that quasi-witch want by taking the initiative to find us? What valuable information did she discover again?" Imre communicated with his teammate with some curiosity.

Valentine thought for a while and said:

"Could it be Guillaume Bénet's death?"

Imre was stunned for a moment:

"Do you mean she contacted a witch family?"

Without waiting for Valentine to respond, Imre shook his head:

"Impossible. Witch families are very hostile to female 'Assassins.' Once encountered, they must be cleared."

ps: Last two and a half days, asking for monthly votes~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 343 =====