Chapter 423

Franca also noticed those footprints and traces and observed carefully for a while:

"Within the last two weeks, came together, at least four people...

"Does Maip Maier have accomplices?"

Lu Mian gazed at the collapse that had been initially filled in and thought:

"The important thing isn't whether there are accomplices, but what they came here to do.

"If it really is Maip Maier, and not a passing cave exploration team, then he would have known long ago that this place was destroyed by official Beyonders and there wouldn't be anything of value left. Why would he specifically bring people here recently? To pay respects?"

"It's not impossible." Franca muttered, "What if he made a great vow to achieve something, gained a new Gift from the 'Mother Tree of Desire,' and became a 'Fallen Tree Spirit'?"

"That's also called a 'Little Cupid,' and it must have distorted desires in terms of love, just like Susanna Mattise toward Charlie. So, Maip Maier specifically coming to pay respects to his dead love is consistent with the characteristics of the pathway."

"But there's no need to bring three or four people to watch his performance, right?" Lu Mian withdrew his gaze and looked around, "Maybe it's not intentional, but passing by nearby and stopping by?"

Franca roughly understood Lu Mian's meaning:

"You want to say that Maip Maier and his accomplices often go to the underground of the Market District?"

Lu Mian said "Hmm":

"I now feel that Maip Maier didn't return to the Market District to deal with me. He might eventually take revenge, but that's just the result of the matter, not the process of the matter."

"Is their purpose something underground in the Market District?" Franca frowned, "But the 'Shadow Tree' was severely damaged. What else is special here? It couldn't be that the entrance to the Trier of the Fourth Epoch is underground in the Market District..."

Speaking of this, Franca stopped abruptly.

That's not impossible!

Lu Mian quickly went through the situation of the Market District he knew and various rumors in his mind, and suddenly remembered one thing:

Ms. "Magician's" "Doll" messenger hated the Breeze Dance Hall, saying that the underground there was all old bones!

This should refer to some special situation underground in the Market District, and it was directly opposite the building where the Breeze Dance Hall was located, suspected to be related to the old cemetery of St. Roberts Church.

Lu Mian immediately told Franca this guess, and then followed those traces and left the destroyed sacrificial mine.

"There really is a problem... This is easy to figure out. You can summon that messenger later and ask." Franca sighed that the feng shui of the Market District was really bad, while following Lu Mian, providing mystical support for his tracking.

The two went back and forth underground, but eventually lost the target because those people suspected to be Maip Maier's group passed through several tunnels widely known and used for a long time by cave explorers, smuggling caravans, and citizens growing mushrooms. The traces were completely covered by later people under the erosion of more than ten days of time.

Lu Mian, carrying a crimson fireball, stopped and looked at the pitch-black mine ahead, not speaking for a long time, not knowing what he was thinking.

Franca was about to suggest leaving when Lu Mian suddenly spoke:

"Don't you think the Market District has been too quiet for the past month or so?"

"Where is it quiet?" Franca subconsciously retorted.

Brother "007" definitely doesn't think so!

Lu Mian deliberated on his language:

"Then let's put it another way. Apart from the supernatural problems we caused, has the Market District been too quiet in terms of mystical events?

"No, a more accurate way of saying it is, those evil god believers have become very inactive after the 'Shadow Tree' was severely damaged!

"Hmm, no new forces have entered, swallowed the remaining few small gangs, and confronted the Savare Party. There have been no suspected sacrificial cases. Even for secret preaching, I only encountered a liar from the Disease Sect, and that was just an ordinary person..."

After the "Shadow Tree" incident, the only evil god believers Lu Mian and Franca truly encountered were Guillaume Bénet of the "Sinner" organization and Beatrice Ancour of the "Felicity Society," but these were actively tracked down based on previous clues and were not in the Market District.

The werewolf of the "Rose School of Thought" barely counted as one, but that belonged to the aftermath of the "Shadow Tree" incident.

Blanche Solon of the Witch Sect could only count as half, because this organization had a sufficient history and also believed in the evil existences of this world, not foreign evil gods.

Franca was stunned:

"Isn't this very normal? Secret organizations that believe in evil gods must act secretly. If they were encountered by someone like you every day, they would have been wiped out long ago!

"Look, we didn't discover that Maip Maier had returned to the Market District before."

If it were someone else, your statement would be completely fine, but I have a foreign evil god angel sealed inside me. According to Ms. "Magician's" garbage-repulsion theory, there must be an unusual reason why I haven't encountered evil god believers causing trouble for so long... Termiboros has also been too quiet during this period... As Lu Mian's thoughts raced, he said to Franca:

"Can you use 'Dream Divination' on me to help me remember some things?"

"No, maybe a powerful 'Diviner' can, but I can't." Franca shook her head, "What do you want to recall? You can ask Ms. 'Hela' for help. She can definitely create real dreams now."

Lu Mian nodded slowly:

"I want to remember an address. The person living there is suspected to be an evil god believer. I plan to go there and see if they have also disappeared, hidden, and become quiet. Hmm, no need to trouble Ms. 'Hela' for now. I know who to ask."

He was preparing to carefully verify on the basis of a bold assumption.

Seeing Lu Mian returning to the ground while speaking, Franca hurriedly pressed:

"What address? Ask who?"

"Talk about it later. Now let's go to Jin Quehua Street in the Nor District." Lu Mian said without looking back.

Why does this address sound so familiar... Franca grumbled while following closely behind.

When they were about to reach the ground, she finally remembered:

That was Lady Pualis's address!

That "Lady of the Night" from Cordu Village!

…………

Nor District, Jin Quehua Street.

This place was on the outskirts, and all the buildings were like villas, with both lawns facing the street and gardens in the back.

Lu Mian walked in the shadows where the street lamp light couldn't reach, constantly observing the lawns and gardens of each building.

Franca was also doing similar things because they didn't know what Lady Pualis's house number was and could only judge by the abnormally lush and vibrant plants.

When they were about to reach the end of the street, Lu Mian and Franca simultaneously discovered a garden where all the flowers were in full bloom, like a plant forest.

The gray-white building to which the garden belonged had no lights on and was completely asleep in the darkness, forming a sharp contrast with the tenants around who were enjoying family happiness.

"Feels like no one has lived here for a long time..." Franca began to feel that Lu Mian's worry made some sense, "Lady Pualis, this member of the 'Night Travelers,' has also moved away, hidden quietly, and become quiet?"

Lu Mian observed and listened for a while longer, and after confirming that there was indeed no one in the building, he took out half a wire, opened the door, and walked in.

During this process, Franca made a mystical confirmation using "Mirror Divination."

The living room of the house was very empty, the bedding and such were gone, and dust had accumulated on the table. It was clear that no one had lived there for a while.

Lu Mian walked forward all the way, and Franca followed him cautiously, not daring to approach this or touch that.

Arriving at the coffee table, Lu Mian bent down and picked up a newspaper discarded on the floor. It had been bitten to pieces by mice, but there were still some "corpses" remaining.

Lu Mian looked at the newspaper in the moonlight and whispered:

"Early July...

"This shows that Lady Pualis didn't move away immediately after I asked for the address from Louis Longde, nor did she leave as soon as the 'Shadow Tree' incident ended. She lived on Jin Quehua Street for a while longer and chose to abandon this place for unknown reasons."

"Things are indeed a bit strange." Franca's expression became much more solemn.

They searched the building quickly and took a rental carriage to the next location.

After getting an old newspaper with an interstellar bridge advertisement from Laurent, a former tenant of the Golden Chicken Hostel and now the deputy editor of "The Little Trier," Lu Mian and Franca arrived at No. 9 St. Martin Street, District 2.

The 5th floor here was an office rented by that group of people who were both like liars and suspected to be evil god believers. They wanted to raise funds to build an interstellar bridge to the red moon.

Under the night sky where the starlight was not bright, the entire 5th floor was dim.

Lu Mian carefully reached out and pushed open the office that existed in the form of an apartment.

The crimson moonlight from outside the window shone in, and the two saw many papers scattered on the ground, showing some ideas that seemed to originate from imagination and carried a certain feasibility with complex mechanical symbols and precise bridge diagrams.

Many drawers here were open, empty inside, with no items remaining, just like those scammers had hurriedly evacuated after discovering that the police were coming.

From the written materials and a large number of traces at the scene, Lu Mian and Franca judged that this floor had been vacant for nearly two weeks.

"There really is a problem." Franca felt inspired, "Why have evil god believers of different organizations suddenly reduced their activities, hidden, and become quiet?"

Lu Mian's expression had already become solemn, and he said in a low voice:

"An anomaly might mean that something big is brewing."

Without waiting for Franca to respond, he directly arranged for the other party:

"You contact '007' and ask him if he knows the aftermath of the Disease Sect matter, and also, what problem is hidden in the deep underground of the old cemetery of St. Roberts Church.

"I'll go write a letter to Ms. 'Magician' and tell her our findings and guesses."

And take the opportunity to ask what the old bones the "Doll" messenger mentioned represent!

"Okay." Franca didn't talk nonsense.

…………

Golden Chicken Hostel, Room 207.

Lu Mian set up a ritual and summoned the "Doll" messenger wearing a pale gold little skirt.

While handing the letter paper folded into a square to the other party, he piled up a smile and said:

"What did you mean by the underground old bones you mentioned before?"

The "Doll" messenger showed an expression of disgust and disdain:

"Some dirty, disgusting old bones from the Fourth Epoch!"

(End of chapter)