Chapter 200: Room 2 on the Second Floor

Because Captain Lades had scheduled a visit for the evening, Xia De had no other arrangements tonight.

After returning home, he put the bottle of holy water into the hidden space in the basement. Afterward, he took the cat out for a sumptuous dinner, and then used the time before Captain Lades arrived to write the investigation report on lawyer Locke Laurel from yesterday, and sent it to the client, Mrs. Lemaire, by mail.

In this way, for this commission, only going to sign with Mrs. Lemaire remained.

Captain Lades, who had promised to visit, didn't knock on the door downstairs until seven o'clock that night.

The Captain's entire mental state was different from before. When he came to visit, he also carried a bottle of wine that looked expensive as a gift.

He excitedly told Xia De about what he saw and heard when recording his statement at the Ridgewich Yard, and repeated the news he got from friends that he had already mentioned in his letter.

Finally, he used his large, rough palms to tightly hold Xia De's hand and shake it continuously, thanking the detective for his help with an excited expression:

"I have known many people in my life, but Detective, you will be my friend for life."

"Captain, this was your own choice. Yesterday I didn't invite you to help me and Mrs. Cook; it was you who chose to follow, and it was your kindness that changed your own destiny."

Xia De was happy for him, but even saying so, the Captain still believed that it was Xia De who changed his destiny.

This middle-aged man from the military, who was relatively kind, wanted to thank Xia De. But he didn't have much money, so he could only come here to thank him verbally and promised never to forget Xia De's kindness.

This actually made Xia De somewhat embarrassed.

On Friday morning, he received a letter from the client. Mrs. Lemaire had already made an appointment with lawyer Laurel to accept the inheritance of that distant relative next Friday, at which time Xia De would go together according to the commission contract.

As for scheduling it on Friday, that was because lawyer Laurel had to contact the Notary Office at City Hall to confirm that the inheritance transfer could proceed. After all, it involved a considerable amount of money, so the process would be relatively complicated.

There was no need to worry about the commission for now, and the opening of the new key also required waiting time. Life seemed to suddenly become leisurely.

So he went out at eight o'clock in the morning to the Black Raven Library to inquire about the Miracle of 【Echo】. The library indeed had the knowledge Xia De wanted, and 【Echo】 was not a rare Spirit Rune. But the problem was that the Miracles they provided, although practical, were priced abnormally high.

Even though Xia De had nearly 400 pounds in cash to spend, he was still deterred by 【Power of Echo】 with a material value of 700 pounds and 【Sound of Natural Void】 with a value of 1200 pounds excluding materials.

Xia De knew he had no intention of studying the 【Echo】 Spirit Rune carefully, and for the time being, he didn't see the connection between this Spirit Rune and 【Space-Time】 and 【Silver Moon】. So even though the Queen's ruby ring and the Luo De cards in his hand could be cashed out, unless he really encountered a very practical Miracle, he wouldn't spend so much money to buy knowledge.

He gained nothing at the Black Raven Library, but the Saint Byrons library might have cheaper Miracles. It was a pity that although the library catalog from last week was still in Xia De's hand, the Miracles in the catalog were only related to 【Silver Moon】, 【Space-Time】, and 【Gluttony】.

Therefore, he still had to wait until Saturday, which was tomorrow, to further query the data.

He rushed home at nine-thirty, confirmed for the last time that all sensitive items were hidden in the basement, and then welcomed the exorcist from the Dawn Society at ten o'clock.

Xia De originally thought it would be a Ringed Shushi of a quite high level, but didn't expect that after opening the door, a team of people was standing outside.

【All nine are Ringed Shushi, and the man closest to you has a higher level than your Doctor friend.】

That is to say, to reflect the importance attached to Xia De, who had just joined the church, the Dawn Cathedral arranged an entire team of Ringed Shushi to perform the exorcism.

The team leader was a taciturn but very capable person. He called himself Hulse Niedro and was a full-time exorcist for the Dawn Society in the Tobesk Archdiocese. After a brief introduction, the group went directly to the second floor.

Mr. Niedro took a somewhat rusty black iron key from his pocket, and after confirming with Xia De that the lock was intact, used the key to open the door.

"No, Mr. Hamilton, we will enter with half the people first. After confirming it is safe, you can enter the door."

He pressed against the door and said to the young detective holding the cat, looking like he really had rich experience.

The five people of the exorcist team filed in, and it was only after a long while that others outside the door were allowed to enter.

Room 2 on the second floor was similar to Room 1, which had been sealed. The gas pipes and steam pipes were completely cut off, and the windows were all sealed with wooden boards. A layer of dust had fallen on the floor, and dust flew when walking.

They first removed the wooden boards from the windows, and then the nine people divided the work clearly to check in each room.

Xia De was required not to walk around, but he could still stand in the living room of Room 2 and see the general layout of the house. It was empty without any furniture, but at least the decorative wall was preserved, and the room layout was exactly the same as Room 1 where Xia De and Little Mia lived.

Here, one could no longer see the slightest trace of the collective suicide event when the last owner possessed it. After the windows were opened, the moldy smell and dampness inside the house were also alleviated.

Looking around, there were no suspicious signs inside the room. So he asked in his heart, but only received a reply that everything was normal.

The church's Ringed Shushi team came prepared this time. They conducted a careful inspection of each room. And under the premise of confirming that Xia De was not peeking, they closed the door and used Miracles and Curses to perform exorcism, ensuring that even if evil spirits existed, they would definitely not survive.

The entire exorcism operation lasted for more than an hour and didn't end until eleven-thirty. And the answer from the "exorcist team" was:

"It is very safe here, there is no evil existence, so it can be used normally."

Xia De was half-believing of this conclusion. After all, the church also believed that there was nothing tricky in the basement. Therefore, after the church's Ringed Shushi left, he immediately returned to Room 2, which had been opened.

"Echoes of the Past!"

Five times in a row, he didn't hear any suspicious sounds.

"Echo of Blood!"

Large areas of faint blood-colored halos spread on the floor, walls, and ceiling. The cruelty of the collective suicide event decades ago far exceeded Xia De's expectations. But those overlapping blood colors didn't provide any effective clues. He barely identified some blood-stained footprints, but couldn't discover the value of the footprints like he did exploring the basement.

Due to the "experience" of the basement, he finally tried to summon the Ring of Fate and used the light of 【Space-Time】 to illuminate every wall in turn.

This was a big project, and Xia De was busy for a full half-hour. Until Mia walked out of Room 1, meowing impatiently and demanding lunch, he still hadn't discovered any hidden walls.

"It can be considered a good thing. If every floor of the house had problems, that would be the strange thing."

Standing in the center of the living room looking at the empty room, after the worry disappeared, an indescribable joy surged in his heart:

"The usable area of the house has increased quite a bit."

【But you and the cat don't need such a large space.】

"Seeing the house get bigger, I can have a joy from the bottom of my heart. You probably can't understand that in my hometown, it is almost impossible to have such a big house."

He stroked the walls of the room, considering the usable area of his own home. This feeling of being able to have a stable place of one's own, being able to have a home, was really important to the Outsider.

Just looking at the dust he touched off the wall, looking at the footprints on the floor dust, he couldn't help but worry that as the house got bigger, cleaning would become more troublesome.

Thinking of this, the image of the black-haired maid, Miss Tifa Servet, suddenly jumped to his mind. He immediately shook his head:

"That is someone else's maid. I probably need to spend money to hire a housekeeper to come and clean the room every week... maybe helping to wash clothes would be nice too."

【Do you need me to remind you that the one staring at you at the door is also someone else's cat.】

Her voice was charming.

"This is different; how can people and cats be the same."

Xia De said in his heart, only receiving laughter as a reply.

"Meow~"

Little Mia squatted obediently at the door, wagging its tail, waiting for Xia De to take it out to eat delicious things. The small orange cat knew very well that not cooking in the kitchen at this time meant they were definitely going out to eat.

It lifted its right paw and rubbed its furry face. The cat hated going out, but liked going out to eat.

After the leisurely morning ended, the afternoon's itinerary had long been arranged. The Tobesk University Association published an advertisement in the *Steam Bird Daily*, inviting members of the public to attend academic lectures.

Xia De had long planned to attend the lectures, so he set off after lunch. As for Little Mia, it continued to watch the house at No. 6 Saint Theresa Square. This timid cat didn't like going out, and even less liked going out in the hot summer. Xia De got a basin of snow for it and used another water basin and a heavy object to press it down to prevent the cat from eating it by mistake.

It seemed Mia could spend a cool afternoon.

This academic lecture was sponsored by the Kingdom's Ministry of Culture and Education, Tobesk City Hall, and a small number of aristocrats, organized by the Tobesk University Association, and the venue was provided by the Delarion Royal Mechanical College.

The academic lecture started at one-thirty that afternoon and lasted until eight-thirty in the evening, divided into different sessions according to disciplines. Besides educators and scholars from the city, scholars from the surrounding areas of the Kingdom and even Casenrick would appear. But overall, this was not a large-scale event. ===== CHAPTER 201 =====