Chapter 2017: Detective's Work

Xia De easily identified the target he was looking for from the six people on the "third floor", because only that man with a small mustache was hugging a woman who was clearly not in a legitimate profession, laughing and drinking while doing so.

Xia De then memorized the position of everyone here, then turned and left, walked down the iron stairs again, and returned to the intersection where debris was piled up:

"From now on, I am an ordinary person, not a Ringed Shushi."

He said to himself in his heart, then pulled a steel pipe from the pile of debris, swung it, and rushed forward quickly.

Arriving under the stairs, he bent his waist and hid in the shadows that the gas lamp could not illuminate with light footsteps. The two men playing cards were quite absorbed, so Xia De, holding his breath, counted three, two, one in his heart, rushed out in one step, and knocked down the man who had his back to him with a stick.

The man on the other side of the table showed a look of horror. While trying to touch the machete on the side, Xia De's left hand pulled the edge of the table and flipped the table over. The sound of the kerosene lamp and wine glass falling to the ground was covered by the cheers below. And the flipped table was kicked forward by Xia De, slamming the table and the man against the wall together:

"Very good, the stealth was very successful."

Listening to the heartbeats above, and finding that the position had not moved, he held his breath and continued to walk up the stairs slowly, standing in front of the door frame without a door at the end of the stairs:

"Three, two, one!"

Xia De, who rushed in, swung the stick and knocked it on the head of the man beside the door, then rolled to avoid the debris thrown at him. While getting up, his left fist hit the man with a beard who was getting up from the table, and while the latter was wailing, he used his body to block the sight of others.

Bending his waist and lowering his center of gravity, he slammed forward fiercely, knocking the bearded man and the table over together. Amidst the cheers coming from downstairs again, wine glasses and cards were scattered all over the floor, and Xia De, holding a steel pipe, had already collided with the remaining three people who reached for machetes.

The steel pipe collided with the blade, and Xia De just treated it as if he was holding a sword in his hand. For his strength, whether there was a blade or not was actually not a very important thing. In the clanging sound, sparks splashed because of the collision of metal, and the speed at which the steel pipe danced was much faster than the speed of the machetes in the hands of the three.

The longer steel pipe played a more outstanding role in this kind of battle. In just five or six seconds, after the weapon in one person's hand flew out, he was knocked unconscious by Xia De, and one person was kicked over by Xia De and leaned against the wall without moving again.

The last man with a small mustache looked left and right, and after finding that only he was still standing, he straightened his back and took off his upper garment, revealing a strong upper body covered with scars:

"Young man, don't you know my nickname is 'Two-Blade Mike'? When I hacked all the way from Herring Street to the dock's Four Directions Street, you probably weren't born yet."

He bent down and picked up the two machetes that fell at his feet, and the weapons in his left and right hands collided to produce sparks. Then his right hand raised, his left hand protected his chest, and he assumed a quite professional posture to face Xia De. His muscles bulged, and his eyes carried full murderous intent and killing aura:

"Come on."

"Alright, come on."

Xia De was still holding the steel pipe in his right hand, and when "Two-Blade Mike" picked up the weapon, his left hand already had a revolver with a silencer. His face didn't carry murderous intent, but instead took the initiative to suggest:

"I'll let you rush towards me first, let's see who is faster."

The muzzle of the gun shook twice, so with two clangs, "Two-Blade Mike", who was bare-chested, dropped the weapons in his hands:

"Young people today, really..."

He raised his hands and slowly retreated to the wall. The woman leaning against the wall still didn't dare to move, and even covered her mouth, meaning she wouldn't make any sound, but Xia De still walked over and knocked her unconscious. This was to protect her.

The man with a small mustache tried to approach the gun hanging on the wall, but the bullet hit beside his feet, making him never dare to move again.

"I ask and you answer, what is the Black Hand Gang looking for recently?"

Xia De used fluent Karsenrik language, with the muzzle of the gun pointing directly at the opponent's brow. The man with a small mustache twitched the corner of his mouth:

"Friend, you are too unruly. Judging by your accent, you are not from Moon Bay, right? The rules of this city are not like this. Ah~"

The bullet from the revolver passed through his right leg. He squatted down and opened his mouth to wail, but hearing the click of the revolver's hammer being pressed down again, and seeing the muzzle pointing at his head this time, he endured the pain and didn't dare to call out loudly.

"This gun has six bullet chambers. I have already fired two shots, but it's a pity you only have one chance left."

The blood-stained steel pipe was thrown on the ground by him, and the revolver was changed from his left hand to his right hand:

"What is the Black Hand Gang looking for recently?"

The man holding his leg answered immediately:

"Rhodes cards! Three Rhodes cards!

We serve the big shots of this city. Recently in the black market, someone was selling very precious special rule cards, and we wanted to get them to honor the big shots above. Because of some reasons, we had a conflict with the merchant who sold the cards and hacked him to death, but we didn't find the cards in his house, but those cards must still be in Moon Bay City."

Xia De was not interested in this matter... Actually, he was still very interested in the so-called very precious special rule cards. But now it was important to do serious business, and the conflict between "Princess Trading Partners" and the Black Hand Gang was a few months ago. What Miss Bonny said was "doing things for big shots" instead of "honoring big shots". Obviously, this did not refer to the Rhodes card incident that happened recently.

"Not this, go further back in time, what else have you looked for? It was looking for things for the big shot you mentioned."

The man, whose forehead was sweating from pain, tried his best to calm himself down:

"Sir, you know we are..."

"If you want to test the hardness of your head, continue to test my patience."

"No, we didn't..."

Xia De bent down and picked up the steel pipe again. In the horrified expression of the man with a small mustache, he held the steel pipe in his left hand and slammed it heavily on his left shoulder. Then he kicked him over, making him lie on the ground.

Xia De's boots stepped on his back, and the steel pipe knocked on his spine position:

"I heard people say that you often force people who can't afford high-interest loans to fight underground boxing, and even let them fight with tigers and black bears. I am not as cruel as you, and I don't want to hear your explanation that those who owe you money are all gamblers. Listen, do you think it's more terrible to die here, or to be paralyzed for life?"

The man lying on the ground wailed and said:

"I'll say, I'll say! But you will get into big trouble. Three months ago, the big shot above asked us to assist a gentleman in finding something... something... very magical in the lower city area!"

Xia De frowned:

"What is very magical?"

"I don't know, I didn't participate in that operation, and those who participated in the operation refused to open their mouths. This matter might involve those who have peculiar skills. Do you know what I am talking about? Don't ask anymore, this is not something we can discuss."

"Related to Ringed Shushi? Looking for relics?"

Xia De guessed in surprise in his heart. He originally came to investigate where the Princess Trading Partners offended the Hawthorne family, but he didn't expect that this matter would involve Ringed Shushi again.

"But looking for relics in the lower city area, isn't that what I am doing?"

With new ideas in his heart, he continued to ask:

"Then did you find it?"

"I don't know, I really don't know. I didn't participate in that operation, I really don't know. This matter ended long ago, it ended three months ago!"

"Who in the Hawthorne family asked you to help strangers find things? Don't tell me you don't know this. It's impossible for such nobles to change a person every time they contact people like you?"

"This really can't be said, you will get into big trouble, do you know what you are doing? The glorious seven families of Moon Bay are the kings of this city, you can't..."

In short, under Xia De's fairly effective "persuasion" techniques, "Two-Blade Mike" finally revealed a name. But obviously he didn't know much, only knowing that the Mr. "Freeman Hawthorne" took care of the Black Hand Gang's business, but correspondingly, he would also send people to check the accounts every quarter and take away at least one-third of the income.

Having obtained the name, Xia De had the next investigation target. He originally intended to find a way to reconcile after knowing the cause of the conflict, so that the Dock Office would let go of the "Princess Trading Partners", but now he needed to figure out who was looking for what relic three months ago.

"Looking for relics in the lower city area... it can't be such a coincidence, right?"

Thinking while withdrawing the pistol, he turned and walked towards the exit. The man lying on the ground spitting blood foam looked up at him, then struggled to crawl to the wall, reaching out to the gun holster hanging on it.

At the same time he grabbed the handle of the pistol, Xia De fired a shot backwards without even turning his head, then blew the smoke from the muzzle, turned the gun back into a toy and put it away, still thinking about his own affairs in his heart:

"Could it be that someone is still looking for the 【Hope Diamond】?"

Although he didn't know who "Freeman Hawthorne" was, since he was a member of the Hawthorne family, Xia De decided to figure out the other party's identity and background first, at least to know where the other party might be now.

Coincidentally, when walking out of the sewer where the underground boxing activity was still lively, the time was just ten o'clock in the morning of this day, so he thought about going to see the local MI6 colleagues.

The MI6 agents, of course, would not open a company to hide themselves locally. Director Anluosi just gave Xia De a contact person in Moon Bay City, and Xia De should be able to get information from the other party.

The contact person with the code name "Boatman" usually also operates in the lower city area of Moon Bay City, but the other party's work address, the headquarters of the "Sunday Review" newspaper, is on the east bank of the Taton River, not on the west bank where the Spider Tavern, Herring Street, and the coroner's office are located. ===== CHAPTER 2018 =====