Chapter 2206

Xia De returned to his home in Tobesk until after dinner that day. Shortly after returning home, he welcomed the doctor who visited again.

"Time is set, eight o'clock on Sunday morning, we will meet at your place and set off for Moon Bay to eliminate that demon."

Xia De of course also mentioned to the doctor that the demon had already shown a clone this morning, but this was also in the plan, so Dr. Schneider just reminded Xia De to be careful, and he had confidence in Xia De.

Today is Friday, and the brand-new time key can already be used. But considering that the demon's matter is imminent, Xia De still intends to postpone the key to Sunday to prevent himself from being distracted by dealing with too many things at once.

As for the address in Tobesk given by 【Desire】, Xia De did not visit on Friday night, but set off after breakfast on Saturday morning.

That address is Thomson Lane in the North District of Tobesk City. Both sides of this lane are rental apartments rented to people from other places. Of course, the North District is a slum, and the people from other places who can live here are not rich people.

"No. 6 Thomson Lane."

After getting off the carriage at the entrance of the lane, Xia De counted the house numbers and soon found the destination. If the three-story rental apartment is separated by wooden boards to form compartments, it can probably be rented to more than a dozen families. Xia De tried to knock on the door downstairs, and found that the door was not closed.

The stairwell and corridor in the house were full of various sundries, which made it look exceptionally chaotic, but it was also very full of life. Xia De came to the third floor all the way and found the third door to the left from the stairwell. This door was closed, so he knocked out of politeness, and almost in the next moment, a very familiar voice asked from inside the door:

"Who is it?"

"Hmm? Priest August?"

Xia De was shocked in his heart, turned his head to look around, and confirmed that he had not suddenly been spatially transferred to other places, so he said to the inside of the door:

"Detective Xia De Hamilton, I was hired to investigate some things."

Footsteps came, and the person standing at the opened door was indeed Priest August.

The old priest didn't wear a sacrificial robe today, but his own casual clothes. He was equally surprised by Xia De's appearance. After letting him enter the door, he asked curiously:

"Are you also here to investigate because you heard there was a problem here?"

Xia De couldn't talk about 【Desire】, so he nodded vaguely:

"It is said that there is a relic nearby, what is the situation now?"

"It is indeed a relic, not very dangerous, but quite tricky. The person we are looking for is not at home now, but I can probably guess where he went. Come with me to see, and I will explain the situation to you on the way."

Priest August appeared here, sure enough, because he heard the news from the believers who visited the Dawn Church. Specifically, the student Vincent Taylor, who lives on the third floor and whom Xia De and Priest August are looking for today, came to Tobesk from other places to study.

Since about two weeks ago, he has shown some strange conditions. For example, when reading the newspaper, he always likes to complain loudly about those people from other places occupying the living space and urban welfare of the local people in Tobesk, and for example, when seeing strangers who look like Karsinrik people on the road, he always spits and complains a few words in a low voice.

"Wait, does this sound strange?"

Walking in the lane together, Xia De asked curiously:

"Since the border conflict in the Green Lake area, aren't such people very common? Especially in the taverns at night, you can find quite a few drunks who claim to want to kill all foreigners, not to mention just being hostile to foreigners."

"Listen to me, this is just the initial performance."

The priest continued to explain:

"If it's just complaining or spitting on the street, of course it's just a performance of no quality, but then Vincent Taylor's character became worse and worse. First, he scolded the boys living downstairs in his own house, just because he thought these children who grew up in slums would definitely become social moths in the future, and even most likely become murderers or thieves and robbers; then, he pointed at the girls passing by on the street, thinking that they were dressed coolly in such a cold summer this year, they must be doing flesh business."

If it's just like this, although this person's character problem is indeed serious, Vincent Taylor would at most be regarded as a mental patient and sent to a local hospital for treatment soon. But Priest August learned other things from his old acquaintance, that is, Vincent Taylor's landlord:

"The words he said began to become very inflammatory. People with originally peaceful personalities would also agree with his strange ideas after listening to his views. Old Mrs. Louise told me that Mr. Taylor is not a person good at speaking, but now he seems to have the ability to read people's inner thoughts and spread his prejudices through negative remarks.

The old lady is a devout believer. She has gone to church for worship on time every week since she was young. But even so, after listening to Vincent Taylor's words, she began to doubt in her heart that the church actually often misappropriated donations for priests and fathers to squander."

Priest August shook his head:

"She felt inner sin because of this idea, and I only heard about this when she came to me for confession."

Xia De thought carefully and understood the meaning Priest August wanted to express:

"Prejudice and inflammatory? Has the church discovered this?"

"Not for the time being. After all, there have been no harmful incidents so far. The various Ring Warlock teams of the church have more important things to deal with. But if it continues to develop, I think the problems that may break out will be more than just someone getting hurt."

Priest August led the way in front, and they were passing through the intricate alleys of the northern slums of the city. Boys pushing iron rings passed by them, and the village women washing clothes gathered at the entrance of the alley looked at the handsomeness of the strange young man after the two walked away.

"Detective, I conducted some preliminary investigations before coming here. Basically, it has been determined what that is: Poet-level relic-【Prejudice】."

"Just Poet-level?"

"Just Poet-level."

The priest nodded:

"This is a curse-like relic, manifested as an individual spreading his own prejudiced ideas to more people through words and text. Hidden and not easy to detect, but except for being extremely inflammatory, it basically does not show other supernatural powers, so it is just Poet-level. This relic can appear in different places at the same time, and according to the church's statistics, the more complex the social situation, the more serious the class opposition, or the places where regional discriminatory laws are implemented, the more common this relic is."

The Outsider thought for a while:

"So... this relic basically has never disappeared from this world?"

"It seems that your academic and knowledge level is higher than I thought."

Priest August turned his head to look at him unexpectedly, took a deep breath, and nodded heavily:

"Yes, since there have been records, 【Prejudice】 has almost never appeared for a long time in the material world's civilized settlements. Although it is only Poet-level, it is one of the few relics that are considered to have no possibility of being completely contained."

"Hmm... unless you destroy all intelligent life?"

"Detective, you are a bit too extreme. But you are right, the only way to completely eliminate prejudice is to completely eliminate ourselves. I really don't want to admit this, but from the current point of view, this is the fact."

As for preventing the spread of 【Prejudice】, it is also very easy. After finding the source of "prejudice" in the area, either persuade him to give up his extreme ideas with words—this is quite difficult, or eliminate him from the physical level. The second method sounds very much like the "malicious serial curse letter" that Xia De helped Emilia deal with some time ago. When Xia De told Priest August about this, the priest also nodded:

"Prejudice itself is a curse-like phenomenon. This division is correct. It's just a pity that prejudice has no curse-breaking method."

Both of them sighed long. The priest continued to lead the way in front. When they turned again at the alley entrance piled with wooden boxes, Xia De gradually felt that the surrounding scenery was a bit familiar:

"Speaking of which, are we going to the Three Cats Inn?"

"No, but it's very close. On the street east of the Three Cats Inn, there is a courtyard that is rented out all year round to the 'Jasmine Opera Troupe' to perform programs that the citizens of the lower city love to see. Ahem, I mean decent programs, do you know that place?"

"Of course."

Xia De nodded. One of the main sponsors of the Jasmine Opera Troupe was Dorothy and Princess Lei Qianya. Xia De had been there with them:

"Is that Mr. Vincent Taylor an actor in the opera troupe? But isn't he a student?"

The priest then explained softly:

"A poor student from other places always needs a job to maintain his expenses. You have also seen his living environment, he is not a rich man. But let's agree first, let's look at Mr. Taylor's performance first. If he is not easy to be persuaded, we will find a way to make him... After all, we can't let him talk nonsense in the city anymore."

Xia De nodded to show he had no opinion.

Although the weekend system of this era is not perfect, Saturday morning is undoubtedly the busiest time of the week. If you want to watch a play, you have to buy tickets in advance. After Xia De and Priest August entered the door, they found that there were already quite a few audiences who entered in advance.

There were rows of stools placed under the open-air stage, and now half of these seats were occupied. It's just that the performance hasn't started yet, the staff on the stage are finally setting up the scene, and the audience under the stage are talking and laughing.