the culprit

The four of them confronted each other two by two, and the girl named Luke standing in the middle was still staring at the wolf cub, her sobbing became more and more obvious.

"Let him go." Liszt threatened calmly, the tip of the knife in his hand cut Cyril's skin without blinking his eyes.In the next second, a gust of wind swept across his cheeks, and the knife in his hand was taken away at some point, and he was pushed down by the campfire by a sudden force.

Felix stuffed the knife he had snatched into Cyril's hand, his eyes gloomyly glanced at the wolf cub and the man who had defected halfway, and was about to step forward to end the wolf cub's life, but the wolf cub desperately got up and used the only knife he had left. He tightly hugged the dazed girl with his arms.

"It's okay, Luke, close your eyes, close your eyes, it's okay, I'm here." He pressed the girl's head into his shoulder socket hard, and kissed her forehead to comfort her.

When Liszt fell to the ground, he was cut on his face by the gravel placed by the campfire. He wiped the blood off his face with his thumb indifferently, picked up the cloak that had been left aside, got up and handed it to Felix.

"The situation is critical. I hurt your friend. I'm sorry." He said, looking at the young man who was guarded by the vampire, and apologized again.He looks gentle and gentle on the outside, more like a civil servant, but from the short experience of being held hostage just now, Cyril still experienced his decisiveness and ruthlessness as a soldier.The wound on the neck was painful, but the injury was not deep. It was the man who had considered his strength and struck with precision and restraint.

"Mr. Bray told me to pick you up, but it looks like you already have other plans." Cyril glanced at the cub not far away meaningfully.

Hearing the sarcasm in Cyril's words, the man calmly explained how he was kidnapped.

"Lu is Leo's younger sister. Because she was young when she was attacked by a werewolf, her intelligence has been maintained at the same level as before, but her attack power is higher than Leo's. Once she goes crazy because she witnessed her brother being injured, the consequences will be disastrous." As he said that, the girl who had been comforted by her elder brother approached in a daze, looked at the two tall men who were confronting her with fearful eyes, and timidly hid behind him.

"Leo was hired to kidnap me, and I saved his sister, so he agreed to escort me to the Kingdom of Illian. I will write to Mr. Bray to explain this matter." After he finished speaking, he looked back at the injured Leo. With the broken arm still hanging weakly by his side, he frowned irritably, raised his eyes and glared fiercely at Felix.

After hearing the whole story, Cyril took out a piece of paper and wrote down a few simple sentences, folded it up and stuffed it into the stomach of a new firefly, and let it fly with a wave of his hand.Then he walked over to the wolf cub, took out a small bottle of ocher-brown liquid from his pocket, pulled out the cork, squeezed his chin and swallowed it without any explanation.

The wolf cub was choking and coughing, and subconsciously raised his hand to wave him away. He patted the sand on his body nonchalantly, took out another bottle and threw it into the wolf cub's arms.

"The liver concentrate can accelerate the werewolf's recovery ability."

Leo, who had grown up in the slums and had never seen anyone else of his kind, had never heard of such a thing.The thing he drank just now was fishy and bitter, not at all tender and delicious like liver, he stared at Cyril suspiciously, but the gloomy young man ignored it.

"Did he say who he was employed by?"

The major general shook his head.

"He only said that one day someone suddenly came to the door and said he knew what he was and knew that he had killed someone. He said that as long as he helped them kidnap someone, he would be able to give him enough money for the rest of their lives."

"They are all wearing cloaks, so you can't see their faces clearly." Leo approached with his arms open, sniffed with his nose, and suddenly looked at Cyril, "There is someone who smells very similar to yours." He sniffed lightly as he said. As he approached Cyril, Felix raised his hand to stop him. He defiantly shook off the vampire's hand, licked his lips, and nodded vigorously as if confirming, "It's very similar to your smell, the smell of blood."

The words "the smell of blood" made Cyril's eyelids twitch violently, and a guess formed in his heart.He remained calm, did not take up Leo's words, and then talked with Major General Liszt for a few words before leaving with Felix.

"Let's split up and go back first. I have to explain the major general's matter to Mr. Bray in person," Cyril said and paused, "and your matter. You have been watched by observers because you have a serious criminal record. I will explain your situation to the teacher when I go back next time."

Felix didn't respond.

He knew that what Cyril needed to explain was not only about him, but also everything about the Mueller family contract.This is no secret anymore. Heken left the manor after he got his freedom. Later, there were rumors that Earl Müller was raising vampires. Heken died suddenly, and the rumor disappeared after spreading for a period of time. Felix guessed that It is Earl Müller's means.

A scholar of folklore and monsters like Bray must have heard of it.

"Regarding the contract, don't hide anything from Bray." That's all he said.

They went back to the hotel in Chebori and took the rest of their luggage. Felix put on a cloak and waited with Cyril until dawn. Before going out, Cyril changed into a formal rather than light morning dress and went to the train station instead. .Cheboli has the latest and most luxurious railway station in the country. The spacious waiting hall is covered with two-color marble, and the high dome is inlaid with stained glass. The sunlight penetrates the glass and injects colorful light, making people feel like they are in heaven. .

Felix bought the ticket back to Albert City with Cyril, and stood on the platform waiting for the train to arrive.The flute sounded from the head of the steam locomotive, thick gray smoke rose from the chimney, and poured into the sky like a ghost. The huge wheels turned on the rails covered with sleepers, dragging [-] carriages and stopped in front of the platform.

The air was filled with the smell of smoke and sulfur.

Cyril got on the train.The carriage was empty, he put the suitcase on the luggage rack, took off his hat and put it on the table.The vampire in the cloak was still standing on the platform, wrapped tightly in black.Someone in the carriage stuck his head out of the narrow window, called out the name of brother or friend in a cheerful voice, and waved happily.

Cyril didn't do that.

He sat down and took out his pocket watch to check the time.

A blonde girl sat next to him, at first she just looked away reservedly, but after the train started, she still couldn't help talking to him.It was not the first time he had seen the girl look at her. The face hated by his father was as attractive as the sun in the eyes of others.He responded politely and coldly, turned his head to look out of the sunny window, thinking that if the vampire could take off his cloak in the sun, there must be a girl like this talking to him about her first life with such eyes. time travel.

But now, he is the only one who can enjoy all of this.

The face under the cloak was his own moonlight.

They no longer need to share their first long journey, read poetry for the first time, or even talk or look at each other.

And Moonlight needs him.

A bloody sense of satisfaction suddenly rose in Cyril's heart.

The girl was still talking slowly, and he listened patiently, but his thoughts had already flown from the forest beyond the car window to the dead manor.The encounter between people is an encounter composed of countless inevitability. He shared this moment with the beautiful girl who was traveling far away for the first time, and listened to her excitement and eagerness, hope and longing. All will be shared with the cold vampires.

He got up and took down his suitcase, took out a book from it and gave it to the strange girl.

It was already afternoon when I returned to Albert City, and after walking a long way from the train station, the smell of smoke and dust that seemed to be lingering at the tip of my nose finally faded a little.Cyril hired a carriage to go to Peacock Garden on West Fifth Avenue, and Bray lived in the last house in the last row of Peacock Garden.

The servant brought the brewed black tea, and Bray had already taken off his glasses, making his chubby face even more harmless.He had already received the two fireflies that had been released. After listening to Cyril's experience and decision of the major general, he took a sip of black tea, thanked the students for their hard work, got up and took a few banknotes from the drawer.

Cyril didn't refuse, rolled up the money and put it in the breast pocket of the dress.

"One more thing." He opened his mouth, remembering what Felix told him not to hide anything from Bray, paused, and explained the contract to Bray with his questioning eyes.He concealed most of the specific content of the contract, only saying that the lives of himself and Felix were closely related to each other because of the contract, and that everything would be destroyed, and he hoped to act together with Felix in the future.

After hearing this, Bray considered it carefully and finally agreed to the student's request.He asked Cyril to have dinner with him, and the young man readily agreed, and the teacher and the student sat at both ends of the table, talking about research, and Bray asked about Felix.Cyril spoke in a very general way, and when encountering too detailed questions, he was worried that Bray would be included in his research, so he reasoned that he left very early and did not know many things.

With the permission of his teacher and boss, Cyril left for the branch where Felix was the next day—the place where he had lived for 13 years.The branch office was less than thirty miles from Hucken's estate, and for that reason he had been hoping that he would not be assigned there.I've been lucky enough to have avoided it before.Now, it was he who offered to go back.

Cyril boarded the train to the branch office.

The children who grew up in the countryside didn't take the train like a long steel snake for the first time until that year when they decided to go far away.In fact, I followed Mr. Bray to study around, most of them took a carriage or walked. After all, most of the places they were going to were located in remote places or with complicated terrain, and the trains could not be reached at all.After joining the fraternity, he often traveled between branches by train.

After getting off the train, he easily found the home of the receptionist of the branch according to the map given by the teacher.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door, and after waiting for a long time, someone finally opened the door.

The red-haired woman stood in front of him with her two-year-old child in her arms, her surprise flashed across her rosy and bright cheeks, and before he could speak, she raised her eyebrows and grinned.

"It's actually you."