Detective Bennet [Comprehensive novel]

Paris, France, Resurrection and Rebirth.

Kelsey thought of a famous person, "Nicolas Flamel, the ancestor of European alchemy, is said to have refined a powerful magic stone—the Philosopher's Stone."

Nicholas, a former scribe by profession, became rich overnight around 1382.Immediately, the money was spent on charitable causes such as building hospitals and donating to churches.

At that time, King Charles VI of France was very curious and sent someone to investigate why Nicholas could get rich so quickly.

The result was unexpected, Nicholas taught himself alchemy, and successfully refined the Philosopher's Stone, which could turn stones into gold.

This legendary achievement not only caused an earthquake in the European alchemy circle.

In addition to alchemists, dignitaries from all over the world also had a strong interest in Nicholas' skills.Is there a Philosopher's Stone?Can others refine the same magical stone?

In 1417, at the age of 87, Nicholas died of illness and was buried with his wife.

Driven by the curiosity about the magic stone, the explorer sneaked into the Paris cemetery, and was about to dig out the coffin to find out the secret of alchemy.

—A strange thing happened.

There was nothing in the coffin, no Philosopher's Stone, and the bodies of Nicholas and his wife were both missing.

"As a result, even weirder rumors emerged in the world. Nicholas not only got the power to turn stones into gold from the Philosopher's Stone, but also got the power of immortality."

Sherlock fetched some books, with many slips of paper between the pages.

"Nicolas is mentioned in these books. For example, Newton translated "The Book of Hieroglyphs" from French to English. There is also "Turkish Journey" published at the beginning of the last century. Someone ran into Nicholas who was still alive in Turkey. Gula couple."

That is, in 1719, someone bumped into the Nicholas couple who should have died more than 300 years ago.

However, a search of books did not turn up evidence.

There is neither a detailed operation process to ensure that the Philosopher's Stone can be refined, nor a clear address to find the living Nicholas and his wife.

Maybe the law is not passed lightly, maybe time has blurred the truth, there is only one strange legend left in the nineteenth century.

Kelsey also took out several lists, "The bones will have been to the former residence of Nicholas, 51 rue Montmorency, Paris."

Bones will have a list of target activity locations, and those with double circles indicate that they have explored.

Nikolai's former residence built in the early 15th century has been preserved to this day, but there is evidence that Nicholas and his wife did not live in it.

On the outer wall of the former residence, a text is engraved in Gothic fonts.It roughly means that after the completion of this house, Nicholas took in the farmers who were farming nearby, and the farmers were grateful for the grace bestowed by God and so on.

Where is the actual residence of Nicholas and his wife?

Kelsey pulled out Savall's 1724 History and Study of Antiquities in Paris from a stack of books Sherlock was leafing through. "You have seen the record on this page that Nikolai's house on Writers' Lane has been explored by successive generations of treasure hunters, and it has always been suspected that he left behind a hidden treasure."

However, the explorations over the years have not been satisfactory.

The rumored huge treasure was not found, only obscure symbols were found on the walls of two cellars, and no one could decipher its meaning.

Recently, there have been two bizarre homicides in Paris, France.

The locations of the crimes are all chosen underground with special significance, and the sacrificial ritual involves resurrection, rebirth and strange powers.

It is speculated that the former residence of Nicholas, the most famous alchemist in France and even in Europe, is likely to be one of the murderer's target crime spots.

The corpses of the Nicholas and his wife disappeared from the coffin, whether they were resurrected from the dead or lived forever, and the murderous gestures obsessed with blood sacrifices will definitely find out.

Sherlock was about to take a trip to the writer's road, when he saw the ◎ symbol on the directory marking the writer's road.

"Members of the Bones have already been to Nikolai's old house on Writer's Road? When did they go? Did they find anything?"

"Sorry to disappoint you."

Kelsey mentioned the disappointing trip to the Bones Society, "Three years ago, during the excavation of the Great Renovation in Paris, this old house has become ruins due to the excavation of the Rue des Writers. It's leveled."

At present, the area around Writer's Road is under construction.

In order to act comprehensively, the two will go to Writer's Road to review again, but it is very likely that they will return without success.

The results of the re-examination were as expected. The old house had been demolished long ago, and the cellar was filled with earth and rocks to build a boulevard.

Since the excavation, the construction team has not encountered any strange incidents, but there are some treasure hunters who do not give up and come here to explore again, hoping to find Nicholas' treasure.

result?

Not a single copper coin was seen.

For Kelsey and Sherlock, it is not so much that the exploration of Nicholas's secret is hindered, it is better to start from the criminal psychology of the blood murderer, and the search for the possible murder scene is deadlocked.

"The murderer will not easily give up borrowing Nicholas' power."

Sherlock changed the angle and made a succinct comparison of the two cases. "There are three elements to both cases."

Then write on the paper:

"The ruins of the ancient Roman baths → 660 six rabbits were killed and bled nearby → the lying corpse on the ground of the ruins was stabbed three times (suspected to be the missing Blanqui)

Five forks in the underground cave of thousands of corpses → Corresponding to the five forks of the corridor, five male corpses are suspended → the lying corpse on the ground in the center of the fork was stabbed four times (it is suspected to be the missing Quentina, and it is not ruled out that it is the mysterious Kandy with Shannon)”

"A special location, a certain number of auxiliary sacrifices, and one main sacrifice."

Kelsey drew a circle on "Lying Corpse" with a pen: "Compared to buying more than 600 rabbits, it is more difficult to select Blanqui and abduct him. There must be something in common in the selection of the main sacrifice."

Blanche is an English male and Quentina is a French female.The two didn't know each other before, so why were they selected as the main sacrifice?

Assuming that Candy and Shannon, whose identities are unknown, are the murderers, they chose Quentina after contacting her. How could they choose Blanqui?

Perhaps, the sharp knife marks left on the ground of the two crime scenes can give the answer.

But with just a straight line and a cross, it is impossible to see what meaning they express.

Sherlock was holding two itineraries. Judging from the time, when Blanqui arrived in Paris, the tragedy in the underground cave of corpses had already occurred.

Bentley stated that he had not met Candy and Shannon.In addition to going to the red light district, Blanqui's previous itinerary was very ordinary, and he entered and exited all the places he would go to every day.

"Everyday, everyday."

Kelsey tapped the table, "Just by passing by, the possibility of someone being sacrificed is considered to be very low, and it should have been observed Blanqui in an unobtrusive situation."

Blanqui visited wineries, ate at several restaurants and accompanied clients to concerts.

"The theater is most likely."

Kelsey didn't need to explain much, the theater's flow of people and the greeting time before and after the show provided opportunities for the murderer to spy secretly.

Sherlock had a flash of inspiration, "Theatre, yes, theatre. Jerry, I have a surprise for you. Guess what the Nicholas couple's daily entertainment is?"

"Tom, you have said so, those two must like to go to the theater."

Kelsey thought of a possibility, "Is it rumored that I have seen Nicholas and his wife in theaters in recent years?"

"Not in recent years, but more than 100 years ago."

Sherlock said that there is no specific record. When he went to borrow related books, he heard some gossip from the librarian. "It is said that the last time I saw the Nicholas couple was in 1761, under the arches of the Royal Opera House."

Later, the Royal Opera House was destroyed by fire.

On the original site earlier this year, the new Paris Opera House was completed.

"Blanqui lives in the [-]th arrondissement, not far from the Opéra. He was in Paris for six days and went to three concerts."

Kelsey didn't think it was just a coincidence, and couldn't help but think of the later "Phantom of the Opera", and could there be secrets hidden in the underground of the Paris Opera House?

Sherlock also thought of the nature of the blood murderer choosing the sacrificial site, a place of special significance, usually in an underground hideout.

"The Paris Opera House has been rebuilt in recent years. In theory, the murderer can take advantage of the construction period to find out its underground structure."

The murderer has gone deep into the cave where the bones are buried, and he may also be familiar with the distribution of underground pipelines in other areas. Maybe he sneaked into the Paris Opera House through a secret door to commit crimes.

Whether the inference is correct or not, you can find out by going to the underground of the Paris Opera House.

The opera house manager at first thought he was being played.

Forgive him for his ignorance, but he has seen someone who rents out a theater to listen to a performance by a certain troupe, but he has never seen someone who rents out a theater to check the underground structure.It's really strange how the British brain circuit spends [-] pounds just to go to the theater underground.

But who would refuse a money order?

The manager still patiently guided the three of them, "Someone cleans the underground storage room every week, and different props are hidden in each room. Three gentlemen, which part do you want to see?"

Bentley paid a high entrance fee, facing the mediocre storage room, he really didn't know if the [-] pounds would be in vain.

Sherlock said bluntly, "When the theater was built, the foundation structure left before the fire should not have been completely demolished. Please take us to have a look."

"What do you want to see?"

The manager looked puzzled, "Those places are all ruins, there is nothing else at all except scrap iron and rubble."

"Please lead the way first."

Kelsey didn't know whether to expect to find something, or to hope that there was nothing abnormal.

If it was the former, someone else must have been killed.

If it is the latter, it may indicate that the murderer of the blood sacrifice did not focus on Nicholas' power, or it may be that he has not had time to carry out the third crime.

The manager murmured in his heart, but with the money to do things, he still asked dutifully, "There are several abandoned sites, where do you want to go first?"

Sherlock pointed out a direction, "Is there a basement directly under the arch?"

"Not directly below, but there is an abandoned dump not far away."

The manager said that there are three entrances to the dump, one to the theater and two to the underground passages in Paris.

"But it has been closed for many years. At least I can be sure that the bronze door of the theater into the garbage dump has not been opened since the fire."

The four of them walked around the corridors, passed through the gates that had been covered in dust for many years, and finally came to the door of the garbage dump.

"As far as I know, this is the first time this bronze door was opened in the 19th century. Three gentlemen, this is a memorable moment."

The manager said with some effort, adding some oil into the keyhole, and finally opened the copper lock.

'click--'

As the heavy fellow door was pushed away, a bloody smell rushed over.

As soon as the kerosene lamp came out, the manager almost retched, "God! What happened here?!"

The familiar scene appeared again.

A pile of snake corpses were disembowelled and thrown in the open space.

The snake corpses formed a circle, and inside the circle were dried blood seeping into the mud.Appears to be humanoid in shape, but no human corpses are seen.

Like the previous two times, there were sharp knife marks on the humanoid blood on the ground.

Kelsey walked in and took a closer look, but this time the puncture marks were in a mess.The ground was pierced with thirteen small holes, and for a while, she couldn't form a meaningful image.

"A total of thirteen golden snakes, non-venomous. According to preliminary estimates, the time of death was two months ago or more."

Sherlock estimates that the same anesthetic will not be found from the snake corpse this time, and the medicine for snakes is different from that of rabbits and humans. "The gallbladder of all snakes is gone."

This time, no footprints were found, only signs of sweeping on the ground.

"Don't you three explain it?"

The manager finally held back his nausea and managed to speak normally, "What do you have to do with these messy snake corpses!"

Bingley was still not used to being too close to the corpse, so he retreated to the door and looked at the manager sympathetically. "Sorry, your theater is likely to be involved in a serial murder case."

The manager widened his eyes, "Serial murder?!"

Bingley nodded. He never expected that today, he would announce such a tragic news to others.

Blanky, it all started with the missing Blanky.

Blanky gave a piece of advice based on his own tragedy, don’t go to the red light district to have fun if you are bored, and being loyal to your feelings will help you stay away from danger.

Bentley draws his own insights from it, but encounters a bottleneck in the investigation of the case.

Sherlock performed an autopsy on the thirteen snakes, but found no further findings.

Three incidents, a pile of corpses.But the murderer is like a ghost in the underground world of Paris, erraticly coming and going, leaving only a blurred figure behind.

To grasp the essence, more clues are needed.

At night, Sherlock returned to the hotel.

Walking towards the courtyard, three or two candlesticks exude soft light.

Kelsey leaned on the wicker chair, with rose bushes swaying slightly in the wind beside her, smiled at Sherlock and nodded, "I'm back."

Such a natural and simple sentence.

Sherlock paused slightly when he heard the words.Perhaps the night is bewitching, and this situation actually gave him an illusion.

——Through the darkness, someone lit a home lamp and waited for him to come back.

"Why did you come to the courtyard?"

Sherlock quickly came back to his senses, sat down across the round table, and glanced at the drinks on the table.Not wine, but freshly squeezed grape juice.

Kelsey motioned for Sherlock to take whatever he wanted, and she held the glass and leaned back in the chair relaxedly. "Come out and let the air blow, and then continue to think slowly."

Sherlock also poured a glass of grape juice, and imitated Kelsey and leaned back on the wicker chair.

There is no moon tonight, and the stars are extraordinarily bright.

The two of them stared at the starry sky silently, emptying their minds for a while.

"It's a little strange to look up at the stars."

Sherlock broke the silence first, "Do you want to make a wish to it and ask the power of the stars to give us clues to solve this case?"

The author has something to say:

① Nicolas Flamel, a 14th-century Frenchman who actually existed in history.

Later, it was quoted by Rowling in HP, and the corner of the Sorcerer's Stone Maker was created based on it.In the Chinese translation, "co" and "F" were omitted, and it was translated as Nicole LeMay.