Mermaid Reef

The crackling sound of the burning wood in the fireplace disappeared.

The pen in the detective's hand was lifted just in time, and the drop of ink on the tip of the pen froze there, lingering for a long time.

——At the second when an incarnation of an ancient god watched through the window, the flow of time stopped.

There was no electric light in this old apartment. There was an old-fashioned candlestick with five candles on the table. John's shadow was reflected on the carpet by the candle light.

Everything is still.

The fire light does not dance, and the shadow should not move.

But a long thin shadow appeared at the edge of the carpet, and grew larger.

With no one touching it, the window latch slowly raised upwards, making a clicking sound, as if it couldn't wait to get out of the restraint.

"Crench."

The windows were pushed open.

The caped gypsy stepped into the room.

He stared at John for a long time, only to see that this human being has a strong willpower, even if he is exposed to mystery, he will not go crazy easily.

As for whether the Old Gods had seen this man before—that question was like asking what differentiated one ant from another.

Although it is a relatively strong ant, I really have no impression.

John smelled strongly of smoke, a cheap flue-cured tobacco of mediocre quality.

The detective looked through all the old newspapers in the apartment, and compared the information and news he collected with members of the Brandon family, including the operation of the Brandon Shipping Company, and the transactions that had been published in newspapers in recent years information and more.

He didn't even go out for lunch, and worked until six o'clock in the evening, and now the room is filled with the choking smell of cigarettes.

Strong ants that smell... well, don't know, haven't smelled (John didn't smoke when he was in Black Lagoon).

Gemil stretched out a hand and grabbed the gold coins in the box.

Gold coins and precious stones shimmered.

—He handed it over to this human being.

Fog spread in the room, and soon a phantom appeared beside the table.

With a handsome and melancholy face and a calm expression, he has a pair of indifferent and cold blue eyes. He is looking at the person across the table. He reaches out and throws a bag of gold coins on the table, and then picks up a perfectly cut ruby ​​with his pale fingertips .

He is more mysterious and unpredictable than this city immersed in the hazy mist, and he is shrouded in an unreal blur and loneliness.

Gemil stared at Jason's phantom.

These gems are valuable, and they have been stored by Jason for a long time. Unlike those human coins, the gems are contaminated with more mysterious power, so a certain ancient god can use the residual traces on them to see phantoms.

This kind of phantom, which is not involved in the body and has no power tentacles, has no sound.

Gemil didn't know what Jason was talking about. He just watched Jason spread out the two newspapers, put gold coins and a handful of emeralds, put on gloves and a black top hat, and get up to go out.

"..."

So fast, I didn't see anything clearly.

Play it again.

Gemil reached out to pick John up, put him on the carpet, and unceremoniously occupied the chair where John was sitting.

When the Phantom replayed, Jensen seemed to be speaking to Gemil.

After another set of procedures for gold coins and gems was completed, Gemil sighed regretfully as he looked at the back of Jensen who had left.

This time he didn't choose to replay, but looked down at the detective under the table.

——Human beings should not see or deal with mysteries.

This can lead to an early end to the already fragile human life.

Gemil has been chasing Jensen for two years, and he knows part of Jensen's character.

Jason is young (doesn't sleep), playful (likes to be active), and cherishes toys (will try to avoid human and animal deaths).

When Jensen encounters humans who "see" him, he will choose to end the "encounter" quickly. The methods include but are not limited to buying newspapers, riding in a carriage, helping to carry boxes, asking for directions, etc. He will not talk too much, or even immediately after speaking. Just leave, these people can't remember Jason's face afterwards.

Because this kind of thing happens every day, it is so common that the human brain will clear these memories regularly.

Jason took advantage of this.

The downside is that if an item is exchanged with a human, there will be a connection.

So Jason will pay, and the moment he takes the coin, it is natural for humans to think that everything is settled and the "connection" is over.

This is a simple ritual carried out by the ancient human tradition of "bartering".

When the ritual is completed, these humans will no longer be affected by the "mystery".

So in order to maintain this fragile ceremony, Gemil will "return" the money after tracking it down.

Otherwise, the "agreement" between Johnson and these humans will not be established, and Johnson will soon sense that there is another mysterious force that destroys the "agreement ceremony" in order to track him down.Gemil was sure that if he did this, Jason would definitely leave London or even the British Isles after he noticed it, and disappear without a trace.

So now comes the problem.

Jason "actively" came to find this human being, gave a large sum of money, and said a long paragraph. What kind of "deal" is this?

Gemil was really confused and couldn't figure it out.

In any case, Jansen's behavior made John stand out from a bunch of "passers-by", and Gemil also looked at John differently.

——There is a secret in this human being, a secret related to Jason!

Gemil's eyes fell on the box of precious stones and gold coins.

There was a vague twist of the shadow, like a reflection in water, fading away.

Avatar switch.

The cloak was the first to change, from a peculiar style where the face could not be seen from any angle, to an ordinary cloak.

A few strands of crimson curly hair slipped out, and the thin cloak was thrown back, fully revealing the "human" form.

A pair of loose trousers woven from an unknown golden-red fabric, a white tulle-like short jacket, a bare chest and pearls hanging around the neck can be seen faintly.

The lower body is not a fish tail, there are no fins on the wrists, and there are no webs between the fingers, only transparent and sharp nails.

The cloak and long hair still covered most of the face, and only the gracefully curved jaw and fair and slender neck could be seen.

Adam's apple slides slightly.

"..."

An indescribable whisper darkened the flames in the room and extinguished all the candles.

The walls, the house, and every object repeated this terrible sound.

"Snapped."

The flames brightened again.

Gemil looked down at his feet, as if a little uncomfortable.

With bare feet on the carpet, a pair of pointed boots embroidered with gold thread immediately appeared.

Now he looked less like a gypsy and more like an Arab beauty.

The time stagnation of the lost shadow incarnation, John also woke up, he found himself lying on the carpet in a daze, the window was open, and there was a person sitting quietly on the chair he was sitting on just now.

John jumped up suddenly. He didn't forget that there was still a box of precious stones and gold coins in his room.

Sad to say, this important treasure should be kept safe, but the run-down tenement has no safe or anything to hide.

under the bed?It's full of cobwebs and dust.

Behind the bookshelves?The house is small and there are no bookshelves at all.

John plans to go to the bank tomorrow to identify and consign the gemstones, and then exchange half of the gold coins for a check, and the other half can be used to bribe the servants of Brandon's family and collect information.This is the experience Jason gave him. Who can refuse the shiny gold coin in front of him?

As a result, an accident occurred before the plan was implemented?

John nimbly grabbed the wooden compartment hidden under the table, opened the safety, and aimed at the uninvited guest while getting up.

There was only the firelight of the fireplace in the room, the white smoke from the five candles drifted in the cold wind, and the mist from outside the window also poured in, wrapping around the person, mysterious and weird.

John couldn't see the other person's face at all, and took a tentative step forward, and found that this person was wearing a strange hooded cloak.

The cloak didn't cover the whole body, but the hood tightly covered half of the face, and there were more than a dozen golden-red tassels on the edge of the hood, shaking slightly to interfere with the line of sight.

——Is this guy not afraid of the cold?John thought instinctively when he saw the thin suit of clothing under the cloak.

At first, John thought it was an Arab beauty. Even if he didn't look at the face, the casual posture and mysterious aura made people wonder, but after a closer look, he found that the beauty was not fake, but not a woman.

The darkness well obscured the line of sight, and also weakened the effect of enchanting the mind.John saw the other party's right hand resting on the table again, with transparent nails half an inch long, narrow and sharp like a murder weapon.

"who are you?"

John couldn't help but glance at the box on the table, as well as the news clippings and the information about the Brandon family that he hung on the wall.

His instincts were screaming frantically, and he tried to avoid looking at the opponent's hands, and fixed his gaze on the face above the hood and cloak, which was completely invisible.

"sit."

Beautiful voice, weird pronunciation, strange sounding English.

John was thinking about it when he suddenly felt dizzy and couldn't stand upright.

The weapon in his hand fell on the carpet, and he was horrified to find that he couldn't control his body, so he pulled out the chair and sat down numbly.

John with great willpower prevented himself from giving his full name, but then he couldn't control it, and John listened to himself introduce himself.

"My name is John... John... I am a detective. A detective is a profession of finding lost property and investigating intelligence for others. The number of police detectives in London's Scotland Yard is limited, and the efficiency of solving cases is low. They don't care about small cases, and they can't defend them." The secret of the client of the case, so the detective..."

John was sweating, and he was struggling.

The gods spared the ant for fear that John would die.

John lay down on the table, gasping for breath.

Before he could get up, he saw a blue and transparent gemstone appearing in front of him.

——The azure is as clear as a dream, and it seems to be teardrops taken from the sea.

John watched dumbly as Gemil threw the gem into the box, just like throwing shoeshine change into an iron box on the street.

"I want to entrust you to find the person I like. I saw him in my dream."

John: "..."

you say it again?

Suspected evil and mysterious existence, carrying an indescribable mist, coming to the door in the dark to find the person you want?

——It didn't wake up!

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The author has something to say:

Gemil is not in the mermaid state, the charm value is only one-tenth, and the value of making people crazy is also reduced

Probably the willpower of more than 70 can resist, the detective's willpower is around 90, and...continues to rise ING

Just like people are stimulated to break down, there are some people who are stimulated to strengthen themselves, John is the latter

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small theater:

If Gemil hides his strangeness and visits him disguised as a gypsy astrologer

Astrologer: I want to entrust you to find my soulmate, I saw him in my dream

Detective: Why don't you look in your crystal ball?

↑If you don’t understand, let’s change it. The level of absurdity is similar to [A Taoist priest called 110 in the middle of the night to say that his house was haunted, and asked the police to come to the Taoist temple to save him]