Mermaid Reef

The fog covered up all the weirdness of the city.

The gray butterfly flew towards the lantern on the cargo ship, sticking to it layer by layer, and more scale powder was shaken off by them.

Not only that lamp, but soon the whole ship was emitting a blue-purple light.

It is like a ghost ship full of the souls of the dead, piercing through the thick fog and sailing on the dark and cold Styx.

It is a pity that humans cannot see this light, nor can they hear the sound of butterflies beating their wings.

As the number of gray butterflies decreased, the ghost ship slowly approached the shore. Instead of choosing any dock, it came to a sewage pipe.

The huge sewage pipe mouth can accommodate a small cargo ship to enter, and the location of the pipe mouth is deep underwater.

There used to be a factory here, but it has since been abandoned, and even the pipes are rusty and covered with suspicious stains.

"Crash."

Propellers churned the river, propelling the cargo ship deep into the sewage pipes.

The pipes are getting narrower and narrower.

The roof of the cargo ship had already scratched slightly against the walls, and the sound echoed in the pipe, like a swallowing sound from the depths of a monster's throat.

Seeing that the ship was about to be squeezed to pieces by the pipeline, the hull suddenly sank——

The front suddenly became clear, and the current pushed the ghost ship into an abandoned factory building.

It has been abandoned for an unknown number of years, and half of it has been soaked in the water. Black and green shiny moss grew on the four walls, and the wooden beams covered with iron sheets fell horizontally in the water. Obviously, the ship could not move forward.

The cargo ship slammed into the wooden beam and then stopped slowly.

At this time, half of the scale powder sticking to the hull has been "grinded" by the sewage pipes.

"arrive."

A hoarse voice came from the boat.

A group of people in thick black robes walked out of the cabin.

The man at the front took down the lantern hanging from the bow, and the light source illuminated his face—like a dark gray skull, with light reflecting from the eyes.

After the lantern moved away, it became clear that he was only wearing a gas mask, the black skin on the outside had peeled off, the breathing metal caps on the mouth and nose were also rusty, and his hair was also wrapped in the leather cap , with the long fishskin gloves that butchers like to use, and under the black robe, his feet are wearing high-top rubber shoes.

Not only him, but everyone else is dressed like this.

It seems that instead of coming to an abandoned factory in the middle of the night, it is walking through the trenches of the battlefield filled with poisonous gas.

Jason: "..."

He stood on a high wooden beam, looking down at the line of people who looked like they were about to perform a mysterious ceremony, but dressed in "very modern".

Jason had never seen a gas mask, but he remembered the bird's beak mask used by doctors in the Middle Ages.

Those long beaks were filled with herbs, and what doctors thought would ward off the plague.

Pagans also use beak masks to protect themselves from the highly poisonous breath carried by demons. Occult scholars believe that this mask can only shield physical damage to a certain extent, but cannot resist spiritual pollution.

However, when there is "contact" with the evil god, it is definitely better than nothing.

That's why beak masks were once popular, and some evil gods who didn't understand or pay attention to humans thought that humans just looked like this.

——Just like a fruit has a skin on the outside and meat on the inside, isn’t it normal for a human face to have a shell?

There is also a pointed mouth on this shell, which is an organ for human beings to store odors.

Humans love smells, just as certain birds collect shiny and conspicuous things, like gathering plants.

Isn't that the function of those dry petals, branches, or ground powder of plants in the beak mask?

Jensen's "anthropology of play" is very high, he will not have this kind of misunderstanding, so when he saw this gas mask with the lower half of his face like a pig's mouth, he quickly guessed the purpose of this thing.

Glass replaces the hole in the eye area of ​​​​the beak mask, and a strong and durable metal cover replaces the easily broken beak...

Jason glanced at the scale powder floating in the air around him, and thought that the new invention of human beings was quite interesting.

It is already close to the nest of gray butterflies.

Some chaotic and filthy forces are wandering around. If the cargo ship is not contaminated with "butterfly scale powder", it is impossible to enter this abandoned factory. Even now, this group of people rely on the lanterns in their hands to avoid being affected by the filthy forces. .

Jason suddenly set his sights on the last man in the line.

Although they are all dressed so tightly that you can't see your face, this person is very different.

No matter it is the black robe, the gas mask, or the lantern and scale powder, nothing can cover his own "light".

This light comes from the soul, which symbolizes the willpower far beyond ordinary people, like pearls mixed with stones.

——If you are blind, you cannot see.

what happened?

Why did the detective who worked for me go to the lair of other evil gods to die?

Where do you go to find another detective who is very capable and won't go crazy?

As soon as Jason lifted his cane, he jumped forward, and his pitch-black coat fluttered backwards. He landed on a pile of rubble, as light as a feather, without making any sound.

Those lanterns had a limited range of illumination.

The loudest sound that the person hiding in the black robe and the gas mask can hear is his nervous breathing, which echoes in his ears.

The glass on the gas mask is very thick, and the abandoned factory is not clean, and after walking for a while, it is contaminated with unknown powder particles, which makes the vision even more blurred, and the road under the feet is not easy to walk. Garbage and broken bricks above the water surface will slip and fall if you don't pay attention.

So the team moved very slowly, and no one spoke.

Jason ignored the darkness. He walked on the ruins like he was walking on the ground.

He can't appear directly in front of these people, these evil god believers can definitely see him.

Don't startle these guys just yet.

Jason needs these humans to cover his breath and hide his tracks.

Jensen stepped precisely outside the lighting range of the lantern, and he could feel the excitement and fear of these people-no kind of protection can cover up the fluctuations of the soul, nor can it cover up the strong emotions, and fear is always the most important thing among them. Bright colors.

Jason didn't even need to think about why humans would take the risk of choosing to approach the evil god.

In order to steal a trace of power from the gods.

Possess incredible power in exchange for a higher position in the group.

Humans are addicted to such adventures.

It is impossible to turn down the huge payoffs that such an adventure could bring.

The silent team walked deeper and deeper in the abandoned factory, and gradually began to go deep underground.

It was obviously not a normal excavated channel, the walls were rough and water seeped constantly.

The sound of "papa" footsteps echoed in the ruins, and the accumulated water had reached the height of the calf.

As the team passed a corner, Jason stretched out his hand and accurately "led" the person at the back of the team into a sunken pit wall next to him.

His strength is great, and to humans, it is like a terrifying monster appearing in the dark—the long tongue clung to the prey's shoulders, and the prey "turned" twice irresistibly, and was forced to slide into it. A lair where monsters hide.

"Crack."

The sound of bullets being loaded.

Jason looked at the wooden warehouse against his forehead calmly.

The masked man in black robe: "..."

A few strands of thin black tentacles emerged from the smooth skin, wriggling along the mouth of the wooden warehouse.

The eyes behind the gas mask twitched violently, John retracted his weapon like flying, and let out a muffled voice: "Why are you?"

"I also want to ask this question."

Jason stroked his forehead, and when he let go, the tentacles, as small as cashmere, disappeared.

"It's okay to speak in a low voice, don't take off the mask." Jason reminded.

"Of course I dare not. There is light everywhere here, the blue light is like the will-o'-the-wisp in the tomb."

John said depressedly, he glanced at the lantern in his hand again, and said with great disgust, "What the hell is this?"

Jason said in a low voice, "It's the scale powder of a butterfly. Humans can't see it with the naked eye, but the ultraviolet lamp can illuminate it."

John was shocked: "You know about UV lamps?"

This thing can only be found in the laboratory of the University of London, and it was later discovered that it can be used to solve cases, and some liquid stains that are invisible to the naked eye were found, so Scotland Yard and detective colleagues knew that even John had only seen it, and did not know it at all. Never used this thing.

"I like human libraries very much," Jason replied.

John: "..."

Of course, John didn't know that Jason liked the library because of the advantage of being undisturbed there, and he thought this evil god was scary.

An evil god who is willing to learn human knowledge, not by reading romance novels, but by reading scientific knowledge... What is he trying to do?Subvert human society?But evil gods can kill humans without learning!

John couldn't figure it out, so he simply didn't want to.

He's just a bad detective in London, what does saving the world have to do with him?

He just collects some commission fees, does some ordinary detective work, collects information and helps find people.

——Collecting Linde Brandon's criminal evidence and the Brandon family's property, this is intelligence gathering.

——Helping an evil god find someone he likes is essentially helping find someone.

The logic is smooth and there is nothing wrong with it.

John decided to care about the vision in front of him: "Wait, you said that the ultraviolet light can only illuminate it, but this light is not, why can I see it? Is it because I have been exposed to too many mysteries? And these things wandering around in the air What is the thin purple thread? The silk produced by a butterfly?"

"Yes, there is an evil god related to butterflies lurking here." Jason said in a strange tone, "This city was born by itself, not brought by me."

"Uh!"

John was about to ask why all the evil gods came to London one after another.

"Gamil said, let me pay attention to the butterflies I can't see..."

"He said? You met alone?"

Jason raised his eyebrows, a little surprised.

It seems that Gemil also knew that he needed this detective, and he specifically reminded the detective not to court death.

but--

Why are you still looking for death?

Jason tapped the wet and blackened ground with his sapphire cane, and asked expressionlessly, "What are you doing here?"

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The author has something to say:

I thought about Jason's mood, probably because I found a familiar stray dog ​​on the way to the army, and this dog was going to step on the minefields in the enemy's position with arrogance.

Jason: ...

Jason: Gemil said it all, watch out for the butterflies, why didn't you listen