Mermaid Reef

John didn't see Jason for a while.

All visions also disappeared, and life returned to peace and triviality.

After the incident in Black Lagoon where everyone lost their memories miraculously, John felt that this time would be no exception.

On the contrary, the city of London is noisy, mainly due to the trouble caused by the backflow of the river. The sewage and mud are difficult to clean up and can also cause diseases.

As for the loud noise heard late that night, it was all pushed to the Thames River flood burst; the headaches and trances of many London citizens were also judged to be caused by the increase in the toxic components of the urban smog.Whether it is flooding or bad air, they are old problems in London, and they cannot be solved unless all factories in the East End of London are banned, and large sums of money are spent to hire people to clean up the Thames.

Anyway, the upper class has a very traditional way of coping: move to a villa on the outskirts of London for the winter.

The royal family first moved to the palace with their servants, and then the nobles and those who served them.

So within a few days, when the floodwaters had receded and the effects of the poisonous smog hadn't spread any further, newspaper critics turned around and began bashing the engineers tasked this year with repairing and replacing the bells of the Palace of Westminster tower.

For a while it seemed like the biggest problem in London was the crack on the dial of Big Ben.

This must be repaired, but the smog is too serious. Some people protest that the color of the dial should be changed, and it will not be afraid of infection if it is replaced with black.

John flipped through the newspaper for a long time, but couldn't find what he wanted to read.

He sneaked close to Mrs. Dutt's garden, and found that the house had been emptied, and the salon, which was a smash hit in the City of London, had been quietly closed.

There is a gossip that the justice's nephew died accidentally in Mrs. Dutt's garden. The murderer was a girl who was kidnapped from the pier. The police speculated that it might be the daughter of a smuggler. , sneaked into London to create a series of murders, and even Mrs. Dutt died unfortunately.

John saw the wanted notice of Scotland Yard and found that Rosa was a very beautiful girl.

John would like to know the cause of death of the justice's nephew.

But with his almost non-existent connections at Scotland Yard, uh, it was difficult.

Matters concerning a gentleman's decency are always kept secret, while some lady's gossip is flying everywhere like soot from a gas lamp.

John thought for a while, and decided to give up on the investigation. He wanted to devote all his energy to the only remaining commission at hand.

The sooner the Brandon family's inheritance dispute is resolved, the earlier the contact with the evil god's client can be ended.

After getting the final payment, moving into a single-family house, and developing a normal detective business, life can be considered back on track.

***

Linde Brandon woke up from the dream.

He dreamed of that face again.

The skin was yellow and there were signs of ulceration.

The ghost-like child crouched in a corner of the attic, staring at him with those blue eyes.

Panting heavily, Linde vigorously pulled the bell rope on the bedside.

Because it was late at night, it took five minutes for the servant to show up at Linde's bed with hot tea.

This made Linde extremely angry. He reprimanded the servant mercilessly and threatened to drive him out.

The servant lowered his head, his tone was terrified, but his expression showed a slight impatience and anger.

During this period of time, his master was very abnormal, always waking up from dreams, not sleeping well at night, and exhausted during the day, and had already messed up two important businesses. These unsatisfactory conditions made Linde's temper even more irritable. All those around him suffered.

"Has our venerable Monsieur replied?"

"This... It is said that His Majesty the Bishop has obeyed the call of His Majesty the King and went to the palace. He is not in the mansion these days, and you cannot visit him."

After hearing this, Linde became even more angry. Distraughtly, he threw the finished cup on the silver tray. The servant asked him respectfully if he had any other orders. Linde decided to change into his riding clothes and go to the horse farm outside the villa. Do a few laps.

Now everyone don't want to sleep.

Lights were lit from the kitchen to the stables, and the servants busied themselves sleepily, complaining under their breath.

Linde took these things for granted. Isn't that the meaning of power and wealth?

He had a good breakfast (albeit at the wrong time) and took his servants to the stables.

With the wind blowing on the outskirts of London, Linde felt a lot clearer. He called his butler and asked about the matter he asked the butler to investigate a few days ago.

"No, this year's social season doesn't have the new face you mentioned. There are blue-eyed young people, and there are a lot of people from other places, but the men who attended the ball but didn't dance with any young girls, this... is not at all No."

Linde was biting a cigar with an ugly expression on his face.

Of course he knew it was fruitless, there were so many people at the ball, but no one saw the guy.

This is not normal.

Linde suspects that a series of events such as the backflow of the Thames and the shattering of the dial of Big Ben that happened the next day are related to the devil, because he started to have nightmares from that day.

——The old country house, the musty attic, and the child who seemed to be cursed by the devil.

"Do you believe in the existence of the devil?" Linde asked in a strange voice.

The butler was surprised. He quickly thought of Linde's abnormal behavior recently. He went to the church to ask for holy water, and he was trying to find a way to visit the bishop.

The housekeeper quickly said: "Devils definitely exist, they are bewitching humans anytime and anywhere, but most of the time, there are people playing tricks behind their backs."

Linde let out an angry snort from his throat.

He had never believed in the existence of the devil before.

Even because of his childhood experience, he was very resistant to these rhetoric about gods and devils.

Both his real father, Reverend Conor, and old Brandon, have gone mad and put their energies and fortunes into this absurd bottomless pit of finding gods and gaining powers, and insisting on saying what that crooked kid is Sacrifice, I laughed so hard.

More than 40 years have passed, and these long-dissipated shadows have shrouded his head again. Since the accidental death of Pastor Conor, he seems to have been entangled by "bad luck". The inheritance lawsuit has been dragged on for two years without any results. Now I saw the phantom that didn't exist again.

No, that's not necessarily non-existent.

Linde suspected that someone had drugged himself, causing him to be in a trance. He changed a group of servants and moved to a villa outside London.

But on the first night of falling asleep in the villa, he still had nightmares.

"The letter..."

Linde thought of the letter he wrote to Pastor Conor two years ago, and his mood became bad again. He had carefully identified it in the past few days, and it was either a forgery or the "lost" letter.Although the content of the letter was normal, Linde believed that the mysterious person who had sent the letter to him must have known some secrets.

Linde said viciously: "Go find someone, find out that detective back then, he said the letter was lost in a shipwreck, can someone fish it out of Sea God's hand, and throw it back in front of me? "

***

John soon finds out that someone is looking for him.

—— squatting at the door of his rented apartment, and harassing his nominal detective agency.

Some of these people were his colleagues, and some were people on the pier.

The pier is very complicated, with smugglers, robbers and murderers incognito.

John investigated the deaths of several members of the Brandon family, which were related to the pier. This line is also easy to sort out. The Brandon Shipping Company holds many people’s financial resources. As long as they are willing to cultivate, it is easy You can raise some thugs and do some shady things.

At first, John thought that his investigation into the Brandon family was too much and was discovered. He did not hesitate to put on a disguise, disguised himself as a plumber and entered the apartment, told the landlord and his wife that he had gotten into trouble, and then Returned the rented room.

When new tenants move in, the people who are squatting here will give up.

John pretended to be a dock porter or a tramp every day, and continued to wander around the Brandon Shipping Company and Brandon's villa.

John is not the crime-solving genius in Sir Doyle's novels, but he is really good at "finding people and clues".

Soon, with gold coins, he caught up with a servant who was fired by Brandon's family.

In the dim tavern, John generously ordered two glasses of whiskey for the other party, and the manservant quickly started talking.

"Have been having nightmares? Have you seen a doctor and want to go to the bishop?"

John had an ominous premonition, could it be that Lynd Brandon had already met Jason, otherwise why would he act so neurotic?

"That's right, I heard that old Brandon passed away due to mental illness, and I think he's going to die soon." The valet couldn't help cursing.

John didn't hear any secret things from this guy, but it was within his expectation. If it was really a servant who knew Linde Brandon's crime, he probably wouldn't leave Brandon's house alive.

But John still wanted to find out about Linde's movements as much as possible. He took out the money bag and was about to hand it to the servant when he suddenly felt a chill run up his back.

The detective immediately kicked his feet hard, and his body slipped and fell under the table.

"boom."

The bullet hit the wall of the tavern.

Before people could react, the drunk manservant was still laughing at John's drinking capacity.

John rolled over and hid in a dark corner of the tavern.

The second bullet hit the male servant's chest, and he slumped on the chair with a scream.

Only then did there be screams in the tavern, and people stood up in a panic and wanted to run.

John deftly pulled off his hat, took off his coat, and blended into the crowd to leave the tavern.

In a hurry, he saw the perpetrators, those familiar faces on the pier again.

"It's him, John Doe!"

A voice yelled, and John's heart sank suddenly. He found that there were still people squatting outside the tavern, and they were people who knew him.

In fact, the profession of detective is not as described in mystery novels, which specializes in solving strange cases and upholding justice to find the truth.

Most detectives don't mind dealing with criminals after collecting money, and sometimes detectives do some illegal things.Such as breaking into houses illegally, stealing information, secretly filming and tracking, and even kidnapping others.

Now it's just a matter of collecting money to identify someone, and not asking them to open the wooden warehouse in person. This is a very easy commission.

John ran without turning around, he tried his best to drill into the crowd.

"That's John Doe? That crappy detective whose real name no one knows?" The man with the weapon grinned grimly, then aimed at John again.

The moment the bullet was ejected, John accurately leaned against the wall, avoiding the fatal blow.

"Damn? Is this a coincidence?"

Soon the wooden warehouse hand at the dock discovered that it was not a coincidence!

The slippery detective, who seems to have eyes in the back of his head and a crucifix of the Virgin Mary, can always dodge a bullet in a crisis.

Evil door!

While running, John scolded his peers in his heart. These businessmen are hard-working, but they are experts in cheating each other.

It was clearly a trap today, and the sacked valet was the bait, waiting for him to take the bait.

What John couldn't figure out was why Lind Brandon valued himself so much?There is no reason!He is a poor detective in the eyes of outsiders. Even if he is secretly investigating Brandon's property, it is impossible for Linde to take it seriously. He is just a small person. Now that Linde has made such an exaggerated pursuit, What exactly do you want to do?

"Feel sorry."

A voice came to his ears along with the wind, and John was startled.

He looked up and saw a figure standing at the bottom of the alley.

"It was my fault," Jason explained.

John listened to what he heard, and didn't dare to stop. Just when he thought that the chasers couldn't see Jason, suddenly there was a whistling wind in his ears.

Then it was like something was leaking, and the smell of blood was overwhelming.

"Snapped."

The sound of a weapon going off.

John turned his head and saw that the three wooden warehousemen who were chasing after him had fallen to the ground. Their bodies were pierced by a black vine, and the blood flowed like a broken water bag.

John quickly climbed over the low wall, walked around a street, and finally stopped to catch his breath.

He looked at Jason who was slowly walking in front of him, and asked puzzledly, "What did you do?"

"I returned that letter to Lynd Brandon," Jason replied.

"you……"

John's mind was very flexible, he immediately thought of what the letter was, and suddenly realized.

Although very angry, John still noticed Jason's intention: "You want Linde to become flustered, do something out of the ordinary, and expose the power in his hands by the way? Deal with his minions, and then catch him who trusts and The cronies who know his secret?"

If the valet was Lynd Brandon's bait, the detective was Jensen's bait.

It seems that the evil god is also very skilled in fishing.

John wanted to get angry, this kind of self-assertive client is too annoying, but Jason appeared so timely today, it can't be said that Jason deliberately pushed him to death.

Jason nodded and said, "I'm sorry, your danger has increased, and I'll add money."

John struggled to hold on to his principles and protested, "No, we didn't talk about this..."

"Mr. Detective can perhaps explain what 'the detective whose real name nobody knows' is."

John: "..."

--------------------

The author has something to say:

John Doe, a very obvious pseudonym

When Jason called this name in Black Lagoon, Dr. Abel was very surprised

Although Jason understands human beings, he is not human after all, and his memory will not tell him these things

How to say the name John Doe, it was first used in legal provisions, and the correct contextual translation is "someone" and "Anonymous", but we can understand it as "Zhang San".

That's right, Zhang San owed Li Si 1 yuan, and Zhang San killed Li Si, how many years will Zhang San be sentenced... Cough cough, this is the context.In English, Zhang San and Li Si are called John Doe and Richard Roe respectively.

Of course, due to the high repetition rate of foreign names, there are some people whose name is really John Doe.

More often than not, though, it refers to "unknown males," sometimes identified in literature as a byline of a man who has lost his memory, a serial killer, etc.

Jensen didn't read much (hey, but he knows now) Gemil didn't read many books at all (hey)

In this article, the detective is just using a stage name to make a living

This is very useful. For example, in today’s plot, someone yelled, “Catch him, it’s him, that unknown man”, and the accomplices and innocent people looked confused. What are you talking about?