A steaming wooden bowl filled with broth is placed in front of the table.
The black cat smelled the scent and jumped off the desk. It raised its tail and rubbed it back and forth on Lu Li's trouser legs.
Anna watched nervously as Lu Li picked up the wooden spoon, scooped up the broth and put it into his mouth.
"Better than most restaurants." Lu Li said to Anna who was waiting for her review.
After all, restaurants can't have the luxury of putting so many spices.
Anna pursed her lips, revealing an increasingly rare smile: "Then eat more."
Lu Li lowered his head and picked up the black cat and put it on the table. He took out the meat and sifted out the broth and placed it in front of the black cat.
The black cat, who was as taciturn as Lu Li, lowered his head, sniffed, and started eating.
The phone suddenly rang in the quiet detective agency.
Anna's eyes turned cold and then softened: "Maybe it's Richard."
Lu Li said nothing, put down the wooden spoon and walked to the wooden table to pick up the phone.
"Hey, I haven't contacted the detective for a long time." Richard, or Marcus's voice came from the phone.
Richard disguised his voice and then transmitted it through inferior telephone lines, making it even more difficult to recognize. This is the reason why he has been hiding beside Lu Li without being discovered.
Lu Li's tone was calm, as if he didn't know the truth: "We just contacted him three days ago."
"Uh...so early? I thought we hadn't contacted each other for at least a few months." Marcus' tone was still brisk, as if Lu Li was not the one who destroyed his plan. "It's not important, the guy you asked me to find...
…I have information!”
"That Richard with the skin of a woman?"
"Wha... no! His skin doesn't look like that of a woman, you bastard! Uh, I mean... the bad guy you mentioned, I think his skin is just a bit pale, and it has something to do with not being exposed to the sun for too long."
Lu Li lowered his eyes slightly, he had actually been deceived by this guy for several months.
"Anyway...I have news about this damn guy!"
"What news."
Richard on the other side of the phone lowered his voice: "His current hiding place."
"Where is he?"
"Don't be so impatient. I guarantee that the address is correct. You can catch that guy just by going there. But my reward..."
"How much do you want?"
"5...1000,1000 shillings! Although it's a lot, you don't know how much effort it took to find him. He is so important to you. 1,000 shillings is just-"
"How should I give you money?"
"Uh..." Lu Li made Richard silent for several seconds. He thought it would take more words to get rewarded. "It's still the same place, under the bricks next to the second blue trash can in the whistle block, you can find it.
Richard could just pass by there."
"So where is Richard?"
"Do you still remember the place where you first met? The lunatic asylum on the outskirts of Watchtown, he was there! Did you hear it! My stomach is growling, go quickly, and then I want to have a big meal!"
"I will."
Lu Li put back the microphone.
After listening to the whole story, Anna said: "Is what he said true?"
"But he will definitely go to withdraw money." Lu Li guessed correctly, Richard was short of money and could not even afford to eat.
It doesn't matter whether Richard is in the asylum or not, they just need to hide around the money hiding place and wait for Richard to appear on his own initiative.
"What if he can sense where you are?" Anna didn't think it was that simple.
The speculation is not false, Richard has been following him like a ghost, no matter where he goes, he can find Lu Li."
"Split up. You hide in the hiding place, and I'll go to the lunatic asylum."
"No." Anna refused simply. She would never leave Lu Li's side: "You are just an ordinary person."
"Richard too."
"But he's hiding in the dark."
Knowing that Anna would not agree, Lu Li stopped talking nonsense and said, "Then let's go to the lunatic asylum and the joint organization will keep an eye on where the money is hidden."
Anna made no further objections, and Lu Li picked up the phone and called the investigator base, asking the joint organization to send someone to keep an eye on where the money was hidden.
In order to prevent the cunning Richard from showing up in person, Lu Li asked them not to show up when they saw someone other than Richard taking the money and just follow them. Before leaving Belfast, Lu Li would ask the results at the phone booth.
If Richard shows up, go back the way you came. If it's someone else, go to Watchtown.
Putting down the phone, Lu Li returned to the dining table. The broth was no longer boiling hot. He served a piece of meat to the black cat waiting for him, and Lu Li began to eat.
During this period, the newsboy delivered three newspapers. The first page was invariably about the Rodester Harbor human pus incident. The second and third pages were different. The "Daily News" and "Walson Post" were about the Elders Council.
A decree was issued that ordered the premium of all brown bread not to exceed 300% of the original selling price. The "Gazette of the Principality of Allen" means that local police stations began to recruit police officers on a large scale, requiring young, bold, and unafraid of weirdness.
The third version is the same: Belfast in a strange fog.
After breakfast, Anna handed the brewed coffee to Lu Li and went into the kitchen to wash the dishes.
Lu Li, like most citizens who don't need to run around for life, stays at home, pours a cup of coffee and reads the newspaper.
Houses on fire, people crying, residents killed by strange things in the fog, densely packed incidents were packed into the entire newspaper.
Fortunately, the area affected by this strange fog was only Belfast. Watchtown, which is located on the back of Sugard Mountain and is only 20 miles away from the city, was spared.
At the end of the newspaper, Lu Li found an inconspicuous piece of information mixed in with other news.
[The shelter is officially open to the public]
Although the page is small, this is the first time the shelter has appeared in the public eye.
According to the newspaper, the shelter is recruiting people. Scholars, doctors, lawyers, writers and other professions can participate in the assessment to enter the shelter.
Lu Li's eyes stayed on those professions. They were like the animals on Noah's Ark, seeming to preserve the fire of human civilization.
Speaking of the shelter, Lu Li thought of the missing Tesla. It had been three days since he entered the shelter, but no news had come out.
Wow——
Lu Li looked past the newspaper at Anna who floated out of the kitchen, and closed the newspaper.
Putting on their coats and taking the thousand shillings requested by Richard, Lu Li and Anna left the detective agency.
Rent a carriage from the next block and drive it up the mountain.
The fog finally dissipated, but the gloomy clouds still shrouded the earth, without sunlight, and the cold and wet sea breeze was like late autumn.
Twenty minutes later, Lu Li arrived at the agreed place and placed the money under the bricks next to the second blue trash can. Without stopping, Lu Li left the whistle block.
As he gradually approached the top of the mountain, Lu Li saw Baron Joseph's Manor by Agate Lake in the distance. The servants who usually walked around the manor had disappeared, and most of the manors and mansions surrounding Agate Lake were invisible.
They had already fled to safety.
About to leave Belfast, Lu Li stopped on the side of the road and walked into a red phone booth.