"You mean, my brother and the wine merchant?" Healy asked.
"Yes," Thales nodded and explained calmly, "On the surface, Dagory Moss is a wine merchant in the Central Territory, but secretly he is serving your brother. Of course, he is also stealing from your brother.
Money to line his own pocket. Until the Secret Service found him and used this to instigate Moss."
"Well, no surprise."
"All I know is that the Kingdom Secret Service sent Moss back to the Emerald City, asked him to find your brother, and offered to come to my side to be a double undercover agent. As a result..."
"It turned out that my brother made a surprise on the first day and arrested Moss in public," Heeley chewed on his cigarette holder and exhaled a puff of smoke while speaking vaguely from the corner of his mouth. "He threw dirty water all over you and said you were harboring profiteers."
?”
"Thank you for reminding me again," Thales frowned, "but that's the problem."
"what is the problem?"
"Moss just found me, and he was arrested before he even had time to attend a banquet with me," Thales said. "It stands to reason that when Moss hangs out with me longer and gets closer,
Wouldn't having more contacts, arresting Moss, and enumerating the charges would further damage my reputation and make me unable to defend myself? Why is Zhan so eager to take action?"
Hilley rolled his eyes: "Perhaps because the wine merchant once served him, my brother was worried that he knew too much, so he attacked first?"
"Maybe."
Thales showed a thoughtful expression:
"Anyway, this caught me off guard. In order to stay in the Emerald City with peace of mind, I had no choice but to reveal some secrets to Zhan."
"A little secret?"
Thales nodded and said:
"I tell your brother, Moss is a spy of the Secret Service who instigated rebellion. He was used to sow discord between me and him. As for the fact that I was sent to marry you, this is the king's conspiracy to capture the Emerald City.
, annex the South Coast Territory."
Xi Lai hummed:
"In other words, you betrayed His Majesty and the secret department to clear yourself up?"
Thales' expression did not change:
"This is for the overall situation, they will understand, besides..."
You should count the times they betrayed me.
Thales thought unhappily.
"Besides what?"
Thales returned to the current conversation:
"After several days of repeated testing, I discovered that Zhan has a thorough understanding of the situation in the kingdom and his own situation."
Thales recalled what Zhan said to him at the competition banquet, and his expression became solemn:
"As early as when the marriage letter arrived at Kongming Palace, Zhan En had guessed my father's plot against Emerald City and what Fuxing Palace wanted to do by sending me here."
Xi Lai showed a suspicious expression: "Are you sure?"
"He specially rushed to Yongxing City for this purpose to use a trick to thwart the ambitions of Fuxing Palace," Thales said with certainty. "The worst time, he just sent a sword and almost killed two people at a royal banquet.
Go ahead and make the Imperial Council very upset."
"Sounds very similar to his style," Heeley nodded, his expression changed, "Wait a minute, but this means..."
"Yes, Zhan has known everything from the beginning," Thales said coldly, "He has just been acting with me, 'What? Your father actually wants to harm me? What? You are also against your father? That's too much
Okay, Thales, let’s put aside our past grudges and work together!’.”
Xi Lai looked at him with disgust: "How many stupid stage plays of the Temple of Night have you watched?"
Thales coughed awkwardly:
"In this case, given Zhan's suspicious and jealous temper, he must have begun to suspect that this wine merchant who once served him had been tricked by the kingdom's secrets as early as when Dagory Moss first found him and proposed to approach me.
Koce has turned traitor."
"So that's it," Hilley suddenly said, "Therefore, my brother made up his mind to arrest the wine merchant on the first day he sneaked into your team, so as not to allow him to play the role of a secret spy, but also to destroy him.
your reputation."
But Thales shook his head:
"too fast."
"What's too fast?"
Thales took a deep breath:
"Based on what I know about Zhan, if he really suspects that Moss is a spy for the kingdom's secret department..."
Hilley reacted: "Then my brother should remain calm and use his tricks to let the wine merchant approach you, let Moss pretend to report back to him, and let Moss be a self-righteous spy?"
Thales nodded and said:
"In order to know yourself and the enemy, wait for the opportunity, maximize the value of Moss, and in turn discover the secrets of the kingdom and the actions of the Renaissance Palace. It seems that you also know your brother very well."
Hilley narrowed his eyes:
"But my brother didn't do that. Instead, he arrested the wine dealer."
"And just a few hours after Dagory Moss met with me," Thales said, "he asked the Emerald Legion to be fully armed and list his crimes in public."
The prince said solemnly:
"This is equivalent to directly discarding this chess piece: Even if Moss survives, he will be imprisoned. He will no longer be able to appear in front of others and will no longer be of value, let alone use him to spy on the Secret Department or the Fuxing Palace."
Hilley understood:
"So, this chess piece that could have been very valuable was abandoned too quickly by my brother."
Thales nodded, deeply suspicious:
"Too fast is not in his interest."
"Our investigation has hit a snag."
In Thales's lounge, Mallos' brief summary made His Highness the Prince blush.
"The first is Comuto. He tried to find acquaintances in the police department as before, trying to get the file on the Dagori Moss case and learn about his previous activities in the Emerald City, but Moss died.
After that, the relevant case files were sealed, and..."
Mallos did not continue speaking, but looked behind him.
Conmuto coughed, took a step forward, and continued embarrassedly:
"And what's even more strange is that my friend in the police department just made a tentative mention, and was warned by the boss, saying that he shouldn't ask questions. This made him scared to death and refused to reveal anything to us again.
News... I think it will be difficult to dig out anything from the Security Department line again."
Apparently, someone didn't want them to find out.
Thales had a cold face and rubbed the stuffed bear in his hand expressionlessly:
"So, the clue ends here?"
Mallos turned his head, and on the other side, Huaiya stepped forward excitedly:
"Fortunately, Your Highness, thanks to the management regulations of Emerald City, the document retention system of each department is quite complete."
"Documents? Files?" Thales narrowed his eyes.
Huaiya nodded:
"There is a report file in the city hall: a few days ago, the Police Department blocked an intersection in the Midian District, saying that they were searching for fugitives, but the signature was unusual. It was the Director of Police himself, and he happened to be arrested in Moss at the same time.
on the second day, and the personnel sent were all vigilance officers related to the Moss case."
Thales's eyes lit up:
"So it must be related to Moss... But how did you know about this filing file?"
Having said this, Huaiya's smile froze and his voice lowered:
"There is a new intern clerk in the city hall. I met him at the dinner party. He is... He has an uncle who works in the royal capital and happens to be in the Foreign Affairs Department, so he is willing to make it convenient for us."
Department of Foreign Affairs...
Thales was a little silent: So, it was thanks to Gilbert.
"Very good, then what?"
"Morgan and Oscarson went to that intersection," Mallos took over. "The blockade has been lifted, but..."
The watchman looked behind him.
Oscarson took a step forward, carefully stared at the cute little bear in Thales's hand, and said with trepidation, "That's where the wealthy gentry and wealthy businessmen live, Your Highness, so the police department's search must also be reported to the city hall, but the problem is...
…”
"It's been 'cleaned up' there," Veteran Morgan couldn't stand it anymore and spoke decisively with murderous intent, "The neighbors around, the guards who watch the door, the vendors selling snacks on the street, and even the coachmen who often run that road have all been cleaned up.
After saying hello, everyone was very tight-lipped about the words "wine merchant", "fugitive" and "arrest", as if they were sure someone would come to inquire about it, but no one was willing to say anything."
"There are still people watching around the intersection," Oscarson added, glancing at Morgan nervously, "It should be the local police officers, or even the Emerald Legion. We, we managed to get rid of them."
Fuck you, Jenn.
Thales sighed:
"So, the clue is broken again?"
"That's not necessarily true," Oscarson said. "A coachman said that not long ago he pulled a man who looked very similar to Moss and watched him enter one of the mansions."
Thales' expression changed: "Really?"
"Wait a minute," Huaiya couldn't help but ask, "but you just said that everyone around you was greeted and no one was willing to speak?"
Morgan glared at him and snorted: "Yes."
"Why is that coachman willing to speak?"
"It's because we are civilized and polite," Oscarson quickly took over, "that he was willing to speak until we asked him nicely."
Waiya narrowed his eyes and looked at Morgan's arm:
"Chief Morgan, why are your fists and knuckles bruised?"
Morgan hid his hands calmly and said coldly:
"I just practiced boxing today, against...a sandbag."
Everyone was suddenly stunned.
"You mean," Huaiya asked doubtfully, "Practice boxing in a civilized and courteous manner, with a good voice?"
Morgan's eyes were like daggers, filled with murderous intent:
"Have you asked enough?"
"Anyway, Your Highness," Oscarson quickly interrupted and rounded off the conversation, "We asked, well, the mansion that Moss visited belongs to a wool merchant named Diop."
"Wool merchant? Diop?"
Thales muttered:
"So, Moss visited this Diop, and then what?"
Mallos nodded: "Mrs. Diop said that on the day Moss was arrested, her husband left home early, but did not return for a long time, and his whereabouts are still unknown."
The prince suddenly frowned:
"The clue is broken again?"
Mallos coughed: "That's not necessarily true."
"Okay," Thales sighed, "Which of the powerful Star Lake guards will it be this time?"
Mallos looked at his subordinates, his expression unusually...unnatural.
"Officer Danny Doyle, he learned through unconventional means," the watchman tried to tell the truth, "that Mr. Diop has a mistress and another residence."
Thales was stunned for a moment:
"You mean D.D, some unconventional way?"
Marius paused, seeming to blame Thales for not talking too much, but he continued:
"As far as I know, Mr. Diop's wife was very fond of Guardsman Doyle and was convinced by Doyle..."
More and more blue eyes...
As soon as this was said, the Star Lake Guards booed, "Sure enough,".
Thales narrowed his eyes.
Everyone was chattering and talking angrily: "I wonder how D.D 'persuaded' her..."
"Of course it's with your mouth..."
"That's right, D.D's eloquence is so good..."
"Then where did you get the persuasion?"
"In a warm, cramped bedroom?"
"Mr. Diop has no problem with that?"
"Mr. Diop doesn't know..."
"It's best not to need to know, right?"
"Quiet!" Mallos had to maintain order, "We are talking about business!"
Thales rubbed his forehead and came to his senses:
"Wait, where is D.D?"
"I was just about to talk about this when he and Pioneer Glover volunteered," Mallos frowned, "to go to the residence of Mr. Diop's mistress first to get information."
These words caused everyone to whisper strangely:
"Alas……"
"Why is he so active..."
"Grabbing credit, this is..."
"It must be for that mistress..."
"Could it be because of Mr. Diop?"
"Then who knows..."
"But he also brought zombies..."
"Three people, it's more fun..."
"You mean attacking from both sides?"
"And Mr. Diop, that's four people..."
"Why do you like Mr. Diop so much..."
But during the inexplicable discussions, Mallos noticed keenly:
Prince Thales frowned deeply.
"Then have you ever thought that Moss was arrested so quickly because my brother was too afraid of the occult?"
Hilley asked: "He didn't want to take the risk of using this chess piece, so he cut off the hands of the secret department at the root and nipped the conspiracy in the cradle?"
"It's possible," Thales nodded, "but in this case, he is too slow."
"Too slow?" Hilley asked doubtfully, "You mean, if my brother is so afraid of the secret science, then he shouldn't let Moss see you at all. He should take action as soon as he suspects Moss.
Silence or arrest to avoid causing trouble?"
"Yes," Thales said, "This is what I can't understand: if Zhan still wants to use Moss, then it would be too fast for him to abandon Moss. If Zhan is afraid of the secret science, then he
It was too slow to arrest Moss again."
"Then maybe his mentality is somewhere between the two. He wants to use Moss to give you a hard blow, but he is also afraid of the secrets in the dark and doesn't want to give them a chance?"
"Maybe, it barely makes sense," Thales sighed, "until last night."
Hilley exhaled a puff of smoke: "Moss is dead?"
Thales nodded.
"No matter who did it, if a secret agent with a sensitive identity died in his prison, Zhan En should be more vigilant and suspicious, and pursue him relentlessly," the prince showed a suspicious expression, "but when he came to instruct his men
He forged evidence and even the time of the crime, and tried his best to cover it up, saying that it was so as not to affect the competition. Secondly, after I discovered and pointed it out, he followed my words and tried to convince me that it was done by the secret department, saying that Moss
Death is just a misguided statement, saying that Moss may be used by the secret department to provoke conflicts. However, this was originally a story I made up a few days ago to win his trust."
"Unless this is what Zhan himself did," Hilley frowned, "there is something wrong behind that wine merchant."
Thales nodded in agreement:
"In this way, I probably pieced together another set of truth."
Thales gently stroked his hand with a look in his eyes:
"At the beginning, Moss went to Zhan En to make the latter suspect that the wine merchant had been instigated by the Secret Service. But Zhan En was well aware of it. Instead of being afraid at all, he pretended not to know and used a trick to let Moss get close to me in order to get the maximum amount of money.
Interests."
"But when I arrived in the Emerald City, Zhan suddenly discovered that there was something wrong with Moss. This made your brother change his mind and decided to abandon the original plan and arrest Moss on the street. He even pursued him after he was imprisoned.
I want to put an end to his mouth."
Hilley frowned: "What's wrong with Moss?"
Thales shook his head:
"I don't know. But since Zhan can feel free to let Moss get close to me, he must have thoroughly investigated Moss before. What can make him change his mind must not be some rotten old thing, such as Moss enriching himself.
Or the wine business is losing money or something.”
Xi Lai nodded in understanding:
"And it must have happened after the wine merchant arrived in the Emerald City, or maybe even before he went to find you?"
Thales nodded: "Exactly."
"It's the secret science of the kingdom."
Xi Lai pondered for a few seconds and said with certainty:
"No matter what problem Zhan found in Moss that made him lose his temper, it must be related to the secret science. This is the only explanation."
Thales agreed and said solemnly:
"I think, regarding Moss, maybe the Kingdom Secret Service and your brother have been fighting back and forth for several rounds in an invisible place."
Xi Lai thought of something and his expression changed slightly:
"Wait, so you sent someone to track down Moss?"
"Already gone, as we speak."
"Bring them back."
"Okay, what did you say?" Thales said in surprise.
Heilai shook his head:
"If the problems with Moss really make my brother afraid to this extent...believe me, you won't find anything."
"Are you sure?"
Hilley affirmed:
"First of all, you are outsiders. With my brother's control over this city, no action of yours can be hidden from him..."
"Secondly, if your men are lucky and find clues, it will be even worse. With my brother's character, he will do whatever it takes, no matter the cost..."
Thales frowned:
"What's the meaning?"
"it means……"
Xi Lai took a deep breath and said seriously:
"Your men, they are in danger."
"We're a step late."
In a luxurious mansion, D.D followed Glover and walked into a room full of the smell of blood, with the curtains drawn tightly.
"This should be the wool merchant named Diop and his mistress. They have been hiding here these days until..."
Glover frowned and looked at the man and woman who had been dead on the bed for a long time.
Behind him, D.D was holding on to the wall with a pale face, taking deep breaths.
"Have you never seen a dead person?"
"I've seen it, but..." D.D gritted his teeth and forced himself to look at the pair of corpses on the bed, "They didn't need to kill her too."
Glover calmly opened the curtains and let the light shine into the room: Diop's expression before his death was very frightened.
"It's not 'them', it's 'him'."
"he?"
"This technique was done by the same person," Glover grabbed Diop's wrist and observed it carefully, "Stop the target and break the wrist, just like Moss in prison."
"The only difference is that in order to avoid the target struggling, Moss was probably knocked unconscious and silenced, while this..."
Glover looked at Diop's expression, then looked at the red-stained sheets, and couldn't help but frown:
"Diop was tied to the bed and could not move. He could only watch himself bleeding and dying slowly."
Feel life leaving your body little by little.
D.D finally adjusted and resumed normal breathing:
"Why?"
"Let me guess, for the purpose of torture," Glover looked at the wound, "in this case, he will answer whatever you ask."
"No, I mean, why kill him?"
"Like Moss, the wool merchant must know something."
Clang.
There was a sudden muffled sound upstairs, startling both of them.
D.D took a deep breath and lowered his voice:
"You just said we were a little late?"
Glover stared at the ceiling, held down the hilt of the sword, slightly bent his knees, and quietly walked out of the room:
"It seems he hasn't left yet and is still searching upstairs."
"what should we do?"
"There are stairs on both sides of the corridor. You are on the left and we are on the right. We will block him upstairs."
D.D followed him out of the room on tiptoe and his expression changed: "Really? What if he jumps out of the window? How about I call for some backup..."
"He's going to run away, we don't have time," Glover narrowed his eyes, "Just in time, recall, how much of your swordsmanship is left now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Grover took a step forward and quietly walked towards the stairs.
"Oops!"
D.D whispered: "Glover!"
But now that the matter was over, Doyle had no choice but to follow Glover's arrangement, step quietly, and climb the stairs on the other side.
Dad really made a mistake.
D.D leaned against the wall and cursed in his mind as he stepped forward:
Staying by the prince's side is not a job of "eating, drinking, and fooling around"!
He quietly went up to the second floor, and what appeared in front of him was a dark corridor.
D.D swallowed: I'm not afraid of the dark.
At this moment.
"You came so quickly," a strange voice sounded through the wall, cold, hoarse, and full of ominousness, "Big man, are you the prince's man?"
D.D was startled at first, then reacted immediately:
Oops, the enemy discovered Glover!
"Humph, you hide your head and hide your tail," Grover's voice sounded, obviously no longer hiding his figure, "Are you a wanted person who can't be seen in the light, or are you too ugly to be seen in public?"
Doyle quickly speeded up and went to meet Glover, preparing to attack from both front and rear.
The enemy laughed sinisterly:
"So, you are a royal guard, right?"
But before D.D could run a few steps, he hit a wall!
Hold!
Doyle understood and cursed in his heart:
After going up the stairs on both sides, the two sides are not connected to each other!
And Glover... is probably still waiting for him to "attack from both front and back"?
The situation was urgent, D.D gritted his teeth and ran back towards the road!
Fuck your grandma’s zombies! What a bad idea! Fuck you from both front and rear!
"How much did Iris give you?" Glover said on the other side of the wall.
"enough."
As the words fell, the sound of weapons clashing suddenly sounded, along with Glover's roar!
Obviously, Glover has already made contact with the enemy.
"Glover!"
Doyle did not care about being discovered by the enemy, and ran while shouting to remind him of his position:
"Guard Guard Glover?"
Fortunately, Glover is the most skilled person around the prince, well, except maybe that Arend?
But soon, the sound of fighting stopped.
Glover's roar was no longer heard.
D.D's heart tightened.
"Glover?"
No way?
"Karen Glover?"
But Glover didn't answer.
"Zombies?"
D.D roared:
"Glover? A zombie!"
"answer me!"
Glover still didn't answer.
Doyle became more and more anxious. He rushed up the stairs that Glover had walked and rushed up to the corridor on the second floor.