"Click."
Then he closed the door in her face and locked it.
"σ(°дφ;)"
Hitzfeld's heart skipped a beat.
This, this, this, this...
What are you doing?
Is that not a joke?
She really wanted to me...
Want to give me...
"What we are going to talk about next cannot be known to others."
Turning around, the woman's face was serious.
"Aren't you curious about what happened in Wayne Port during this period?"
"Come on, we can have a good chat."
Call ~
Hitzfeld first breathed a sigh of relief, glad that it was not what she thought.
"..."
Then a feeling of guilt came over me, and I felt that I had evil thoughts.
It was just a joke, what are you thinking, Hitzfeld...
Stop reminiscing about those sketches and get down to business!
"Last year, in the Frost Moon of 1983, just as we dealt with the second golem curse in Blackwood City, a strange case occurred in the capital at the same time..."
There were two beds in the room. Xia Yibing sat on the bed near the door and started talking.
Hitzfeld quickly sat down on the other bed opposite him, focused his attention and began to listen.
"Before I describe this case, I want to ask, Hitzfeld, do you watch football?"
"……what?"
"A ball game. A football game."
Is there football here in Changxia?
Hitzfeld was stunned at first, then he felt it was natural.
Well, it's human nature to kick a ball - or to kick things.
If you put an empty beverage bottle on the side of the road, more than half of the passers-by who see it will want to kick it out of disgust.
She, Ezun Hitzfeld, had done just that.
But she mistook the steel stake for a can, which caused her to stay in the hospital for almost half a month.
"I don't watch it," she answered, "but I know something about it."
"The Wayne Red Lions and the Wayne Giants - these are the two most famous teams in Wayne Harbor."
Xia Yibing nodded and continued.
"The Wayne Red Lions is a team supported by workers and the middle class. It has been established for 58 years and has won numerous honors. Many aristocrats are its fans."
"The Wayne Giants were established earlier, 60 years ago, and have also won many honors, but the difference is that its predecessor was a completely grassroots team, and its supporters still include a large number of farmers, vagrants and even hooligans."
"I'm just giving you a brief introduction to their background. You don't need to know more." She waved her hand. "The story begins with a game at the end of Bingyue."
"That was the last game of the Ice Moon, a league match. The organizing committee felt that these two teams were the strongest, so they moved their rounds to this round, hoping to generate more ticket revenue and topic effect. That was December 12th, and that night countless people flocked to the Weinport Ice Dragon Stadium to watch the game, including a large number of nobles."
"Count Igor, Baron Larence...even Prince Tenize and Princess Vona, they came to the exclusive VIP box with their tickets, wanting to witness the Wayne Red Lions win this year's league championship."
"Because this year the Wayne Red Lions had such a huge lead, they were 18 points ahead of the second place team, the Wayne Giants, and had already won the championship. But the reason they were so excited was because the two teams were sworn enemies, and it would be a very satisfying thing to win the championship in front of their sworn enemies and beat them up on the field at the same time... Do you understand my explanation?"
"clear."
Hitzfeld continued to nod.
It seems that Xia Yibing completely treats her as a fool.
Humph.
She might even know more about football techniques than she does.
"Everything was normal at first."
Xia Yibing raised one hand and waved it gently to accompany the description.
"The game was not disrupted, there was no disturbance in the stadium, and the Wayne Red Lions won the championship normally. Well, there were still some disturbances afterwards... There were some clashes between the fans of the two teams..."
"But the real trouble is the box."
She changed the subject.
"Count Igor was found lifeless."
Chapter 4: The Mysterious Case of the Ticket
"Who?"
Hitzfeld said she still can't remember the jumbled names.
"Fran Igor." Xia Yibing had no choice but to give her a detailed introduction. "The shipping tycoon controls one-third of the sea routes. The shipping company he runs has royal family shareholders. Even in Wayne Port, he is a person who can cause a small earthquake with just a stomp of his feet."
"Oh..." Hitzfeld nodded, "So, he's dead?"
"died."
"How did he die?...Shouldn't a person like him have a lot of bodyguards around him?"
"That's right, Hitzfeld." Xia Yibing nodded continuously, "That's the problem - the box is sealed, and there is no one inside except thirteen guests and four royal guards. Until Count Igor was found dead, only two waitresses had entered. We have traced all the clues we can, but we can't figure out how he died."
"How can we not know?" Hitzfeld was completely attracted by this strange case. "Autopsy? Dissection? Was it caused by external force or drugs? How can we not know?"
"External force." Xia Yibing kept shaking her head, "You don't understand, Hitzfeld... You didn't see the situation at the time."
"what's the situation?"
"The Earl was indeed killed by an external force." Xia Yibing kept pressing down her palm, "His throat was cut by a sharp weapon, and blood was all over his body..."
"Then there is a murderer. All we need to do is identify the other 18 suspects..."
"No, no, no, you just don't understand." Xia Yibing interrupted her again, "You don't understand the outrageous part here."
"Something outrageous?"
"Yes, because the murder weapon was a football ticket."
The debate in the room suddenly stopped.
It was as if the pause button had been pressed, and only the faint sound of the waves could be heard.
"A...ticket? You mean a piece of paper?"
"Yes." Xia Yibing nodded vigorously, with a look of despair on her face, "And the piece of paper is held by the Earl himself."
"..." Hitzfeld was completely speechless.
She suddenly understood Xia Yibing. Indeed, this case was outrageous and strange in some ways.
"He was holding the ticket so tightly that we had to saw through his fingers to get it out intact."
Xia Yibing sighed: "Then we will have to check and examine... Fortunately, the other twelve guests are very reasonable and try their best to cooperate with us to meet our requirements..."
"Is this what you've been busy with recently?" Hitzfeld had already guessed.
If Fran Igor is really as important as Xia Yibing said, then his death would indeed cause a small earthquake. It is normal for Shadow Lion, as a secret police, to be busy cleaning up the mess during this period.
This would explain why they had left aside her, a person who might have god organs - after all, she was not the only one with god organs from ancient times to the present. Since people had never seen gods in action since records began, it meant that having god organs would not bring any huge changes in convenience to society.
"It's true that I'm busy with this, but it's not as simple as you think..."
Xia Yibing still shook her head, "The murderer... has not been caught. We don't even know if there is a murderer. Shadow Lion internally tends to believe that this is a new type of curse, and we have started investigating from the Earl's collection..."
"That was all months ago, Hitzfeld... The problem now is that there are new victims every month."
"A new...victim?" Hitzfeld glared slightly.
"Yes." Xia Yibing sighed again, "In December 1983, it was Count Igor, in January this year it was Baron Fields... He was the director of the Wayne Transportation Administration, in February it was Baron Lombardy... He was in charge of the port food trade market, and in March it was Baron Brun... He didn't have much real power and didn't like to get involved, but he was already the fourth one."
"One person dies every month, and the range is basically random among the thirteen guests, and they are all slashed in the throat by the ticket for that game. When they die, no matter where we put the ticket in advance, it will appear in the hands of the deceased, and they will be clutched tightly like that."
"Does the thirteen include His Royal Highness the Prince and Princess?"
Xia Yibing nodded her head and didn't say anything, but Hitzfeld had already assumed that this was the case.
That's normal.
Right? Compared to the lives of these nobles, Hitzfeld is indeed insignificant. Shadow Lion should have been investigating the ticket incident during this period, and she... might have been forgotten.
"Is the case solved now?" Hitzfeld continued to ask.
Excluding all factors, Xia Yibing's description did make her curious.
Judging from the clues currently available, it can be basically confirmed that this was not a crime committed by humans.
There are so many Shadow Lions, and if they are asked to watch over the target under alert conditions, the target can be killed... If this is a crime committed by humans, then the Shadow Lions would be such useless people.
What's more, humans can't do these things. This should be a new type of curse.
"There are two lines of inquiry now." Xia Yibing introduced to the girl, "One line starts from Count Igor's collection, which is to continue investigating them... because they suspect that there are cursed objects in these collections, and this object has affected the count, passing the curse to him, and through his death, it spread to the other twelve VIPs in the box."
"The second one."
"The second is to start with the tickets they all have."
Xia Yibing took out a wallet from her windbreaker pocket and pulled out a soft ticket printed on a very thin, light yellow paper.
Hitzfeld reached out to take it reflexively.
Then she suddenly realized that the thing might be cursed, and immediately pulled her hand back.
"This is not one of the thirteen tickets."
Xia Yibing was amused by her caution.
"Relax, we just collected it from the citizens."
"I know." Hitzfeld blushed a little, and retracted his hand to smooth his skirt.
"I just pressed my skirt, let me fix it first."
"laugh!"
Xia Yibing really couldn't help it.
Hitzfeld glared at her fiercely, snatched the ticket, and held it in front of his eyes to examine it carefully.
[Veen Red Lion: Venn Giant]
[Vienport Ice Dragon Stadium]
[1983年12月26日17：30]
As a football ticket, this thing has a very simple design.
The light yellow paper only had these three lines of words printed on it, plus the logos of the two teams next to them.
The Red Lions' team emblem is a circle with the team name written inside. In the middle is a lion wearing a crown. The lion extends a paw to press down a roll of parchment with a number written on it: 1926.
The Giants' logo has no ring; it's just a sign with the Giants' team name on it, the number 1924 below it, and a bust of a "giant" on the top side - Hitzfeld thought it looked like the moai statues on Easter Island.
Then above all the content there is a dark blue rectangular seal slanted upward, and words such as "Sara Sports Athletic Union" can be vaguely recognized.
Nothing special, just very ordinary except for the simplicity.
Can something like this kill people?
Hitzfeld had a question mark on his face and immediately scratched his neck with it.
"Hey!"
