"unnecessary."
The woman interrupted him decisively and dropped a Sera gold coin.
"You haven't seen us today."
"...I don't understand."
Back in front of the store where Lowry was guarding, James finally managed to utter these words.
He can not understand.
I really don't understand.
"You mean the sewer workers? I can guess a little." Xia Yibing pondered.
The others turned their eyes to her and listened to her words: "Jewelry theft cases... This kind of case is not uncommon. The Security Bureau often sends some new agents to handle cases without evil spirits, and most of them involve theft of valuables. Most of them are from jewelry stores. I encountered several cases when I was a grassroots."
As she said this, she fixed her gaze on Lori, a glance that made the young agent break out in a cold sweat.
I can't compare with you, my dear director...
"From these cases, I learned that a special benefit is cleaning the sewers." Xia Yibing continued, "I was confused at first, but after the explanations from the seniors, I realized that it was the people in the jewelry stores who cut jewelry and gold items for customers during the day. It was inevitable that their hands and bodies would be stained with gold powder, which would flow into the sewer pipes along with the dirt when they washed and bathed."
"Is that so?" James opened his mouth, "But that's not--"
"Very few." Xia Yibing nodded, "Very... very few..."
"A tiny bit of gold dust falls into the sewage in the sewer and sinks into the mud at the bottom... Even if we dig out the mud and spend time to refine the gold dust, it will probably take a long time to accumulate a gold grain."
"Of course this is crazy to you, Mr. Larence, and even to us. We don't need to do such a thing for a particle of gold."
"But what if it's the 'dung collectors' instead?"
"A dark birthday, a hopeless fate..."
"A grain of gold is enough to transform even the lowest of the lowly."
Chapter 18 Scene 3
These words had a huge impact on both James Larrence and Lowry.
Especially the former... He boasted that he had lived and eaten with the lowest-level workers and had a good understanding of the toiling people in the lower class. He boasted that he could grasp their minds, know their needs, and gain prestige by satisfying their wishes - he fully understood how to control them.
But it was not until today that he realized that those workers were not at the bottom of the society.
They have houses to live in, salaries to receive, free bread for breakfast, and even if the sewers are clogged, there are "conscientious bosses" like themselves who will pay to fix the problem.
Compared to him, Lawrence, they were certainly not good enough, but compared to those "sewer collectors", they were living in heaven.
At the same time, Lori gradually came to his senses. He opened his mouth wide and stared at the two women among his companions as if he had discovered a new world. He made a staccato sound in his throat as if he was about to die: "So... this is indeed... unreasonable!"
Isn't it? For James, this "golden channel" is not something he cares about. It's the first time for a rookie like him to know about it. But for those low-class people, this kind of work that others avoid - panning for gold in the sewers next to jewelry stores under the banner of cleaning silt, is one of the few opportunities to change their fate!
The most important thing is that it is even legal - the establishment of the review team has caused a lot of harassment to ordinary agents of the Security Bureau. In order to avoid trouble, people like Lori have almost memorized those laws. He dares to guarantee with his own life that there is no law that can target such gold diggers!
So shouldn't it be in high demand?
James doesn't care, the director doesn't care, and I don't care either, but there are people who care! How could it be that no one has come for almost a week?
Lori's sense of investigating cases is not sharp. According to Xia Yibing's impression of him, this person would find it difficult to find even if you put a lot of clues right under his nose, but he is still qualified to be a coolie.
He wanted to run away immediately - he said that he would order people to check the corner tower right away and make sure it was torn down!
"No hurry." Hitzfeld stopped him, "It's been a week... Whether he ran away or died, there's no rush now."
"Dead?" James was stunned, then touched his chin and nodded slowly.
Indeed...if it is really an opportunity to strike gold, then fighting for it is very common. Even if this kind of low-class untouchable dies, no one will care. If the place where he died is more remote, he might not be discovered until he stinks.
They politely asked Lori to take them to the second floor first, and Lori agreed with trepidation.
Xia Yibing wanted to laugh when she saw this.
The main thing is... the more the girl emphasizes etiquette and elegance in front of others, the more she recalls the other person's shyness at the dinner table, and the aftertaste caused by the contrast and difference will be more intense.
"That surprised me~" Just then Hitzfeld spoke.
She spoke in a very low voice, at a level where people walking in front or behind could hear them talking, but couldn't make out what they were saying specifically.
"I didn't expect you to know this kind of knowledge."
"I have been doing this since I was a child until I was 25." Xia Yibing raised her eyebrows proudly. "Before I was responsible for handling real cases, they let me practice a lot. How dare you look down on me? I also crawled out of the mud!"
"I see." Hitzfeld still looked at her with an inexplicable look, "You know, I really like this kind of Xia..."
Xia Yibing's breathing paused slightly.
"Maybe Xia herself didn't notice it, because you were always thinking about revenge and getting rid of that nightmare... But to me, the Xia who works hard and lives diligently is the most beautiful."
This line was really beyond the scope of the girl's speech. Her face became redder and redder. She simply lowered her head and dared not look at her anymore. She only kept muttering to herself: "Anyway, I like this kind of Xia very much... I hope we can always be like this."
Xia Yibing thought about it for a while before she figured out what she meant.
Maybe I didn’t understand it very thoroughly, but “you like the way I work”, I guess I interpreted it correctly?
Was she explaining why she didn't come to see me in Wayne?
Or do you want to use this as an excuse to not have children?
She thought too much and didn't realize that the meaning of these words was so simple.
However, being liked by the person she likes, especially being confessed to, was a huge surprise to Xia Yibing. She immediately put aside all the possible worries and decided to work harder in the next period of time to try to make Aisuen like her more.
There is nothing interesting on the first floor, just a counter and a glass window.
Those display windows originally stored jewelry and gold ornaments for public display. Now that something like this has happened, it is naturally impossible for them to remain there. They were all confiscated long ago, and there is nothing inside now.
Hitzfeld calmed down and saw a huge, heavy iron gate in the middle of the corridor when he went upstairs.
"Mr. Radice," she asked Lori, "is this door...?"
"Oh! Security door." Lori replied.
"You can say it's an anti-theft door... You have to know the layout of their building first. For example, the first floor is a store, the second floor is a showroom, and the third floor is where they rest. Usually after closing, they will store the goods on the first floor on the second or third floor - there are two locked boxes welded to the wall... Then they will lock this door, so even if a thief breaks into the first floor, it will be useless."
"Is that a big box?"
"Very big! I should say huge! Because there were paintings among the treasures, and there were boxes that could hold large picture frames at an angle! You can imagine how big they were."
"It's no use telling you now." Lori shook his head, "It's right up there, you'll be able to see it in a moment."
Daryl hung behind without saying a word, and they followed Lori all the way to the second floor, where they finally saw the so-called exhibition hall.
The decoration is very luxurious.
The wooden floor was re-painted, and the walls were not repainted, but many places were covered with dark red, almost purple-red, reflective silk curtains. There were a total of booths on both sides, each about meters long and meters wide, and the half-person-high base was welded with a locked glass cover, and there was no way to enter.
"It's down there," Lori reminded. "Next to it... this direction should be the left... there's a small window with a lock. You can open it and send things up. There's a secret door on the platform."
"It must have taken a lot of effort to design it?" Xia Yibing asked.
“Let me say a few words about this,” James interrupted. “Actually, there aren’t many. Similar exhibitions have been held many times, and the process is almost fixed, including the construction of this locked booth. They have a very regular industrial process.”
"This is the exhibition area that was stolen for the first time," Hitzfeld confirmed again.
"Yes!"
Nodding, the girl stood up and slowly browsed the booths.
The things inside were gone, and the leather cloth covering some of the booths had been lifted up, revealing holes underneath.
There was a label on each booth to explain what treasures were placed there. She walked past the six booths in turn and stopped at the seventh.
[Latadia Dynasty, Purple Sapphire and Gold Crown]
This is what the label on it says.
There was a line of small print below that provided a detailed explanation of the history of the exhibit. Hitzfeld bent over and read it, and he already knew it was nonsense.
"What Latadia Dynasty! It's complete nonsense!"
Ms. Yusilian had been holding back for a long time, but finally couldn't hold it in anymore.
"You keep all the good stuff but don't know how to use it! You even use it as an antique exhibition!"
"What a bunch of rubbish! Idiots!"
Then you can also scold Erwin...
Hitzfeld's mouth curled up.
I happened to hear James and Lori discussing whether this was a closed-room crime - because there were no windows on the second and third floors, and the iron gate on the second floor was also locked when the incident happened. The person who opened the door said that no one was outside at the time, which made the whole thing very strange.
"Mr. Radice," Hitzfeld turned to them and asked, "Where are the paintings?"
"what?"
"Those paintings, I remember there were three of them, right?"
"Yes, but-"
"please."
He was facing a single azure blue eye.
"I wonder where they were placed."
Chapter 19: Rotten Things 1
"I'll answer that question."
Accompanied by a strong baritone voice, a tall, noble man wearing a dark black suit, a top hat, a scarf and a cane came up from below.
His face and body were slightly overweight, he had curly brown hair, a beard that hung from his temples to his philtrum, and a monocle on his nose that only covered his left eye. Behind him followed two men who were obviously his henchmen, both at least ten years younger than him.
"I'm the owner of this store, Kian Marco. You can just call me Kian." He introduced himself first. "Please forgive me for coming uninvited, but this is my store after all. I gave Detective Radice the key to the store, but I will definitely have to send someone to keep an eye on it."
"I know!" Lori was stunned, then nodded, "This is what I should do! No problem!"
"Then this one." Jian focused his attention on the only one-eyed girl in the crowd. "If I'm not mistaken, you are Aisuen Hitzfeld... His Majesty's newly appointed 'Count Jiyang'?"
"It's me." There was nothing wrong with admitting this. Since Hitzfeld chose to return to the capital and intervene in this case, she was naturally very clear about how obvious this eye mask was.
"Then I'll have to use a different welcome." Kian bowed to her, "You can call me Baron Marco."
This is blatant discrimination.
Hitzfeld raised his eyebrows and squinted at Lori, but found that he didn't say anything. It seemed that in his opinion, this was the way it should be, and it was not an offense to him.
He was a rookie and might not understand the deeper meaning, but Xia Yibing was different. She walked up directly and pushed Ji An hard before anyone could react, directly knocking down his pretentious airs. He had to rely on two servants to support his arms before he could barely stand.
"You--?" He definitely wanted to get angry, but Xia Yibing's overly young and charming appearance intimidated him. He couldn't help but think of the new security director who was cold and arrogant like a venomous snake and also had similar characteristics. His anger was immediately suppressed, and he stared with difficulty: "I wonder who you are...?"
"You know what? It's because you're always like this that I hate dealing with you." Xia Yibing showed a dry smile, "Why? Only Earl Xieyang is qualified to let you reveal your worth? The agents of the Security Bureau are not worthy?"
"I definitely didn't mean that!" Kian's face changed, and within three seconds he went from suppressing his anger to a bright smile: "What I mean is... after all, we are in different circles? Detective Radice has his life and circle, Count Hitzfeld and I have our aristocratic circle, and everyone lives and speaks in their own circle... until we have an intersection, I don't look down on Mr. Radice!"
"It's no big deal, right? Chief?" Lori was also startled by the sudden conflict and leaned forward to whisper, "I've talked to Mr. Marco many times. He's a good person. I can guarantee it."
Unexpectedly, Xia Yibing not only didn't listen to him, but instead glared at him with an extremely vicious look, and almost squeezed out a sentence from between her teeth: "...Shut up!"
Did I say something wrong?
Lori's face showed confusion, but he was very afraid of his immediate superior, so he quickly took a step back and put his hands behind his back like a trainee being trained.
Hitzfeld wanted to laugh when he saw this.
Lori may not realize that... in his opinion, Kian Marco is indeed polite to him, but in fact this is a sign of alienation.
It would be fine if you couldn't help, but you were so smart as to try to mediate the fight. You should at least figure out who your director is speaking for.
What a slow guy.
"Ah? So it is Director Imaer?" Kian undoubtedly heard their conversation clearly, and his smile became even brighter. "You may not know that Mr. Villefort and I have a good personal relationship..."
"What about me, Kian?" James came out from behind the curtain, staring at him unkindly. "You came back at a decent speed, but you're just talking nonsense here instead of describing what you know. Do you think your father is too tired from work? Do you want to retire?"
"Ah!" Jian was shocked. "This... Master Larence...!?"
"Shut up! I told you not to call me that!"
"Oh! Yes! But James...I actually-"
"Are we this close?" The young man had a terrifying look on his face, and he exuded the kind of authority that only a superior can have. "Get out right now! You are not allowed to come in unless I tell you to!!"
