The volume was so loud that it felt like, even though she was used to whispers all around her, one of the voices suddenly came close to her ear and screamed at her in a whisper.
Hitzfeld was understandably startled.
After realizing the meaning of the whisper, he jumped again.
What do these things mean?
Was what Ferdinand just said a lie? Or was he hiding something more important?
For a moment, Hitzfeld was a little confused.
She couldn't understand where Ferdinand could have tampered with or lied.
Ignoring this matter for now, she planned to go to the Pollution Inspection Department again after returning today to ask Xixus, the mixed-haired loli.
Next, Ferdinand kept the girl at home for lunch.
Hitzfeld helped with the cooking. She was really worried about Ferdinand's cooking skills. After watching him for a few dozen seconds, she held her forehead and sighed, implying that she actually knew how to cook.
The dean of the Divine Academy, who was indeed lacking in experience in some aspects, was fooled and immediately gave up the position of head chef, claiming that he wanted to see it.
But as soon as he took the first bite of food, Ferdinand regretted it.
As he chewed, he wondered whether it would be necessary for him to cook at home in the future.
In the afternoon, the decryption work continued.
Hitzfeld had no intention of cracking the second level for the time being. She was thinking hard, turning the gears from time to time, and was actually secretly recording the patterns of the gears.
The ciphertext corresponding to the second level should be "eternal emotion" if nothing unexpected happens.
She kept trying to spell the sentence over and over, but always messed up the order of the characters when she was about to succeed.
This is to facilitate proficiency and memory, in preparation for quickly opening it next time.
This situation continued until four o'clock in the afternoon, when Hitzfeld suggested leaving.
"You're welcome to come every Saturday morning from now on." Ferdinand walked her to the gate. "If you don't have time in the morning, the afternoon is fine."
He was the only one - Aglaia had slipped away at two o'clock, and she felt like a moron caught between Ferdinand and Hitzfeld, and she had only a vague understanding of any ancient grammar they discussed.
Hitzfeld responded politely and looked across. The black Beetle was gone.
She was not in a hurry and walked slowly along the curb.
After a while, a black Beetle came from behind and honked at her twice.
"How about it?"
Looking at the girl getting into the car, Xia Yibing asked her.
Hitzfeld told her what she had encountered and discovered.
Of course, that illusion was skipped. It was too horrifying and even Xia Yibing might not believe it.
And she didn’t want to…
One could even say that I was afraid... of being treated as a monster by my best friend.
"There's nothing wrong with his motive." Xia Yibing pondered, "That's why we don't care about him... Only a fool like Tariq would focus the investigation on this."
“Is everything he said accurate?” Hitzfeld demanded. “Has any detail been tampered with?”
"He didn't mention any details." Xia Yibing smiled, "They were all general things... I can confirm that they are all correct."
She was not yet born when the secret war took place, but she had heard about it and had also found opportunities to look through the files stored within Shadow Lion.
Indeed, both are correct.
"what--"
Hitzfeld suddenly let out a deflated sound that was almost a scream, and collapsed back into the sitting position.
The clue is broken again.
She couldn't help but suspect that the whispers of "he's lying" were just indirect convulsions and were not referring to Ferdinand at all.
She thought it would be best if she didn't trust them too much.
Otherwise, one day when she goes to the toilet and is about to get some tissues, they will say "it's poisonous"!
...Will she still wipe it?
"Code book?"
A voice suddenly came from behind.
Hitzfeld shuddered and turned around in surprise, only to see Alfred sitting in the back seat with a calm demeanor.
"His mission originally included protecting you." Xia Yibing explained, "And those agents who followed you... Actually, everyone knows them, but they are not familiar with each other."
Is that why we only invited this old man to get on the bus?
Hitzfeld was not satisfied with this explanation.
She felt indignant that her private space had been violated.
"Wait." Alfred continued, "Hitzfeld, you said he asked you to decipher a code book?"
"Yes!" Hitzfeld turned his head away unhappily.
She had been scared too many times today.
For her weak spirit, this treatment was terrible.
"But it's an iron-black book with lots of scratches on it, a hollow in the middle of the cover, and lots of precise gears in the middle?"
"How do you know...?"
Hitzfeld turned back and stared at the old man in surprise.
The code book is Ferdinand's treasure.
Judging from his attitude towards it, the only people who know about the existence of such a thing are probably himself, Hitzfeld, Aglaia and Grace... just these four!
How did Alfred know?
Has he seen it?
"I think I've seen this thing before..."
Alfred frowned in thought.
"It was a long, long time ago, and the person who held it was Flanders, and..."
"I think she has turned to the last page."
Chapter 44: The Concept of the Strongest
"squeak--!"
Xia Yibing stepped on the brakes.
The conversation between the two was a bit too scary. She had to slow down...slow down...
Hitzfeld said nothing.
Alfred didn't say anything either.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the car became a little weird. The three of them stared at one place in a daze, until Xia Yibing came to their senses and broke the deadlock.
"That is to say," she said slowly, "when nothing is clear, a new question arises: why did Nosa Ferdinand lie?"
"Are you sure that's what you saw?" Hitzfeld asked the old man behind him.
"…Although I'm old, I'm not blind. And there's nothing wrong with my memory!" Alfred glared back.
There was another moment of silence.
If what Alfred said was true, then Ferdinand was indeed quite strange.
There are a number of issues involved here, two main ones:
①: Did he know that his wife was able to decipher the entire book?
②: If he knew, what was his purpose in continuing to decipher the book?
"Could it be possible," Hitzfeld said, "that there might be some trace of Frau Folland in that book, and that Ferdinand was trying so hard to find it?"
"It's possible." Xia Yibing nodded and then shook her head, "But it's been many years since the book was recovered. Why didn't he look for it earlier or later, but now?"
After asking this question, she and Hitzfeld looked up at each other at the same time and said in unison: "...Death Ticket!"
Yes, it all started with the cursed ticket.
Hitzfeld calculated the time when Ferdinand began to "expend great efforts" to decipher the code book, and the time when Ferdinand "recruited" Aglaia, and found that it was both after the ticket case broke out.
Although he emphasized that "he had already started researching how to decipher it," she had not seen it with her own eyes after all, so she couldn't take it seriously for the time being.
Then the cause and effect relationship here has been sorted out temporarily.
Because of the death ticket case, when everyone was confused and couldn't figure out the pattern, Nosa Ferdinand seemed to have seen the mystery and thought that the mystery was hidden in the code book left by his ex-wife.
His research, work, recruiting Aglaia, finding Hitzfeld as an assistant, and constantly testing her in various ways, all of this is to crack the secret of the mystery.
So here comes a series of new problems:
How did he figure it out?
What will be the secret in the book?
Why did he firmly believe that Onia Folland would leave something in the book, and that this thing would be of great help in alleviating the current situation?
"Hitzfeld." Xia Yibing parked the car by the roadside and took out a small notebook and a pen.
"Repeat everything you said to Ferdinand during your time with him."
"Okay." Hitzfeld nodded immediately.
"Wait." Xia Yibing raised her hand again to stop her, and turned back to stare at Alfred who had a curious look on his face.
"You, get out of the car and stand guard."
The old man moved his lips, shook his head, opened the car door and got out.
"boom!"
"You can say it now."
Nodding, Hitzfeld let out most of the suspicions she had built up over this period of time.
Including the photo album that Ferdinand was flipping through in the dream, the photos and greeting cards, the game whose details she had found out, and her personal association with the number "13".
Ognia Folland was originally sentenced to 13 years in prison.
The ticket curse case that has now broken out also involves 13 people.
Moreover, when the curse that entangled these 13 people really broke out, the time it took them to be killed by the curse was about 13 seconds.
All Hitzfeld can say is that she personally doesn't think it's a pure coincidence.
"Ferdinand may have seen the problem from here." She analyzed for Xia Yibing, "Maybe there is a connection. Plus - this is my personal speculation - he is not as cold-blooded as the rumors say. In fact, he feels guilty and indebted for what happened that year. So he may be like a startled bird, and immediately connect the case with what happened that year."
"You mean, the murderer might be related to the trial that year?"
Xia Yibing's face looked frighteningly serious.
"It's even possible that it was Ms. Folland." Hitzfeld nodded slightly.
"She was sentenced to 13 years in prison, secretly hating her husband's ruthlessness. Then Deepnes attacked Feyton Castle and created chaos. Maybe she didn't die, but was bewitched after being disheartened..."
"So there are 13 cursed people and 13 seconds to kill. This is not only to create chaos in Wayne, but also a declaration of revenge!" Xia Yibing completed the rest of the sentence for her, speaking quickly: "Ferdinand undoubtedly understood this - only he could understand this!"
She was very excited because this was a huge breakthrough! The death ticket case that had troubled the capital and tortured the secret police for several months finally had a breakthrough!
"Why didn't you tell me clearly earlier?"
At the end of the discussion, the woman even looked at Hitzfeld with resentment.
"You didn't believe it then, did you?"
Hitzfeld just curled his lips.
"And I'm not sure yet. The most important thing is——"
She thought back to the conversation in the dean's office.
