"Woof!" The big white dog barked in response, came to Ashley, grabbed the corner of her clothes, and dragged her upstairs forcibly.
"Can't it be extended a little longer?"
Looking back, Hitzfeld spoke with anticipation in his tone.
Of course she could guess why Alfred was here.
They had discussed this topic when they were at the beach, but she didn't expect it to happen so soon, and she couldn't even give him the last day.
"It's been very long." Alfred shook his head. "It's been very long... Hitzfeld... You have to understand that she is not an ordinary agent. The reason she can have this vacation is because you have made continuous contributions and fabricated a need for recuperation..."
"We do need to recuperate." The girl interrupted him. "The injuries she suffered in Tarignan may not have healed yet. I haven't recovered yet... I think it will take at least a year of observation to confirm whether there is any virus left in her body."
"You don't have to tell me this, Hitzfeld." Alfred still shook his head, "...You know, the conditions you got are already the best."
Sure enough, it still doesn't work.
Nodding, Hitzfeld couldn't say he was very disappointed.
It was something that was expected...what is there to be disappointed about?
Now she was just glad that she took Xia to the beach yesterday morning, which was a perfect ending to this vacation.
The only downside is...
Thinking of the strange things the other person said on the reef, she turned her head away and her face turned slightly red.
"But this may not be the case."
Alfred suddenly changed the subject and continued under the stares of the two men: "First of all, you want to stay here to maintain your pretense, which is definitely impossible."
"But if you are not opposed to going on vacation somewhere else, I think this case can be considered a special favor from Her Majesty the Queen..."
Thirty minutes later, Alfred finished smoking and walked into the room, and saw the two men sitting there, staring at a file in a daze.
He did not disturb it. Seeing that the fire in the fireplace was about to go out, he walked over to pick up the dry firewood next to it and added some more to the fire.
It's autumn now and the temperature drops sharply at night. If you want to stay decent without wearing thick clothes, making a fire is the only option.
Perhaps he had finished reading it, or perhaps he was disturbed by the crackling sound of the sparks, Hitzfeld put down the file and said with emotion: "It is indeed a very mysterious case..."
"It's amazing, isn't it?" Alfred nodded. "Indeed... the entire Bartlett Beach seemed to be cursed overnight. All the children who grew up after that eternal night would rush into the sea without hesitation, just like turtles rushing to where they should go... I've lived for so many years and this is the first time I've seen this."
"No, that's not the mysterious thing I'm talking about."
Hitzfeld glanced quickly at Xia Yibing and met her eyes.
The two of them first smiled at each other, then frowned almost at the same time and immersed themselves in the files again.
Xuanqi corresponds to that song.
As Alfred introduced, this case is very simple. After an eternal night, the entire town on the beach was possessed by a demon, so after that, the adult children went crazy and wanted to go to the sea regardless of anything.
She glanced at the place names at the beginning of the file.
The town of Bartlett.
The geographical location is in the southern sea area. If the southeast coastline of Sara is regarded as a bow, then Nanxinze is almost at the bottom, Amilun is in the upper middle, and Wayne and Hei Mu are in the middle.
Bartlett is right between the middle and lower levels, slightly below.
“Could it be a parasite?”
Xia Yibing asked, "I remember there are several types of parasites that can cause the host to go crazy and pounce on the water..."
"During your rest period, we have already conducted the most comprehensive physical examinations on them, and have basically ruled out this possibility."
Alfred shook his head.
That would be weird.
Hitzfeld looked at him and then at the file, narrowing his one eye little by little.
Could it be that he is a deep diver?
Chapter 6 Beach Anecdote 2
"The town of Bartlett has a population of 3, and the ratio of minors/young adults/elderly is maintained at 3/4/."
Number 12 Flo Street was brightly lit, and Alfred was still helping to explain the case.
"From this ratio, you can see that there is usually no 'danger' there. The elderly live long and the newborn population has a strong desire - of course, the economy is indeed a problem."
This is no longer something that can be described as “a difficult problem”.
Hitzfeld looked at the simple map that came with the file.
It was simple, but at least the railroad lines were marked. None of the railroad lines she saw could connect there, and the whole town... the whole beach was surrounded by a ridge. This place was almost isolated from the world, and the economy certainly couldn't be good.
With his past life experience, Hitzfeld knew too well how much a safe and convenient transportation route could stimulate the economy. Bartlett had almost no land transportation lines, which made it meaningless even if it had seven or eight ports of varying sizes.
The reason is simple - merchants are profit-driven, and they ship goods by sea to land in order to make more money. If the consumption desire in a place is low and there are no land transportation channels, why would their ships stop there?
So it’s embarrassing that the seven or eight ports in the small town of Bartlett are all small ports, and they basically only meet the needs of the fishermen to go out to sea.
"This is a town that relies entirely on the ocean for survival," Alfred continued. "More than one-third of the 60,000 people are fishermen. You can imagine how much of an impact this incident has on the local area."
"Is this why Sisyphus left early?" Hitzfeld asked him. "Is she in town too?"
"That's right." Alfred nodded. "Not only her, but other doctors as well... Oh, your old friend Lu Xier also went there, but it's a pity that he hasn't come up with anything remarkable in this period of time."
That's really weird.
Looking at Xia Yibing again, both of their expressions became more serious.
Sixus is not just a doctor. She has assimilated some mimic viruses. With years of experience, there are not many diseases that can stump her.
Anything that can be done must be extremely difficult.
"Alfred." After thinking for a moment, Hitzfeld looked up at the other person. "You... call this case a vacation?"
Is it because it is a combination of south and seaside? But it obviously doesn't look easy.
"No, you don't understand the situation." Alfred smiled. "Currently, almost all the troubles are taken care of by doctors. There are very few jobs for agents - at least in this place."
"Why?" Xia Yibing was puzzled. "Is there nothing the agent can do?"
"There's nothing we can do." Alfred waved his hand. "How can we do anything if we can't even find out the cause? There's nothing wrong with each of the children. We can't just shoot into the air."
"How do you deal with these people now?"
"Lock them up - lock them up first, observe them for a while, see how serious their symptoms are... and then decide whether to put them in a special ward."
"Special ward?"
“It’s one of those houses that’s made entirely of cushions.”
"Will they commit suicide?"
"It's not necessarily for the purpose of committing suicide... but they do bang their heads against the wall, but banging their heads against the wall and committing suicide are not their goals."
Alfred paused for a moment, and Hitzfeld noticed that his left little finger was trembling slightly.
"How else would I find you?" He continued, "Let me tell you about this symptom problem."
"First, the first group - the children who showed symptoms the earliest. We have the least number of people under our control, about 12. Many of them jumped into the sea on the night of the incident. You can go over there and help retrieve the bodies. It's an easy job."
"Stop talking nonsense." Xia Yibing glared at him unhappily, "Get to the point—what are the symptoms!?"
"The first week was fine. They just showed a strong desire to jump into the sea." Alfred rubbed his fingers and kept his eyes on the carpet pattern while speaking. "It's okay for you to communicate with them at this time... They know who you are, your profession, and what your purpose is in asking them. Of course, they also remember who they are and who their relatives are..."
"But everything changes starting from the second week. They will start to go crazy and lose their minds gradually during the second eternal night... In the second week, they no longer care who you are - they can still recognize you, but they will be very impatient, including with relatives and lovers... They will roar loudly and frantically demand that we lift all restrictions on them."
“And then the third week…it just kept getting worse.”
"At this point they are no longer willing to eat normally and need catheters, tranquilizers and restraints. You can't communicate with them, they start to become ruthless, and if you talk too much nonsense in front of them, they will not hesitate to attack you - including biting you with their teeth."
"It sounds like a form of animal transformation." Hitzfeld flipped through the file and looked up blankly: "It's not on this list?"
"We won't write all the information down on paper." Xia Yibing helped explain, "Unless it's a sealed case."
"The last one is the fourth week." Alfred was still staring at the carpet. "By the fourth week, they were completely crazy. They couldn't hear you calling them, and they didn't even respond when you hit them. They refused to eat or drink... They couldn't sleep day or night... Their eyes were fixed on the direction of the sea, and they only wanted to go there."
This symptom is really scary.
Hitzfeld imagined the scene... a group of people staring at the wall without food or drink, staying awake day and night, and ignoring everything around them... he felt a little creepy.
"If you leave them alone, they'll literally crash into the wall and die," Alfred said.
"And they're not trying to ram into the wall... During the impact, they still stare at that direction. They'll bite with their teeth, dig with their fingernails... until their bones are deformed, or even bleed all over and their limbs are twisted. Even if they end up in a shapeless state, like a bloody skeleton, the two eyeballs in their eye sockets will still stare in that direction."
...This is even more terrifying.
"So." Hitzfeld pulled the corner of his mouth a little unnaturally, "You haven't found anything yet?"
Alfred just shook his head.
"Then it seems useless for us to go, right?"
"At least it can stabilize people's hearts." Alfred clenched his fists. "Can you imagine that every family has to go to sea, but their children become like this... What a huge blow this is to their lives and spirits."
“Are there more obvious mutations?”
Xia Yibing flipped through the files and asked, "For example, fish scales grew on the body surface... or turned into some kind of animal that can swim..."
"nothing."
Alfred still shook his head.
"It is not ruled out that this may happen in the future, but it has not been discovered at this stage."
"So what?"
He stood up and looked at the two people who were lost in thought.
"From the trend, this case does not pose any danger to adults. There is not much you need to do. You can continue to rest over there."
That sounds harsh.
Hitzfeld frowned slightly.
She doesn't mind being a mascot, but the whole town is in a state of turmoil. Should she continue her vacation?
I'm afraid she doesn't have the heart for it.
"Then you guys can help retrieve the body." Alfred curled his lips.
"Don't blame me for not reminding you, it's not necessarily less difficult than fishing for whales."
None of the bodies of those who jumped into the sea have been recovered so far.
The water is too deep and the seabed is a cliff... It is more than 100 meters from the beach to the seabed. There is no telling how many predators there are below. If a person jumps in, he will be digested quickly.
Alfred said that he would give them half a day at most to think about it, and he would come again tomorrow morning and bring them the boat tickets.
An expression that left no room for refusal.
"What do you think?" Hitzfeld hugged the file to his chest, stood up and approached the woman.
"We are good agents on land, but we know too little about the sea."
Xia Yibing hugged her waist and, ignoring her symbolic struggle, forced her to sit in his arms.
"So we need help."
She whispered in the girl's ear.
"A helper who is proficient in literature, history, mathematics, and surveying, and who has sympathy for the lower classes."
"It just so happens that I know a good candidate."
Chapter 7: Psychic
Alfred had already left, and Ashley and Lily were upstairs. There were only the two of them in the living room at this moment, so Xia Yibing's expression and actions were a little unscrupulous.
Hitzfeld wanted to talk to her about serious matters, but after a while he was aroused and became breathless, and was forced to cooperate with her to satisfy his physiological needs.
"...Psycho!" After finishing, she picked up the cushion on the sofa to cover her face, and adjusted the hem of her skirt with one hand, "I think we should sleep separately from now on!"
She didn't understand - she had the same feelings towards Xia, but she had always controlled herself well and didn't have a strong desire to do anything. She always thought that this was a difference in self-control caused by gender, but why was Xia's endurance so poor?
"It's the last day." The woman coughed, knowing that she was really angry, "Well... I just don't want it to end in a dull way... our vacation..."
Moving the pillow away, Hitzfeld stole a glance at the woman's expression, unsure for a moment whether she was sincere or just being perfunctory.
