Ms. Feti was indeed a little confused about the sudden intimacy between the two female agents.
But she was not young anymore, and an older teacher would always be good at observing people's expressions. She had no intention of pursuing or asking about the matter.
However, these two people still seemed to respect her and took the initiative to reveal some reasons to her.
"It's like this... Aisuen and I are both extraordinary beings, and my Poltergeist must be close to her to be fully activated, so we are actually familiarizing ourselves with the power during this period of time and preparing for possible dangers."
Waterproof reasons.
But Feiti was indeed very curious, what kind of spirit required two people to be so close to each other?
This doubt disappeared with the two people's gestures - Xia Yibing first separated from the girl, summoned the Changxia Light Sword alone, and then maintained the state of holding the light sword while hugging the girl tightly. You can see that the light sword has become a solid entity bit by bit.
So this problem was solved for the time being. Fei Ti nodded to indicate that he had no more doubts, and the two of them could stay together openly from now on.
Anyway, this is just Ling's "external appearance". It's hard to tell the mysterious power of this knife, and it doesn't reveal any important information.
As for Sixus, Luxil and others they will encounter after arriving at the place, it goes without saying that the former knows their feelings very well, and the latter probably doesn't care whether they know or not.
So, Xia Yibing felt relieved. She could directly ask Hitzfeld to sleep with her, and the soft and fragrant pillow she hugged every night returned.
Hitzfeld couldn't do anything to her, but since she didn't continue to make moves, he let her take advantage of him.
Another day passed and the train arrived at its final destination.
“Pusen Crater!” The conductor could be heard shouting and banging along the way in the corridor. “We have arrived at Pusen Crater! Those who need to transfer or take the boat should get off quickly! We will only stop here for 30 minutes, don’t let us take you to the unloading area!”
The platform for passengers to get off and the platform for unloading are not on the same platform. The old hand knows this very well, so he prepares his luggage and puts on his clothes in advance, and leaves as soon as the train stops.
Only a few newbies were left. They had always thought that the Pushen Crater was the terminal station and the train must stop here for a long time. Only after being instructed by the conductor and others did they hurriedly go back to pack up.
Here, Hitzfeld and his group belonged to the former. They left immediately.
"Ma'am, do you know anything about the Pushen Crater?" On the way to the dock, Hitzfeld brought up the idea on a whim.
The town of Bartlett has a total population of 60,000, which is a very good size for a town. You have to know that some small countries other than Sara have a total population of only tens of thousands.
The town we are currently in is probably much smaller in scale. It seems to exist only as a transit station and a place to change transportation. The most prosperous areas are built around the station and the dock, and the most popular local business is actually horse-drawn carriage rental.
They then rented a chariot with a driver and three chestnut horses, which were moving slowly forward with bells ringing.
"There is a saying that the prototype of the crater is an ancient submarine volcano." Fetti answered almost without thinking, "The soil and rocks are probably about two to three thousand years old. From the land we are standing on to Bartlett Beach and then to the southernmost part of the ridge circle, this entire area should have been under the sea."
"This is the first time I've heard of this." Not only Hitzfeld, but also Xia Yibing was surprised.
She is indeed "well-read", and because of the nature of her job, she reads top-secret materials. Logically, a teacher should not know more than her.
There was really nothing noteworthy about the Kopson Crater. There had never been any troublesome evil incidents here in the past. Most cases could be solved by ordinary police officers and low-level detectives, so she had never paid much attention to this place.
"I'm not just saying this casually." Feiti was intrigued. The sequelae of being cooped up in the carriage for a week broke out. He couldn't stop talking: "In 1972, the research team of Qiongta University dug up a lot of ancient fossils here. After identification, they were basically marine life, and not ordinary marine life. They lived in the deep sea instead of shallow sea."
"How do they make such a judgment?" Xia Yibing also asked with interest, "Shallow sea or deep sea... Can it be distinguished from the appearance and structure?"
"Of course." The female teacher nodded. "Deep-sea fish usually look... wild. That's one reason. Secondly, because the pressure difference between deep water and surface water is huge, deep-sea species must be able to withstand huge water pressure. If they are brought up rashly, the air pressure in their bodies will be unbalanced... This will burst their bellies. They have detected some corresponding traces in some fossils."
"Interesting." Xia Yibing took out a notebook and wrote down the contents.
She wasn't sure whether it would be useful in the future, but it was obvious that seeing how much respect she had for her words, Ms. Feti's attitude towards the two of them improved greatly again.
What are scholars most worried about?
In many cases, it is actually the peers around us who do not respect knowledge and believe that knowledge is far inferior to money and status.
But most of the time they are unable to refute it.
Therefore, it is rare to meet such employers who have awe for knowledge and professionalism. Feiti not only has a better impression of them, but also has a higher opinion of the entire secret police department.
Before this, she didn't look down on them because her husband was also a government employee and they had nothing in common.
I have always felt that these men in black were too brutal in handling issues. There were often rumors that they did not distinguish the truth from the truth and would execute all suspects they caught.
Now it seems that I have lost my mind...
"There is one more thing." With an apologetic look on his face, Feti could say that he knew everything. "It's their eyes. There is a huge difference between their eyes."
"How to say?"
"You must have all seen common sea fish..." Feiti used a lecture approach to let the two of them put themselves in the mood.
After they nodded, she continued, "The eyes of ordinary marine fish are basically symmetrical. Most of them are located on both sides of the body, and a few are located on the top of the head..."
"Almost without exception, the eyes of deep-sea fish are on the top of their heads. Not only that, but these eyes are also very deformed. Some are larger than the other, and some are as big as alveoli, even occupying the space that originally belonged to the brain."
"Why is this happening?" Both of them were very interested.
"Light." The teacher uttered a word.
"It's true that the deep sea is dark, but at a certain depth, the light on the sea surface can still be faintly felt. We usually think that this kind of light is difficult to capture with the human eye, so they need 'specialized' eyes. The way they move in the deep sea is probably to stand still in the water, and then they will stare at the water surface with their huge bubble eyes to observe whether there is prey passing above, and whether it will leave a shadow in that barely perceptible light."
"For example, there is a kind of eel, its scientific name is spiral eel." Fetti stretched out his hand to show them, "The largest spiral eel can grow to meters long, but it doesn't look long because its body is very foamy... This thing actually doesn't have much meat, it is completely supported by water. It has one big eye and one small eye. We usually think that it uses the big eye to observe the sky and the small eye to stare at the seabed. The body keeps spiraling to meet the needs of hunting and escaping at the same time."
Next, Feti talked about some deep-sea species that he knew about, and almost every one of them opened their eyes.
"...if you go deeper, you will reach the submarine plain."
At this point, Feiti frowned slightly.
"Undersea plain?"
"Yes, because from the sea surface and the middle waters - where life and death battles are constantly taking place, the remains of the losers are usually not completely digested, and some of the residual materials, including the feces of the creatures, will gradually sink to the bottom. According to our speculation, a flat ground composed of these materials will definitely form on the seabed. We call this type of landform a submarine plain."
"Can you tell me more about this?" Hitzfeld asked her.
Fantastic knowledge… She felt like she was listening to a scene from “Animal World”.
"I don't recommend it." Feti began to be vague.
"Humanity has not explored the deep sea enough. Rumor has it that the abyssal plain is the entrance to the abyss, and buried underneath are the most terrifying deep-sea monsters... and possibly the remains of ancient gods."
Chapter 11: Fame Opens the Way
Feti is unwilling
That was all they said, and the two of them didn't make things difficult for her.
After all, it's not something very important, just some legends. It's enough to prove that she really knows about these things.
Half a day later, the group of people and a dog finally arrived at the destination of their journey on a cargo ship that paid to dock in the Bartlett Waters.
It's very lively here.
Standing on the dock in the small town of Bartlett, Hitzfeld looked around and finally gave this evaluation.
Unlike all the docks she had visited before, there were almost no large ships nearby, only some medium-sized and small fishing boats docked.
The ships, some with their masts folded up, lay side by side under the dock boards, while others had their sails hoisted, were either returning from sea, or were working together with several people to dry their nets.
This scene was naturally lively. Hitzfeld even saw that there was a mirage less than ten meters away from where she was standing.
Sea Market - a market that specializes in selling seafood. Fishermen can exchange the fish, shrimp and seafood they catch for money here.
Hitzfeld saw with his own eyes a hawker bargaining with the other party, and finally the two reached an agreement to exchange three fish for a cloth bag in the other party's hand.
Is that bag filled with food?
Her eyes widened.
Bartering is still popular here?
But she quickly realized that it was all due to the inconvenient transportation.
Due to inconvenient transportation, goods cannot be brought in or taken out. No matter how good the seafood is, it can only be consumed by the town itself.
But what do the townspeople need from these? They don’t eat them once in a while, and many seafood and fish that would be sold at sky-high prices in inland cities are eaten here almost every day, so naturally they don’t feel that they are precious.
Therefore, when goods and money are difficult to circulate further, barter is more reliable.
Hitzfeld made an estimate in his mind, comparing the situation in the small town of Bartlett with that in the small town offshore, and felt that the reason why basic currency transactions were still retained here was all because of the royal family's face.
After all, Sara is still a big country, and even people in such poor places are willing to believe in the royal regime.
It is precisely because of this trust that they are willing to recognize that those currencies have value beyond their actual value. ①
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①: The actual value of a currency is usually not equal to its market value. For example, the gold contained in a Sera gold coin is not actually worth one Sera.
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"Aisun." Xia Yibing poked the girl's waist and pointed at some people in front of her, asking her to observe carefully. "Look at their expressions... Shouldn't you be able to tell something is wrong?"
"Yeah." Hitzfeld stared at people's faces and frowned slightly, "A little bit."
The excitement here is exaggerated.
They look very mundane, but if you look closely, you will see that almost everyone has a frown on their face. They all seem to be extremely worried about something, and the worry cannot be wiped away no matter how busy they are or how good the harvest is.
It's probably the curse of jumping into the sea.
Having a clear idea in mind, Hitzfeld thought about it and went to a fish stall alone, pretending to be a customer to select seafood.
"Are you from outside?" Unexpectedly, the boss saw through her at a glance. When he saw her looking up, he explained: "Oh... because local girls usually don't dress like this. The beach is still very hot this season. They never wear black skirts."
The girl also understood that black absorbs heat. She glanced at the street and saw that most people were wearing light-colored robes.
There was no need to waste time talking, so she got straight to the point: "I am an agent specially assigned by the capital, yes... my companions and I are. I am looking for you to learn the details of the curse."
I thought that after saying this, the other party would enthusiastically tell her everything, but I didn't expect that the boss's eyes only sparkled at first, but the light in them lasted for less than a second before going out.
Hitzfeld quickly guessed the reason - it must be that the investigation work of Sixus and others here was not going well, or even useless, which led to the locals gradually losing hope.
Even those special missions that look more formal and professional are useless. What use can a little girl like you have?
She guessed that was what the other party thought.
However, this man was good at regulating his emotions. After taking a breath, he pulled down the canvas and temporarily closed the stall. He looked at the girl and the two people and the dog standing behind her and said, "...What can I do for you adults?"
"What's your name?" Xia Yibing had already taken out a notebook and a pen.
"Jindu, Jindu-Frye." The boss waved his hand, revealing the overly lush hair on his chest. "Don't call me 'Mr. Frye'. People around here call me Jindu."
"When did the curse begin?"
Xia Yibing took notes, and the questioning was left to Hitzfeld.
"About a month ago."
"Detailed time."
"…Maybe September 9th, I can't remember exactly."
"Does everyone here know about the curse?"
"Of course, how can we conceal something like this...?" Jindu began to complain, "So many children... They haven't even had their coming-of-age day yet, and they're gone just like that. I don't know how people in big cities view this, but we can't keep it secret here! This will cause panic! Do you know what it means? Agent from the capital!"
“That’s what we’re here for.”
"Whatever..." After complaining, Jin Du shrugged his shoulders.
"They said so before, and everyone held out hope, thinking that as long as the agents came, they would be able to solve the problem... but you saw the result, they couldn't help."
"Perhaps we can."
"You guys?" Jin Du suddenly raised his eyes and looked at Hitzfeld, Xia Yibing, Ms. Feti, and even Lily from head to toe with a strange look of sneering and ridicule.
“Two girls, an old woman, and a dog…you’re not going to tell me this is a police dog?”
"Ouch!" Lily yelled at him fiercely, baring her teeth and making a low, animal roar from her throat.
"The real murderer~" Jin Du was not afraid and picked up a fish and threw it to Lily.
"Eat, eat... It's pitiful that you came all the way to this hopeless place."
"Anyway, you'd better go back whence you came. Bartlett is lost—no!"
“He’s under too much pressure.”
Ms. Feti muttered quietly.
The fact that she didn't care about the word "old woman" was enough to show her upbringing. She knew it was understandable - the atmosphere and people's hearts in the whole town may have collapsed in the panic that lasted for more than a month. You can't ask a person on the verge of collapse to be more polite.
Hitzfeld asked some more questions, and Jindu picked and chose his answers. Most of them were of little value and were no different from what they had learned from reading the files. Some of the answers were even worse than the files.
"If you want to know more, go find your companions in town."
Jindu drove the guests away for the second time.
