"It's a bit rude, but I still want to know, how are you doing financially now?" Andrew asked her. "You know, a lot of men do things that don't make sense because of financial problems. ”

"Mr. Li, we have a lot of deposits. She told Andrew. "I'm not worried about money. That sounded a bit bizarre, as her tone had been tense at the time.

"Well, okay. Andrew thought for a moment, hoping to read what this strange tone of voice meant through the intuition he had inherited from the devil--- and it was more convenient for the gods to take care of it.

"Well, I think it's time to get to know everything, and finally I want to make sure again, is there anything that makes you feel like we have to go, or that you think we have to solve right away. ”

Monica wondered about Andrew's question, and Andrew explained: "Just from experience, you know, sometimes, things are obvious. ”

Monica shook her head. Andrew checked the records to make sure Hermione could read them, put the notebook away, and continued, "I'll keep you updated on the progress and tell you what we've done, and you'll know exactly what we're doing." “

She nodded vigorously at Andrew, hesitating, "How much do I have to pay, I mean commission?"

Andrew was slightly stunned, he didn't realize that this was a business, although in order to gain Monica's trust, he looked like he was doing business, "According to the custom, you do need to pay a certain commission, transportation expenses or something, but Miss Granger mainly wants to help those who really need help." If it's not convenient, you can wait until you find your husband to pay. ”

Monica immediately shook her head, she turned to open the cleanly wiped coffee table drawer, took out a white envelope and handed it to Andrew. "There's five hundred pounds in it. She told Andrew. "Is that enough?"

Five hundred pounds, of course, is nothing for Andrew, but for some young couples like Monica, it is a small amount of money, enough for them to go on a trip--- it seems that Philip really did not disappear because of financial pressure.

"Enough is enough. Andrew told her. Monica felt much more relaxed, and seemed to feel that after paying the money, she had completed a major deal on her own, and there was a contractual and employment relationship between them. Andrew smiled at her.

She pulled out another envelope bag. "He took almost everything he had. She said. "I couldn't find the things he usually kept around, but I found this. “

There was something in the envelope that made the bag bulge, and Andrew guessed it might be an amulet, a ring, or a charm. She pulled out a third envelope from the drawer, and the woman was so organized.

"There's a picture of him, and my mobile phone number. Thank you, Mr. Lee, when will you call me?"

"I'll call you as soon as I find a clue. Andrew told her. "Maybe tomorrow afternoon or Saturday morning, okay?"

She was about to see Andrew's eyes, and she noticed it, so she smiled directly at Andrew's nose. "Okay, okay, thank you for your help. She glanced at the wall.

"Well, I'll keep you updated. “

The sound of the door opening, a child carrying a school bag through the hallway, he looked at Andrew, "Mom, who is he?"

Monica's kid is out of school, "he's a friend of my mom's. She closed her lips as she finished speaking, her face flushing again, this time her gaze quickly skimming over Andrew's eyes, as if to judge whether Andrew would pose a threat to her child.

"I'll do my best, miss, and I'll take my leave. Andrew reassured her that Monica accompanied him to the door. "Thank you again for coming to me, please be sure to help me, money is not an issue. “

Getting into the taxi, Andrew opened the envelope.

First of all, the money, all fifty yuan bills, the queen looked at Andrew with a kind face---- Andrew couldn't help but think of Queen Anne, this should be Queen Anne's appearance in old age--- after crossing the barrier of demigods, Queen Anne will no longer worry about old age. There are ten banknotes in total. Andrew put the money aside.

Then there is the envelope bag containing the photo, Andrew takes the photo out and sees Monica posing with a thin and handsome man, who looks a lot like the man in the advertisement--- handsome to the point of refinement, the only thing missing is a little bit of reality, which makes his handsome face look a little blurry.

Fortunately, his smile looked loyal and honest, and it seemed that his refinement came from the spirit of a gentlemanly manner, and he had an even dark brown complexion, and seemed to spend a lot of time in the sun or playing with boats, which was a clear contrast to Monica's paleness.

Andrew guessed it was Philip.

The phone number is written on a plain white sticky note, trimmed just enough to fit in an envelope. There is no name on it, only a number starting with the area code 020. Andrew took out the phone book and looked up the number.

Andrew wrote down the names of the people as well. Andrew was puzzled by what the woman was thinking, and only gave Andrew a name, but gave Andrew a dozen ways to find her last name at random.

It can only be said that the behavior of people when they are nervous is very interesting. They will say stupid things, make strange choices, and then feel stupid afterwards. The next time he talks to her, Andrew has to be careful not to be confused by her.

Andrew dropped the second envelope bag, opened the last one, and poured the contents onto his seat.

A brown, shriveled scorpion with some kind of antiseptic glaze on its shell fell on the table, with a ring embedded in its tail and a soft rope woven from leather tied to it. If someone wears this scorpion necklace, the dead scorpion will hang down to the ground with its head and tail down.

Andrew was slightly stunned. The scorpion is a symbol of strength for many beliefs, and it is not the kind of symbol of goodness or wholesomeness. Many mischievous, evil spells have this type of amulet as their focus. If you wear it close to your body, its prickly feet will keep poking at your chest, which is uncomfortable and constantly reminds you of its presence.

When someone is about to give the wearer a hug, there is a good chance that the spikes at the end of the scorpion's tail will puncture his skin. Its crab-like claws can rip off men's chest hair and scratch women's breasts. Scorpions are disgusting and unpleasant, and they are not evil in themselves - but it is absolutely impossible to do anything glorious when you use magic with such a thing around your neck.

During the Animagus Dynasty, legend has it that there was once an evil god Animagus who was a monster with a human head and a scorpion body, and was extremely powerful and extremely terrifying Animagus incarnation.

Could it be that Philip is already addicted to playing, and the addiction is completely engaged in his --- emaciated appearance.

Magic can have this effect on a person – especially the dark side of magic. In desperation of losing his job, he threw himself into the study of magic, which is why he suddenly left home.

Some bizarre half-baked spellbooks often claim that isolation strengthens their ability to concentrate on magic, so that living in isolation can lead to unexpected gains.

It doesn't, that would do nothing good other than lose the anchor point and get completely lost in the endless magic labyrinth - but for the weak-willed and untrained, doing so does give them the illusion of focus.

Maybe it's not a real amulet at all, maybe it's just a rare accessory, or a souvenir you bought when you go to Mexico, or it's a clumsy imitation of amber. Andrew wasn't sure if it was actually a tool that could be used to increase concentration and control over magical energy, because Andrew had never actually cast such spells, let alone used such magic items—these unreliable magic and props were too rudimentary for even third-rate wizards to care about.

In tracking down the man's whereabouts, Andrew has to remember this ghost. This stuff may not do anything, but it may do. Andrew looked at the bell.

At 4:15, back in the apartment, Andrew first tried a few tracking spells, but nothing happened, and then used the easy disk to do the strategy, the result was ambiguous, and Andrew had no way to judge. In the interval of taking care of his own experiments, Andrew tried a few more Soul Sect magic pattern formations, trying to see if he could find the ghost of this missing husband - God knows if this Philip is still alive in the world.

For dinner, Andrew could only eat beef burgers, and Hermione, Luna, and Cho didn't come back. Andrew walks back and forth in the lab, which he has expanded to the size of a basketball court with his expansion and contraction spells, while monitoring three intricate groups of silver, test tubes, and crucibles to make sure the boiling magic in them doesn't overflow.

In his free time, Andrew used his poplar wand to try a few more Soul Sect spells, trying to determine whether Philip was dead or alive.

For a moment, Andrew felt as if he was seeing something out of the corner of his eye, and the dried scorpion on the table seemed to twitch--- his attention was on another test tube, where the emerald green potion was slowly boiling, and any drop of this potion could kill hundreds of Philip.

After making sure that the emerald green potion did not explode, Andrew looked away from the high-powered microscope, he blinked first, adjusted to the macroscopic world, and instead stared at the scorpion, which was not moving. Andrew carefully strengthened his soul's sense of it, like an invisible hand, trying to sense the presence of a spirit effect or soul energy.

No. There was no spirit on it, as if it were dead.

Even the poisonous insect's own soul power has completely dissipated, and now it can only be regarded as a bunch of carbohydrates, and it has nothing to do with God or any demon god or soul.

Andrew's face was blank and he tried one last powerful soul-chasing spell that he knew, and the spell was so powerful that it broke down the carb corpse.....

As a worthless result, Andrew shook his head, not understanding why he had the urge to take on the case in the first place. After another two hours of experimentation, the burger for dinner was completely digested. Andrew sometimes thinks he can survive by extracting the magic from his surroundings, but Queen Anne advises Andrew to eat on time--- Queen tells him that eating can temporarily distract from the picture of hell--- which stems from Andrew's natural instinct.

Rumor Bar is a bar a few blocks away from Andrew's apartment. This place is hundreds of times cleaner than the Leaky Cauldron Bar. Wizards can certainly enjoy the open, liberal atmosphere at the Leaky Cauldron Bar, but the butterbeer, poor décor, and ugly boss have long been disgusted by many young wizards.

Andrew doesn't have a crush on the Leaky Cauldron either, he doesn't go there many times. Although the Muggle Bar is not free to use magic, that doesn't stop Andrew from enjoying the atmosphere, not to mention that the Rumor Bar is not an ordinary bar--- customers need to see through the points of the cards to enter, no matter what special features are used.

Whenever Andrew felt that he was going to roar or cast a war spell, Andrew would run there--- and according to the Queen's advice, he would eat a big meal, there was a good variety of meat, it tasted good, and there were many kinds of meat---- as for the source, Andrew didn't want to know.

Mystery shoppers like Andrew are like that. The owner of the bar has become accustomed to all the troubles that come with these mysterious people and powerful people who are willing to meet them.

There are no electric toys to play in the Rumor Bar, no Champions League TVs or the latest EA Wars games, not even the latest Sony speakers---- where the magic field dictates that no electronic gadget will work, even the latest PS2.

In the middle of the bar is a circular stage, with ambiguous lights pouring down from the ceiling, and below are the instruments of the entire band--- drums, bass, guitar, electronic organ, violin, cello and other instruments, and Andrew also sees a suona.

In the center was an Ernst piano and a microphone, but there was no one else--- and the instruments were playing automatically.

The stage was empty, only the instruments plucked themselves and vibrated the air currents, making a pleasant, low, heroic, painful sound.

When customers enter the store, a few steps further down will lead to a lobby with a dimly lit ceiling hidden in the darkness and what appears to be a whole block of obsidian of thousands of square meters, giving the impression of entering an underground cavern.

Today, the unmanned orchestra is playing funeral songs from various countries---- suona and erhu from the Far East are in harmony, making anyone who hears it feel a sense of desolation.

There are thirteen stools at the bar and thirteen tables in the room. Thirteen windows were opened in the walls above the road to let in the light from the street.

The thirteen blurred mirrors on the wall reflect the same vague figures of the patrons, giving the illusion of spatial distortion. You can't help but walk around in circles on the thirteen wooden pillars carved with images related to European folktales or legends of the Old Gods--- with the most prominent ones carved with the most visible tales of Satan's fall and the swallowing of the earth.

Very ingenious formation, this arrangement is different from the general Western enchantment magic pattern formation, and more like the kind of formation in Andrew's easy plate--- these wooden pillars are also deliberately used to block the flow of all the surrounding energy, to dispel the resentment around those depressed and temperamental wizards, and to prevent them from making unexpected and too exciting moves.

The colors in the room are muted: brown and yellow, burgundy walls.

When Andrew first came to Rumor Bar, he fell in love with the uneven obsidian slabs--- he liked the kind of clumsy, majestic things, after the infinite time, the vicissitudes of the sea, the eruption of volcanoes, this stone, is the condensation of time and pain.