Albert, who was given the name "Jules", lived in a large house on the outskirts of Belvedere, far from the center of the city and quite far from the shepherd's orphanage in the mountains.

According to Albert, this friend is very quiet, withdrawn, and does not like to hang out with people, like a detached wild boar weighing three tons. Even though he had never met before, Ed had already created the image of a fat man with a fat brain and a meaty face. He still had a beard on his chin, a beard like bristles, and nine pins tied with a girl's little leather band.

Without any mud and water, Ed drove directly to the outskirts of Belvedere. On the way, he pulled out his phone and called Marcy.

"Thank you to the Cosmic Star God." The phone was connected, and Marcy sighed with relief on the other end, "You came out alive?" ”

"You think I'm going to die there?" Ed raised an eyebrow while smoking a cigarette and driving, "Also, when did you start being religious?" ”

"Okay, don't make a fuss, be serious." Marcy took it seriously and said in a serious tone, "Tell me what that monster told you." ”

"You're so afraid of him?"

"Trust me, Ed, if you know as much as I do about what he's done and what he's capable of, you'll know that you've just slept with a crocodile in your arms at a high-end love hotel. Naked. ”

"Don't say that. I love crocodiles. ”

Ed coughed twice, throwing the bone out of his hand before the detective flicked his ears to show his teeth. He recounted all the conversations he had had with Albert in the rooftop room of the lavish club in Orchid Valley, and told Marcy everything.

"It seems that the giants of the Underground Kingdom have also noticed this little in the Belvedere gangster world." Ed's voice was serious, and his eyes stared straight ahead at the sparsely trafficked road leading to the outside of the city, "But judging from Albert's words, it seems that he doesn't know what the wolf is all about. ”

"If he knew and decided to take care of it, then we would have it easy. He could have pulled the wolf's leg and roasted it on the fire before tomorrow night. ”

But he didn't care, and he didn't care if the kidnapped boy Barry lived or died. All he cares about is the interests of the gangsters. But he did us a great favor, and now we know who Gerald's superiors are. I'm rushing to him right now, and I'll let you know as soon as things change. That's it for now. ”

Ed ended the call with a spoke, focused on driving, and kicked the gas pedal to the bottom. He looked at the landscape around him along the way, and his mind was thinking about what to say when he met Jules. He hadn't met Jules himself, but judging from the fact that Albert, who had made Marcy's guy as important as a few pounds on the scale, all the way from the far city center to deal with matters about him, he could not have been a small man at all, not just a "management of no low status" and "knowing a lot of big people" in the gang, as Albert put it.

A long, long, long time has passed. Ed felt like he'd been driving somewhere all his life, but he would never actually get there. Eventually, though, he saw a glimpse of his destination. As Albert had said, the house was large, in the middle of a hill, and looked like a mole on poor breast from afar. There is a beautiful mountain road that leads to his door.

A few minutes later, Ed pulled over the car, lowered the window, and looked through the lenses of his glasses at the main entrance of Jules' house, silent. He found one thing, and all the considerations he had made along the way completely redundant.

He had seen a similar scene last night, in the middle of the night, at Gerald's residence. Jules' yard is not much larger than Gerald's, but the same thing is that their gates have been used by bulls in heat to brush their hooves.

But there is a difference. From Ed's point of view, Jules' garage door was as wide open as Gerald's, and it was empty, but there was another car parked in his yard.

Ed got out of his car, straightened his clothes and tie, put off his glasses, and walked slowly into the compound of Jules's lavish mansion. No more rushes, no more rushes. The damn wolf didn't give him a chance, he was fucking late again.

Ed looked at the abandoned vehicles in the yard. A relatively ordinary private car, a bit old, dark green, and without a license plate. Ed thought back to the information Marcy had given him about Gerald, as if he had mentioned that Gerald had such a car.

Thinking back to the wind whistling on the other end of the phone in the middle of the night when the wolf was talking to him, Ed understood. After killing Gerald, the wolf guy turned out to be Jules who drove straight to Jules without stopping. This is a real wolf.

Ed shook his head slightly, squinting his eyes, his gaze gloomy, his brow furrowed. Now it seems that he has once again planted his heels, returned to the original point again, lost his direction again, and once again made himself disgraced.

It's really not suitable to be a detective, he laughed self-deprecating in his heart, really, why don't you think about embalming corpses? What a promising profession, I don't know how many times better than it is now like a painted headless fly.

He seriously pondered this proposal he had given himself, pushed open the door of Jules's mansion, and stepped into the large living room, which could be called a masterful light. Jules's house, of course, was built on the sunny side, and it was almost noon, the brightest time of the day, and the blinding white sunlight shone through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows into the depths of the living room, because of the reflection of the light, even without the curtains, Ed could not see inside from the outside. And now he sees it.

The living room was set up in a similar way to that of the average wealthy family, a bit like the living room of the penthouse suite of Albert's luxurious club when he met him in Lange this morning. In the same way, there are a lot of artworks in the living room here. The difference is that there is a work of art in the living room here that Albert would never have existed with, and it is the only one in this world, and it is unique.

Jules—Ed hadn't seen him, but he was sure it was Jules, a fat man as he had imagined, but no extra beard, nothing on his bare head—sitting on a chair, a chair that was a little small for his size, stripped of his whole body, covered only by a rope firmly tied to him.

He was placed on a sturdy long table in the living room, facing the sun. If you don't count the blood hole on the top of his head, his demeanor is relatively peaceful, and there is even a hint of a smile on the corner of his mouth. Ed knew that kind of laugh, the Hippocrates smile, the last provocation unique to the dead. It's just ironic.

It's really bad for the wolf to do that. When the corpse is exposed to the sun like this, it will soon stink. But maybe that's what he wants?

Ed looked at the artwork from afar, and then tilted his head suddenly, as if he had made something else to discover. He trotted briskly into the house, stepped on the carpet over the couch, ran to the long table, and ran behind Jules. His breath held his breath unconsciously.

I didn't notice it at first time because of the fat man's size, but there was actually another small chair behind Jules. A boy sat on a chair.

The boy looked to be only seven or eight years old, and his face couldn't be more familiar with Ed's. He sat still, without a rope to restrain him, but he didn't move either. He closed his eyes tightly and breathed steadily, as if he were sleeping. He had a time bomb strapped to his body.

“……”

Ed looked at the boy Barry in silence, closed his lips, and took a slow deep breath. Then, at that moment, his phone vibrate. It's time, it's just right, it's just the right fuck.

"See him, detective?" The wolf's voice sounded calmer than ever, with the same whistling of the wind that Ed had been familiar with the last time.

Ed had already figured out the scene he was driving in yet another car he had picked up from the dead man—this one was much more luxurious, of course—on the way back to Belvedere from the suburbs. The two of them most likely missed it on the way. Ed thought back to the cars in the opposite direction he had encountered along the way, rewinding them over and over again. He knew the wolf was among them, but in the end he couldn't remember the faces of any of the damn drivers, and as the memories grew, they became more and more blurry, and finally all turned into fish butts.

"What do you mean by that?" Ed looked at the unconscious boy in front of him, at the time bomb on his body, at the countdown numbers on it that were decreasing minute by minute, and his voice was as deep as mud and sand.

"It's game over, detective." The wolf sighed, as if he was talking to Ed in a very, very distant place, and would never come back, never let Ed hear his voice again, "The final end is coming, as long as one more person dies, everything will come to an end." This is the end that should have come a long, long time ago, but it has been dragged out until now. Ridiculous, you say, detective? ”

"I don't even know what's going on, how do you let me know it's ridiculous?"

"You know enough." The wolf still whispered, "It's so fucking much, and you'll know more." But that's all for later, take that kid with you now, if you want to save his life, you'll have to hurry. It's too late for you to get back to Belvedere to find help, but you're in a location close to another town near Belvedere, so you can get it to the police station with the kids before the bomb explodes. Rest assured, that bomb is hard for the uninitiated, but there are professional bomb disposal experts in the police department who can pull that thing off like an egg. But then you may not have time to make it to the final show. I think you should be glad for that. ”

After saying that, the wolf hung up the phone. Ed clutched his phone and listened to the beeps inside one after another, looking a little strange. However, he didn't pause for too long, and immediately dialed his cell phone to contact Marcy.

"I'm Marcy."

"The wolf has gone to the orphanage," Ed explained the situation to the detective without any fuss, "his target is Dean Ellie." ”

"I see." Marcy heard Ed's voice and immediately understood, "I'll go right away." With that, Marcy immediately ended the call.

Ed put his phone away and returned his gaze to the boy in front of him. He stared straight at the red light that pulsed above the time bomb, stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.

"What is this," he said, his eyelids drooping, and he muttered as he rubbed his finger against the tip of his nose, "the end has come?" ”