It's over.

Ed is commissioned by Emily, the director of the Belvedere Shepherd Orphanage, to find Barry, an orphan who has been abducted by a mysterious person. Then, in the process, the suspect Vicious Wolf took the initiative to contact Ed, and later involved a deeply hidden underground chain of child trading in Belvedere that had to disappear and destroy.

Now, the abducted child Barry has been rescued by Ed, and the child trading business has been removed by the wolf The biggest and most critical two heads, disintegration is inevitable. It's over.

Ed parked the car on the side of the mountain road in front of the orphanage and did not drive into the hospital. At this time, he was leaning against the front of the car and standing on the side of the road, holding a freshly lit "intermission" in his mouth, savoring the warm white smell of the dust of the cigar cage, and looking at the Belvedere in the distance through the lenses of his glasses. There, a full six-figure population is busy going about their day, unaware of the fact that a show in a beautiful mountain orphanage next to it has just finished its final speech.

Behind Ed, the orphanage is already crammed with police cars. Marcy contacted the local police in Belvedere as soon as the wolf was dealt with. They have a lot of work to do, whether it's bringing Wolf, Dean Emily, and the rest of the orphanage back for interrogation, or removing the explosives that Wolf has placed around the place at some point, it's a job that requires a lot of seriousness and a lot of energy.

But those have nothing to do with Ed anymore. He's done everything he should or shouldn't do, and then it's time for Marcy and the Belvedere cops to take over. He can't do everything, and he doesn't have the power and ability.

With that thought, Ed stepped on the hard, smooth ground on the side of the road and glanced back at the gate of the orphanage. Just as he had felt the last time he had visited, and the first time he had visited, the place looked like a super-kindergarten funded by a wealthy man, and the huge stone tablet at the entrance, apparently deliberately uncarved, stood as usual, with the name of the kindergarten engraved on it, and the font was more beautiful than the deep-water kelp.

"Shepherd......" Eddard's eyes narrowed, and he whispered softly.

"What?"

Marcy, who came to Ed's side at some point, was startled by Ed's confused voice. She didn't hear what Ed was muttering just now.

"Shepherd." Ed glanced at Marcy, then pointed to the name of the orphanage on the stele.

Marcy followed Eddard's point, glanced twice at the stele, and leaned against the front of his car like Ed, clasping her hands to her chest. "Shepherd," she said, "what's the matter?" ”

"Nothing," Ed shook his head, "just suddenly it felt a little funny." ”

"What's interesting?"

"Shepherd, Marcy." Ed tugged at the corners of his mouth with a smile and tilted his head to look at the detective beside him, "You know what a shepherd does." ”

"Of course." Marcy shrugged her shoulders as she should, "The one who protects the lamb." ”

"Yes, protect the sheep, protect the sheep from wolves." Ed nodded, then looked back at the stele, "But ah, Marcy, that's the problem...... Shepherds protect their sheep from wolves, not out of love for them – but because they keep them to slaughter. ”

“……”

Ignoring Marcy's quietly changing face, Ed took one last look at the orphanage in front of him, and then suddenly turned his head to look at the distant and prosperous Belvedere down the hill behind him. The corners of his mouth twitched again, then he exhaled, leaned back and left the front of the car, took two steps and opened his door.

"I've got one last thing to do," he said to Marcy, "and I'll treat you to dinner when you're back downtown, the old place." ”

"Don't you have a new trick?" Marcy adjusted her mood while getting out of Ed's car, and complained to Ed casually.

"If you want to say it, it's true." Ed raised his eyebrows and thought seriously and said, "I recently found a bar, treasure bar, good music, good wine, whiskey and beer, buy one get one free." ”

"It sounds terrible." Marcy waved her hand, impatiently motioning for Ed to leave quickly, "I'll think about it, and I'll talk about it later." ”

"Don't think about it for too long. I don't really want to invite you. ”

Ed sat in the car, said hello to Marcy one last time, twisted the steering wheel, turned the car, and drove down the hill along the road, disappearing around the bend in an instant.

……

Once again, Ed is in the Valley of Lan. Because of the detour on the way to do something else, he delayed for a long time, and now it is already in the afternoon, and in the second half of the afternoon, the solar daylight simulated by Stuttgar's environmental control system is quietly changing, and in a short time it will turn from golden to orange, and the blood-like shimmer is evenly sprinkled on the sparkling lake in the valley, looking from a distance like a large group of flame shrimp in heat in a stew pot.

Looking at the familiar scenery in the valley and smelling the moisture in the wind, Ed was in a trance, with a slight illusion of being a person.

He drove to the door of the Lakeside Club. This time the security guard had already met him, and he could be let in after registration.

"Speaking of which," the young man in the sunglasses and neat uniform said enthusiastically to Ed through the window while recording Ed on the data processing platform, "Are you friends with Mr. Angelo?" ”

"Mr. Angelo?" Ed didn't know why.

"Don't you know him?" The young man tilted his head in surprise and glanced at Ed, "I thought you must know each other." Mr. Angelo generally never allowed outsiders he did not know to enter his club. ”

"He's the owner of this club?" Ed asked.

"Of course."

"I think he must have been a very charismatic and wonderful gentleman. I don't know him though, I'm here because of another guy – Mr. Albert. You should have known this for a long time. ”

"I know." The young man nodded repeatedly, "I have never seen Mr. Angelo receive someone with such respect." He had waited nearly half an hour early at Taniguchi and personally led Mr. Albert to the club. I don't know who that Mr. Albert is, but there must be some very remarkable big man who would be treated so seriously by Mr. Angelo. ”

"He is." Ed nodded, unmoved.

It's no surprise that Albert is treated with such respect, and Ed keeps Angelo's name to heart. The Lakeside Club is not a 100% for-profit venue, it is more akin to a hotel or resort. Since the owner here knows Albert, it means that he is likely to be related to "the world over there", or even a member of that world himself, and he is a high-level person who is enough to have a conversation with Albert.

After completing the registration, Ed drove the car into the parking lot, locked it and walked into the club, following the route in memory all the way to the door of the "Super Noble Luxury" suite on the top floor of the club, which was a little more luxurious than the hotel, 1415926 times, and rang the doorbell.

After a while, Eliki opened the door for him.

"Mr. Ed." Looking at Ed, the look on the face of the beautiful woman in the black straight cowboy hat was a little strange, as if it was quiet and deep, and her big and pure eyes seemed to look at Ed as if they were separated by a time and space, and then turned sideways and gave way, "Please come in, Mr. Ed." ”

"I want to see Albert."

"The boss is waiting for you."

"Wait for me?"

"He already knows what happened." Eligi whispered, "He knows everything." ”

"Yes, of course." Ed walked past Eliqi, glanced at her with a tilted gaze, and grinned at the corners of his mouth, "Albert knows everything. ”

“……”

Eliki looked up and pursed her lips, but said nothing. She led the way, as she did last time, with Ed following behind her. The two walked through the living room with a sun terrace, through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, through the hallway printed with an exaggerated mural, and finally into the study-like inner room. Albert was sitting behind his desk reading a book.

When they met again, Ed had a feeling similar to the chaos of time and space. It was as if he had never left the room and had been sitting face to face with Albert all day. He thought it might be a possibility, at least the humanoid serpent in front of him might have been sitting behind the tombstone-like desk, never moving his ass. He thought that his waist strength was absolutely extraordinary.

Ed looked at Albert, licked his lips twice in silence, and then sat down in the guest seat at the desk without saying a word. Albert put down the book in his hand and looked at Ed through his narrow, crystal-like sunglasses, looking a little strange.

The expressions of the two of them were subtle, a little similar, and they both looked like they were thinking about something.

"Get out." Ed said.

"What?" Albert raised an eyebrow.

"Miss Elixi." Ed didn't look back, and waved his hand, as if he was the owner of this room, "Get out." ”

“……”

The beautiful, elegant, and eccentric black cowboy beauty glanced at the back of Ed's head in a strange way, but Ed didn't look at her. So she looked at her boss.

Albert leaned back, leaning back in his chair with his fingers crossed on his abdomen. He gritted his teeth and inhaled, then pulled out a cigar from his bosom, which was as thick and long as the previous one, and opened his mouth to bite it into his mouth.

"Let's get out." He said in a deep voice, without raising his head, "Close the door." ”

"Yes, boss."

Eliki bowed politely to Albert, gave Ed one last look, and then turned to leave the room. Ed could hear her softly closing the door, as her boss Albert had requested.

When Ed and Albert were finally the only ones left in the spacious, quiet and elegant study, Albert looked up at Ed, pinched the cigar in his mouth with his fingers, took a puff and removed it, and slowly exhaled a snow-white smoke. "Honestly," he said first, in a very quiet voice, "you've surprised me, detective. You are bolder than I thought, much bigger, and I have rarely seen anyone as bold as you. I have to warn you that you are doing a very dangerous thing, and if you don't handle it well, you may be staying in this valley forever today. ”

"That's not bad." Ed nodded, "This place is beautiful. I like it. ”

“…… What exactly do you want? Albert's face darkened.

Ed looked at him, was silent for a moment, then reached into his inner pocket and took out a small paper bag without a seal, only the size of a palm, and threw it on the desk in front of Albert.

Albert reached for the paper bag and dug his fingers inside, pulling out a photograph that had apparently just been washed out. The photo shows two children, who seem to be a pair of siblings. Girls are at least ten years old, boys are a little more tender, and are wrapped around their necks from behind, smiling faces clinging to each other.

On the right side of the boy's neck, under the base of the collarbone, and on the left side of the girl's ear, near the neck, there is a small red birthmark that looks like two petals of a flower.