The police officers who were called back after work were not in a good mood, or should I say terrible. Ed was sure they were in a bad mood, and the buddy who pushed him into the detention cell acted like he was cuckolding his wife's fresh meat lover.

The iron door slammed shut, leaving Ed alone in the cramped room. He glanced up at the headlights in the ceiling, the blazing white light shining brightly.

The arrival of the police was a matter of course. Eddard and Mubagh and the gray-haired Joey gang who arrived later made a real fuss in Jiry's house, inevitably attracting the attention of the neighbors. After the vicious Joey and the others left, they sensed that something was wrong, and ran to the door to check the situation, only to find that several half-dead people were lying in a room, and deeper underground were bursts of angry roars and roars, which frightened them to call the police immediately.

It was late afternoon. After receiving the alarm, the police station in the city center immediately sent a team to Jirui's old house, took the injured Ed and the four people to the hospital first, checked that there was no major problem, and then escorted them back to the police station. As for the beige suit in the basement, which had already woken up, it was taken directly to the police station.

Ed sat in his bunk, a two-inch-thick mattress on top of the criss-crossed metal slats, so he didn't get too scared. He didn't have anything to do, he couldn't sleep, he didn't smoke, the only thing he could do was stare ahead. His head was empty, because there was very little to think about in front of him, but there was nothing short of coming up with answers. He had been interrogated and reported everything he had to say before he was brought in, and now he could do nothing but wait. His time had stopped at this moment, and the world fell into a graveyard-like silence, and he was sitting in a coffin waiting for the corpse to play mahjong.

Ed doesn't hate this place. A detention center is a different kind of prison than a large prison, there are no prisoners screaming and screaming and banging on the railings, no rattling spoons, no butcher guards rushing in with sticks and roaring but not hearing what he is yelling about. Well-functioning detention facilities are the quietest places in the world.

The overhead lights were still on. The lights in the detention center were turned off at 9 p.m. and turned on and off outside. No one will come in and inform you. Maybe you're staring at the white patch of flowers on the wall, and suddenly darkness will fall on your world without even a "click".

Ed lay down on the bunk and closed his eyes. After almost an hour, someone unlocked the door to Ed's cell from the outside.

"Someone is looking for it." The middle-aged and large prison guard stood outside the door and looked at Ed inside with a strange gaze, "I haven't slept yet, it's still early." ”

"Of course I didn't sleep." Ed opened his eyes, yawned, and pinched his eyebrows, "Just take a break and recuperate—who's looking for me?" ”

"A police detective, a female police detective." The prison guard said softly, "The celebrity who has recently risen in the bureau has a tough personality and a very big temper, and has overtaken the director several times - I didn't expect her to come on a trip specifically for your business." I don't think you'll be coming back. It seems that you are not lying, and you are not in the same league as the Mubagh guys. ”

"You know them?"

"Old acquaintances."

The guards laughed, and there was no hatred or contempt or pity on their faces. Many people of his age are like this, they are rarely shackled by the troubles of the world anymore, and those cynical young and frivolous blood have long been thrown away by the years. He just wants to finish his evening shift and get home before dawn to catch breakfast with the kids.

He led Ed to the door of the reception room and left. Ed entered the room.

Marcy waited for him in the room, still dressed neatly from the same way she had met him during the day. She stood in front of the window with her arms crossed, looking out of the window. She was definitely not looking at the scenery, it was completely dark at this point, and it was pitch black outside, and she couldn't even see a street lamp. Ed could see Marcy's brow furrowed from the reflection of the glass, her eyes lowered and unfocused, as if she was seriously thinking about something.

Hearing the movement, she turned around and saw that Ed had sat down in his chair, let out a sigh like an old man, tilted his head back with his eyes closed, and leaned back in his chair.

"That's a rare sight," Marcy raised an eyebrow in surprise, stepping forward and pulling a chair across from Ed's table, "You look like you're tired." ”

"I'm tired...... You're late. ”

"It's a little late."

"Is there any smoke?"

"I'll tell you what I'm doing so late. I ......"

Ed raised his hand to interrupt Marcy, who clearly had something to say, straightened his neck and opened his eyes.

"Is there any smoke?" He repeated his question.

“……”

Marcy blinked, looked at Ed, then sat up without saying a word, unbuttoned her coat, and pulled out a small flat box from her inner pocket. The box is black as a whole, with tiny red patterns on it, which looks like a sea of poppies. Ed knew it was filled with a cigarillo called "Intermission".

He watched in a little surprise as Marcy threw the box in front of him without touching it in the first place.

"I didn't have much hope," he said, "but I didn't expect you to have something ordinary." ”

"There's a lot you didn't expect."

"How did you have this?"

"All the time."

"I've never seen one."

"I never smoke at work."

Ed nodded. He sat up, opened the cigarette case, took out a small cigar, held it in his mouth, lit it, took a deep breath, and threw his head up to exhale a puff of snow-white smoke. It was like a piece of red-hot wood being poured from head to toe with a bucket of cold water mixed with ice cubes, accompanied by a soul-like death-like "zi-" sound.

"We're running out of time," Eddard, who was relieved, slipped his cigar and slapped his hands on the table, looking at Marcy earnestly, "I need your help." ”

"Listen to me first."

"We don't have much time."

"I probably know who took that boy was."

“……”

Marcy's serious face looked at Ed without blinking. Ed was silent, then lowered his head, took the cigar from his mouth, and dusted it off in the ashtray beside him.

"Let me guess." He said, "You knocked something out of Mubagh's mouth, right?" ”

"Yes, but it's not them." Marcy's hands and arms were on the table, fingers interlocked, eyes fixed on Ed, "They- Ed- they, they're just a bunch of pawns to be exploited." ”

“…… I'm listening. ”

"It wasn't Mubag's idea to kidnap the young man named Tommy, someone paid them to do it. According to Mubagh's own account, they were suddenly contacted by a mysterious man they had never met, and asked them to help capture Tommy and hold him for ten days, with a very good pay, and it had been settled. They guessed that Tommy probably didn't know who he had offended, and that someone wanted him to suffer a little, so he took the job, and they didn't know anything else. They didn't even think about hurting the child. ”

"They really didn't hurt the boy. At least I didn't see any signs of abuse in that guy. ”

"For this guy who paid someone to kidnap him, the bureau is following the line to trace the source of the money...... But I already have a skeptical candidate. ”

"Don't tell me it's the gray-haired kid I was talking about in the report." Ed looked at Marcy seriously, "Unless you already know who he is, you're wasting our time." ”

"It won't be wasted, you impatient fellow." Marcy grinded her teeth in annoyance, her eyelids drooping, "But you guessed right. The host of today's feast - I think I already know who he really is. ”

Ed was really surprised this time. He looked at Marcy, took a sharp puff on his cigar, took half of it, then clipped it between his fingers, leaned forward with his arms on the table, and met Marcy's eyes with blazing eyes.

"Do you know who he is?" He frowned, "How do you know?" ”

"Remember what I told you today, that Tommy of yours is a little black household?"

"Does that have anything to do with that?" Ed reacted as soon as he finished asking, "His true identity is another name?" ”

"It's famous." Marcy gritted her teeth and smiled a little fiercely because of her excitement, "That client of yours, I had the pleasure of admiring her work. She's a truly amazing fellow, a monster with eyes on a world we can't see. I was also a little interested in the people she was interested in, and I thought that the boy named Tommy should be more than just an ordinary working black household, so after meeting you at noon, I spent a little time checking him out in the afternoon, and I won the jackpot...... He is the illegitimate son of a declining business tycoon and a maid in Bahar. ”

"......" Ed was silent, and Marcy didn't continue. She gave Ed a moment to react.

Ed knew Bahar, a city built on the ground of Titan, but not as small as Stuttgard, with a combined population of more than fifteen million. The rich there are different from the rich people in other places, the rich people there are super rich people in the real sense, even if they are down, they can no longer rely on their business empire to make money, and the dead things left behind add up to sell enough for future generations to lie in bed for five lifetimes.

A business tycoon who got into a with a maid and got out of the way of having an illegitimate child - there's nothing to say about in itself, it's not uncommon or common, but it's not something to surprise after all. However, Ed didn't expect that he would be lucky enough to bump into it.

"The old man is precious, that bastard." Marcy continued to whisper, "The old man has two children, but the younger son is sick and dead, and the illegitimate child just fills the emotional void. He spent his childhood with the old man, but then the old man's wife and eldest son, the gray-haired Joey you met, forced him to send the child away and to a farm in a small town. It is said that they broke off contact – I don't believe it anyway – and then the owner of the farm died, and our illegitimate son, Tommy, sold all his land and property and came to Stuttgard to develop. He wandered here for two years, got into trouble, became a black household, and met some inappropriate people, but he could cope with no matter how difficult life was. It wasn't until he met Lilith that he finally settled down. ”

"Since he has long been cut off from his own family, why did Joey go all the way to find him now?"

"I think it's because of the money." Marcy squinted, the corners of her mouth curled with disdain, and her hands clasped in front of her chest, "The old man of his family also died recently, leaving a will, half of the property will be left to Joey, and the other half will be left to the illegitimate son Tommy." If you can't find Tommy, donate it all, in short, so that Joey doesn't get all greedy. ”

"Oh, that's terrible." Ed rubbed his chin with a groan, "If it were based on the feeling and impression that guy gave me today, I'm sure he definitely wanted all the money, not just half." ”

"But the old man's will is there, so there is only one way for him to get the whole inheritance."

"That's Tommy voluntarily giving up the inheritance and going through the procedure to transfer the money to Joey."

"That's why he came to Stuttgar to find his half-brother." Marcy gritted her teeth in hatred, she had never had a good impression of this kind of guy who valued money more than feelings. She'd only been betrayed by someone like this more than two months ago, "but was he sure Tommy would be so easy to cooperate with him?" ”

"As long as it falls into his hands, everything else is easy to say. What he has is the time and patience to keep Tommy obedient, no matter what means are used. Ed took the last two puffs, then snuffed out the end of his cigar in the ashtray, "What time is it?" ”

"Huh?" Marcy looked at her watch, "Half past eight." Why do you ask this? ”

“…… We have two hours left. Ed calculated, frowning, and looked at Marcy, "What the kid said before he left indicated that he would leave Stuttgar in five hours—you know what I mean." ”

“…… I think I understand. ”

"Tell me what you can do."

"Well," Marcy looked at Ed's gaze, unconsciously slowly straightened her back, crossed her hands against her nose, squinted her eyes and curled the corners of her mouth, "Just look at it." ”