Normally, Jill would have been out at exactly the same time as Vargas had returned, but today it was two hours early.

Jill wakes up startled by Vargas, who is sitting at the table.

"Why did you come back early today?" Jill asked.

"I'm not used to staying up late. Anyway, there is nothing important, and the whole of New York is flooded by the sea again, so it is better to come back early and stay. Then Vargas turned around and described what had happened in New York in the early hours of the morning to Jill.

"What caused it?" Jill asked again. At the same time, he wonders if Aglia is behind it.

"It really has something to do with Agria. As far as I know, at the same time, there was a tsunami in Southeast Asia, and quantum entanglement occurred under the influence of the 'second enlightenment mirror', so there was a seawater inflow and ocean whirlpool in New York City. ”

When he got out of the building, Jill saw that the ground around him was wet, and there were a lot of sea fish scattered on it, the underground garage on the left side was flooded, and the greenhouse garden between the buildings was also a wetland. A few steps ahead, some citizens are holding buckets, picking up fish that are still alive and putting them in for release, food or appreciation.

"Sidon's Restaurant must have survived." At this moment, he received a message from Hulk that the restaurant was flooded with seawater and needed to be closed for a few days, and he would be notified when he was ready. Moreover, John got into a lawsuit and may no longer be able to serve as the manager of the restaurant; It was decided that he would be the manager.

He was sure that he was not mistaken, but such good fortune befell him again, and he had to give birth to some heart.

According to what he knew about John, he was very concerned about why John got into a lawsuit, what kind of lawsuit he got into, and he had nothing to do when he was idle, so he had to investigate the matter. He knew that Fernando must be sleeping, and he couldn't wake up, Caroline's phone couldn't get through, and he didn't have Lisa's contact information, so he had to find Nodia in the end.

Nodia was still asleep when she was woken up by a phone call from Jill.

"What's the matter?" Nodia said vaguely.

"Shouldn't you be busy? That's right, I want to check someone, and only you can help me when I look for it. With a joking greeting, Jill immediately cut to the chase.

"There was such a big thing going on in New York in the early hours of the morning, and the JA executives were preparing to hold a four-party meeting to discuss policy guidelines, so I took a break from my shifts. I didn't sleep well yesterday and was very sleepy...... Who is he? Nodia's voice became the same as usual.

"John Curtis."

"Okay, I'll find someone." Nodia hung up the phone and immediately asked someone to help investigate. After a minute and 20 seconds, he forwarded the information to Jill.

After reading the information, Jill learned that John's wife was having an extramarital affair and transferred the money they had jointly used to buy a new house behind John's back. The two had an argument over this last night, and in a fit of rage, John accidentally killed his wife, and was arrested and detained by the 28th Precinct on the way to escape. Still, he felt that there were some doubts that he had to ask John for himself.

For him, the hospital was a place where he would resist as soon as he heard about it, and the police station was no less than it, but at this time he was already standing at the door of the police station, and he could only enter it with his head on.

"Jill, I really didn't expect you to come to see me." Across the long table, John said with a smirk.

Jill pursed her lips and smiled in response.

"I can't believe anything like this could happen to you. In addition to looking at you, I have a question for you. ”

"Ask, there's nothing you can't know from me." John said, his tone faintly helpless.

"I want to know, when did you find out about your wife?"

John's face suddenly froze: "Yesterday at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a mysterious person told me to be exact, he put a black envelope on my desk, the contents of which were typed on a typewriter, and the payment was still a strange circle the size of a wrench. He told me everything Caitlin was doing behind her back, and the last thing I could tolerate was having an affair with her was the Blandon I saw every day, it was so unlikely! I confronted her that night, and she actually filed for divorce with me with all the confidence, and said that the money was the compensation she deserved, and they were such a good match, they were all complete bastards! After killing her, I tried to escape from New York overnight, but I ran into the tide......"

Jill could feel that John had tried his best to maintain his usual gentlemanly demeanor, otherwise there would have been more ugly words. Moreover, after reciting the "circle" twice, he was already inclined to associate it with Agria.

Coming out of the police station, Jill sees Nodia parked and waiting for him.

"Why are you here?" Jill sat in the passenger seat.

"I'm here to be your driver." Nodia then asked, "By the way, what's the catch?" ”

"He told me that he had received a strange letter, signed in a strange circle, and it was it that played the role of 'matchmaking'. I suspect it's the Aglians behind it. Now to make matters worse, John left that letter in a desk drawer while the dining room was flooded by the sea last night. ”

"A typewriter letter, a strange circle, what clues can you find on it? If I could, I would have one more letter like this. Nodia pulled out a black envelope from her inner pocket and handed it to Jill, which Mason had Thomas pass to Nodia half an hour earlier. The black envelope contained a letter also typed on a typewriter, signed in a circle, the main content of which threatened him not to operate on Alice, or his young son would disappear from this world completely.

"I just want to see it." Jill squeezed the letter in both hands and read it for a while, then put it to the tip of his nose and sniffed it.

Nodia looked at Jill and waited.

The words look hard typed, but in fact they are soft, and they are still made of thermal paper. This thermal paper is modified and resistant to oxidation, and can not be stored for more than five days at most, which is why it is packed in a black envelope. It requires a certain standard of craftsmanship, and neither that person nor Agria would have set up such a site, as long as we trace the source of this paper, I think we will be able to dig that person out. Jill said as she folded the letter and put it back in the black envelope.

"Are you so sure?" Nodia was skeptical. Before coming here, he had consulted the relevant experts and had not been able to find any signs, so when Jill made this inference, there were some doubts.

"Guess. I've only been exposed to these occasionally. Jill replied.

"I really think you're the wrong gender now, you should be a woman." Nodia paused for a moment, "Let's start looking." ”

He asked someone to search for all the shops and companies that sold this kind of paper, and went with Nodia to check them one by one. At the moment of their departure, in a spherical room surrounded by water and fish on the upper floor of JA, Beckett Rockefeller, Dylan Maxwell, Benjamin Allen, and Jonathan Kennedy, the representative of the three major chaebols of JA funders, sat in front of a 3D floating projection of the entire plate map of New York City and its east coast for dozens of kilometers of oceans, solemnly watching the projection while waiting for something to begin.

In addition to the four of them and the four captains of the Blade Squad, three others were present as retinues, two were Dwynne Maxwell's grandson Dwyane Maxwell and his accompanying physician Elizabeth, and the other was Benjamin Allen's secretary and bodyguard, and the only person standing in the room.

"Let's get started." Dylan Maxwell, who was in a wheelchair with gray hair and a thin face but full of energy, coughed violently three times, "I only have half an hour to spare, because I have something to attend to after that." ”

"Old Maxwell, it's time to think about Qingfu, there's no need to be so hands-on in everything." Jonathan said, as he looked at Dwyan, who was sitting behind him to his left, what everyone called McXway.

"Thank you, Mayor, for your kindness."

At this moment, Beckett looked at Jayne on the side and motioned for the start.

"I'm Jayne, the captain of the first team of the Blade Squad, so I'm going to explain three things to you. First, in the case of the 2:00 a.m. flooding of New York, it was determined that the Southeast Asian tsunami triggered quantum entanglement, which caused the Atlantic tide and ocean whirlpool. Jayne stood up and said, the projector showing everyone in the room the whole process of the seawater pouring into New York City and the subsequent whirlpool, "10 minutes ago, after sorting out, all aspects of New York City order have become normal. ”

"Second, seven days ago at Yankee Stadium, Boakye said that a one-month deadline was for us to agree to the agreement. Since the first day of the arrival of the Aglia spacecraft on Earth, they have caused thirty-five riots, large and small, and we have no idea when or how large the Aglia will be in the next operation, and with the enemy's absolute technological superiority, we must have the necessary means to deal with it in the remaining twenty-four days, which is a rather thorny problem. ”

"Based on the former, and thirdly, under our existing conditions, is it possible to break the temporal order created by Agria using the 'Two Enlightenment Mirrors'?" Jayne continued. He looked at the others present, then sat down in his chair.

"I don't think so. If there is some correlation between the tides and the whirlpools and the 'Two Enlightenment Mirrors', what if they destroy them and lead to even greater disasters? New York is often in turmoil, but the number of people is increasing, and in addition to the magic of the city itself, there is another reason: we have unconsciously adapted to this temporal order, whether forced or voluntary. It's ironic. The second thing, in the final analysis, is whether we can be sure of defeating Agria after 24 days. Let's take it one step at a time. Benjamin said.

Naturally, everyone understands what Benjamin meant by "take it one step at a time" and acquiesce that this is the best way to find it at this stage.

"I believe that everything comes naturally, in the classic Chinese phrase 'the boat goes straight to the bridge'. For example, the Mech Patrol is not an effective outcome for us to deal with the sub-people, so there is no need to tighten your nerves so tightly and let go of a bit. Jonathan's clapping awakened everyone's contemplative thoughts and lightened the room.

The Quartet meeting came to an end after 25 minutes.

Everyone left the room one after another, except for Dwyane Maxwell, who approached Caroline against the flow of people, smiled and waved at her, "See you again, Caroline." ”

"Why did you come along?" Carolyn asked.

"In order to see you, and secondly, come over and learn more, which is also what grandpa requested." As he spoke, Maxway's eyes never left Caroline's face, admiring it like a gentleman.

"Don't stare at me like that. My attitude should be very clear, there is no possibility of being called lovers between the two of us, it is any possibility, so please don't waste any more thoughts on me in the future. Caroline was about to leave, but was stopped by a stride from Maxwell.

"It's my right to like you, you can't even deprive me of this right." McXwell said.

"Of course, but you have to be careful, or I won't hesitate to pull you into my blacklist." Caroline glared at McXwell, and the look frightened him in place.

After shaking his senses, Maxwell smiled and shouted at Caroline's back, "I won't give up easily." ”

Hearing this, Caroline's heart "chuckled", because one day two years ago she heard Nodia say something familiar to her. Before this, they were friends who talked about everything, and after that, she tried to avoid Nodia for half a year, but after that, they gradually regained their relationship as friends, which is really a wonderful balance.

Meanwhile, Jill and Nordia have reached their second destination, a service transit company that specializes in providing thermal paper to general stores and large supermarkets. The boss, a capable and enthusiastic middle-aged woman, told them bluntly that the company's business content does not include improved thermal paper, and even if the customer needs it, it will not be satisfied, because it is time-consuming and laborious. But she offered a location, in Queens, second to last on their checklist, and now they could get it ahead of schedule.

It was a new company that had just been established for half a year, and the combination of business and production was strictly speaking more like a small workshop with a company shell. The boss, a man in his twenties and eighties, founded the company with five other officers, and took care of all the affairs himself, giving the company a vibrant and thriving scene.

They learned that the company could indeed offer customers a certain amount of improved thermal paper at a much higher price. But the conundrum is that the boss has a principle, which is to never divulge customer information.

"If I say that he is an Aglian who has provoked many troubles or killed people indirectly by means of 'sending letters', is it necessary for you to keep it a secret for him?" In the huge conference room, Nodia said to the boss sitting outside the window.

"Seriously?" The boss turned around and looked at Nodia with a serious expression.

Nodia let out a "ha" and nodded.

"Then I'm willing to hand over the client's file." The boss compromised.

A total of three customers have ordered the improved thermal paper, and the amount of purchase is very similar, two of them are filled in the corporate account, and the other is the private account, and the amount is also the smallest of the three. At this time, the boss reminded one of the two of them that it was the most suspicious, because the person who came to the docking at that time was a layman at first glance, just hired to run errands.

"Then check it first. Of course, the other two can't be ruled out, Jill, what do you say? Nodia asked.

"Agreed."