"The murderer is among us?"

Some people say that the assassination of the first secretary to the foreign minister on this special day on 4 May may have something to do with the internal contradictions of the Chinese delegation. The Beiyang government did not want the southern military junta to participate in the Paris Peace Conference, but under pressure from the United States, Wang Zhengting was appointed as the representative of Guangzhou. When they arrived in Paris, China had only two pitiful seats, and there were five people with the title of plenipotentiary. The Lutti Hotel is like an intricate Chinese officialdom. In addition to the official delegation, there is also a non-governmental observation group, and Liang Qichao's reputation is outstanding, which often brings off-site pressure.

Ouyang Anna pushed away the French police who were blocking her, came to the foyer of the hotel, found Jean Xavier who was smoking, and said, "Mr. Sheriff, I know who the murderer is?" ”

Facing the nineteen-year-old girl, Xavier was not as frivolous as an ordinary French man, and asked with a calm face: "Miss, have you seen the murderer's face?" ”

"No, but I do know that the killer used a dagger, a sharp weapon with an ivory carved hilt and a pattern of luodian."

She struggled to explain in French that it was called "Raden".

"You're right."

"The killer came from an Assassin Order. Half a month ago, they assassinated the old head of the second batch of Chinese delegations in New York in order to steal the file box of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Cutting throats with daggers was the usual method of these Assassins, who had killed at least fifty people in China! Anna's eyes were red, "My father is among the victims!" If you are not convinced, send a telegram to the French Concession in Shanghai. The French expatriates in Shanghai were all aware of these atrocities. ”

Sheriff Xavier was still expressionless: "Miss, I will verify your statement as soon as possible." ”

"I believe that there is no murderer in the Chinese delegation. I spend time with these people, all of whom are career diplomats, proud, sensitive, vain and cowardly...... I don't like most of them, but when it comes to killing, it's a big look at how bold these people are. ”

"That's a coincidence, that's what I thought."

"I think it's a warning!" Ouyang Anna boldly speculated, "The Paris Peace Conference is coming to an end, and the assassins' motive for killing is related to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. ”

"If they don't do what they think, the Assassins will kill more people?"

"But what exactly are the Assassins' demands?" Anna also had a headache, grabbed her curly black hair and said, "Is this asking us to sign the Treaty of Versailles?" Or don't sign it? ”

"I'm sorry, miss, I'm just a sheriff, I just want to catch the murderer, I don't care about politics." Xavier waved his hand and said, "Tonight, just to be safe, I suggest you stay in your room and don't go anywhere." ”

Seeing Anna go upstairs, Sheriff Xavier walked out of the hotel and looked at the moon in Versailles. He rubbed his eyes and lit another cigarette, the seventh recent assassination.

More than two months ago, French Prime Minister Clemenceau, after talks with US President Wilson at the Palace of Versailles, was confronted by assassins on his way out in a car. Eight bullets were fired, one of which hit Clemenceau's heart. The French prime minister, nicknamed "Tiger", had a big life, and the bullet remained in his body forever. Originally thought to be Germans, the Assassin was captured and found to be a French anarchist. Xavier's motives for interrogating the assassins? The answer is - we have just finished a war, and Clemenceau is planning another.

Honestly, the Assassins were right.

Paris was originally the largest city on the European continent, and during the peace conference, so to speak, there were as many delegations of Assassins as there were delegations from those countries. From the French prime minister to China's petty diplomats, every politician is in danger of being assassinated.

These days, Sheriff Xavier is very busy, constantly increasing the security presence of the various delegations. Suddenly, someone approached with a telephone, and he answered with a frown.

Xavier hung up the phone and instructed his men: "The Italian delegation has an accident again!" ”

Ten minutes later, the car sped through the streets of Versailles to the hotel where the Italian delegation was staying. The door was already full of people, and there were even Italian tabloid reporters filming the police officers maintaining order with flash. On the opposite side were a few young Italians, carrying a large black flag with a strange pattern - a bundle of sticks with an axe in it. The sheriff loved to read Roman history when he was in college, and knew that this was the sign of the ancient Roman consuls, called Fasces in Latin.

Pushing aside the panicked crowd, Xavier walked up to the second-floor guest room. At the door of the crime scene, a French girl curled up, wrapped in a large bath towel, revealing her bare thighs, let out a few screams from time to time. Needless to say, Xavier had guessed her profession, and now in depressed Paris, it was the easiest way for women to make a living. On the bed lay a naked male corpse, an Italian with a black mustache, his eyes staring at the ceiling. However, the neck of the deceased is intact, unlike the Chinese who had just had his throat cut. But the snow-white bed was soaked in blood, and the sheriff examined the Italian's body, which revealed a bullet hole in the back of his head, and a broken skull and brain pulp flowing. When the Italian diplomat summoned a French prostitute for a spring supper, someone sneaked into the room and shot him in the head.

Sheriff Xavier returned to the door of the guest room, and in front of the only witness, he tore open the French girl's bath towel, and sure enough, it was spring, and there was no hanging inside. He leaned into the girl's ear and asked, "Do you see the Assassin's face?" ”

The girl, who was at most 17 years old, said she was pressed under the guest and her attention was on the lower half of her body. Only a sudden gunshot was heard, and the Italian spurted blood from the back of her head and fell on her face. She screamed and pushed the dead man away and rolled down to the floor of the guest room, only to see the back of the killer fleeing. The other party was dressed in civilian clothes, and judging by his size, he was European.

Sheriff Xavier retreated downstairs to the hotel and let the police disperse the reporters and the crowd of demonstrators. He sat alone in the moonlight and smoked a cigarette, and the Italian delegation withdrew from the Paris Peace Conference in anger because he had sought a port that had belonged to Austria-Hungary but had not received the support of the Big Three. These days he has come back in disgrace, and if it had been two days late, the diplomat would not have died in the tent of beauty

Before he finished a cigarette, another phone call came after him, and the sheriff answered for a moment, then threw away the cigarette butt and said, "Something has happened to the British delegation again!" May 4, 1919, what happened tonight? ”

Non-stop cars, carrying Sheriff Xavier, arrived at the British delegation a kilometer away. As France's most loyal allies during the Great War, the English were given a grand reception and lived in Louis XIV's palace, surrounded by soldiers and sentry posts. Despite the murder, the British delegation was in good order, in contrast to the chaotic Italians.

The crime scene was in the corner of the palace, where two gentlemen were playing chess. One is John Maynard Keynes, Chief Representative of the British Treasury and Fellow of Economics at the University of Cambridge. There was also a representative of the British Colonial Office, Sir Charlie Jonathan, who fell on the chessboard, clutching two pieces: the queen and the horse, but his head had rolled to the floor.

Sheriff Xavier looked calmly at the headless corpse - blood from the cavity of his neck covered the entire chessboard and all the chess pieces. The sheriff lifted the human head on the floor, and the deceased remained stunned at the moment of the fall, with his eyes open.

"We were playing chess, and all of a sudden, a white figure landed on the ceiling. All I saw was a scimitar that cut off Jonathan's head in an instant. ”

The frightened Keynes rarely recounted the case rationally, and the sheriff asked, "You didn't see the murderer's face clearly?" ”

"I just remember that the other party was dressed in white, as if it was some kind of Oriental costume."

"Orientals? Near East or Far East? ”

"Near East."

"And what about the scimitar?" Xavier understood that this was difficult for the survivors to describe, and he immediately drew on a piece of paper the shape of a scimitar, the face of which was covered with intricate patterns, "Is this what it looks like?" ”

The frightened Keynes nodded repeatedly: "Yes! It's this kind of knife, which looks very beautiful and is extremely sharp. ”

"This is the Damascus steel knife that the Arabs are best used at, and it is made of patterned steel with iron like clay."

Sheriff Xavier carefully investigates the scene of the crime. The assassin had long since fled, but on the calcareous walls of the palace, a line of letters was carved with a blade—

Assassins