When she came to the door of Duanmu Huai's apartment again, Mary looked a little nervous, but she still took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Who?"

"It's me, Mr. Duanmu, Mary. Clarissa. ”

"Oh, come in."

Soon the door opened, and Mary saw a maid with long brown hair standing there, saluting her. She didn't know much about this maid, only remembered that she was in charge of piloting the plane to send them out when she was in Antarctica——— of course, at that time, Mary was all about her friend, but now, she also respectfully saluted the maid, who welcomed Mary in, and when she led the maid to the living room, Mary could see Duanmu Huai sitting on the sofa, boredly flipping through a large pile of letters in her hand.

"Yo."

Seeing Mary, Duanmu Huai waved at her without any gentlemanly demeanor, and then threw the letters aside.

"There are a lot of things in the old continent, what age is this, and there are tea parties, dinners, and dinners............... Do you think these people are idle and have nothing to do? ”

"Is it an invitation to you?"

Hearing Duanmu Huai's complaints, Mary somewhat understood, although she had two aristocratic ladies, Xia Li and Ashelika, as friends, but she was only a middle-class student, even if she had learned similar banquet etiquette, she didn't want to use it in this regard. What's more, this kind of banquet is usually attended by aristocratic ladies in the social world, and girls like Mary who think about work rather than marriage and children after graduation don't need to care about this connection.

"Just look at me like a diorama......... How's that friend of yours? ”

"Ah, Charlie, she's all right, she's currently recuperating in the sanatorium, and she wrote to me before........."

"Oh, that's good."

Duanmu Huai nodded, and then began to flip through the letter in his hand again. Looking at Duanmu Huai, Mary suddenly felt a little nervous, this is also normal, although Xia Li lost her memory, Ashelica did not know about his existence, but Mary knew that her friends were able to live a familiar daily life again, thanks to this kind gentleman. Not to mention that he had spent a lot of money for all this——— although Miss Lorena had told Mary that it was the duty of the Inquisition, but Mary was not the kind of girl who did not know how to repay the favor.

Therefore, she also hopes to introduce Duanmu Huai to her two friends to meet in order to ............... In what capacity is it better?

At this time, Mary suddenly found that the identities of herself and Duanmu Huai seemed a little unclear.

Logically speaking, he should have been his client in the first place? But in fact, as the client, Mary did not give Duanmu Huai any remuneration, on the contrary, Duanmu Huai spent a lot of money for her and Xia Li, which was an astronomical amount. So much so that it is not clear who is the client.

Friend? If you want to be a friend, then ...............

"Please use tea."

Just as Mary pondered this, her thoughts were interrupted by the maid's arrival, who took the teacup, nodded to the maid in thanks, and then looked at Duanmu Huai again.

"Mr. Duanmu."

"Huh?"

"That's it, that......... How can I say it..............."

Although she knew that Duanmu Huai didn't care about these etiquettes, Mary was still cautious and spoke as politely as possible.

"It's going to be a holiday soon, and Ah Xie and I ...... Asherica is going to visit Charlie at the resort, and Asherica will be going with her fiancé, Mr. Howard, if you have time, would you like to ......... together?"

Speaking of this, Mary also felt as if her logic was a little confused, indeed, Mr. Howard was Ashelica's fiancé, and he went to meet Xia Li in the past. But it doesn't seem to be that kind of relationship between himself and Duanmu Huai.........

Sure enough, Duanmu Huai didn't seem to be very interested in it.

"You girls have a party, I won't go to join in the fun, let's have some fun."

"Yes......... Good. ”

Hearing Duanmu Huai's answer, Mary also sighed silently in her heart, and at this time, Duanmu Huai suddenly became "suspicious".

"Baskerville? That's interesting. ”

"Huh?"

"Ever heard of that name? Mary? ”

"Ah, yes."

Hearing Duanmu Huai's inquiry, Mary nodded.

"The Baskervilles are one of the most famous upper-class families, I've heard of it........."

"No, no, no, I didn't mean this..............."

"Ah, you mean the Baskerville devil's dog?"

As a native of Wudu, it is certainly impossible for Mary not to have read the record of the great detective, let alone forget ——— fact that she is familiar with the Baskervilles because of this story. In other words, this story is known to everyone in the upper and middle layers of the fog capital.

The legend of the Demon Dog, the curse of the Baskervilles, the great detective and the conspiracy behind it, not to mention the specially collected book published into a masterpiece.........

"That's right, the devil's dog of the Baskervilles."

Duanmu Huai held up the envelope and shook it at Mary.

"It seems that the detective didn't seem to be able to solve this problem completely, and now it's in my hands again."

"Uh....................."

Hearing this, Mary frowned.

"I remember......... At the end of the book, Mr. Holmes and his assistant Watson must have caught the prisoner, in fact the Baskervilles did not suffer any curse, and the so-called demon dog was only a slightly larger hunting dog. The whole incident was actually a case that the prisoner deliberately used to create by coveting the property of the Baskerville family, wasn't it? ”

"That's right, but the reality looks even more bizarre than ........."

Duanmu Huai opened the letter and read it carefully.

"Looks like I've got something to do, do you want to come along?"

"Uh......... This ..............."

It would be impossible to say that Mary was not at all impressed, she was a loyal reader of that book, and the mere fact that she was invited by the legendary Baskervilles was already quite exciting. Not to mention, for now, this matter seems to have some kind of inexplicable relationship with the legend of the demon dog.

But in the end, the longing for his friend still overwhelmed the excitement in his heart.

"Sorry..............."

"Well, that's understandable."

Duanmu Huai shook his head.

Sure enough, there are a lot of things going on here on the old road, and it's quite romantic, after all, this is a case that Holmes once shot......... Although for now, he may have overturned?

Of course, maybe not?

Anyway, he is still a D-class personnel at present, and although the matter in Antarctica is very troublesome, because Duanmu Huai has destroyed most of the evidence, the Foundation has not given him enough upgrade privileges. At present, this case is more suitable for me, can I be promoted to the C level after solving this trouble?

In this way, it is only one step away from the reality anchor.

While Duanmu Huai was about to investigate the matter of the demon dog of the Baskervilles, Mary had already taken the train with her friends and embarked on the road to the retreat to visit Xia Li.

"Bang dang......... Bang Dang......... Bang Dang ........."

Sitting on the train and listening to the rhythmic sound of the tracks, Mary sighed silently. To be honest, as a student of the Faculty of History, Mary is not without her own ideals, although she also wanted to become an archaeologist like her mother, but now she has some new ideas. In fact, when Duanmuhuai invited Mary to join the court, such an idea had come to Mary's mind.

Maybe......... Himself and Mr. Duanmu, will they be like Watson and Sherlock Holmes?

In the fog capital, the birthplace of Sherlock Holmes, legends and stories about him are naturally widely spread. It's just that in addition to Sherlock Holmes, Watson's existence is also quite sought after by everyone——— in fact, for many people, although they all aspire to become Sherlock Holmes, but if you really have to choose, Watson is obviously a safer object.

Following Sherlock Holmes, recording the cases he has experienced, and publishing them in a book is also a romance in the hearts of many young people.

Merely...............

Holmes.........

Thinking of this, Mary showed a wry smile, after being with Duanmu Huai for so long, she also found that although the other party was in the name of a detective, he was actually completely different from the famous detective who seemed to know almost everything. Indeed, he also knows a lot of knowledge that others do not know, but compared to Sherlock Holmes, how can he say it......... The gentleman didn't seem to care much about intellectuality, on the contrary, many times he preferred to confront the other person directly and then completely defeat him with violence.

This is completely different from Sherlock Holmes.........

If you were Watson, how would you write a story about him?

You can't write that he smashed someone's head with a cane...............

But that seems interesting, too?

"Woo....................."

However, Mary, who was immersed in thought, did not realize that right next to her, her friend, the petite Aselica, was puffing out her cheeks and looking at her dissatisfied.

That look on Mary's face......... Is it really related to a man?!

Seeing her friend's cheeks slightly red and smiling and looking out of the window, Ashelika couldn't sit still. Although she is indeed the youngest of the three, compared to Charlie and Mary, Ashelica is already engaged to a merchant in the New World, and is currently in love, although she is the youngest, she has far more experience in love than Mary and Charlie.

But...............

It's so unpleasant............!

Looking at Mary's side face, Ashelika silently clenched her fists.

Dare to make a ............ to the most important Mary of Ache! There is absolutely no way to forgive!

Ashelika knew that she was not unfounded, after all, she had told her this when she met a child on the street before.

"Sister Mary, she's a lover to a very good boss!"

Truth be told, Aselica didn't want to believe this kind of nonsense if she could, but the other party was also a friend of Mary, and swore that she saw Mary on the street with a man late at night. At that time, Ashelika was very worried, and she had been wondering if there was any despicable and shameless man who took advantage of Mary's distress because of Charlie's unconscious, and took advantage of the weakness to tease Mary.

Originally, Ashelika also planned to find time to talk to Mary carefully, but later, Xia Li, who was originally unconscious, suddenly disappeared, and after coming back, she regained consciousness, and a series of things made Ashelika happy, and the three of them returned to the same relationship as before, so she temporarily put this matter behind.

But now on the train like this, watching her friend show the expression of a girl in love, it always makes her unhappy!

Who the hell is it? I actually took advantage of the fragile girl to get in.,A despicable set of almost a "fan man"!

Obviously Mary is not interested in such and such things between men and women, but she uses the fact that she is like a lost child to play with her!

This kind of man! Absolutely unforgivable!!!

“………………… Sneezing !! ”

Duanmu Huai sneezed heavily and rubbed his nose.

"Are you okay? Knight-sama? ”

Hearing the sneezing, Lorena poked her head out to look at him, while Duanmu Huai shook her head.

"It's okay, I guess someone is talking about me."

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai looked at Lorena.

"Have you finished reading?"

"Ah, yes, I've read it."

Hearing Duanmu Huai's inquiry, Lorena put down the book "The Devil Dog of the Baskervilles" in her hand and nodded.

"Judging from the content of the book, it was an illegitimate child who wanted to fight for the family property, so he took advantage of the legend of the demon dog of the Baskerville family to commit a crime, and in the end, didn't the prisoner also be caught?"

"That's right, this time the police are also investigating from this angle."

Duanmu Huai knocked on the file in front of him.

Since the events of "The Devil's Dog of the Baskervilles", the Baskervilles have become famous in the fog capital, and in the long series of events that followed, the so-called curse seems to have completely disappeared because of the appearance of this book. But just a few years ago, something similar happened again in the Baskervilles.

To put it simply, the Baskervilles were attacked by a huge demon dog from pitch black on the estate, and several people have died as a result. Among them was the previous Baskerville Patriarch, but also his eldest son and wife, and then the eldest grandson......... At that time, after receiving the report, the police also investigated according to the description in a similar way to see if anyone deliberately raised a hound to kill people, and the local police also set up a circle, together with the guards of the Baskerville family, to try to catch the black dog.

Herein lies the problem.

Their encirclement succeeded, and then ......... Heavy casualties.

According to the survivors of the police and guards who were present at the time, they encountered a black hound that looked bigger than a human being, it was invulnerable, in and out of the fog, and the policemen who tried to stop the black dog were directly knocked into the air and died. On this night alone, thirteen or fourteen policemen and guards fell under the black dog's minions, and because of this, they specially turned to the Wudu police, and then Sheriff Lestrade referred the case to Duanmu Huai.

This is also the reason why Duanmu Huai received an invitation from the Baskerville family.

"But it doesn't matter, if it's a criminal case, it doesn't matter to us."

Duanmu Huai bluntly denied the possibility of any real incident——— the existence of the trial court was not to deal with ordinary cases of murder for money.

"Let's trace the cause of the Baskerville family's devil dog incident, you should have seen it in the book."

"Well, according to the records, the Baskervilles' legend of the Demon Dog comes from one of their ridiculous ancestors, who kidnapped a young girl and tried to violence her. Then the maiden fled in fear, and the ancestor who found the maiden fleeing was furious, and sent hounds to chase her, and they rode in pursuit, and finally the bodies of the maiden and the Baskerville ancestor were found by a strange altar, and a terrible black dog was seen biting the ancestor, and after that, it was rumored that it was the evil deeds of the ancestors of the Baskervilles that caused curses and punishments........."

"What do you think of the useless literary and artistic processing in this?"

"Uh-huh....................."

Faced with Duanmu Huai's inquiry, Lorena thought for a moment.

"The ancestors of the Baskervilles, perhaps they wanted to perform some kind of cult ritual, and that girl was the sacrifice?"

"yes, that's what I thought, too."

Duanmuhuai snapped his fingers, this is why he brought Lorena with him, what they are investigating now is not an ordinary murder case, let alone a criminal case——— as Duanmu Huai said, the criminal murder case has nothing to do with them, and the trial court is more concerned about the evil hidden behind it.

Just leave it to Sherlock Holmes to solve it, what does it have to do with them.

"So, do you think the ritual was a success or a failure?"

"For now......... I suspect the ceremony was a failure. ”

Lorena flipped through her hand again.

"Maybe there was a problem with the steps, or maybe something went wrong, causing the summoned monsters to turn back on themselves........."

"Yes, this group of cultists has no other skills, and the ability to die is first-class."

Duanmu Huai pursed his lips, basically the magic in the Cthulhu world is like this, no matter what magic you use, basically the first thing you start is to kill the summoner.

Like the cultist they first met in the manor, they summoned a dire snake, and then they swallowed the cultist who summoned them out first.

There are basically countless similar things, so seeing this, Duanmu Huai and Lorena's first reaction is not difficult to understand.

"All in all, that's all the information at the moment."

Duanmu Huai stretched out his hand and touched the black cat and white rabbit that poked their heads out of their pockets.

"As for the rest, I think we'll know when we get to the place."

After this, Duanmu and Lorena went to the Devon police station and reported their identities, and they were taken to the morgue where the bodies were stored.

"Frankly, I'm not a person who believes in myths and legends."

The chubby forensic doctor was wearing a white coat and walked in front of Duanmu Huai, struggling to move his steps as he spoke.

"But to be honest, what I saw this time, it really scared the hell out of me."

"You were part of that night's siege?"

"No, of course not."

The fat forensic doctor shook his head.

"With my body, I'm just going to deliver meat to the other party. But the people of Devon can't forget what happened that night, the gunshots, the screams, the shouts......... Truth be told, this peaceful place has never been so noisy. By the time I got called for an emergency call, it was already like this........."

"So, do you have any clues you can give about the Baskervilles? Including the first few victims? ”

"Oh, of course."

The fat forensic doctor came to the desk, then struggled to stand on tiptoe, opened the top of the filing cabinet, and took out several autopsy reports.

"In order, first of all, the old Baskerville, he is a very respected doctor, and a very decent man, he was found lying on the path outside his manor in the early morning, his body was not injured, the examination result was a heart attack——— for an eighty-year-old man, this is actually not an accident."

"So it was filed by accident?"

"Of course, the police investigated, and the conclusion was that old Baskerville went out for a walk, and on the way back, he suddenly fell ill, and then collapsed......... It's ordinary, so it's not surprising. ”

As he spoke, the fat forensic doctor took out a file again.

"Next was his son, Mr. Charles, whose time of death was in the evening, after dinner, and according to the testimony, he and his wife went out for a walk after eating and never returned. As it gets dark, the others become worried, and they go out to look for them, and then find the bodies of the two men——— their necks torn open, and the corpses are horrible to see, apparently attacked by some large animal. However, as I think you know, there are no big animals in this place, not even wolves. ”

Saying this, the fat forensic doctor took a breath.

"Then there was their son, Fred, who was so angry and sad at the death of his parents that he thought it was a wild beast, so he took the hounds, gathered a team of men and horses, and a large number of hounds went up the mountain, and vowed to find the beast that killed his parents."

"And then he sent himself away?"

"Yes."

The fat forensic doctor sighed helplessly.

"His head was slapped into meat sauce, and the autopsy showed that he must have been crushed by a bear, God, I never knew there was a bear in Devonshire!"

"Then this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the demon dog."

"Oh, yes, but many of the people who went up the mountain at the time testified that they did not see the bear, but a terrible black hound, taller than a man, and then we set a trap and tried to catch the beast..............."

Saying this, the fat forensic doctor paused and took a breath.

"Well, facts speak louder than words, and you'll know when you read it."

As he spoke, the fat forensic doctor came to the morgue and pulled the door open.

One shift a day, it's better to rest and sleep, but at present I still have a cough, my mouth and tongue are on fire, and my stomach is not very comfortable after taking too much medicine......... I also need to take less medicine.........

(End of chapter)