While chatting with Falson, Samuel turned his gaze to the notice board.
【Liant Town Living Rules】
【Take a good look, citizens. Recently, ten dangerous outlaws have infiltrated Liant Town. To ensure the personal safety, property safety, and ntal safety of all citizens, please strictly adhere to the following provisions and discard your useless confidence. Any discrepancies in the interpretation of the rules shall be subject to the latest posted version.】
【1. Effective from 6:00 AM today, the entire area of Liant Town will be under closed managent. Unauthorized entry or exit, whether entering or leaving the town, is illegal. Violators will be subject to capital punishnt.】
【2. Strictly prohibit all illegal activities. Lawbreakers will be marked, and Law Enforcers will carry out punishnt on the offenders. The severity of punishnt will vary according to the degree of the violation.】
【3. Lawbreakers will be punished. Even the smallest illegal act, if committed repeatedly, will gradually increase the severity of punishnt. Please, citizens, do not attempt to defy the authority of the law.】
【4. The Enforcent Team will strictly adhere to the Liant Town rules and regulations most of the ti. However, when dealing with lawbreakers, they have the right to temporarily violate the law.】
【5. All citizens are encouraged to enthusiastically report infiltrators from outside. Characteristics of infiltrators are as follows: strange behavior, strange language, strange speech, use of counterfeit currency, etc...】
【6. Please respect the rules and regulations of any location within the city. Do not knowingly break the law.】
【7. Protecting the town is a necessary duty for every citizen. When citizens face outsiders, all your lawful actions will receive the support of the city itself. Conversely, all actions of outsiders within the town's boundaries will be suppressed.】
【8. Forsake darkness for light. When an outsider reports other outsiders, they can obtain the qualification to leave this town safely. If an outsider reports multiple other outsiders, they can receive progressively increasing rewards based on the number.】
【The law is still being supplented. Please, citizens, pay attention to any rulebook within your sight. If you break the law, believe , you will not want to bear the consequences.】
【Note: All rights of interpretation of the rules belong to the Enforcent Team.】
These words were slightly raised on the yellowed parchnt, creating a bizarre three-dinsional effect, as if they weren't written on it but had grown from within the paper itself.
The few onlooking residents murmured among themselves, frowning as if expressing dissatisfaction with the words on the notice board.
Indeed, the attitude conveyed by that notice board was a bit too poor. Anyone who sensed it would feel uncomfortable.
Samuel took a pocket watch from his pocket and glanced at it.
"It seems you won't have ti to rush back today," Samuel said. "Well, since we're already here, let's play. A ga of cat and mouse."
Falson imdiately looked around nervously, afraid that Samuel's words would be heard by others, revealing their identity as outsiders.
"They can't hear," Samuel put away the pocket watch. "It's you who..."
Samuel grinned, showing a mischievous smile.
"Actually, for you, reporting
should be the optimal solution to escape right now, shouldn't it?"
Falson looked at Samuel, hesitated for a mont, but still shook his head.
"I won't, Mr. Samuel."
"Is that so?" Samuel raised an eyebrow. "You won't do sothing so easy to accomplish? What, are you the kind of great hero who sacrifices himself to protect others?"
"How could that be," Falson shook his head, not hiding his thoughts at all. "I don't dare."
Hearing this answer, Samuel let out a "Huh."
"Haha." Samuel laughed. "Very honest, dear."
"You know you're quite amusing, right?" Samuel asked, leaning his face a little closer.
"Uh..." Falson was montarily speechless.
"Let's go." Samuel straightened up, turned, and walked away.
Falson imdiately followed.
…………
Old Fishbone Tavern, underground, Mister Pride's gathering.
After Samuel left, Wyatt glanced at the corpse on the floor. His expression didn't change at all, still wearing that gentle smile.
He beckoned to his assistant. Two attendants in black tailcoats silently slid into the room and wordlessly carried the corpse away. A few more attendants entered with mops, rags, and buckets, thoroughly cleaning the room.
Even though there was no bloodstain, necessary cleanup was still required.
"That's enough," Wyatt said softly.
The attendants imdiately stopped, packed up their tools, and retreated from the room.
Clank, clank.
Heavy footsteps and the clattering of armor ca from behind.
The Sacred Law Knight, over three ters tall, arrived behind Mister Pride, standing outside the room, looking down at him, having to lower his head to see inside the small room.
He didn't enter the small room because the door was only two ters tall.
"You've been kept waiting, young knight sir," Mister Pride said with one hand behind his back, the other slightly raised. A tray with a hinged lid appeared in his hand, covered with a crimson velvet cloth.
There seed to be so sound coming from under the lid, but it was hard to make out clearly because of the lid and cloth.
Ding-a-ling... Ding-a-ling...
He turned around, took two steps, walked out of the room, ca before the knight, and raised the tray in his hand a little higher.
The knight remained silent, not uttering a word, looking down at the tray in Mister Pride's hand.
He extended his right hand and opened the hinged lid on the tray.
Ding-a-ling...
The sound from under the lid beca clear. It was a rusty, old-fashioned desk telephone.
"That will be one hundred thousand yur," Mister Pride said with a smile.
The knight still didn't say a word, simply tossing two green stones that fell into the tray.
Then he reached out, picked up the receiver on the telephone, which was sowhat miniature for him and looked like a toy in his hand, and put it to his ear.
The ding-a-ling ringing abruptly stopped.
…………
Between the West District and the South District, Reins Public Security Bureau Branch Three.
There were actually several public security bureaus in the city of Reins, located in different districts for convenient dispatch. This was the Third Bureau of the entire Reins Public Security Bureau.
The entire main bureau was a small, three-story terraced house with a modest area, featuring a reception area, various offices, and simple decor.
The open oak door led directly inside. The entrance area was spacious and bright, with the main hall designed in an open layout. The walls were off-white, hanging a few community notices and regulations. The floor was paved with white tiles, reflecting the light from the overhead fluorescent lamps.
The bureau's hall had a waiting area for visitors or those staying briefly, furnished with rows of dark, connected plastic chairs.
The air faintly mixed the slls of printer paper, coffee, and cleaning agents. Several officers, male and female, in police uniforms or plain clothes, were either sitting or standing. So were looking down at docunts, others conversing with each other.
In the deepest part of the entire security bureau, in an office, a wooden door was half-open.
The door panel was thicker than the others, its brass handle polished shiny by countless hands. The bottom of the door panel had many cracks, looking like it was often kicked.
A small plaque hung on the door, with black letters on a beige background reading "Chief's Office."
Through the half-open wooden door, one could see the inside facilities, arranged simply. There was only a wide desk, a pen holder with a few pens, a bookcase holding several books, an oil lamp, and a painting hanging on the wall.
Behind the desk was a high-backed leather chair. The leather at the top of the chair back had cracked, revealing the yellowed sponge inside. Apart from that, there was almost nothing else.
A chessboard sat on the desk. The pieces were three-dinsional, with horses, cannons, queens, and kings, sowhat similar to the "chess" from Samuel's previous life.
If one only looked at the facilities, this was probably the office of so "strategic genius."
But...
"Oink... Oink..." Snoring sounds resembling pig grunts ca from behind the desk.
The Chief of the Public Security Bureau was leaning back in his chair, legs propped up on the desk, completely lacking any semblance of decorum.
He wore glasses and a dark blue double-breasted jacket, half the buttons undone, revealing the collar of a white shirt underneath. A black eye mask covered his eyes as he emitted rather loud snores.
The half-open door was pushed wide open as a male officer in a trench coat barged in.
He wore a dark gray double-breasted long trench coat, the hem reaching mid-calf. Underneath the coat were a black vest and a white shirt.
The officer didn't knock. After walking straight in, he lifted his foot and gave the Chief's desk a kick.
"Get up, get up. Anyone still sleeping at this hour is a lazy dog."
The Chief, with his feet on the desk, was jolted by the kick. His body twitched violently, and he hurriedly put his legs down, casually tearing off the eye mask from his face. His hair was sowhat ssy as he asked the officer before him.
"What? What? Did the cops raid us?"
Under the eye mask was a face around forty years old.
His brown hair was as ssy as a ball of yarn scratched by a cat, with so gray at the temples. His eyes were light brown, now bloodshot from being suddenly awakened.
His features were quite handso: high cheekbones, a straight nose bridge, a clearly defined jawline.
But he just carried an air of laziness from just waking up.
He instinctively reached under his arm, where an empty holster hung.
The gun wasn't in it. It was in the top right drawer of the desk, together with half a box of cigars and a silver flask.
Officer Calvin looked at the Chief helplessly.
His lips pressed into a thin line, and he spoke after a few seconds:
"Chief, right now, you are the cop."
The Chief was taken aback for a mont, then realized and patted his head.
"Oh, right." He cleared his throat. "What is it? Get to the point."
Calvin took a folder from inside his trench coat and placed it on the desk.
"There's a report from the public. A strange tree was discovered in the East District. It's growing flesh and blood, and the fruits look a bit like internal organs. Seems like a mix of human and tree," Calvin reported.
"East District?" The Chief had sat up straight by now. He took out a cigar, sniffed it under his nose to refresh himself. "Shouldn't the branch bureau near the East District handle that? Isn't Branch Two right by the East District?"
There were three public security bureaus in Reins. They were not the closest one to the East District.
Calvin's gray eyes looked at the Chief through his glasses. "Branch Two went to investigate. They said they can't handle it. They're not good at dealing with this kind of thing."
"Can't handle it?" The Chief threw his pen onto the desk. "They have over twenty officers in one branch bureau, and they tell
they can't handle a tree?"
"Yes," Calvin nodded.
Concise and to the point, without saying more.
"Then you guys should send people over there quickly," the Chief started to say, then realized, "Oh, right, I still need to sign the authorization."
As he spoke, he took the already prepared docunt from the officer, signed his na with a few swift strokes, then took out his official seal and stamped it over the signature.
"Take a squad over," the Chief said, sitting back in his chair and putting the black eye mask back on. But he didn't lean back; he just let the mask rest loosely on his forehead.
As he spoke, his finger flicked a piece on the chessboard before him. A "rook" was flicked into Calvin's arms.
"One rook should be enough, right?" he asked sowhat incoherently.
Calvin nodded, then shook his head. "I'll have to go there to know."
At that mont, another officer barged in.
This ti, it was a young junior officer, looking no older than twenty-five. His light golden hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat. The top two buttons of his dark blue uniform were undone, revealing the sweat-dampened collar of his shirt underneath.
"What now?" The Chief, who had just finished signing, looked up at the second officer.
"Chief, there's a containnt object that keeps ringing ding-a-ling. Feels like it's about to blow up. Can you go take a look?" the officer reported.
"Ah? About to blow up?" The Chief shook his head, stood up from the chair, took the pistol from the drawer and put it into the holster under his arm. He slapped the just-signed docunt into Calvin's arms and walked over to the second officer.
"It's that red thing that suddenly appeared inside the bureau this morning," the young officer said after catching his breath.
"Go, go, take
there." The Chief raised his hand and vigorously rubbed his face.
"Alright, right away." The officer turned and left.
The Chief grabbed the cigar box and flask on his way out and followed.
…………
West District, a three-story villa. The sound of a telephone ringing ca from inside.
The ringing didn't last long. A few seconds later, with a click, the receiver was picked up, and the ringing stopped.
Soon, servants, curious after hearing the ringing, hurried over and knocked on the master's door, but there was no response.
The servants hesitated, then knocked again.
Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock.
This ti with slightly more force.
Still no response.
The servants looked at each other and soon left.
The master had his wild ways. It was normal for any kind of sound to co from his room.
Whether it was the swish of a whip, the wails of people, or the cries of animals, these were all quite common occurrences.
Since the master didn't call them in, they naturally took the hint and left.
Inside the room, the portly noble lay on the bed, eyes closed, appearing normal.
No wounds on his body, no signs of poisoning on his face, and his heart was not beating.
Apart from that, the room was empty except for a shivering dog.
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