Chapter 439

Bai Xiaowen sat outside the high wall of the mayor's residence like a stone statue. He didn't stand up until evening and opened his eyes.

Li Shuyi has been watching the wind for him. Seeing Bai Xiaowen standing up, she quickly asked, "what's the matter? Have you found anything? I've been worried about being found for so long."

Bai Xiaowen said with a smile, "the mayor's study has a magic alarm device, and the shadow assassin was almost exposed. Fortunately, I framed a cat, which didn't arouse the suspicion of the guard. I can only wait until the moment when the mayor hellem himself entered the study, he sneaked in."

After a pause, Bai Xiaowen said again, "fortunately, some hard work was not in vain. I now conclude that there is a problem with Hiram."

"Is there any evidence?"

"There is no direct evidence, but Hiram's behavior is very suspicious. He has been looking through a book called [Tyrell's anthology] in his study," Bai Xiaowen said, "Normal reading is to read slowly page by page or browse quickly. However, the mayor of hailham quickly turns the page, stops to compare, and then quickly turns the page again and compares again... His purpose is too strong."

"It really doesn't sound like a normal reading. It's a bit like a secret signal from a secret agent," Li Shuyi said.

Bai Xiaowen nodded: "on the page he compared, all the sentences in [Tyrell anthology] were written on it. It looks like an excerpt, but in fact, it should be the sentence code of the joint."

"Now that it is determined that he has a problem, how can we get the evidence?" Li Shuyi frowned and mused. "If only we could get that page of paper, we can study what his connection is."

Bai Xiaowen said with a smile, "it's not difficult. I know the content on that page is very important, so I memorized it."

Li Shuyi: "

Bai Xiaowen laughed: "let's go back to the house of Sheriff Yahan, find a [Tyrell anthology] and study the secret hidden in the joint code of the mayor."

They walked back all the way. When they passed a small alley, Bai Xiaowen suddenly frowned slightly, turned and shouted, "who? Come out."

Li Shuyi's hand pressed on the hilt of the sword.

"Big and big, it's me..."

Jid shrunk his neck and came out of the alley. He looked a little frightened.

"You follow me?" Bai Xiaowen narrowed his eyes, which showed a trace of dangerous light.

Gide hurriedly said, "Sir, how dare I follow you... I came here specially to find you. But you've been at the sheriff's house and didn't have a chance yesterday..."

"Come on, what can I do for you?"

Gide said carefully, "on behalf of all members of crow organization, I am willing to be loyal to adults... We are still useful. I hope adults can let us survive."

Bai Xiaowen was a little stunned at the beginning. This change in the painting style of the crow organization really surprised him. However, Bai Xiaowen instantly remembered his dead servant Joshua, probably understood the psychology of Gide and others, and regarded him as a strong man who is moody and prone to murder

Although Bai Xiaowen didn't think the crow organization could play any role, it was a good thing for jideken to surrender. He nodded and said, "I see. Then I'll ask you a question."

Jed felt the chill behind him and nodded.

"Go and get me a book called... Selected works of Tyrell. My time is limited. The sooner the better," Bai Xiaowen said.

Bai Xiaowen thought it was a simple request, but Jide was bitter: "My Lord, those poems and anthologies are all noble ornaments. People at the bottom like me have no channel to engage in them... There are no stores specializing in books in Hodge town. Nobles buy books from traveling caravans. If adults want this book, they have to wait at least a week before the traveling caravan comes."

"What use do I want you to have in a week?" Bai Xiaowen snorted.

Jed was so frightened that he almost knelt on the ground: "please calm down, sir... Or I'll steal it directly from the mayor's house. It is said that there are several bookcases in his study, which should have this one."

"Fart!" Bai Xiaowen scolded, "I live in the house of Yahan, the mayor's son-in-law and sheriff. Do you want to steal books from the mayor's house? If Yahan finds out, I will be charged with stealing?"

Gide knelt down and said, "Sir, I didn't expect this... By the way, since you live in Yahan's house, you can borrow books from Yahan's wife Ginny. It is said that Ginny likes reading. When she married Yahan, she brought a lot of books from her family."

"You know Ginny too?" Bai Xiaowen was a little curious.

Gide's face turned a little red: "this... Ginny was the dream lover of the young people in Hodge Town, but we civilians at the bottom didn't have the courage to pursue..."

Bai Xiaowen shrugged: "well... You don't need to do the book. Go and do one more thing for me."

Gide looked like a dog leg: "please tell me."

……

Back at ahan's house, I met Ginny. At this time, before Yahan came home, Bai Xiaowen directly proposed that he could borrow some books to read the following and pass the time.

Ginny was very happy and generous. She led them to the bookshelf and let them choose. She herself went to the kitchen and began to prepare dinner.

Bai Xiaowen narrowed his eyes and scanned. He found the [Tyrell anthology] in the corner and pulled it out immediately.

"Ginny is really a reader. You see, the pages of this book are yellow and wrinkled. I don't know how many times they have been turned over." Li Shuyi said.

"Well, let's compare first. For the sake of safety, all our conversations go through the team channel," Bai Xiaowen said through the team channel.

Li Shuyi (team channel): "OK."

"The first sentence:" there are our families in the town, please take us with you! "Bai Xiaowen recalled the contents on the excerpt paper held by Hiram at that time and repeated it smoothly.

The sound of clattering through the book sounded. To find such an ordinary sentence from a book is difficult for two people who have never read the book, at least a waste of time. However, what Bai Xiaowen is most afraid of is reading. After browsing it once, he can recite the whole book. The ancients called it ten lines at a glance and complete reading.

"It's page 21, line 18." after Bai Xiaowen turned to the corresponding sentence, Li Shuyi recorded the page number and line number according to Bai Xiaowen's hint.

"The second sentence:" that iron man bastard dares to deceive me! "Bai Xiaowen narrowed his eyes and said.

"Yes, page 40, line 5."

"The third sentence..."

Bai Xiaowen recited all the sentences written on that page, and then wrote down the page number and lines one by one according to the [Tyrell anthology]. Finally, they got a long string of numbers.

"What do these numbers mean?" Li Shuyi held her cheek and looked at Bai Xiaowen for help.

"This is a common digital password. Have you noticed that regardless of the number of pages, the number of all lines in it is no more than 26?" Bai Xiaowen said with a smile, tapping his finger on the desktop. "Each line corresponds to a Latin letter. If you combine these letters, you can get the code."

"The order of the alphabet? The number 18 corresponds to R... The number 5 corresponds to e..." Li Shuyi suddenly wrote down the letters one by one in front of the numbers of all lines.

A string of code words finally surfaced:

"The fog moon is at the owl Wharf on the 12th."

Li Shuyi read this sentence softly and said, "there is time and place. It seems that this is the code of the joint."

Bai Xiaowen nodded: "yes, I looked at the date. The fog moon is the second month of the year in the Kuroshio mainland, that is, this month. The 12th... Is today. That is to say, tonight, at the owl wharf, the two sides will meet."

"In the criminal slave trade, we are about to appear as messengers of justice," Li Shuyi said with a smile.

"We still have to find a way to let Yahan witness this scene," Bai Xiaowen thought more. "The goal of the task is to help sheriff Yahan solve the missing persons case. That is to say, if Yahan doesn't agree with our conclusion, we may not be able to complete the task."

……

At dinner time, ahan came back. He was somewhat dejected and not in high spirits.

"What's the matter? Is there no progress?" Bai Xiaowen asked.

Ahan nodded heavily: "two more residents disappeared. Just last night, west side."

Bai Xiaowen angrily: "the behind the scenes is too rampant!"

"... I visited the west side only two days ago!" ahan said gritting his teeth. "If I hit it... I'll make those damn guys pay the price!"

"I'm sure you'll catch them, Mr. ahan," Bai Xiaowen said.

"Yes, I will catch those mice, hang them up and let all the residents of Hodge have a good look at their faces!" ahan clenched his fist and made a bone crackle.

After dinner, Ginny cleaned up and washed. Ahan picked up his helmet from the table, got up and went out: "go patrol the South District today. Try not to go out at night."

Bai Xiaowen stood up and said, "let's go together."

Li Shuyi said, "yes, Mr. Yahan, we can certainly help."

Ahan remembered that they could kill the alchemist of voodoo cult, and recognized their strength. He nodded and said, "OK. But night patrol is not an easy job."

Walking out of the gate of the house and going to the militia assembly point, Bai Xiaowen suddenly walked in front of Yahan and stopped him.

"Hmm?" ahan cast a puzzled look.

"Mr. ahan, if you don't want to be fooled like a fool, please change your night patrol plan tonight," Bai Xiaowen said.

"Why?"

"After this day's investigation, I have every reason to suspect that there are spies behind the scenes in the patrol," Bai Xiaowen said lightly. "Don't you think it's strange? Why do missing persons always occur in towns that haven't been inspected?"

Ahan's thick eyebrows frowned: "it's impossible. My men are great boys. They will never do such a shameful thing."

"It's a good thing to trust your subordinates, but blind trust is not desirable," Bai Xiaowen said. "If Mr. Yahan is willing to believe me, he will change the night patrol plan and take the militia to patrol the east area! Moreover, this process must be absolutely confidential to outsiders. After receiving the news of the plan change, the militia must never leave your sight and contact the outside world..."

"It's hard for me to believe you," ahan said seriously.

"I understand that for you, I'm just a neighborhood I've met a few times. I lived in your house the last day, and the militia of the patrol team is a comrade in arms who has fought with you for many years. But you can also think about it. Does my suggestion have any loss to you and Hodge town?" Bai Xiaowen said faintly, "There is an abandoned Wharf on the east side, called 'owl wharf'... As long as you go there, you can solve all the puzzles that have plagued you for months."

Yahan stared into Bai Xiaowen's eyes: "what are you... Hiding from me?"

"In fact, the things I investigated are too incredible. If you say it directly, you will not believe it. Only seeing is believing," Bai Xiaowen said.

"... OK. I agree to your request. If I can't give me a satisfactory answer tonight... My trust in you will disappear." ahan said solemnly.

"Believe me, I will not betray your trust." Bai Xiaowen replied calmly.

……

The owl wharf has become an abandoned dump.

Yahan took a patrol militia and quietly ambushed among the trees outside the owl wharf.

Bai Xiaowen also asked the militia to work in groups of two and monitor each other. No one should act abnormally. Even going to the toilet can't be out of Bai Xiaowen's sight.

Bai Xiaowen's mental strength narrowed the scope and monitored all the militias.

No way. Although there is no such thing as mobile phone in the black tide level world, there are magic props such as "warning stone" that can be used to deliver messages. Although it is said that the mayor of hailham may not have such a strong sense of warning and give it to the "traitors" in advance It's a magic prop for summoning, but be careful without big mistake. If a moment's negligence leaks the news and the transaction is cancelled, Bai Xiaowen will have to face the query of Yahan. He won't be clear at that time.

For Bai Xiaowen's grouping and monitoring, Yahan all adopted a tacit attitude. He is like a brewing volcano, which may erupt at any time.

At the middle of the month, the owl wharf was quiet.

Suddenly, a team of carriages drove slowly along the abandoned path until they came to the abandoned wharf. Then, several drivers jumped down one after another, opened the back carriage and carried down a broken sack.