109 How May I Help You

"I’ll be honest with you, I need your answer about something." The voice was polite, "Who is so intent on hurting an Eastern child? Can you satisfy my curiosity?"

Levy roared, "F*ck you…ack!" Before he could finish, he was cut off by the pain of his limbs being sliced by knives! There were no wounds at all, as if the knives were inside of his blood and fat, cutting him from the inside. He could not even cry out at the sharp pain. An average person would faint instantly from such pain, greater than that of broken bones, but now, he could not even faint. His limbs spasmed and he writhed uncontrollably on the ground, his eyes rolling in their sockets. The third measure of Black Friday—physical interference!

"Sir, there’s a limit to my patience." The gentle voice sounded in his ears again, but this time, there was an undertone of anger, "Tell me who is it? Who wants the Eastern kid? Answer me!"

After minutes of pain that felt like eternity, the practically unconscious Levy finally spoke, "Sam Luo! The Pyramid King of the Pyramid Scheme! He accepted a large sum to catch that d*mned boy…"

"Who’s money?!"

"An elite. A family with a lot of money! They want the Pyramid King to use the cruelest method to get rid of the kid. That’s all I know! Really! Really!" The hallucinatory pain suddenly stopped, disappearing without warning, as if it had never existed. Levy continued writhing, his body not having recovered yet.

"Okay, next question…" the gentlemanly voice continued, "Where can I find this Mr. Sam Luo?"

Levy’s eyeballs rolled around as he said, "The Pyramid King doesn’t have a fixed location. He and his men keep moving…"

"Did you not understand my question?" the shadow interrupted him, pushing the cane against his forehead. The hopeless melody sounded once again. This time, the delicate pain appeared like a warning. The shadow articulated each word carefully, "I—Want—His—Location!"

"The cemetery! Highgate Cemetery near Whitechapel!" The warning pain pushed Levy to the brink of sanity, and the answer fell from his lips easily, "That’s where he takes care of traitors. Hudson wants to quit and leave the group, but he was caught. He’ll definitely be there tonight!"

"Give me the address."

"221 B Baker Street!"

"Very good." Under the shadow of the hunting hat, the youth curled the corner of his lips into a smrik, "Next, let’s talk about how many men he has and what weapons they use…"

--

At midnight, the fog still shrouded the city with a whiff of rot and blood. A carriage stopped on one of the downtown streets. The door opened and a little girl hopped out. The girl turned and brought a large golden dog out. The dog landed on the ground and side-eyed the owner of the carriage before lifting its leg and peeing all over the wheels. Not caring at all, the owner glanced at the dog before looking at the girl with smiling eyes, "The Pyramid Scheme’s territory is right ahead. He should be there."

Bai Xi nodded and said ingeniously, "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem. You just hitched a ride. Your teacher isn’t that stingy," Hermes said, shamelessly praising himself as if stating a fact.

Bai Xi scoffed and rolled her eyes, "You knew that I was going to follow him out and was waiting outside, right?"

"Understanding a student’s mind is part of a teacher’s responsibilities. Please don’t mind." Hermes shrugged, "And anyway, without my guidance, you never would’ve found the Pyramid Scheme’s temporary location."

The girl rolled her eyes again, "I haven’t been wasting my time in Avalon. Even without you, I would’ve found it, alright?"

Hermes could not help but whistle, "I almost forgot that you’re a bad girl who’s always on the streets. No wonder you don’t feel bad about hitting your teacher, but you have to be careful. The Pyramid Scheme specifically does the dirty work for elites. Kidnapping, trafficking, and prostitution is nothing to them. They’re not as easy to fool as that group of idiots at the pier.

"Even if you’ve learned a lot recently, you’re still not a musician. And not only will you be outnumbered, but the Pyramid Scheme is known for being shady. It’s not impossible to be beaten with a dirty trick.

"My student is charging into the lion’s den. As a teacher, of course I’m worried, but I have to respect your choice." Hermes dabbed at his nonexistent tears dramatically to show his pain, then he waved and said loudly, "Whatever happens next, just see it as a challenge. Unleash your potential, but remember that safety is the most important. I’ll be sad if you die."

"That means that even if I’m close to dying, you’ll just watch and not help, right?"

"Correct." Hermes snapped his fingers in satisfaction, "As expected of my student. So brilliant!"

"I don’t need to be brilliant. I just know your bad personality very well." Bai Xi slammed the door, locking that infuriating smiling face in the carriage. The carriage started moving again, taking Hermes’ annoying laugh into the fog.

Old Phil side-eyed the carriage until it disappeared and bit the girl’s sleeve cuff, telling her to follow. Then, sniffing for the youth’s scent, he walked toward the darkness. Faint torchlight lit up in the distance. A strange scent was carried in the wind. It smelled like dirt and decay.

"A cemetery?" Bai Xi hid in the alley, quietly watching the gate up ahead. A few muscular men stood on each side of it, the rotting wooden gate of the abandoned cemetery was ajar, revealing the menacing darkness behind it. In the darkness, one could vaguely see broken statues of saints, and dancing flames.

"Are you sure he’s in there?" Bai Xi glanced down at Old Phil who looked at her sideways. He did not reply and could not reply, but he seemed to be judging her doubt. "Alright," Bai Xi sighed, finally experiencing what her cousin often had to face—being judged by Old Phil. "Can you get in? You go first and I’ll be there soon."

Hearing her words, Old Phil got up and padded into the darkness. Soon, his silhouette slid through a hole in the corner of the wall. Sometimes, it really was easier to be a dog than a human. Bai Xi stood in the darkness, staring at the gate.

Two burly men guarded the gate, smoking and bored. An endless stream of people from every direction entered the cemetery. She could not count how many people there were.

Although the cemetery had been abandoned for a while, the walls were not low enough for a little girl to scale, plus it was where the Pyramid Scheme often met. Who knew if there were traps?

She thought for a moment before taking a clump of what looked like clay from her pocket. It jiggled in her hands like pork fat and seemed elastic, but as her fingers moved, it spread into a vague face.

Hermes was not a good teacher, but Bai Xi was also not a good student; her habit of stealing had caused more than enough headaches for Ye Qingxuan. Hermes was well known as a hoarder, and would bring home whatever caught his eye for a second. As a student, Bai Xi obviously had to help her teacher ‘clean out’ his hoards. This was one of the results of ‘cleaning.’

The clay ‘face’ fit her perfectly, becoming one with her own face. As she pinched and squeezed, it slowly turned into the face of a mid-aged man with thick eyebrows and a hooked nose. Coughing and clearing her throat, Bai Xi’s voice became thick and scratchy. With her white hair hidden in the hat, wearing Ye Qingxuan’s jacket, and face full of ferocity, she looked like a typical downtown thug. She was just a bit shorter. This was the face of one of Hariti’s former underlings that Ye Qingxuan had sent to the Arkham Asylum—the dwarf, Cuozi.

Bai Xi strode over confidently, meeting the eyes of the muscular guards.

"Hey friend, you seem a bit unfamiliar." The fierce man at the door held her shoulder.

Crack!

The girl, no…’Cuozi’ shrugged the hand off and slapped the man without hesitation, "Are you f*cking blind?" Cuozi looked up, revealing his face in the torchlight, expression angry and cold, "I’ve only been gone for a few days and you don’t know me anymore?"

"You f*cking…" The man’s face darkened in fury. He reached for his dagger reflexively, wanting to show the dwarf who was boss, but the man beside him saw Cuozi’s face clearly and stopped his friend, whispering something.

"Cuozi? But that lunatic was…" His friend cut him off before he could finish, scared that Cuozi would overhear.

"Hey, what you talking about?"‘Cuozi’ cackled, his emotionless eyes flashing, "Talking about me behind my back?"

"No, no!" The guard remembered the scary rumors of how this guy would chop off people’s fingers, and retreated in fear. If this were the original Cuozi, his fears would have been reasonable, but the real Cuozi was in Arkham. He had mental issues! The most laughable thing in the world was that no one dared to reason with a lunatic. The man forced a smile and bowed deeply, "Cuozi, how may I help you?"