Chapter 90: A Rag

By the time Lin Li came out with the group of suspects, Gerian had returned from the basement. The old fellow seemed to have gained another round of weight. The large mage robe he was wearing was bulging out; it seemed that the basement was indeed very, very suspicious!

“There’s good stuff, I’ll tell you when we go back…” Lin Li had just walked into the living hall when Gerian leaned over in a haste. Then, he looked at the dozen mages who were tied up. The old fellow asked in puzzlement, “What did they do?”

“They are suspected of murdering Mr McGrenn.”

“…” Gerian admired this kid from the bottom of his heart. What was the real meaning of having no sense of shame? This was—a dozen mages arrested on suspicion of murder. Compared with this kid, what was the big deal with investigating the basement?

Then, he found that his admiration came too early…

“Oh right, Mr Evan, I have to trouble you with something again.”

“What is it?” Evan asked in trepidation.

“As far as I know, Mr. McGrenn was abducted into the Merlin Family by violence, so I hope Mr Evan will hand over the people involved in the kidnapping.”

“What!?” Evan jumped up abruptly like a cat having its tail stepped on. Gesturing in a threatening manner, he screamed, “You’re too much! This is impossible!”

As soon as Evan’s voice fell, he noticed a sudden silence in the living hall. Then, he saw Gerian squint his eyes. Behind him, more than 30 Magic Shooters rubbed their fists as their eyes were filled with excitement.

Evan realized at once that he had said something foolish. At present, the bandits were eagerly looking forward to having an excuse to continue their investigation, and he was too foolish to give them the chance. Wasn’t he pushing himself into a pit of fire?

“Mr Evan, you’re unwilling to cooperate?”

“No, no… But Cromwell was the one who did it, I have no knowledge of it at all. Even if I want to hand them over, I have no idea who has done it…” Evan’s face was troubled, but in his heart, he was secretly proud of his quick-wittedness. In such a critical situation, he could even think of pinning things onto Cromwell. Now they had no choice. Wanna know who had captured them? Sure, you can ask Cromwell…

“It’s alright. If Mr Evan really doesn’t know, the Guild of Magic can also find it out on your behalf. We can bring all the people back for questioning slowly. I believe someone will say it under tortures.”

“…”

In the end, six more Magic Shooters were arrested. When Evan called out their names one by one, he really had the heart to die. The Merlin Family had never lost six Magic Shooters at once in its hundreds of years of history; and this time, he was the one who had pushed them out to die.

“Alright, Mr Evan. Thank you for your cooperation.” Lin Li shook Evan’s hand politely when they left the Merlin Family.

“Don’t mention it. Mage Felic, you’re too polite.” Evan wiped his cold sweat off while squeezing out a stiff smile. In his heart, he had let out numerous sighs of relief. God bless, I’m finally sending away this group of bandits.

“However, there are still many questionable points about this matter. If necessary, the Merlin Family may need to cooperate with us in the future. I hope Mr Evan can understand.” Who knew that the following words would almost cause Evan to pass out on the spot?

Evan had gone nuts. Things have ended up like this on the first cooperation. And you’re still coming? Will the Merlin Family be able to live any longer?

By the time the people from the Guild of Magic left, Evan wanted to cry, but no tears would fall…

“Hahaha!” Gerian’s laughter was rampant in the Guild of Magic’s reception room. “I’ve long wanted to do this since 30 years ago. I’ve finally tasted the satisfaction today…”

But Lin Li, who was sitting opposite him, was obviously not in high spirits; he was merely staring at the half an arrow in his hand.

“You’re still thinking about McGrenn?” Gerian laughed for a while before he sensed there was something wrong with Lin Li’s mood, so he had to put away his laughter awkwardly and then patted Lin Li’s shoulder with a comforting look. “Cheer up. No one can escape such matters as birth, old age, illness, and death. Even if you’re grieving, it won’t be able to bring him back to life.”

“I’m not grieving.” Lin Li shook his head and kept the half an arrow close to him. “I just think it’s rather sad that a good, living person is gone just like that…”

“It is precisely because of this unpredictability that life appears more wonderful. Who can predict matters like life and death? Maybe it’ll be my turn or yours tomorrow… Forget it, let’s not talk about things that’ll dampen our mood. I’ll show you something good!”

“What is it?” Lin Li knew that his mood was inappropriate; so, when Gerian opened his mouth, Lin Li also headed off the topic along with him.

“Suspicious evidence!” The old fellow shamelessly took out a staff from the mage robe. “Do you remember how I told you about Matthew’s million gold coins staff back at the auction?”

“This is it?”

“That’s right!” Gerian smiled like a fox who had just stolen a chicken. “Matthew, that fool, had actually left the staff he had carried everywhere at home before going to the Daylight Square. When I saw it in the basement just now, I went ahead…”

“Eh…” Gerian went on unceasingly but not a word went into Lin Li’s ears, for he saw that Gerian had dropped something on the ground when he took out the staff.

It was an old rag. It looked black, covered with all kinds of stains, and even had a foul smell. Most people would throw it away as an old rag when they saw it, but it was quite different when it fell into Lin Li’s eyes because he had an exact same rag with him. The difference was that the piece of rag he had had been smeared with various dyestuff by the Leviathan Gorilla.

But apart from dyestuff and stains, the peculiar runes on the two rags were exactly alike!

Lin Li picked up the rag carefully and, perplexed, asked Gerian, “Where did you get this stuff?”

“Devil knows…” Gerian rolled his eyes and felt sympathy for him. It seemed that the kid had been hit hard. Someone who did not even appreciate the Mannes Family’s treasury was actually holding a piece of ragged cloth and treating it as a treasure.