Chapter 550 Professor Palmer's request (a new monthly request for a monthly ticket)

   When the day of departure came, everyone came to see them off. Xia Li and Aselika seemed to be very worried about Mary, but fortunately because of Lorena, they finally accepted Mary's statement reluctantly, but they looked at Duanmu Huai with a bit of displeasure. So friendly.

  Duanmu Huai didn't care about this, and the thoughts of a few little girls wouldn't interfere with anything, as long as they didn't get in the way.

  The only thing that surprised Duanmu Huai was...Professor Palmer actually came.

   "To be honest, I really didn't expect you to come, Professor Palmer, haven't you been busy with your research recently?"

   "Hahaha...that's right..."

  Hearing Duanmuhuai's question, Professor Palmer showed an embarrassed smile, but soon he coughed, regained his serious expression, and looked at Duanmuhuai.

   "Mr. Duanmu, I have heard from Mary that you are a detective... are you?"

   “I do have work on this.”

"That's good……"

  Hearing this, Professor Palmer let out a sigh of relief.

   "I heard you're going to Cornwall, can you do me a favor?"

"What's up?"

   "It's like this... It's actually a bit hard to talk about it..."

  While speaking, Professor Palmer showed a somewhat embarrassed expression.

   "I have an older brother, his name is Palad Fraser, and his son has recently disappeared."

"………Missing?"

"Yes, I'm ashamed to say that his son was originally a student at Miskatonic University, but he fell in love with a girl... Well, how should I put it, the boy gave up his studies, saying that he wanted to meet the girl The city is always with her..."

   "Elopement?"

   "Hey... almost, but he's missing."

   "Didn't you run away with that girl?"

   "That's not true."

  Professor Palmer shook his head.

"He also started from here, heading to Cornwall. On the way, he called my brother and said he would rest for the night in a hotel on the way to Cornwall. Then there was no news, my brother. Called the girl too, but she said the child didn't come to her."

   "Don't call the police?"

"My brother is a banker... how should I put it, it's really embarrassing for him to elope and disappear. He doesn't want to call the police because of this kind of thing, so when I heard that you plan to go to Cornwall to investigate, I That's when I thought of this idea, since I'm on the way, I wonder if you can help me find where the child went?"

   "Since it is on the way, of course there is no problem."

  Duanmu Huai took it without any hassle, and the missions along the way are the players' favorite.

   What I hate the most is the task of buying a horse in the east market, a saddle in the west market, a bridle in the south market, and a long whip in the north market.

  Isn’t it okay to buy everything in one place? Doesn't it show that Hua Mulan is a woman? How can a man pay so much attention.

"That's great."

  Hearing this, Professor Palmer also heaved a sigh of relief, and then took out a photo.

   "This is the kid, James Fraser, he drives a black Chrysler sedan with the license plate number BN5698... If you find anything, you can call me..."

   Good guy, Chrysler, right? The rich second generation is different.

   Duanmuhuai accepted the photo and glanced at it. He was just an ordinary young man with blond hair and blue eyes, and he was not very handsome, and he didn't know who the girl who fascinated him was... This is none of his business.

   After that, Duanmu Huai talked with Professor Palmer about the Antarctic scientific expedition. To his surprise, what the master's college is most concerned about now is not this, but the comet that will appear in the near future.

   "Hey, there's nothing I can do about it. After all, comets only come once in hundreds or thousands of years, and they can go to the Antarctic anytime, and my research report hasn't been finished yet..."

   Having said this, Professor Palmer looked at Duanmuhuai again, hesitating for a moment.

   "Mr. Duanmu, it may be impolite to ask, but what did you... do in Antarctica? And this time you went to Cornwall... I have asked Mary, but she seems unwilling to explain directly..."

  However, in the face of Professor Palmer's inquiry, Duanmu Huai changed the subject.

   "What do you think of dinosaur fossils, Professor Palmer?"

   "Dinosaurs? Ah, I did some research. To be honest, touching their bones and imagining the majestic appearance of these animals in ancient times is really very interesting."

   "But if a group of dinosaurs actually showed up on the streets of Foggy City, it wouldn't be fun, would it?"

   "Uh... this is..."

   "It's that simple."

   Duanmu Huai stared at Professor Palmer, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"You only need to be responsible for studying dinosaur fossils, and I am responsible for turning them into fossils... because fossils are things that can't speak, can't move, and don't bring any harm to humans...We all agree on this, yes ?"

"this………"

  Professor Palmer is not a fool, of course he understands what Duanmuhuai said.

"The inquiry of science and truth may come first for scholars, but for us, any existence that threatens human beings cannot be tolerated. I hope you can understand this, Professor Palmer, also Hope we can have a good cooperation.”

  While talking, Duanmuhuai stretched out his hand.

"What do you think?"

  “………………”

  Looking at Duanmuhuai's outstretched hand, Professor Palmer hesitated for a while, then reached out and took Duanmuhuai's hand.

"I think so."

   "Very well, then it seems that we can cooperate happily."

  At the beginning, Duan Muhuai took a fancy to Professor Palmer because he was only a mid-level scholar. Although mid-level means neither top nor bottom, it also means that he has self-knowledge. What he hates the most is the kind of genius or idiot who thinks he is a genius. This kind of person is completely arrogant in the field he is familiar with, thinking that no matter what happens, nothing will happen, and then he is tricked by the evil god.

  Moreover, many times, I don’t know it when I get tricked into it, and I still feel that I voluntarily voluntarily, and everything is under control.

   Well, everything is under the control of the evil god.

   This kind of idiot without self-knowledge is the most annoying.

In contrast, mid-level scholars like Professor Palmer may not be aggressive enough, but they win by seeking stability. As long as they are not stupid enough to have inflated ambitions that should not be there, they are comparable to those so-called Geniuses and elites are much stronger.

It can be seen from this Antarctic incident. Professor Palmer obviously guessed what Duanmuhuai and the others did in Antarctica, but he just obediently conducted research step by step. Driven by curiosity, I ran to find the dead.

  Well, looking for death, after all, Duanmu Huai exploded a lot of black flames just in case. Those black flames burned the parcels throughout the ruins, and they would not stop for decades. Anyone who dared to approach would be directly engulfed by the black flames. If Professor Palmer had been foolish enough to find the ruins of that Shoggoth, he would be dead by now.

  Of course, Duanmuhuai needn't talk about this kind of thing.

  After this, Duanmuhuai and his party bid farewell to the road - of course the maid drove, and of course it was the heavy truck.

  By the way, when they saw this pink two-dimensional pain car, the expressions of Mary and others were really wonderful. It's a pity that mobile phones in this era don't have cameras, otherwise Duanmuhuai really wanted to take a picture.

  Because the cargo box is large enough, Duanmuhuai and Lorena and Mary will not feel cramped when sitting in it, and Mary only feels nervous at first. But later, she became more and more excited and excited—as if she was a primary school student participating in a field camp for the first time.

   "Look at how excited you are, I want to tell you, maybe you're going to kill someone."

  Looking at the excited and restless Mary, Duanmuhuai also directly poured a bucket of cold water on her.

"Why?"

   Sure enough, Mary was stunned when she heard Duanmuhuai's words.

   "Yes, do you want to kill someone?"

   "Of course, if the other party is a cultist, he must be killed."

   "But, but we can catch it and turn it over to the police..."

   "How to judge? Have you ever seen a court trial where a cultist or a wizard was sentenced to death? This is not the Middle Ages."

"Well………"

  Hearing Duanmuhuai's rhetorical question, Mary was at a loss for words.

   "Is there no other way..."

"Of course not. It is very difficult to convict people of murder by magic, just like Professor Capek. Why, do you think we can catch him, send him to the police station, and tell the police that the murderer in Fog City recently is The monster he manipulated? Do you think the cops are going to get him or us?"

  “………”

"At this time, it is most convenient for our investigators to deal with it on the spot. For the authorities, this kind of person is also troublesome. If you don't kill it, it will be a disaster if you keep it. If you say the death penalty, it is still a problem according to the current law. No. But conversely, as long as they are killed during the investigation, whether it is self-defense or accidental death, as long as the evidence is sufficient, there are as many excuses as possible.”

"this………"

  Mary was dumbfounded.

"Moreover, according to the standards of the Tribunal, we must not let anyone who works with the evil gods go unnoticed. You should be glad that Xia Li lost her memory, and she arrived at the Tartar Gate without killing anyone. If she and other members of the Research Society If she gains strength by killing people, then she will not escape death."

  “…………”

  Hearing this, Mary's expression suddenly became serious, but Duanmuhuai did not relax because of this. Some things must be made clear, and the bottom line of the court will not change.

  ......Actually speaking, the bottom line of the trial court is quite vague and changeable.

  Of course, it varies according to the judge.

After being splashed with cold water by Duanmuhuai, Mary's originally excited mood seemed to calm down a lot, but she still resisted a little - this is also normal, after all, this young lady has never even killed a chicken before. Just, let alone murder.

  After a while, perhaps in order to calm down, Mary turned to ask about Professor Palmer, but Duanmuhuai didn't hide anything, and told her the commission directly.

   "Someone is missing? Could it be an accident...Maybe he had a car accident and fell off a cliff by himself..."

  "The idea is good, but I guess there is a high probability that he is dead."

   "Hey? Why do you think so?"

   "Because the DEBUFF stack is full."

   "???"

  Miscellaneous college student, still missing, death is considered good, if it is transformed into some monster, then life is really worse than death.

  But since I chose the University of Michigan, this is the only way to go.

   "In short, let's look for it first."

   "How do I find it?"

"Before he disappeared, he called his father and said that he would stay in a hotel on his way to Cornwall for one night. Since he drove to Cornwall, he should be the same as us, so just look at this road... oh , In fact, there is no need to look for it, there is only one hotel, we will almost know it by asking around with photos.”

   Flipping through the map, Duanmu Huai quickly gave an answer. In fact, this is not too difficult. After all, this road is rarely used by people, so there are not many hotels. There is only one hotel along the way, Duanmuhuai just intends to go to the hotel to ask, if there is no news, forget it, anyway, it is not too much trouble.

  As Mary said, if he suddenly rushed out of the road on the way and fell under a certain cliff, Duanmu Huai would not be able to find him.

  Although the terrain in this area does not look like there will be cliffs.

   I have to say that the infrastructure here is really poor. Although the road is connected, after leaving the main road, there is not even a street light, and it is dark at night. To be honest, walking on this road, Duanmuhuai felt that the possibility that Mary said was not impossible-after all, there are no cameras and no street lights here, if the rich second generation drove into the lake drunk, then It's really not seeing people alive or dead.

  Of course, this is just a small commission. If you can find it, you can’t find it. After all, it’s on the way, so Duanmuhuai didn’t take it too seriously.

   "This place is really desolate..."

  Looking at the scenery outside the car window, Mary couldn't help but feel emotional. She has been living in the foggy city, and all she has seen are places with people. This is the first time she has seen such a road that almost no one travels.

   "If you want to go to Cornwall, most of you choose to take the train. I'm just too lazy to waste time."

   Duanmu Huai spoke while looking at the map. Just like what Duanmuhuai said, if you want to go to Cornwall from Wudu, whether it's people or goods, you basically have to take the railway transportation. Driving is very inconvenient and far away. If it wasn't because of Duanmuhuai's body size and the trouble of taking the train, he would choose the train instead of letting the maid drive.

  Because of this, there are very few people who choose to drive to Cornwall. Duanmu Huai and the others walked this road for a day, and they didn't encounter a car, which is the best proof.

   "Ah, Mr. Duanmu, there is a light in front, could it be that you have arrived at the hotel?"

"oh?"

  Hearing Mary's excited words, Duanmu Huai raised his head and looked out the car window, and as expected, he saw a light on the side of the street not far ahead—well, it seems that this should be the hotel.

   "Okay, let's go and have a look."

  Although Duanmu Huai was also mentally prepared that the hotel here would definitely not be a good place to live, but when he came to the gate of the hotel, he couldn't help being surprised when he saw the hotel in front of him.

   "Good guy... this is really broken."

"Aha………"

  Even Mary looked at the hotel in front of her in confusion, not knowing what to say for a while.

  As Duanmuhuai said, this hotel looks very dilapidated. Although it is not uninhabitable, in fact the oil lamps hanging outside are already very speechless.

  It's like seeing a hotel in the 21st century with candles still on, which means that this ghost place doesn't even have electricity.

   This thing is really lucky to be able to operate until now...

   Duanmuhuai scanned the surrounding area, then walked up the stairs and opened the door.

"Jingle Bell……"

  As the door was pushed open, the bell hanging on the door made a crisp sound. Walking into the hall, you can see that the front desk is empty. On the table at the front desk, there is an oil lamp and a copper bell. On the wall behind the front desk, there are two wild boar head ornaments, and a double-barreled shotgun hangs between the two wild boar heads. It's kind of old fashioned.

   But the most eye-catching thing is the license plate hanging on both sides of the wall. These license plates look very old and various, giving people the feeling that this place is more like a license plate exhibition hall. Duanmuhuai glanced around, then came to the front desk, and rang the bell.

  Accompanied by the ringing of the bell, everyone soon saw a door behind the front desk open, and then a white-haired old man came out pushing a wheelchair, and there was also an old man about his age in the wheelchair. Seeing Duanmu Huai, both of them were stunned for a moment, but they still walked out.

   "Welcome to the Lakeside Inn, folks."

  The old man pushing the wheelchair nodded politely to everyone.

   "I'm William, and this is my brother Robert."

   While talking, he gestured to the old man in the wheelchair, and then smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Robert doesn't talk very much. He had some minor accidents a few years ago... This hotel is run by me and my brother. Oh, sorry, people talk too much when they are old. Are you going to stay in the hotel? "

   "That's right, do you have a room?"

   "Of course, please write your names on this."

  While speaking, William came to the front desk, and then took out a passenger list, and then Duan Muhuai also signed his name on it, then he took the passenger list, and looked through it.

   "By the way, I want to find someone. He should have stayed in your hotel. His name is James Fraser. Have you met him?"

While talking, Duanmuhuai took out the photo from his bosom and handed it over. Seeing the photo, William stared at it carefully, while the old man in the wheelchair just shook his head silently. shook his head.

   "Sorry, I don't remember seeing this young man, sorry, he didn't live with us."

"oh."

   Duanmu Huai took back the photo, watched the other people write their names on the list, and then he looked at the two old people again.

   "By the way, I see that there seems to be a page missing at the end of the passenger list?"

   "Ah, that's because I accidentally knocked over the teacup and stained the page, so I tore it up."

   "Well, then again, don't the two old gentlemen worry about safety issues here? This place is far away from the urban area, so it looks very dangerous."

   "Hehe... what are you talking about, sir."

  Hearing Duanmuhuai's question, William showed a wry smile.

"We're just two lonely old men, who cares about us? And as you said, there are not many people here on weekdays, and most of the guests only stay for one or two nights. Oh, by the way, there are eight of us here. No. 1 and No. 5 each have two single beds, No. 4 and No. 8 each have a double bed, and the other rooms have only one single bed. No. 6 to No. 8 are already occupied by other guests, so you You can only choose the remaining rooms, each room costs 50 pence per night, and you need to pay in advance. There is hot water in the room, but the lighting is only oil lamps. Please solve the problem of eating by yourself.”

"Oh well."

  Duan Muhuai paid the money and booked a room with two beds and a single room. Lorena and Mary would sleep in Room 1 with two beds, and the maid would sleep in Room 2. As for Duanmu Huai, he chose to go back to the truck—after all, compared with the hotel room here, his compartment has a bit more space.

  But before leaving, Duanmuhuai still called the three of them together.

   "Before going to bed at night, check your room carefully."

   Duanmuhuai glanced at the hotel next to him, and said in a low voice.

   "These two old guys have a problem."

   "Huh? Yes, yes?"

  Hearing Duanmuhuai's words, Mary was somewhat surprised.

   "But, in my opinion, they are just two ordinary grandpas."

"Hehe, people like me are already hinting and threatening them that it's not safe here. These two old guys are not panicking at all. Either there is a ghost in their hearts, or there is a ghost behind them, no matter which one it is, I think These two old guys are not very fuel-efficient, so you better pay attention."

Duanmuhuai has been a judge for such a long time. For him, he can tell who is normal and who is not. Just like when he took out the photo before, the reaction of the two old people was very strange. The old man in the wheelchair didn't look at the photo at all, even if Duanmuhuai shook the photo in front of him deliberately, he didn't look at it. On the other side, the younger brother William was talking nonsense.

  Duanmuhuai knew that James had called his father before that and told him that he would rest in the hotel, so logically speaking, he would definitely spend the night in the hotel. Not to mention that he saw that the hotel roster was missing a page—hehe, it was much earlier and later, but it got dirty when he was waiting for someone to come?

   What about cheating ghosts?

  The two old men were fine, so Duanmu Huai twisted his head off and kicked it as a ball.

   "What about you, sir?"

  Hearing Mary's question, Duanmuhuai chuckled, then reached out and touched the black cat in his pocket.

   "Me? Of course I'm staying in the car to see if they dare to play tricks under my nose."

   It may take half a month for the rhinitis to heal, so I hate colds... hey...

  

  

  (end of this chapter)