Chapter 543 Mysterious Text and Mission Entrustment

Two oval tin boxes containing tonight's staple: hot mashed potatoes.

The reason why Mi Gao bought them was probably because the royal flags and various bright colors were printed on them. After eating, they could be washed and used as toys.

As for side dishes, there are meat and vegetables.

Ham, beef, bratwurst, and a hot pea soup.

If you have to be particular about the taste, the taste is definitely not good. After all, Lu Li has eaten too many delicacies, but he is not picky, as long as the saltiness is right.

As for Mi Gao, the smile on his face has never stopped since he got the key.

Especially after eating and returning to the bedroom, the kid kept rolling on the bed, tossing and tossing until midnight before falling into a deep sleep.

midnight.

Hearing the faint snoring sound next door, Lu Li picked up the books on the shelf and began to read one by one.

There are three medical books, but there are a lot of missing pages, and the records are not very clever, and there are even mistakes in some places.

After carefully reviewing them, Lu Li put them back on the bookshelf, with the exception of the last one. There was no name on the cover, but when you flipped to the back, you could see a distorted symbol with metallic luster:

Pentagram.

But it is not neat, crooked, like a child's graffiti.

“Miskatonic University…”

The first page was full of characters, but most of them were mottled and broken, and they couldn't even form a vocabulary. Lu Li had to guess and only managed to translate two words.

"Miskatonic University?"

Unheard of.

Either an unknown pheasant university, or a mysterious school far away from the world.

Maybe, take time to visit that crappy dentist who seems to have moved to East London.

Just as he was thinking, Lu Li casually flipped to the next page.

Blank.

The third page was blank.

The fourth page is blank.

...

After flipping through the book quickly, Lu Li, who was leaning on the bed, sat up straight. He is now absolutely sure that there are no words or symbols in this book except the first page.

Something is wrong.

The page that says "Miskatonic University" is extremely mottled, if you don't read it frequently, how can it be worn to such an extent.

Could it be that its past owners like to stare blankly at the blank pages? And he was still in a daze while rubbing.

Since it was the first time he encountered this situation, Lu Li didn't know the correct way to open it.

In addition, experience and reason tell him that he must be cautious about unknown things.

[Just like the surface of the Thames River, which looks bright and is happily bubbling up, but beneath its meanders, there are countless bones hidden. 】

[Once you step into this city full of shadows and darkness, you are close to death! 】

At the same time, a reminder from the principal came to mind.

In the end, Lu Li decided to put it on the shelf for the time being, and wait for all the miscellaneous things to be settled before going to the East District to find his previous owner.

...

The morning sun shines, and the dense fog gradually fades away.

Residents who have lived in the fog city for many years began to discuss this rare weather. You must know that the whole city is rainy and muddy at this time.

Knock Knock Knock——

"Sir, it's time to have breakfast."

The immature call sounded along with the knock on the door.

In fact, Mi Gao wakes up at five o'clock in the morning, which is a biological clock that has been formed for many years.

However, since he was adopted by Lu Li, he no longer needed to run around the streets.

Because of this, Mi Gao, who was grateful, acted as a nanny. He spent half an hour dressing and washing, and got up early to go shopping.

click.

The door opened.

"Good day, sir." Mi Gao, who was wearing a red coat, said energetically.

"Good day."

Lu Li didn't wear a windbreaker. The charcoal fire in the fireplace made the whole second floor extra warm. He raised his hand and stroked Mi Gao's fluffy hair, "How did you rest last night?"

The little guy enjoyed this action very much, it brought the relationship between the two closer invisibly.

"Very good, like heaven."

It can be seen that Mi Gao's vocabulary is very scarce.

In addition, he lived in the church before, so he will be more or less affected.

During the conversation, the two came to the living room.

Six seats surrounded a red square table, on which were placed a jug of hot milk, two bacon sandwiches, a plate of fresh green watercress, and a small half of butter.

"Sir, fried steak for lunch today? When I was shopping in the market this morning, I bought a few pieces of fresh beef. There is a frying pan in the kitchen downstairs."

"Of course, I also bought mushrooms, which can be cooked into soup. As for dinner, I can go to the market to buy some shrimps and crabs in the afternoon..."

Although he only slept for a few hours, Mi Gao showed vitality beyond imagination. He excitedly snapped his fingers, thinking about what to prepare for the next meal, or even the next meal.

While being moved, Lu Li couldn't help but feel puzzled, "These things cost a lot of money, right?"

With that said, two silver coins were pushed over.

"If there is any remaining meal money for the next three days, prepare a sumptuous dinner on the last day."

"yes."

Without hesitation, Mi Gao took the money, then took out a small notebook from his pocket, and said with a serious face like a little housekeeper:

"Yesterday you gave me a shilling, and I spent ten pence to buy dinner, and the remaining two pence, went out to buy this morning, and shared a shilling."

Hearing this, Lu Li nodded, wondering what method Mi Gao used to make up the difference. You know, he had already used up almost all of his savings to buy a deerstalker hat for himself yesterday, so he probably didn't have much money to put into it.

"You wanted to throw away those two papers yesterday, but then you got too busy and forgot, they were changeable, and the paper boy would take them back at half price, so I disposed of them on the way to the market, for a total of sixpence .”

"Finally, I have fivepence left with me after I bought you presents yesterday."

In this situation, there is an atmosphere where soldiers report to the commander about the military situation on the front line.

"Well, thank you for your hard work."

Considering that he had some butter on his hands when he ate the sandwich just now, Lu Li retracted the hand he was about to reach out, and took out a silver coin from his wallet: "Then I will leave the rest of the meals to you, and go to the breakfast Remember to bring back a copy of The Times and The Advertiser when you go to market."

Pan Ming once said that he would contact himself and Duke through newspapers.

The latter can provide a lot of information, not only advertisements for house rentals and construction contracts, but also some weird commissions.

Take yesterday's "Advertiser" as an example, there is a very interesting commission:

Find the missing ruby ​​ring of Ms. Clayton Kitty. Those who pass the interview will get five pounds of activity funds. After the lost item is found, they will get more generous rewards in the future.

For candidates, this is very much like the principal's handwriting, or in other words, easter eggs, rewarding those who read the newspaper seriously and pointing them in a direction.

Frankly speaking, if Lu Li hadn't made up his mind to rent the house on Baker Street before the other participants, he might have already passed.

...

It was exactly nine o'clock in the morning.

There was rustling noise from the back kitchen.

Mi Gao, who finished breakfast and rested for an hour, started to work, busy cleaning up the ingredients for noon.

Staple food: Fried steak.

Side dishes: goulash with peas, mushroom soup.

Although it was a bit meaty, it was also the first lunch in this world, and Lu Li was full of anticipation.

At this moment, he was lying on the sofa in the front hall, and there was a tin pot on the tea table in front of him, from which the aroma of coffee wafted.

As described by the landlord, Uncle Johnny, when there are no guests, Lu Li can lie here, sipping coffee, reading newspapers and enjoying life.

However, Pan Ming's missing person notice has not yet appeared.

"Advertiser" published several commissions worthy of scrutiny.

One of them was particularly eye-catching. It was posted by Scotland Yard, more precisely, by Lu Li's old acquaintance, Mr. Harvard Vincent.

The chief of the Criminal Investigation Department seems to be in some serious trouble again and needs help from the detectives.

As for the specific circumstances of the case, the advertisement did not mention it, probably out of fear of causing mass panic.

4 Whitehall Street.

This location was included in Lu Li's schedule. He was going to East London in the afternoon to visit the former tenant.

After all, there is his scent in that mysterious book, if you search carefully, you should be able to find it.

If it doesn't work, I won't come back at night. One afternoon plus the whole night is definitely enough time.

If conditions permit, go to Whitehall Street as early as possible the next day. Scotland Yard announced in the published assignment that they need a large number of detectives, and the time limit is very wide——

It is valid for at least seven days from the date of publication, and may be extended as appropriate.

Of course, several other commissions are also valuable.

【Investigate Southern District Psychiatric Hospital】

The client was the son of a patient. After he sent his mother to the Southern District Mental Hospital, he soon received a death notice.

Limited by his own ability, this gentleman was unable to conduct an in-depth investigation and could only hand it over to a private investigator.

This point can be seen from the bounty, only two pounds are given for finding out the truth, and the initial activity fund is only five shillings, and an interview must be passed.

A typical example of doing more with less.

It is worth mentioning that there is nothing weird about this commission, and it seems that there is no mystery.

But Lu Li felt that things were not that simple.

On the one hand, the water in this world is too deep. If it wasn't for the principal's reminder and the discovery of the mysterious book, he would most likely have the idea that "the fog is nothing but this".

On the other hand, a lunatic asylum I once explored was too terrifying. From patients to chefs to doctors and even hunting dogs, it still casts a shadow over people's hearts in retrospect.

【The Truth About the Tully Street Fire】

The bounty is extremely exaggerated, a full 10,000 pounds!

It is no exaggeration to say that it can drive detectives all over London crazy.

You must know that the pound is directly linked to gold, and even the raw material for casting them is gold. 10,000 gold coins, no matter how thin they are, require a horse-drawn carriage to move them.

More intuitively, a family of three with an annual income of fifty pounds can live a happy life belonging to the middle class in this city.

Ten thousand pounds would never be used up in a few lifetimes.

Regarding this case, there are many clients, and you can even see multiple institutions, some private and some official.

Mr. Hodges, owner of the distillery.

Mr Anthony, representative of Borough High Street Sheriff's Committee.

Tooley Street Sheriff's Committee.

Scoville Warehouse Management Committee.

Fire Protection Association.

Roche Pharmaceuticals.

Fog City Fire Department.

The Braidwood family.

...

A list of clients, a list long enough to sing like a long poem.

This group of gentlemen teamed up to offer this crazy bounty, which also reflected how terrible the damage caused by the fire was and how widespread it was.

The most important thing is that the entrustment took up two full pages and had a relatively detailed description.

[There are fires in the southeast, northwest, everywhere!

Bright red flames covered the sky and covered the sky, not the picturesque thin tongues of flames around the building, but a wide, turbulent, flickering wall of fire.

The fire rose and floated like a cloud, covering the entire street, including the pier.

No matter from which angle you look at it, this scene is grand and terrifying—the energy at the peak of its power, defying everything in the world, in front of it, all human efforts seem extremely small.

...

Even standing on the other side of the Thames, you can smell the scorching breath... This fire is like a volcanic eruption, igniting the dense fog and the sky, adding an unnatural color to all the streets and public buildings nearby. Like an autumn sunset.

And the masts, flags, and rigging of ships on the river glowed red hot.

It turned out that not even the water of the river could stop the fire from spreading. All the ships near the docks were ablaze, and the water reflected towering flames. The entire Thames seemed to be on fire. 】

"Nuclear explosion?"

Looking at the words in the newspaper, Lu Li couldn't help thinking of nuclear explosions.

Of course, there is no such lethal weapon in this era, and the scope of the impact will not be so small.

Around ten o'clock.

Lu Li heaved a long sigh, and closed all the newspapers. He wanted to keep today's "Advertiser", and told Mi Gao not to send it for recycling.

"Is the Tooley Street fire... the Tooley Street fire... some sort of sinister ritual?"

"Forget it, before conducting field investigations, it's best not to preconceive it."

At this time, the door was suddenly pushed open.

"Doctor Joseph, help!"

An indistinct cry for help came.

The strange visitor's face was pale, and he kept shouting the name of the previous tenant.

It could be seen that he was severely tormented by the illness, he didn't bother to look around, and climbed directly onto the operating table, eager to receive treatment.

"Sorry, Dr. Joseph was evicted a few days ago because he couldn't pay the rent."

"But you should be lucky that my new tenant happens to be a surgeon."

As he said that, Lu Li walked towards the medicine storage cabinet. He is currently playing the role of a doctor. He aspires to be a detective, but he has not yet made a name for himself.

On top of that, money is scarce right now.

"No matter who you are, save me!"

"help me!"

"Give me pain relief first, quick!"

The cries of pain continued.

Toothache can be linked to death, which gave Lu Li a sense of accomplishment: curing diseases and saving lives.

It just so happened that in order to offset the liquidated damages, that doctor Joseph left behind a lot of medicines and tooth extraction tools in addition to the operating table.

【Chloroform】

【Salicylic Acid】

The former is an anesthetic, while the latter can be used for disinfection and sterilization.

Finally, under the watchful eyes of the patient, Mr. Brian, and the boy Michael, Dr. Lu began the first operation in his life.

No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat.

In the same way, why is tooth extraction not considered surgery?