freenovelworld Chapter 336 Attending the Banquet
Chapter 336 Attending the Banquet
“I heard that a young man wants to rent this attic room.” She looked at Yan Xun, then at Levi standing at the bottom of the stairs. “Which one of you is it?”
“I’m not the type to rent a place,” Yan Xun said. “Neither is he.”
She looked even more puzzled.
“We’re investigating something,” Yan Xun said, glancing at the girl standing at the door. “Can we come in and talk?”
He looked at the area in front of the door, which could only accommodate one person standing at a time. "This doesn't look like a place to talk."
"Don't worry, we're not bad people." After saying this, Yan Xun felt it was a pointless statement, and the girl opposite him obviously thought so too.
“I know your parents,” Levi suddenly said, standing at the bottom of the stairs.
Yan Xun's expression changed immediately upon seeing her.
“They live in that cornfield outside the city,” he told the girl, then pulled a folded photograph from his pocket—a picture of the elderly couple.
It looks like it was taken from the other party's home.
Yan Xun didn't know when he took it. He looked at the girl's reaction and finally she compromised, saying, "I won't give you much time."
"This place is too small to accommodate so many people."
As she spoke, she entered the room. Yan Xun glanced back at Levi, and the two of them entered the attic one after the other.
The attic was very small, and some parts were so low that Yan Xun and his companions had to bend over to get through.
Although there were chairs in the room, they sat on the carpet instead.
"Where did you get this information from?" She looked at Yan Xun, then at Levi. "I don't remember giving them my address."
Her words caused Yan Xun and Levi to exchange a glance. Judging from what she said, it seemed that she had never met her mother.
“In fact, your mother has disappeared,” Levi said.
He briefly described the stench he smelled as he passed through the cornfield that day: "Your father grew wings and has been dead for some time."
“We searched the whole house but couldn’t find any trace of your mother.”
That's why I found you.
The girl's name was Bonnie. Upon hearing Levi's words, she first frowned, then looked at him and said bluntly, "You're lying."
Just as Levi was about to say that he hadn't lied, he heard Bonnie say again, "You came to me not to tell me that my father has grown wings and that my mother has disappeared."
"But what kind of person are you trying to find through my mother's disappearance?"
She looked at Levi, then at Yan Xun.
I vaguely remember you.
Yan Xun was genuinely surprised this time, and he even pointed at himself, "Me?"
He never met Bonnie. Could it be that he "met" Bonnie before he entered the instance?
“I often go to that market,” Bonnie said, and she gave a name that Yan Xun remembered as Liam’s mother’s name.
“We’ve talked, and she said you’re a detective who can solve a lot of problems.”
“I heard her son is missing…” Bonnie looked at Yan Xun, “She asked you to find Liam?”
“I’ve heard that Liam often goes out of town to deliver goods.” She then looked at Levy, “Are you the one who lives outside the city?”
Yan Xun didn't expect Bonnie to be so perceptive. Although she missed a few key points, she was basically right.
“Pretty much,” Yan Xun said. “We did come here because of Liam’s disappearance.”
“But I don’t understand how this relates to my mother’s disappearance?” She crossed her arms and looked at the two of them, a very obvious defensive posture.
“On his way back to town, Liam will pass by your parents’ house,” Yan Xun told Bonnie. “Because of some details, we determined that he left the truck that night.”
“On that road, only your parents’ family and him are there.” He said, clenching his fist and pointing with his thumb at Levi beside him.
“After seeing your father grow wings, we suspected that your mother might have grown wings that night as well, and had to ask Liam for help,” he told Bonnie. “Liam often delivers goods and knows an old couple who live next to the cornfield; he has some recollection of them.”
"So we suspect that he may have brought your mother to the city."
Bonnie's expression was one of unsurprise upon hearing this. "I knew Liam was missing, but I never imagined it would be related to my mother."
“But you’re going to be disappointed,” she said to Yan Xun and the other man. “I don’t get along with them.”
"So she didn't come to me for help."
"Are there any other people in this city they can turn to for help?" Yan Xun asked again.
“As far as I know, no,” Bonnie said, glancing at Levy. “I didn’t live here before.”
"We just moved here recently."
As she said this, a slightly sarcastic smile appeared on her face. "In fact, my family never used to live here."
Yan Xun glanced at Levi, who shook his head slightly, indicating that he didn't know about the matter either.
"Did you live in the south before?" Yan Xun asked.
“Yes,” Bonnie said. “My parents are con artists. They cheated a lot of people out of their money and then ran away.”
“Because they dared not reveal their identities, they hid outside the city,” she told Yan Xun. “I don’t know where they escaped to; they never thought of taking me with them when they fled.”
"If I hadn't bumped into them at the market, I wouldn't have known they were here."
Upon hearing this, Levi asked, "After meeting at the market, you two had some interaction?"
“No,” Bonnie said.
“I heard they’re looking for a freckled girl with ginger-colored hair at the market, but I told them about their story beforehand, so no one’s helping them.” Bonnie looked at Yan Xun and the other person, still with her arms crossed. “Your information network is very good.”
"Who told you that?"
“I have some other sources of information,” Yan Xun said vaguely. “Could I ask which southern city you used to live in?”
“It wasn’t very well-known before, but it’s recently become quite famous because of the Church of Angels,” Bonnie said, naming the city.
When Yan Xun heard about the Angel Church, he had a feeling that he had just expected it.
“You said your parents swindled a lot of money,” Yan Xun said carefully, “but I see that they live in poverty.”
Everything in that house was very old and dilapidated, making it impossible to believe that the homeowner was financially well-off.
“Who knows,” Bonnie said. “They ran away 15 years ago.”
"Perhaps they have squandered all their savings over the years."
“Perhaps the victims found them and forced them to hand over the money they obtained through fraud.” Bonnie’s tone was icy. “You’re heading in the right direction, but unfortunately you’ve come to the wrong people.”
She stood up as she spoke, "As you can see, I'm planning to move out soon."
"Because of your parents?" Yan Xun asked hurriedly.
“Yes.” Bonnie turned around. “I don’t want to see them.”
“The thought of being with them makes me sick,” she told Yan Xun. “In that case, I choose to leave this city.”
As she spoke, she walked to the door. "Please leave, gentlemen."
"I cannot provide you with any further information."
"I regret what happened to Liam, but I never actually met them."
Bonnie's intention to get lost was so clear that Yan Xun and his companion couldn't ignore it. As Yan Xun got up and left the room, he told Bonnie, "If you have any leads, you can continue to contact me."
"You know, my office is on the second floor of the pharmacy."
"I can wait for your arrival at any time."
“No,” Bonnie said, leaning against the door and looking at Yan Xun. “No clues.”
"Also, don't bother me anymore," she emphasized to the two of them. "I don't want to have anything to do with them."
Yan Xun and Levi exchanged bewildered glances as the door closed in front of them.
The two descended the creaking wooden stairs. Levi was about to say something when he saw Yan Xun knock on the door of a house on the next floor.
Soon the room's owner opened the door and saw two strangers, which puzzled him.
Yan Xun gave a time and place, "That night, did you hear anything unusual?"
"For example, the creaking sound of stairs when someone walks by?"
“Yes.” The man suddenly became a little angry when he said this. “I told Bonnie in the attic to keep her voice down at night.”
"She lived alone upstairs, but there were people walking back and forth on the stairs that day, and I saw her the next day."
“I told her about it, but she said I was dreaming. She was in bed early yesterday morning and didn’t walk around on the stairs at all.” He became more and more dissatisfied as he spoke. “But I clearly heard it!”
"Did you open the door and look inside?" Yan Xun asked.
“I’ve seen it,” he said.
Is anyone there?
“No, but there were some footprints,” he told Yan Xun. “It was pouring rain outside that day, so I guessed that person had come back from outside.”
“This house does not allow outsiders to stay. I told the landlord about this, but he told me that he went to Bonnie’s place and saw that she was the only one there.”
After complaining about all that, he looked at Yan Xun and the other person and asked, "Who are you?"
“A detective,” Yan Xun said. “He’s my assistant.”
Levy, the assistant, nodded slightly.
The other person immediately became excited, "Was there a murder that night?"
"Is Bonnie a suspect?"
“It’s just some screening,” Yan Xun said, making a shushing gesture. “Don’t mention this to anyone.”
"You don't want the murderer to get away with it, do you?"
The man immediately nodded, indicating that he would absolutely not tell anyone.
He watched Yan Xun and his companion leave with great respect. When they reached the first floor, the man at the door nodded to Levi again.
After the two left the apartment, Levi couldn't help but ask, "Detective, are you also a con artist?"
"I didn't know you were so good at making up lies."
Yan Xun simply walked forward, saying, "There are too many things you don't know, and I'm too lazy to explain them to you one by one."
"As if you were still an exorcist?" Levi followed Yan Xun.
“Yes.” Yan Xun nodded.
"How did you come up with the idea of asking the downstairs residents?" Levy asked again.
“I saw a lint in the corner of Bonnie’s room,” Yan Xun said. “She must have cleaned the house carefully, but the lint just happened to be stuck to the foot of the bed, and I could see it when I sat down.”
“Of course, you could say the down might come from a feather product, but there’s no harm in asking,” he told Levy. “Unless they can fly…”
He paused here because he remembered that winged people should be able to fly.
However, the windows in Bonnie's attic were too small, and the "angels" currently appearing in the city had only grown wings but had not yet mastered the skills of flying, so he wanted to find out some information from the residents downstairs.
"Why would she lie about this?" Levy asked.
"Perhaps she doesn't want us to know her mother's whereabouts," Yan Xun said.
Levi gave him an inquiring look.
Yan Xun looked in a certain direction, "The only one in the city capable of hiding winged people without being discovered is Conrad."
Since Coy's organization was able to find Bonnie, it proves that they know about Bonnie's relationship with her parents. The fact that they still haven't found her mother despite such a thorough search can only mean that she has been hidden away.
"Could you use your connections to find out what Bonnie's parents did before?" Yan Xun asked.
Levy did not refute that he had no connections; he simply nodded and said, "I will keep an eye on this."
Back in his office on the second floor, Yan Xun sat back down in his chair. "I guess Conrad will contact us soon."
Levy remained seated in the guest chair. "Because we've found both his sister and Bonnie?"
"More or less," Yan Xun said.
He had initially suspected that Liam's disappearance was related to Conrad—the leader of the Koy organization had also hinted that some newsboys had disappeared in the city since the sect appeared, and that some members of his organization had also gone missing.
Although the other party called their organization a guild, Yan Xun didn't find the name strange considering they owned a factory.
"Whether it was the newsboys or members of the organization going missing, it all happened after Conrad grew wings and established a new sect," Yan Xun said.
He leaned back in his office chair and rocked back and forth. "At the latest, Conrad should have someone contact us by tomorrow."
Yan Xun understood that he would definitely be regarded as a member of the Koyi organization.
Levi did not react to this; he simply looked down and played a guessing game with Lily.
To Yan Xun's surprise, Conrad was even more impatient than Yan Xun had anticipated. As the sun was setting, they received a letter from Conrad—not delivered to the factory, but directly to Yan Xun's office.
Yan Xun knew this was a warning he was giving himself; Conrad wanted to tell him that he knew his secrets.
The messenger was a man who looked like a butler.
He handed the invitation to Yan Xun, his attitude somewhat condescending.
Yan Xun sat behind his desk, too lazy to stand up, and casually tore open the invitation.
The time and place are specified above; it's tonight.
"I didn't prepare any suitable clothes." Yan Xun leaned back in his office chair and said to the housekeeper in a somewhat lazy manner, "I only have this jacket that I found at the second-hand market."
“The master doesn’t care about this,” the butler said to Yan Xun.
"Can I bring someone with me?" Yan Xun asked, waving the invitation in his hand.
The butler nodded. "Of course."
He looked at the other person in the room and said, "The car is ready."
"We can set off anytime."
Yan Xun stood up from his office chair and stretched. "Let's go, assistant," he said to Levy. "Hopefully we won't look too shabby."