Viscount Vedet's bodyguard, Bivis, was not good at investigating extraordinary cases, and after the leads went cold, he could only go back to report to the Viscount.
Meanwhile, Viscount Wade, who was already quite exhausted, sent someone to inform the "Punisher" squad, asking them to find the murderer at all costs.
Connor, the senior deacon of the "Substitute Punisher" squad, was so angry when he learned that Viscount Vader had asked the "Substitute Punisher" to investigate who had given him the laxative that he was almost cursing.
He kicked a bar table away to vent his anger.
At this moment, Connor is at the Passion Bar, leading a team investigating the "Lelouch" case.
However, just to be on the safe side, Connor had his subordinates perform a divination, which revealed that it was neither Lelouch nor his accomplices who had given Viscount Vader the laxative.
Mr. Gal's subordinates were certainly not Lelouch's accomplices.
Connor assumed the viscount had offended someone at some point and was taking revenge, so he didn't think much of it and just asked the police to investigate thoroughly.
At this time, he was in charge of Lelouch's case, which put him under a lot of pressure. The police chief even came to see him personally last night, urging him to capture Lelouch alive during the arrest.
Because the city hall and the Backlund police department are currently under tremendous pressure, if Lelouch dies at this time, regardless of whether he was arrested or not, it will make the situation even more difficult to control, and may even lead to political events such as demonstrations.
What the police chief didn't know was that by the time Connors investigated the Passion Bar, the trail had essentially gone cold.
Lelouch's manager, Simon, has disappeared. Several gangs in the area have received news of Simon's death, and they began fighting over the Passion Bar yesterday.
Simon's capable subordinates also died in the gang fight, and the remaining bartenders and others were unable to provide any valuable clues, and didn't even know how Simon and Lelouch met.
Now there are only three clues left. One clue is how the surrounding gangs found out that Simon was dead.
Simon had disappeared for several days to avoid police investigation, and the surrounding gangs were already getting restless. But the night before last, they received confirmation that Simon was dead.
As for the person who spread the message, some gang leaders said it was a mysterious man whose face was partially covered by a hat, while others said it was a man with a full beard; in short, no one could see the other person's face clearly.
This lead wasn't entirely fruitless; last night, while investigating the surrounding gangs, they caught a fugitive.
During the arrest, the extraordinary individual of "The Punisher" used extraordinary abilities, which is why an unusual clap of thunder sounded over Backlund last night.
However, this discovery did not help in finding Lelouch at all!
Another clue is the address where Lelouch committed his last crime: 176 River Bend Avenue.
They contacted the landlord of the house, but to their disappointment once again, the landlord had signed the rental agreement with them through letters.
The rent is slightly higher than the market price, but on the condition that the landlord cannot inspect the house during the lease term, and a £100 deposit is required, which can be used to offset any damage to the house.
The landlord was very tempted by the large deposit and agreed to the terms.
For more than two years, the landlord had looked at the house that Lelouch had rented from outside the door and found that no one seemed to be living there. However, since the rent was always paid on time and there was still a deposit of 100 pounds, equivalent to three years' rent, the landlord did not investigate further as agreed.
Now, things have gotten even worse. The house caught fire, and it's uncertain whether the £100 deposit will be enough to cover the renovations. To make matters worse, someone died, making it very difficult to rent out the house again in the short term.
The members of the "Substitute Punisher" team, of course, didn't care about the landlord's troubles. After taking a few letters, they planned to use them to launch an investigation.
But they soon discovered that both the envelopes and the stationery were items that could be bought at any ordinary stationery store.
The mailing locations of the letters were scattered throughout post offices throughout Backlund, making it impossible to find any clues.
The third clue was Simon's family. After making inquiries, it was discovered that Simon's wife and daughter were staying at the home of one of Simon's relatives.
However, when the "substitute punishment" personnel went to investigate, they discovered that the mother and daughter had been taken away on the day the Lelouch case occurred.
The three people who came to pick up the mother and daughter also covered their faces in different ways. The relative knew that Simon was running a shady business, so after the three people showed Simon's ancestral pocket watch, they did not ask to see their faces.
The only valuable clue the "substitute punisher" obtained was a sketch of a rental carriage. However, all the rental carriages in Backlund were very similar, and an investigation based on the license plate number confirmed that it was a rental carriage with a forged license plate.
When Viscount Wade sent for help, Connor was preoccupied with finding clues to the case and had no energy to investigate who had given the viscount the laxative!
Judging from the rental records, he found it hard to believe that someone had been secretly planning to eliminate Backlund's fighting arena for more than two years!
Was it really for some illusory thing like justice that Lelouch was supported in carrying out such a long conspiracy?
Thinking about this, Connor felt that he could start with the victim's family members, perhaps finding some clues.
Furthermore, Lelouch's counter-surveillance abilities are simply too strong! He actually cut off all the clues.
Finally, Connor, having given up hope, asked the bartender and others at Passion Bar, "Has anything unusual happened at Passion Bar lately?"
Under the watch of the "punishment substitutes" team, the few people squatting on the ground eagerly provided clues, but none of what they said was anything worth paying attention to.
Then one of Simon's subordinates said, "A few weeks ago, someone won three matches in a row in the fighting arena."
Connor initially thought it was another useless clue, having heard it was from a few weeks ago. But then he thought: Three wins in a row? Lelouch has been winning all the time too.
So he asked again, "What's that person's name?"
"have no idea."
"Where did Simon find that?"
"have no idea."
"Did Simon stay in touch with him after the match?"
"have no idea."
"I…" Connor's raised hand slowly lowered again.
Ultimately, the "substitute" obtained a portrait of a young man through extraordinary means. Connor was stunned. Wasn't this Odis Gard?
...
When Odis went to Simon's underground fighting arena, he had not yet considered destroying the Backlund Extraordinary Fighting Arena.
Therefore, he inevitably left some traces, but with the protection of the "Wilderness of Knowledge," the divination of the official extraordinary beings had no way to find him using those traces.
Even if he were found, he could use his identity as an informant of "Mechanical Heart" to prevent "The Punisher" from arresting him. Without extraordinary powers to interrogate him, Odis was not afraid of questioning from the official extraordinary beings.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Because he had already fabricated an alibi beforehand.
At this moment, Odis's biggest concern was not this matter. He did not know whether the "Mechanical Heart" would strengthen its surveillance of him again. The only thing he could do now was to continue doing what he was supposed to do and not show any abnormality.
Odis was quite familiar with this lifestyle, after all, he had been closely monitored by the "Mechanical Heart" for more than a year.
This morning, a meeting of the Mysticism Research Society was to be held. As usual, Odis first took a horse-drawn carriage to 77 Hilton Avenue.
Here, I changed into the "leader's" attire and used the "teleportation array" in the basement to arrive at No. 199 Hairun Avenue.
After emerging from the basement, he sat in the "leader's" seat, watching the members enter one by one.
At exactly nine o'clock in the morning, Odis spoke: "Let's begin."
Before the trade intelligence was even available, four more members purchased potion recipes from Odis, which earned him 920 pounds at the start of the party.
Just as Odis had predicted, members such as "Peacock" and "Wolverine" also began selling potion recipes. However, at this time, only two members had not yet purchased potion recipes, and they were clearly more interested in the potion recipes from Odis.
Soon, more people started asking for the main ingredients used in the potion recipes. However, there weren't many extraordinary transactions at this gathering before, and now that so many people were suddenly asking for extraordinary materials, no one had any of them, so only one transaction was completed for the time being.
Only after the extraordinary transaction is completed do people begin to exchange transaction information or issue missions.
"The Hound" spoke first: "A high reward is offered for information on Lelouch's whereabouts!"
The female member, nicknamed "Peacock," asked, "How high is the price you're referring to?"
"Someone has offered a 200-pound reward for information about Lelouch's whereabouts, and a whopping 2000 pounds for his head," "The Hound" replied.
"In addition to that gentleman's bounty, the police department will also pay a substantial reward. If you can kill Lelouch, you can get a total bounty of 3600!"
The bounty prompted a few members to whisper among themselves. The bounty was indeed very high, but they didn't know what rank Lelouch was, so they didn't dare to say anything.
Odis thought to himself: Ha, Viscount Veder lost his son and is only willing to offer 2,000 pounds? And the official Extraordinary is only willing to offer 1,600 pounds? Who do they think they are?
"You don't even have any information about Lelouch's whereabouts?" "Peacock" said with a smile. "The fact that the bounty is so high just shows how difficult this mission is."
The Hound didn't answer the Peacock's question, but instead said, "In addition, you can get a reward of 30 to 100 pounds for any clues you provide about Lelouch."
The entire living room fell silent for two seconds. The Hound's final bounty almost certainly meant that they currently had no leads on Lelouch at all!
"Wolverine" sighed, "An extraordinary being set fire to Backlund, a land teeming with powerful individuals, and the official extraordinary beings couldn't find a single clue about him!"
"This...this is a tremendous feat!"
It is something their "Aurora Club" should learn from.
"Leader" Odis nodded, deeply agreeing.
The other members had also seen news about Lelouch in the newspapers, but the newspapers mainly reported on Bishop's crimes and didn't describe Lelouch much. However, those who had read the reports knew that Lelouch must be an extraordinary being!
In their imagination, this Lelouch had already been captured by the official Extraordinary and imprisoned in a special prison.
Surprisingly, the official extraordinary individuals had no clue about the other party at all?
The attendee, nicknamed "Giraffe," asked the question everyone wanted to know: "What sequence is Lelouch in?"
"Hound" took a deep breath: "Sequence 8."
Many members gasped in shock, especially the few who were Sequence 8: How could there be such a big difference between them, even though they were all Sequence 8?