Chapter 34 CASEFILE·4: Night Bandits (1)

Jiangyou was writing seriously and didn't notice when the knight next to her stopped reading the clue note. He just rested his chin on his hand and watched her writing and drawing.

Andrei has been very busy these days, thinking about how to train troops and suppress bandits every day. Not only does he have to complete the tasks assigned by Lord Neumann on the surface, but he also has to investigate his immediate superior in private. He is really in a situation where he has to burn the candle at both ends and is exhausted.

The clue notes at hand were filled with messy handwriting, many typos, and even many replaced by symbols and patterns. They were like codes. After Andre deciphered two of them, he felt a surge of irritation from the bottom of his heart. He silently pushed the notes aside, but his eyes were involuntarily attracted by the little skeleton beside him.

Little Bone was quietly doing her own work. Every time she thought of a point, she would pick up the pen again and write down the conclusion on the paper.

In the quiet night, a rhythmic rustling sound echoed in his ears, and the coolness brought by magic circulated through the shop. Outside the window, the chirping of cicadas and frogs drifted in from the distance like waves, occasionally punctuated by the gentle snoring of the dragon next door.

Amidst these sounds, the breath of a summer night gradually spread.

Andre's hand that was supporting his cheek gradually slipped down, and before he knew it, the knight lay down on the bar and closed his eyes.

An indescribable trance came over him, clouding his consciousness. Between sleep and wakefulness, his soul floated comfortably in the air, surrounded by coolness and tranquility. In this mysterious, wonderful, and completely relaxed feeling of comfort, he seemed to see a beautiful woman sitting beside him.

She has soft black hair, a round face, large, bright eyes, a relaxed and peaceful smile, and two cute dimples on her lips. At first glance, she looks thin and frail, but when you get close, you can sense a vibrant and tenacious vitality.

"...Little Bones." Andre murmured, his breathing gradually became longer and longer, and he fell asleep completely.

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Jiangyou sent the finalized order form to Holly. When he looked up, he found Andre sleeping soundly on the bar, with messy clue notes casually pressed beside his hand. He looked like a student who fell asleep in the middle of doing homework.

His head was resting on his hands, his face turned sideways towards Jiangyou. I don’t know what kind of good dream he had. There was a faint smile on his face, and he looked very relaxed and comfortable.

"Oh~" Jiang You couldn't help but burst into laughter, "He fell asleep, what should I do?"

Andre was sleeping extremely soundly. It would be extremely uncomfortable if his sweet dream was disturbed at this moment. But if he slept on his stomach for a long time, he would definitely feel sore all over when he woke up the next morning. It would be even worse if he got a stiff neck and twisted his neck!

Jiang You was still struggling over whether to wake up Andrei when he heard a shrill scream resounding through the sky, tearing the peaceful night apart.

Andre sat up suddenly, ready for battle in an instant. He grabbed his sword from behind the bar and ran out. Jericho, in cat form, also rushed down from the upstairs on all fours, and when he landed, he had transformed into a cat-eared boy. "The sound came from three blocks away."

"Let's go!" Andre said. He turned around and looked at Jiang You: "Maybe those robbers are doing it again. Lock the doors and windows and don't come out!"

The knight and his squire ran out of the house through the back door and disappeared into the night.

Jiangyou locked the door and when he closed the window, he saw that Auntie Wolf's window was also open. Auntie Wolf stuck her head out and looked out: "Xiaoyou, did you hear that scream? What happened?"

"I don't know for now. Andre and the others went to check it out." Jiang You answered, and saw a huge silver dragon head popping out from the barrier on the other side.

Xiaolong, who was half asleep, had a gossipy glint in his eyes: "What happened? I really want to go and see."

The three gossiping neighbors—although, to be honest, none of them was a human—looked at each other and reached a tacit understanding.

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Andrei rushed in the direction of the sound. When they were halfway there, Jericho's sensitive nose detected a fresh smell of blood.

"Master, this way!"

They ran through the north-south alleys and ran two more blocks before they saw the bloody scene: a convoy had obviously been attacked.

The vehicle overturned on the ground, and the cargo disappeared; the horse's legs were cut off by some kind of trap, and its neck was bleeding, and it was already dead; at the crossroads, there were several bloody corpses, with their heads and bodies separated and their stomachs ripped open, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood.

Andre looked solemn. He took out a silver whistle from his pocket, put it to his mouth and blew it.

A sharp whistle echoed through the night sky. A few minutes later, a group of knights on night patrol rode up. The sharp-eyed captain immediately noticed Andrei: "Deputy Captain, what happened..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he noticed the bloody scene and immediately cried out, "The robbers are committing crimes again?!"

"Everyone, listen!" Andre ordered. "Deploy half of your forces to cordon off the scene, gather clues, investigate the identity of this convoy, and interview nearby residents and passersby for witness testimony! We came here because we heard a woman's scream. There's no female body here. She might have been the first person to discover the scene or a witness.

"The remaining troops will be divided into two groups. Send one group back to the camp to call for reinforcements! The rest of the troops will track down suspicious individuals in all directions! Be careful, these bandits are quite powerful."

"Yes, sir!"

The knights divided into several teams and began to work. Not long after, two knights from the first team returned with a few familiar-looking people: "Boss, we've spotted some suspicious individuals."

Andrei, who was squatting on the ground looking for clues, turned around and saw Aunt Wolf and Jiang You riding a little dragon. They waved to him with shy smiles: "Hi~(^o^)／"

Andrei suppressed the urge to hold his forehead with his hands, stood up and waved his hand at the two men: "...They are one of us, not suspicious people. Keep investigating."

The two knights ran away in a hurry.

"Why are you here? It's not safe here." Andre said.

"It's okay. We specially called Leodo along; he's strong enough!" Jiangyou helped Auntie Wolf slide down from the dragon's back, while Xiaolong transformed from his shrunken dragon form back into a human. "We were curious about what happened, so we came to see what happened. Maybe we can be of use here, too."

He only took a quick glance at the scene and quickly hid behind Jiang You: "Wow! Why is there so much blood and dead bodies! Ahhhh, so scary!"

Andrei glanced at Jiangyou silently: "..." Is this what they call sufficient fighting power?