"You look very ill, Mr. Francis."

Looking at Francis in front of him, Fang Zheng sighed, then he made a gesture, and soon Asakura Ryoko came over and brought him a cup of coffee. In fact, as Fang Zheng said, Francis looked very embarrassed at the moment. He was pale, sweating, and even a little disheveled. He looked like a lover who was discovered by his mistress during a sex incident and jumped out of the window to escape.

"Have some coffee first, maybe it will make you feel better."

"Thank you, thank you..."

Francis took a deep breath, then picked up the coffee and took a few sips, finally relaxing. Then he looked at Nymph and Asakura Ryoko beside Fang Zheng with some uneasiness.

"Well, I have some personal matters..."

"It's okay, Mr. Francis. They are my assistants and they know a lot about this."

"Yes, that's right..."

Hearing Fang Zheng's answer, Francis nodded, then he put down the box in his hand, took out a document from his arms and handed it to Fang Zheng. At the same time, Francis told Fang Zheng about his experiences in the past few days.

After the nightmare in Innsmouth, Francis was also greatly stimulated. In order to divert his attention, he gave up the next trip and immediately began his own journey to find his roots. He found his family in Arkham and began to trace his ancestors. Then Francis discovered a piece of information that shocked him.

His mother's family - the ancestor had married a woman named Marsh in Arkham. And the surname Marsh was exactly the surname of the family that actually ruled Innsmouth, as Francis heard from the drunken old man in Innsmouth. Not only that, the old man had told Francis before that the patriarch of the Marsh family had married one of the terrible monsters that crawled out of the seabed, and then gave birth to three children, two of whom stayed here because they kept the shape of monsters. The last daughter was still in human form, so she was sent to Europe to study, and then the patriarch played some tricks and let a man living in Arkham marry her.

Hearing this, Francis felt creepy, which reminded him of some unpleasant past events. Although they were only some vague memories, for some reason, Francis was very scared at this moment.

A woman who looked like a human among those monsters married a man who lived in Arkham. And in her own family, her mother's ancestor, that is, her great-grandmother, did marry a woman named Marsh.

But at that time Francis just thought that he was too nervous, and the memory of Innsmouth before was too deep for him to think in this direction.

But later, when he saw the jewelry that belonged to his great-grandmother that his uncle showed him, Francis almost collapsed.

That weird style, the horror and distortion that makes it almost impossible to look directly at, although it is extremely exquisite, it is also extremely terrifying... It is the same jewelry he saw in the previous town and in Innsmouth! It is rumored that these exquisite creations come from the depths of the sea and are the gifts of the great gods, but at this moment, in Francis's view, they are simply the messengers of the devil.

"I, I don't even know what to do... I fainted, and then I woke up, and I, I didn't know who to turn to, so... Mr. Van Helsing, please help me, there should be some way, I, will I end up like those people in Innsmouth... No, I don't know, but I won't..."

"Okay, calm down for a moment, Mr. Francis."

Fang Zheng reached out and patted his hand gently.

"You're worried about whether you'll become a Deep One... Well, I can't give you a definite answer, but think about it carefully. From your great-grandmother to now, no one in your family has become like that, right? Do you know that great-grandmother?"

"No, I don't know her... I heard she died a long time ago."

"Let's not talk about her for now. What about your mother? What about your grandparents?"

"my mother……"

Having said that, Francis gradually calmed down.

"My mother is also normal. Oh, by the way, my mother never takes us back to my grandparents' home, but when my grandfather comes, she always entertains him warmly. My grandfather is also very good to me... My grandmother... I have never seen her..."

"So you don't have to worry so much. Are you still wearing the brooch I gave you?"

"Of course, sir."

As he spoke, Francis took out the brooch.

"This seems to be something very valuable..."

"Yes, it's for you."

"Why?"

"It has the power to drive away evil. If you keep it with you, you will feel more at ease."

"I, I'm so sorry..."

Although he said sorry, Francis still put the brooch back into his pocket, and his expression seemed a lot more relaxed.

"But, sir, I still want to continue investigating. What are those monsters? I'm scared. I feel like if I just let it go, something even scarier will happen..."

"It's okay. Leave it to me. I'll find someone to investigate."

"Well, Mr. Van Helsing, are you not going to investigate for yourself?"

"I'm not good at investigating this mess."

Fang Zheng spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders. He had never been interested in being Conan.

"I will entrust it to professionals. Don't worry. I will inform you if there are any results."

"That's good... Um, this is my phone number. Please, if you find anything, please contact me."

"no problem."

"As for the cost..."

"We'll talk about it later. We're already acquaintances now, so we won't cheat you."

You don't have much money, so you might as well cheat the Federal Reserve.

After entrusting the matter to Fang Zheng, Francis seemed to relax a lot and soon said goodbye and left. As for the box he brought with him, it contained his great-grandmother's jewelry. He felt it was so disgusting that he didn't want to keep it with him, so he simply gave it to Fang Zheng for safekeeping and then left.

"That's really interesting."

After Francis left, Fang Zheng opened the box, took out the items inside and examined them carefully. There were four pieces of jewelry in the small box, namely a bracelet, earrings, a brooch and a ring. Just as Francis said, each piece was an exquisitely carved work of art, and just as Francis said, each piece was filled with some kind of twisted malice.

The twisted ring looks like a tangled mass of octopus tentacles, and the gem looks like a living eye... well, this thing is indeed something that can give people nightmares.

"How do you feel?"

Out of curiosity, Fang Zheng asked Nymph and Asakura Ryoko, but...

“Very unique jewelry.”

“It looks beautiful.”

The two of them stared closely at the gesture before them, but did not give it a particularly negative evaluation.

"Don't you think something is wrong or disgusting?"

“…”

The two looked at each other and then shook their heads.

"I'm sorry, but it looks like just ordinary jewelry to me, Master."

"The information entanglement is very stable. I don't feel anything abnormal, Master."

The two responded in their own different ways.

Hmm... could it have something to do with their race?

After all, whether it is the universal angel or the humanoid interface, it is ultimately a kind of machine... For them, this may be just like a computer obtaining image information through a camera, and it does not produce any special feeling.

"So Master, how are we going to investigate next?"

"I don't intend for you to investigate."

However, Fang Zheng waved his hand.

"Why?"

"There is no Internet in this world, Nymph, so it will be difficult for you to collect information."

"I, I can use the phone line..."

At this point, Nymph lowered her head helplessly. Indeed, in this relatively backward world, even satellites have not appeared yet... She is using her head to collect information!

"Then please leave it to me."

"No, I have professionals. You should stay and take care of Nymph."

Fang Zheng rejected Asakura Ryoko's request. God knows what her so-called "search" will turn out to be.

"I'm going out now, please prepare dinner."

"No problem, Master. What would you like to eat?"

"Whatever, you decide."

Asakura Ryoko's cooking skills are still very good. There are not many people around Fang Zheng who can cook well. Counting Asakura Ryoko, there are less than five people. And among them, except Xia Shi, it is impossible for others to cook three meals a day for him 365 days a year.

In fact, Riri Saotome’s cooking skills are pretty good, but... well, they’re just pretty good.

"Understood. Let's eat hot pot then. I'll prepare fresh ingredients."

In response to Asakura Ryoko's report, Fang Zheng waved his hand, picked up the jewelry box and walked out of the room.

Arkham City is not big, nor is it small, but Fang Zheng has been traveling around these days and has a good understanding of the city's situation. And now, the reason why he went out was, as he said before, Fang Zheng planned to leave this matter to professionals.

What is a professional?

A detective, of course!

Unlike the copycat agency like Kogoro Mori's, the detective agency in front of him was the kind that often appeared in old-fashioned movies. The old folding curtains covered the glass, and rays of light could be seen in the room. At the table, a man in Western clothes was sitting there taking a nap.

Hmm...it doesn't feel quite the same as Sherlock Holmes, but never mind.

Thinking of this, Fang Zheng reached out and knocked on the door. Then he saw the detective who was dozing inside was suddenly startled, then hurriedly woke up, slapped his face hard, and then looked towards the door.

"Come in."

"Excuse me."

Fang Zheng opened the door and walked into the room.

"Excuse me, this is the Valentine Detective Agency, right?"

"Yes, I am Nick Valentine."

The man in front of him chuckled, stood up, and made a gesture.

"Please take a seat. Would you like a glass of whiskey?"

"No, I don't drink."

"Oh, you're a Puritan?"

"No, I'm not religious, I just think drinking is bad for your health."

"That's a shame. Drinking is one of life's great pleasures."

Detective Valentine picked up the bottle, poured himself a glass of wine, and drank it all.

"So, sir, what do you want?"

"Well, I have a commission."

Fang Zheng reached out and took out a piece of jewelry from his arms and placed it in front of Valentine. Seeing the jewelry, Valentine narrowed his eyes.

"This is……?"

"Interesting stuff, huh?"

"It's really interesting, and... sorry, I think this is a little too interesting."

Valentine narrowed his eyes and stared at the brooch. Unlike the ring, the brooch was carved with a strange-looking monster with an octopus head. It looked like it was sitting on a toilet with its knees bent, and there were exquisite patterns carved on its eye sockets. But for some reason, Detective Valentine felt sick and even a little nauseous when he saw this thing.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Fang Zheng picked up a handkerchief and covered the brooch with it. Detective Valentine finally breathed a sigh of relief after no longer having to see the brooch. Then he picked up the wine glass and took another sip of wine, finally dispelling the anxiety that had come from nowhere.

"Well, sir? You want me to--"

"In fact, these jewels were given to me by my client, asking me to help him deal with some things."

"Your client? Are you a detective too?"

"No, I'm a mercenary."

"Mercenaries..."

Valentine seemed a little surprised by this unexpected answer.

"In short, combat is my specialty, but investigation is not, so I came to you, Mr. Nick Valentine."

"So, what do you want me to investigate?"

"Regarding the pattern on the brooch, I can tell you that the pattern on the brooch comes from an evil sect. My client and I are currently tracking down this sect, but as I said before, I am a mercenary, not a detective. Frontal combat is my job, but it is relatively troublesome for me to investigate."

Fang Zheng helplessly spread his hands. The information deviation in this world gave Fang Zheng a headache. The results given by the Whispering Chapter were all garbled and useless. And the prophecy spells were completely useless, so Fang Zheng had no choice but to use this method.

"So, I hope you can go and look for clues about this cult and their location, etc., but I have to warn you in advance that this is a very dangerous job."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng reached into his arms and took out a stack of Franklins.

"I can pay you enough money, but you don't need to take risks. You just need to get enough information and give it to me."

"That sounds like a breeze."

"It's really easy, if you are not afraid of death."

“…”

After hearing Fang Zheng's answer, Valentine was silent for a moment. Then he stood up and stretched out his hand to Fang Zheng.

"Then I will accept this commission."