Bang! Bang! Bang!

Klein held the revolver rented from the Krag Club in one hand and pulled the trigger repeatedly, hitting the target accurately, with the worst score being above eight rings.

After being fed with many bullets, and after becoming the "Joker" and having the ability to control his body beyond that of ordinary people, his shooting skills are considered quite good.

If I continue to practice like this for a few months, I can be called a sharpshooter... Klein opened the revolver with satisfaction and shook out the shell. He turned his head to look at Talim Dumont amid the clinking sound of bullets falling to the ground and asked with a smile:

"Are you satisfied?"

"Very good." Talim, the horse riding teacher, had taken off his black woolen coat and light gray sweater and was posing as if he was boxing. "Come on, let me see your fighting skills. I can honestly tell you that I have been training as an apprentice knight since I was a child, and I have never given up since then."

As a Beyonder, if I can't even beat an ordinary man who has only received training, then, then I'm not a human being! Klein complained, without taking off his double-breasted frock coat, put away his revolver, took two steps sideways, and gestured to Talim to start.

He wanted to hook his fingers to create some atmosphere, but when he thought about the other party's strength, he was too lazy to waste his energy.

Talim was quite excited about this. He jumped a few times on the spot, then quickly stepped forward and threw a right swinging punch.

Klein blocked and grabbed with his left hand, then ducked and turned, extended his right palm, and smoothly threw him from behind.

With a plop, Talim flew out and landed on his back. Klein didn't use any strength in the end, but just used inertia to throw him away from his body.

"Great!" Talim stood up quickly and gave a thumbs up. "As expected of a famous detective, your shooting and fighting skills are both excellent."

I just defeated a weakling like you. How can you tell that my fighting skills are very high? Klein complained in his heart and asked with a smile:

"Now that you understand, can you tell me what commission your friend wants to do?"

"Hehe, he will be at the club soon, you guys can chat on your own." Talim rubbed his back with his backhand. "I don't know what the specific commission is. By the way, he is a reporter, Mike Joseph, a reporter for the Daily Observer. He probably hopes to get short-term protection."

"Okay." Klein didn't ask any more questions and continued to practice shooting, but not just revolvers. He also practiced with shotguns, single-shot rifles, and automatic rifles. He wanted to make sure that when he encountered a situation in the future, he would be able to quickly master any gun around him.

Nearing 12 o'clock, he returned to the first floor, entered the buffet restaurant, and took a grilled chicken and a fried beef short rib, as well as the club's limited supply of cream cheese baked lobster.

After putting these things away, Klein brought out Feynaporte paella, fruit salad, oyster soup, and Marquis black tea.

Faced with this sumptuous lunch, he couldn't help swallowing his saliva and praised the goddess in his heart.

If we eat out, this meal would probably cost 3 soli... Klein used the silver knife, fork and spoon alternately and ate with great satisfaction.

When he had almost finished the food on the table, Talim Dumont came over with a man wearing a thick coat and a half-tower hat.

"Detective Moriarty, this is the friend I was talking about, Mike Joseph. Mike, this is the famous detective, Mr. Sherlock Moriarty." Talim introduced the two parties with a smile.

"Nice to meet you." Mike took off his hat and saluted.

He looked to be close to thirty years old, with sparse eyebrows, rough skin and unusually obvious pores.

However, his facial features are pretty good, his blue eyes are particularly charming, and with two beautiful mustaches, he has a somewhat mature charm.

Klein couldn't help but touch the thicker stubble around his lips. He stood up and asked the other party to sit down. He smiled and said:

"Today's cream cheese baked lobster is pretty good, you can try it."

"Okay." Mike Joseph did not refuse. He took the plate, walked around and took a lot of food.

"He was in a hurry to come here and hasn't had lunch yet." Talim explained for his friend with a smile and put a stack of newspapers on the dining table.

“I can tell.” Klein put down his knife and fork, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and leisurely drank his tea.

He was very satisfied with the meal just now.

At this time, Michael Joseph came back with two plates of food. He quickly ate a few bites to fill his stomach, then looked up at Klein:

"Detective Moriarty, have you heard about the recent serial murders?"

“Removing the internal organs?” Klein’s mind moved, and he asked briefly.

Talim beside him nodded and said with emotion:

"Sure enough, every detective is paying attention to this serial murder case."

Mike took out a newspaper and pushed it to Klein: "This is the latest report."

Klein took a look at it and found that it was the Daily Observer where Mike worked. Their front-page headline read:

"11! Another lady has been murdered! Sivellaus Field is helpless!"

——The headquarters of the Backlund Police Department is located on Sivella Street on the edge of Queens, so they are nicknamed "Sivella Field".

11? The 11th case? Klein resisted the urge to frown and read on in confusion. He found that it was exactly the same as the one he encountered. The targets were women, all wearing gorgeous long skirts, and their internal organs were removed by caesarean section.

This is a case with obvious traces of demon worship. The Sivellas Field must have been handed over to the Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, or the Mechanical Heart Team. They have divination and psychic skills, and they also have all kinds of strange and effective Beyonder methods. How come they haven't solved the case and caught the criminal yet? That guy has rich "anti-detection" capabilities and destroyed the soul of the deceased? Or, the soul of the deceased was taken away along with his internal organs, which is required for the demonic ritual? Well, he can definitely interfere with divination... Yes, if the Beyonders of the "Demon" path don't have similar abilities, how dare they commit serial murders... Klein said thoughtfully to Mike Joseph:

"You want a private investigation?"

"I'm sorry, I can't take over. I can't take over without the invitation of the police. I have to maintain a good relationship with them."

The so-called good relationship is one that invites me to the police station for tea... Klein ridiculed himself.

The real reason for his refusal was that if he got involved in the investigation of this serial murder case, he would easily run into official Beyonders, among whom might be the Night Watchmen of the Backlund Parish of the Church of the Goddess.

"No, it's not an investigation. No, the accurate description is that it's not an investigation to find the murderer. I just want to finish my report." Mike Joseph explained after swallowing the shrimp.

"Report?" Klein put down the white glazed porcelain teacup, clasped his hands together, and asked leisurely.

Mike Joseph said:

"If you buy the Daily Observer tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, you will see my in-depth report on this serial murder case. The most important part of the report is to reveal the commonalities among the victims and to alert similar people to pay attention."

"Well, what do they have in common?" Klein asked curiously.

Mike took a sip of coffee and said, "Besides being female and wearing colorful long skirts, there is another very important commonality. I did an in-depth investigation into the occupations of the victims and found something interesting."

"Some of them were maids, some were textile workers, some were tailors, and some were teachers. On the surface, there was no overlap, but in fact, they had all been streetwalkers."

"Streetwalker? Female teacher?" Klein asked in surprise.

In the Kingdom of Loen, teachers were part of the middle class, and the lowest salary was 2 pounds per week, which was enough for a lady to live a decent life. There was no need for her to become a streetwalker.

Mike moved the corner of his mouth and sighed:

"Yes, they may have had a very difficult time before they found a job that could support themselves."

"I have done a survey before. In Backlund, one in six women aged 15 to 55 are currently working as streetwalkers or have worked as streetwalkers in the past. Oh, this is our country. All foreigners who come here will feel surprised. A very conservative country, a prosperous metropolis, is actually full of streetwalkers." (Note 1)

This, this data is a bit exaggerated... If it's true, then reality is even more exaggerated... This damn world... Klein was shocked, thought for a moment, and said deliberately:

"One question is, how did the murderer know that the victim had worked as a street prostitute? There were no labels on them, and you would need to conduct an in-depth investigation to find out."

"You are indeed a great detective. This may be the clue." Mike Joseph answered without surprise.

No, if it was a Beyonder from the Demonic Path, then his selection criteria might be the type that looked corrupted but not completely corrupted. They should have a keen intuition about corruption, and they might be able to directly see the corresponding "color" of corruption. Add in the colorful long skirt as a trigger point, and the target would basically be locked... Klein answered himself in his mind and asked:

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

Mike nodded and said:

"Among these 11 cases, 10 women used to be streetwalkers, but one is not. She is still a prostitute. Um, the youngest is Sibel, who is only 16 years old. This seems very strange, very strange. I want to go to the 'Golden Rose', where she, uh, works, to conduct an in-depth investigation to see if I can find anything."

"I'm worried that asking questions will anger the people there, so I plan to ask you to protect me for a short period of time. You don't need to teach them a lesson, you just need to protect me and help me escape at the most critical moment."

"If nothing happens, I'll give you 1 pound as a reward. If there's a fight, I'll raise it to 5 pounds. What do you think?"

Klein smiled and said:

"I'll go wash my hands and then I'll get back to you."

He bowed politely, walked slowly to the bathroom, then flipped a coin and got a positive answer.

Note 1: These are statistics about London at the end of the Victorian era.