Werewolf Hunting Rules.

Chapter 447 Prophecy Record
Julius immediately understood what Clayton meant and was surprised.

"Fake? But it looks real. I've seen the real Wicket Club badge, so it can't be wrong."

"If I can't make it look like the real thing, how can I do this business?" Clayton tapped the badge on his left palm and casually threw it back to Julius:

"Although I sell fakes, I guarantee that their production process is exactly the same as the real thing. Apart from the difference in origin and year, they can almost be said to be real. I will just leave some marks so that I won't be fooled when I see them again after a while."

"The mark of badge products is two cross-shaped scratches on the bottom, which look like the marks caused by collision with buttons, but the shape is more regular. There will also be a mark on the pin where it was bent and then straightened, and the position is also particular."

"As long as these two traces match, I know it was something I did."

Julius turned over the badge and looked at it, and it was exactly as he said.

He threw the fake badge back on the bedside table with a lack of interest: "I thought the resume of the railway tycoon was enough."

"There is no such thing as a resume that is not enough. To enter the upper echelons of power, one needs to work hard in all aspects." Clayton answered him. "This badge will attract more people to be interested in him and expand his social environment."

"I only sold two Wikcha badges. One was indeed sent to Viodi, but the customer's name had nothing to do with Basbe, and neither did the address. Maybe he asked someone to buy it for him."

"There must be something wrong with his previous resume." Julius showed contempt: "I hate dishonest people the most."

Clayton thought that he had probably forgotten what happened when he first met him.

But it is true that if Jeremy Busby can cheat in one place, it is very likely that he can cheat in other places as well, and perhaps this is one of the reasons for his success.

The world is not kind, and cheaters always seize opportunities.

Next, they rummaged through the drawers and found another strange thing in the closet - it was like a stack of white cards, two in total, with the texture of playing cards, and each card was filled with irregular holes, so many that they looked like stars.

They were hidden under a pile of clothes, but they didn't look like they had anything to do with Abigail or Conriolet.

Julius picked up a card and looked like he was thinking hard.

"I think I've seen something like this before."

"Then take them all."

Although he had never seen this thing before, Clayton felt that it should be useful. It looked like a unique code for some kind of recording method. However, they didn't have much time left, so he asked Julius to take it away and figure out how to use it later.

Soon, all the rooms on the second floor were checked, including all the private areas of the owners, but still nothing was found, and Julius couldn't remember what those cards were used for.

It seemed that their journey to Wei'aodi was coming to an end.

Clayton took one last look around the bedroom, backed out and closed the door. The moment the door closed, he suddenly heard a strange sound.

Deng.

It's like the sound of the floor being squeezed.

Not Julius's steps.

Is there a particularly hardworking servant to do the housework?

Clayton froze, his hand still on the door handle, and his slightly pointed ears began to move sensitively.

The sound did not stop. It came from downstairs, one after another, moving along a straight route.

Julius also noticed the footsteps. He took out the pistol that he had used to threaten Morgan before. It was actually a fake gun. A member of the Nilimat Labor Union made it out of wood, and then used the paint residue discarded from the factory to paint it with a metallic luster. It looked very realistic and could be used for self-defense. The wizard bought it after he noticed it.

This thing will not hinder the wizard from casting spells, and can also cause a strong deterrent when taken out. It is more suitable for him than rare objects.

Footsteps began to make their way up the stairs, and the two thieves ran into the baby's room and hid.

Clayton half-knelt down and looked through the keyhole. He saw a black-robed priest with a lantern on his waist walking towards the prayer room with a two-handled pot. It turned out that he was here to replace the holy water in the basin in front of the shrine.

Theoretically, this time period was dawn. Even if the natural light was poor, the White Church priests had to get up anyway. He and Julius were not believers, so they had accidentally overlooked this situation.

It was not uncommon for people to hire a clergyman for private service in their homes for a long period of time so that they could confess and receive spiritual guidance at any time. The rich and nobles were unwilling to crowd into the church with the common people.

There is a private church not far downstairs, which should have existed during the time of the old duke. There is a similar building in the castle of Conrionay.

So this priest must be the assistant to the Basbys' confessor. Does he know any secrets about Jeremy?

Maybe they should catch him now?

Clayton made a decision quickly. Instead of taking action, he waited for the priest to leave on his own.

"who is it?"

Julius asked only after the footsteps left the building. He didn't have any extra keyholes to look at. The walls here were very thick, and there might be layers of special materials in the middle that even spiritual knowledge couldn't penetrate.

"The clergyman in the service of Basby." Clayton stood up and opened the door.

"So can we go now?"

"Wait a minute. I suddenly realized that I made a mistake." Clayton walked out of the room and walked quickly towards the stairs.

The appearance of the priest reminded the antique dealer, and he suddenly realized that most people still followed the rules, and people of different status went to rooms of different status. Ordinary guests went to the guest rooms, and there was also a reception room on the first floor, but the prophetess who influenced Jeremy's decision was different. She was not an ordinary guest, and they met in a different place.

There might be some clues left at their meeting place as to Jeremy's change in attitude toward the Conriones.

The prophet of the Institute of Truth and Jeremy were talking about confidential topics, so it was impossible for them to be on the first floor where there were the most people.

The prophet Abigail is a woman, so she cannot be alone with Jeremy in the study and the back garden, so as not to cause damage to the reputation of either of them.

So the place where they talk is both public and hidden, interesting and boring at the same time. This condition sounds contradictory, but there is indeed a place that meets the requirements.

Clayton rushed to the third floor and finally confirmed that his guess was correct.

There is a collection room here.

Julius frowned and looked at everything in the space.

If he were to describe what he saw, it would be very similar to the first floor of Clayton's "Rusted Silver Coin".

There were also several rows of tables, with glass display stands on top that were powered and lit from within. A bunch of messy mechanical parts and swords and the like were stuffed inside, and the floor was covered with bundles of electrical wires as thick as snakes. There were also racks in the corners that were used to store antique guns and flags.

There is also a huge table in the center of the exhibition room, on which is laid a miniature model of a city and a circular track, with a very small train parked on the track.

In order to fully display these things, the indoor aisles are extremely narrow and only one person is allowed to pass through.

Compared to the classical decoration they saw downstairs, the style here is completely different. Although the collection is rich, it is too complicated and the crowded environment makes people not want to stay here for long.

All the machines were powered on, and the humming sound of whale oil being consumed in the generator tanks was incessant. The walls were covered with a layer of sponge-like substance, and once the door was closed, even the sound of birds singing outside the window was diluted into silence. Julius began to feel a tightness in his chest after only a few breaths.

But when his eyes swept across a display case, he realized that Clayton's decision was right. He walked quickly, put his hands on the edge of the glass case, and opened his eyes wide to see the machine inside clearly, like a child observing the toys in the cabinet.

"I remember now, this is it!"

"What is this?" Clayton asked.

He also saw the machine. It was black in appearance and about half a person's height. The front was concave, exposing the multiple probes inside. It looked like an animal that had been disemboweled, exposing its ribs. There was a crankable handle on the side and a thin opening on the top.

Clayton only thought that its shape looked like a safety station on the airship used to adjust the outer arc generator. The operator on the airship would insert a special alloy token into the strip-shaped opening, and then only those who carried tokens of the same material could board the airship without being destroyed by the lightning created by the arc generator.

He noticed that there were a few cards placed next to the machine. They were smooth and had no holes in them.

Facing his question, Julius did not turn around, his tone was full of disbelief: "A recorder, a machine that can record sound. I saw its prototype the summer of a year ago, when its inventor was still looking for investors in Strass. Now it should be preparing for mass production, but it takes time to set up a production line. I didn't expect Jeremy Busby to get one now. The person behind him must be extraordinary."

Although he was answering Clayton, his tone sounded focused only on what was in front of him.

Clayton didn't actually understand Julius' explanation. The description of the recorded sound still sounded too abstract. He was about to ask more questions when the wizard continued hurriedly: "I know what those cards are for. I've seen how its inventor operates the prototype."

Julius opened the display case, grabbed a card full of holes that he had found earlier from his pocket and inserted it into the top of the recorder. He then lifted a switch and turned the crank - including the lighting equipment in the display case, all the machines here were powered on, so there was no need to worry about how to connect the wires.

As the card was inserted into the machine, the machine's "hollowed out" body seemed to be refilled with internal organs, and when Julius began to operate it, the rib-like metal probes began to move like insect limbs, poking in and out in the holes of the card.

As the movement progressed, the machine suddenly began to emit a voice. This sudden change made Clayton forget to breathe for a moment.

The sound full of electric current reproduced the air vibrations that had been recorded before. A strange male voice spoke with dissatisfaction: "Mr. Opiros, I need you to deal with the competitors of the Sacred Heart Fraternity and restore the iron rule of reducing the number of dark descendants in the old Duke's era. But this does not mean that you can seek personal gain from it at will."

"Some things will leave traces once they are done. If they are discovered by the church, not only will your situation be worsened. Or is this your purpose - to put us on the same chariot?"

Then the voice of Opiros, which Clayton was familiar with, sounded.

"Don't be so anxious, Mr. Basby. Although we would like to continue to enhance our cooperative relationship with you, it is not in this way."

"I can guarantee that these missing people will never appear in public again. They are alive, but only temporarily. We spared their lives not to ask for ransom from their families, nor out of mercy, but for other reasons."

"If this disturbs you, I am very sorry, and I am sorry for a long time. But if you just want to eliminate the influence of these traces, I do have a proposal. As long as the city government agrees to re-hire members of Conrionai as executioners, we can freely deal with those death row prisoners. Then, no one on this list will survive an hour after seeing us."

So not only did Jeremy have a private agreement with Opiros, but also Viodi's frequent disappearances were actually caused by Conriona, Clayton realized.

Linde Conrionet was indeed hiding something.

He didn't say this even when he trusted Clayton.

However, it sounds like Conriona's men left some of the men alive after kidnapping them.
Clayton remembered the back door of the Berdalabic Shipping Company where the arc generator was installed, and the barbed wire that connected the abandoned buildings together. It seemed that Lind was using the abandoned dock area to lock up something.

"Are you threatening me?" Jeremy asked back. His tone was much calmer, but there was a sense of momentum ready to strike.

"On the contrary, I am willing to make concessions in other areas." Opiros chuckled. "Isn't it better to use people who deserve to die to generate profits than to execute them directly? Or do you have moral concerns?"

"If I had any morals, I wouldn't be working with you."

Jeremy paused for a moment, and the recorder recorded nothing during this time, but Clayton seemed to hear a sigh.

"Ask your men to keep an eye on them. I don't want any accidents to happen."

"No." Opiros also paused and said, "Mr. Basbe, I hope you can be firm in your determination. We will cooperate for a very long time in the future - after dealing with your two competitors."

The sound in the recorder suddenly stopped.

Clayton let out a long sigh. Not only the content of the secret conversation, but also hearing Steel speak made him nervous. It was as strange as seeing himself in the mirror making movements that were different from reality.

"Why doesn't it talk?"

"That's all the information on the card. Maybe the rest of the conversation was recorded on another card. I'll switch it."

Julius glanced at the stopped probe, reached out and pulled out the card, then took out another card and put it into the recorder.

Clayton watched his movements, not missing a single detail: "Jeremy Busby is a very bold man, to leave his secret in such a place where it can be easily discovered."

"There are probably just over three digits of people in this world who know how to operate a tape recorder. The possibility of them appearing here is smaller than a camel passing through the eye of a needle. He just put these secrets here. If I have never seen its prototype, can you find a way to decipher them yourself?"

Julius answered while shaking the handle. The sound with electric fluctuations sounded again, but it was not a continuation of the content of the previous card.

The person Jeremy was talking to turned into a woman.

"Mr. Basby, although I can't see you, I know what you are doing. Please rest assured that the House of Truth knows how to keep secrets just like the church. You can say anything to me here, make any request, anything..."

Just by listening to the voice of the woman who was speaking, one could tell that she must be very charming. Her voice was as lazy as a cat that had just woken up, and the ending tone was teasing.

But Jeremy Busby's tone toward this woman was no gentler than his tone toward Opilus.

"Ms. Abigail, I had a special dream not long ago. I believe it has implications for my career, but I don't have the ability to interpret it, so I need your help."

The woman's voice became more serious: "Well, please tell me in detail what happened in your dream."

Jeremy's voice slowed down, as if he was recalling the contents of his dream as he spoke.

"I dreamed that I was sitting at the dining table and a tall man whose face I couldn't see suddenly pushed the door open. He was wearing a dark leather robe and a necklace made of many sharp white stones around his neck. He looked like an ancient man. He made me feel very friendly, so when he asked to sit next to me and enjoy my food, I didn't refuse him."

"We exchanged some words, I can't remember what we said, but it didn't end well, and the man looked upset and stood up to say goodbye to me."

"Before leaving, he took off his necklace and fur coat and gave them to me. I refused repeatedly, but he put them on me rudely."

"What I found strange was that the necklace and fur coat fit him perfectly on his tall and strong body, but when they were worn on me, they became tight and painful and made me breathless."

"When I woke up from the dream, the pain was still in my body and it lasted until a day later."

"Ms. Abigail, I want to know what this means—who is this person? What does this pain represent?"

After Jeremy finished his questioning, the recorder recorded a period of silence. If it weren't for the probes still poking at the card, Clayton would almost think it was going to be interrupted at the critical moment again.

But not this time.

After a long silence, the prophetess began to breathe fiercely, her moving voice turning into a long, hoarse, full-force gasp like a patient, and the sound of the electric current in the recorder was distorted and chorused synchronously, making it noisy and harsh. Even across time and space, the sound recording she left in the machine made Clayton feel terribly penetrating.

And Julius next to him turned even paler.

Just when Clayton thought that some unexpected accident had occurred here that day, the prophetess's breathing gradually calmed down.

"Mr. Busby," she began gravely.

"You should leave Viodi, or you will be killed by wolves."