The Modern Age of the Mysterious

"Sean, are you interested in writing a part-time manuscript?" Edward asked with obvious intent.

Although Sean had intended this for a long time, he shrugged: "I don't know if my time allows..."

Edward had handed over his business card: "Of course, if you have time, I hope you will consider it. You know, the New Testament newspaper industry is growing fast, but there are only so many good writers and reporters. We need Talent like you!

"If you can provide high-quality manuscripts, the manuscript fee will definitely satisfy you!"

Sean left the editor-in-chief with Edward's business card, and he also got another good news - in order to express the sincerity of the draft, Edward gave him a discount only available to long-term advertisers. Originally, it cost 100 yuan to publish a medium-sized advertisement for three days. New Zealand dollars, Sean only pays $80.

After signing a standard contract, Sean paid half the advertising fee in the accounting room.

Shaun felt unreal when he counted out the $40 note - it was a lot of money for him!

But considering the clues the ad might bring, Sean still felt it was worth it.

Next is to wait for the news.

Sean went back to the hotel room. Under Daisy's arrangement, the front desk and the security guard have formed an early warning mechanism. They keep the rooms where the guests stay strictly confidential, especially not revealing where Sean is.

If there is an abnormal situation or an intruder, they will find a way to notify Sean immediately, and there is also a window leading to the back alley to escape.

Not only that, since the witch corpse incident, the number of patrolling officers at the entrance of the Mist and Rose Hotel has increased significantly. Therefore, Sean can still live in a hotel room with peace of mind and does not need to change his address for the time being.

At this moment, five bottles of holy water were neatly placed on Sean's table, and the holy pattern dagger that had been cleaned by Catherine was at hand.

In half a day, Sean finished reading "Theology and Divinity". After gaining a deeper understanding of the current theology and religion, Sean yearned for a powerful "magic": "In this world where evil is rampant, magic is the perfect way for mankind to balance evil.

"Divine arts are techniques that are performed by people with the help of the power of gods. Unfortunately, in order to use divine arts, one must believe in a god.

"For example, Leon's mother Naya, she summoned the power of [Death God Akon] that day to restrain the corpse, which is a kind of primary magic.

"It seems that it is necessary for me to think about the choice of faith - neither blindly choose nor turn a blind eye to this gain."

Then, Sean began to meditate and strengthen his soul. During the meditation, the symbol radiates a constant energy outward, and the scarlet color of the Witch's Moon is also dispelled little by little...

"It seems that meditation can assimilate the Witch's Moon," Sean closed his eyes and looked at the "Candlestick", "After assimilation, maybe I can gain some new abilities..."

The scarlet that Witch Moon was dispelled contained a lot of hatred and resentment, even if these hatreds did not belong to Sean, he could clearly feel it during the dispersing process.

During the meditation, Sean kept seeing some memories from a blood-red perspective: a female worker screamed in the fire, a girl with long braids was hit by a bullet...

"What happened to that textile factory?" Sean opened his eyes after finishing his meditation, and there was a touch of scarlet that had just dissipated in his eyes. After two hours of meditation, half of the scarlet of the Witch Moon had been dispelled.

"Since the address of the fake poetry association is written there, and since those people put the fake corpses there, there must be a reason." Sean paced the room thinking, "However, this may be a serial trap— —If I continue to investigate the scene out of curiosity, I may be in some new danger...

"However, if I go to check the news about this matter, there will be no danger!" Anyway, now we can only wait for the clues brought by the tracing advertisement. Sean decided to check the past news to learn about the past. What happened in the textile factory.

Sean came to the Municipal Library of the New Testament. The library not only has a large collection of books, but also stores old newspapers. Sean quickly found the name of the original factory through the address index of "No. 95 Sequoia Road".

"Haleywood Textile and Garment Factory..." Sean muttered as he began to search through the thick newspaper index book by the name of the factory.

Soon, he saw a series of reports with dates very close.

"On April 2, 1923, a fire broke out at the Haleywood Textile and Garment Factory, and 33 female workers were burned alive due to the door being locked. . . .

"Haleywood Textile Factory is a company controlled by the rich man Rockfield. After this tragedy, Rockfield himself was attacked and criticized by public opinion...

"After the promotion of the Haleywood tragedy, the Rockfield Foundation issued an announcement to the society, promising to improve the working environment and living conditions of workers..."

Sean raised his head from the pile of newspapers: "The Haleywood Massacre, which happened a year ago...was a big event that caused a sensation in the society.

"Why did they put the Poetry Society's fake address there?

"Why did the burned female workers in the revelation guide me to find this little witch's body?"

"What does this tragedy have to do with Arya's disappearance?"

Sean tried to put the two things together, but found it impossible: "Arya has never been to New Zealand, how could the Haleywood tragedy have anything to do with her?"

When Sean was looking through the index book, he also found something: "There were reports about the Haleywood massacre, all concentrated in 1923. After that, the incident seemed to become a taboo and was never reported again. I mentioned...it's also a very strange thing.

"That's all I can find. If you want to know more about this incident, you can only go to the relevant people of the year, or go to the place where the fire happened."

On the way back, Sean bought a copy of the Daily News of the day. He turned two pages directly, and at the bottom of the local news, next to a milk advertisement, he saw Aaliyah's photo and the text he wrote.

Realizing that the person seeing the ad might be calling him, Sean hurried back to the hotel.

——

In order to prevent the other party from knowing his residence through the phone number, Sean published the phone number in the newspaper that could not be found in the Yellow Pages.

On the day the newspaper was released, Sean received more than 60 calls looking for him. As a professional reporter, Sean can directly understand the authenticity and importance of intelligence through telephone communication.

This is a kind of "special ability" that is similar to "function" that has been cultivated through years of communication: he can know whether the caller is speaking according to the tone of the caller, the way he speaks, the content of the description, etc. ~www.NovelMTL.com~ It is true, and it is immediately judged whether it is meaningful to investigate.

Among the sixty or so calls, there were more than a dozen fraudulent calls. They both claim to have Aaliyah's lead and want Sean to "pay a certain amount up front". Some even claimed directly on the phone that they had kidnapped Aaliyah and demanded that Sean pay a ransom of $10,000...

Sean had predicted this would happen before, so he wasn't too surprised.

Of course, he certainly wouldn't take the call asking him to pay the "ransom" seriously - if the other party really wanted to blackmail him with Arya, he would have contacted him long ago, and he didn't have to wait until the newspaper published a missing advertisement before calling.

The rest of the phone calls, after Sean's careful understanding, can basically be ruled out-they claim to have seen a girl who is very similar to Aaliyah. significant difference.

In the black-and-white photo, Arya can't be seen with waist-length hair, can't tell her eyes are pale blue, and can't hear her distinct Leon accent. Sean deliberately withheld this information.

These are all "hidden buttons" used to identify the authenticity of incoming calls, and only the real "Alia" will know.

At the end of the day, none of the clues provided by a phone call have the value of tracing. Although he kept comforting himself, Sean was still a little disappointed.

The phone rang again. Sean, who has answered more than 60 useless calls, took the trouble to pick it up and understand: "Hello, this is Sean Dickinson."

"Good evening, Mr. Sean." The opposite was a mellow male voice with a unique rhythm, "I'm the man with Arya at Mr. Bill's banquet."

Sean's eyes widened, and he almost broke the pencil in his hand with one hand.