Chapter 67: The First Step

Chapter Sixty-SevenThe First Step

In a corner of the East Borough.

Gene, drunk enough to sway, faced the wall, pulled down his trousers, and comfortably nourished the moss.

After he had finished, someone suddenly patted his shoulder.

Gene shuddered several times. Hurriedly pulling up his trousers, he half turned and looked back, only to see a short boy in a canvas jacket and a peaked cap.

That “boy” lifted his head, revealing a face that, though filthy beyond recognition, was soft and delicate.

“Xio? Why are you dressed like that?” Gene blurted out in astonishment.

Xio raised her index finger and pressed it before her lips, signaling for him to keep quiet.

Then she lowered her voice and said, “I ask, you answer. Keep your voice down.”

Awed by that dignified pressure, Gene had only one thought left: nod.

“Among the people Williams knew, who else died these past two days?” Xio asked in a deep voice.

Gene used his alcohol-numbed brain to recall carefully for a while before saying, “Gavin! Gavin was found drowned in the Tussock River this morning!

“He probably fell in last night. Poor fellow didn’t know how to swim at all, and he liked going to the riverbank to catch the wind after drinking.”

Xio’s gaze sharpened instantly. Without thinking, she pressed, “Did Gavin accept Williams’s commission—the commission to search for the wanted criminal Lanevus?”

“Of course. All of us received that commission from Williams. Anyway, anyway, it wasn’t any troublesome thing. We only had to show the portrait to everyone we knew and ask them to pay attention to anyone similar. That was it, that was it. Oh, Williams—he said, he said that if there were clues, he’d treat me to three days of drink and three days of meat! Poor fellow, he actually died in a gas explosion. So, so I absolutely refuse to let the landlord install gas pipes! Uh… that was months ago. Now I can only afford a cheap inn.”

Gene rambled on and on.

“What area was Gavin responsible for? Did he mention anything to you?” Xio turned her head to glance nearby. She pressed her lips together, then stared at Gene’s face and asked.

“He—he usually went around the East Balam Dock in the Dock Borough. Yesterday evening, he even met me and said he had gone to the Workers’ Union Tavern there and spread the news of looking for Lanevus. He showed the people present Lanevus’s portrait,” Gene said with a drunken hiccup.

Backlund had many docks. Most of them were designated as part of the Dock Borough and named as various docks.

“And afterward? Did Gavin say what he planned to do afterward?” Xio frowned in puzzlement and asked again.

“Of course—of course he drank! He planned to drink properly, then find someplace to sleep! Oh, that poor fellow must have gotten too hot from drinking and decided to bathe in the river, only to forget that he didn’t know how to swim. And it is almost winter!”

Gene sighed with pity once again.

This…

Gavin did not find anything at all. He only went to the Workers’ Union Tavern at East Balam Dock and spread “leaflets” about looking for Lanevus, yet he was murdered, and Williams was dragged into it as well…

The killer’s reaction can no longer be described as excessive. It is simply madness…

If I were Lanevus, the best and simplest choice would be to move immediately and avoid the search. Unless—unless he has fallen into some matter and cannot leave for a long time… But I am not the only one looking for him. There are many bounty hunters too. Can he kill Williams, and then kill so many more people? If he has the ability, why not go kill everyone in Sivellaus Yard, the ones who issued the wanted notice?

Xio felt she could not understand the matter at all, just as she could not accept Williams’s death.

In the end, she decided first to report the problem she had encountered to Miss Audrey, then disguise herself and head to the Workers’ Union Tavern at East Balam Dock. She would not ask questions. She would only observe and see whether there were any…