New Gods of North America

When they returned to the hotel, it was already past eight o'clock in the evening.

I asked the waiter for toast, vegetable salad and hot soup, and then went back to the suite.

Considering the average spending level of the guests who choose to stay in the suites, such a dinner seems a bit too simple.

After the waiter delivered the dining cart to the suite and received the tip, he waited a little longer.

Worrying whether the guests will order additional food again.

But later in the suite, Parker was seen taking out jerky, cheese and even ham and single malt whiskey from his suitcase.

The waiter wisely did not say anything else, but quickly brought some larger empty plates.

At the same time, I also didn’t forget to tell my colleagues.

Recently, a new fashion seems to have become popular among the rich.

He seemed to be more particular about food and had begun to ask his servants to carry better quality ingredients when they traveled.

Anyway, judging from the box of expensive cigars that the servant accidentally found,

These guests were by no means the type to skimp on food.

In the suite,

The three of them sat around a dinner which was not expensive but quite sumptuous, and discussed the case while eating.

"From the few cases we have seen so far, the murderer's desire for money does not seem urgent enough. At least three victims had large amounts of cash or valuables that can be easily converted into cash on their bodies. I think the possibility of robbery and murder can be ruled out for now."

Wayne held a piece of jerky in his left hand and his little notebook in his right hand, trying to do big data analysis:

"There seems to be no obvious consistency in the gender, age, time, place and clothing of the victims. I think the possibility of stress murder is relatively small.

"It is more likely that they were instructed by someone, or that there are other commonalities, as we thought before."

Wayne even marked the location where the victim was killed on the map of Kansas City he bought.

I also tried to connect them together using symbols like pentagram and hexagram, but unfortunately my imagination failed and I couldn't connect them.

Lina cut a piece of cheese and chewed it:

"Such a powerful assassin, even if he is not a Beyonder, should be paid a lot, right? I don't think ordinary people can afford to hire him. At least he has to be a rich person or some organization. Unless he doesn't charge any money at all."

Inissa was silent for a while:

"If we simply want to find common points, there doesn't seem to be any overlapping keywords between the victims in the files and investigations. Not all of them even died near the state line.

"The economic status and place of residence are inconsistent, the social circles do not seem to be unified, and not all the bodies of the victims have been searched..."

Then, halfway through her speech, she turned her head and looked towards the main entrance of the suite.

Lina and Peter also shifted their gaze at the same time.

Wayne's vision of simple lines also opened up at this moment.

Some curved wavy lines stretched out from the gap in the door, like eels attracted by food, and one after another "drilled" into the position of the door lock.

"Boom, boom, boom."

There was a slow knock on the door.

The three of them looked at each other.

Peter, who was jumping on the table, looked around and suddenly jumped to the floor.

After confirming that everyone was ready, Wayne looked towards the main door of the suite again:

"Come in."

The wavy line shook slightly, and the door lock was opened automatically.

A young man appeared at the door, wearing typical urban worker clothing.

——The "urban worker's clothing" mentioned here refers to a set of clothes that are quite characteristic of the steam age: a low-top, wide-brimmed soft felt hat, overalls, and a shirt rolled up to the elbows.

Thanks to the development of the textile industry,

Some specific styles of clothing, although not unique in this era, are cheap and durable.

The other party took off the soft felt hat on his head and bowed in accordance with etiquette:

"If you don't mind, may I come in?"

"Of course." Wayne nodded with a smile.

The other party walked into the room, closed the door again, and then stopped at the door:

"I was assigned to warn you.

"The content is as follows: 'The city of Kanks has its own rules. If outsiders want to survive, they should not provoke the church, let alone meddle in other people's affairs.'

"I have finished my message, thank you."

After saying that, the other party bowed again and wanted to turn around and leave.

"Please wait a moment."

Wayne called out to the other person, "Who asked you to come over?"

The young man had a mysterious and confident smile on his face. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you that. But I don't think this is a warning with any malicious intent."

Wayne stared into the other person's eyes and looked at him:

"It seems that not all Beyonders from all places dare to display their abilities at will. Since you dare to directly show your abilities to 'strangers' like us, do you think we are also Beyonders?"

The smile on the young man's face remained unchanged:

"We can't confirm it, but it's not hard to guess. The murderer of the 'Midnight Serial Murder Case' has been confirmed by the church to be a 'fallen person', so the person who was privately authorized by the head of the church's exorcism department to investigate the case is most likely not an ordinary person.

"It doesn't matter if I guessed wrong. I'm just a small character registered in the church, a semi-legal 'informant'. And Kanks City is actually much more 'open' than many places in America. Of course, it also has its rules."

"I see," Wayne nodded and turned to look at Lina, "I'm fine for now."

Then a "big spider jumped on my face\

,"The young man's legs soon went weak and he fell down.

…

Inside the room, a young man was tied to a chair with a large spider moving around on his head.

A little further away from the chairs was a dining table filled with food, with three people sitting around it, holding knives, forks or spoons.

"Name." Wayne's tone was cold.

"Willy."

The other party seemed to be very familiar with this set of things. Without even asking Wayne further questions, he continued to add:

"I don't have a last name, just Willy."

"Gender," Wayne continued.

Lina gave him a puzzled look, and Wayne waved at her.

You don't understand.

How dare you assume someone else's gender.

"Male...male." The young man seemed a little confused.

"Who asked you to come?" Wayne asked again.

The young man who called himself "Willie" shook his head quickly. "I really can't say that. But I guarantee that they have no ill will towards you at the moment. They just don't want the 'ecology' inside Kanks City to be destroyed."

Wayne didn't respond and turned to look at Lina.

Peter jumped around a bit on top of Willy's head, then started crawling towards his vulnerable neck.

The movements were slow, but they seemed to be a bit strenuous.

It seems to be demonstrating its deterrent power and presence.

"What the hell is this?! Please don't do this. Please, let me go, I beg you."

Willy spoke faster and shook his head.

There were curved wavy lines trying to spread out from him, but they couldn't spread far and simply "withered" away.

Finally Peter crawled to the side of Willy's neck, touched his skin with his two slender front legs, and slowly pressed down.

Willy saw three people with indifferent expressions sitting at a table a little further away.

A look of despair appeared on his face.

Then he swallowed, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.