Shadow of great britain

The laboratory room is quite spacious, and the furnishings inside are very simple. There is nothing except a Faraday cage.

But perhaps this room was not so plain from the beginning. At least judging from the unburned ashes of fabric under the window sill, curtains should have been hung here.

In the Faraday cage, an experimental table and various materials and parts used for experiments are neatly placed.

As for the person at the center of the incident, Mr. Charles Whetstone's appearance today is obviously much more unique than before.

The electronic wind caused by the strong current blew through the cage, causing Wheatstone's hair to dance in the wind, making it look like the roots were standing straight up.

This British gentleman who always wore gold-rimmed glasses was no longer as quiet as before. He was holding a resistor in one hand, an ammeter in the other, and one foot on a stool. He couldn't stop talking to the people who were watching him. Laughing wildly.

"Sons of bitches! If you have the guts, just come here! Don't blame me for not warning you in advance. Even if God comes today, he can't take me out of the cage!"

Alexandre Dumas and others were all dumbfounded and shocked. They looked at Wheatstone who kept swearing, and they couldn't imagine that this gentle gentleman could actually do such a thing.

Where was the shy four-eyed boy from before?

Arthur was silent for a while, then took off his pipe and blew out a burst of smoke. He asked the apprentice next to him: "How long has Mr. Wheatstone's symptoms lasted?"

The apprentice pressed his head with a headache and replied, "It's been about a week. Ever since he discovered this cage, he hasn't stopped."

Another apprentice also sighed: "Medical magazines say that hysteria only affects ladies. But now it seems that the doctors are wrong. Gentlemen can also contract this disease."

"Hysteria?" Alexandre Dumas was surprised when he heard this: "Did Mr. Wheatstone actually contract this disease? This...he is really unfortunate."

The apprentice nodded and said: "We also invited doctors from Bethlem Royal Hospital to come over a few days ago. The doctors thought that Mr. Wheatstone might be under too much mental stress and that he could recover after a period of time. But they didn't expect it. As a few days passed, Mr. Wheatstone's condition not only did not improve, but worsened. He locked himself in a cage early every morning, and waited until we fell asleep before sneaking out on his own. No matter who came from near the laboratory He would curse every time we passed by. Everyone couldn't bear it this morning, so they notified the people at Bethlem Royal Hospital. They sent a car to the Royal Society to pick him up several times, but we couldn't do anything about it. Mr. Wheatstone please come out of the cage."

When Wheatstone heard this, he immediately opened his eyes and yelled angrily: "Fuck you! I've never been sick, and my current condition is simply better than ever before! It's you who are sick, and you guys are all He’s fucking sick!”

The apprentice sighed after hearing this: "Look, gentlemen, he has started again."

When Louis saw this situation, his expression suddenly became a little strange. During this period, in order to keep up with the pace of Scotland Yard's case handling, he taught himself a lot of medical knowledge. Of course, he also knew something about hysteria, a disease considered to be highly prevalent by doctors.

Louis asked vaguely: "This...I heard that treating hysteria in women usually involves...well...doctors help them release their mental stress with their hands. Under normal circumstances, doctors will also ask for help first. The husband would do it himself, and if that was not possible, he would leave it to a professional like a doctor. However, if a man is sick... I would venture to ask how Bethlem Royal Hospital plans to treat Mr. Wheatstone. Of?"

When Alexandre Dumas heard this, the fat Frenchman, who was a veteran in the entertainment industry, "knows the elegant meaning of a stringed song". He clapped his hands and suddenly realized: "No wonder Mr. Wheatstone will suffer from such a disease. He has been suppressing it for a long time. What a problem! Sure enough, the heroes have the same idea. Although I only know some knowledge about battlefield first aid and have no experience in making medical diagnoses for people. But I had suggested to Mr. Wheatstone before he got sick. He deserves to be nourished by some love."

Heine on the side heard this, feeling sad and a little sad. He said unhappily: "Alexander, although love is very beautiful. But I must say that most love does not bring people Happiness, it cannot cure any disease, it will only prick you like a rose."

Alexandre Dumas obviously disagrees with Heine. As a best-selling author with countless lovers who almost grew up immersed in love, his mentality is completely different from that of Heine, a loser in unrequited love.

However, due to the face of his friends, Alexandre Dumas did not expose Heine's sadness.

After all, not everyone can remain optimistic after being rejected by two cousins. Although Alexandre Dumas plans to impart some love experience to his friends, it is obviously not now.

He turned to Arthur and said accusingly: "Arthur, I think you must take full responsibility for Mr. Wheatstone becoming like this."

"Me?" Arthur frowned slightly and said, "You mean the work indicators I set for Charles are too strict? Please, he hasn't worked for two months. In the past few months, he has been thinking about how to decipher the code. Love letters, acting as an emotional counselor and confidant everywhere. The most important thing is that this task is not assigned to him by me.

Do you think I would be very interested in those annoying messages about me, me, I love you, and you love me in the lovesickness column? A current student in Oxford is planning to elope with a girl he just met, a pastor in a certain area is suspected of having several lovers, and the youngest son of Earl XX is pursuing a lady who can be his mother. I know what the use of these things is. ? "

When Louis heard this, he smiled and praised: "Sir, although these are of no use, I still have to say, your memory is really good."

When Arthur heard this, the smoke he had just inhaled stuck in his throat.

He coughed repeatedly, with air coming out of his nostrils and mouth: "Louis, did you do this on purpose?"

"No. I mean it." Louis replied with a smile: "I heard people say that our archived documents are all in your head, and I didn't believe it. But now it seems that everything you said is true. It’s real.”

Arthur pursed his lips and replied: "That's another employee of ours you haven't seen before. He is floating at sea now. When he comes back, you can talk to him when you are free. Maybe we can also get some useless information about cross-species communication.”

Seeing that Elder's small meeting was about to start again, Alexandre Dumas quickly brought the topic back: "Arthur, what I'm talking about is not that you put too much pressure on Mr. Wheatstone's work. It's that what Scotland Yard has done recently Now that the crackdown on sex trafficking is over, where can we find an experienced lady to treat Mr. Wheatstone?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows when he heard this and said: "Alexander, do you dare to pat your chest and promise me that you didn't say this with any selfish intentions?"

Alexandre Dumas said with a righteous face: "Of course! Love is everywhere in my life, but Mr. Wheatstone is obviously different, so he needs to use money to solve the problem. The only thing to be thankful for now is that Mr. Wheatstone Spending money can solve the problem. If Mr. Carter is in the cage today, the situation will be very different. His needs are so diverse that I think maybe we can just send him in with the cage. In London Zoo.”

Louis glanced at Wheatstone standing in the cage, and suggested to Arthur in a vague way: "During this period, we have not only cracked down on the phenomenon of sex trafficking, but also confiscated several batches of illegal publications. Do you think, if we take out Would giving a few copies to Mr. Wheatstone help alleviate his condition?"

As soon as he finished speaking, before Arthur could speak, Alexandre Dumas asked first, "What good stuff did you get?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down!"

Louis raised a finger to his lips. He looked around, and after making sure that the apprentices were not paying attention to them, he whispered: "There are no new products, most of them are reprints of some old works. For example, Collieran's " "Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman in Pleasure", Roger Fickwell's "Merryland", John Cleland's "Memoirs of a Woman's Pleasure", and a collection of novels with a rather long title. I remember it was called "A Rare Truth: Venus's Cabinet Opened and Her Secrets Revealed."

Alexandre Dumas heard this and exclaimed: "Scotland Yard has really done something earth-shattering this time! The books you mentioned are hard to find on the market. They all seem to have been banned from publication by the church and the government. Even The author has also been in prison, right? Even that bastard Elder doesn't have all this kind of high-end stuff. He only has one copy of "Merryland" in his collection.

I still remember the descriptive language in it, it was truly masterful. Something like, 'The radius looks huge...bigger than anyone else', or 'The land needs to be cultivated carefully.' If you hadn't read the context, who would have thought that this was an erotic novel? I thought this was Mr. Cavendish measuring the radius of the earth. "

As soon as Dumas finished speaking, the apprentices who were listening attentively with their ears gathered around in embarrassment: "Gentlemen, we just heard you seem to be talking about Cavendish? To be honest, we are also right. The radius of the Earth is of interest.”

Arthur saw that the crowd seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, so he had to warn quickly: "Recently, the cells in Scotland Yard have been full, and it seems that the Parliament has no intention of giving us a large amount of funding to add a detention room for the time being, so it is best for you to It’s better not to submit a housing application to us in the near future, why do you need to cause trouble to both parties?”

When the apprentices heard this, they could only return in anger.

But when Alexandre Dumas saw that everyone was gone, he reluctantly took out an employee card of the Police Intelligence Bureau from his pocket and patted it in Arthur's hand: "Have you forgotten? I also work for Scotland." You're working in the field! As a staff member, I should have the power to check for contraband, right? At least you have to let me finish "Merryland", right? Elder only has the first half, not the second half. I know which son of a bitch got torn apart.”

Arthur just refused after hearing this: "Alexander, if it is normal, I can agree to your request. But not during this time, I have been strict recently. If you wait until the limelight passes, you can do whatever you want. But if you really If you can’t hold it in any longer, then I suggest you go to Bond Street to find Mrs. Berkeley. Scotland Yard wouldn’t dare check her shop, so you can definitely go there for an offline experience.”

"Why?" Alexandre Dumas frowned and asked, "Is there anything special about Mrs. Berkeley? She actually got a special recommendation from a Scotland Yard superintendent."

Louis explained helpfully: "Strictly speaking, Mrs. Berkeley was not recommended by Superintendent Hastings, but by Superintendent Motherwell of Scotland Yard."

Heine asked: "Why do you want to emphasize this point?"

Louis said helplessly: "Because not everyone can accept Mrs. Berkeley's service. To be honest, Superintendent Motherwell was retired from the 58th British Infantry Regiment 'Steelback'. And the reason why the 58th Regiment is This nickname comes from the fact that the commander of the regiment has a long tradition of whipping, and almost every soldier who served there has tasted the water-dipped whip.

And Superintendent Motherwell...well...how should I put it, although he has retired from the army, he still misses the passionate feeling when he served in the army. Every time Superintendent Motherwell went to Mrs. Berkeley's place, he said he felt energetic, as if he was ten or twenty years younger, and he turned back into the twenty-year-old boy whose back was covered with whip marks. It feels refreshing to work too. "

"Oh..." When Alexandre Dumas heard this, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and commented: "I understand, I have been arguing for a long time. The service provided by Mrs. Berkeley is 'British Vice'. Before I came to Britain, I heard that all the people here are Well, seeing is believing now. But just because you let Mrs. Berkeley go for the special hobby of a Scotland Yard Superintendent, the extent of your Scotland Yard bending the law for personal gain seems to have gone up to another level recently."

Arthur replied: "Alexander, if you think so, you are wrong. It is not Superintendent Motherwell who affects Scotland Yard's judgment. He does not have that much weight. From a legal perspective, Mrs. Berkeley is in most cases In most cases, it's just cracking the whip, or asking the customer to crack the whip. By the way, I'm talking about real whips, nothing else. If she is just doing this business, it is not illegal, and even if she wants to do something else Yes, you can easily obtain a legal permit.

Perhaps it is a problem with the British education system. Our big shots here have all received a considerable degree of stick education in school, so some of them are as in love with this feeling as Superintendent Motherwell. This is also the main reason why Scotland Yard does not bother Mrs. Berkeley. Among her regular customers, there are too many people who choke Scotland Yard, and even some members of the royal family.

And this lady is not short of money. She invented a device called the 'Berkeley Horse' last year, which sold two thousand pounds in sales last year alone. So under normal circumstances, Scotland Yard can only show a little respect to this rich and powerful lady. "

Hearing this, Alexandre Dumas couldn't help but turn to look at Mr. Wheatstone: "Then in my opinion, why not arrange something fresh for Mr. Wheatstone today?"

Arthur just smiled when he heard this: "Why bother? Mrs. Berkeley is not the only one in London who can use the whip. There are also professional police officers in Scotland Yard. It's just..."

Louis also laughed and said: "Unfortunately, although our methods are not as professional as Mrs. Berkeley's. Fortunately, we also have Superintendent Motherwell. He not only likes to be whipped, but also knows how to whip. Although he has retired for several years, Years have passed, but the old skills left to him by the 58th Regiment have not been lost. Superintendent Motherwell often said that he can kill a donkey with only ten lashes. "

Alexandre Dumas shuddered when he heard this. He imagined the scene, the dark interrogation room, the tall, bare-chested man, the steam coming out of his shoulders, the iron chains, and the whip dipped in water.

While lamenting that he had new material for writing novels, Alexandre Dumas couldn't help but trembled all over.

Just when he was about to persuade Arthur to spend some money on Wheatstone, he found that Arthur had disappeared.

Immediately afterwards, a thud was heard, which was the sound of the switch closing.

The lightning in the laboratory room almost disappeared in an instant. Arthur walked to the Faraday cage and stood in front of the Faraday cage with his pipe in his mouth.

He took a look at Wheatstone who was hiding in the cage, put two fingers into his pocket, took out a handkerchief and threw it on the iron wall of the cage. The cage wall, which maintained an extremely high temperature after being powered on for a long time, instantly ignited the handkerchief.

As the flames burned, Arthur's words rang out.

“Charles, as a friend who cares about you, I now have two small suggestions that you can consider at your discretion.

First, you come out of the cage by yourself, and I will take you to the hospital to see if you are really going crazy. Although I don’t think there is any hysteria, if you really have some needs that cannot be solved by yourself, then when the Blue Stocking Club gathers next week, I can take you there and introduce you to some educated people. beautiful lady. After all, looking at your current situation, you can already speak normally in front of them.

Second, if you don't come out, I will now formally arrest you here in the name of the Metropolitan Police for arson. However, I am fortunate to inform you that due to the efforts of all walks of life in Britain last year, according to the newly passed Offenses Against the Person Act, only arson crimes that occur in military industrial centers such as the Royal Dockyard are eligible for hanging. So, you don’t have to worry about your neck being hung on the gallows. Considering that the loss is only a handkerchief, you will be sentenced to three years of hard labor at most.

Charles, just think of it as doing me a favor and get out of the cage quickly. The London District Attorney's Office was about to be established, and I didn't want the first case I handled as a police representative to be the conviction of my most scientifically literate friend. "