Shadow of great britain

Greenwich Police Station, in the Inspector's Office.

Arthur took off his civilian clothes and put on the familiar police uniform again.

Agares leaned on his seat and asked jokingly: "How are you going to save the little girl named Robin? With all due respect, she may have contracted pneumonia from working in the textile factory for too long. It’s a local disease. I’m afraid this disease is not that easy to cure.”

As Arthur buttoned up his uniform, he said, "Agares, please stop talking sarcastically. If you can, just say it."

"Oh! Arthur, it's not that I won't help you this time. Medicine is indeed not my area of ​​expertise. Mathematics, astronomy, and linguistics are my areas of expertise.

As for medical matters, you are better off asking Baldu than me. At least Baldu knows how to create plague, and that Lord of the Flies also understands this. "

Arthur took out from the drawer the Royal Society pass given to him by the Duke of Sussex.

"Agares, although I already knew that this was probably your answer, I still couldn't help but say it.

You sell crutches to normal people all day long, hire cripples to push carts, and let you form a band. You find a group of mutes to sing for me.

It's really not all my fault that you can't get the soul, but it's because you did too many irrelevant things. "

When the red devil heard this, he slapped the case angrily and cursed loudly.

"Arthur! Don't blame me for speaking harshly, there are strict rules for anyone making a deal with the devil!

All contracts are conducted under the constraints of hell's laws, and all standards are fair, just, and open.

If you don't get what you want, you can only blame yourself for not making your requirements clear. You can't blame me! "

"The Laws of Hell?" Arthur captured the new vocabulary: "What are the Laws of Hell?"

Agares snorted: "I told you that you don't understand. Since you are a Scotland Yard policeman, you just need to understand the laws of hell as the laws of the world.

All in all, I cannot deceive you as to the terms of the transaction, nor can any devil dare to deceive you in this regard.

Anyone who dares to cheat on the laws of hell will have their power taken back by the power of the laws. "

Arthur raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "So, the devils in hell are all law-abiding citizens? Shouldn't this kind of place be heaven? How can it be hell?"

"Oh! My dear Arthur."

The red devil rubbed his hands and chuckled: "If you have been to hell, you will know it. If a creature only abides by the most basic laws, that is not a good thing.

Because this means that he will do everything except the law. Are you really sure that this will be a good thing?

For example, Barr, collecting feces does not violate the laws of hell, and eating feces certainly does not violate it, but can you stand your neighbor doing this kind of thing every day?

If you can bear it, I can sell you my villa in hell now. We will sign a contract now, for ten souls, at a fair and cheap price.

You may not know this, but just because he built a shitty restaurant next to my house, thousands of flies party there every night.

I've been hanging that house in hell for thousands of years, but no one cares about it. You know, my house turned out to be a high-end villa area! "

Arthur curled his lips: "I thought you and Barr just had some personal grudges, but I didn't expect there to be financial disputes. Agares, it seems I don't know you well enough."

Agares waved his hand magnanimously: "It doesn't matter. Just like what you said to Adam before, let the past be in the past. As time goes by, I believe that we can definitely form a good partnership. Asia Se, be less wary of me, I don’t always want to trick you.”

Arthur put the Royal Society pass into his pocket: "Your words are enough to make me uneasy. Forget it, let's stop talking today. I have to go to the Royal Society to find Faraday."

"Why are you looking for him? Isn't he an expert in chemistry and physics? He doesn't understand medicine."

"But he should know. I heard that doctors are very concerned about the progress in the field of chemistry, and many of them have deep friendships with chemists.

Mr. Faraday should know some good doctors. Even if he doesn't, I can ask other scientists to help me find out. "

Arthur picked up the dome hat on the table and walked out of the room, but before he could reach the outside of the police station, he heard someone calling him.

"Sir, wait a moment, someone just called the police and said that two people died on Central Street!"

"dead?"

Arthur looked back and saw a panting young police officer.

He quickly asked: "What is going on?"

The young police officer stood at attention and saluted, and then hurriedly said: "The Wells Hotel on Central Street reported that two travelers died in their room. The hotel owner said the cause of death may be a gas leak.

As soon as we received the call, we sent police officers to cordon off the scene as you ordered at the last work meeting. Look, do you want to go there in person? "

When Arthur heard this, he immediately put on his hat and said, "Take me there right away!"

…

Ten minutes later, Arthur took Tom and Tony to the Wells Hotel at 24 Central Street, Greenwich District.

There was a crowd in front of the hotel, and countless good-looking Londoners were standing on tiptoes looking in, hoping to know what was going on here.

The police officers had also followed Arthur's order and set up a cordon with ropes to prevent unrelated people from approaching.

Police officers patrolling nearby were also rushed here to maintain public order.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please give way!"

Tom and Tony shouted at the top of their lungs as they rushed into the crowd, hoping to squeeze a way into the hotel for Arthur.

When the surrounding patrol officers saw Arthur arriving, they all stood at attention and saluted: "Inspector Hastings!"

When the originally bustling citizens heard this voice, they couldn't help but look back at Arthur.

"Is he Arthur Hastings? The young police officer who saved the little boy in court!"

"It's true! It's written in the newspapers that Arthur Hastings was promoted to Greenwich District Police Inspector, and that's him!"

"Oh my God! He is so young, tall and handsome, and you can tell he is very capable at a glance."

They spontaneously made way for Arthur, perhaps because they retreated so quickly that they dragged both Tom and Tony into the crowd.

They howled in horror: "Damn it, let us out!"

Arthur didn't care about the two of them at this time, but walked straight towards the front desk of the hotel on his riding boots.

This is a very narrow aisle. As soon as you enter the front desk, you can see the price list hanging on the wall.

It was written in crooked handwriting - special price every evening, from 21:00 to 5:00 the next day, overnight rental only charges two pennies.

The waiter at the front desk was a young man in his twenties. When he saw Arthur, he just smiled reluctantly. Perhaps he was frightened by the sudden intrusion of a large number of police officers.

"Mr. Police Officer, please come inside. The deceased is in the room on the second floor. The rest of the hotel guests have also been gathered there according to the police's instructions."

Arthur did not pay attention to this problem first, but kept looking at the price list on the wall, and asked for no reason: "Is the rent here so cheap? I just came back from St. Giles in the West End, and even the hotel there is To receive three pennies a day.”

The waiter replied: "It's not always this cheap, didn't you see? The only day rent for overnight stays in the evening is two pennies.

At that time, most of the guests who were due to check in had already checked in. The boss said that the remaining rooms were empty, so it was better to rent them out at a low price, and at least get some money back. "

Arthur asked: "Since everyone who should move in has moved in, who rented these daily rental rooms for overnight stays?"

The waiter shrugged and said: "There will always be people staying. After all, such cheap rooms are hard to find. Such as those beggars who got lucky and got some money, prostitutes who are looking for a place to pick up customers, or those who have just arrived in London to make a living but are struggling with their lives." Rural farmers who don’t know the land well and don’t have much money in their pockets.”

When Arthur heard this, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he remembered the missing list of St. Giles Parish that he had seen before.

He didn't seem to be in a hurry to go in, but asked instead: "I remember that many hotel owners don't seem to welcome these people, right? They think that bringing these people in will affect the reputation of the hotel, causing normal guests to be unwilling Choose to live in their hotel. Why is your boss’s business style so different from theirs?”

The waiter relaxed his nervousness when he saw that the police inspector was quite amiable.

He said: "Who knows? I have persuaded him many times. After all, after those daily rental houses are occupied, I have to be responsible for cleaning them. I am tired of doing those jobs."

You may not know that the quality of the poor residents is really low. The sheets and bedding are stained by them, and there are often wine bottles and other things scattered on the floor.

I reported this to the boss many times, and I told him that something would happen sooner or later if he continued like this. Even if nothing happened, it would be bad if other customers saw it.

But he just didn't listen to me. He said that he had his own ideas and that I was just a part-time worker, so I shouldn't mind so much other things.

He felt that the time to stay in the room was from 21:00 to 5:00 the next morning. At this time, other guests were sleeping.

As long as those beggars and prostitutes come after the guests go to bed and leave before the guests get up, there will be no problem.

But look, what happened?

There were no problems in the first two months. Our boss, Mr. Wells, was quite diligent and insisted on kicking them out before five o'clock in the morning every day.

But what about today? When I opened the door today, I found two prostitutes who had spent the night dead in the room.

Mr. Wells is so arrogant. He has only been a hotelier for a few months, but I have been a waiter for five years.

In my opinion, it is definitely not possible to do business like him. "

When Arthur heard this, he took out a penny from his pocket and placed it on the table at the front desk: "Thank you for the information, good citizen."

The waiter was stunned by Arthur's sudden appearance. He picked up the coins on the table and looked at Arthur's back walking up the stairs. He thought about it for a long time before he spoke.

"Mr. Officer, don't worry, I can talk about two pence more!"