gray manor

The reinstatement procedures for Siren and Xin were approved on the same day as Zhaoxi's application for RL volunteers. Raven came home from get off work early in the morning, carrying contracts and paperwork, and his joy was beyond words.

As a result, as soon as he entered the house, he found that Eli, whom he had sent away on vacation a few days ago, had come uninvited and was making some drinks at the counter. In the yard outside the French window, Xiao Xin and the others were chasing after each other in the swimming pool. , it looks like a swimming competition is being held.

They did not move back to Gray Manor immediately after their relationship with the two of the Gray family eased. Instead, they ate, drank and had fun at the Raven's house as they had planned, waiting for the news of their reinstatement.

Raven shook his head lightly, feeling that his home was like a large nursery.

He is usually used to being clean, but since these people moved in, he has a different feeling, as lively as being invaded by a noisy alien family.Fortunately, with a gentle personality, he doesn't dislike this change, and he actually enjoys the atmosphere where someone can talk to him at any time.

The sound of the small tomatoes being beaten by the wall breaker gradually weakened. Eli poured the juice and syrup into a larger glass container, mixed it with rum and soda water in a ratio of 2:1:3, and squeezed a little lemon juice.While she was walking out with a drink and an empty cup, she finally saw Mr. Raven standing quietly beside him with a thoughtful smile on his face.

"Sir?" Eli asked tentatively.

Raven came back to his senses, the smile on his face remained undiminished, he took the drink in her hand naturally, and said relaxedly: "Why did you think of coming to my place?"

"It's Xiao Xin. She was worried that I would be bored at home alone, so she invited me to come over to play. I hope her self-assertion and my uninvited presence didn't cause trouble to you."

Yi Lai is rarely dressed casually today. She wears a white short-sleeved jacket with a large dark green plaid shirt, and her lower body is dark ripped jeans and white sneakers that wrap her long legs tightly. She is thin and thin, but at the same time very relaxed.

Raven looked at his subordinates calmly, and Eli's complexion was much better than before. It seems that the vacation still has a certain effect, so he immediately felt relieved.

"It's okay, it's nice to be so lively." Raven smiled even more, he motioned to Eli to open the floor-to-ceiling windows, and approached the source of the excitement with a drink.

As a result, before reaching the swimming pool, I heard two people inside arguing, you come and go, it's in full swing.

The Siren stood on the edge of the swimming pool and said helplessly: "I said...you have crossed the line too much!"

Xiao Xin was lying on the surface of the water, and said aggressively: "You said that you can even let me have two bodies! What? Are you going back on your word now?"

"...Who regretted it. But aren't you a little over three meters tall? Look at where you are now, and you've already passed half of the swimming pool. Do you want to compare?"

"Hee hee, it is said that I have two bodies. Of course, it is measured by your height. I also counted the length of your arm stretched over the top of your head. I pinched the head and tail to calculate—that is, Five meters, so, I am right here!"

"...Referee!!! Is this reasonable?"

Sitting by the pool, Zhao Zhao's calf was immersed in the water, and he made a completely unfair verdict with a cold face: "Xiao Xin is right, the objection is invalid."

"You guys are working together!"

Xin Xi had a smirk all over his face, imitating the way a whale hits the water with its tail fin and splashed water, but because the distance was too far, only sporadic water spots splashed on the siren's face.

"Stop talking nonsense! You can't compare! The loser will pay for a month's meal! Including snacks and afternoon tea~"

Siren turned her head to look at Zhaoxi speechlessly, hoping that she could find out with a conscience that to say a few comments, it wasn't that he was reluctant to part with a month's meal money, but that this little rascal was really rampant. very.

Zhaoxi naturally received his meaning, she didn't make a sound, but just signaled with her lips: "If you lose, it's mine."

Ok.

The siren rolls his eyes to the top of the sky, draws a line on his lips: up to you.

"Bibibi! Who is afraid of you?" A certain man sighed softly, submerged in the water, ready to go.

Seeing that he was looking serious, the little rascal also turned over on the water surface to get ready, and gestured "OK" to the referee.

The rule of the game is to swim back and forth four times, whoever reaches the key point first wins.Raven and the others served drinks and sat next to Zhaoxi, only to hear her order, and the two soaked in the water rushed forward without hesitation.

The three people on the shore poured a red healthy soft drink into the glass leisurely, and clinked glasses to appreciate the speed competition in the water where the two initially had very naive ideas but bet on the consequences of muscle soreness.

Sure enough, the hot-blooded idiot can't be set up.

No matter how many splashes the two made in the water, the people on the shore were chatting and laughing happily, creating a harmonious and calm social scene.

The referee Zhaoxi occasionally diverted his eyes to the two people in the pool who were clearly racing and were trying to trip each other up. Either Siren stretched out his arms and grabbed Xin Xi's ankle hard to prevent her from swimming forward, or Xiao Xin was heartbroken. Kicking him in the face ruthlessly, you come and go, and the fair spirit of sports competition is fully displayed.

They were exhausted after four rounds of swimming, and finally it was the end when Xin Xiaorou kicked the siren's shoulders and touched the edge of the pool suddenly, and it was finally over. competition.

The winner, Xiao Xin, propped himself up on the bank of the pool and sat on the ground. Regardless of the dripping water from his swimsuit and braids, he triumphantly made faces at him.There was no frustration on Siren's face, he knew from the beginning that this would be the result, and he was very calm.

After the slapstick ended, they turned back to land neatly, took the cold sweet and sour mixed drink and poured it into their stomachs.

The setting sun spread heavily and evenly on the two of them, and their well-exercised bodies were even more beautiful in the afterglow. The water droplets fell along the beautiful muscles and landed on the shore, forming two large groups of water stains.The abdominal muscles and abdominal muscles that have experienced more blood influx after swimming have unconsciously created a perfect visual impact. They rise and fall one after another, making other people's vision once filled with the taste of healthy and surging hormones.

The bodies of the hot-blooded idiots are as impeccable as their faces, and even more eye-catching.

Zhaoxi, who doesn't have much flesh on her body, looks at her friend and her friend's partner with fascination. She can feast her eyes today, and she is still greedily thinking: now is the right time, if I can stop at this moment, that would be the best but.

"So... let's order pizza tonight?! How about it! I really want to eat pizza! Pizza, pizza, pizza..." Xin Xiruo clung to Zhaozhao's body bonelessly, and tapped the siren with his toes, with a tone of voice It's a bit coquettish but nagging, as if as long as the siren dares to say "no" or shake her head in refusal, she will keep repeating the word "pizza".

Siren doesn't like eating pizza, so Xin Xi, who needs to be with her for a long time, would not suggest eating it in order to take care of his dietary preferences, but today she obviously intends to make an exception Put yourself first and do whatever you want.

The Siren didn't think too much, and nodded without any psychological struggle. The reinstatement is coming soon, and the time for them to have a peaceful vacation like this is running out, so let her go.

Raven, who has stayed by the side of "Mona Lisa Smile" since he got home, finally found a chance to speak after watching the noisy and strange racing competition, he shook the white paper in his hand and said : "Both the reinstatement paperwork and Zhaoxi's volunteer application have been approved. Today is a day worth celebrating. How about ordering something more besides pizza?"

Come on, even Raven has learned how to do it badly and started ripping him off.

The siren, who obviously felt that he was being blackmailed, was not too entangled. He continued to nod, as if this was the last carnival.But there is one thing to say, after being bombarded by Sim's "repeater-style pizza army", he is now also full of high-calorie bombs such as barbecue and chicken wings that are only delicious in fast food restaurants.After eating healthy for a long time, I will always miss the long-lost, greasy but delicious sense of guilt. This is the essence of human beings - unable to refuse the temptation of fat and high-carb foods.

While sharpening their knives and preparing to order food, they packed up and went back to the back room. After spending an afternoon soaking in the water, Xin Xi and Siren consciously went back to the room to take a shower. Before leaving, Xin Xi asked Zhao Zhao to order a 12-inch Hawaiian pizza. , put more pineapple to make sesame cake crust.

Raven asked Siren what he wanted to eat, he just said casually, just order more meat, you know my bank account, buy it yourself, then turned and went upstairs, looking very chic.

The three remaining people flocked around in front of the tablet computer and clicked and swiped. It didn't take long for them to finish ordering, then picked up their glasses of wine and chatted, chattering and waiting for the takeaway to be delivered and people to go downstairs.

Red Raven and Yi Lai are very interested in Zhaoxi, a long-time friend of the Xin family. They asked her a lot of stories during the cup-changing, but they were not limited to boring questions. Both of them have full social skills. Qualified professionals who speak naturally and do not change the subject deliberately without making people feel uncomfortable.They can chat with her about her work, have a drink when Zhao Xi shows that she doesn't want to reveal more details, and switch to a book they just finished as the next topic.

This kind of social talent makes people feel like a spring breeze, and Zhao Xi's affection for these two suddenly rises within a short waiting time.When communicating with people, you can be far or near, and you can always remind yourself to maintain a sufficient sense of distance with each other. This way of getting along is especially precious in this era when everyone is more inclined to express themselves.

Eli was talking about how many early fashion magazines she had packed out at home in the past two days, and felt sincerely that today's fashion is still a round of revival of classics, when the doorbell rang.

"I'll open—" Siren happened to be downstairs after taking a shower, and he was the one closer to the door in terms of straight-line distance, so the others didn't bother to get up and let him open the door.

The white door was pulled open by Siren eagerly. He was really hungry after taking a shower, and now he urgently needs to replenish his energy.Before the hungry man could dry his hair, with a towel around his neck, he fixed his eyes on the figure standing outside the iron fence outside the yard, but suddenly stopped.

The guy who rang the doorbell is the delivery boy, obviously Tim, okay? !

The Jade Bird employee stood outside the door with a sad face, his face was raised up, and his eyes happened to meet the siren.His eyes, which were as red as white rabbits, turned red immediately after seeing the siren, looking very aggrieved.

"Siren..." Tim said aggrievedly, the look of wanting to talk was almost the same as that of a child who was bullied outside and went home to ask his brother for help.

"Okay, let's talk about it first." This is not the first time the siren has seen him like this. The man calmly pressed the button to open the door, and the iron door slowly gave way to the rabbit-eyed boy with slightly curly short hair.

After all, there are real parents in this room, and it's not his turn to fight to get ahead.

"it is good……"

Tim's head was still hanging low, and he walked listlessly, and he didn't know what kind of blow he had received.

The Siren didn't see him until he came into the yard, holding a pizza box folded into four in each hand and an oversized paper bag containing other fast food that looked heavy at first glance. Seeing the doubts on the Siren's face, the innocent Tim explained: "I press There was a takeaway delivered when the doorbell was waiting for you to open, so I just picked it up for you."

Siren laughed, this is indeed what he would do enthusiastically, but he is obviously still lost, why do he still have the energy to help other people take out food?Moreover, the weight of these things does not seem to be something that one person can easily bear with bare hands, he is a little too soft-hearted.

The Siren, who had finished complaining silently in her heart, resignedly handed over the four neatly stacked pizza boxes from Tim, and tilted her head to let him quickly enter the door.He didn't know whether he should be thankful that Raven's order was bold and unrestrained. In terms of the quantity and quality of these things, in addition to the six of them, it would be more than enough to add another 1.8-meter-strong man to eat.

When RL was first established, Hongguang was the administrative management level. In the later period, the functions of other departments were gradually improved, and it took many detours to obtain an irreplaceable position.In the current RL, Red Light is still the department that has the most contact with the official department and is also the most important department in the entire RL. They not only need to continue to pay attention to the awakened people all over the world, but also need to be responsible for managing and adjusting the situation of all members in the organization.

Among the subordinate departments of RL, orange, yellow, and purple are divided into departments dealing with natural persons or lower-level transcendental persons, so most of them are volunteers and volunteers.The Aurora Research Institute, which represents green, takes professional scientific research activities and maintenance of RL equipment as its own responsibility. Neither the scientists in the research institute nor the hired engineers will go out to work easily.

Years of organizational evolution have now formed a pattern: there is little communication and cooperation between departments except for the frequent red lights from the administrative management. Everyone is like parallel lines moving in the same direction, regular and peace.

The relationship between Blue Bird and Blu-ray is not the same as the above departments. Although their scope of functions is very different, they have a close relationship. In particular, the objects served by the Blu-ray Project are mostly special events that other departments cannot handle, so moths like Blue Bird often appear. The department in the department will always seek the help of the latter when something is uncertain.

So from some inexplicable point of view, they are like twins of twins, with a tradition of taking care of each other.

Raven looked up and saw Tim, who was a blue bird, appearing in front of him with a sad face, and he knew it immediately. Just as he was thinking about letting him explain everything from the beginning, he heard Xin Xi, the captain of a certain blue-ray team who was staying here, gasped. , striding forward and dashing down from the second floor.

She blocked Tim's mouth when she was about to speak, and she seemed in a hurry: "Wait, wait! Tim, is what you want to say urgent? It's urgent that you can't even delay a meal." To what extent? If not, just stop talking and talk about it after the meal. Please give us a chance to breathe and have a good meal!"

After all, seeing Tim look sour-faced can't be a good thing.

The lingering fear of being buried helpless in the snow-capped mountains due to entrusting them to perform tasks before has not passed, and this time he appeared here just after the reinstatement paperwork was issued, which made her unable to help but wonder if there were more difficult problems waiting to be resolved.Xin Xi is dying, no matter what, let's finish the pizza he has been thinking about happily before talking about it!

Her intuition was right, Tim did have something to look for in this room, but it wasn't her and the siren but the person in charge of the red light.Before he could say anything, he was interrupted, and his red eyes turned around nimbly thinking about it. He didn't want to be in a hurry for a while, so he meekly compromised: "Okay then, we'll talk about it after you finish eating."

Xin Xi was unpacking the packaging bag like a hungry tiger rushing to eat. After listening to his words, his expression suddenly became serious, and he invited with crooked eyebrows, "No, you have to eat together too!"

Anyway, it's the siren's money, so it's not free.

Tim didn't know what she was thinking, so he scratched his head subconsciously, showing his shy expression of embarrassment, and said, "Okay, let's eat together."

So the coffee table was quickly covered with fast food paper bags and pizza boxes. Several people sat on the floor and gathered around the food, eating chicken wings or pizza without burden. The large pieces of food satisfied the tongue and stomach, which was very enjoyable.

In fact, everyone present has a longing for a healthy body and a reasonable diet. They pursue light, low-fat and smooth muscle lines every day, but now...everyone has become an ally sharing the big bomb of carbohydrates and fats baked in the same boiler. .

Health or something, wait until this meal is over!

Optimist is back to being a rogue, and is more than happy to "degenerate" with her friends.

Xin Xi, who ate two large slices of pizza in a row, was finally no longer dominated by hunger. The hungry wolf gradually recovered, and began to chew slowly with French fries dipped in sauce.The ice cubes in the big glass of machine-made Coke were as rich as air bubbles. She took a sip and breathed out from her throat to her heart at the same time. She couldn't help but sigh in her heart: It might be good to live like this!

But in fact, this is not her normal state. For Xiao Xin, the casual and convenient life lacks passion and sense of accomplishment. Moving forward with heavy burdens is her kingly way.

She breathed a sigh of relief after expressing her general feelings about the life surrounded by iced Coke. Except for her and the similarly hungry siren, everyone at the scene ate very politely, without a trace of urgency. Xin Xi looked around and then turned his gaze to Tim who obediently eats chicken wings.

Since everyone seems to be more or less far away from hunger, it shouldn't matter too much to talk about something that may affect appetite. Xin Xi has not forgotten Tim's hesitant bitter face when he first walked in.

A box of chicken nuggets was pushed in front of Tim, Xin's big eyes flickered, and she said, "You can talk now!"

Tim wiped the grease from his hands, and pointed out the meaning of the visit concisely: "Xueming and Qiujie are missing."

"what?!"

Siren and Xin Xi's eyes were wide open, and they couldn't believe what they heard. The others also put down the food in their hands and completely lost interest in them.

"They didn't arrive home on time after school yesterday. Their adoptive parents reported the crime and contacted us immediately. Afterwards, the police sent people to search the whole of Los Angeles, but there was no trace of them. The two children seemed to have disappeared from the world. The last time they were seen was when they left the school, a teacher said goodbye to them, and the surveillance proved this, but no one saw them again, and the surveillance disappeared.”

Blue Bird must be in a mess now.

Raven put down the pizza in his hand, frowned rarely, and said in a deep voice, "Why didn't anyone notify Hong Guang immediately when this happened?"

Tim's voice gradually weakened, and he said without confidence: "We thought it was just an ordinary runaway incident, because you know, it always happens to children in adopted families... Blue Bird recognizes... No, it is I don't think this is the first time this has happened, and it's something that can be fixed by our assumptions, so..."

"You know that Xueming and Qiujie are A-level ability users, don't you? In any case, Jade Bird shouldn't make such an arrogant decision. If you conceal the accident without reporting it in time, I can count you as dereliction of duty."

Once a person with a gentle personality puts his face down, the feeling will not be too easy.

Tim hung his head lower and lower, accepting Raven's lesson in a muffled voice but still seemed very severe.He has been taking care of and following up the two children, Xueming and Qiujiao. After the disappearance, his laziness and panic made him choose to cover it up instead of finding an efficient way to solve it in the first place.

It was indeed his fault that led to the result that he had no choice but to ask for help now.

But how difficult it is to find a needle in a haystack, even for the observer Raven, this is not an easy task.

Tim really made a big mess this time.

"I'm sorry...it was my negligence." Tim's voice was muffled. Although there was no point in apologizing to Raven, he really didn't know what else he could do other than say sorry.

The person has been missing for more than 24 hours. During this period of time, anything can happen. It is useless to rush to take responsibility now. Raven waved his hand and did not pursue Tim's issue for the time being.

Tim has always been in a daze, no different from a real rabbit, but he has a very soft personality, which is especially popular with children, so he will rise higher and higher in Jade Bird.

"I remember that Xueming and Qiujiao have always been very sensible. The monthly evaluation results of their adoptive families are even higher than any other families in the same state. They have never run away before." The data of the missing child, said after some analysis.

Tim nodded: "Yes, they are very good children. The older sister Xueming has a gentle personality and always takes good care of her younger brother. The adoptive parents are also diligent and gentle parents. The last picture of them appearing on the school surveillance is Xueming Ming took his younger brother to say goodbye to the teacher..."

"Speaking of which, where is that teacher? Have you conducted any investigation?" Siren said holding a Coke.

"Mr. Charles, 37 years old, an unawakened natural person, lives in the outer suburbs with his wife, has two sons and a daughter. He teaches Spanish at school and guides chorus clubs after school. He has no bad habits and has a good reputation. According to him, That day he just bid farewell to his classmates as usual, and he also praised Xia Xueming for his excellent writing in Spanish, but that was all. Afterwards, he went to the club to guide and returned home in the evening. His family members can testify for him. Mr. Charles has a very perfect alibi." The rabbit-eyed boy knew everything.

"So do you really think that Xueming and Qiujie really ran away from home by themselves? It is impossible for the two children to know all the dead spots of surveillance, let alone avoid them consciously. I think there is no doubt about it It was a premeditated hijacking." Xin Xi used French fries to mess up the ketchup in front of her eyes, and as she finished speaking, the French fries naturally fell into her mouth.

"There are many doubts, but I haven't found any useful clues yet, so..." Tim looked embarrassed and hesitated to speak.

After all, Jade Bird has never encountered such a problem. At best, they can only be regarded as a detached child protection organization, and it is inevitable that they will be powerless in dealing with lost cases.

It was always Jonathan who was in charge of dealing with Tim's team on special events, but since he was in New York recently dealing with other things, there was an omission.

Raven needs to manage the staffing of the entire organization, and the daily business is busy. This small staffing problem is usually left to the subordinates to solve by themselves, so he doesn't pay much attention to it.But he forgot that the person who usually silently replaced the loophole must be Eli, who has the ability to control the space perfectly, and she was forced to take a vacation at home recently, so she can't take care of the organization's affairs.

I ignored the details this time and again, but I took advantage of the opportunity to increase.

Raven mobilized his ability during their divergent discussions, and independently checked the places in California that he could see.His ice-blue eyes are round and round, and the black pupils are as narrow as pinpoints. If you don't look carefully, you can easily ignore them. Then, as the scope of your abilities gradually expands, your irises also start to turn white, until finally the entire eyeballs are spotless. Pure white.

Although he was not sure that Xueming and Qiujiao were still in California, at least he had to look at them with his own eyes to feel at ease.He is more familiar with this place than any other area, so it doesn't take long to check it out. Except for the blind spots of several official agencies, it only takes five or six minutes to browse through it.

The high-rises in the urban area, the mountains surrounding the affluent areas, the busy streets and the palm trees like the symbol of California, the vast wasteland where the highway extends, the golden beach with the temperature in the sunset and the surging tide... all in California Everything contained came easily to his eyes.

Whether it is the footsteps of natural people, or the faintly visible "mycelium" trajectory of detached people, none of them will fall.

But when the observer Raven came back to his senses, he found that Xin Xi and Siren had already discussed the possibility of murder with other people. He touched his nose in doubt and thought: He was only disconnected for a few minutes, why? Can't get on with this topic at all?How did it go from suspicion of hijacking to murder all of a sudden?

The brain circuit of the Blu-ray man is really incredible.

"Even the police detectives can't find any clues? This is too strange, what kind of pervert would attack two children!" Xin Xi said with great indignation.

"Maybe they are already..." Siren added quietly.

Seeing that Mr. Raven had regained his senses, Eli ignored Xin Xi and Siren who were talking nonsense and scaring Tim, and asked him, "Did you find anything, sir."

"Recently, there have been more transcendent beings gathered in Los Angeles. I can only see the entity with my 'eyes', and there are three times as many as before." Raven said softly.

For S-level observers, the transcendent beings who can see the "mycelium" entity must be at least level C or above. The surge of high-level transcendental beings in Los Angeles will not be caused by meaningless group tourism activities The phenomenon.

There must be a demon in everything abnormal.

"Strange." The siren frowned, and his intuition told him that something unexpected might happen. He cast a glance at Xin Xi who was still using his imagination to talk nonsense, and his whole heart unconsciously relaxed.

Yi Lai continued to ask about the business: "Then have you seen Xue Ming and Qiu Jie?"

"There's too much interference, so I can't see too accurately." Raven shook his head lightly, turned his gaze to Tim for confirmation and asked, "Tim, have they been able to control their abilities well?"

"Yes, they are all smart kids with good understanding." Although Tim was frowning, he couldn't hide his proud tone between the words of his answer.

Raven pondered and said: "Trained A-level juvenile awakeners... um... Unless someone is very familiar with their attributes and powers, it is really a big test for a stranger like me to find their traces. .I need to know more about their habits to find them, or use some other eyes."

"The premise is to make sure that they ran away by themselves. If it was a premeditated hijacking or abduction, it will undoubtedly find a needle in a haystack." The hard worker Xin Xi couldn't help pouring cold water on this incident. There are many doubts about this incident, so don't be too optimistic good.

"Anyway, I'll bring Joe back first. We need his more precise perception. And as Tim's contact person, he has a very close relationship with Xueming Qiujie and his brother, which is more conducive to searching. Sir, What do you think?" Eli quickly made a decision, and asked his superiors very politely.

Raven nodded in agreement, and patted Tim on the arm, indicating that he wanted to have a private chat with him about more characteristics of the siblings, and the two got up and left.And Yi Lai, who got Raven's approval, gradually faded and disappeared in front of everyone's eyes, regardless of his body that had just recovered some vitality.

In a short while, there were only three friends left at the table. Siren and Xin Xi continued to eat big calorie bombs like no one else, but Zhaoxi, who listened to them all the way to clarify the relationship, couldn't eat it all the way, with knuckle fingers A crispy crust that taps intermittently on the side of the pizza.

Siren quickly disposed of the chicken wings at hand, seeing her lack of appetite, said very naturally: "They will find clues, although there is no chance that the matter will be solved easily, and it may even be more complicated than our imagination and deduction, but, put Treat this meal as your last supper, after all, you won't have such a stable life afterwards."

"Yes! Eat!" Xin Xi nodded, and slipped the last piece of Hawaiian pizza into Zhao Zhao's hand.The behavior patterns of Hong Guang and Blue Bird are very familiar to them, and they have reason to believe that the disappearance of Xue Ming and Qiu Jie will be the first task they need to deal with after resuming their jobs.

But it's not time for them to play yet.