Chapter 2062: Chapter 2062: The Detective’s Work
Shard easily identified his target among the six people on the "third floor" because only the man with the mustache was embracing a woman clearly not in a respectable profession, laughing as he drank.
Shard then noted everyone’s position here, turned around and left, descending the iron staircase again, and returned to the position at the junction where the miscellaneous items were piled:
"From now on, I’m just an ordinary person, not a Circle Sorcerer."
He said this to himself in his heart, then pulled out a steel pipe from the pile of miscellaneous items, gave it a shake, and quickly rushed forward.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he bent low, footsteps light, hiding in the shadows where the gas lamp could not illuminate. The two men playing cards were quite engrossed, so Shard held his breath and counted to three, two, one in his mind, then dashed out, striking down the man with his back to him with a single blow.
The man on the other side of the table showed a look of horror, trying to reach for the machete beside him at the same time, Shard’s left hand grabbed the edge of the table, flipping it up. The sound of the kerosene lamp and glasses falling to the ground was drowned by the cheers below. The flipped table was then kicked by Shard towards the front, slamming the table and the man together against the wall:
"Very good, stealth was a success."
Listening to the heartbeat sound above, he found that the positions hadn’t moved, so he continued to hold his breath and slowly stepped up the stairs, stopping in front of the doorframe with no door at the end of the stairs:
"Three, two, one!"
Shard rushed in, swinging the stick to hit the man next to the door, then rolled to avoid the thrown debris, and as he rose, his left fist struck the bearded man rising from the side of the table, using his body to block the view of the others as the latter wailed.
Bending low, shifting his weight down, he rushed forward and toppled the bearded man along with the table. Amidst the cheers from downstairs resounding once more, wine glasses and playing cards scattered across the floor, while Shard, holding a steel pipe in his hand, clashed with the remaining three men who had picked up machetes.
The steel pipe clashing with the blade, Shard wielded it as if holding a sword. For his strength, having a sword blade or not wasn’t particularly important. In the clashing sounds of metal, sparks burst out from the collisions, and the speed of the swinging steel pipe was much faster than the machetes in the three men’s hands.
The longer steel pipe proved more effective in this combat. In just five to six seconds, one man’s weapon was knocked from his hand and he was hit unconscious by Shard, another was kicked down by Shard and leaned against the wall motionlessly.
Finally, the man with the mustache looked around, realizing only he remained standing, straightened up, removed his shirt, revealing a muscular and scarred upper body:
"Young man, don’t you know my nickname is ’Double-Sword Mike’? When I saw from Herring Street all the way to Four Directions Street at the docks, you probably weren’t even born yet."
He bent down to pick up two machetes that had fallen by his feet, the weapons in his hands clashing together and sending out sparks. Then he lifted his right hand, and secured his left hand in front of his chest, assuming a rather professional stance facing Shard. His muscles bulged, his eyes filled with fierce intent and murderous aura:
"Come on."
"Alright, come on then."
Shard was still holding that steel pipe in his right hand, while his left hand, when "Double-Sword Mike" picked up his weapons, had already taken out a revolver equipped with a silencer. There was no killing intent on his face, instead, he proactively suggested:
"I’ll let you charge at me first, let’s see who’s faster."
The barrel wavered twice, thus with a clang~ noise, the bare-chested "Double-Sword Mike" dropped the weapons in his hands:
"These young people nowadays, really..."
He raised his hands, slowly retreating towards the wall, while the woman against the wall still didn’t dare to move, even covering her mouth, indicating she wouldn’t make any noise, but Shard still went over to knock her unconscious, for her protection.
The man with the mustache attempted to approach the gun hanging on the wall, but a bullet striking near his feet made him no longer dare to move.
"I ask, you answer. What has the Black Hand Gang been looking for lately?"
Shard spoke skillfully in Casenric Language, the gun barrel pointing directly at the center of the other’s forehead, the corner of the mustachioed man’s mouth twitched:
"Friend, you have no manners. From your accent, you’re not one of the people from Moon Bay, right? That’s not how this city works. Ah~"
The revolver’s bullet pierced through his right leg, he crouched down and opened his mouth to wail, but hearing the click of the revolver’s hammer resetting again and seeing this time the barrel aimed at his head, he endured the pain and dared not call out loudly.
"This gun has six chambers, I’ve already fired two shots, but unfortunately you only have one chance left."
The bloodstained steel pipe was tossed to the ground by him, and the revolver switched from the left hand to the right hand:
"What is the Black Hand Gang looking for lately?"
The man holding his leg immediately responded:
"Roder Card! Three Roder Cards!
We serve the big figures of this city. Recently, in the black market, someone was selling very valuable Special Rule Cards. We wanted to get our hands on them as a gesture of respect for the big figures above. For some reason, we had a conflict with the merchant selling the cards, and he was hacked to death, but we didn’t find the cards at his house. However, those cards must still be in Moon Bay City.
Shard wasn’t interested in this matter... Actually, he was quite interested in those three so-called valuable Special Rule Cards. But serious matters were urgent now, and the conflict between the Princess Trading Partners and the Black Hand Gang happened months ago. Ms. Bonnie mentioned "doing things for the big figures" rather than "showing respect to the big figures," clearly indicating that this wasn’t about the recent Roder Card incident.
"Not this. Further back in time, what else were you looking for? It was for those big figures you mentioned."
Despite the cold sweat forming on his forehead from the pain, the man tried to calm himself:
"Sir, you know we are..."
"If you want to test how hard your skull is, just keep testing my patience."
"No, we didn’t..."
Shard bent down and picked up the steel pipe again, and in the Mustache man’s terrified expression, he struck his left shoulder heavily with his left hand holding the pipe. Then he kicked him over, making him lie on the ground.
Shard’s boot stepped on his back, and the steel pipe tapped on his spine:
"I heard people say you often force those who can’t repay their loans to fight in illegal boxing matches, even against tigers and black bears. I’m not as cruel as you, nor do I want to hear your explanations that those in debt are all gamblers. Listen, which do you think is scarier, dying here or being paralyzed for life?"
The man lying on the ground wailed and said:
"I’ll talk, I’ll talk! But you’ll get into big trouble. Three months ago, the big figures above had us assist a gentleman in the Lower District to find something, something... magical!"
Shard frowned:
"What magical thing?"
"I don’t know, I wasn’t involved in that operation. Those involved refuse to talk. This matter might involve those with unusual abilities, do you know what I mean? Don’t ask, this isn’t something we can discuss."
"Related to the Circle Sorcerer? Looking for a Relic?"
Shard wondered in surprise, initially coming to investigate where the Princess Trading Partners had offended the Hawthorn Family, but unexpectedly, this matter also involved the Circle Sorcerer.
"But finding a Relic in the Lower District, isn’t that what I’m doing?"
With a new thought in mind, he continued to ask:
"So did you find it?"
"I don’t know, I really don’t know. I wasn’t part of that operation, I really don’t know. This matter ended long ago, it ended three months ago!"
"Which of the Hawthorn Family made you help strangers find something? Don’t say you don’t know. It’s impossible that those nobles, when contacting you people, would change personnel every time, right?"
"I really can’t say, you’ll get into big trouble. Do you know what you’re up against? The Seven Families of Glory Moon Bay are the kings of this city, you can’t..."
In short, under Shard’s somewhat effective "persuasion" skills, "Double-Sword Mike" eventually revealed a name. But it was clear he didn’t know much, only that Mr. Freeman Hawthorne was overseeing the Black Hand Gang’s business. However, he would also send people to audit every quarter and take away at least one-third of the profits.
Having obtained the name, Shard now had his next investigation target. He initially planned to find out the cause of the conflict before mediating and getting the dock office to let the Princess Trading Partners off the hook. But now he first needed to figure out who was looking for what Relic three months ago.
"Looking for a Relic in the Lower District... Is it really such a coincidence?"
Thinking about this, he retracted his pistol and turned towards the exit. The man lying on the ground spitting blood looked up at him, then struggled to crawl to the side of the wall, reaching for the gun holster hanging above.
As he grabbed the gun handle, Shard fired a shot backward without turning, then blew off a puff of smoke from the barrel and put the gun back as a toy, still pondering to himself:
"Is there someone else looking for the Hope Diamond?"
Though unsure of who Freeman Hawthorne was, since he’s a member of the Hawthorn Family, Shard still decided to first clarify the person’s identity and background, at least to know where they might be now.
As it happened, when he walked out of the sewers, still lively with underground boxing activities, it was just ten in the morning, so he thought of meeting his local MI6 colleagues.
The MI6 agents, of course, wouldn’t hide themselves by opening companies locally. Director Anlos only gave Shard a contact in Moon Bay City. Shard should be able to get information from this contact.
The contact, codenamed "Boatman," usually also operated in the Lower District of Moon Bay City, only the work address "Sunday Review" newspaper headquarters was on the east bank of the Taton River, rather than the west bank where the Spider Inn, Herring Street, and Morgue were located.
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