"Oh——" Then she suddenly stopped.
"maybe."
"That doesn't necessarily mean anything."
"Museum." Xia Yibing uttered a word.
"In a museum?"
"In the museum's storage room, there are treasures... or garbage, which cannot be proven to be valuable, and even the author is unknown. Maybe there will be his paintings among those things."
Wow, is it true?
Hitzfeld stared, then stood up and went to get his coat.
The weather is cold, and no matter how thick a skirt is, it can't keep you warm.
"Where are you going?" the woman quickly followed.
“A museum storeroom.”
"Are you sure you can find it?"
“No, but I have to try.”
"Wait - there's no need to be so hasty..."
"It has to be urgent."
Hitzfeld opened the door handle and turned back to speak seriously.
"If they really want to exile me, they won't allow me to stay in the capital for too long."
"If nothing unexpected happens, we only have one night."
Chapter 12 Omen
Xia Yibing had actually been to the museum Hitzfeld mentioned.
Its full name is the Bedlake Museum. When it was first established, when Sala had not yet developed into its current size, it was actually just to commemorate a foreign painter.
His name is Falken-Bedlake.
"Even if we start from the period when civilization first established the concept of art, Bedlek's position in Sara's art history will not fall out of the top three."
On the way, Xia Yibing explained to Hitzfeld while driving, "That museum was built with his own donation. He left all his works here. He also funded the establishment of Sarah's most famous art school, Farentour... It can be said that he single-handedly raised Sarah's level of art appreciation."
"Has any artist made greater contributions than him since the founding of Sara?" Hitzfeld asked in the back seat.
"No."
"Then he should be number one."
"Yes, Aisuen." The woman curled her lips, "But he is a foreigner after all. Maybe they are afraid of hurting the self-esteem of some people. There has never been any historical ranking that puts him first."
Faced with an unknown area, Xia Yibing was still very cautious after all.
It would be fine to tease him once or twice. Since Hitzfeld had already shown obvious resistance, she would just go back to calling him "Aisun" - she would be satisfied to maintain the current light and warm atmosphere.
"I can say that I have dealt with him before..." Hitzfeld recalled the attack he encountered when he first came to the capital and came out of the library. "Where did Alfred send the painting, "Sunset and Wolves"?"
"I can't tell you this." Xia Yibing frowned and continued, "I think you shouldn't always think about studying these dangerous items. That's not the job of an agent. You could get into trouble at any time—"
"boom!"
With a loud bang, the car body shook. The girl in the back seat felt her body suddenly tilted to the side. Fortunately, she reacted quickly and grabbed the seat in front of her to stabilize her center of gravity.
Xia Yibing was a skilled driver and was not thrown into panic by the accident. She immediately slowed down, steered in the opposite direction, and after stabilizing the car, slowly parked it on the side of the road.
Hitzfeld saw her frowning in the rearview mirror, so he opened the door and followed her out, and saw her half-crouching at the front left of the car.
"The tire is flat." The woman stood up. "This car happens not to have a spare tire. I'm afraid we'll have to walk."
“How far is it to the museum?”
"It's only about three or four kilometers, which is not far, but the tire burst... It's a bit strange."
While speaking, Xia Yibing walked directly to the side of the girl and sandwiched her between herself and the car body.
Very cautious, is this to prevent someone from shooting you from behind?
Hitzfeld felt that she was a little overly sensitive. It wasn't that she didn't believe that this was a man-made accident, but... the cost of doing so was a bit too high.
You know, her decision to go to the museum was a spur-of-the-moment decision. It's impossible for someone to foresee this and set an ambush.
Unless they received intelligence from the moment they set out and had enough strength to quickly deploy additional personnel to the road ahead.
It’s not that she underestimates her enemies or thinks they can’t do it, but that she doesn’t think she deserves to be treated like this.
"It's always better to be cautious." Xia Yibing put her hand on her shoulder, "Let's go, we have to hurry up."
"What about the car?"
"Someone will find a way to take it away... We are the ones who have the manpower everywhere."
It was still raining outside. The woman took out an umbrella from the car, opened it, and took the girl across the road, turning into the intersection on the left side of the street.
Actually...of course this is just an assumption.
Assuming that there are no evil spirits and I am reborn into an ordinary, mundane world, will I have many opportunities to share an umbrella with her?
The two men analyzed the current case as they walked, but Hitzfeld was a little absent-minded and always took the opportunity to look up at the woman's profile during the conversation.
Xia Yibing was wearing a big hat, her forehead was shaded by the hat and hair, her eye sockets looked deeper than usual, and the occasional glances she gave him seemed to carry a special kind of magic.
When that gaze swept over him, Hitzfeld was a little breathless.
She didn't know what was wrong with her, and was even a little afraid of this feeling.
She wanted to stay calm, to control herself from looking and thinking, but she found that this was much more difficult than doing anything else, even with her willpower.
We can't just look at one side of things.
Looking at the woman's tall nose, Hitzfeld reflexively began to recall...how it had intersected with his nose, allowing the other pair of organs to stick to it.
If it weren’t for this world, I might never have the chance to meet Xia in my life.
It is even more impossible for her to have developed an initial affection for me because of the divine blood and ink... and it is impossible for us to develop into the relationship we have today... a relationship that is taboo in the eyes of the world.
A twinge.
He immediately reached out to cover his left eye, and gently pressed the eyeball with his fingers through the eye patch and eyelid.
"Aisun..." Xia Yibing stopped immediately and looked at her with concern, "Are your eyes hurting again?"
With her professional ability, none of the girl's sneak glances could escape her eyes.
No matter what, this was probably a proof of charm. She was secretly delighted, but she didn't dare to expose this tacit understanding.
So she noticed it immediately when Hitzfeld covered his eyes, and she was so anxious that she didn't wait for an answer, so she pinched the girl's face with her free hand and half-forced her to turn towards her.
"I……"
Hitzfeld was stunned for a moment.
She had wondered whether Xia Yibing would do something even more extreme - that might be in the very distant future, or might not even actually happen - but she had never thought that she would be treated "roughly" in another way so soon.
The hand that was twisted back was half pinching her face, and her thumb and index finger must have pinched her cheeks to make them sunken...
"Are you trying to give me medicine?"
His pure, clear blue eyes trembled, then slowly rolled up, and he saw the woman's expression was a little embarrassed.
"I'm sorry!" Xia Yibing quickly let go of her and apologized in a low voice, "Did I hurt you? I mean..."
"I'm not that fragile."
Hitzfeld's eyelids twitched and he continued to massage his left eye with his left hand.
She turned her attention away from the woman and looked across the street, her eyes landing on a man running a pancake stand.
It was a rainy day and there were few people. Because there was not much business, the man was sitting at his seat smoking.
Sensing that someone across the street was looking at him, he raised his hand and waved twice at Hitzfeld.
The stinging intensified.
Hitzfeld's face was gloomy. He stretched his right hand to his left armpit and raised his leg to walk to the other side.
Then there was another sting.
She stopped and looked to the front left, where a bicycle was coming in the opposite direction, with a newspaper delivery man in a dark green uniform sitting on it.
"Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!"
"Give one, give one, give one!"
Hitzfeld stepped back to let the bike pass, keeping an eye on the delivery man to make sure he looked OK.
Did I misunderstand them?
She had a ridiculous feeling.
I feel something when everyone notices me, am I just too sensitive...
"summer."
She spoke suddenly.
"Aisun?"
The woman was at a loss.
She also became more alert, although she actually didn't understand why Hitzfeld suddenly behaved abnormally.
"How many people in the Security Bureau knew that we were going to the museum... How many people did you tell about this?"
"I only told the person who reported the itinerary." Xia Yibing frowned.
“He would only tell Villefort—”
"What about my confession?" the girl asked. "The one that mentioned The Tree of Life."
"You said that."
Xia Yibing's eyes gradually narrowed.
"There are many people who know..."
The third sting.
Turning quickly, Hitzfeld saw a hunched woman walking towards her.
The woman had many wrinkles on her face and was quite old. She was covered in thick clothes and even had a dark scarf on her forehead.
Seeing the two people in front of her turning towards her, she was stunned for a moment, forced a stiff smile, quickly lowered her head, and walked around to the inner side of the sidewalk.
"Hey!"
She heard the young girl calling her.
Looking back, she saw that she had taken out a silver pistol.
Chapter 13 Street Fight
Hitzfeld couldn't actually confirm that.
Although there is a possibility that "it's not that she is neurotic but that all three people have problems", she does not intend to shoot rashly before it is confirmed.
Of course she couldn't do that - she took out the gun purely as a test, wanting to observe the other party's reaction when he saw this thing.
She was mentally prepared, but even so, she was still extremely shocked when the old woman in the black headscarf quickly pulled out a gun and pointed it at her.
She quickly determined three things.
First, there is indeed a traitor in the Security Bureau, and his position is not low. Not just anyone is qualified to read the transcript of the confession.
The second thing is that these people’s target might not be her and Xia at all. Their real target is the same as what she thought of on a whim, which is in the Bedlake Museum, in the museum’s storage room.
She and Xia just happened to have the same idea as each other, triggering the "defense mechanism" set up near the museum.
As for the third one...
"Those two men—" she growled, "watch out for them—"
