After listening to Bowen, the balding man, Lex looked at Eiros and said directly, "What do you need me to do?"
Eiros smiled and nodded to Old Parker, then said, "With Mr. Parker's help, we've pinpointed three possible locations where the Grizzly Bears might be. Two teams of hunters have already gone to search two of those spots; for the remaining one, I hope you and Nafi can check it out."
"Mr. Parker?"
Lex glanced at the old man, who was like a precise Machine always at work, and wondered what kind of help Old Parker had provided to locate three spots so quickly.
He didn't voice his doubt. Lex nodded and said, "Give me the address."
The Grizzly Bear and the Mole had cooperated with him twice, and both times the process was very pleasant. Now that they might be in danger, Lex was willing to help them within his capabilities.
Eiros pulled out a slip of paper with only a short line of information: No. 4 Fania Street, North District.
Lex took the slip and was about to leave when the balding Bowen stepped forward: "I'll go too."
Lex looked at Eiros for his opinion, and the latter nodded in agreement, so he said nothing more and left quickly.
Although it wasn't late at night yet, Fania Street was already quite quiet. Pedestrians were rare on the street, and under the dim gas lamps, Lex and the two others stopped, looking at a row house not far ahead.
The small lawn here seemed not to have been mowed for some time. A 'For Rent' sign stood on the lawn, and the house was pitch black inside with doors and windows tightly shut, looking as if it hadn't been occupied for a while.
Lex was about to walk up when Bowen, carrying a cage, whispered, "Wait a moment, let my little guys scout ahead."
After Bowen finished speaking, he carried the cage onto the porch and, using some unknown method, easily opened the door.
Only then did he put down the cage covered with black cloth, open it, reach in, and pull out a plump hamster.
Bowen put this hamster inside, then took out a second one from the cage. He released a total of five hamsters into the house before retreating.
"They're trained to scout for danger for me. These little guys have saved my life more than once," Bowen introduced confidently, glancing at Lex and casually adding, "I heard the Grizzly Bear mention you. He couldn't praise you enough, and even the Mole said it was a pleasure working with you."
"You know, that guy doesn't just say things like that."
Lex showed no reaction, partly because he wasn't familiar with Bowen, and partly because he wasn't in the mood.
After a while, soft 'squeaking' sounds came from the door. Hamsters crawled out of the house one by one and climbed into the cage themselves, much to Nafi's surprise.
"It seems there's no danger…" Just as he finished speaking, Bowen suddenly looked at the last hamster coming out of the door.
That hamster's feet and the fur on both sides were stained with blood.
"Damn it, did we hit the jackpot?" Bowen was about to rush into the house before the hamster entered the cage, but Lex grabbed him.
"The more critical the moment, the calmer you need to be."
Lex turned to Nafi and said, "You stay here and provide support."
After getting a response from the tall girl, Lex took out his Blood Praise and stepped inside the door. The air inside the door felt slightly stifling, as if the windows hadn't been opened for ventilation in a long time.
He found a hurricane lamp, and after lighting it with a match, the light immediately revealed tiny blood footprints on the ground.
Those were hamster footprints, and these marks formed a line, indicating the source of the bloodstains.
Lex held his gun and the lamp, following the 'line' on the ground, and arrived at the living room.
As soon as he entered the living room, Lex smelled blood, and his heart immediately sank to the bottom. But he had, after all, experienced many incidents and remained calm, holding the hurricane lamp and carefully observing his surroundings.
After confirming there was nothing unusual, he followed Bowen, who had taken out his revolver, towards the sofa area of the living room.
As they got a little closer, they saw two figures sitting on the sofa. They were silent, sitting upright as if asleep.
Seeing these two figures suddenly in the darkness startled not only Bowen but also Lex. And when the lamp light illuminated their faces, Bowen exclaimed even louder.
"It's them!"
Indeed, it was the Grizzly Bear and the Mole. Their eyes were closed, their faces expressionless, and their skin was somewhat ashen and dull, looking fine at first glance.
But as Lex got closer, he suddenly saw that the area below their waists was already stained red with blood. Blood flowed from under their clothes, having soaked their pants and left a puddle of already semi-coagulated plasma on the ground.
That hamster earlier had passed over this puddle of plasma, which was how it got blood on it.
And judging by the amount of blood loss, both men were already dead.
"No!"
Bowen was about to rush over but was stopped by Lex. He found a wooden stick and gently lifted the victims' clothes to ensure nothing fatal was hidden beneath.
As a hunter, Lex was no stranger to traps. He was worried the killer might have set traps using these two bodies. But after lifting the clothes, he saw no traps, but instead found that the bodies' chests had been opened, all the 'parts' inside removed, and even rats were going in and out of the chest cavities.
"Damn rats, get out of my friends' bodies!"
While Bowen was chasing away the rats, Lex also noticed an elegant glazed plate on the table in front, filled with 'food'—'food' from the bodies of the Grizzly Bear and the Mole.
On the wall directly in front of the table, there was a bloody line of text that read: "Give me my things, or they will be your fate!"
"Things? What things?"
Bowen also saw the bloody words: "Did the Grizzly Bear and the Mole take someone's things? What do we do next?"
"I'm thinking."
Lex looked at the bodies on the sofa and asked, "Do they have families?"
"No, people like us aren't suited for families." Bowen looked sadly at his two friends, "They're the best examples."
No family.
Then, only friends would notice something was wrong. They were hunters, so those they associated with would naturally also be hunters.
So, when the Grizzly Bear and the Mole went missing, they would surely notify the club. Hunters were unlikely to call the police, so the ones to find the Grizzly Bear's bodies would naturally also be hunters.
In that case, this bloody message was left for hunters to see?
Lex walked to one side.
The matter of the Grizzly Bear and the Mole taking someone's things must have happened recently, assuming they hadn't done anything else in private. Then the incident of taking someone's things could only have occurred during the previous two commissioned events.
During the Sea Serpent Gang incident, the Grizzly Bear and the Mole didn't even enter the shipping company, so it was impossible for them to have taken anything.
That leaves the 'Princess' Maggie incident?
But all they took was jewelry. Someone capable of such an act wouldn't torture and kill two hunters over a bit of jewelry.
No.
Wait.
Besides the jewelry, there were also three gift contracts in the box at the time. I took the contracts, but the other party only investigated the Grizzly Bear, so they assumed the Grizzly Bear and the Mole took the contracts.
Finally, they found the contracts weren't on them, so they killed them and left a message. This message was actually meant for me?