flstandardbreds Chapter 338 The Missing Ellie
Chapter 338 The Missing Ellie
"He's missing?" Yan Xun asked.
The group exchanged glances again. "It doesn't count as missing."
"But we felt something was off."
They told Yan Xun, "Two months ago, Mr. Conrad said he suddenly had an inspiration and he hoped that Ellie could help him recreate the scene in his dream."
"He hoped that Ellie could finish quickly and had the butler take him to a special place."
“We read the newspaper, saw Mr. Conrad’s New Generation, and also knew about the statue in the New Generation.”
“We could tell at a glance that it was Airi’s work.”
“Logically, he should have returned after he finished Mr. Conrad’s work,” the elder said. “But the statue is finished, and there is still no sign of Airi returning.”
“We asked the housekeeper, and he said that Mr. Conrad had other work that needed him.”
Despite some prejudice against Conrad, Yan Xun had to admit that everything was normal here.
"Have you noticed something amiss?" Yan Xun asked.
Yan Xun's question made the others look a little awkward.
The question seemed a bit difficult to broach, and finally the older man spoke up, "Detective, you might find this matter a bit absurd..."
"But we can all guarantee it's true."
“We all had the same dream,” he told Yan Xun. “In the dream, Aili told us that he was locked up and hoped we could save him.”
“At first I didn’t take it seriously,” the older man said, “until we were chatting at the dinner table and discovered that we had the same dream.”
"The scenes in the dream became clearer and clearer as the dream progressed."
"We can see the artificial lake in the background."
"An artificial lake?"
“Mr. Conrad had an estate with an artificial lake,” the elder said. “The houses and most of the decorations there were white, which was Mr. Conrad’s preference.”
"This place has now become the territory of the new generation."
“We recognized the location of the manor, and we even knew where that room was.”
"That's a wooden house near the artificial lake. It has three floors and a very long corridor with wooden lattice windows," someone added.
"We've determined that Ellie was in that location in the dream."
“We wanted to go there to find Ellie, but the butler said we couldn’t go in without Mr. Conrad’s invitation.”
He asked us why we wanted to go there.
“We didn’t tell the truth,” one of them said. “After all, seeing Ellie asking for help in a dream seems too fake.”
“We told them we wanted to visit Ellie, but the housekeeper said that Ellie was focused on his creative work and asked us not to disturb him.”
"So that's why you want me to help investigate Ellie's whereabouts?" Yan Xun asked.
Several people nodded in unison.
"Did Ellie continue to appear in your dreams afterward?"
“We stopped dreaming about Airi a week ago,” the elder said. “Then we learned about the New Generation’s statue from the newspaper, and that the place with the artificial lake had become New Generation territory.”
“Eri hasn’t returned yet, so we can’t sneak into that place,” someone added.
"Even as a believer, you can't go in?" Yan Xun asked.
"Although Mr. Conrad said that the New Generation was willing to accept all who believed in the New Generation theory, only the chosen ones with wings could enter there now."
"The housekeeper said it was to prevent anyone from coming in and causing trouble."
"So none of us can get close."
Yan Xun didn't ask them why they didn't call the police. In this scenario, Conrad could even cover up deaths in the factory, let alone the fact that Ellie was not officially missing but was just completing the work that Mr. Conrad had given him.
Of course, there was another reason, Yan Xun thought.
These people all depended on Conrad's financial support for their livelihood, so naturally they wouldn't do something so obviously provocative of his authority.
At the same time, the system also gave Yan Xun a new task—
[Mission 2: Find the missing Ellie and bring him away.]
Yan Xun discovered that the second half of Mission 2 was "take Ellie away," which was essentially an implication that Ellie was in the territory of the New Generation faction.
Since the system had assigned him the task, Yan Xun readily agreed to the artists' requests.
However, Yan Xun was still a little curious, "How did you know I might go to the territory of the new generation?"
He assumed that only a small number of people who attended the dinner knew about this.
The group looked at the elder.
The older man spoke up, "My wife happens to be at the dinner party."
“She knew we were looking for Ellie, and she knew we wanted to find an opportunity to enter the New Generation’s territory. Knowing that you would be going there tomorrow, she told me about it.”
He didn't hide how he found Yan Xun, and he looked at Yan Xun with some apology, "We were just too impatient."
Yan Xun didn't care much about how they found their way, and simply nodded upon hearing this, "Pay first."
He gestured to Levy beside him to collect the money.
Levi didn't expect Yan Xun to ask him to collect money, but he quickly resigned himself to it and gestured for them to pay the deposit first.
The group was prepared and handed over the cash they had brought to Levy, some even eager to do so.
The artists breathed a sigh of relief only after confirming that the detective had accepted their money, and then said goodbye to Yan Xun and left.
Levy went over and closed the door. "Why are they so happy?"
"This is the first time I've ever seen someone so happy to receive money." He thought for a moment and found an appropriate description.
“They fear Conrad, and they also fear that because of Conrad’s power, I won’t dare to intervene even if I find out that Ellie is in trouble.” After counting the cash, Yan Xun put the banknotes into his pocket.
Then, after thinking for a moment, he took out the coins the other party had collected and handed them to Levi, saying, "Your share."
Levi looked at the coin in his palm. "...Thank you?"
“You’re welcome,” Yan Xun said. “I’m a generous employer.”
Levi: "..."
He decided to change the subject, "Aren't they worried that you'll leave quietly?"
"For example, they might take their money but only intend to appease them by telling them there's no trace of Ellie there."
"So, artists are just naive," Yan Xun commented. "They seem to think that I, the great detective, wouldn't lie to them."
Levy declined to comment on the "great detective" label, saying, "It seems they really trust you."
"Are you going to look for Ellie?" he asked again.
“Of course.” Yan Xun asked curiously, “I’m a great detective, not a big liar, so of course I’ll help find Ellie.”
He looked at Levy's disapproving expression and asked, "Do you think I'm a fraud?"
Levy didn't say anything, but his expression said it all.
“I heard that you’ve only taken on cases involving finding lost pets before… and investigating people’s extramarital affairs,” Levi said slowly.
"Is there a difference?" Yan Xun asked.
Perhaps because Yan Xun's attitude was too matter-of-fact, Levi was at a loss for words.
"Finding a lost pet requires extensive investigation, including finding witnesses and mentally mapping out the possible routes it might have taken," Yan Xun said, counting on his fingers. "Of course, we also need to analyze why it got lost—was it kidnapped, or was it distracted by something else?"
Yan Xun nodded as he spoke, “You see, these experiences helped me find Neil in the forest and Bonnie who lives in the attic.”
"Now if we go to the New Generation's territory and continue our investigation, we might be able to find the missing Eli and Liam."
The room the housekeeper prepared for them was quite large, but it only contained a double bed.
Although Levi was temporarily staying in Yan Xun's attic, he slept on the floor about a meter away from Yan Xun's bed.
Yan Xun didn't have a spare mattress, so he could only put two extra blankets on him as payment for the rent he paid.
Even though this was just a separate house where Conrad arranged for artists to live, the beds in the room were surprisingly large, big enough to accommodate five people lying side by side.
Yan Xun took the right side and placed the pillow between them, saying, "You sleep on the other side."
Levy glanced at it and got into bed from the other side.
“You seem to be very cautious about this.” Levi lay down on the other side and turned off the lamp beside him.
The detached house was decorated in a very retro style, and the wallpaper on the walls had a pattern that Yan Xun didn't particularly like. He looked at it for a while, then closed his eyes. "What?"
“I mean, in your interactions with other people,” Levy said slowly.
There were three pillows between them. When Yan Xun lay flat, he couldn't see Levi's expression on the other side, but he could glean some meaning from his tone.
"Do you think I'm looking down on you?" Yan Xun asked.
“I just feel that you seem to be very cautious about this,” Levy said, not giving a direct answer.
He seemed to remember something, "You're worried that I am...?" He said the last word very softly, and Yan Xun didn't hear it clearly.
Yan Xun didn't understand his meaning at first, but considering the historical context, he immediately understood what the unspoken word Levy was.
Because he felt that saying "yes" would save a lot of trouble, Yan Xun simply nodded and said, "Yes."
Levy remained silent.
His sudden silence surprised Yan Xun a little. "You really are?"
Levy still did not give a direct answer, saying, "Your vigilance is justified."
Yan Xun knew he wouldn't give a direct answer; given the historical context, the other party's caution was understandable.
He lay in bed with his eyes closed, pondering what clues he should look for when he went to the New Generation's territory tomorrow.
“If you mind this so much, I’ll leave in a few days,” Levy added.
Yan Xun opened his eyes, propped himself up, and lay on the pillow between them. "To be honest, I don't really care whether you like men or women."
In the darkness, he could see Levi's expression; Levi was simply looking at him.
"Just like I don't care what kind of feed you process on the farm."
He told Levy, "We're just looking for Liam together for now."
“After this is over, we’ll part ways.” He made a gesture of separation. “You go back to your farm, and I’ll continue helping people find lost pets.” He told Levy, “So you don’t need to worry about what I think.”
Yan Xun felt he had spoken very sincerely. He was different from people of this era and would not care about Levi's orientation.
Unexpectedly, Levi's expression changed after hearing this, and after a long while, he finally managed a forced smile and said, "That's excellent."
“I hope our investigation goes smoothly,” Levy said. “Great Detective.”
Yan Xun: "?"
He could sense that Levy seemed a little unhappy, but in the end, he could only attribute it to the factors of the times—
He inevitably has some generation gap with people from the last century.
……
Levi stared at the ceiling, and he could hear Yan Xun's breathing gradually becoming steady beside him.
He couldn't help but prop himself up and look through the pillow at Yan Xun, who was lying flat and fast asleep.
He still had the "share" that Yan Xun had just given him in his pocket. He took out the coin, glanced at it, and then held it up to the moonlight outside the window.
“A miser,” he said.
This was the first time he had ever received such a small denomination coin.
……
The next morning, Yan Xun and his companion dined with the five people.
They sat at the long table. The older man glanced at Yan Xun furtively, then coughed.
Hearing the commotion, the maid stepped forward. "Is there anything you need?"
The older man said awkwardly, "It's just that my throat is a little sore."
The maid looked at him. "Is there anything I need to prepare for you?"
The older man shook his head and waved his hand, "No need."
After the servant left, he looked at Yan Xun and kept gesturing to her with his eyes. Yan Xun reluctantly put down her coffee cup and said, "I know."
"I know."
Yan Xun didn't understand whether he was naive or stupid. The butler must have his own spies here—they didn't think that his actions of coming to find him in the middle of the night could be kept from the servants here, did they?
Fortunately, they didn't do anything else until the butler appeared and took Yan Xun and the other person to the territory of the new faction.
"How many people are there in the new generation now?" Yan Xun asked the butler as they walked.
“About 30 people,” the housekeeper said.
Yan Xun and Levi got into the car prepared by the butler and headed to the New Generation School.
It was already noon when we arrived at the new school.
Yan Xun immediately spotted the artificial lake and the three-story building near it, with long corridors lined with tall wooden lattice windows.
"The scenery here is quite nice," Yan Xun said.
“This was once the residence that Mr. Conrad prepared for Miss Charlene,” the butler said.
Charlene is the name of Conrad's sister.
Yan Xun mentioned a location, which was exactly where they had visited. "Is that Miss Shalin's house?"
“No, hers is in one of the other buildings,” the housekeeper said.
"It's only because Mr. Neil has been missing that Miss Charlene has been staying in that house temporarily."
Having completed his task, the butler made no move to linger.
He handed Yan Xun and his companion over to Bourne, who was in charge of the estate.
Byrne was a young man of about 25 years old. He was wearing a white robe and had a wing on his back. When he saw Yan Xun and Levi, he smiled warmly and said, "You are the guests that Mr. Conrad mentioned?"
Yan Xun asked curiously, "How did Mr. Conrad describe us?"
"Two reckless brats who don't know their own limits?" Yan Xun asked.
Byrne smiled, pursing his lips. "He said you have some misunderstandings about the new generation."
“I believe that once you understand, you will realize how great the New Life Sect is.” He looked at Yan Xun. “The New Life Sect will save everyone.”
"Including those who haven't grown wings?" Yan Xun asked.