Chapter 1399: An Ordinary Person's Daily Life (5/8)

After seeing the marks on the paper, Pacheco turned his head and said to

Barton, "What happens next will be quite complicated. I will seek the

police's help.

"And you can return to the foundation and wait for further questioning."

Barton, who was staring at the paper, wasn't disappointed. Instead, he

felt relieved, and he hurriedly nodded.

"Alright."

After reading the traces left behind by Vernal, Barton's intuition told

him that the matter was very dangerous.

As an ordinary person, avoiding danger was an instinctive choice.

Of course, this was also because Vernal could only be considered one of

his ordinary friends. It wasn't worth taking a huge risk and getting

involved in this matter.

After answering, Barton turned around immediately and walked past the

hotel owner and attendant and arrived at the street.

This time, he didn't choose to take public transport and instead boarded

a rental carriage.

Barton's trip outside was considered as a special matter. It was rather

urgent, and with the deputy director of the Compliance Department to

testify for him, he could make a claim for the expenses incurred.

The difference between spending the foundation's money and using one's

own salary was two completely different feelings.

On the way, Barton looked at the scenery outside the window and couldn't

help but think about Vernal's current situation.

Is he still alive?

The room was filled with a strong stench of blood...

I hope he's still alive. May the Lord bless him.

If he's still alive, where will he be now?

Where...

Could it be?

There!

As his thoughts raced, Barton suddenly thought of a possibility. He

quickly instructed the coach driver to change routes and head home.

Not long after, he returned home.

"What happened?" Barton's wife approached him with a surprised look.

It was still quite some time before lunch, let alone getting off work.

Barton didn't take off his hat or jacket. Without answering her

question, he directly asked, "Was Vernal here?"

"He came to visit you fifteen minutes ago. I told him to wait in the

study room and send Wells to the foundation to look for you," Barton's

wife replied honestly.

Wells was their family's valet. And clearly, fifteen minutes wasn't

enough for him to reach the Loen Relic Search and Preservation

Foundation.

This was what puzzled Barton's wife the most.

"Right." Barton nodded heavily. He hurriedly passed through the living

room, went up to the second floor, and entered the study.

In the study room, the windows were wide open and the curtains were

slightly rolled. There was no one there.

"Vernal?" Barton shouted, but there was no answer.

He jumped out of the window and left... Barton frowned. He

looked around seriously and discovered that the books on the bookshelf

were in a mess.

It was a set of historical books that were split into three-parter

volumes.

Barton's habit was to arrange them from right to left, and now it was

going from left to right.

He took a deep breath and quickly walked over to retrieve the three

books.

After a thorough examination, Barton found that a page in the middle had

been folded.

He quickly flipped to that page and opened a corner.

Scribbled there simply with a pencil were the words:

"The refugees of the Fourth Epoch worshiped an evil god."

Man... Barton panicked and turned horrified. He stuffed the

book back.

Without much thought, he ran out of the study and towards the stairs,

preparing to find the deputy director of the Compliance Department,

Pacheco. He wanted to tell him about his discovery and get him to

request the police to protect his family.

After exiting the house, Barton slowed down and considered an important

question:

Where do I go to find Pacheco?

*The Clough Hotel, the Stoen police headquarters, or the

foundation?*

After a brief moment of thought, Barton decided to return to the

foundation and look for other employees of the Compliance Department.

At that moment, a rental carriage stopped outside his door as Pacheco

Dwayne alighted.

"We discovered that Vernal came to your house again," the deputy

director of the Compliance Department explained quickly.

Barton heaved a sigh of relief and replied without hesitation, "Yes, but

he has already left.

"However, he left some clues behind."

After saying this, Barton led Pacheco into his own house, went to his

study, and handed him the book.

Pacheco looked at it for a while, then gently slid his finger across the

surface of the text.

Right on the heels of that, he took out the pencil he had used

previously and wrote beside Vernal's comment.

"Call the police!"

After doing all of this, Pacheco stuffed the book back to its original

position.

However, he didn't push the book in completely.

This way, the entire row of books had one book bulging out.

"Alright, let's return to the foundation and have lunch. We'll wait for

the good news from the police." Pacheco clapped his hands.

Barton didn't understand the reason behind this senior lawyer's actions,

but he didn't ask why.

He really didn't want to get involved in this matter. He felt that he

couldn't bear it at all.

Barton then fabricated a few reasons to his wife before returning to the

foundation with Pacheco to begin his daily work.

When it was tea time, he had just finished an ancient book's appraisal

when he heard someone knocking on the door.

"We've got some clues. We need to go to your place," said Pacheco, who

was wrapped in a gray scarf and standing by the door.

"Clues?" Barton rose in surprise.

Pacheco didn't give a direct answer. He spread out his hands and made an

inviting gesture.

Barton couldn't refuse and went home with the other party.

"Vernal came again!" His wife clearly sensed that something was amiss

and went to the door in horror.

"It's fine. Just some minor problems." Barton maintained his image as a

man and consoled his wife.

When he arrived at the study, he and Pacheco discovered that, yet again,

Vernal had escaped.

"Damn it, can't he just wait for a while?" Barton couldn't help but

grumble.

"It's alright." Pacheco walked up to the bookshelf and pulled out the

book.

Clearly, Vernal had read his suggestion, as the book was completely

stuffed into the bookshelf.

"I guess I know where Vernal is." Pacheco closed his eyes, smiling.

Barton was stunned.

"How do you know?"

Pacheco opened his eyes and replied with a smile, "He accepted my

bribe---no, a gift. But that isn't right either. The most accurate

description should be a suggestion.

"Of course, he might not accept it."

With that said, the deputy director of the Compliance Department walked

past Barton and out of the study.

Barton followed behind him subconsciously, leaving his own borough and

turning into a nearby street.

At the end of the street, there was a house that had collapsed due to a

fire.

"They actually haven't started reconstruction efforts," Barton

whispered.

Pacheco put on a pair of white gloves again, and his expression became a

little stern.

Through the rather intact main door, he entered the half-collapsed hall.

Black pieces of wood were strewn across the ground, blocking the lower

half of a person's body.

The figure was wearing a brown jacket with a red nose. He looked very

stocky and was none other than the archaeologist, Vernal.

Barton secretly exhaled and asked anxiously, "Why didn't you call the

police?"

"They're monitoring the police station," Vernal replied without a change

in expression.

Barton blurted out, "Why didn't you leave Stoen and go to other cities

to report to the police?"

"They're monitoring the steam locomotive station," Vernal replied in the

same tone.

Barton thought for a moment and frowned.

"You have many ways to leave Stoen. They can't seal off a city."

Upon hearing this question, Vernal's expression gradually changed as he

said with a slightly ethereal tone, "I sensed the will of that great

existence..."