Chapter 154: Unexpected Disaster

When Ian Lazarus returned with the good news, he saw his employer discussing a very unpleasant topic with the innkeeper.

"Perun, do you have a spare key to the guest room?"

Clayton asked as he stood at the counter, Julius standing behind him.

Pei Lun was sitting in the back eating cookies. When he saw them, he sat upright and put down the food after hearing the question.

"Of course there are spare keys, right here." He took out a whole bunch of keys from the compartment where the two-handed sword was placed behind the counter and put it on the table. He looked at Clayton in confusion: "Did you lose your keys?"

Clayton shook his head: "No, I just wanted to know if you asked the guys to come in and clean the house when we were out?"

Pei Lun replied: "It's nothing. You guys haven't been here for a long time. If you need to clean the room, I can ask the guy to come there now. There is no extra charge for this service."

"Free" sounds like a good thing, but the stubborn customer in front of me still shakes his head.

"No, Peron, I just wanted to say that there might be a thief among your guys. Although he didn't steal anything, he made a mess in my room."

Ian Lazarus stopped behind Clayton, wondering whether to remind his employer that he had brought good news.

He couldn't see Clayton's expression, but he saw the innkeeper, Little Peron, stunned for a moment.

"Besides the cook, I only have one waiter here," Pei Lun said.

Creighton Bello's voice was calm and steady, almost devoid of anger, but it made people feel that something was wrong: "That's him."

Seeing that his expression didn't look like he was joking, Pei Lun took a deep breath and turned around to greet the young waiter loudly.

"Bill!"

The sound reached upstairs, and Mr. Chude came downstairs again.

Bill still hasn't come out yet.

The ugly painter did not completely walk down the stairs. He still had one foot on the step and turned half of his body to look at the people surrounding the counter in confusion.

"What happened here."

His tone was extremely arrogant, and even his questioning voice sounded like he was issuing orders rather than genuinely seeking knowledge.

Clayton didn't tell him the whole story, but just passed it by.

"It's a small matter, we can solve it quickly."

Since he, as the person involved, was unwilling to say anything, Pei Lun had no intention of explaining. They were just waiting here for Bill to come out.

Seeing that all of them were silent, Chud Osmar simply came down the stairs and stood at the counter to wait for the development of the matter.

But after about ten seconds, there was still no response from the back of the kitchen.

Pei Lun called the young waiter's name again, and finally heard a panicked response from the backyard.

"Sorry, sir, I'll be right back!"

"This boy" Pei Lun turned around and sighed in front of everyone. Of course, this boy could not be his child, but an apprentice recruited from the city. The inspector of the workhouse of St. Solot Parish paid a fee of 8 pounds as tuition for the boy to learn to cook with him. And the ability to settle accounts.

In the past, they got along fairly well, but with the guests swearing so steadfastly, I'm afraid there may have been some theft.

"If he really did it, I will teach him a lesson, I promise." Perron said to Clayton, and he swore that he was telling the truth.

Clayton declined to comment.

They waited for about ten seconds, but Bill still didn't come out.

Pei Lun couldn't wait any longer.

"Are you shitting in the yard?! Why are you so slow?!" He roared and stood up, angrily leaving his stool. If he caught Bill, he would give the kid a few slaps to remember.

Ian Lazarus stopped him.

"I'll go take a look."

Pei Lun looked at him and finally gave way to the aisle.

A person with a gun hanging all over his body might be able to let that bastard know the seriousness of the matter.

Ian walked through the gloomy, greasy corridor, with a few mice flashing past in the corners. When he reached the open-air backyard, the light got rid of the dimness and returned to a dazzling white.

Bill was there, next to the pile of firewood waiting to be split.

He half-knelt in front of the wooden stake, desperately pulling out an ax inserted into the firewood. When he saw Detective Hook arriving, he paused, with panic on his face.

Ian walked over and saw that a loose piece of the boy's shoelace had been smashed into the firewood being chopped by the axe, which hindered the blade of the axe, causing it to get stuck only halfway down. But his strength was too weak, which meant that he could not pull out the axe, nor could he continue to split the firewood and take out the shoelaces. If he wanted to return to the hall, he had to drag this heavy firewood through.

"Don't move." Ian whispered.

He took out his dagger and pried a few times at the crack in the firewood, but failed to break it open, so he had to cut the shoelaces.

"Boss Pei Lun is calling you, go quickly."

"Thank you, sir. He must be angry that I didn't put the plates in time." Bill glanced at him gratefully and ran to the kitchen. Ian didn't have time to tell him the reason, but he felt that it didn't matter - He had to know.

The detective walked slowly behind, watching the boy move a tall stack of plates in front of him with difficulty.

The stack of plates was so high that Bill had to stick his head out from behind to see the way clearly. When he walked into the lobby from the aisle next to the counter, he saw everyone looking at him and stopped in fear.

Mr. Chude hooked his finger at him and tapped Clayton with the thumb of his other hand:

"This new gentleman wants to see you."

The young man looked at Clayton, a look of horror suddenly appeared on his face. When his hands shook, several plates fell down and shattered.

He heard the sound of broken porcelain and subconsciously looked at his feet. The shaking of his body caused more plates to fall down. The clear and crisp sound of breaking became one. He raised his feet in panic to retreat, trying to escape from this hell of fragments. , but heard Pei Lun's angry voice in his ears.

"Idiot, stop moving!"

Bill's body trembled, and his feet that were originally lifted in the air stopped again. The heavy plate in his hand made him lose his balance. His body tilted and rotated backwards, and then fell to the ground.

Under the gaze of everyone, he did not get up again.

The young man was lying on his side facing the semi-open warehouse next to the corridor. The muscles on his face were tightened, and the gray clothes gradually turned red from his chest. Pei Lun walked over with a pale face to turn him over, and found that a broken piece of porcelain had been inserted into his body.

Originally, a broken plate would not pose such a threat, but there was a crack in the floor that just caught a broken piece of porcelain that bounced up, with the tip pointing upward.

This coincidence is almost comparable to what Clayton has been through recently.

The lieutenant also looked very unhappy. He wanted to catch the thief who broke into his room, but he had no intention of killing him.

After all, this "thief" didn't actually steal anything.

Ian Lazarus, who came from behind Bill, knelt in front of his head, put his hand under the boy's nose to check, and quickly raised his head: "He is still alive, send him to the doctor quickly."

"I'm here to help," Clayton said.

Even though the lieutenant had just experienced a blood loss, he was still the strongest person present at this moment.

Perun quickly found a hard board that was big enough to be used as a stretcher. Clayton and Ian worked together to lift the boy and transport him to the door of the clinic in the town. Others followed them, waiting for Bill's fate to change.

Some people on the road noticed the situation here and enthusiastically cleared the way for them, removing carts and sacks blocking the road ahead, as well as broken pavement bricks that might trip people up.

People on the road were shouting and shouting, and the people in front knew they had to make way for the seriously injured and send messages before they even saw them.

More and more people gathered together, and they crowded to the door of the clinic. The doctor's wife was already waiting outside, but she did not give them good news. She apologetically told them that the doctor's hand was also injured and he was unable to perform the surgery. So they had to change direction and go to where Clayton had originally planned to go in the afternoon.

The small church in town.

The miracle of the priesthood might be able to save him.

The cross-top chapel wasn't far away, but Bill's breathing was getting weaker and weaker.

Everyone was worried about whether he could make it there. Someone had already gone to the church in advance to notify the priesthood to prepare for rescue.

Although Julius kept following them, he only wanted to be at the end, his eyes constantly scanning everyone's back.

He began to doubt whether what he had learned was true.

He and Clayton must have taken the Jewel of Doom with them when they went out, and even if the teenager wanted to steal it, there was no way he could be affected by it without touching it—probably.

Can the fog of doom really spread? Or is the tragedy happening now just a coincidence and an imbalance in Bill's own destiny?

But that was too much of a coincidence.

This is not an isolated case. It seems that the development of the fog of misfortune on Clayton is different from the fortune science he studied.

The rigid teachings of magic teachers may be annoying, but Julius doesn't think they can go wrong.

Someone must be interfering with the fortune here.

But if that's the case, how does he select his targets? Who will be affected next?

Priesthood in the country and in the city are completely different.

Not only the clothing, concepts and understanding of the doctrine, but also the difficulty of holding office.

The miraculous power mastered by the priest in Gevo was obviously unable to save Bill, and the boy was still unconscious.

The locals finally decided to pool some money to send him to the city for better treatment. A skilled coachman and the two best donkeys in the town were donated by the townspeople, as well as a lot of onions. and biscuits to them to prevent them from starving on the road.

Clayton watched as the donkey cart carrying the wounded disappeared at the end of the road. Under the increasingly cold sky, the oil lamp hanging on the corner of the cart gradually went out like the glimmer of fireflies.

Today is another snowy day.

Crowds crowded around the roadside praying in low voices, their voices resonating in a sacred and low voice, like singing hymns.

The lieutenant did not pray. He turned back and plucked Julius from the end of the crowd.

"Let's go back to church."

They had already delayed enough time. Although Bill was seriously injured, if the fog of doom was not lifted, Clayton himself would definitely die.

Julius walked beside him quietly, looking more serious.

"I just took the opportunity to ask the priest. He was not impressed by the necklace and suggested that I ask another priest, that is, Priest Louis. This priest is usually in charge of the confessional." Clayton said on the side Talk while walking.

"...I've discovered something," Julius said hesitantly, as if he wasn't sure of his own opinion.

His attitude was unusual, so Clayton listened intently.

"They're all human, none of them are transforming."