Ed's hand stopped at an ancient manuscript called "The Full Moon and the New Moon", and what really made him care about was the subtitle of the book - "Study of Werewolf".

Books related to mysticism like this are still the only ones on Arthur's bookshelf. I don't know why he was interested in the legend of "werewolf".

This also made Ed think: According to legend, the physical characteristics of werewolf are surprisingly consistent with the "large wild beast" mentioned in the newspaper. Could Oak Moss Street be related to werewolf?

He reached out and pulled it out of the rows of books. Turning on the page, a light paper card danced in the air and fell to the ground.

Borrowing a book card?

Ed bent down and picked up the card, which read the name, Arthur Custer, and the date of returning the book. The address is also attached to the back: No. 22, Bauhinia Street, Winter Bookstore.

A private library? It seems I have to take the time to go and return books.

Looking at the borrowing book card, Ed thought to himself. He didn't want Arthur to bear the reputation of borrowing books and not returning them after his death. But before returning them, he might as well read them.

He slowly opened the pages of the book, and the copy was preserved very well. It seemed that both the owner of the shop and Arthur were both people who cherished books.

Ed pulled out his pen and notebook from his pocket and took notes on his desk.

"The cause of werewolf comes from a disease called "beasty" where patients will show obvious aggressiveness and irritability, and will experience severe physical distortion when they fall into madness, turning into a half-human and half-wolf monster."

"…Patients with veterinary diseases have strong bodies and amazing self-healing abilities, and have incomparable immunity to diseases and toxins. But silver will cause it to have an allergic reaction, causing its powerful immune system to attack itself, and in severe cases it will even lead to spasms, suffocation, shock and even death."

"The society has a hierarchical structure like a wolf pack - as a basic member, a warrior who specializes in hunting, and an elder who leads the tribe. As for whether there is a higher level, there is no case yet to prove it."

"…In terms of values, werewolfs also differentiated into two-element factions: the 'crescent faction' that advocates controlling the desire to kill, integrate into human society, and the 'full moon faction' that advocates releasing nature and treats humans as prey."

"However, no matter which faction, there is no possibility of curing veterinary disease. All known patients with veterinary disease will fall into permanent madness at the end of the disease and become 'human skin wolf' that has completely lost its human nature."

Is there no possibility of healing...?

Ed couldn't help but sigh—

Whether good or evil, the final outcome is only inescapable madness, and such a fate is too sad.

It’s getting late today, so I’ll go to the library to return books tomorrow.

...

Zijing Street is only separated from Yuandun Street by three streets, and is one of the more decent streets in the East District. There are also extremely rare public toilets in the entire East District, with toilets, which charges as high as two pence.

In 50 years, the literacy rate of the Leriya Kingdom has seen explosive growth, jumping from less than 20% to 83% today.

As a member-based private library located in a slum area, the main customers of the Han Winter Bookstore should be those intellectuals from the civilian class.

On that day, Ed locked the detective office after lunch and went to the cold winter bookstore on Amethyst Street.

This is a small and crowded two-story building, divided into basements, first and second floors, with the first and second floors open to the public.

When he opened the door, he smelled the scent of dust and moth-proof camphor oil, and the space in front of him was occupied by several dense and neat rows of wooden bookshelf.

Tsk, here is really... full of life.

Even the light outside the window is difficult to illuminate the house, and a depressing feeling comes to your face. There are gas wall lights in the interior house to provide additional light sources, but it happened that there was no guest at this moment and the gas lights were not turned on.

"Is anyone?" he said.

"Please go upstairs." A hoarse and elderly voice came from the upstairs.

Ed stepped on the narrow staircase on his left, stepped on the insect-eaten wooden floor, making a "creaking" sound, which seemed particularly clear in the quiet bookstore.

The lighting and space on the second floor are much better. I saw a thin old man wearing round glasses sitting in front of a concave desk by the window, placing a copy of the copy in his hand.

"I'm here to return the book." Ed said straight to the point and respectfully handed the "Full Moon and New Moon" in his hand to the old man.

The old man took the book, raised his lens with his right hand and looked at it for a while, then looked up and asked, "Where is that young man with red hair?"

"He—" Ed hesitated for a moment, not telling the truth: "He went to another city and asked me to return the book to you before leaving."

"oh……"

The owner looked a little regretful and took off his glasses: "The young man is very polite and has a good taste in reading. I still wonder when he will come."

After saying that, he took the book and stretched out his skinny palm to Ed: "Just call me George." Ed reached out to respond: "Ed. I'm glad to know you."

"Mr. Arthur Custer's membership will expire in half a year, which is a pity to waste. If you want to read any books or materials, I have many precious ancient manuscripts here, and you are welcome at any time."

After George finished his instructions, he lowered his head and continued to read with concentration. His thin and shriveled lips had a satisfying and selfless smile, like some kind of wild flower blooming in the deserted beach.

After obtaining permission from the shop owner George, Ed began to wander around the house casually. He wanted to find out if there were any high-value omissions to pick up, like the Micheian scroll with dream coordinates hidden in the hand of Rat King that day.

However, he could not get what he wanted after searching through the old paper piles. It seemed that although he was lucky, he did not eat pies that fell from the sky every day.

So he had to choose a book of common sense to read it in order to make up for the lack of his memory:

"Gold, Silver and Black Iron - The Battle between the Three Emperors"

This book tells the story of His Majesty Richard II in his youth defeating Carlos, who claimed to be the "Northern Emperor", and Frederick, a generation of heroes, and was eventually awarded the title of legal emperor of the Elysian Empire by the Pope.

"This is a really good book, kid. You are a tasteful scholar, unlike other people in this age who only read some knight novels and spring books - either empty or indifferent."

Old George walked up tremblingly, pursing his lips slightly, looking very satisfied with Ed's reading taste.

People in the world need flowers, but people in the world need ears of wheat even more. Why should books be divided into high and low?

Ed smiled unanimously, stretched out his two fingers and bent in the air and gestured in a low voice:

"So, you don't have 'that kind of book' here?"

In order to attract readers, private libraries like this often introduce a large number of "simple and exciting" reading materials, which is an unwritten rule.

"Those are depravity books, and those with noble hearts should avoid them." George frowned and said with disgust.

It seems that Mr. George is somewhat mentally clean.

“Will this affect the number of readers?”

"Of course, but the charge here is only one-quarter of the other private libraries, and the membership fee of only 5 shillings per year, and there will always be someone coming."

I saw the old man gently stroke the book cover, as if he was stroking the fluff of his beloved dog. While muttering, his tone seemed to comfort himself:

"...I'm not doing this for money, but just to have a solution for these good books. Except for the landlord who has been urging them all day long, there is nothing to complain about."

Ed couldn't help but stay for a while after being praised by Mr. George. The atmosphere here is indeed very good. The quaint air and quiet light have nothing to do with the word "luxury", but it makes people feel peaceful and linger.

Before I knew it, a full moon had appeared and disappeared in the gaps of the clouds.

When Ed looked at the full moon, he suddenly slapped his forehead and suddenly remembered that tonight was the day he had agreed with Catalina.

So he quickly said goodbye to Mr. George and rushed back to the detectives' office...

...

"Is anyone here?" The door creaked and opened, but there was no one in the room, and even the lights were not turned on.

Something was wrong.

He locked the door before leaving, but now the door is not locked, and there is no sign of prying it open.

Mr. Eaton and Miss Quinn are both suspended, so who else will go to and from the detectives?

Ed quietly rubbed his feet, opened the gap to remove the one-eyed spider from his waist. With the activation of the "puppet" secret text, his consciousness penetrated into it and walked into the house carefully.

Crawling along the ceiling, I saw that the carpet that was originally laid down on the lower floor of the stairs was moved to one side, revealing a double-open thick steel door panel that was open to the sky, and the darkness extended to the ground.

Hidden basement?

I really didn't expect that there was a secret room where I was lying on the bed. Mr. Eaton had never mentioned it to me. Could it be that there was something hidden?

He controlled the one-eyed spider to enter the basement along the stairs. The basement was completely enclosed, without well windows, and only a wet and dark paint.

The one-eyed spider can still see things in the dark. A huge iron cage stands in the corner. Each iron pillar is as thick as a fist, covered with shocking gnawing marks and claw marks, as if a beast is living here.

The door of the iron cage was open, and there was nothing inside, leaving only a bed.

What exactly is locked underground in the Detective Center...?

Large beast...

Thinking of the news in the newspaper, Ed felt that the cold-mao Zhuo stood up. What's more terrible is that this monster is gone now. God knows that it is now-

The hard and warm touch of nails suddenly came from the back of my head.

He knew that the one-eyed spider was unconscious...
Chapter completed!