The office of another reporter, Maya, was located not far from the late Donnie's office. Both of them had been missing from the newspaper office as well.
Only now did Lynch realize that being missing was quite common in this era, especially for investigative reporters.
This era lacked telegraphs and telephones, so information relied entirely on letters. Once a reporter began an in depth investigation, they often had to hide their identity, which frequently meant they would go missing until the investigation concluded.
That was why the colleagues at the front desk of city hall had not paid any attention to the fact that both of them had been gone for five days, and why Donald had not informed Walker of the Rangers about Maya's disappearance.
Because no one had taken it seriously.
It was only when Walker brought news of Donnie's death that Donald cooperated with the police to open Donnie's office and provided all the information he had regarding him.
"So, what news story was Donnie investigating before he went missing?"
While waiting for Donald to have a staff member retrieve the keys, Officer Natalie could not help but ask, trying to salvage the situation.
"Donnie didn't actually go missing."
"Hm?" Lynch frowned.
"He showed up a few days ago and told me he had some personal matters to attend to and needed a few days off. He looked a bit dazed. I don't know what kind of personal life a single man could have, but I approved it anyway."
"Do you remember the specific date?"
"May 13th. I remember it very clearly. He came by specifically to proofread a manuscript about the Bester Tunnel. It's a mandatory procedure."
He had guessed correctly.
However, both of them felt a sense of tension simultaneously. They realized they had already touched the core of a bizarre death event, and in the deep darkness, a massive, unseen entity seemed to be hiding. The so-called core they were touching was merely the tip of the iceberg.
Lynch let out a cold breath and pressed, "Was that the manuscript he wrote?"
"No, it was actually Maya's manuscript. But Maya is truly missing; she reported to me that she was going to continue tracking the tunnel incident. Donnie and she would occasionally work as a team, as they were quite close and often helped each other proofread."
So Maya was the core figure? Donnie was just dragged into it?
Lynch could not be certain yet, but he was sure of one thing.
There was a reason the Rangers were called salary thieves. What on earth had they taken back with them?
"Have you told Walker and his group about this information?"
"No. At the time, I thought these were all Maya's matters and had nothing to do with Donnie. Uh, do I need to keep this secret from those officers? After all, your relationship seems... well."
Officer Natalie's face darkened. She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head. "To be honest, I have no interest in creating obstacles for them. That would only push the situation toward the most dangerous outcome."
"I understand. However, if they don't return for follow-up questions, I have no obligation to go to them."
Editor-in-Chief Donald smiled and opened Maya's office for the two of them. Lynch already had his hand on the pistol inside his jacket, while Officer Natalie stood in front of him, ready to charge into the office at any moment.
The moment the door opened, the two saw the scene inside, and their hearts sank immediately.
It looked like the site of a disaster.
Aside from the bookcase and desk, the room was piled high with a massive amount of paper and files. Stacks of documents taller than a person stood against the walls, and large bundles of paper were piled in every corner. It looked as if a hurricane had just passed through.
Had they been beaten to it again?
However, when they looked, Donald appeared perfectly calm and unbothered. Instead, he smiled at them. "Don't be surprised. Maya Sers has some rather unique work habits. Everyone is used to it."
Huh?
Lynch was merely astonished, while Natalie, looking at the room full of materials, already foresaw the difficulty of their future work and could only let out a deep sigh. She was the first to walk into the office.
But as soon as she entered, her hand moved to the hilt of her sword.
A foul, rotting stench hit her.
The smell was not particularly strong, but it hovered in the room, refusing to dissipate.
"Don't come in yet."
The officer moved half a step to the side, blocking Lynch. She scanned the room while sniffing the air. After a moment, she moved aside.
"The windows weren't open, so the room isn't ventilated. If there were a corpse, even if it were just a mouse, the smell wouldn't be this faint. It feels more like..."
As she struggled to find the right words, Lynch asked, "The smell remained, but the source has left?"
"Exactly. That's the feeling."
The officer asked Editor-in-Chief Donald, who was already looking for an excuse to leave, to step out and stay in the newspaper office in case they needed to question him further. Then, she whispered, "Any mystery relic reactions?"
"No. Not even any obvious traces of mysterious filth."
Lynch had already circled the room. His only feeling was that it was incredibly messy.
"The workload is too massive. Do we need to check everything, Lynch?"
"Hard to say. Let me take a look first."
Lynch grabbed a file from the table, skimmed through it, narrowed his eyes in thought, and then pulled out some paper from the drawer to read.
The officer sat on the table, resting her chin on her hand, watching Lynch as he frowned in thought. She quickly looked away when he suddenly raised his head. "What's wrong?"
"These files are problematic."
Lynch did not notice the officer's distraction. He tossed the files aside after a few glances, strode to the bookcase, opened it to rummage through, and then returned to the desk, staring at the items on it for a long time.
The officer curiously opened a few handwritten documents and read them carefully, but ultimately shook her head.
Lynch reminded her, "There is no content regarding the Bester Tunnel."
"Hm?"
Lynch pointed around the room with his finger. "This Ms. Maya's work habits are actually quite good. Her daily work notes are usually just piled up, and she stacks new ones on top after a few days. I flipped through a few just now and can basically confirm that's how she works."
Officer Natalie nodded, only to hear Lynch continue rapidly, "Donald said earlier that Ms. Maya's last job was the Bester Tunnel incident. Given her work habits, the records for that work should be right on the surface. But they aren't here. Not a single one."
"Whew, you're right. So when she left on May 11th, she took all the relevant files with her?"
"It's also possible that someone snuck into her office afterward and took or destroyed everything. Let me see..."
As he spoke, Lynch ran to the door to check the padlock.
There were no signs of it being pried open, but the management of the spare keys here was lax, and anyone could have gotten their hands on one. That didn't prove much.
As he pondered this, Lynch turned around and found the officer lying on the chair he had just been sitting in, sniffing vigorously.
"Hm? Would you like me to find a piece of Ms. Maya's clothing for you to sniff before you keep looking?"
How dare he call her a hound! The officer glared at Lynch fiercely, marking that down in her mental ledger. She crooked her finger and pointed at the chair. "When you passed by me just now, I smelled something off. There was a faint stench of rot. It was very subtle, but it was there. It's very likely something you picked up while sitting here."
Lynch smelled his arm, but he couldn't detect anything.
"Rot is a very distinct scent, and it has a strong ability to cling to things. It's easy to get it on you. But the smell here is very faint. If it's on your body, it's hard to notice unless your nose is sharp. Why don't you try sniffing the files she touched first?"
This woman could actually joke? And she was so vengeful—the future was going to be difficult. Lynch muttered to himself and leaned toward the chair. The two of them crouched by the chair like two perverts, sniffing frantically.
There was indeed a faint smell on the chair. Once identified, it felt quite pungent. The two of them simply split up and crawled around the office, sniffing every corner.
"Not here."
After sniffing the whole room, they returned to the chair. It was still the place where the smell was strongest, but this time, because of their positioning, they realized the strongest stench of rot did not actually come from the chair itself, but from underneath it—or rather, the space under the desk.
There was nothing there, but once the chair was moved, the smell became significantly more intense.
Had someone crawled in there and stayed for a while?
Lynch thought for a moment and leaned over to crawl inside. Officer Natalie reached out to pull him back, but ultimately let go, though she gripped her sword hilt, ready for battle at any moment.
The space underneath was small, just enough for one person to curl up with their knees pulled in. Lynch adopted the same posture to carefully observe the cramped space.
Everything seemed normal, but when Officer Natalie pulled open the drawer at his command, the underside of the tabletop, previously blocked by the drawer, was exposed.
A note had been nailed to the underside of the table. Unless someone crawled inside, it would be impossible to see from any angle.
That was it. They had found the treasure.
Suppressing his nervous excitement, Lynch pulled the note down and crawled out. He exchanged a look with the officer, and the two heads leaned in together, holding their breath as they unfolded the note.
Save me, Donnie.
The handwriting was extremely messy, and some of the strokes were so forceful they had torn the paper, exuding a sense of fear and madness.
Behind that was a long string of equally messy numbers and letters that followed no discernible pattern.
"Hiss, this is... left by Maya? Why would she hide the note here?"
"It seems it was her," Lynch frowned. "I'm afraid she already knew she was involved in some kind of dangerous event, so she hid herself and took all the records. Looking at the handwriting on the note, her mental state probably wasn't very good. Wait..."
"Hm?"
"She left the note for Donnie here, but Donnie couldn't have seen it. Unless..."
Officer Natalie's eyes lit up. "Unless this was their agreed upon method of communication—a secret message for times of danger."
Before she could finish, both of them were already rushing toward the door. If it was an agreed upon method, there was a message under Maya's desk. What about Donnie's?
Could he have left information for Maya before he died? They couldn't let the Rangers destroy it.
Donnie's office was still unlocked. The two of them rushed in. Lynch went straight under the desk, and Officer Natalie consciously pulled open the drawer.
A piece of paper was pinned quietly to the underside of the tabletop.
Letting out a soft breath, Lynch pulled it off and unfolded it. Another string of letters and numbers appeared before their eyes.
What was this?
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