Old days, dice and investigator's manual

Li Jiehao looked at the pair of dice, then at Isaac, then at Carlo: "Wait, what's this? What are you talking about, this check or not?"

"Well... tsk, Asa, give him a lesson."

Isaac briefly explained Carlo's "full check" ability. After listening, Li Jiehao immediately understood why Isaac was able to block bullets with a knife like in the anime the night before last. He couldn't help but exclaim, "That's a real cheat code! Boss, you have so many cheat codes!"

"I don't think I'm dead. How could someone as kind and gentle as me have survived this long?"

"Haha... Hey, could we set up a 'I'm invincible' check? If you pass that, you're invincible, right?"

"Even if you're using cheats, you can't use them like that, you'll get banned." Carlo held up a finger and shook it. "Let Captain Carlo explain it to you. First, never make a sentimental check. Overly vague descriptions can easily lead to overly abstract check results, especially in high-difficulty situations."

"Second, although most of the time a test failure simply means that the test requirement is not met, if the test value is too low and the number submitted is too high, there may be some consequences, although not as serious as a major failure."

"third……"

Carlo paused here, and Li Jiehao waited a moment. Seeing that he didn't intend to continue, he pressed on, "What's the third one?"

"Heavenly secrets must not be revealed."

"Why are you keeping us in suspense?"

"Because it's interesting."

Li Jiehao protested twice, but Isaac, seeing Carlo's expression, knew he clearly wasn't going to back down. He put the ring away and changed the subject: "By the way, boss, I saw Fenri and Patch bump into each other in the FBI corridor earlier. The atmosphere was a bit strange."

"Have they developed feelings for each other?"

"No, not really... It's just that Fenrir usually ignores everyone else, but seems to treat Patch differently. Patch probably isn't an ordinary cat either."

"I didn't say that back then, but Patch is an old cat, a very old one."

"How old?" Li Jiehao asked curiously.

"So old that two grand dukes have passed away."

"Damn, so old..." Although Li Jiehao hadn't had much contact with information from the upper echelons in the past, he knew that the current Grand Duke was quite old and had ascended the throne when he was young, and that Patch had also seen the previous two Grand Dukes pass away.

Isaac began to understand: "It's also from the wasteland?"

"Well..." Carlo tapped the armrest with his fingers, "Strictly speaking, it's not quite, but loosely speaking, it is."

What kind of repetitive talk is this...? Isaac seized on the key point: "What's the difference between being rigorous and not being rigorous?"

"That brings us to the question of how to define a wasteland."

"They haven't even explained in detail what the wasteland is yet..."

"That's right, so it's best not to go into details about Patch's background." Carlo shrugged. "You'll get struck by lightning if you do."

Li Jiehao curled his lip: "Fine, don't talk about it then. Why bring up getting struck by lightning? God isn't going to target you for that. Oh, wait, there really is a God in this world..."

Isaac had intended to take this as Carlo's way of refusing to answer, but upon hearing Li Jiehao's words, a thought struck him.

...The golden branch symbolizes both the branches of the earth growing towards the sky and the thunder descending from the heavens.

So, considering this, being struck by lightning... actually refers to Vicania?

Vikania forbids the disclosure of information related to Patch or the Wasteland?

"In short, Patch isn't an ordinary cat. Just don't bother it, and it won't bother you on its own." Carlo concluded the question.

……

One day later, at dusk, Deer Lane.

Deer Lane sounds like a small alley, but it is actually a street. The houses on both sides used to be warehouses, but the road used to transport freight wagons was narrowed. It is still passable for people, but the wagons often cause congestion, so the drivers complain that it is "just like an alley".

It was precisely because of the traffic congestion that Deer Lane could no longer meet Vista's growing warehousing needs, and after the new warehouse area was built, this area was vacated.

Today, some warehouses have been converted into temporary work sheds for rent, some are used by small factories that are unwilling to spend more money to rent proper warehouses, and the rest remain abandoned.

As you walk deeper in, most of the windows of the buildings on both sides are sealed with rotten wooden planks, and broken bricks and withered grass are scattered on the street, with large patches of dark stains that are impossible to tell what left them.

Before arriving, Isaac inquired about Deer Lane, changed into his old work jacket, tucked his revolver into his waistband, and wrapped his cane and sword with strips of cloth, making it look like a section of water pipe if you didn't look closely.

Walking down the street like this, he looked no different from the regulars in the Luxiang area, and didn't attract much attention.

He stopped not far from Warehouse No. 3. This warehouse was slightly more intact than the surrounding buildings. The door was ajar, with a pattern painted on it. He could not make out what was being said inside, but judging from the sound, there were at least seven or eight people inside.

Isaac frowned because Carlo found the idea of ​​"calling other departments for assistance means having to file a report" troublesome and told Isaac to go ahead directly. Isaac tried to scout the area beforehand, observing the layout of the surrounding buildings and the direction of the roads, but he didn't get too close to Warehouse No. 3 to avoid being discovered.

However, the situation inside the warehouse seemed somewhat different from what he had imagined. The people sent by the Ghoul Cult to make contact should have been discreet and not gathered in a large group, let alone have a bunch of people waiting for him in the warehouse...

Isaac first walked around the warehouse. There were only a few tall windows on the side, so he couldn't see what was going on inside, but he could hear the sounds more clearly. It sounded like a group of people chatting. The atmosphere was very relaxed, which was very different from the tense and solemn situation he had expected.

Isaac returned to the front gate and remained silent for a while, unable to understand this situation. He wondered if these people were unrelated to the Ghoul Cult and just happened to occupy the warehouse, or if the cult had deliberately arranged for a group of people who didn't look like them to confuse the issue.

Suppressing his emotions, Isaac reached out and pushed open the door. The hinges made a dry, hissing sound, acting as a doorbell to signal that someone had come in.

The talking stopped, and everyone in the warehouse looked towards the door. Isaac also quickly glanced around.

An oil lamp illuminated an area in the center of the warehouse. Wine bottles and tin cans were scattered on the ground. Several people sat together, some on overturned wooden crates, others half-squatting against the wall, but each person had an axe, a stick, a harpoon, or something similar...weapon next to them?

Their clothing was not uniform, but the styles were similar, all made of coarse cloth, and a few of them showed tattoos on their forearms.

Isaac couldn't quite put his finger on what these people did. They were neither workers nor beggars, but rather mercenaries, though there were still some differences.

This was a group that Isaac hadn't had much contact with before; some called them thugs, but they preferred to call themselves "gang members."