I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Chapter 219 You're such a good person

In a budget restaurant near the Trist Detective Agency.

These restaurants are in a somewhat awkward position, because the truly poor people, those who barely make ends meet, won't come to these restaurants.

Wealthy people, however, look down on restaurants of this caliber.

Only a small minority of people, like Twisted Fate, who fall somewhere between rich and poor, would come to a restaurant like this to satisfy their hunger.

It gives the impression of someone standing while drinking, wearing a long gown.

"The taste is alright."

In front of Lu Ban was a large bowl of plain noodles with only a tiny amount of minced meat and a few drops of oil. It cost ten dollars. According to Trist, an ordinary rickshaw driver could earn fifty dollars a day, so it was indeed unaffordable for him.

"Really delicious!"

The same noodles were in front of Xia Ya, and she ate them even faster. Lu Ban had only finished a small portion when Xia Ya had already finished the soup.

“Mr. Trist, you are such a good man.”

Xia thanked the other party sincerely.

"It's alright, it's alright."

Trist laughed it off, shifting his body slightly to obscure the restaurant's price list, and then quietly placing the menu on the next table and hiding it there.

Tristana's intuition told him it was best not to tell them this was the cheapest thing available.

"Wait a minute, I'm a little curious, these noodles are made from wheat, right?"

Lu Ban was slurping his noodles when he suddenly felt a bit of PTSD from the bugs.

"if not?"

Trist was puzzled.

"Even if it's an insect, it tastes so good, it should be fine, right?"

Sia said from the side.

"insect?"

Drizzt looked at the girl beside him and thought she seemed to be having a hard time.

After finishing the noodles, Lu Ban felt very satisfied; he was a person who was content with what he had.

"Shall we go to the publishing house first?"

Drizzt asked again.

"no problem!"

The publishing house is also located on the Fourth Ring Road, on the other side of the city.

"This is also the Fourth Ring Road, but there are differences between different areas. The place where I live is considered to be in the middle range within the Fourth Ring Road. The area east of the Fourth Ring Road is considered to have the worst public security, with the headquarters of a gang located there. The publishing house is located in the best location within the Fourth Ring Road."

Tristan explained.

"Then why doesn't the publishing house just locate in an affluent area within the Third Ring Road?"

Xia asked curiously.

"Because not everyone in the publishing house is rich. Those who are responsible for distributing newspapers, doing odd jobs and cleaning, and printing are all ordinary people. Some of the editors are from outside the Fourth Ring Road, mainly for the job."

"That's perfectly natural," Trist said.

"And what about the servants in those wealthy households?"

Lu Ban asked a question out of curiosity.

"They all live in rich people's homes and rarely come home more than once a year. To be honest, some of the servants already think they are people within the Third Ring Road and look down on people living outside. But who knows, if these people make a mistake, they might have their legs broken and be thrown into the wilderness to feed those monsters."

Drizzt sighed.

The gap between rich and poor in the ruined capital has a distinct sense of hierarchy, with all social classes present, but each class is extremely fixed, and there are very few cases of class crossing. After all, people living in the tenth ring can't even afford to go to school, they are illiterate, and they simply cannot start from scratch.

The three of them soon arrived at the publishing house.

This building is considered impressive for the Fourth Ring Road, but there aren't many people coming and going. When Trist walked into the lobby, he saw a woman in a cheongsam reading a newspaper at the front desk and greeted her.

"I'm here to find Editor Qian."

Did you make an appointment before?

The woman had clearly seen Drizzt before; her tone was somewhat arrogant. Her gaze lingered on Drizzt for only a moment, then on Sia's face for a second, before finally settling on Lu Ban's face.

"Ahem, let me contact Editor Qian for you."

She picked up the phone, turned the dial, and called upstairs.

After a while, the receptionist smiled.

"Please come upstairs, the editorial office is on the third floor."

Finally, she glanced at Lu Ban one last time, with the same look as a dog that hadn't eaten for days seeing a bone. Lu Ban felt like the word "danger" might appear above his head.

Go up the stairs to the third floor, where it's a bit noisy.

All sorts of magazines, books, and newspapers were piled up, filling everyone's desks and obstructing their view.

But as I walked along, all I saw were editors flipping through erotic magazines, not looking like they were working.

"Old Qian."

Drizzt walked up to a table and tapped on it.

The editor, who was in the middle of it, just looked up, his eyes still somewhat dazed.

"Old Cui, what's this? You've agreed to help me with this?"

He stood up and put down the book in his hand. Lu Ban saw that it was a book called "The Village of the Rat People," also a work by Gu Du.

The editor was of medium build, wore glasses, and looked somewhat greasy.

"Yes, my assistants and I are ready to take on your commission and find that person."

Drizzt remained unhurried.

"Shh, come with me."

Editor Qian led the three to a small conference room, which seemed to be a place where editors and authors usually communicated. He went out to get some documents, returned, closed the door, checked them, and then spoke.

"This is very important to us, Lao Cui. Gu Du's new book is sure to be a bestseller, which will boost our publishing house's overall revenue. But how could he have disappeared..."

Editor Qian said with annoyance.

“I know he often mingles with women, and I know this is bound to cause trouble, but why now? Sigh, Lao Cui, you have to help me, help the publishing house. As long as we can find the remaining manuscript, it doesn’t matter if Gu Du is missing an arm or a leg, it doesn’t matter if he’s dead, as long as we can get the remaining manuscript back.”

Xia frowned slightly and asked a question.

"You don't care whether he lives or dies, you just want the remaining manuscript?"

"No, no, of course I care. If he hasn't finished writing, even if he's dead, I'll bring him back to life. I care about him a lot."

Editor Qian's expression inexplicably became somewhat ferocious.

Trist gave a wink, stopping Sia from dwelling on the issue, and instead pressed her for an answer.

"Old Qian, could you let us see your manuscript? After all, it involves his disappearance, so I think the contents of his manuscript might have some clues."

Upon hearing Trist's words, Editor Qian suddenly became alert, fearing that these three were spies from other publishing houses who wanted to spy on the secrets of Gudu's new work.

You see, this kind of thing, especially horror, is often a matter of creativity. If someone else takes the idea first, the story loses its novelty. And what Gudu is most good at is creativity; they can come up with unique stories every time.

He gave Trist a deep look before slowly uttering his words.

"Wait for me a moment."

He went out again and came back with a stack of manuscript paper.

"You can only read this here."

"That's what Editor Qian said."

The three of them took the manuscript, and Lu Ban immediately saw that the unfinished book was titled "The Mouth of a Madman".

The story begins with the disappearance of a family.

Chapter 220 You looked like a thief just now.

After reading the current portion of the original manuscript of "The Mouth of a Madman," Trist felt a bit dizzy.

The story begins with the disappearance of a family, a notorious horror who vanished without a trace, leaving behind a new beginning. This sparks much discussion, while the detective in charge of the investigation and his two assistants are attacked at a teahouse. They defeat the attackers and head to the publishing house to look for clues about the family, and the story ends right there.

Anyone with eyes can see that the content of this book is almost exactly the same as Lu Ban and his friends' experiences so far, except that there are some additional plot points, mentioning that the detectives discovered through their investigation of clues provided by the publishing house that their home may have gone to a small town not far from the city.

This manuscript was clearly submitted to the editorial department by the ancient capital two weeks ago, and it was certainly written even earlier.

If it were simply a story about the detective in charge of the investigation being attacked, it could be considered a standard trope in this genre. However, the detective has two assistants, a man and a woman, which corresponds to Lu Ban and Xi Ya. Moreover, the two of them use almost identical methods to defeat the attackers when they are attacked.

More importantly, when the three returned to the detective's office, Lu Ban's act of hugging the orange cat was also described in the manuscript.

"The power of prophecy?"

Sia first thought of the corresponding magic, but prophecy itself is not accurate. In the end, it is just a display of possibilities. No one relies on that to make decisions. Moreover, in the ruined capital, it is obviously unreasonable for a writer to have such an ability. If the ancient capital really could make prophecies, then why did he disappear?

"This is such a perfect start, isn't it? It makes us really look forward to what happens next."

Editor Qian carefully put away the original manuscript.

"really."

Drizzt picked up on his words and then asked a question.

"Besides that, do you have any other clues?"

“Since recently, Gu Du has been disappearing for days at a time. He said he went to Bei Han Town to gather materials, but I don’t know where Bei Han Town is. Do you know?”

Editor Qian looked distressed.

"I don't know."

Lu Ban shook his head.