Conan Rick's Investigator

"So you want to have a 'deep conversation' with Diana?"

Mr. Clock spoke the color tones he had learned on Earth with an expressionless face. Qin Zhibo had to admit that the scene was a bit weird.

The bus stopped in the town center. With the help of the navigation device in his brain, Qin Zhibo found the Amy boutique without asking passers-by.

As I pushed the door open, the brass bell hanging in the entrance jingled.

jingle--

Diana Stanley, who was sitting behind the counter and watching TV to pass the time, stood up and was about to greet the customers when she saw Qin Zhibo's face.

"It turns out it's you..."

Diana's tone wasn't one of happiness that a customer had come to her store, but more of surprise.

Qin Zhibo glanced at Diana's oval face, which showed no positive emotions at all, then turned to look at the counter, swiping his finger across the glass. "Let me see if there's anything I'm interested in."

"You can watch whatever you want."

Diana's reception was not very warm, which made Qin Zhibo wonder if he had left a bad impression on her yesterday.

In this case, we can only see if we can reach a deal first to open up the topic.

There is a wide variety of goods on the counter, most of which are the same kind often seen in antique markets.

Purple clay teapots, oddly shaped stones, abstract carvings of human faces, animal tooth necklaces, unknown metal cylinders...

Among these products whose forms and functions were completely inconsistent, Qin Zhibo saw something that looked familiar.

It was a round metal disk, made of silver, and just the right size to fit in the palm of your hand.

On the disc was a twisted five-pointed star symbol, etched with twisted lines that looked like burnt fire, which was almost exactly the same as the symbol on the Miskatonic University badge in Qin Zhibo's wallet.

"What is this..." Qin Zhibo asked, pointing to the round plate under the glass cabinet.

Diana took a look and introduced it indifferently, "This is an item to ward off evil spirits and protect the house. You can hang it on the door or window..."

"Oh? Can you take it out so I can take a look?"

Diana opened the glass cabinet and took out the disc. Qin Zhibo took it with both hands and looked at it carefully.

There is no text on the front and back of the entire disc, but the tiny mottled and bumpy marks on it seem to suggest that it has experienced quite a lot of years.

"This..." Qin Zhibo pointed at the symbol on the disc, "What does this mean?"

"The old seal, a symbol that can exorcise demons and ward off evil spirits." Diana's explanation was still extremely simple.

"Old Seal..."

Qin Zhibo nodded thoughtfully, finally understanding what was engraved on his university badge.

"Is it useful?" Qin Zhibo asked again.

"I don't know." Diana shook her head.

"Then I bought it, how much?"

Qin Zhibo's straightforward attitude made Diana stunned for a moment, and it took her a second to react before she said the price.

"$270."

This price made Qin Zhibo feel a little painful. 270 US dollars converted into Japanese yen is almost 4 yen, so he bought a metal plate.

However, in order to make the deal, Qin Zhibo did not bargain.

"It's a fair price. Deal."

As he spoke, Qin Zhibo extended his hand to show his approval of the deal.

Diana looked at Qin Zhibo again in confusion, and after hesitating for half a second, she stretched out her hand.

When the two palms touch together, the investigation begins.

【Survey√】

……

[Current progress: (2/2)]

Congratulations on completing the main mission.

[Acquire 3000 general skill proficiency]

The system sent a task reminder that the investigation mission of the Silver Twilight Church has been completed.

3000 general skill proficiency points have been received. Qin Zhibo’s current skill proficiency point has exceeded 10000, which means that he can start purchasing.

At this time, Diana also got back $300 for Qin Zhibo's $30 and handed the money to Qin Zhibo.

Just as Qin Zhibo reached out to grab the 30 dollars, Diana suddenly withdrew her hand holding the banknote, causing Qin Zhibo to look at her beautiful oval face with some confusion.

"The club is not what it seems. Nothing is what it seems."

"Including me..."

Diana Stanley's words carried a warning tone, clearly a warning to Qin Zhibo, the newcomer to the club.

"Thank you for your advice..."

Qin Zhibo smiled like a gentleman, took back the $30 change, walked to the door and pushed it open.

jingle--

"But perhaps the truth about me isn't what you see?"

"Didn't Sartre say that?"

"Hell is other people..."

Looking at Qin Zhibo's back as he smiled and left in a leisurely manner, Diana's body trembled suddenly.

For some reason, just a moment ago, I felt that the man in front of me was unfathomable.

……

Coming out of Amy's boutique, Qin Zhibo: -270 US dollars, metal circle engraved with old seal +1, general skill proficiency +3000.

Qin Zhibo looked at the disc in his hand carefully. Although he felt that this thing had some history, it also felt like it was artificially aged.

Buying antiques in the United States, emmm...

Qin Zhibo shook his head, not holding much hope for the monetary value of this thing, so he could only take it back and hang it on the door of his office.

Arkham's night is about to arrive, and Qin Zhibo returns to his birthplace before the hotel stops serving dinner.

The food in the restaurant was more varied than in the morning, with thick soup, bread, vegetable salad, hamburger patties, chicken legs, and all of them were hot.

Qin Zhibo DIYed a simple burger with the available ingredients, and while chewing it, he watched the TV hanging from the ceiling of the restaurant.

The news on TV happened to be about the Oklahoma serial killer case.

After a day of investigation, the police found 37 bodies in the yard of the murderer William Lee Childress's house. These bodies were enough to prove that they had an undeniable connection with the disappearance cases in the Oklahoma river area.

Not only that, Officer Cole Rasco, who was in charge of the case, also uncovered a big secret.

The murderer, Scarface, is a cousin of the sheriff who closed the case of the missing girl from Fontenot.

The scarred man's father was a cousin of the head of the local church, and the people who were killed were basically from the parish controlled by this head and the church school he sponsored.

Regin LeDoux, who was previously shot dead as a murderer, was a cousin of the governor of Oklahoma. The two were also cousins of the church leader.

These people are essentially all named "Tuttle", or you can call them the "Tuttle family".

The police will subsequently investigate whether other members of the Tuttle family who are currently "innocent" have colluded with each other.

Later, some reporters chased to interview the head of the Tuttle family's Church of Light, Billy Lee Tuttle, the cousin of the scar-faced man's father, but were all turned away.

As for the governor of a higher rank, no reporter dared to harass him.

Watching the report on TV, Qin Zhibo snorted coldly.

They're all cousins, so they fit the name of a "brotherhood"...

Chapter 512 Innsmouth, I’m Reiner!

After dinner, Qin Zhibo returned to the room and opened the system interface.

After all the experiences in the United States during this period of time, my general skills proficiency has reached 10570, successfully breaking through the 10000 mark.

Currently, the items available for purchase in the item store include [Deep Dive Potion], [Bottled Fear], and [Starry Sky Fishing Rod].

But Qin Zhibo couldn't buy all of them because their total value was 11000, which was just a little bit over the limit.

The Deep Diving Potion reminded Qin Zhibo of the Deep Diver.

Qin Zhibo turned on the navigation system and looked up the location of Innsmouth, which was just about a hundred kilometers away from Arkham Town.

There should still be time to go to Innsmouth tomorrow and maybe complete the task of hunting down the Deep One.

If that's the case, [Deep Dive Potion] and [Bottled Fear] are essential items.

[Deep Diving Potion] allows the person who takes this potion to move freely underwater for 30 minutes, improving underwater diving power.

Qin Zhibo had seen a deep diver in the waters near Ghost Turtle Island. This thing was very agile underwater, and it was basically impossible to fight it underwater with just humans and a diving suit.

[Bottle Fear] can make the owner no longer afraid of the things in the bottle. If you put sea water in the bottle, you should be able to overcome your sea phobia.

The [Starry Sky Fishing Rod] is an item with unknown benefits, and it cannot be used without a Starry Sky Fisherman who has activated the rod.

After weighing the pros and cons, Qin Zhibo immediately chose [Deep Dive Potion] and [Bottled Fear].

[Exchange successful, congratulations on receiving the Deep Dive Potion and Bottled Fear!]

Qin Zhibo stretched out his right hand and first materialized the [Deep Diving Potion] in his hand.

This is a bottle of green solution medicine, which is contained in a glass bottle the size of an oral solution.

Qin Zhibo held it up to the light. It was turbid and had some floating gossamer-like particles in it, which looked a bit disgusting.

Looking at this thing, Qin Zhibo felt a little uncomfortable in his throat, so he put it back.

Next up is [Bottled Fear]

This is a brown glass bottle with a volume of about 1L, and the slightly larger bottle mouth is plugged with a wooden cork.

Qin Zhibo shook it inside and heard no sound, which meant that it was indeed an empty bottle.

Qin Zhibo wanted to immediately experiment to see if this bottle could eliminate fear, but this thing was indeed not easy to verify.

Because Qin Zhibo is basically afraid of nothing except sea water, whether it is snakes, scorpions, lizards, toads, spiders, centipedes, bats, clowns, scarecrows... he does not have any obvious fear of these.

And you won't find any of these things in this hotel.

Looking around the room, Qin Zhibo suddenly saw the toilet.

Toilet (chè)——Old Eight’s home…

Hi hi hi~

Ok?

Qin Zhibo suddenly had a brilliant idea.

Although I don't have anything particularly scary or uncomfortable with other than sea water, I still have a basic aversion to some things.

For example, Lao Ba’s rations—Aoli Gei.

Human beings are born with the fear and discomfort of O'Gei. Just like in Stephen Chow's classic movie "The Soul Returns at Night", the ghost-catching expert played by Stephen Chow uses O'Gei to test his courage.

Maybe you feel a slight pinch of your finger and you are not panicked, and you even want to increase your holdings?

But what if you apply it all over your face?

Therefore, Lao Ba, who dared to use Aoli Gei as his food, was a brave man who truly overcame the fear in his heart and achieved true fearlessness.

Qin Zhibo believes that he does not have this courage.

But now that I have this [Bottled Fear], can I try to test my own weaknesses?

Qin Zhibo: "..."

After thinking silently for a long time, Qin Zhibo still felt that this test was somewhat inhumane.

One cannot, at least one should not...