Lucky Coin

As the venue for the press conference, Enqi Town's police station was brightly lit that night, brilliant light shining from every window of the two-story building.

Reporters from several nearby towns had already arrived. Chief Kaoxi had prepared drinks and cakes in the first-floor hall to entertain them.

Sifa arrived at the police station in a carriage. Under Chief Kaoxi's arrangements, he avoided alerting the reporters and entered the "rest room" through another passage.

The rest room was Chief Kaoxi's office, located on the first floor. It was simply furnished, but it had a fireplace and a mounted deer head.

Looking out the window, he could see Desi Bay in the distance. However, nothing could be seen at night except for a lighthouse lit up not far from the shore.

"The place has already been arranged according to our plan." Lewis adjusted his black-rimmed glasses and pointed at the two windows in the room. "Capture nets have been installed on the inside of the windows. As you suggested, iron wire has been mixed into them to make them sturdier and harder to break free from."

Standing by the door with her back against the wall, the red-haired Martha took out a small iron box, picked out a piece of candy, and tossed it into her mouth. "Similar traps have been installed in the chimney. There's also a mechanism in the ceiling. All you need to do is pull this rope, and an iron cage will drop down."

She looked toward a pull cord beside the door.

After undoing the button at his collar, the pale-skinned Jeffrey said, "In short, as long as the criminal shows up, he definitely won't get away."

Sifa said sincerely, "I hope this can all end tonight."

That way, I can set off for Tingen and find someone powerful to back me as soon as possible.

According to Lewis and the others' original plan, Sifa would remain in the rest room as bait while they lay in ambush nearby and waited for an opportunity.

On that basis, Sifa had suggested setting traps to raise the operation's chances of success as much as possible. Of course, he had only provided the idea. Lewis and the others had carried out the actual work.

Although these traps still seemed too few and crude in Sifa's eyes, time was limited, so he could not demand much more.

Lewis pointed at Profiler Warren and said, "He'll stay here with you. Don't worry, Warren is capable in actual combat as well."

"If the criminal appears, even if the traps fail to work, he can still hold the other party off for a while. That will be enough time for us to get here."

To create a gap in their security and give their opponent a chance to exploit it, Lewis and the others would deliberately leave and spread out around the police station.

Naturally, Sifa had no objections to Lewis's arrangements. After watching the officers leave, he found himself a seat, while Warren took out a collection of poetry and began reading.

Outside the office, Martha stepped forward and patted Lewis on the shoulder. "Captain, have you forgotten something?"

Lewis habitually raised his eyebrows, making the lines on his forehead even deeper and more obvious. "What did I forget?"

Jeffrey carefully concealed his short rod engraved with incantations. "The coin. The Sealed Artifact Warren brought. You can take it out now, Captain."

Lewis suddenly realized. "I did forget. Good thing I asked you to keep an eye on things and remind me in time."

He took out a glass box sealed with a strip of paper. It was filled with pure water, and a glittering gold coin lay at the bottom.

There were patterns on the coin's surface. Whether because of the light or the patterns themselves, the lines on the coin constantly underwent slight changes.

"3-0526, Lucky Gold Coin." Lewis spoke in an almost whispering tone. "It corresponds to Sequence 7 of the Monster Pathway, Lucky One. It can store a certain amount of luck, and this effect begins working on its own once it leaves its seal."

"It is said that the more intricate the patterns on the coin's surface are, the more luck it contains. The user can inject their spirituality into it and make the luck stored in the coin take effect on them. Is that right, Captain?" Martha curiously examined the coin in the glass box and noticed that although its patterns were changing, they were neither decreasing nor increasing.

Lewis nodded slightly. "But it carries a certain danger. Once the luck transferred by the coin is used up, the user will begin to suffer bad luck. For example, tripping on level ground or choking while drinking water."

"I read the records. Someone was once plagued by misfortune after using it, and their gun accidentally went off, costing them their life."

The muscles in Jeffrey's face twitched slightly. "No wonder the rules state that anyone who uses this coin must afterward be isolated in a room without any sharp objects for at least twenty-four hours. They can't carry weapons, or any hard and sharp tools."

Lewis cautiously peeled off the seal, opened the glass box, reached in to fish out the coin, dried it, and placed it in an inner pocket.

"Our opponent is someone capable of communicating with an evil god. This coin will make it easier for us to catch him. As for 3-0526's side effects, they are entirely worth bearing."

The inspector added uneasily, "Just remember to remind me to undergo isolation afterward. I'm afraid I'll forget again."

After receiving responses from his two colleagues, the three of them finally split up. Not long afterward, a sheriff led a young woman to the chief's office and knocked on the door.

Inside the office, Sifa looked up. Warren, whose brown hair was slightly curled and whose expression was shy, closed his poetry collection and got up to open the door.

The sheriff outside cleared his throat. "Please tell Mr. Sifa that a lady named Rachel wishes to see him."

Warren turned around and looked at Sifa, waiting for his reply.

Rachel?

My former personal maid? Why was she here?

Sifa cleared his throat and nodded lightly. "Let her in."

The door was opened fully, and a young woman walked in. She had a smooth forehead, long black hair, large eyes, and long, curled eyelashes.

Though she was plainly dressed, it could not conceal her beauty. She was quite an attractive woman.

Sifa also noticed that her belly was bulging. She looked to be three or four months pregnant already.

Sifa immediately panicked.

The child in her belly couldn't be the original owner's, could it? I don't want to take responsibility for that.

"Young Master Sifa, you really came back." Rachel, the former maid, spoke in a sweet and cheerful voice, with a hint of excitement in her tone.

For a moment, Sifa did not know what attitude to take. He could only give a blank "Mm" and say flatly, "Why have you come? Oh, sit down quickly. You shouldn't stand for too long in your condition."

"I was very worried about you."

Holding her slightly bulging stomach, Rachel sat on a chair Warren brought over and said earnestly, "Over the past two days, I heard that not only had you returned, Young Master, but you had also become involved in a terrifying bloody case. I wanted to come see you."

"Besides worrying about you, Young Master, I also wanted to thank you in person!"

Thank me? For what?

Thank me for getting you pregnant? Pah, pah. That was Sifa's doing. What did it have to do with me, Li Zexi?

(Note 1: The Lucky Coin was an idea provided by reader 31878. I made some modifications and additions. More Watchers are welcome to contribute ideas for mystical items. Your creativity will save my steadily receding hairline~)