When Lin Ze came out of Department of Mysteries, he happened to bump into Ben coming from the other side of the corridor holding a stack of documents.
"What are you doing here?" Ben turned sideways to prevent the pile of documents from hitting Lin Ze.
"I want to see something, but I don't have enough permissions."
"Okay, okay, I have to send these things away, so I won't bother you anymore." After saying that, Ben ran away with the documents in his arms.
Back in the office, Mia saw Lin Ze come in and asked, "Didn't you go in?"
"No."
"As expected, Department of Mysteries's authority is generally not given arbitrarily by the department."
"I remember you said before that 'Gate of Life and Death' was mentioned in your family's notes?" Lin Ze walked over and sat down opposite Mia.
Mia sat behind the desk, put his fingers on the edge of the desk, and tapped twice.
"That notebook was left by my great-grandmother. She stayed in Austria for a while when she was young and had contacts with a local alchemy circle."
"I don't remember the names of the alchemists mentioned in the notes, but according to my grandmother's notes, they all went crazy in the end, and one even burned himself alive in the laboratory."
"Crazy alchemist, I know this one well." Lin Ze leaned back in the chair, still thinking about Death Chamber's side of Veil, and echoed.
"The notes also said that those alchemists believed that 'Invisible Veil' was an 'error' left by Merlin."
"Merlin error?"
Mia opened the briefcase, took out a yellowed piece of paper from the interlayer, and pushed it in front of Lin Ze.
There was a scrawled diagram drawn on the piece of paper, with a horizontal line in the middle that said "life" on top and "death" on the bottom. There was a question mark in the middle of the horizontal line and a line of comments written in German next to it.
Lin Ze stared at the line of German for a long time.
"What does this say?"
"Oh, sorry, let me translate." Mia turned the piece of paper over and wrote a few Chinese characters on the back in pencil.
"Those who cross this line must become this line."
Lin Ze put the piece of paper down and tapped his fingers slowly on the table.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, even my great-grandmother didn't understand." Mia shook her head slightly.
At this time, the office door was pushed open, and Arthur poked half of his head in.
"Lin, there is someone outside looking for you, saying he is a reporter from "Witch Weekly"."
Lin Ze and Mia looked at each other.
"Let him in."
Oliver·Sterling walks into the office.
The beige windbreaker he was wearing was more wrinkled than last time, and there was still a small piece of dried mud on the hem.
He was holding the old leather bag in his hand, and his expression was tighter than the last time we met.
"Team Leader Lin." Sterling stood still in front of the desk, his eyes swept over Mia without stopping for a long time.
"Sit." Lin Ze pointed at Ben's chair.
Sterling put the leather bag on his knees, opened the zipper, and took out a photo from inside.
The photo was taken of the dark red wooden door of 19 King Street, and the angle was taken from the reflective glass of the tailor shop window across the street.
There is a man standing on the steps in front of the door, his back to the camera, lowering his head to take out the keys.
The man was wearing a long dark coat and an old hunting hat.
"I took this the day before yesterday." Sterling pushed the photo in front of Lin Ze.
"I squatted in King Street for three days and discovered something. In that library, around four o'clock every afternoon, a man wearing a hunting hat would leave from the back alley, take the same route through St. James's Park, stay by the lake for about an hour, and then return the same way."
Lin Ze looked at the photo over and over, then threw it aside.
"Is it your own idea to check these things, or is it the person behind you who asked you to check them?"
Sterling was silent for a few seconds.
"After he disappeared, I found an old map among the things he left for me." His voice became lower.
"There are several locations marked on the map, and 19 King Street is one of them. I haven't had time to go to the other locations marked yet."
"Did you bring the map?"
"I didn't bring it with me. I left it at home, but I copied the address on it."
Sterling tore a page from the notebook and handed it over.
There are four addresses written above, 19 King Street is ranked first.
There are also Scottish Highlands, Loch Ness East Coast.
Cornwall, Tintagel Castle ruins.
Ireland, Newgrange Tomb.
Lin Ze stared at the remaining three addresses and frowned.
Loch Ness, Tintagel, Newgrange Tomb.
These three places have one thing in common in the legend of the Muggle world.
They are all related to "passage to another world".
Loch Ness The legend of the deep underwater cave leads to the kingdom of elves.
Tintagel Castle is one of the legendary entrances to Avalon from King Arthur.
Newgrange Tomb is an ancient ruin where the sun shines directly into the depths of the tomb on the winter solstice, symbolizing rebirth and connection with the Other Side world.
"When did you get this map?" Lin Ze asked.
"About a week ago." Sterling put the photo back into his wallet.
"After he made that phone call to me, I went to his place to pack his things. The landlord was urging me to take possession of the house, so I ran for him. There was this map on the bottom of the bedside table."
A week ago, he was still fighting against those Muggle cultists at the dock. At that time, Fearn·Burke had not yet appeared.
"Mr. Sterling." Lin Ze suddenly sat up straight.
"You seem to have lost your employer's instructions and came to me with this thing, right?"
Sterling did not deny it.
He took off his glasses and wiped them, very slowly, as if to buy himself time.
"Team Leader Lin, you are right. He disappeared, and all I have left is this map and three unvisited addresses." He put his glasses back on the bridge of his nose.
"I have been a reporter for almost ten years and have seen a lot of strange things, but I have never encountered anything more outrageous than now."
"Why do you think he disappeared?"
"I don't know." Sterling shook his head.
"But I think he might be afraid."
"Mr. Sterling, it is best not to go to these three places in the next few weeks. If there is any new information from the people behind you, please tell me in time."
Sterling stood up and put the leather bag on his shoulder. "Okay, Team Leader Lin."
He paused at the door.
"If he contacts me, I will notify you as soon as possible."
"Okay."
"Are you going to let that reporter lead you?" Mia asked.
"No." Lin Ze leaned on his desk.
Who drew this map?
Sterling Who is the missing informant?
Now these things and the things about the vampires are all laid out in front of Lin Ze, making Lin Ze's mind a mess.
"What are you thinking about?" Mia asked.
"I'm wondering if I should go there next Hogwarts." Lin Ze folded the page and stuffed it into his pocket, and stood up.
"Hogwarts?"
"Yes, I think maybe I can talk to Dumbledore about these things. He may know something." Lin Ze said, taking the coat placed on the chair.