Chapter 171 Object of Prayer Along the way, Lumian relied on his quick eyes and hands to avoid several waiters who were bringing out food or returning used tableware. Soon, he approached the kitchen and saw the mess inside: The dishes that had not been washed were piled up randomly in the sink, layer upon layer, covered with grease. Two dishwashers stood there, cleaning non-stop. Several stoves were emitting yellowish flames, making this small area several degrees hotter than outside. Everyone was sweating and busy. Three chefs wearing white aprons were cooking different dishes, pouring them into plates from time to time, dipping their fingers in some juice or pinching a small piece of food into their mouths to taste the flavor. After finishing this task, they wiped it casually on their aprons and started cooking the next dish. The waiters, with the chef's permission, took the corresponding plates and walked outside. Their thumbs often touched the dishes and soups, but they were unaware and didn't care at all. Several kitchen helpers surrounded the chef, cutting vegetables, handling fish, cleaning other ingredients, dumping garbage, delivering seasonings and other things. They were so busy that they couldn't stop. But no matter how hard they tried, the kitchen still looked very messy. There were a lot of vegetable leaves, fish scales and fruit peels scattered on the floor, around the stove and near the sink, and they were all covered with grease. What echoed here were mainly the scolding and shouting of the chefs and their helpers. It was very lively. If Lumian closed his eyes and relied solely on his ears, he would probably think this was a chaotic battlefield. Thanks to this situation, he easily avoided the busy people and came to the cabinet where various ingredients were stored. Then, with the help of baffles, handles, gray-white gas pipes and water pipes, he climbed to the ceiling and entered the ventilation duct there. The strong smell of oil smoke immediately pierced Lumian's nose, almost making him faint due to his keen sense of smell. Relying on the "mendicant monk's" ability to endure various extreme environments, Lumian struggled to crawl forward along the ventilation duct, sometimes upwards. In just a dozen seconds, he poked his head out from above a bathroom on the second floor. After confirming that there was no one here, Lumian jumped down lightly, walked quickly to the door, and looked at both sides of the corridor secretly.
It was very quiet here, with only two gangsters guarding the staircase exit. Their attention was all focused on the first floor and they didn't pay any attention to the situation behind them. Lumian breathed a sigh of relief, identified his destination, crouched down, and jumped into the room next door. The door was locked, but that didn't bother Lumian. He fiddled with the half piece of wire he carried with him and pushed the wooden door open. Just as Janna had described, the bathroom attached to the room that "Hammer" Ett shared did not have a window sill extending outwards. Instead, there was only a decorative protrusion that was barely enough for a person to stand sideways. Even for a "hunter", it is quite difficult to jump from the windowsill on this side to the bulge and stand steadily. Fortunately, Lumian is also a "dancer" with an exaggerated flexibility that does not seem like that of a human. He observed for a moment, leaped up, and stepped accurately on the bulge with his right foot, but his left side lost balance and fell. At the critical moment, Lumian's body shook like a spring, and he rushed back to the bathroom, grabbing the window frame with his right hand. He stood firm, then squatted sideways, leaving only half of his head exposed, and looked quietly into the house. The bathroom door was not closed, and gangsters would pass by like patrollers from time to time. Lumian waited patiently for a while, figured out the pattern, and took advantage of the fact that the area corresponding to the bathroom door was temporarily empty, pried open the window with Hedsey's dagger, and climbed in. He calmly and confidently turned around and closed the glass window, then slipped to the bottom of the bathtub and used the curtain that was hanging there and had not yet been unfolded to cover his body. Having successfully completed the infiltration, Lumian placed several items that he would need later in a place where they would be more convenient to take out, and confirmed their respective locations to avoid taking the wrong ones in a panic. Then he stood there like a statue, listening to the movements in the room outside. "Hammer" At sometimes asked the manager of the dance hall about the recent revenue, sometimes scolded his subordinates, and sometimes flirted with the top dancer, accompanied by seemingly intimate actions. After a while, after the dance hall manager and the top dancer left, Et seemed to stand up and paced slowly there. He said to several gangsters in the room: "In the next few days, you should send all your men out to visit every household in our territory, and make sure that the person who will be elected as the congressman for the market district in next week's election!" Yo, you gangsters are interfering in the congressional elections? Lumian was surprised and not so surprised. The Trier mafia would not be able to grow without support from behind. They either have good relations with certain high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Police or the General Police Headquarters, or are protected by powerful politicians, or are the black gloves of big businessmen, who must have certain interests involved with senior government officials, church leaders, and military generals.
What Lumian didn't expect was that the man behind the Sting Gang actually had ambitions to fight for a seat in Parliament. He originally thought that at most he could get to the level of Market District Police Commissioner or Trier City Council. Innis is a parliamentary republic. Members of parliament are elected from constituencies to form the National Convention, while Congress appoints the president and prime minister, who are responsible for appointing ministers, which of course must be approved by Congress. Congress also has the power to legislate, declare war and determine the government budget, and every member of Congress can be considered a powerful person. Currently, the National Convention has more than 300 members, one-tenth of whom are from the original nobility, headed by members of the former royal family of Soren. The remaining seats are divided into different provinces and territories according to population and economic status, that is, the Trier region. Whether in terms of population or economic status, Trier is second to none in Innis and the entire Trier region, and it has nearly forty seats in parliament. These nearly 40 seats are further divided into 20 districts, some with four or five councillors and some with only one, and they are also ex-officio members of the city council. Honest Market is a small constituency with only one parliamentary seat. Whoever is elected will become the most powerful and influential person here. Currently, whether it is the ruling National Party, the most popular Enlightenment Party, or the Reform Party that wants to change various ills, they are all doing their best for next week's parliamentary elections. Whoever can win a simple majority of seats in Congress will become the new ruling party; otherwise, they will have to compromise and give in and form an alliance with another party. In addition to the National Party, the Enlightenment Party and the Reform Party, Intis also has a wide range of people who are dissatisfied with the current system and try to overthrow it by force, the Emperor Party (restorationists who worship Roselle) and the Carbonari Party. Those gangsters responded to "Hammer" one after another, saying that there would not be any mistakes. But they never mentioned which party or candidate they supported, which made Lumian a little depressed. Why don’t you just say it out loud! After instructing his subordinates on the election, “Iron Hammer” said to his subordinates: "You guys go out for a while, I'll let you in and then come in again." What was this for? Lumian was "listening" in amazement. Soon, the gangsters left the room, leaving only "Hammer" Et alone. Lumian did not take action because after careful analysis, he believed that if he did not use "Corrupted Mercury", fighting "Hammer" Et in the bathroom would be more targeted than fighting outside. The room outside became quite quiet, and Lumian strained to hear a few sounds. It seemed like "Hammer" At was talking to himself: "Protector of the wicked...Lady who gave birth to the gods..." The lady who gave birth to a god? That sounds impressive... Is Et praying, praying to a hidden being? There seem to be four or five sentences in total? This is different from the common three-part description... Lumian roughly guessed what "Hammer" Et was doing. As for who he was praying to, Lumian had no idea based on the half description he barely heard. This was beyond the scope of his current knowledge of occult science. Lumian vaguely felt that the room outside was filled with malice. Yes, it was the room itself that became evil. Lumian held his breath, gathered his spirits, and dared not listen to the noise outside. After a while, the feeling dissipated and everything returned to normal. Lumian exhaled slowly and flexed his hands.
At this time, "Hammer" Et asked his men who had left earlier to return to the room. Lumian continued to wait. Time passed by minute by minute, and finally, he heard the heaviest footsteps coming towards the bathroom. These were the footsteps of "Hammer" Eit, and Lumian had already distinguished them clearly. He immediately pulled out a small metal bottle, the one with a scratch mark on it. Then, he unscrewed the bottle cap and stuffed a long, thin ball of paper that he had crumpled up beforehand into the bottle mouth. After a few seconds, as footsteps approached the bathroom, Lumian pulled out a ball of paper and screwed the cap on the bottle. Then he broke the paper ball in two and stuffed it into his nose. The stench, like fermenting feces, rushed straight into Lumian's mind, stimulating him to the point of tears, and his right hand instinctively reached out to pull out the long, thin ball of paper. Relying on his strong willpower and the "mendicant monk's" ability to endure more extreme environments, Lumian controlled himself. While standing with a distorted expression and slightly twitching muscles, he took out another small metal bottle that was mostly filled with gas and unscrewed its cap. Bang! "Hammer" At closed the bathroom door and walked to the toilet. This place suddenly became a semi-enclosed space, with only a little fresh air coming in through the gaps in the door and windows. Well, he had a serious blood disaster... While looking at his fortune, Lumian quietly swung the open metal bottle to help the colorless and odorless gas inside evaporate and fill the bathroom. This is the drug made by that perverted Hedsi. It can make an "assassin" lose a large part of his strength even if he just smells a little bit of the scent at close range! This is very suitable for a cramped and semi-enclosed space like a bathroom. This is the trap that Lumian set for "Hammer" Et! Of course, it would take quite a while for the gas to fill the bathroom and take effect to some extent; after all, this is not a close-up sniff. What Lumian had to do next was to prevent "Hammer" Et from leaving the bathroom and prevent people outside from opening the door. He placed the open metal bottle on the edge of the bathtub, took out Janna's revolver, and aimed at the toilet area through the curtain. (End of this chapter)