A Manual for Surviving a Weird World

Chapter 359 Julius
As vehicles drove through the streets in the early morning, the once bustling Port Vivian was now eerily silent.

Plumeria rolled down the car window. The sea level outside the breakwater was nearly 5 meters higher than the city ground level inside the breakwater, like a celestial river in a myth.

Port Vivian is a historic port city, but it is too old. The heavy burden of high-rise buildings and reinforced concrete, along with the over-exploitation of groundwater, has caused the city's foundation to sink every year. This problem has now deteriorated to a very dangerous state.

Local governments in the Apennine Peninsula are notorious in Europe for their laziness and inaction. Logically, when a city's ground level drops to nearly 1 meter below sea level, a comprehensive urban renovation plan should have been initiated. However, Vivian Port only built a breakwater around the port—a project that was less expensive than renovating the entire city's infrastructure.

As a result, the urban development plan, which should have been implemented as early as ten years ago, has been delayed until now. Only now have the residents of Port Vivian begun to gradually leave the port and move to the new urban area, which is at a higher elevation and closer to the inland.

The slightly salty sea breeze ruffled Plumeria's long, black hair. She looked up and saw a sparsely lit, cold steel forest.

Leaving the old town by the sea behind, they arrived at the new town built along the canal. Mary drove into a Western-style mansion overlooking the river, handed the car keys to the mansion's male servant, and the two of them, led by another female servant, crossed the courtyard and arrived at the mansion's main entrance.

"Please come in." The maid smiled and bowed. "Mr. Gulveg has been waiting here for quite some time."

Plumeria nodded and stepped inside.

The first floor of the mansion was empty, without even a decent piece of furniture, looking like an unfinished house. But as two waiters led the way to the second floor, the somewhat shabby plain walls were left behind, and the all-wood wall decoration with red and gold as the main theme came into view.

Five enormous Bohemian-style crystal chandeliers—four small and one large—hang from the gilded wooden vaulted ceiling, casting a hazy, ambiguous pomegranate red glow on the meticulously cut cedar floorboards. The natural grain of the wood, carefully selected, cut, and inlaid by craftsmen, presents a giant, flamboyant flower in the center of the second-floor hall.

That is the coat of arms of the Golden Family, the Gullveig family—a gilded red-centered black lily.

Mary stepped onto the second-floor lobby floor first, and the two of them turned their gaze to the open balcony under the night sky. Wisteria entwined the marble railing inlaid with seashells, and a rustling breeze swayed the branches and leaves of the cinnamon tree, making them stand tall and graceful.

A handsome young man carrying a wine glass strolled over from under the tree. He wore a bright red short-sleeved T-shirt under a pure black shirt, dressed very casually. His long, smooth, golden hair was draped over his shoulders. He was even purer and more pristine than the gilded frame of the crystal chandelier. His clear blue eyes reminded Plumeria of her mother's favorite sapphire pendant.

"Good evening, lovely ladies." The blond youth smiled and raised his glass. "Would you like a drink before we get down to business?"

Mary was somewhat displeased upon hearing this, but soon she noticed the glass bottle on the table beside her, and her gaze softened immediately. The label on the bottle read pomegranate juice.

"Ha." The blond youth noticed the subtle change in Mary's expression, and a mischievous smile spread across his exquisitely sculpted handsome face: "You're still the same as before, Ms. Mary, still so caring and loving towards our lovely Melia."

“It’s my duty.” Mary didn’t waste any more words with him and said directly, “Let’s get straight to the point.”

"Has anyone told you that Miss Mary's serious demeanor is also quite charming?" The blond youth smiled, strolled to the marble-topped coffee table, put down his wine glass, and gently patted it twice.

The velvet curtain behind her was lifted, and a middle-aged woman wearing sunglasses was led in by a maid. She walked with restrained steps and sat down on the sofa directly below the portrait of the 'God of Agriculture Eats His Child'.

"Brother Julius, is it her?" Plumeria asked softly.

“That’s right.” The blond youth called Julius nodded and bowed, gesturing for him to speak. “We can talk now.”

Plumeria released her wrist from Mary's grasp and sat down next to the young woman, asking, "Hello, ma'am, what's your name?" Her sweet, soft voice made the woman wearing sunglasses relax a little, and she whispered, "My name is Andaneva, I'm a blind masseuse. You called me here to investigate yesterday's incident, right?"

Plumeria nodded: "That's right, please tell us what you know."

Mary came to the young lady's side, standing without sitting down, and looked at the blond young man who was leaning against the coffee table and sipping pomegranate juice.

Lulius Gullveig, the first heir of the Gullveig family, known as the 'Golden Clan,' is the fiancé of Promelia, and is the bride of the Flimmislet family.

He was also the cousin of Katya Gulvig, the Golden Clan representative who mysteriously disappeared yesterday. He came here personally to investigate his cousin Katya's disappearance and, incidentally, to see his young and adorable fiancée. Mary felt the latter was more important.

"This woman was the last person to see Katya before she disappeared."

Julius Gulveg said, "Katyuya enjoys getting massages to relax her body before work, but she is a shy girl and doesn't like to expose her body in front of strangers, so she only accepts female blind masseuses."

The blind masseur wearing sunglasses nodded: "Yes, yes, sir. Last night, I received an order for a home service. The lady named Katya offered a very high price. The income from one service would be enough to pay off all of my son's student loans. So after I accepted the order, I didn't dare to delay and immediately had my husband drive me to the hotel."

“My husband accompanied the hotel staff to my room, and then they all left to wait downstairs. I stayed at the door alone and rang the doorbell.”

"The doorbell rang for a long time before there was a response from inside the room. It was a young woman's voice telling me to just push the door open and go in."

I had experience providing door-to-door service to other VIPs staying at this hotel before, so I was quite familiar with the furnishings of the penthouse suite and went straight in.

After I closed the door behind me, the same voice rang out again, saying, "I'm by the bathtub, just come over."

The penthouse suites feature bathtubs by floor-to-ceiling windows, offering direct views of Vivian Harbour's nightscape, making them very popular.

The blind female masseuse spoke with a look of longing on her face. She often heard customers marvel at the beauty of the city's night view, but she had never seen it with her own eyes.

She continued, "I walked to the bathtub from my memory, followed the direction of the sound, and found the yoga mat laid out in front of the French windows. The person lying on it should be Ms. Katya, the guest I'll be serving tonight."

"Ms. Katyuya was very patient and did not rush me, giving me ample time to prepare the tools for the massage. But just as I unscrewed the essential oil and was about to apply it to Ms. Katyuya's calves, I discovered something terrible."

"Her calves were cold."

"I was stunned. I squeezed her calf hard, somewhat incredulously, and found that the muscles were very stiff. It wasn't the muscle tension that athletes have after running, but... rigor mortis, cold and stiff, like frozen pork bought from a supermarket."

"At that moment, the guests' voices rang out again."

She said: "Why are you taking so long? Hurry up and press it."

(End of this chapter)