The fairy maid cheers for her deceased master today.

"This mystery mentions the Thames River, several bridges, and fog..."

Axe continued his analysis.

"London is famous for its fog, especially along the Thames. The three bridges mentioned in the article—London Bridge, Tower Bridge, and Westminster Bridge—either already exist or are in the planning stages."

Elena immediately pointed out:

"The most crucial clue is 'I'm under a bridge.' This directly indicates that Catherine is being held captive under or near a bridge. Combining this with the East London clue mentioned in Reasoning 2, we can narrow down the scope to bridges in the East London area."

Which bridge should it be?

"Westminster Bridge and Tower Bridge are currently only future plans announced by the City Hall... so it can only be London Bridge."

Therefore, the final conclusion has been reached.

Catherine is likely being held near London Bridge, possibly in an industrial building in the direction of Whitechapel, with red brick walls, blue decorative windows, or at least windows visible from the blue walls, and possibly near the underground tunnel system. The Thames River could also be seen from the windows.

Although some issues may still exist. For example, London Bridge is still some distance from Whitechapel…

However, architectural styles are only for reference. If London Bridge is used as the core clue, the search scope is already quite narrow.

X stood up. "Ready to go, Angel. Hmm, Angel?"

X noticed that Angel was still holding her cheek and staring blankly.

Ex gently tapped her on the head, and she snapped out of her daze: "Oh, what's wrong? What's wrong?"

"Let's go, we're going to find Catherine."

Angel immediately snapped out of her daze, a serious expression appearing on her face: "I'm ready!"

■

Ax and his team quickly arrived at their target location—near London Bridge—and began their search.

Compared to the red walls, the blue glass windows clearly became the most crucial and conspicuous clue.

With a sufficiently small search area, all that's left is to conduct a comprehensive, blanket search.

In addition, they also needed a view of London Bridge... Ultimately, Ex settled on two abandoned textile factories on the riverbank.

One of the abandoned factories was completely deserted.

X observed from the outside first, then went inside and searched around, but found nothing.

But the other abandoned factory was different...

The red brick walls there looked particularly gloomy in the rain, and the dilapidated windows stared at them like empty eye sockets.

The remaining blue glass, like embellishments, resembles teardrops at the corners of eyes.

The air here is filled with the smell of rust and damp mold, and a faint... bloody odor.

Ax did not approach rashly. He found a high point in a nearby building, took out the telescope he had made through the equivalent exchange, and peered into a broken window. His pupils suddenly contracted.

The only images available demonstrate the heavy security here.

The factory's interior space was enormous, but it was now crammed full of gang members.

A rough count revealed at least twenty burly men, dressed in uniform, dark, worn-out work clothes, with rudimentary firearms at their waists. They also typically carried crowbars and other melee weapons.

They were scattered in small groups in various corners, smoking, gambling, or roughly inspecting something. There was simply no room to sneak around!

As for Catherine, she couldn't be found. She might be in a blind spot, or the curtains in her room might be drawn.

Ex immediately explained the situation to the two fairies.

"There are too many..." Irene's eyes were full of worry. "There's no way we can sneak in."

Moreover, the enemy has firearms.

If they were all using cold weapons, they might have been able to put up a fight.

Angel gripped X's clothes tightly, her face tense: "Master, what should we do? If we force our way in..."

Ax did not answer immediately.

He lowered his head, recalling the layout of the entire factory.

The factory was easy to defend, with towering roofs, a maze of pipes, mountains of debris, and abandoned textile machinery. Moreover, the enemy had an overwhelming numerical advantage. A direct assault would be suicidal.

"Wait." Ax suddenly made a shushing gesture, his gaze turning towards the side door of the factory.

Several furtive figures moved along the wall, dressed in tattered jackets, quite different from the gangsters in the factory. They also held weapons, but looked more tense, as if preparing for a big heist.

"Are they from another gang?" Elena noticed as well.

"Looks like they're here to cause trouble." A cold smile curled at the corner of X's lips. "Perhaps... we can observe them first."

X, along with Elena and Angel, quickly hid nearby, holding their breath and observing the actions of those people.

Those troublemakers were clearly inexperienced; they had barely made their way to the side door when they were spotted by a gang member on lookout duty.

"Who goes there?!" A sharp shout shattered the silence of the rainy night.

Sure enough, they were discovered immediately.

Gang members inside the factory were constantly monitoring the surroundings, and they would be detected almost as soon as someone got close.

"Get them!"

Upon being discovered, the burly leader of the troublemakers immediately roared, and the group drew their pistols and rushed toward the side door.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Gunshots suddenly rang out, echoing deafeningly in the empty factory.

The troublemakers had barely rushed through the side door when they were ambushed and bombarded at close range with shotguns. Blood splattered instantly, and the man in front fell to the ground, his screams drowned out by the gunfire.

A roar came from inside the factory, and more gang members surrounded them, pointing their firearms at the remaining troublemakers.

"Don't shoot! We surrender!"

The remaining troublemakers were terrified, dropped their weapons, and knelt down to beg for mercy.

"Surrender? Too late!" A man with a face full of scars, with a knife running from his eyebrow to his chin—clearly the leader of the group—sneered as he stepped forward, grabbed the leader by the hair, and slammed his head against the ground.

"Bang!"

The sound of the skull cracking was clearly audible.

The man collapsed without even uttering a sound, and blood spread across the filthy ground.

Seeing that things were not going well, the other troublemakers tried to fight back, but were drowned out by gunfire and all fell to the ground.

"Take them away!" the scarred leader coldly ordered, as if he were dealing with a few flies.

Several henchmen stepped forward and dragged the corpses deeper into the factory like garbage, one of them even kicking the bloodstains on the ground.

X and Elena watched in the shadows, their hearts pounding. Angel covered her mouth, her blue eyes filled with terror.

After the gang members dragged the body into a room, someone immediately came out with buckets and mops and began cleaning up the bloodstains on the floor.

The movements were chillingly practiced, as if they had done it countless times before. Soon, the bloodstains on the ground were washed away, leaving only a faint fishy smell.

Now X knows... where the fishy smell in this area is coming from.

"They...they just killed people like that..." Elena's voice trembled with disbelief, her face as pale as paper.

She seemed completely unaware that beneath the glitz and glamour of London lurked a group of ruthless killers.

"This is their territory, their rules."

Ax is knowledgeable and well-informed.

"It seems that Catherine is most likely hiding in this factory. But the guards here are ruthless and unreasonable."

He watched as the gang members cleaned up the scene and returned to their posts, as if the bloody massacre had just happened as a trivial matter.

Ax grew increasingly calm. What was needed now was a cool-headed calculation.

Forcing our way in? Absolutely not. The other side outnumbers us and is ruthless. Catherine is in their hands, and the slightest mistake could endanger her life.

What should he do? Ax's mind raced, considering every possible solution. Suddenly, an extremely bold, even insane, idea flashed through his mind like lightning.

"Elena, Angel." Ex turned around, his gaze sweeping across the two fairies' faces with an undeniable resolve. "We need to find an 'ally.'"

"Allies?" Elena frowned in confusion. "Who can we turn to for help in a time like this? The police? But they..."

"No, not the police." AX interrupted her, a strange smile playing on his lips. "The person we're looking for is more useful than the police, and...more dangerous."

"Who is it?" Angel asked curiously, tilting her head. "Master, we actually have allies?"

X took a deep breath, as if about to reveal a shocking secret, his voice low yet clearly reaching the ears of the two fairies:

"Let's go find... Spring-Heeled Jack."

"What?!"