Please be my partner.

Several mechanics were a little nonchalant at first, then they became slightly interested. After snatching the black beetle and examining it carefully for a moment, almost all of them revealed undisguised greed in their eyes.

Melen didn't care about this and watched their performance quietly.

More than ten minutes later, Mellen walked out of the Mechanical Association under the respectful gaze of Manager Mike.

The result was a bit disappointing for him. At least the four mechanics he met were not clear about the origin of the black beetle.

They even wanted to interrogate Mellen and get more information about the black beetle from him.

In response, Melen naturally used the power of fantasy to erase their memories of the black beetle.

Of course, since he is not very proficient in the use of this dream power, it is inevitable that his memories, except for those related to the black beetle, are somewhat bumpy.

As for the promised reward of 100 gold coins per person, I had naturally paid it, well, in my dream.

Although the trip to the Mechanical Association cannot be said to be completely useless, it only eliminated some wrong options. Next, we still have to follow the previous plan.

Soon, Mellen arrived at his first target, a townhouse area on the edge of the Colin district.

Mellen knocked on the door of one of the houses according to the number he remembered.

The person who opened the door was a maid. She looked at the elegant Mellen and asked respectfully, "Sir, what can I do for you?"

Mellen smiled gently and said, "This must be Mr. Demik's house. I'm his friend, and I'm here to visit him."

When the maid heard that it was a friend of the master's family, she said without hesitation: "Please wait a moment, I will go and inform the lady."

After saying that, he closed the door again.

This was actually quite rude behavior, but since the maid had never seen Mellen before, it was natural for her to be wary.

Melen didn't care about this. He took two steps back and waited patiently.

After a moment, he felt someone observing him through the cat's eye.

After a while, the door opened and Mrs. Demik appeared and said, "Sir, my husband is not at home at the moment. Please come back later."

Mellen smiled slightly, looked at the charming mature woman in front of him, and said, "It's okay, as long as the lady is here, it's enough."

Having said that, without waiting for the other party to react, he directly took out the black beetle. At the same time, the power of dream surged out and penetrated into her mind and memory.

Suddenly, Mrs. Demick's memories began to churn, even including those she had long forgotten.

These memories were automatically matched with the black beetles, and ultimately nothing was found.

Mellen took back the black beetle and said to the dazed Mrs. Demick, "I'm sorry, it seems I made a mistake. Please forget what happened today and go back to have a good rest."

Chapter 156 Puppet Manor

Over the next two days, Mellen visited ten of these households one after another, but unfortunately found nothing.

The reason why it took so long was mainly because some people gave wrong addresses, which forced him to spend extra time searching. Otherwise, according to his original estimate, one day should have been enough.

Now, there is only one last goal left.

In fact, according to Mellen's judgment, this last target is the most suspicious.

The main reason why it was placed last instead of being the first to be explored was that this family was not in Vero City now.

Speaking of which, this last target is a celebrity, Nomi Kraus, a famous artist, sculptor, and philanthropist. Of course, compared to these, he has a more well-known identity... a puppet magician.

The so-called puppet magician mainly uses puppets as props to perform various forms of performances.

In addition, this puppet magician is also proficient in ventriloquism and string pulling, and can make the puppets come alive during performances, just like real people.

It sounds magical, but in fact, ventriloquism is actually a special pronunciation technique formed after certain professional training, in which the breath is harmonized in the abdominal cavity and hits the special part of the vocal cords, causing the vocal cords to vibrate passively.

Thread pulling is a technique of controlling puppets with silk threads. It can not only make small puppets perform various actions, but also make large puppets move like real people within a certain period of time through various advance arrangements.

Nomi was buried in the cemetery three years ago. According to his wealth and status, he should have been able to afford a private grave. I don't know why this happened.

Nomi's son and daughter-in-law died in a performance accident many years ago. Although her only granddaughter inherited the puppet estate, she has no interest in puppet magic at all.

Fortunately, Nomi’s puppet magic was not lost, and he still had two talented disciples.

Now, his two disciples have their own teams and are performing their own shows.

On the third day, after breakfast, Melen took a carriage to Puppet Manor.

Puppet Manor is located more than ten kilometers west of Vero City. It is a paradise built by Nomi. It was quite famous during the latter's lifetime.

Among them, there are many entertainment mechanisms and lifelike carved puppets.

Puppet Manor is a place that can bring laughter to people.

However, all this changed after Nomi's death. His granddaughter Vera Kraus was unwilling to open the Puppet Manor, so the manor went from being a popular destination to being deserted.

Of course, even so, this manor occasionally welcomes familiar guests, such as at this moment...

Two rather low-key carriages stopped at the gate of Puppet Manor, and two young men got out of them.

One of them was older, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. He was wearing a tuxedo and holding an antique cane. He was dressed meticulously and seemed ready to perform on stage at any time.

The other man was a little younger, around twenty-four or twenty-five years old. He was dressed much more casually, with a lot of odds and ends hanging on his body, looking very trendy.

The two people were Nomi's eldest apprentice David and second apprentice Johnny.

Johnny looked at the manor in front of him and sighed, "Really, I haven't been back for a while."

David didn't say anything, but walked towards it.

Johnny followed David and said, "Brother, do you think we can get what we want this time?"

David paused imperceptibly, then said nonchalantly, "Who knows?"

Soon, they walked through the courtyard filled with puppets and mechanisms and entered the large villa inside the manor.

In the living room of the villa, a girl wearing a pleated skirt and with a delicate face like a doll was sitting there quietly, and a housekeeper with a stiff expression was standing quietly behind her.

The two were not surprised by the arrival of David and Johnny, and did not even react much.

The latter two seemed to have gotten used to it and sat down casually.

After the four of them were silent for a long time, Johnny couldn't help but say, "Sister Vera, you..."

Before he could finish, Vera suddenly stood up and turned away.

Seeing this, Johnny had no choice but to swallow back the words that were on the tip of his tongue and let out a helpless sigh.

David remained silent, and the atmosphere became extremely weird for a moment.

After a long moment, David said, "Never mind. Those are the teacher's family affairs. It's not appropriate for us disciples to interfere. We just want to achieve our goal this time."

Johnny could only nod.

David said to the housekeeper, "Go and prepare our room, just as usual."

The butler didn't say much, just bowed and left.

The distance of more than ten kilometers was not far, and the carriage that Mellen was riding in soon arrived at the Puppet Manor.

After getting off the carriage, Mellen looked at the deserted and dilapidated manor, but didn't feel much.

The temporary driver said with some emotion: "A few years ago, this manor was quite lively, receiving hundreds of guests almost every day. Unfortunately..."

The gate of the manor was open and there was not even a guard. Melen just thought about it for a moment and then walked in.

Along the way, various puppets can be seen everywhere. Perhaps because no one has taken care of them for a long time, they do not look delicate, and there are even many damaged parts. The clothes they wear also look dirty.

Only their eyes seemed very special, and Melen could see some kind of spiritual meaning in them.

Is this the skill of a master carver? !

Melen came to the nearest puppet, which was an image of an old man in a formal suit. Its funny movements and exaggerated expressions always made people who saw it laugh.

I tapped it gently and it made a dull sound, proving that the puppet was solid. I pushed it slightly and the heaviness I felt in my palms also confirmed this.

He continued walking forward and soon came upon the only large villa in the manor. He walked up and was about to knock on the door when he suddenly noticed a strange sign on the door. It read "Instructions for Puppet Manor" and below it were some inexplicable rules, such as...

1. When you are in the Puppet Manor, please remember that once it is past midnight, please stay in your room to rest and do not go out at will.

2. If you have not returned to your room after midnight, please be sure to follow the lighted route and wait for the housekeeper to take you back to your room.

3. If you want to go out after midnight, please walk in one direction along the corridor and do not look back. Please rest assured that the corridor adopts a spiral structure. If you encounter suspicious people on the way, please be sure not to talk to them.

……

……

There are ten rules in total, and what makes Mellen feel strange is that some of these rules seem like child's play, while others contradict each other.

It seems that the only reason they exist is to add some 'fun' elements to the Puppet Manor.

Before he could think too much, the door was opened and a man dressed like a butler walked out and looked at Mellen quietly.

Mellen looked at the butler, frowning slightly.

The butler in front of him looked like an ordinary person, but Melen could not sense any breath of life from him.

After thinking for a moment, Mellen said, "Hello, I'm here to visit the host, Miss Vera. Please let her know."

After a moment of silence, the butler said, "Sir, please follow me."

There was a flash of surprise in Mellen's eyes. You know, he was the one who entered the manor without permission, and now he didn't need to inform anyone, and didn't even ask about his identity, but directly invited him into the house?

But Mellen had no reason to hesitate and followed the butler into the villa.

When he came to the living room, he saw two familiar-looking people. Melen recalled for a moment and realized that these were Nomi's two apprentices.

David and Johnny were also a little surprised to see Mellen. They didn't understand why there would be guests coming to Puppet Manor at this time, and at this time.

Johnny was the first to ask, "Sir, may I ask the purpose of your visit?"

Mellen replied, "I want to pay a visit to Miss Vera."

This answer made the two people's doubts even worse. Johnny continued, "I'm Johnny, and the person next to me is my senior brother David. We are both students of Teacher Nomi, and I haven't asked him anything yet..."

Mellen said, "Mellen Warwick."

Johnny was obviously not satisfied with Mellen's answer of just giving his name. He said in a stiffer tone, "Then Mr. Mellen, what is your relationship with Vera?"

Mellen easily saw through his thoughts from the other person's expression. He smiled slightly and said, "I don't know Miss Vera. I'm just interested in Master Nomi's affairs, so I wanted to come and pay him a visit."

"Is that so?" Johnny's expression softened slightly, and he shook his head slightly and said, "Mr. Mellen, please go back. Today is not a good time to visit Sister Vera. You can come back later."

"Oh?" Mellen asked doubtfully, "Why do you say that?"

Johnny kept his mouth shut without further explanation.

Although he listened to people's advice and had a full meal, it was impossible for Melen to just retreat just because someone said something to him.

So, Mellen ignored Johnny's 'advice'.

Seeing this, Johnny just sighed helplessly.

At this moment, the housekeeper said, "Mr. David, Mr. Johnny, your rooms have been cleaned up."

David got up and left without saying a word. Johnny also got up and left after taking a last look at Mellen.

In a blink of an eye, only Mellen and the butler were left in the living room.

Mellen asked the housekeeper, "I wonder when I can visit Miss Vera?"

The housekeeper bowed slightly and said, "The young lady is resting now. If you want to see her, please wait until after 2 pm."

"After two o'clock?" Mellen nodded slightly and asked, "Should I wait here?"

The housekeeper said, "I have prepared a rest room for the guests. Please come in."

Mellen nodded and followed the butler.

Looking at the butler in front of him, Mellen had more and more doubts in his heart. The other party's behavior seemed normal, but if you think about it carefully, you can find many unreasonable things in it.

The simplest point is that if someone visits him when he is resting, Butler Morgan will definitely make proper arrangements based on the visitor's purpose and identity, instead of being like the butler in front of him, who will just mechanically take the visitor to the living room without the guest asking, and has no subjective initiative at all.

The guest rooms for rest are quite spacious and well-maintained.

There is a bedroom, a bathroom, and a study. There is also a bookshelf in the study with many books on it.

What was a little strange was that along the way, in this huge villa, and even in the entire manor, Mellen didn't see any other servants except the butler.

After thinking about it for a while, Mellen gave up the idea of going directly to find Miss Vera. After all, it was not polite to disturb others when they were resting. It was just a matter of waiting a little longer.

Thinking of this, Melen went to the study and casually picked up a book to read.

Time soon came to two o'clock in the afternoon. Melen found that no one came to inform him, so he had to go out by himself and walk towards the living room.