About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

——Because you think this behavior is very 'childish', you hid it and didn't want me to see it... Rosemary is really... ahem, she can't show such a perverted smile.

"Is Rosemary investigating the latest Seven Wonders of Rhodes Island? I'm actually quite interested too. Want to come along?"

Orson reached out to Rosemary and asked if he could join Rosemary's True Detective team.

"Hey, is Orson interested too?"

Rosemary thought she would be laughed at by Orson for being childish, but when she found out that Orson was also very interested, she immediately blinked and went over to ask.

"Yeah, I'm on vacation right now, so I wanted to find something fun to do."

Orson took the notebook Rosemary handed him. There were several titles on it that looked very concerning.

"I'm currently investigating the [Moonlight Ghost that Inhabits Musical Notes]. Oh, Orson! I've heard many people report hearing strange yet unusually beautiful music late at night. When they try to find it, it vanishes, leaving only a bluish-white, ghostly figure. While this unbelievable story has only been circulating these past couple of days, it's been widely discussed and is generating a lot of buzz."

"Uh……"

"Actually, I heard it once two days ago, Orson! The sound was clearly coming from the deck, but when I went over there, I didn't see anything. Um, that, I really didn't lie, Orson..."

Rosemary spoke to Orson excitedly, then seemed to realize that she was a little too excited, so she blushed and lowered her head.

Rosemary's age is considered very young in Rhode Island, a city with a high incidence of child labor. She is obviously full of curiosity, but when she meets Orson, she hopes to show her mature and stable side.

"Well, I believe you. Compared to those—how about we try to find something more incredible?"

"Eh?"

[The moonlight ghost living in the musical notes] Ben Ling, Orson wiped the sweat off his face and made a suggestion.

Since the last time he performed for Skadi, Didi liked Orson's performance more than she had expected, but Skadi still didn't like to appear in front of everyone.

As a compromise, Orson's final solution was to play for Skadi at night, using frequency perception at the same time, and run away when someone came.

It was obvious that the 'blue and white ghost' was caused by Didi's afterimage being seen by others because he was too slow.

By the way, Orson also recommended Didi's sound, but as a deep-sea hunter, Didi didn't get the joke at all, which made Orson almost announce his retirement on the spot. Later, it was Didi's frantic help that made things worse, and she apologized for the mistake of kissing Orson, and finally managed to coax him back.

"If you want a different one...how about this one?"

Rosemary pointed to the line about a terrifying, twisted monster lurking in the shadows of the cafeteria, its entirety unknown!

"That sounds interesting. Let me see what it says—'It's said that many people, while eating in the cafeteria, often see a fleeting, python-like black object in their vision. It passes by others at an extremely fast speed, and those who are swept by it sometimes suddenly discover that a bottle of special hibiscus vegetable nutrient solution has inexplicably appeared on their desk.'... Uh, how about we try another one, Rosemary?"

After reading the second incredible story, Orson, who said, "I couldn't drink the vegetable juice at lunch time, so I secretly stuffed it into other people's plates during the rest period," wiped his sweat.

"That's not impossible—how about this? [The Phantom in the Archives!? A suspicious dwarf hunter with elusive whereabouts and unknown motives]—"

"Change another one!"

Orson, who had been running to the archives every now and then to modify his height on his resume, quickly stopped and began to think about how many of the so-called "seven wonders" he had.

04. Ghost Shark

"How about this, Orson?"

"Hmm... [Unknown random demon whispers]? It doesn't sound like anything to me... ahem, I mean, it sounds good."

Orson, who was on vacation and had nothing to do, was looking for the "Mystery of Rhodes Island" with Rosemary. He looked at the new entry and after confirming that it had nothing to do with him, he rubbed Rosemary's head and said that he would choose this one to investigate.

Specifically speaking, this so-called "Devil's Whisper" is a sound that suddenly rings in your ear in an empty room except for you. This sound can penetrate your crown and reach your soul even if you cover your ears.

But the sound itself only lasts for a moment. When the person concerned wants to confirm it again, he finds that it has disappeared without a trace, as if it had never been there in the first place.

"Although it sounds a bit scary, but... I will work hard to find the truth and let everyone stop worrying as soon as possible."

Rosemary raised the investigation notes in her hand and spoke seriously, while Orson showed an old father's smile that he couldn't hold back, and said, "Come on, Rosemary, let's work together, there will be no problem!" while rubbing the cat's head.

Although Orson had originally joined Rosemary in tracking down "Rhodes Island Miracles" only because he was curious about what Rosemary was doing and because he had nothing to do during the holidays, when Orson saw how serious Rosemary was and how she wanted to help others, he adjusted his attitude and decided to help Rosemary seriously.

"Well then—the Rhodes Island Philin Chimera Detective Agency is now officially established! First, assistant Rosemary!"

"Hey? Ugh, yes, yes!"

Orson suddenly took out a magnifying glass, a pipe, a monocle, and a cane from somewhere, and called Rosemary's name at the same time. The little cat was startled, but immediately puffed out its little chest and responded seriously.

"As a detective, do you know what is the most critical factor in solving a case?"

Orson blew a bubble from his pipe and then pointed at Rosemary and suddenly asked a question.

"The key factor...is it the anesthetic needle?"

"of course not!"

"That should be a football that can penetrate steel plates, right?"

"It's even more outrageous! By the way, that Huang guy should show some serious mystery movies once in a while!"

"Wow... Is this a potion that can make people shorter?"

"I'm not short—ahem, anyway, that's a pretty close guess."

Orson, whose automatic hair-fighting mechanism was triggered, coughed twice, then covered his face in response.

It seems that Rosemary has a lot of misunderstandings about the profession of "detective" because of the influence of the movies she saw from Huang Maomao.

It was obvious that he couldn't carry out a detective operation in this situation, so Orson had to throw away his weird COS props and resume his first job in the Northern Guerrillas - a substitute teacher.

"Listen up, Rosemary. The most important thing in solving a case is intelligence. And there's no fancy way to gather intelligence. You have to be down-to-earth and gather it bit by bit."

"Keep your feet on the ground and gather intelligence... Well, I've got that down, Orson."

Rosemary nodded thoughtfully. Seeing that the kitten had learned new life philosophy, Orson felt that he had gained a lot today.

Then the two of them began to collect intelligence. Orson originally envisioned that "an older and reliable senior would lead a reckless and kind-hearted junior to solve the case", but because of their height and Chimera physique, they actually looked like two lost brothers and sisters who were not very old and were looking for a recognition center.

Putting aside the few "kind-hearted people" who wanted to send the two to their parents (referring to Kal'tsit), Orson and Rosemary did find some information about [Devil's Whisper].

"Here, here, here, and here—these are all locations where paranormal phenomena have been proven to have occurred. Rosemary, do you have any ideas?"

After organizing the collected information, Orson pointed to the map on the table and asked Rosemary.

"It seems that these places are Rhodes Island's lounges?"

"Indeed, it seems you possess excellent observation and reasoning skills, Assistant Rosemary!"

"Hey hey hey..."

Orson confirmed Rosemary's guess, and Rosemary, who was praised by Orson for his straightforwardness, shrank her head in embarrassment, her tail wagging wildly.

"Every paranormal phenomenon occurs in the lounge, and no two lounges are the same. So all we have to do is wait here and we'll be able to find out the true identity of the ghost."

"Hey, are you here?"

When Rosemary heard that the place they were heading to might be the next target of the 'ghost', she, who had just been a little shy and happy, instantly shrank behind Orson, and her wagging tail stood up, as if she was on guard against something.

"Don't be afraid, Rosemary. I'll protect you no matter what comes. So - can you please stop strangling my belly with your Originium technique..."

The first half of Orson's words sounded particularly handsome, but he felt a bit short of breath in the second half. The reason was simple: Rosemary, who was afraid of ghosts and ghosts and hid behind him, unconsciously used the Originium technique to hug Orson tighter.

"W-Sorry--meow!?"

Click!

Rosemary had just begun to relax, but the sound of the door being pushed open behind her frightened the kitten again.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

Orson made an embarrassing sound due to the Originium technique.

"Ah, you guys are here too. Good afternoon."

"Uh, good afternoon, Clouse."

"Then I'll go to bed first~"

The one who pushed open the door of the lounge was the sniper operator Cross. This little rabbit with squinting eyes always greeted Orson and Rosemary in a lazy and slow voice, then took out a quilt that was exactly the same color as the white sofa in the lounge from the backpack behind her, crawled onto the sofa and covered herself with the quilt. Because of the principle of protective color, the whole person seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.

"..." "..."

Rosemary and Orson blinked, somewhat unresponsive.

"Wait a minute, Cross. I'm sorry to disturb your sleep—what's going on?"

Orson quickly woke up Cross, who was about to fall asleep.

"Hmm~? I usually sneak out two minutes before Instructor Doberman dismisses the students and use that time to sleep in the lounge~"

The guy who looked like the [Voice of the Devil] spoke slowly.

"Then when you sleep—"

"ko~ko~da~yo~"

This guy didn’t run away!

Because I ran away early, people who came to the lounge later would not notice me. In addition, I had a natural camouflage and the devil's whisper language -

"kokodayo?"

Cross narrowed her eyes and tilted her head. She just came here to take a nap and didn't understand why the two people in front of her suddenly looked so lost.

--------

“I feel like I have no dreams…”

Rosemary, who solved one of the 'Seven Wonders', did not seem very excited, but rather a little listless.

"Well, most of the so-called approach to science yields similar results. But we still have other things to explore, right? Cheer up, Detective Assistant Rosemary!"

Orson comforted Rosemary.

"Well, there are six other mysterious legends after all!"

Rosemary nodded. Seeing Kitty regain her spirits, Orson became more certain that it would be better not to tell her that "she actually took up the remaining three" first.

"It's already night time, and there's something incredible here that can only be seen at night—"

"[The unidentified bloodthirsty nun with red eyes]? I feel like this is the obvious answer."

Orson frowned after seeing the next entry. Operators with "Red Eyes" were not uncommon on Rhodes Island, but when the word "Nun" was added, Orson could only think of one person, the deep-sea hunter, Ghost Shark, who came to Rhodes Island with Skadi and was said to be active for less than 7 hours in 20 days.

"Well, this isn't really an 'unsolved mystery'. In fact, Dr. Kel'tsit had already told us about Ms. Ghost Shark's existence during a previous meeting. However, due to her unique physique, I've never actually met her."

Rosemary twitched her ears, and it was obvious that she was very curious about this operator who "only heard of the name but never saw the person".

Although the existence of the Ghost Shark is not an absolute secret, for various reasons, 9% of the operators never see it.

And from the mouths of those operators who occasionally encountered it, the existence of the Ghost Shark became more and more mysterious.

"The records say that Operator Phantom Shark is an extremely bloodthirsty, terrifying being without any empathy, a weapon-like being. The only purpose of her nun uniform is to prevent the souls of those she dismembers from disintegrating on the spot due to extreme panic... That sounds too outrageous."

Orson frowned and read the rumors about Ghost Shark. If she was really such an outrageous and terrifying murderer, Kal'tsit Amiya and the others would have driven Ghost Shark away long ago.

"Yeah...that's what I thought...!"

Rosemary whispered in agreement with Orson, but judging from the way she was trembling and curled up, she was probably frightened by the rumor.

"If, if Miss Ghost Shark isn't actually that scary, then spreading these rumors is irresponsible to Miss Ghost Shark. I have an obligation to help dispel these... well, these rumors, I'm not sure if they're just rumors."

"You're right, Rosemary. It's extremely disrespectful to the person involved to speak without understanding something. Kitty is really becoming more mature to have such thoughts."

Orson smiled and rubbed the cat's head.

It is unreasonable to make random comments without understanding a person. For example, when Tallulah was in the guerrilla period, everyone in the team said that Tallulah was a serious leader who was stern, tough and tenacious.

But after actually getting along with her, Orson was sure that these were all rumors. Tallulah was just a fool, but she just pretended to be serious at ordinary times.

For example, the snow rabbit. It was not until the moment when the rabbit locked the door and locked Orson in the house that he finally saw through the true nature of this lustful rabbit.

Another example is Chen Huijie, the senior superintendent who gives the first impression of being upright. Since he accidentally crossed himself in the car last time, his eyes have become more aggressive when he looks at himself.

Again, again, again... cough cough cough, I've gone off topic. In short, Orson knows better than anyone how disadvantageous it is to make conclusions about a person without a deep understanding of him or her.

Since they had decided to help their companions on Rhodes Island find out the true identity of the "Ghost Shark", Orson and Rosemary began to collect intelligence more familiarly this time.

The first witness was Miss Ansel, who had just received her official medical license:

"A monster capable of tearing a human apart with its teeth? While such creatures are not uncommon in the Terran world, if we're talking about 'humans', it's sheer nonsense.

But...if it's that ghost shark, then it's a ghost shark! If she sets her sights on you, it won't be as simple as being torn apart...

I don't want to be too rude, but if you really encounter that ghost shark, please prepare yourself - Resurrection of the Dead!"

"..."

During the evidence collection process, Orson was stunned. The ghost shark that Ansel mentioned was not a human being at all, it was simply a walking crusher.