Mastermind Behind The Scenes

The next day, early in the morning. The heavy rain that had lasted all night finally stopped. Pushing open the window, the fresh air hit her face, making her feel refreshed. Looking up, the sun had already revealed half of its face in the distant sky, casting a golden light, rendering the whole world dazzling and beautiful.

Ethan opened the door on time at 7 o'clock as usual. Of course, there were usually no customers. Who would come to the tavern to drink so early in the morning, let alone a retro tavern that no one cares about? But today was different. Ethan had just opened the old wooden door of the tavern when he saw a woman walking toward him. Gina. The two did not talk. Ethan turned and entered the tavern, and Gina followed him in.

At the wine cabinet, Ethan held a cocktail glass and looked at Gina, who was sitting opposite him:

"What do you want to drink?"

"I have never drunk alcohol, but I want to drink a glass today," Gina said with a dejected look.

Ethan smiled, added various materials to the cocktail glass, and shook it skillfully. He took out a glass and placed it on the counter, pouring out a fragrant light yellow cocktail.

"Tulip, light and flavorful, with a long aftertaste after drinking. Very suitable for a girl's first time."

Looking at this light yellow amber-like wine, Gina quietly admired it for a few seconds before picking up the glass to take a sip. Although the taste of the wine was very light and soft, Gina, who had never drunk alcohol, still choked. However, after getting used to it, the second sip was much more natural, and she also tasted a little bit of flavor.

"Delicious."

"80 dollars. Cash, WeChat, Alipay, or credit card?"

Gina's expression instantly became as ugly as if she had eaten a fly. 80 dollars for a glass of wine was such a luxury for her, but in the end, she gritted her teeth and took out a 100 dollar bill, slapping it on the table.

"Thank you for your patronage." Ethan smiled and accepted the 100 dollars very naturally.

"Tell me, why did you come back again?"

Gina was very upset, thinking about her 20 dollar, but Ethan seemed to have no intention of giving her change. She moved her lips but finally did not ask for it. She just looked depressed again.

"I don't know where to go, and I don't know what to do. I came back here unknowingly."

"I understand, life is in confusion," Ethan nodded. "Do you need me to make you a glass of wine? After drinking it, you can temporarily forget all your worries."

"No," Gina decisively refused. 80 dollars for a glass of wine was enough to make her feel distressed for a long time, not to mention that the boss didn't seem to have the habit of giving change.

After hesitating for a while, she said, "Can I stay here and work?"

Ethan smiled. "You are my only guest in the past two days. Do you think I need to hire employees?"

"I don't need a salary, just food and accommodation. I just want to find a place where I can slowly think about the future."

Ethan thought about it and figured it would be good to have someone to help with chores. Besides, Gina was not like Alex, who would cause trouble at any time. It was not impossible to let her stay here. So he spread his hands.

"You don't want your salary anymore, I don't seem to have any reason to refuse."

---

"Adam, has the case of Brightpath Group been resolved? Is it really the lizard man who did it as the rumors on the internet say?"

"I don't know."

"Adam, this is boring. After all, we are classmates in the police academy and lived in the same dormitory. You even hid it from me. Your boss is in charge of these two cases, and you are also involved. If you don't know, who knows?"

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, but the main reason is that these two cases have not been concluded yet, and my boss doesn't allow it to be said."

"Forget it if you don't want to say it."

At the reporting department of Riverton City Police Station, Adam was on duty today, and he was accompanied by a policeman of about his age. It was around nine o'clock in the morning when a man in his 40s with a severely receding hairline hurriedly ran in and sat down at the table of Adam and his partner, breathing heavily. Adam picked up a bottle of mineral water next to him, twisted the cap, and handed it over.

"Sir, is there anything we can do for you?"

The man took the mineral water and drank half of it in one breath, then said:

"Listen to me, this is very scary, don't be afraid when I tell you."

Adam looked at his colleague and instantly became energetic.

"Sir, please rest assured, we have received professional training. No matter what happens, we will never be afraid. Please speak boldly."

"It's like this, huhuhuhu, yesterday at night… my house is haunted. It's really haunted, ghost, there is a ghost in my house!"

Adam and his colleague looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"No, no… puff~"

"You are obviously laughing at me, and you still say no."

"Sir, please calm down, it's like this, we have received professional training, no matter what the situation, we won't laugh… puff… unless we can't help it."

"I'm serious, please, be serious, okay?"

"OK, OK, let's all be serious. Sir, what did the ghost in your house look like last night? Was it the kind that crawled out of the TV with disheveled hair and white clothes? Puff~~"

"Hey, hey, hey, are you kidding me? I'm serious, can you be more professional?"

"OK, OK, sir, you tell us, we'll listen."

"It's like this, last night… forget it, I can't explain it clearly. I have surveillance at home, you can see it."

The man took out his mobile phone and played a surveillance video. Although they thought it was ridiculous, Adam and his partner still watched it out of professionalism and curiosity. However, as the video played, the smiles on their lips gradually faded, replaced by a growing look of shock.

In a dim home environment, a table shook without warning, as if it was hit by something. At the same time, due to the shaking of the table, a cup placed on the edge of the table fell down. But before it hit the ground and broke, it suddenly stopped in mid-air, as if someone had caught it. Then it slowly flew back to the table. But no one was seen throughout the whole process, not even a shadow.

Not long after, the door handle of a bedroom door turned automatically, and the door gently opened, as if something invisible had entered. But since there was no surveillance installed in the bedroom, it was unknown what had happened. About two minutes later, the bedroom door was gently closed again. About 10 minutes later, two thick stacks of 100 dollar bills and several square pieces of gold magically floated out from a wall and then disappeared.