1888: Memoirs of an Unconfirmed Creature Hunter-Chapter 79: Informal Request for Help

The air in the Baker Street apartment was heavy.
Lin Jie folded Arthur’s plea for help neatly and tucked it into his chest.
His movements were steady and methodical, not panicked, but a cold fury churned deep in his eyes.
He grabbed the coarse tweed hunting coat hanging on the hat rack and headed for the door.
His destination was not Weston’s home but the secret world hidden beneath the British Museum, the Underground City.
Before stepping into that unknown danger himself, he had to secure a firm backup.
Acting recklessly would be irresponsible both to himself and to Weston’s family who were struggling in their plight.
Half an hour later, when Lin Jie rode the secret elevator disguised as an Egyptian sarcophagus back into the Underground City, he walked straight in one direction.
He did not go to the intelligence analysis department nor to the equipment lab;
instead he turned with practiced familiarity toward the Old Captain bar.
It was a weekday afternoon and the bar was not crowded, only a few hunters in clusters, speaking in low voices.
Lin Jie quickly spotted the figure he was looking for.
In the far corner by the bar, a massive, burly man sat with his back to the door.
Marcus’s broad back exuded a powerful sense of pressure.
He was not drinking;
he had dismantled his signature M1887 lever-action shotgun, modified with Grotesque Armament, into a pile of intricately shaped parts spread out on a linen cloth.
He was meticulously wiping the inner walls of the barrel—the barely visible spiritual conduction circuits—with a small piece of deer hide dabbed in special alchemical oil, his focus and gentleness treating the weapon as if it were a lover.
Lin Jie inhaled deeply to steady himself, then stepped forward.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to buy you a drink, Marcus.” Lin Jie’s voice sounded behind the Burly Man.
Marcus paused for half a second.
He slowly turned his scarred, beard-covered rough face, and when he saw Lin Jie his wariness immediately shifted into a smile mixed with surprise and curiosity.
“Oh? Isn’t this the ‘miracle kid’ who just came back from Paris with honors?” Marcus grinned broadly, his thunderous voice especially loud in the spacious bar.
“So, after making so much money, you finally remembered to buy your old friend a drink?”
Though his words carried their usual teasing tone, Marcus set down his work and signaled the bartender.
“Put a bottle of Kiss of the Abyss on my tab, and pour one for this… hmm, for my generous friend the same.”
He hadn’t forgotten the “pain” of paying the bill for the Iron Triangle last time.
Lin Jie didn’t take the joke.
He sat on the chair beside Marcus with a serious expression and got straight to the point, “Marcus, I need your help. It’s a private matter — it won’t go through the Association and there’s no official points or gold sovereigns reward.”
The smile on Marcus’s face slowly faded.
A hunter’s sharp glint flashed in his outwardly coarse eyes.
He knew that if someone known for calm and intellect like Lin Jie spoke in such a grave, almost pleading tone, then the matter must be extraordinary.
“Tell me.” Marcus said in a low voice, gently setting the cleaned barrel back on the linen cloth.
The gesture meant his attention was fully on Lin Jie.
Lin Jie did not conceal the facts but skillfully omitted Weston’s family name and address, summarizing the whole incident objectively and with a palpable sense of danger.
“…A friend, an honest and kind ordinary man. His daughter, a twelve-year-old girl, is being stalked by a thing never before recorded, something that seems to warp space and pollute cognition.”
“Right now the girl’s life force is being rapidly drained, and that UMA has started trying to drag her surrounding reality into its own domain.”
“I have to deal with it tonight.”
Lin Jie’s pace was not rushed, but every word came clear and weighted.
He did not embellish the fear nor make hollow appeals to justice;
he simply laid down a brutal fact and a firm resolve before Marcus.
After listening, Marcus sank into prolonged silence.
He picked up the bartender’s just-served glass of Kiss of the Abyss and gulped down a large swig.
The liquor was black as ink, smelling of brine and the rich warmth of spirits.
“A private operation not recorded in the files…” Marcus muttered, his rough thumb rubbing the thick glass, his voice low, “Lin Jie, do you realize what that means?”
“It means that if something goes wrong the Association will not provide formal support.”
“We won’t have a backup team, no emergency evacuation plan, and if we die in there our bodies might never be recovered.”
“My death benefit would be revoked for ‘acting unauthorized during non-mission time.’”
He lifted his gaze and stared straight into Lin Jie’s eyes.
“Is it worth taking such a huge risk for an unrelated ordinary person?”
This was not cowardice but the most rational and necessary risk assessment from a seasoned hunter before a high-risk action.
Lin Jie’s reply was as direct and honest.
“No.” he said calmly. “From a utilitarian point of view, from a hunter’s input-output perspective, this deal is a total loss.”
“No reward, yet risking our lives to fight an enemy with unknown abilities — a rational hunter would refuse such a commission.”
There was self-mockery in his tone, but his gaze remained resolute.
“Everything I have done and everything I have learned is so that when my friends, when those who trust me, fall into desperate straits, I have the right and the ability to stand before them.”
“That father trusted me when I was at my lowest and being hunted across London, and that girl is just an innocent child.”
Lin Jie’s eyes sharpened like a blade.
“I don’t care what that UMA is or what bizarre powers it has.”
“It crossed the line, so I must make it pay. That is my reason.”
The whole bar fell silent.
Marcus looked at the young man before him, at the determination and stubbornness displayed on that delicate face.
He suddenly broke into a grin.
There was no teasing in it now, only heartfelt approval and magnanimity.
“Damn,” Marcus swore under his breath with an appreciative tone, “I knew you weren’t like those bastards who only care about points and gold sovereigns.”
He stood and began to reassemble his beloved shotgun with a speed that belied his bulky frame.
The metal parts clicked together with crisp, satisfying “clacks.”
“Location, time.” Marcus asked without looking up as he checked the magazine.
“White Church District, nine tonight.” Lin Jie’s mouth finally curved into a small smile.
“All right.” Marcus pressed the final massive, single-headed slug engraved with a purification rune into the magazine, “Count me in tonight.”
“But on one condition — I call the shots on this operation. Your fancy plans need my approval first.”
“I don’t want the two of us dying in some damned, twisted piece-of-shit apartment.”
By saying this, he took responsibility for this “private aid” in the role of a commander.
“Deal.” Lin Jie nodded without hesitation.
The request for help succeeded.
An informal emergency response team for anomalous incidents, composed of an Interpreter and a heavy fire specialist, was formed at that moment.