Chasing Time

“Next, we have the most noble recipient of the Order of the Garter, the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George, the Grand Cross of the Bath, the Victoria Cross and the lower grades of Knighthood, the leader of the anti-colonial movement, the bell-ringer of the East India Company, the hero of the Crimean War, a Fellow of the Royal Society, a lifelong dear friend of literary giants such as Dickens and Great Dumas, a steadfast supporter of scientific luminaries like Faraday and Darwin, having served as assistant under-secretary, deputy under-secretary, and permanent under-secretary in departments of the Home Office and the Navy Department of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the inaugural Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service, the first graduate and most distinguished alumnus of our school. Please welcome Sir Arthur Hastings to deliver a speech on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the University of London.”
Arthur's gaze swept across the crowd before him, looking at the young faces and murmured, “Agares, what do you think I should say?”
The Red Devil's wraith hovered behind him, saliva almost dribbling from the corner of his mouth, “Look at these ignorant souls; they still worship you as a hero. Why not say something they'd like to hear?”
Arthur took a deep breath and let out a deafening roar, “Oxford is a bunch of whores' bastards!”
“Oh!!!!”
The audience erupted into thunderous applause.
“Cambridge is the same!” he added immediately.
The applause grew even more fervent...
(The protagonist, possessed by a devil, travels through 19th-century Britain in a world without magic)

The Shadow of Great Britain

The public carriage rattled along the streets of London.


Inside the carriage, Arthur was reading a freshly printed newspaper, with a pile of old ones beside him.


For more than a month, he had devoted almost all his energy to learning chemical knowledge, improving his skills in case investigation, and searching for traces of the "thief general," Fred.


Having just had a moment of respite, he had taken on the task of investigating the St Giles disappearance from the Duke of Sussex.


Yesterday, he had learned from the innkeeper Wells about the dark trade of "body snatching," and he had immediately drawn some astute officers from the Greenwich Police District to pursue the gang behind the murders.


The team worked through the night and, based on Wells's testimony, secretly arrested two suspects involved in "murder for sale of corpses" in several houses in the Greenwich District.


Chapter 26: At the Crossroads of Storm