“Yes, this is very good.”
In the dimly lit room, Xia De, with his head bowed, suddenly spoke, then used a pencil to tick "Gluttony's Feast", and handed over the pencil, the slip of paper, and 11 pounds in cash.
The Library's transaction commission was paid by the seller, so Xia De didn't need to worry about that.
The sound of a door opening came from behind the screen, and then it took a full half an hour for the other party to return, handing a book through the hole in the wall.
The book was titled "You Can Too: Simple Cooking for Lamb Stew."
This cookbook was very thick but extremely light; upon opening it, he found that the inside had been hollowed out, containing specific information and materials for Miracle learning.
Xia De carefully checked it under the lamp and, finding no issues, got up to leave.
But the man behind the wooden screen called out to him again:
“Since this is your first time at the Library, do you know about what happened at Lakeview Manor last weekend?”
Xia De's heart skipped a beat, but he remained calm on the surface:
“I heard about it. I heard that The Masked Man Under the Silver Moon kicked down half of Lakeview Manor's mansion under the moon.”
He deliberately gave incorrect information, and as expected, he was corrected:
“Your information is probably wrong. What I heard was that the man evaporated a small part of Schluch Lake with one kick.”
Saying even more problematic information, the man said to Xia De:
“This is your first time here, so you probably don’t know that we also collect intelligence here.
Currently, news about that person is very valuable; if you have confirmed intelligence, you can consider selling it to us.”
“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Xia De said, eager to leave, unwilling to discuss the topic with others.
Leaving was not through the door he came in through, but by continuing down the corridor and exiting through the back door of the Library, hidden in an alley on the other side.
Xia De deliberately circled a few times in the intricate alleys nearby, fully utilizing the even thicker, choking grey fog today, confirming that no one was following him before taking off his vest, putting on his outer coat properly, removing his mask, and returning to the main road.
Some time was spent at the Black Raven Library, but summer days are long, so the sunset had only just appeared on the western horizon.
Xia De joined the crowd on the street, and after a carriage galloped past, he crossed from one side of the street to the other, turned at a mailbox, and walked along the low wall by the street, alongside two rusty pipes.
“So, the Ling Rune devoured from the Old God is different from ordinary runes?”
He thought to himself.
“Yes.”
He stopped at the intersection ahead, looking left and right, somewhat hesitant about which way to go home.
The mist was hazy, and housewives in long dresses and ruffled hats hurried past him, while uniformed police officers looked around on the other side of the intersection.
Xia De asked in his mind:
“So, by coming into contact with Old God and devouring their power, I can not only gain divinity but also obtain powerful Ling Runes?
Interesting, it's almost tempting me to go and contact an evil god again.”
“This is not me tempting you; this is simply the truth.”
“I know.”
He chose the right path; although the left path was shorter, he had never taken the right path and wanted to try it.
Having made his decision, he set off, and the small building housing the printing factory's office caught his eye for a few seconds.
Hamilton Detective's business cards also needed a new batch printed.
“Speaking of which, what is the method for devouring a god's power?
I can probably understand that I need to actively contact a god.
But is that all it takes?”
This was the most important question, one he should have asked earlier, but things hadn't stopped since he woke up.
“This is very simple: just repeat what happened that night; it has no necessary connection to the vampire ring itself.
You just need to find a way, a relic similar to the vampire ring, that can absorb a god's power, even if only for a moment, to recreate the scene from that night.
Of course, this is also what the Knowledge of divinity told me.”
“And then you will appear?”
He thought of the soft body that appeared behind him that night when he was on the verge of death; he missed that feeling.
He received no answer, nor was he reprimanded for his impolite thoughts; the woman merely chuckled, and her laughter made Xia De relax:
“But it doesn’t matter; the divinity to wash the first ring of Sublimation Words rune is already there, and I won’t waste it.
So, I won’t need the next drop of divinity until at least the second ring, which will probably take several years.”
The woman did not answer, still chuckling in his ear as Xia De disappeared into the intersection, walking into the mist.
He did not immediately return to Saint Delan Square; guided by the hint from "the other me," Xia De went to Old John's pawn shop in the glow of the setting sun.
Even with the fog in the City, the fierce summer sunset could still cast fiery red light through the shop windows onto the floor.
He pushed the door, and the bell jingled, but there was another customer in the pawn shop at that moment—a middle-aged lady with a ruffled hat tilted on her head, talking to Old John at the counter.
The pawn shop owner gave Xia De a look, signaling him not to approach yet.
So, after confirming that the woman was just an ordinary person, Xia De paid no attention and simply browsed around the pawn shop, becoming interested in the dusty prototype of the Mark IX steam engine in the corner.
“What, interested in this?
I can sell it to you cheaper.”
After the woman, content, left in her high heels, Old John said to Xia De, who shook his head:
“What would I do with this? I’m not opening a museum.
Speaking of which, you really have a lot of strange things here.”
He came to the counter.
Out of politeness, Xia De did not use the more fitting term "junkyard" to describe the place.
“I run a pawn shop; as long as it’s not actual trash, I’ll take it, even if it’s just a broken quilt.”
The old man spoke of this with some pride; he took off his reading glasses and closed the ledger.
Xia De looked at him with slight surprise:
“May I ask why that is?
Such a business wouldn’t make money, would it?”
A smile appeared on the old man’s face; he had been waiting for Xia De to ask:
“What do you take me for? A miser who only thinks of pounds?
Well then, Detective, let me ask you a question.
What can you see from this pile of things?”
He pointed to the strange pawned items displayed in the shop, some of which were genuinely valuable, like the cane Xia De pawned last time, but most were just ordinary objects.
“See...”
He pondered hesitantly.
“If you guess my thoughts correctly, this time’s business will be half price for you.”
Old John encouraged him, and Xia De immediately perked up.
But with such an open-ended question, guessing correctly was not easy at all.
After thinking for a long time, he couldn't find a precise answer and could only give a broader one:
“Society and life?”
Old John laughed:
“Very close, but not quite; it’s civilization.”
Xia De had thought his own answer was exaggerated, but he hadn't expected the old man's to be even more so.