Alex and Ella were sitting in the carriage, which had just turned out of Hag Lane into a commercial street. On both sides of the road, vendors were caught unawares by the rain, which was becoming heavier and heavier. Everyone was scurrying around trying to pack up their stalls while shouting and creating a chaotic scene. This made Alex frown as he instructed his driver to be cautious.
Safe inside their carriage, they still noticed how people outside appeared like headless flies due to the sudden downpour that seemed to have disorientated them; however, there was no trace of panic or fear in their faces. Just when Alex was about to shout 'stop!' to get his driver's attention, he realised it would not be necessary as they hadn't moved at all through it all.
Alex could sense a foreboding in his heart, and he and Ella exchanged glances - both of them becoming very solemn. Lowering his voice, Alex spoke up: "It seems like we have just encountered something unusual."
Ella had experienced this kind of situation before; she remained calm, gave a slight nod, and pulled out her long-barrelled revolver from her waist. As she held the gun, a faint white light shone on the back of her wrist - it was the spirit that had been summoned. Dou Qi started to flow into the pistol's handle as runes began to materialize on its surface and its muzzle position flashed intermittently.
At this point in time, the temperature around them suddenly dropped drastically with some metal components on the carriage even being covered with frost.
Alex firmly held onto his staff and gave Ella a quick glance. Neither of them acted hastily. From afar came the faint, yet mournful cry that gradually became louder until it seemed to be coming from the roof of the buildings on the street; but not long after that, it quickly faded away and then stopped. The clouds started to disperse and eventually, even the heavy rain had gone away by now. Eventually, people who were walking haphazardly like headless chickens recovered their composure but still looked gloomy as if they had been struck by an illness which led to their spirits being extremely dispirited.
Alex and Ella felt immense relief when they were in the carriage, but their anxieties still lingered. Without a doubt, something mysteriously powerful had passed close by.
It could transform the celestial scene over a small area and make everyone on the street lose their minds. Could this be an official-level bizarre occurrence coming to PARSLOV City?
Fortunately, it seemed that the other party did not have malicious intent, at least not at present; otherwise, no one in this neighbourhood including Alex and Ella would have been able to survive.
Alex looked in the direction of the strange disappearance, which was the Rose Cafe where he and Ella met just now.
Alex was pondering the current situation as they drove along. There had yet to be a solution in the Baron Albert murder case, and now a more powerful and sinister force had arisen. He could not tell if this monster was an enemy or not, but it seemed that weirdness followed each other in PARSLOV City - making it increasingly dangerous. Nonetheless, their journey remained unchanged after passing by on this detour, and before long they were both stepping out of the carriage at an unassuming street building.
Upon their arrival, a very well-mannered and intelligent girl named Meg welcomed her. Meg was the attendant of one-eyed Andros and a student at college. Ella inquired about Andros's whereabouts after introducing Alex, to which Meg replied that he had been summoned by the mayor for business. Both Ella and Alex were keen to find out what kind of venture it was.
Meg nonchalantly said, "Who knows, it's shrouded in mystery." It was plain to see that when she found out Alex's last name was GOLDERT and had the title of knight, she deliberately mentioned the mayor to emphasise that their family had a unique way of doing things – shrewd yet still immature. Ella knew her style well and gave Alex a shrug behind Meg's back to suggest they did not share the same views. Alex replied saying it does not matter, they would just wait until the old one-eyed returned.
Then Meg took them to a well-decorated reception room, made two cups of hot tea, and was very enthusiastic.
"By the way, Meg, are there any new products in the market recently?" Ella asked after a sip of tea. The market in her mouth refers to the black market.
Meg smiled bitterly and said, "There's nothing new, there's been a lot of wickedness lately. Those scumbags have been broken several times.
scumbags refer to tomb robbers, these people are the main suppliers of black-market goods.
"Oh? What is the specific situation?" Ella and Alex were both intrigued.
"I just heard about it." Meg said calmly: "Since half a month ago, it has often rained on sunny days around PARSLOV City, and within the range of rain, people are confused, as if It was like losing their souls, and some people even went into madness. Those idiots encountered this situation several times, and they were all scared crazy and said they encountered something strange."
"It's raining!" Alex's heart sank, recalling the situation he encountered just now, and he thought to himself, "Could it be that that weird person has been wandering around PARSLOV City for a long time and now finally enters the city! Or this weirdness is also coming with those three elves. to PARSLOV City?"
Unfortunately, Meg was just anecdotal and did not know much, so she quickly changed the subject.
About half an hour later, a sturdy one-eyed man in his fifties wearing a black trench coat walked in from outside.
Although Andros is one-eyed and has a scar on his face, coupled with his bald rosacea appearance, not only does he not feel fierce, but it is somewhat funny, which really does not match his identity as a gangster.
greeted him for a while. After explaining his purpose, Andros was also very enthusiastic. He was worried that he could not handle the rubbish! It is a pity to throw it away, and no one wants it when it is sold.
"Since Mr. GOLDERT is interested, it's better to look at the goods before negotiating the price." One-eyed led Alex and the others into the inside, followed a wooden staircase and entered a basement.
Although it is a basement, it is not damp and dark. After the gas lamp is turned on, the whole house is illuminated. The area is 70 to 80 square meters, and a dozen shelves are full of messy things.
"It's all here, Mr. GOLDERT can take whatever he likes, and the price is easy to negotiate." Andros looked like a good talker, but it was a businessman's face, ready to sell.
Alex is not stupid, he glanced at the basement, shook his head, and smiled: "Old one-eyed, I think we should talk about it first, we are all discerning people, you are all leftovers, some of them are simply fragments, and the words are unpleasant. Throwing it out is garbage, don't even think about raising the price on the ground, let us just be a little bit better today, do not care about anything, how about I pick one or two gold pounds?"
The one-eyed blinked his only remaining eye, thought for a moment, then nodded, and laughed: "This method works, no matter how much you lose, it all depends on luck and vision, but two gold pounds won't work, I want three gold pounds for one piece."
"Deal!" Alex agreed directly, the price difference is only a few dozen gold pounds, and there is no need to be too entangled, and if there are too many things picked out, because the difference of one gold pound will cause him a heavy loss, he is not depressed, but more. Happy, because that means more psionic power in his cemetery.
After reached an agreement, Alex began to search the basement under the watchful eyes of the three. He did not check it carefully, just touched it at random, and quickly walked through three shelves without taking anything. This made one eyed frown a little. He did not think that Alex came here specifically to make fun of him. If he was so inattentive, it showed that Alex had special means to distinguish whether these damaged antiques or magic items were valuable. Apparently, none of the hundreds of items on the first three shelves were worth Alex's hand.
Alex almost had to walk past the fourth shelf, but stopped at the end, his eyes flashed brightly, then he smiled and pointed with his hand: "This is one piece." Then he put an incredibly old one., picked up the rusted half-truncated sword.
Seeing Alex's careful selection and finally asking for half of the scrap iron, the three people watching the fun were a little surprised, Meg simply did not bother to watch, and turned around and left.