"Mr. Spade, um... please take a seat."
The Black Skull groaned for a moment, then raised his hand to signal that Chen Lun could sit in an empty seat.
Chen Lun nodded, found a chair at random, pulled it out and sat down.
"Since there are new people joining, why don't you introduce yourselves first."
Black Skull leaned back slightly, leaning against the back of his chair.
The first person to agree was the rough woman who had fought with Chen Lun.
"You can call me 'Fin'. If you need 'boat pulling' business, you can come to me."
The so-called "pulling a boat" is a slang term, which is similar to pimping, but more direct. Because it is to directly kidnap women and send them to customers. Or kidnap customers and force them to consume.
Chen Lun could smell a slight hint of salty sea and fishy smell from her. This woman might be living in the area of Lona Port, or even work in the port on a daily basis.
"Is it Sequence 8-Navigator...?"
He guessed secretly in his heart.
Then the other five people introduced themselves one after another.
A short-haired woman wearing a white mask called herself "Civet Cat". Chen Lun could not sense any extraordinary fluctuations from her.
The middle-aged man next to her wore a skeleton mask with ancient characters engraved on it. He had a strong voice and a calm tone, and his alias was "Miser".
A man with a hunched back who looked like an old man, with a large grey hat on his head that covered his face, leaving only a little grey beard visible. His name was "Knowledge".
The other two particularly attracted Chen Lun's attention.
A slovenly, unshaven man, without any disguise, with a cold look in his eyes, wearing a linen robe of the lower class. He stared straight ahead and said two words indifferently:
"Hammer."
The last one was wearing a black suit with a white shirt lining, but there was a silver pot upside down on his head... I don't know how he could see things clearly.
He spread his hands reluctantly, and a muffled male voice came from the silver pot:
"You may address me as 'gentleman', new man."
Chen Lun nodded but did not respond.
He was secretly alert in his heart.
This mysterious society hidden in the former site of Pompeii Manor has gathered seven people from the mysterious field. Except for the "Civet Cat", the other six are extraordinary people.
And their sequences are not low.
At least Chen Lun did not sense the presence of any Sequence 9.
"I don't know if Philip's inheritance was taken away by them..."
Chen Lun just felt a headache.
"It seems that our Mr. Big Eater was most likely killed by this Mr. Spade... Tsk tsk, when did Amber City have such a strong man?"
The gentleman chuckled.
The civet cat glanced at him and retorted:
"It is also possible that it is a keepsake that was found."
"hehe… "
The gentleman shook his head, and the silver pot around his neck swayed slightly.
The miser spoke up:
"That doesn't explain how he found this place."
"Could it be that the 'Shelter' captured the 'Big Eater' and exposed our gathering place?"
Knowledge theory.
When they heard the word "shelter", everyone fell silent and the atmosphere became awkward.
"Don't be nervous, everyone..."
Black Skull said indifferently.
"A 'shelter' alone can't do anything to us. Perhaps Mr. Spade's information was given by the Big Eater... Stop speculating. It's meaningless."
He knocked on the table and continued:
"Let's start today's process, starting with the transaction."
Chen Lun looked at Black Skull in surprise, wondering why he was trying to excuse himself.
As the initiator of the association, Black Skull seemed to be quite authoritative. After hearing what he said, everyone stopped worrying about why Chen Lun found this place.
"Two pieces of low-sequence moon faction mysterious matter in exchange for extraordinary things. Who wants it?"
Yu Chi took out two crumpled paper balls and roughly spread them out, revealing two small black balls with a hint of purple.
Everyone was silent for a moment, and the gentleman spoke:
"Are you hunting down the monks of the Moon Church again? Be careful or you might get caught someday..."
"Mind your own business, piss-pot head."
Fishfin sneered.
The gentleman shrugged and said nothing more.
"I want."
Tiechui said indifferently.
"What do you want in exchange? Let me make it clear first that I don't need any mysterious substances."
"How about this?"
Tiechui took out an oddly shaped "umbrella". The curved hook at the end was actually a buttstock and a handle, equipped with a trigger. It looked more like a two-handed flintlock rifle.
"A man-made D-class creature? How does it work? What's the cost?"
Fish Fin became interested and asked quickly.
"Open the parachute, pull the trigger, and you can fire an extraordinary incendiary bomb... extracting body water as ammunition."
Tiechui was very frugal with words and explained briefly.
"Okay! Let's change it!"
The fish fin pushed the two black and purple balls over and reached out to the umbrella flintlock.
But unexpectedly, Tiechui pressed down the gun body.
"What's the meaning?"
Fin frowned.
"not enough."
Tiechui said, and then added:
"Add another fifty pounds."
Fish Fin was silent for a moment, nodded, gritted his teeth and took out another low-sequence moon faction mysterious substance.
"The market price of low-sequence lunar faction mysterious matter is around 50 gold pounds, which is very reasonable."
Black Skull reminded from the side.
Tiechui didn't say anything in response, but just nodded slightly, took the three black and purple balls, and handed the umbrella gun to Yufin.
Next, there were two more transactions, both of which were barter transactions, with only a few purchases using currency.
At this stage, the extraordinary people rarely lack money. They are more likely to become stronger in the mysterious field and go further in the sequence path.
"Mr. Spade, don't you have any needs?"
Black Skull asked.
Chen Lun noticed that everyone was looking at him, and knew that if he didn't do something, he would appear suspicious.
So he chuckled and took out a low-sequence conspiracy faction mysterious substance, a small gray ball.
"I am very interested in the sequence paths other than the Seven Great Gods. If any of you have extraordinary knowledge, this is the deposit... We can discuss it in private. The price is negotiable."
Chen Lun does need to improve his knowledge, but he cannot say it out loud.
"The hidden sequence outside the seven righteous gods... Fate, conspiracy, and nature. These three sequences are rare. I don't have them."
Black Skull shook his head.
After the others whispered a few words, they all fell silent.
"Okay, if you have relevant information, you can sell it to me. I will give you a low-sequence mysterious substance as a reward."
Chen Lun pretended to be regretful and said in a deep voice.
"Okay, if you don't have any deals, then feel free to speak."
Black Skull presides over the party.
The atmosphere of the association was slightly calmer and more relaxed.
"I heard that there has been a lot of turmoil in the parliament recently. After Councillor Daniel was assassinated, Councillor Lawson was in high spirits and seemed to have found a big backer..."
The gentleman quipped.
"From what I know, he is a mid-sequence transcendent with great strength... and possesses an A-level artifact."
added the miser.
The others were all shocked.
"Are you sure it's an A-level weirdo?!"
Fish Fin said in surprise.
Not only had she never seen a strange creature of this level, she had never even heard of it. It was extremely rare.
"That's not his."
The miser said indifferently.
Others secretly speculated that the powerful person behind Congressman Lawson must have stolen something from a church or robbed some association.
After discussing this topic for a while, the civet cat spoke:
“… Earl Bradley is a fool. His wife has a new lover, but he is kept in the dark.”
"Maybe it's not that I don't know, I'm just pretending not to know."
Xuezhi coughed twice and chuckled.
"If the Countess's new lover is a powerful transcendent, Earl Bradley would probably not dare to say a word... This is reality."
The others nodded in approval.
There is actually a deep gap between ordinary people and the mysterious realm. No matter how extraordinary your status and wealth are, in front of the powerful extraordinary, you are just a weak life that can be killed in a snap of a finger.
Even if there is a wanted order in the internment camp, you can just escape to another place.
Unless someone has committed a heinous crime, the empire will not send too many forces to hunt them down.
Chen Lun did not speak, reducing his presence and silently collecting information.
Half an hour later.
Black Skull stood up and ended the gathering.
"As usual, everyone will leave in order. The next gathering will be in three days. If anything unexpected happens, we will publish a code in the newspaper to reschedule."
Then he signaled Chen Lun to leave first, and led Chen Lun into a side door of the tomb.
Entering the side door, Chen Lun found that there were more than a dozen branching corridors inside, which seemed to lead to different exits. Only then did he realize that the old site of Pompeii Manor was just one of the ways to get there.
The black skeleton sent Chen Lun to the exit, then nodded and turned back.
Chen Lun noticed that there was a finger-sized bell hanging on the other person's sleeve.
He kept this detail in mind.
After leaving the exit, Chen Lun found himself back in the outer city's sewage area, which was a giant outlet of the drainage canal.
"Who designed this base..."
Chen Lun secretly admired him.
Not only is it hidden, but it is also well connected, making it the perfect choice for a safe house.
Suddenly, a person's name flashed through his mind.
"Could it be Philip...?"
The original words in the diary were "... I hid all my savings and the extraordinary things I collected over the years in the ground under the backyard of Viscount Pompeii's house, where I dug a—"
Digging an underground maze?!