The raindrops on his body took away the heat, and the exhaustion made Xia De want to lie down like never before, and never be separated from the night. This was not the worst. He actually heard a familiar voice calling him in the deep night. The first voice came from Miss Felena:
"Shad, you showed up again! I used Fiona as bait and I really fished you out!"
"Um?"
Shade subconsciously tried to look to the left, but the red dragon girl whipped his arm hard with her tail:
"Don't look towards the night, look at me, and don't be distracted! It's all fake, all fake! Only I am real!"
The last sentence was quite hysterical. Before Shade appeared, the young witch who lived alone in this city must have experienced a lot.
"Yes, I remember it!"
As they were talking, the first candle had almost gone out, and the fading flames had caused the darkness to stain large areas of their clothes. This was not an adjective, but their clothes and exposed skin had really turned black. Shade even felt that part of his body had merged into the vast and indescribable giant of "night".
But fortunately, the second candle was lit in time, and the warm flame illuminated them again, driving away the darkness.
At this moment, a panic that could not be described in words appeared in his heart. The night sky around him suddenly turned into a physical monster, but thanks to having seen more terrifying things, Shade immediately realized that this was a complete illusion. But Fiona froze in place, so this time it was Shade who reminded her:
"Don't mind the night, look at the candlelight, it's all fake!"
He grabbed Fiona's right hand and ran forward desperately. When the latter recovered from her panic and fear, the second candle burned out. The last candle was lit by Shad from the pocket of Fiona's maid skirt. The power of the first fire could not make the light last longer.
The last candle represents the last ten seconds of safety. The night did not do any harm to them, but Xia De felt that he had never known that the night was so oppressive. At this moment, the stranger seemed to have returned to his childhood, to the age when he was afraid of darkness, afraid of closing his eyes, and afraid of shaking shadows, but this time he had no quilt to cover himself with, only the girl who was traveling with him.
The candlelight in their hands gradually shrank, even to the size of a grain of rice. The light was not enough to cover the two of them, so they held the candle together so that neither of them would melt into the darkness.
The small light at the door of the watch shop was right in front of them, but at the current rate, the two of them would never be able to reach it. Just before the last candle was about to go out, Fiona suddenly tried to throw Shade forward, but unexpectedly, Shade was faster than her. When she reacted, her body had already staggered to the light at the door of the shop.
The candle was completely extinguished.
The girl, holding onto the wall to steady herself, looked behind her into the dark night without any light. She could not see any light, nor could she see Shade's figure. She covered her mouth in fear, and then she saw Shade's hand reaching out from the edge of the night.
His entire body seemed to have turned black, but the surface of his body was emitting a faint silver light. As Shade came to the place illuminated by the light, the black layer quickly faded away:
"Oh, I was really scared just now. I almost forgot that I can glow. Although my friends don't think highly of this ability, it has saved me many times."
He staggered out of the night, feeling like he was frozen. The Red Dragon Girl hugged him again, and her emotions were so turbulent that she couldn't control her tears.
Of course, Shade was not completely fine as he said. In the brief moment he stayed in the darkness, something like a tentacle seemed to have touched his left arm, so that he could hardly control the left half of his body. Although he could still stand, he had no feeling.
Fortunately, although the soul cannot be replenished when returning to the present from the past, any damage suffered - except for the mental damage caused by looking directly at God - will be healed. This is a right possessed by all time investigators.
Stranger, you have some understanding of "night" and "shadow".
This was the second time that Xia De had some insights into "shadow". According to the information accumulated by the academy, even if one's talent was poor, if one had three to five insights into the same spirit rune, more than 80% of the spirit runes would come.
One voice in her ear disappeared, but the other voice never sounded. She just hugged Xia De and even wrapped her tail around Xia De's waist.
“Let’s go in first, there’s no need to stand here in the rain.
After Shad persuaded her, Fiona murmured "hmm~" softly, wiped her tears, and followed Shad into the lighted watch shop.
The interior of the store is decorated in the style of the old times before the Steam Age of the Sixth Epoch. The old interior uses dark golden wallpaper, and the walls are hung with clocks of various colors and sizes, with various shapes, and even cat-shaped clocks. The pendulums are made of a variety of materials, including metals and gemstones. The pendulum of the clock by the door is even made of a skull, and every time it is shaken, the green flames in the skull's eyes will draw a line of fire.
The store was filled with low, two-tiered shelves filled with small clocks of all kinds. Table clocks were piled like cabbages on the left wall near the door, and pocket watches were placed haphazardly in glass cases and display windows, their chains almost tangled together.
All the clocks showed different times, even spinning at different speeds, but they all indicated that it was night. The only messier store than this one that Shad had ever seen was probably Old John's Pawn Shop.
Only those shops that imprisoned outsiders had other people, and there was no one here. They tried not to touch anything, and found their way to the deepest counter in the gap between the clocks. On the wall behind the empty counter, there was an oil painting of a golden throne covered by a transparent curtain.
The product brochure was placed in a corner of the counter, and compared to the exquisite menu in the cafe, this watch shop's product brochure was a bit too shabby.
"I don't have much time left. Let's see what I need to exchange this time. Maybe I can bring it."
Xia De urged. Fiona Drago was never the kind of girl who would let her emotions affect her actions. She suppressed her emotions and quickly flipped through the product catalog, and soon found her target:
"This is it."
It is still the same style as the picture on the left and the description on the right, but the pictures in the cafe are exquisite color pictures, while here are just rough black and white pictures, which are a huge gear:
The Forgotten Clock Wheel. Once possessed, the player will be immune to some effects of the power of time and their aging speed will be halved.
A cog in some clock in the palace of a monarch, nothing more.
You need to pay 4 ounces (about 113.4 grams) of the Sands of Time that have been infected by the night.
"Sands of Time?"
This is a famous relic that Shade encountered twice in the Sixth Era. The first time was in Coldwater Harbor, when he attended a cruise auction with Resia, who was aliased as Miss Princess (Chapter 321), and the second time was last winter, when Yin Luna played a dice game with Shade to catch the hateful thief Jack in his home, and the latter gave it as one of the three optional rewards (Chapter 988).
However, Shade only saw it twice, not obtained it. The Sands of Time is a Keeper-level relic, and its main body is a desert outside the material world. The sand itself is just a derivative of the relic. Once this sand is spilled, it can affect the flow of time in a certain area depending on the amount used.
However, due to the time issues involved, it is mostly used for research rather than combat.
It was not particularly difficult to acquire such a relic, but Shade did not quite understand the prefix "infected by the night".
When she asked Fiona, the Red Dragon girl didn't know either. Originally, among the various materials that Miss Felina had prepared for her, there was such a thing, but unfortunately she had lost it.
"No problem, I'll bring this material back next time."
Shade assured her, and the young witch was visibly disappointed:
"Are you leaving now?"
Shad knew it was cruel to leave her alone in such a place, but it was not something he could decide.
While there was still some time, he restored the toys in his pocket and built a small camp in the corner with tents, quilts and other items. As long as Fiona got into the tent, she would be covered by layers of quilts, and all around her were the food and drinking water he left behind.
In fact, there is no hunger or thirst in the night of Eternal Night City. Shade left these just to make her feel at ease.
"Try not to leave this store until I get back."
Xia De gave instructions as the white mist around him gradually rose, a sign that he was about to leave.
"You will come back, right?"
The red dragon girl asked with pursed lips. Shade himself couldn't bear to leave when seeing those eyes. But if he didn't leave, he would not be able to find the Sand of Time.
"Yes, I will definitely come back, accompany you to see the king, and then send you away safely. This is my promise."
Fiona nodded slightly:
"I still can't remember what I came here for, but it seems to be related to the academy that my teacher and his teacher wanted to build... You must come back."
She pulled Xia De's sleeve and asked rather embarrassedly:
"Can you... leave me your coat... I'm not scared, I just..."
Shade didn't let her continue, but took off his coat and handed it to her. Fiona hugged the coat silently, and the two looked at each other until Shade was swallowed up in the white mist.
Generally speaking, the gods of the Fifth Age can see the white mist, but mortals cannot. However, this time Fiona saw it.
The life ring and the golden stairs slowly emerged behind her. The young witch timidly looked at the clocks around her, then curled up into the quilt in the tent, determined to "hibernate" until Shade returned.
The time spirit runes that had been engraved on the life ring were shining brightly. Fiona buried her head in Shade's coat and covered herself completely with the quilt:
“The traces of time, so this is what it looks like.”
The clacking of clocks and watches, the sound of raindrops hitting the windows. The night is thick, and there is no daytime in this city.