The morning rest was enough. Both Shade and Dorothy still had things to do in the afternoon. After saying goodbye to Dorothy at the intersection, Shade carried the sleepy cat to the Prophet Association, and then informed Luvia about Yin Luna's sudden visit at noon today and what was wrong:
"It's very unusual. Usually Yin Luna is always positive and cheerful. I rarely see her so upset."
The purple-eyed girl patiently listened to Shade's narration, frowned and thought for a moment:
"Are you sure you didn't say anything wrong at noon?"
Xia De immediately denied it:
"It's probably not my fault. After all, she looked unhappy when she came to see me at noon. I asked her what she did in the morning, and she said she went to the warehouse area to investigate what happened last night."
"Is it because you are worried about us? But this time is not more dangerous than the Battle of the Chosen Ones... Leave this matter to me. I will communicate with Yin Luna."
Luvia said, and Shade nodded, but he was still a little worried. But he remembered that Tifa told him to visit Miss Carina on the weekend and bring flowers and gifts, so the visit time could be set on Sunday. Sunday is also the time when Yin Luna goes to the witch for training, and Shade should be able to meet Yin Luna again.
"Besides Yin Luna, I also have to worry about you. I saw you being stared at by that corpse last night."
The purple-eyed girl continued, looking at Shade with a worried look in her eyes:
"You don't have to explain to me that you're fine. I can judge for myself whether you're okay or not. Dorothy accompanied you to sleep this morning, and you do look much better, but we can't be completely relieved. In the past week, you should not touch those relics that may affect your emotions, and be careful of those forces that may evoke your empty heart memories of last night. I think you should be fine after a week."
She seemed to have plenty of experience in dealing with this kind of negative emotions. Shade knew that Luvia was concerned about him, so he nodded and agreed:
"Yes, it is an angel-level relic after all. I will be careful and tell you as soon as possible if there is any situation. I don't want to recall that kind of indifference anymore. However, you have to have some faith in me."
After that, Shade returned home, put Mia on the cushion on the windowsill of the second-floor living room for a nap, and then went to the Green Lake area alone from the basement. The clues about the tomb robbers from Rotten Eye Barry should have been found, and Shade was looking forward to meeting the bold tomb robbers.
As for the information dealer's identity as a ring wizard and the smell of water ghost pheromones on his body, we can investigate them together if we have time.
The last time they met, Barry gave Shade a business card with his address in the city. It was not the residence of the gang leader, but a single four-story building located in the slums in the southeast of the city.
That area is the oldest residential area in Green Lake City, so the buildings are all very old. In addition to being dilapidated, some of the buildings are even crooked. After Shade got off the carriage and entered the alley, he heard that in fact all the buildings here are crooked to varying degrees due to unstable foundations.
The city's gangs and shady shops are hidden here, and the police patrols will not go deep into this area. The numb poor have long lost their yearning for the future because of the hardships of life. But this is also the only place in the city where you can't feel the tense atmosphere caused by the negotiations between the two countries.
After all, for the poor people who live a hard life, Drarion, Carsenrick, peace and war, borders and trade routes have nothing to do with them.
The four-story building of Rotten Eye Barry was the base of his gang—that's what Shade, who had never come into contact with such gangs, thought. When Shade followed the dilapidated building sign and walked on the muddy ground in the afternoon fog, he came here. Two bare-armed men holding sticks and guarding downstairs did not let Shade in.
It was not until Xia De took out his business card that one of them opened the door and led Xia De in, warning Xia De not to walk around or talk nonsense.
After entering the building, Shade found that this was the Rod Casino. The pungent smell of tobacco was suffocating, but the interior decoration was much better than the shabby building on the outside. People of all kinds gathered here, fighting at the gambling table. Shade even saw a well-dressed nobleman leaning his gold-decorated cane on the table, and a fat businessman gambling with a pile of banknotes.
If it is not necessary, outsiders would not want to come to such a place at all.
The first and second floors here are the Rhodes Casino, and the rooms on the third floor are where the casino minions rest and eat. The fourth floor is all offices, used to maintain the daily operation of the casino. Rotten Eyes Barry is in the office on the fourth floor. When Shad followed the man who led him in to the end of the stairs, he just happened to see a man who was beaten so hard that he couldn't stand up straight, being dragged down the stairs from the fourth floor.
"Look who's here, Captain Rades' friend!"
The one-eyed man welcomed Shade with an exaggerated tone, clapping his hands behind his desk. Everyone else who was originally in the room left temporarily, and the man who led Shade upstairs closed the door outside.
Xia De sat on the chair outside the desk, his eyes swept across the windows on the wall and the small doors on the left and right sides:
"Good afternoon. Have you found out the news about the tomb robbers?"
"Yes, here it is."
He took the file bag to the table and pushed it to Xia De, who touched it.
"Maybe I misunderstood, but why is it so thin?"
"Because they are all dead, and only one is still alive."
The one-eyed man clasped his hands together and placed them on the table, and gave a brief introduction:
"After the tomb raiding, those who returned from the island made a fortune, but they all went crazy one after another. The remaining one is not in a very good mental state either. You are lucky that the investigation was timely. If it was a few weeks later, he might have died too."
"Does the other party still live in Green Lake City?"
"Yes, the specific information is in the file bag. However, you will most likely not find the stolen items. The guy who was lucky enough to survive until now is now penniless. If he still had valuables, he would have sold them for money long ago."
"It doesn't matter, at least there are still clues."
Xia De took out his wallet, paid the balance, and then stood up with the document bag to leave. But the one-eyed man behind the desk stopped him:
"Are you interested in helping me with something? It's also related to the central island of Green Lake. Maybe you can solve it while investigating the tomb robbers. I can offer a very high price, and you will be satisfied."
"No, not interested. I just want to find the grave robbers."
Shade said, after pulling the door handle, he saw a strong man standing outside the door, blocking his way and not letting him pass through the door.
He turned to Barry with rotten eyes and said:
"Are you sure you want to offend Captain Raddes's friends?"
The burly man in front of him finally made way. Xia Dedu muttered a swear word in the local dialect, put his hands on his waist, and left along the stairs.
No one blocked his way out of the casino, and he made it outside smoothly. But Xia De didn't go far, but walked around nearby, and then he saw the man he had just met on the stairs, who was beaten and dragged out, in the garbage dump between the two houses.
He was thrown here like garbage. Although he was still conscious, he could only groan and was unable to move.
In order to test whether he could still move, Xia De threw two coins in front of him. The man suddenly "came back to life", quickly picked up the coins and held them in his hand, then looked up at Xia De. His eyes, which were swollen and blue from being beaten, were narrowed, and he looked ridiculous.
"what you up to?"
"Why did they beat you?"
"Because I saw them insulting women and went to stop them."
Xia De turned and left, and the man on the garbage dump quickly changed his words:
"I owe them money. Damn it. I thought I could win the bet today. I just had bad luck today. Damn it. I always have bad luck."
"Tell me about Bad Eye Barry, you know what to say."
Xia De shook the two one-pound notes in his hand, and the man looked at the notes and nodded immediately:
"Rotten-Eye Barry is not from here. He came here from another place more than 20 years ago. After killing a local gangster whose name is no longer known, he became powerful. He is now very famous in Green Lake City. He does all kinds of business, including intelligence, casinos, illegal drugs, and smuggling. I heard that even MI6 and Gray Gloves can buy intelligence from him."
“Isn’t he from here?”
Xia De was a little surprised:
"I can't tell from the accent. That's right. After all, it's been more than 20 years."
"No one knows his origins. We can only be sure that he used to live in Delarion."
The man continued, taking the bill that Shade threw to him:
"No one here dares to offend him. Anyone who offends him will die. If you owe him money, he will be even more cruel. He is a very stingy guy. Moreover, this man is very wise. He will not offend people in the church, the city hall, and the army. In spring and winter, he will donate money to help the poor in the slums. Therefore, no one has wanted to bring him down for so many years."
"Which god does Rotten-Eye Bali believe in?"
Xia De asked again. This was crucial information, but the man thought about it and shook his head:
"I don't know. I've never heard of such a person praying... But it is said that someone saw him praying in the windowless room on the innermost side of the fourth floor of the casino. I just heard this and I'm not sure."
Xia De looked at him suspiciously:
"How do you know about this? Don't tell me you heard it in the tavern."
The man smiled awkwardly:
"I thought about getting some valuables from the casino and selling them, paying off the money I owe and leaving Green Lake City. Maybe I could live a normal life."
Xia De shook his head, threw another bill to him, and then turned and left.
Seeing Xia De being so generous, the man stumbled to his feet and tried to catch up with him and talk to him. But when he chased him outside from the garbage dump between the two houses, Xia De had disappeared.
Shade had no hobby of snooping into other people's privacy, and the strange ring wizard hiding his identity as an information dealer and gang boss had nothing to do with him. If it weren't for the water ghost, Shade actually didn't want to know who Rotten Eye Barry was.
After getting the information from the man at the garbage dump, Shade planned to go to the innermost room on the fourth floor of the casino to take a look. But the time was not now, but after the sun went down. He would act after the low-level warlock was no longer here. After all, the most important thing now was the whereabouts of the tomb robbers.
Rotten-Eye Barry's investigation was fairly detailed. Although the descriptions of the dead tomb robbers were not particularly clear, at least the current address of the living one was indeed real.
The insane grave robber's residence was also in the slums southeast of Green Lake, but on the banks of the Duin River. A series of low sheds were located on the east bank of the Duin River, with crows circling in large numbers, and the background of the sheds was the gray foggy sky.
This is in stark contrast to the relatively prosperous urban area on the west bank of the Rhine.