No one talked to Shade, so he walked around the caravans. Almost everyone was doing their own thing. It was normal here, very normal, but it was precisely because of this normality that Shade felt something was wrong.
He pretended to be interested in the souvenirs sold by the circus and stopped in front of the stall. The souvenirs they sold were mostly cheap items purchased from local places when the circus toured around the Old World, and then sold at a higher price in the next city. Shade even saw anchor pendants from Coldwater Port, maple leaf bookmarks from Fort Midhill, empty bottles with labels of famous wineries produced in Huntington, and ugly stone ornaments from Randall River Valley.
He originally wondered if some of the unnoticeable incidents were caused by relics that the circus had accidentally collected, but he was soon attracted by the stall that sold various Rhodes cards.
Not only do they sell ordinary sets of playing cards, but they also sell wooden card boxes from branches of the Prophet's Guild across the Old World. Because the card boxes of different branches have different shapes and engraved emblems, there are indeed collectors who like this kind of thing.
In addition to the normal decks and card boxes, there were even more than ten Rhodes cards with special card faces on the stall. Although the price of these Rhodes cards was not as expensive as the special rule cards, they were still something worth showing off among the card players.
Xia De stopped to take a look. He had no intention of buying anything, but was attracted by a card with the image of "Cat Looking Up Under a Tree" on it.
That was Moon 10, the same suit as the "Origin Space" that Shade was looking for. But even if he found the "Origin Space" in the future, he could put this cat card in his spare deck.
"Pet Series: Delarion Desert Cat."
Shade said the name of the card, and the man behind the booth smiled and said:
"Yes. Why, do you want to buy it? This amount is fine."
He stretched out his palm and shook it at Xia De. This price was reasonable and within Xia De's acceptable range:
"It's a pity you don't have any special rules cards here."
Xia De sighed, almost certain that at least the person in front of him was just an ordinary person.
"I'm running a small business. All the cards here combined are not as valuable as a special rule card. But if you want to play cards, you can go find our leader. That gentleman is the best card player among us, and he has a special rule card in his hand."
Xia De raised his eyebrows and first said that he wanted to buy the moon 10, and then talked to the man about the circus. The two gradually became familiar with each other and even played a game of cards together. As a result, Xia De had a deeper understanding of the basic situation of the circus and learned that the circus did recruit new people from the local area after it came to the local area.
Most of them are minors, responsible for odd jobs such as stage handling and transporting. When the troupe leaves, one or two of them will be taken away to be trained as apprentices. These are certainly not gray glove agents. Although neither MI6 nor the gray gloves prohibit the use of child labor, such tasks should not be assigned to minors.
As for the adults who came to the local area, there were five or six of them. The number was uncertain because some people only worked for a short period of time and might leave one day and never come back. As for those who stayed for a long time, one was the new circus accountant Mr. Merkel, and the other was said to be the distant nephew of the circus leader, who came here specifically to live with his uncle.
"Oh, yesterday at midnight, the dog in the regiment kept barking outside, and later we found an unconscious man in the farmland. The regiment commander said that if there is time, he will go to the city to report the case in the afternoon. The guy is still unconscious, but there is no sign of injury."
As he spoke, he glanced at the three policemen not far away who were asking about the circus:
"They don't care about this matter. Really? They are all police officers, why are they so clearly divided?"
"Did you find the unconscious person last night? I'm from the city, I can go see him later. By the way, I want to play a few rounds of Rhodes with the group leader and see his special cards. I wonder where I can meet him? Is he the one talking to the police over there?"
Xia De finally asked. Because playing cards brought people closer together, the man guarding the stall stood up and asked Xia De:
"The team leader has gone to the village to discuss with the village chief about building a temporary gas pipeline. He will be back in half an hour. That guy over there is our deputy team leader, and he doesn't know how to play cards."
"Well, I'll take a look around the camp."
Shade said, and walked over to where the unconscious man was.
There was no suitable place to put him in the circus, but they were worried that if he died, the outsiders in the circus would be regarded as criminals by the locals, so they finally put him in the tent where the circus apprentices lived.
Everyone in the group had something to do, so no one had time to take care of him, so when Shade got into the tent, no one stopped him:
“Aren’t they afraid of losing things?”
The living environment for the apprentices was not very good. In addition to living, the tent was also filled with a lot of sundries for performances. At the innermost of a row of low beds made of abandoned steam pipes, lay a man with a pale face, yellow hair, and who looked to be around 30 years old.
When Xia De saw his face, he was stunned. Then he saw the soul floating above him, making faces in Xia De's direction:
"Giles hasn't woken up yet, I can't let anyone get close to him! It's dangerous here, big bad guy, get out of here!"
The soul of the little girl Rusty Edwards was talking quietly, entertaining herself and not looking bored. For a moment, Shade doubted whether he was still in Green Lake, whether he had returned to Tobesk City. Then he realized that he really met Professor Manning's friend, the former grave robber Durutte Giles, and the second-generation eldest daughter of the Edwards family who died young.
Although the little girl's soul was considered powerful, she could not recognize Shade just by his appearance. Therefore, when Shade approached, she even waved her hand to hit Shade's chest - which would make ordinary people suddenly feel cold all over.
Unexpectedly, Xia De grabbed the girl's hand.
He looked seriously into the other person's eyes, and Rust Edwards put away his grimace, revealed an innocent smile, then suddenly pulled his hand away and tried to leave, but he couldn't break free from Shad's hand.
With a bang, she turned into smoke and dispersed, then reappeared on the other side of the bed. This supernatural ability of ghosts that only appeared in storybooks was actually a very unique spatial power. It seemed that even if she was a ghost, she had inherited Edwards' excellent bloodline.
"Professor's friend, we met in Tobesk."
Shad said calmly, and instead of chasing the girl, he sat on the bed and put his hand on Durut Giles' forehead.
Coma. After being exposed to a force that was beyond his mental endurance, he fell into a self-protective hibernation.
That is, seeing things that you shouldn't see.
"Why are you here?"
He looked up and asked the girl hiding nearby. This ancestor of Megan, the oldest person in the Edwards family besides Laplace Klein Howard, also recognized who Shade was.
She tried to float closer, and when she saw that Xia De didn't try to grab her again, she put her hands on her waist and "warned":
"I'm only eleven years old, please don't have any bad intentions towards me."
"Well... please don't say that. I'm a little scared. All kidding aside, you know I mean no harm to you. How did you get here? Didn't I tell you not to come to Green Lake?"
The girl thought about it:
"Giles went to dinner yesterday and argued with me about not scaring wild cats. We were in the alley and came here in a flash!"
She gestured in an exaggerated way:
"It was really quick. I got here in no time. I know this place. Home is over there in the lake."
"I think I encountered a space transfer... Is this really fate..."
Shade frowned and looked at the lying Duruto Giles. There was no trace of spatial power on his body, nor any obvious external injuries. Although spatial transfer was extremely dangerous, he did not look like he was unconscious because of it.
"Do you know what happened to him?"
The girl gestured again and said:
"We got here, and Giles wanted to show me where we were, so we walked towards the light. Then, we saw a circus - a circus - a circus from books! Giles was scared by the tiger, timid Giles, poor Giles, and then he fainted!"
She said with a smile, floating in the air and spinning in circles.
Xia De almost understood:
“Is the tiger a bad thing?”
He tried to express himself in the way a girl would, and Rust Edwards nodded:
"Yes, it's a bad thing, a bad thing. And it's contagious, it's a disease! When Giles wakes up, we'll leave immediately."
"Infection... Can you tell me, is the tiger still in the camp? I want to get rid of the tiger. This way, your... friend won't be in trouble even if he can't wake up in a short time."
The soul blinked at Shade, as if surprised by Shade's idea. She flew above Durut Giles, then opened her left and right arms and drew a circle in the air.
A faint trace of light flickered in the air, and a translucent gray ball of light enveloped Durut Giles. This was a means of sealing off space, and it was very similar to Shade's "Moon Thorn".
"I'll go with you!"
Rusty Edwards says:
"The tiger hurt Giles! It's a bad thing."
"Why didn't you go by yourself just now?"
"Because I can't beat it."
So, although Rusty Edwards's way of thinking is childish, she is definitely not without common sense.