Even though he had never tried scuba diving and his swimming skills were not very good, Shad felt pretty good when swimming because he had the protection of underwater breathing.
The passage continued forward without widening or branching, giving Shade no chance to swim around underwater. The light of the silver moon became dim in the water, and the turbid underwater vision allowed him to barely distinguish what was ahead.
The passage became narrower and narrower, and finally turned into an underwater crack in front that was only wide enough for one person to pass through.
Just when Xia De was worried that the crack would become narrower and narrower and he would have to carry out the demolition work, a light suddenly appeared not far away.
I swam forward quickly with some excitement. The light was the exit of the crack. After I swam out of the crack, the weak sunlight shone through the water from above.
He swam upwards with all his might, and in less than ten seconds, his head emerged from the water.
I canceled the spell and took a deep breath, feeling the rain hitting my face. The rumbling sound of the waves vibrated my eardrums, and the rain and wind brushed against my face.
He gasped for breath and looked around. Behind him was a towering cliff. The damp and cold passage was obviously just under the water at the bottom of the cliff.
Not far in front of him, there was a black reef exposed above the sea.
“I can’t rock climb.”
So he did not choose to climb the nearby mountain. Instead, he untied the rope around his waist and swam towards the black rock in the rain. Soon he was out of the sea and standing in the rain.
Because of his thaumaturgical time perception, Shad knew that it took about 15 minutes from the time he left the hidden wall to now.
This is because it is my first time walking this "road", not only is it unfamiliar, but I also need to pay attention to the surroundings. After I get familiar with it, I think it will be no problem to shorten the time to less than 10 minutes.
"But where exactly is this place? Isn't this an isolated island in the ocean?"
Overhead, the sky was overcast, raindrops hit his cheeks, and the wind blew his hair. Behind him, the cliff dropped straight down, and the entire appearance was almost invisible in the rain.
The damp and fishy smell rushed into his nose. He squinted his eyes and looked up at the sky. A lonely seagull was circling above his head in the rain, and soon flew away to a farther place.
Further away was a deep and terrifying ocean. Except for a few reefs nearby, the turbulent sea level in the distance almost swallowed up everything. At the end of the field of vision, the dark clouds connected with the ocean, and the twisted and strange shapes of the dark clouds on the ocean made Shade feel terrified instinctively.
“Why is it raining in Tobesk and it’s still raining here?”
Xia De, who was soaked all over, endured the sticky feeling and continued to look around. In addition to the huge black reef under his feet, there was a series of rocks exposed above the water densely distributed under the cliff, which seemed to have been peeled off from the side of the cliff at some time in the past.
The waves rolled under his feet, creating a series of disgusting white foam, as if hitting the stones under his feet without changing for thousands of years.
The sound of water was deafening and the surroundings were desolate. Apart from the vast sea and rocks, there were no trees, beaches or islands to be seen.
But just by moving a little, the line of sight was able to pass through the side of the towering cliff and see the scenery blocked by the cliff.
Xia De's eyes widened and he held his breath.
He saw the harbor in the rain, the city standing by the sea, and even the huge factory chimneys looming in the distance. The fire of civilization lit up the coast, and the smell of steam was carried to the sea by the wind.
"This is a port city on the west coast of the continent."
Only then did he extinguish the silver light on his fingertips and look towards the giant steam cargo ships docked in the harbor in the distance, towards the warships flying the naval flag of the Kingdom of Drarion, and towards the huge urban buildings spread out on the coastal plain.
"I'm still in Delarion. There shouldn't be such a big city in the New World, so this is a port city on the west coast of the Old World."
Feeling thankful for his luck, he opened the canvas-wrapped suitcase in the rain and took out the bag of frog legs.
After reciting a difficult spell, he threw the crushed frog legs into the sea, and then jumped in the rain from the slippery black reef to another nearby rock.
The view here was wider, and Xia De was now completely sure that the cliffs standing beside him were located on the side of the port city. From the current position, if he wanted to enter the port city not far away, he no longer needed to enter the water.
As long as you keep moving on the rocks under the cliffs, you can land on the shallow beach by the sea after turning around the cliff. Walking along the shallow beach, you can reach the dock where the large warship is docked in an estimated 20 minutes.
In other words, the place where Shade emerged from underwater was actually at the edge of the city. Once you become familiar with this route, it will take less than half an hour from leaving the hidden wall to entering the city.
Compared to the hidden wall of my own home, this one is obviously safer, and too safe:
"Why can't the exit be in some basement in the city, or in the sewers?"
This was the complaint of Shad as he jumped on the rocks in the rain.
The boots stepped into the shallow water, leaving footprints on the beach and pushing small shells between the gravel into the sand. But as the boots were lifted, the incoming sea water made the sand smooth again, and no trace of human footsteps could be seen.
Xia De quietly landed at the shallows, and then stooped and walked towards the shore stealthily. Fortunately, in such rainy weather, no one would come to the beach, so no one could see his caution.
This is the beach near the pier. The wind and tide left some garbage on the soft sand. When Shade was walking in the rain, he noticed a wet newspaper lying not far away.
I walked closer and picked up the newspaper to check it out. Most of the content was blurred. The only thing I could see was the name of the newspaper, the date, and some content on the left page.
The time was yesterday, and the content was "Princess Leicia returned home after completing her visit to Carsenrick and rested in Lengshui Port City for a week" (Note), and the title of the newspaper was "Lengshui Port Evening News".
"The most important seaport city on the west coast of the Kingdom of Drarion, the main trade hub with the New World, Coldwater Port City?"
He looked up at the city buildings under the dark clouds not far away, but still couldn't figure out why he came here.
"Princess Leicia?"
He turned around and looked at the abnormally large warship on the sea. It was a steam-powered ship. In addition to its extraordinary power, a warship of this size could almost be regarded as the most powerful weapon that mortals could possess in this era.
The Kingdom Navy and the Royal Army are indeed stationed in Lengshui Port City, but warships should not be at civilian docks, so this ship should be used to transport important people.
"Is the princess on the ship or in the residence arranged by Coldwater Port? Also, what's the point of me looking for Princess Leicia? She doesn't know me, and I don't want to involve her in the matter of "Whispering Poems"."
Xia De hesitated in the rain and decided to take a walk around this port city first. Since he had finally come to such a far place, it was natural for a stranger to want to experience the customs and practices of different cities.
Because it was raining heavily outside, when Shade, soaked all over, broke into the Golden Rose Inn on Hoglunds Avenue in the dock area of Coldwater Port City, no one suspected that the young man had emerged from the sea.
The hotels in the dock area receive guests who come to the city by ship from all over the world all year round. Relatively speaking, Shad is not a weird guy.
When registering, he used the fake name "John Watson" and rented the cheapest room in the hotel for 3 shillings (including lunch and dinner). After taking a shower and changing into clean and dry clothes, he did not leave the hotel in a hurry, but went back to the counter and borrowed some newspapers from the fat woman knitting, and then returned to the room.
In the damp and slightly musty little room, after lighting up the gas lamp that looked as if it had not been cleaned for decades, the first thing he did was to check where Princess Leisia was staying.
The good news is that Miss Louisa's princess friend does not live on an inaccessible warship. The bad news is that the Princess Mansion where she is temporarily staying is not accessible to ordinary people.
It is a large mansion in the most prosperous southern district of Coldwater Harbor City. It is part of the royal family's huge assets. Most of the royal family members choose to stay there when they visit Coldwater Harbor.
The Coldwater Evening Post devoted a large section to describing the outstanding efforts made by the local police and city hall to protect the princess's safety.
In other words, Shad had no chance to meet Princess Leia Cavendish.
Then I looked through the rest of the newspaper to see if there were any suspicious incidents in the local area. But just like the newspapers in Tobysk, all kinds of information, big and small, real and fake, were displayed in different types of newspapers. Fishermen brought back strange stone statues when fishing, men and women who met secretly on the beach at night saw ghost ships appear on the sea, and a golden island full of treasures appeared in the open sea... and so on.
Every city has different city rumors. In Tobesk, most of them are related to the nightlife of big cities, while in Coldwater Harbor, most of them are related to the ocean. If Shade wants to find valuable clues from this information, he might as well hope that the silver-eyed person falls to death while going out to buy groceries.
"But someone with the status of Silver Eyes probably wouldn't go out to buy groceries by himself."
He thought about it and spent the remaining hour of the morning reading the newspaper. He had lunch at the hotel and took out the pirate's blood money, but nothing happened.
So he borrowed an umbrella from the hotel in the afternoon and went out. Since he had nothing to do for the time being, he planned to deal with the affairs of his client, Mrs. Lemaire. The friend who helped Mr. Lemaire keep the will was here.