"Ms. Carina even doubted if I was a man."
Standing on the ramp in front of the bridge entrance, Shade looked at the river surface for the occasional red glow and explained to Luvia:
"This is really funny. The gods themselves have admitted that I am a man."
"That's good."
Luvia looked like she wanted to laugh.
After entering the lower city in the north of the city, Darkness gave up swimming at the bottom of the river and moved quickly near the water surface. When he finally chose to go ashore, in order to avoid being discovered by the church, he chose to move through the dark vortex and directly reach the shore from the water.
Without the water flow blocking the view, it was easy to find the movement direction of the blood-colored halos this time.
While chatting with Shade and Luvia, they turned from the tree-lined path along the river into a small alley. Darkness did not pass on other people's roofs. Instead, every time he encountered a fork in the road, he would use his dark talent to move, leaving no trace at the fork in the road.
He walked around the area several times very cautiously, so much so that Shade and Luvia, who were wandering around, almost attracted the attention of residents in the nearby blocks.
Finally, Darkness suddenly walked out of the alley and moved towards the east.
He did not leave the Lower Town, but probably thought he had escaped the pursuit, so he did not circle around, and finally he entered Rotten Fish Alley, where the blind musician Mr. Mandys once lived.
We walked under the gray suspended corridor between the two towers, passed an empty building that had been on fire, and entered a slightly wider alley. We continued eastward, passing through the dilapidated apartment buildings with peeling walls standing in the lower city, and followed the direction of the steam pipes, and finally came to a five-way intersection centered on the big locust tree.
"I walked this road when I came to visit the late blind musician Mr. Mandis."
Shade and Luvia said that they covered their mouths and noses with their collars in advance because they knew that there was an alley full of feces and garbage ahead.
"So where did you start from?"
Luvia asked.
"Anthem Square, which is the center of the lower city."
"I come here often. The black market for ring sorcerers in the lower city accounts for 60% of the market share in the city."
The two of them almost went in the opposite direction of the way Xia De came last time, and after walking through the intricate slum alleys, they arrived at the streets north of the Anthem Square. Then, on this misty morning, they actually entered the Anthem Square along with the bustling crowd.
"His whereabouts are actually around here?"
Luvia seemed a little surprised, while Shade stood by the square, watching those blood-colored targets heading straight into a place he was very familiar with:
"There's something even more surprising."
"What?"
"He lives here."
Following the direction that Shad's finger pointed, Luvia passed the vendors and the crowds in the square and saw the inn that occupied most of the eastern part of the square. She saw the images of three cats on the wooden sign and the name "Three Cats Inn".
"Are you sure he lives here?"
Luvia couldn't believe it. On the way here, the two of them had discussed Darkness's possible hiding places, such as the sewer pipes under the downtown area, the drainage ditches beside the river, the cracks in the wall at the end of the alley, and the haunted old house that had been abandoned for a long time and no one lived in it.
But what I didn't expect was that the other party actually lived in the Three Cats Inn.
"I never imagined that even though he lived here, the church couldn't find him."
Shade was also a little surprised, but the Blood Echo was not wrong. This was a tracking of the three powers of blood, time, and space. Unless Darkness realized that someone was using this ability to track him, he would never be able to take countermeasures.
"The other party may have the ability to disguise himself. Maybe when we find him, he will look different from what you saw."
Luvia reminded, and Shade nodded, hesitating for a moment;
"Although we are sure that he is at the Three Cats Inn, we still need to go in and take a look just to be safe. We don't have to see him in person, but we need to determine his exact location. Once we are sure, we will report the information to the church immediately."
In such a crowded place, Shade and Luvia didn't want to fight with Darkness.
"No problem, but wait a moment."
Luvia took out a coin and flipped it:
"No problem. Although the divination result may not be completely correct, at least I am sure that our lives will not be in danger on this trip."
"Well, please follow me."
The road at the edge of the square merged into the Anthem Square, and the late summer afternoon sun shone in from behind the buildings around the square. It was already ten o'clock in the morning, and when Xia dragged Luvia through the crowd, he even thought that if things went well, they could have lunch together at noon.
And if nothing unexpected happens, this should be Shad's last adventure this summer.
Shad was already very familiar with the situation in the Three Cats Inn. After entering the inn, he did not approach the counter, but first found a table next to the female bard playing the lute and sat down, then called the waiter to order some drinks and food.
Luvia observed the situation on the first floor and borrowed the Rhodes cards from Shade for divination.
Shade's eyes were carefully observing the staircase on the first floor. Because he saw the figure left by Darkness within 24 hours, there were quite a lot of red halos on the first floor.
Through the depth of color, one can effectively distinguish the distance of these red halos from the present moment. And Shade found the halo he had been following all the way, and then compared it with other halos, and basically confirmed that Darkness did not come down again after returning here last night.
This brings up a new problem. Although no other signs of his movement were found near the Three Cats Inn on the way here, this six-ring warlock with a demon on his body may still be here, but the possibility of him leaving by other means cannot be ruled out.
The waitress brought the three cats inn's specialty "goat milk beer" with a tray for the two of them. Hops floated above the liquid surface, and when the full cup of drink was placed on the wood-grained table, it made a ton~ sound.
Luvia took the cards back and gave them to Shade. After the waiter left, she whispered to the sound of the lute:
"Darkness is most likely still here, but I'm not completely sure. Shade, for safety reasons, we can't go upstairs directly."
"Yes, I understand. But you can't just leave like this..."
Xia De looked up and thought for a moment:
"It's 10:03 am now. Let's sit here for half an hour without making any extra moves. If Darkness still hasn't come downstairs after my Blood Echo disappears, I'll think of another way."
"no problem."
Luvia said, picking up the wine glass and taking a sip, then frowned:
"Oh, this is really awful."
At 10:27 am, Shade's eyes returned to normal, but Darkness still did not show up on the first floor of the Three Cats Inn. During this time, four people came down from upstairs, none of them were ring sorcerers.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Shade brought Luvia to the counter. The innkeeper, Mrs. Sangmei, obviously knew the detective who had won the King's Secret Order from her, so she wiped her hands with a towel and joked:
"Oh, isn't this Detective Hamilton? Coming to our place again? Look, you brought another girl this time. She's really pretty. Is this your new assistant?"
Luvia raised an eyebrow.
"Mrs. Sang Mei, good afternoon. I still have something I want to ask you for help with, but I don't have time to play cards this time."
Xia De greeted them familiarly and hoped that this time would go as smoothly as last time.
"Don't worry. I don't want to give you the cards I collected with great effort before I figure out how to deal with you."
Mrs. Sang Mei put down the rag she was using to wipe her hands, and asked curiously:
"So, detective, who are you looking for this time?"
Shade didn't want to rashly involve ordinary people in the feuds of ring wizards, not to mention that Darkness was not an ordinary ring wizard.
Just as I was thinking about how to persuade the other party to give me the account book directly instead of asking him for clues about the hotel's innkeepers, a voice suddenly rang in my ear:
Outsider, watch your back. A high-level warlock has entered the inn.
"What? A high-level warlock?"
His eyes widened slightly, and then he shook his head at Madam Sang Mei:
"I want to ask Miss Mary again this time. The client is really troublesome and has other requests. But I can't go directly to her this time. She is full of lies. I want to learn more from you."
Mrs. Sangmei didn't know what Shade meant, so she didn't notice that he suddenly changed the subject. But Luvia knew what Shade wanted to ask, and although she was confused, she stood aside and didn't say anything.
Coming in your direction.
"I really don't want to deal with this kind of technical worker, but she obviously didn't tell me something last time. Oh, I left Mr. Mandis's belongings to her, and she actually lied to me."
Shad complained as he stood at the counter.
"It seems that you rarely deal with professionals like this. They are always like this."
Mrs. Sang Mei shook her head, as if she was used to it:
"I'm used to seeing people like them..."
"Miss."
It's him.
A man who was a head shorter than Shade and a bit thin walked to the counter, took off his hat, and knocked on the table while speaking. He looked quite kind and sick. Although the temperature was still not low at noon in late summer, he was still wrapped in a coat.
The coat was dark red, almost black, with all double-breasted buttons fastened, as if he was afraid he would freeze to death if he unbuttoned them.
He smiled apologetically at Xia De:
"Excuse me sir, I have something urgent to ask this lady, may I go first?"
As he said this, he pushed a coin to Shad, who nodded in understanding and sat down with Luvia in a seat slightly to the side.