Xia De did not tell them that he was going to enter the realm between life and death to look for Father Augustus. Instead, he planned to wait until the group meeting tomorrow afternoon to think of the wording and then tell them.
It goes without saying that the girls would definitely oppose Xia De doing this.
"Shad, Father John came over this afternoon."
As I walked to the second floor with my head down and thinking about something, Mia rushed over. When Shad was holding it, the blonde girl in the study said.
"What is Father John doing here?"
Shade asked as he held the excited cat in his arms. The cat sniffed the front of Shade's clothes suspiciously, then sneezed.
"Dad said that the special blood you wanted to buy has been found. He paid the deposit for you, and the blood has been delivered to his pawn shop. He gave you time to bring the money and take the blood away. How expensive was the item you bought? Why did Dad John come to your house in person?"
Dorothy asked, putting on the cap of her pen, sitting down behind the imposing desk in the study, pressing her neck, and then came out with a smile:
"You have no idea how surprised Dad was when he knocked on the door and saw that it was Luvia and I who opened the door."
Old John was very familiar with Schneider's group, so when he said he was "surprised", he didn't think much about it.
"Is there anyone coming to see me this afternoon? Is there any client coming to visit?"
Shade asked again, placing the cat on the coffee table.
"No clients have come to your door. Didn't you say that you might not even get one client in a week for your business?"
Luvia also came down from the third floor. She wiped her palms with a towel, and Shade could faintly smell the smell of engine oil that lubricated the mechanical bearings.
"But at least I make a lot of money."
Shade told the truth, and Luvia shrugged:
"But how do I remember that most of your income comes from another source?"
"Yes, the Duchess."
Dorothy teased.
The three of them went out to dine at a restaurant in the Silver Cross, and then the two ladies went their separate ways, but they would all come back tomorrow, Luvia to work on her astrological equipment, and Dorothy to help watch the cat, in case Shad was away all day and it went hungry.
After saying goodbye to the two ladies, Shad took Mia and Pound to Old John's Pawn Shop. Old John lived upstairs from the pawn shop, so it would close very late:
"Good evening, Dad."
When Xia De pushed the door, the old man in the store was keeping accounts. He looked up and greeted him when he heard the voice. After he finished calculating the account book in his hand, he talked to Xia De about business:
"I know you're in a hurry to get that special blood, so I paid a deposit to my friend in advance and asked him to deliver the blood. Don't say you don't have enough cash so you can't afford it."
As he spoke, Old John called for Shad's help, and together they moved a wooden box out from under the counter.
After the box was pried open with a crowbar, cold air immediately rushed out. The wooden box was filled with straw, and there were some ice cubes in the straw for cooling, but most of them had melted.
Old John reached into the straw and found a cold brass metal box. After opening it, the coldness became even stronger. Inside was two pieces of ice locked together. Between the ice was a long glass tube as thick as a thumb. The sticky red blood seemed to have solidified due to the low temperature.
"Why does it smell like fish?"
Shade asked, Mia looked at the box in front of her curiously but didn't jump into the straw.
"It was sent by ship along with the fish caught in low temperature storage, so of course it smelled fishy."
Old John took the glass tube out of the ice with his wrinkled old hands:
"Oh my God, it's cold. Shad, take it!"
He handed the glass tube to Xia De, and then he rubbed his hands violently. Xia De, who took the glass tube, also felt the chill of the glass tube.
He thought about it and moved the glass tube closer to the cat on his shoulder. Mia immediately called out to stop Shad's behavior.
This cat wouldn't be stupid enough to risk freezing its tongue by licking something like this.
"What kind of blood is this?"
Shade asked curiously.
"Blood of the Rhine Demon. Shake the container."
Xia De shook the glass tube in his hand slightly, and the bright red blood gradually showed distinct layers of rainbow colors.
“It’s really beautiful.”
“Blood is beautiful, but the Rhine Demon is extremely dangerous.
This is a very dangerous alien creature that lives on a small island in the outer sea. According to legend, the entire population has always been kept within 49 individuals. In any case, if you see a Rhine demon, you must kill a blood relative with your own hands, otherwise your parents, children and spouse will die. Therefore, in addition to being called the 'Rhine demon', this dangerous thing is also called the 'family-destroying demon ghost'. "
Old John couldn't help but exclaim:
"It's very dangerous. Only God knows why this creature exists. There is a saying that they were created to restrain a terrifying subspace evil with a very strong reproductive capacity, but this statement cannot be confirmed. In any case, the blood of the Rhine Demon is extremely precious. It can be used as an auxiliary material for many rare potions. The holder of the sublimation language related to blood must use this blood as a ritual material if he wants to advance after constructing a complete sublimation language."
"It's really good. How much is it?"
Xia De was very satisfied.
"I won't bargain with you this time. This is my friend's thing, and he wants 4,900 pounds."
This price is very expensive. You should know that 4900 pounds can even buy a very useful weapon relic. The elixir of life sold by Shad is not worth this price. But the problem is that according to the description of John's father, this price is actually just a little high. After all, Shad needs it very urgently. Under normal circumstances, Shad thinks that 4500 pounds may be enough to buy it.
"For this blood, my friend had a feud with a 9th-ring vampire. You don't know how dangerous the situation was at that time."
Old John continued, and began to pack up the wooden box.
"Forget it, 4,900 pounds is 4,900 pounds."
Shade sighed and said, in fact, he was thinking of going to Miss Jialina to get another kind of blood tomorrow. In this way, his second adventure in the fifth era 3014, which had been postponed for a whole week, could begin.
It just so happened that Shade had also entered the boundary between life and death in the past one or two days, and he didn't know what would happen inside, so he could take the blood, key and door pendant with him. Once he encountered danger, he could go back to the past and rest for 30 minutes.
He believed that even in a place where life and death were unknown, the Time Key could still be used.
"I bought a very expensive spell at St. Byron's Library a few days ago. If I hadn't won some money later, I wouldn't even be able to come up with so much cash. Your friend is really good at appraisal. If he had asked for a higher price, I wouldn't have been able to afford it."
As he spoke, he began to take money out of his pocket. After this high-volume consumption, he only had more than 200 pounds in savings. The gold pounds in his hand soon fell below double digits, which made the stranger very anxious.
Father John had seen Shad pull out more banknotes than he could fit in his pocket before, so he wasn't surprised:
"Didn't you just win 3,000 pounds from the big city players? Don't be so sad, young man. Gold pounds are earned to be spent.
And it was only for my sake that I charged you only 4,900 pounds, otherwise it would have been 5,000. Oh, and I also bet on you to win, so I won’t charge you for the shipping fee. Detective, you can never imagine how many people died for this blood before he got it. Although these lives have nothing to do with us, they are indeed only worth 4,900 pounds in the end. "
“So, we must be people who can put a price on our own lives.”
Xia De said, the old man looked at him unexpectedly and nodded:
"That's true. I'm glad you realize this. But before you embark on this thrilling adventure, I need to remind you that this blood must be stored at low temperatures. No matter how you plan to use it, it should not be kept for more than a week."
This world is so real that any material will expire rather than be preserved forever.
"I understand, Papa John."
He put the glass tube back into the ice, the cold feeling reminding him of his empty wallet.
"Regarding the acquisition of rare blood, it is still ongoing. I still need blood."
Before leaving, he did not forget to remind everyone that the third cocktail party still required blood.
"This is not easy. I will help you get the information. Remember to prepare the money."
Dad shrugged, so Shad had to figure out how to get himself some money.
First he sent Mia and the tube of blood home, then he changed into an old set of Detective Sparrow's clothes that he had never worn before, and then put on a wide-brimmed black hat, and then Shad hurried out in the night.
He originally had no intention of getting involved in the affairs of the Grey Eagle and the neighboring country's spies, but now was the time to use the money, and he had to complete the task that Detective Sparrow had not completed.
The information obtained from Mr. Virgil Cameron needs to be delivered to No. 1 Vick Street. It is a street in the downtown area, and there is no special mark on the city map left by Detective Sparrow.
The carriage took Xia De to the street corner. After getting off, he could only see a few gas street lamps flashing an ambiguous dim light on the misty street.
The municipal maintenance in the downtown area is very poor. It is unknown when the gas street lights on Vick Street were erected. Now, at a glance, only two-thirds of the lights are still on.
Number One Vick Street was right at the corner, or more precisely, just behind the street sign at the corner. Standing on the street and looking at the building, every floor of the three-story apartment building was lit, and every window had curtains drawn.
The street was so quiet that Shad could not hear any sound coming from the house.
"The problem now is that I know where to pass the information, but I don't know how to tell others that I have the information."
He thought to himself, walked up the stairs, hesitated for a moment, and knocked on the door.
A few seconds later, footsteps appeared behind the door. Without asking who was outside, the person behind the door opened the door directly without removing the anti-theft chain.
Shad stepped back a little and saw that the person who opened the door was an old man wearing a white wig, brown pajamas and round-frame reading glasses.
He looked at Xia De suspiciously:
"May I ask who you are?"
This person looked like an ordinary citizen of Tobysk, perhaps he was reading a book in the living room with a cup of hot tea.
"I... I'm here to sell pens."
Xia De took out the pen from his pocket.
The old man behind the door lowered his head slightly and looked at the pen from above his reading glasses:
"Why did you come just now? I've been waiting for several days. Isn't the appointment date Wednesday?"
Xia De heaved a sigh of relief:
"Sir, you have to understand me. There are so many buyers who want this pen, and I can't just let others know that I have this pen."
"That's right, I thought you failed..."
He did not take the pen, but turned back to the house. Shade stood at the door, but did not push open the half-open door.
It seems that the "Grey-headed Eagle" is indeed good at camouflage and hiding, and this contact person actually doesn't know the real "Grey-headed Eagle".
"We've negotiated a price."
Soon, the old man inside the door handed Xia De a suitcase. When Xia De handed the pen to him, the old man pointed at the suitcase:
"You did a great job this time. In addition to the negotiated price, there is also a letter from your hometown. Don't forget to read it."
"Old man, do you think I'm new to this business?"
Xia De said calmly, nodded politely as a farewell, turned around with his hat on, and walked into the long dark night again.
The old man at No. 1 Vick Street curled his lips, watched Shad disappear at the street corner, and then closed the door:
“This guy is really cautious.”
After returning home, Xia De could not wait to open the box. Inside were piles of five-pound notes, all of which were old and had no conspicuous marks on them.
Shad placed the suitcase under the gas lamp on the desk and admired the spectacular sight of a box of banknotes with Mia the Cat.
But the letter was not found in the box. After thinking about it, Shad tore the box apart bit by bit, and then he thought of using Priest Augustus's revealing potion to treat the cloth lining the box.
Sure enough, a long string of numbers appeared on the cloth. After deciphering the codes corresponding to the three novels, the general meaning is that the "Grey Eagle" was risked to be mobilized for intelligence this time, so for safety, all the original contact information was invalidated. The "Grey Eagle" entered a long-term dormant state again, and when it was needed for a mission, the next special letter would be sent.
"Don't contact me anymore. The Grey Eagle's final mission has been completed."
Xia De whispered, burning the piece of cloth with the code written on it. After confirming that the cat that was looking around had no interest in the brazier, he turned the banknotes into toys and stuffed them into the top locked drawer of the desk:
"The Gray Eagle is dead. Don't let any trouble come to me! I have enough on my hands already."
He once again whispered to the table, not sure whether he was talking to himself or to the possible soul of Sparrow Hamilton.