Chapter 1138: The Zhong Lou on a Snowy Night

It was not until this day, when he kissed Lei Qianya goodbye in the opera house box, that Xia De remembered to hand her Margaret's letter. He did not open the letter to read it, but Lei Qianya opened it right in front of him, smiled after finishing it, and then burned the letter with the flame from her fingertip.

She did not tell Xia De what business the princess of the southern kingdom had invited her to do, but judging by the expression on her face at that moment, the scale of that business must be quite significant.

In the traditions of this era, the first month of every year is called the "Month of New Birth," and with the end of the first day of the Month of New Birth, it signifies that the Year-End Festival has officially concluded. Life will return to its proper track, and no matter who they are, everyone must continue to face the hardships and challenges of life in the brand-new year.

The first day of the Month of New Birth was a Wednesday, and Xia De's time key for the year 903 was used late last Wednesday night, just a few minutes before midnight. However, although he now had a time key in his hand gifted by Mr. Edmund of Lengshuigang, due to the punishment from the Father of the Tree, Xia De did not use it on this Wednesday night.

He also intended to let himself rest for a while, and wait until he found a way to reach the Randel River Valley before continuing his brand-new adventure.

Thus, time arrived at the second day of the Month of New Birth, which was Thursday.

After waking up early in the morning, Xia De went into the city to handle the miscellaneous affairs for the brand-new month. After paying the advertising fees, gas bills, and steam bills, he went to the local tax bureau to check on the inheritance tax issues for the house and property at No. 6 St. Deran Square.

At noon, he had lunch with Little Mia, and then went to the Dawn Church. After exchanging a few words with Priest Priest Ao Gu Si, Xia De went to see Bishop Ouwenzhu. After offering his New Year blessings, he and Bishop Ouwenzhu talked in the side hall about the topic of His Majesty the King's year-end speech.

And it was not until he left the vicinity of Dawn Square that Priest Priest Ao Gu Si hurriedly chased after him from behind and handed Xia De a suitcase: Bi Qu Ge

"At eleven o'clock tonight, I will wait for you at the church entrance."

The priest lowered his voice to say to him, then turned and returned to the church. Xia De continued walking toward the intersection in the crowd; he naturally knew what was inside the suitcase in his hand.

The bell tower of Toby Julian City is the tallest building in the entire Pearl of the North. Its location is in the eastern part of the central area of Toby Julian, adjacent to the eastern part of the city where the wealthy gather. It is not particularly close to St. Deran Square, but one can still hear the sound of the bell tower every day.

The bell tower stands on the west side of the famous "War God Square" in Toby Julian, with its back against the winding Terra Riel River, and at the base of the tower is the Birmingham Museum. In fact, the Birmingham Museum, as a semi-official city museum, is also responsible for the maintenance and management of the lighthouse. Moreover, the building and land of the lighthouse had also belonged to the museum for more than a decade, and the first floor had basically been turned into an exhibition hall.

This evening, the elderly tower keeper responsible for today's guard duty passed through the small back door of the museum and entered the first floor of the lighthouse. After turning on the gas lamps on the wall, he glanced at the tightly closed glass display cabinets, then intended to walk along the winding staircase to conduct the final lighthouse inspection of the day, and planned to finish writing today's work log before going to sleep.

For the new year, the work log had also been changed to a brand-new booklet, and according to the wisdom of the elderly, if the first two entries of a new log cannot be recorded carefully, then the subsequent content will likely also be recorded carelessly:

"Young people nowadays always don't know the benefits of complete records."

However, he had only taken two steps when he unexpectedly heard the sound of the lighthouse door being opened. He turned around in surprise, only to see that after the door opened, a large mass of red roses blew into the room like snowflakes along with the evening breeze, and then he completely lost consciousness.

"Schluch Lake's Leap!"

Xia De, carrying the suitcase at the doorway, took a step forward and arrived beside the old man to support him, preventing him from getting injured due to a fall. And the Doctor, who was following behind, changed into shoe covers and gloves after closing the door before also walking over with a suitcase:

"Although I have always lived in Toby Julian, I have never entered this place before."

The Doctor brushed the snowflakes off his shoulders while saying this, and at the same time, he looked at the surrounding environment:

"This tower is even larger than I imagined. This exhibition hall is really nice, it's a pity it's not free to enter."

"According to information I gathered from my noble friends, nobles and professors from the Toby Julian University district can enter for free... Knights also count."

Xia De said with a smile, carefully placing the elderly man on duty against the wall, not forgetting to drape a blanket over him to prevent him from catching a cold.

"Speaking of which, I have some connection with this museum. My uncle, Detective Schluch Lake, said before he died that if I ever reached a dead end in the future, I could take that 【Founding · Silver Moon】 card here to sell... Let's go, Doctor."

He beckoned to the Doctor, and the two of them carried kerosene lamps and walked up the winding staircase. Their target was the top floor, and the lighthouse only had gas pipes installed on the bottom floor; climbing the tower required lighting, and they would likely have to walk for quite a while.

"How is the preparation for tomorrow's exam going?"

The Doctor asked casually while walking behind Xia De. Just now on the road, the two of them were discussing the topic of whether the economic data in the year-end King's speech was true.

Xia De nodded:

"I have basically memorized the content that should be memorized. The Academy allowed me to postpone the submission of the potions and alchemical items required for the assessment courses by one week, but the papers are all written."

"What about the gap in practical credits?"

"That's no problem. Miss Librarian, Miss Lu Yi Sha, promised to help me find a way. I recently completed a very important Academy bounty for her. How about you, Doctor, how is "Ether Mechanics" going?"

Mentioning this topic, the Doctor couldn't help but sigh:

"Try my luck. This is not a subject that can be passed just by rote memorization. The basic theory of spirits has always required talent to learn. Fortunately, I just want to pass the exam to obtain the qualification for elective courses, rather than really wanting to research this."

He couldn't help but sigh:

"Knowledge, it is so fascinating, and so distressing."

The Doctor's words made Xia De feel deeply moved as well, and the Doctor's next sentence was even more astonishing:

"Detective, have you heard about the matter of Sir Victor Fanni? You didn't come to the meeting on Saturday; Miss Dac Nisi said she would tell you about it."

"The matter of the academic spy?"

The two climbed the stairs one after the other, the light of the kerosene lamp in their hands flickering with each step. Every so often, they would see a small window by the wall, through which they could see the myriad lights of Tobesk city in deep winter below. And each new window made the city look a little smaller.

In the current steam era, even if not every household could afford gas lamps, the appearance of the city at night was still very different from hundreds of years ago. The Outsider remembered every scene as he passed the windows; he knew that this represented civilization.

"Yes, academic spy, tsk tsk, this is the biggest scandal regarding correspondence ring mages among the three major academies in the past few decades."

The Doctor shook his head while speaking:

"Although it is a matter of the Schluch Lake Higher Medical Academy, after all, the other party is a correspondence student just like us. The school hasn't said anything yet, but I heard from acquaintances that the three major academies will conduct a more careful identity screening of existing correspondence ring mages next year, oh, it's this year, this year."

He and Xia De sighed together. The Doctor was thinking that this would implicate many people, while Xia De was thinking that the five people in their entire group actually all had problems.

"Speaking of which, didn't you ask me to investigate Victor Fanni?"

The Doctor continued the topic from just now, and the two of them climbed the tower very quickly. In fact, the lighthouse had an elevator, but to avoid making too much noise, they did not use it:

"I still remember that person's desire, a crazy thirst for knowledge."

He hummed twice:

"Although I didn't think this was a big problem at the time, now it seems that this thirst for knowledge is the reason he fell into madness."

"The Academy said that this academic spy is crazy, is that right?"

Xia De took the opportunity to ask. The Doctor nodded behind Xia De. It just so happened that the two of them passed another window, so the Doctor looked at the moon outside the window. The continuous snowfall had not stopped, but the snow tonight was very light, so the starry sky could be seen:

"According to the information I received, he came into contact with some forbidden knowledge in the Huntington City of the Kexi United Kingdom. Subsequently, he was hunted down by the church and fled into the Pantanal Xiewu area, causing a great melee. It is said that the strange bell sound early last Thursday morning was related to this."

The Doctor was amazed by this:

"It's hard to imagine what kind of great battle could make ring mages and ordinary people with high inspiration in the entire material world hear that bell sound in reality and in their dreams."

Xia De actually knew what was going on, but in order for the Doctor to continue his peaceful life, he could not say it at this time.

"Crazy thirst for knowledge."

Speaking of this, Xia De was also very emotional:

"Actually, I once talked about this topic with that Sir. He is the kind of... person who is very much like a scholar, and his artistic attainments are also very high. It's just that he didn't know how to be in awe..."

"I have seen many such people."

The Doctor said, and walked past the last step of the stairs with Xia De, entering the very top of the bell tower.

Moonlight shone in from the small window, and the light from the kerosene lamps in their hands was equally weak, making the atmosphere here like a scene from a third-rate horror novel. The area of the top floor of the bell tower was not small, but only a quarter of it allowed people to move around, while most of the area blocked by the black iron-colored metal fence was the clockwork mechanical part that occupied the main structure of the bell tower.

Huge gears, shafts, and chains were running click-clack behind the fence in the dark top of the bell tower. They used the steam engine located in the basement of the bell tower as a power source to bring accurate timekeeping to this city. Everything will change, only time will not. ===== CHAPTER 1139 =====