Chapter 1254

The raindrops falling on his body took away heat, and the fatigue made Xia De crave to lie down and never be separated from the night color. This was not the most serious thing; he actually heard a familiar voice calling him in the deep night, the first sound coming from Miss Feilianna:

"Xia De, you've appeared again! I used Fiona as bait, and sure enough, I fished you out!"

Xia De subconsciously wanted to look to the left, but the Red Dragon girl whipped his arm hard with her tail:

"Do not look at the dark night, look at me, absolutely do not get distracted! Everything is fake, everything is fake! Only I am real!"

The last sentence had a somewhat hysterical meaning. Before Xia De appeared, the young witch who lived alone in this city probably experienced many things.

"Yes, I remember!"

As they spoke, the first candle had almost gone out. The fading firelight caused the dark night to dye the clothes of the two black in large patches. This was not an adjective, but their clothes and exposed skin really turned black. Xia De even felt that a part of his body had already merged into the vast and indescribable giant object that was the "night color."

But fortunately, the second candle was lit in time, and the warm firelight illuminated them again, driving away the darkness.

And at this moment, a panic that could not be described in any words appeared in his heart. The night color around him turned into a solid monster in an instant, but thanks to having seen more terrifying things, Xia De immediately realized that this was completely an illusion. However, Fiona froze in place, so this time it became Xia De reminding her:

"Don't care about the night color, look at the candle's firelight, everything is fake!"

He grabbed Fiona's right hand and ran forward desperately. When the latter also recovered from the panic and terror, the second candle burned out, and the last candle was fished out by Xia De from Fiona's maid skirt pocket and lit. The power of the initial fire could not make the light last longer.

The last candle represented the last ten seconds of the safe period. The dark night did not do any harm to them, but Xia De felt that he had never known that the dark night was such an oppressive thing. At this moment, it made the Outlander feel as if he had returned to childhood, returned to that age of fearing darkness, fearing closing his eyes, fearing shaking shadows, but this time he had no quilt to cover himself with, only the girl accompanying him.

The candlelight in his hand gradually shrank, even to the size of a grain of rice. That light was not enough to cover the two, so they held the candle together, so that neither of them would melt into this dark night.

The small patch of light at the entrance of the clock shop was right in front of them, but according to the current progress, the two absolutely could not reach it. And just one second before the last candle was about to go out, Fiona suddenly used force, wanting to throw Xia De forward. She didn't expect Xia De to be faster than her. When she reacted, her body had already stumbled to the light at the entrance of the shop.

The candle went out completely.

The girl, standing firmly while holding the wall, looked at the dark night behind her that did not have any trace of light. She could not see the light, could not see Xia De's figure. She covered her mouth in terror, and then saw Xia De's hand stretch out from the edge of the night color.

His whole body seemed to have turned black, but the surface of his body was emitting a slight silver light. And as Xia De came to the place illuminated by light, that layer of black was also rapidly receding:

"Oh, that really scared me just now. I almost forgot, I can glow myself. Although my friends look down on this ability, it has already saved me many times."

He stumbled out of the night color, feeling as if his whole body was about to be frozen. And the Red Dragon girl hugged him again, the ups and downs of her emotions making her truly unable to control her tears.

Of course, Xia De was not completely fine as he said. During that brief second of staying in the dark night just now, it seemed that something like a tentacle touched his left arm, so that he could almost not control the left half of his body now. Although he could still stand, he had no feeling.

But fortunately, returning to the present from the past time point, although the spirit could not be replenished, any damage received—except for the mental damage brought by the direct gaze of a God—would heal. This was a right possessed by all time investigators.

【Outlander, you have gained insights into "Dark Night" and "Shadow."】

This was already the second time Xia De had gained insights into "Shadow." According to the information accumulated by the academy, even if the talent was poor, with three to five insights into the same spiritual rune, the spiritual rune would arrive more than eighty percent of the time.

One voice in his ear disappeared, but another voice never sounded. She just hugged Xia De, even wrapping her tail around Xia De's waist.

"Let's go in first, there's no need to stand here in the rain."

Xia De advised, and Fiona then said a soft "Hmm~," wiped her tears, and walked into the antique shop with the lights on together with Xia De.

The interior of the shop had a decoration style of the old era before the steam era of the Sixth Era. The old interior used darkened golden wallpaper, and various wall clocks of different colors and sizes hung on the walls. The styles were even more diverse, and there were even cat-shaped wall clocks. The material of the pendulum was also very rich—metal, gemstones. The wall clock by the door even used a skull as a pendulum, and every time it swung, the green firelight in the skull's eyes would pull out a trail of fire.

The shop was filled with low two-story shelves, on which small clocks and watches of various styles were placed. Grandfather clocks were piled up like cabbages on the left side of the wall near the door of the shop, while pocket watches were placed casually in glass cabinets and oval windows, their chains almost tangled together.

All the clocks and watches showed different times, and even the rotation speeds were different, but they all pointed to the fact that it was night now. The only shop Xia De had seen that was messier than this was probably Old John's pawnshop.

Only those shops that trapped outsiders had other people, but there was no one here. They tried their best not to touch anything, found a path in the gaps between the clocks and watches, and came to the counter in the deepest part. And the wall behind the empty counter actually hung an oil painting of a golden throne covered by a transparent curtain.

The commodity manual was placed in a corner of the counter, and compared to the exquisite menu in the cafe, this commodity manual of the clock shop was a bit too shabby.

"I don't have much time left. Let's see what needs to be exchanged this time; perhaps I can bring it."

Xia De urged. Fiona Delage was never the kind of girl who would let her emotions affect her actions. She suppressed the emotions in her heart, quickly flipped through the commodity catalog, and soon found the target:

"It's this one."

It was still the style of a picture on the left and an explanation on the right, but the cafe had exquisite color pictures, while this one was just a rough black and white picture. It was a huge gear:

【Lost Clock Wheel, after holding it, it grants immunity to the effects of some time powers, and one's own aging speed is halved.】

【A gear of a certain clock in the Monarch's palace, that is all.】

【Requires payment of 4 Sisi (about 113.4 grams) of Time Sand eroded by the dark night.】

"Time Sand?"

This was a very famous relic, which Xia De had encountered twice in the time of the Sixth Era. The first time was in Coldwater Harbor, when he participated in a cruise ship auction with Princess Lei Qianya (Chapter 321), and the second time was last winter, after Iluna played the 【Dice Game】 and cooperated with Xia De to catch the hateful thief 【Master Thief Jack】 at home, it was one of the three optional rewards given by the latter (Chapter 988).

But both times Xia De had only seen it, not obtained it. 【Time Sand】 was a Keeper-level relic, and its main body was a desert located outside the material world; the sand itself was just a derivative of the relic. Once this kind of sand was sprinkled, it could affect the flow of time in a certain area depending on the amount used.

But because it involved time, various problems would always appear, so it was mostly used for research rather than combat.

Acquiring this kind of relic was not particularly difficult, but Xia De did not quite understand the prefix "eroded by the dark night."

Asking Fiona for advice, the Red Dragon girl didn't know either. Among the various materials that Miss Feilianna had originally prepared for her that might be used, there was indeed this kind of thing, but unfortunately, she had already lost it.

"No problem, next time I come back, I will bring this kind of material."

Xia De promised her. The young witch was obviously a bit disappointed:

"Are you leaving already?"

Xia De knew it was cruel to leave her alone in this kind of place, but he couldn't decide such things.

Taking advantage of the fact that there was still some time,

he restored the toys in his pocket and used a tent, quilt, and other items to build a small camp in the gap in the corner where there wasn't much clutter. As long as Fiona crawled into the tent, she could be covered by layers of quilts,

and the surroundings were all filled with the food and drinking water he left behind.

And in the night curtain of the Eternal Night City, there was actually no hunger or thirst. Xia De left these just to make her feel at ease.

"Before I return, try not to leave this shop."

Xia De entrusted, and the white fog around his body had already risen bit by bit. This was a sign that he was about to leave.

"You will definitely come back, right?"

The Red Dragon girl asked with pursed lips. Those eyes made Xia De himself unable to bear to leave, but if he didn't leave, he couldn't go to find the Time Sand.

"Yes, I will definitely come back, accompany you to see that Monarch, and then send you away safely. This is my promise."

Fiona nodded gently:

"I still can't remember what I came here to do, but it seems to be related to the academy that Teacher and Teacher's teacher wanted to build... You must come back."

She tugged at Xia De's sleeve, and then asked quite embarrassedly:

"Can you... leave your coat with me... I'm not afraid, it's just..."

Xia De didn't let her continue, but took off his coat and handed it to her. Fiona hugged the clothes silently. The two looked at each other until Xia De was swallowed into the white fog.

Under normal circumstances, the Gods of the Fifth Era could see that piece of white fog, but mortals could not, but this time Fiona saw it.

The Destiny Ring and the Golden Staircase slowly floated behind her. The young witch looked timidly at the clocks and watches around her, then curled up into the quilt in the tent with her tail coiled, determined to "hibernate" until Xia De returned.

On that Destiny Ring, the already engraved 【Time】 spiritual rune shone brightly. Fiona buried her head in Xia De's coat and completely covered herself with the quilt:

"The traces of time, so that's what they are."

The clocks and watches clicked and clacked, and the rain pattered against the shop window. The night was thick, and this city had no daytime.

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