Chapter 1684: The Unfaithful Man

"It's not that I'm not feeling well, it's just... Luweiya, thank you for helping me last night."

Dorothy pursed her lips. Xia De knew very well that she must be communicating with Princess Lei Qianya in her heart, complaining about the Princess's behavior on Saturday night.

"A gift!"

"Meow!"

Xia De took the mask out of the gift box. It was a white cat mask that could cover the entire face, secured by a ribbon tied around the head.

Miya seemed startled by the mask and jumped away from her bowl of goat milk. But soon, realizing it wasn't a living creature, she reached out a paw and patted the mask twice.

"An ordinary item."

Xia De shook his head and set the mask aside casually:

"As expected, one cannot hope to obtain relics like the 【Universal Key】 or 【Ghost Iron Coins】 every single time."

Luweiya looked at the mask and suddenly asked:

"Do you still remember the result of the divination I performed for you before you first set off for Green Lake?" (Chapter 1581)

"Of course I remember: a cat, and twins."

Luweiya thought for a moment:

"You have more or less figured out the meaning of the twins. But what does the cat represent?"

"Does it represent that I would acquire 'Cat Transformation' after that?"

Xia De asked, but then shook his head. Although his recent adventures had many connections to "cats," in reality, most of this was preparation for the "Seven-Day Journey." In the Green Lake region, even without Cat Transformation, it wouldn't have caused too much inconvenience to his actions.

"Yes, if the divination result at that time was correct, then what did the cat represent?"

And so, time arrived at Tuesday, the day before the lunar eclipse, the 29th day of the Sowing Month.

When Xia De arrived at the Green Lake Hotel early in the morning, he learned from the newspaper that Miss Miss Jia Lin Na and her party would arrive in the city tomorrow night or the morning after. This was in line with the original plan; the delegation had not encountered any attacks or accidents on the road.

Xia De did not see Megan at the hotel early that morning, but she had sent a letter informing him to be prepared to land on the island tomorrow, Wednesday, along with other new information.

The news concerned the Church's actions. The Church's new round of inspections of the central island of Green Lake had concluded. Although they still hadn't found a way to enter the other island, they had discovered a new characteristic: rituals and large-scale traces of destruction set up on the island would silently disappear.

This meant that not only could the Church's Ringed Shushi not stay on the island for long periods, they couldn't even set up rituals to monitor the changes on the island.

Now, the Church's teams had basically withdrawn from the central island of Green Lake, merely stationing personnel and rituals on the normal lake surface to prevent anything from rushing out of the thick fog. Originally, the entire lake area should have been under martial law, and the villages along the lake even evacuated. But now, during the negotiations between the two countries, almost the eyes of the whole world were watching this place. If Green Lake were completely blockaded, the commotion caused would certainly be significant.

Furthermore, the Seer Society believed that a total blockade was exactly what Laplace Klein Howard had planned, so the lake area was not under martial law, and Megan had already found a way to land on the island.

The only thing to worry about now was that the two of them might run into sporadic Church teams on the island tomorrow.

Although he didn't see Megan this Tuesday, Xia De received a letter from the Fu De brothers. Last week, Xia De learned that the brothers were Ringed Shushi belonging to the 【Rose Cross Society】, and this organization had absorbed some believers of the Old God, the 【God of Love】.

They wrote this letter to tell Xia De that the believers within the Rose Cross Society who truly worshipped that Old God had arrived in the City of Glass, Mikaela Blast Furnace, and could meet with Xia De today.

Without delay, Xia De set off from the Green Lake Hotel, took a carriage through the border checkpoint, and headed to the city on the south bank of Green Lake. While passing through the checkpoint, he encountered Captain Lei Jiede and chatted with him for a moment.

"Duke Miss Jia Lin Na is arriving soon, and our tasks these days have become much heavier."

"The task of monitoring illegal border crossers?"

The Captain shook his head:

"Of course not, it's the task of drills and formation practice. The Duke or some other big shot might come to inspect the barracks, and my superior, Colonel Deng En, attaches great importance to this matter. Look over there; the company that originally maintained the queue order now only has two squads left... Guess what the others went to do?"

Xia De thought for a moment:

"Cleaning?"

Looking at Captain Lei Jiede's expression, he had clearly guessed correctly.

The meeting place for the Fu De brothers and Xia De was the "Victory Carrier Hotel" in the center of Mikaela Blast Furnace. The location was quite good, allowing one to see the City Hall and the winding Duyin River directly from the windows.

Additionally, Professor Bo Langre, who had helped Xia De, also stayed here, though he should still be on the north bank of Green Lake with his students, conducting surveys.

The Victory Carrier Hotel was located at a five-way intersection, with the hotel protruding toward the center of the intersection, presenting a triangular layout overall. When Xia De paid the carriage driver and entered the hotel against the backdrop of a passing parade, the Fu De brothers were sitting at a table waiting for him:

"Mr. Watson, over here."

They gestured for Xia De to sit down, and then Eric Fu De gave Xia De a note with three room numbers written on it:

"We have to rush to a meeting, so we won't go up with you."

He pointed upstairs:

"Mr. Richard, Mr. Updun, and Ms. Hope are all in their respective rooms. You can go find them separately, or just find one or two of them. They are all Mid-Ring, and the most devout believers of the God of Love among us. However, Mr. Updun among them has an eccentric personality; if you communicate with him in a moment, please don't mind his offense. Oh, we told them you are our friend, so you don't need to worry about your identity."

Xia De nodded to show he understood, but asked another question:

"Is it convenient to tell me how many people from the 【Rose Cross Society】 have come this time?"

The brothers hesitated for a moment, but finally, Charles spoke up:

"We cannot say the specific number, but it definitely exceeds this."

He held up three fingers:

"Also, our President has come too; he is a Twelve-Ring Shushi. Right now, the President is in contact with the Zhengshen Sect Society, and he discussed with us that we should take the initiative to expose our identity as descendants of Edwards."

This approach was very wise; it could protect the Fu De brothers and also ensure that the 【Rose Cross Society】 would not completely lose its right to participate in this matter.

Xia De nodded:

"That's fine. Then I'll go up. When will you have free time? There are some things I want to discuss with you again. No, not in the next two days. How about the weekend?"

The brothers thought for a moment:

"This weekend should be no problem. We will contact our aunt by then."

"No problem."

Xia De nodded, bid farewell to the brothers, and went upstairs.

It should be said that the industrial development of the City of Glass was reflected in all aspects. Although the Green Lake Hotel run by the siblings Suo Lun Green and Hai Li Na Green was the best hotel in Green Lake City, if compared with its counterparts in the City of Glass, the interior decoration and living environment of the Green Lake Hotel were actually not the best of their kind.

The Victory Carrier Hotel was the big-city hotel in Xia De's impression, similar in level to the "Abundant Earth Hotel" where Luweiya lived in the Randell Valley at the beginning of this year.

Not only was the decoration level first-class, but the rooms reserved for wealthy guests on the upper floors were also quite luxurious.

Among the Ringed Shushi of the Rose Cross Society, the three believers of the God of Love all lived on different floors. Among them, Mr. Updun, who was described as having a "bad personality," and Ms. Hope lived in ordinary rooms on the second floor, with room numbers 215 and 221 respectively, while Mr. Richard, the highest-ranked among the three, lived in the luxury suite 402 on the fourth floor.

Xia De chose to go to the fourth floor first. Perhaps because it was a weekday morning, the corridor on the fourth floor was quiet, so much so that when Xia De knocked on the door on the fourth floor, he felt the knocking sound was so abrupt.

Soon, footsteps came from behind the door, and then, a voice sounded from inside:

"Who is it?"

"Hello, is this Mr. Richard? I am the friend mentioned by the Fu De gentlemen."

After he finished speaking, the door was opened. An old gentleman with graying hair, not tall, and looking to be in his fifties appeared behind the door. He frowned slightly, looked Xia De up and down, and then suddenly said:

"You are unfaithful!"

"Sorry, what?"

Xia De blinked suspiciously. The old man shook his head:

"You heard clearly. I said: You are unfaithful. Come in, don't talk at the door."

"But didn't you just say I..."

"Young man, don't be foolish. In this era, how many people can you find who are faithful to one love for a lifetime? The human heart is complex, and emotions are changeable. Compared to others I have seen, you are not the worst kind of man."

Saying this, he gestured for Xia De to follow him into the room.

The two sat down in the living room, but old Mr. Richard did not prepare tea for Xia De. Furthermore, after sitting down, he did not give Xia De a chance to speak, but instead handed Xia De a picture album.

The album was the size of an ordinary book but very thin, with only about a dozen pages, fixed together on the side with six silver metal rings. This was not an ordinary item; it had miraculous elements, but the traces of the elements were not very obvious, so it should belong to some kind of divine artifact.

"Open it and look at every picture, then tell me what you see."

Old Mr. Richard said. Seeing Xia De's hesitation, he added:

"Every time I meet a Ringed Shushi willing to sit down and talk, I invite them to take my 'psychological test.' Every picture in here is an abstract pattern; you just need to tell me what they look like most to you. The result of the test represents your views on love, marriage, and lovers. Before our formal conversation begins, please take this first."

This sounded very much like the kind of test from the Outlander's hometown.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1685 =====