Chapter 1763: The Fishing Doctor

The stranger's face wore a smile of nostalgia and helplessness:

"I thought of a story when I was at Sister Sister Daifulin's last time, and now I've thought of it again."

【Another fairy tale?】

She asked gently, and Xia De nearly coughed:

"Don't say that. That's no fairy tale. If anyone showed it to children, that person should be dragged out and shot for five minutes... Love-Locking? How interesting. The god of love in this world is called 'Lock of the Red Heart'. Love-Locking, Love-Locking... Do the god of love's followers also possess such a Zhou Fa? Many crave love, and there are many ways to crave it. Indeed..."

His face was filled with boundless melancholy and recollection, while "she" did not continue questioning, simply letting Xia De ponder.

He thought of many things: what Hela Aosenfuerte had said to him in death about a cold heart, a lover, and being loved; the warm and touching little love story of Grandma Miles; and then, stories from his homeland about using Zhou Fa to lock away love, only to lose control of one's desires, lacking the capacity to bear everything, walking toward tragedy and destruction, and personally pushing all that was beautiful into the abyss.

"They were not won by my lies, nor by curses."

He looked at his own hands.

【Yes, you have indeed always given your true heart.】

"And I have that responsibility and the courage to bear their burdens and manage this home well. I understand what love is. Yes, I understand..."

【You have always understood. Otherwise, why would Desire issue a challenge to you?】

"Her" smile grew even gentler, as if very pleased that Xia De had finally understood.

"Desire and Love... Desire wouldn't... She must have seen my inner conflict long ago and deliberately reminded me, which is why she made me prove my loyalty, right?"

He suddenly asked in confusion, but this question was not important. He looked at Mia. The cat-fox tilted its head suspiciously and looked back at him.

"Since they made their choices willingly and are willing to walk this path with me, what exactly am I conflicted about?"

He suddenly clenched his fist, and the strange Guai De Xiang Fa of the past month vanished completely. The stranger never shrank from examining himself or analyzing himself, and at this moment, he once again saw clearly the confusion in his heart.

The Fate Ring materialized behind him. Slight enlightenment factors gathered, but they did not form a Spirit Rune. This was merely the Fate Ring responding to Xia De's heart becoming stronger and more resolute.

He always grew stronger step by step, always able to glimpse his inner cravings and hopes. At this moment, the stranger once again understood what kind of future he truly wanted. Thus, on the Fate Ring that had not yet vanished, Greed flickered with a glaring and strange spiritual light.

"She" continued to smile gently.

Having sorted out his emotions and seeing that Mia was still too lazy to go out, Xia De set off alone for Green Lake City.

Although he had used a Time Key that morning, it had not actually delayed him much. So when Xia De came out of the hotel's back door, the boy John was just about to leave with his little dog.

Seeing Xia De appear, the boy politely greeted him:

"Good morning, Mr."

"Good morning. Where are you going?"

Xia De knew the boy had no regular source of income; he usually ran around the city, either begging or looking for ways to earn money. However, since Xia De had been bringing him food every day, he no longer needed to worry about starving. Of course, the boy had never stolen; he was still too young to have mastered that craft.

"My friend said fish can be caught in the backwater of the Pumfrey District along the Duyin River, so he invited me to take a look."

"Be careful. Don't get too close to the river."

Xia De gave his warning and handed the bread he had brought to the boy. Little John held the paper bag and asked somewhat shyly:

"Mr., is there anything you like?"

Xia De smiled:

"Are you trying to give me a gift?"

He knew the boy meant well:

"I like Luo De Pai. Do you know about that?"

"Yes. Everyone likes to play cards, but I don't understand the rules."

"You'll understand when you grow up, but you'll need to learn language and mathematics. Oh, you don't need to give me Luo De Pai. I only like cards I win myself."

He was preventing the boy from doing something risky to get him a gift:

"If you want to give me a gift... how about this? Get ready, and in a few days I'll introduce you to a place where you can learn to read and write."

Actually, this era already had a relatively widespread compulsory education law, but its implementation was not smooth. However, children like little John who had no parents were not without any possibility of learning to read and write. Besides encountering kind-hearted people, some charitable organizations and churches offered free educational courses; it was just that vagrants usually didn't know about them or couldn't go due to practical reasons.

But this was no difficulty for Xia De. Even though Yin Luna had not yet arrived and he was unfamiliar with the local church, Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals had such a charitable educational institution locally.

Recently, because he had worried John might get entangled in the matter of the Ring Mages, he had not introduced him to anything. Now it seemed that letting him run all over the city was actually quite dangerous, so it was better to let him learn something first.

"Okay, Mr.!"

The boy nodded with a smile and then watched Xia De depart. Holding his little dog, he was actually still pondering the matter of Luo De Pai.

Xia De had come to Green Lake today mainly to find a doctor and ask how to snatch a soul from a demon's grasp. But unfortunately, the doctor had gone out early in the morning. However, he had left a message at the hotel front desk: if Xia De was looking for him, he should go to Puhof Village in the countryside, the dock village where Xia De had first met "Rotten-Eye Bally".

The doctor claimed he had gone fishing, but he was probably scouting the terrain.

In any case, after an uninteresting carriage ride, Xia De got off the carriage at Puhof Village at nine-thirty this morning. After going to the dock and asking around, he easily learned that half an hour ago, a well-dressed stranger carrying a fishing rod and a bucket had indeed arrived in the village.

The doctor had also walked around the village and inquired about suitable fishing spots. However, he had not rented a boat to go directly to the lake to fish; instead, he had gone east along the lakeshore. Otherwise, it would have been much more troublesome for Xia De to find him.

With someone to give directions, finding the doctor was not complicated. But when he saw the doctor, Xia De was truly stunned by his appearance.

It was in a reed bed about one mile from the village dock. The doctor was sitting on a dark brown wooden coffin, one end of which was submerged deep in the lake water, wearing a sun-shading hat and holding a fishing rod that had already been cast out.

"Fishing alone while seated on a coffin? Doctor, in the year I've known you, this is absolutely your most fashionable and dashing moment."

Xia De praised the sight of the doctor sitting alone on the coffin, fishing in Green Lake, but he did not jump onto the coffin; instead, he walked on the water to the doctor's side.

"Walk lightly. Don't scare the fish."

The doctor warned first, then explained with a smile:

"This coffin is no ordinary item. I specially prepared it for our target. Transporting this thing from Tobesk to Green Lake City cost me a huge sum, but fortunately, it was worth it. I believe few people in this era could craft such a thing."

Xia De raised an eyebrow:

"You don't intend to lie inside it and enter a dream, do you?"

Although the coffin's surface bore no ritual symbols, the Demon-Viewer could see the shadow of demonic power.

"Not me, but the person entering the dream sleeps here. This is not just a coffin. Didn't you say we might fight in the lake? It is actually a decent boat as well."

As the doctor spoke, he held his fishing rod and looked again at Green Lake under the bright sun:

"The scenery here is truly nice, though not as good as the Randel River Valley... Oh, what do you need from me?"

"Here's the situation: I want to ask you about another Evil Spirit from the Third Era. No, no, we can't encounter it, nor is it possible to encounter it; I just want to inquire."

"I understand. Detective, just ask; I won't pry into unnecessary matters."

So Xia De described the demon's face made of coins and mentioned that the entity might be related to the Old God—the Golden Sovereign.

This information was very complete and highly specific; the Doctor immediately thought of who it was:

"The Greed Demon—Prisijin. This is a troublesome fellow. As long as even a single coin constituting its true form remains unsealed, it can transfer its true form to that lone coin. Even if I encountered it, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to capture it easily."

"Where is that fellow now?"

Xia De asked curiously, thinking there might be another chance to encounter something seen in the Fifth Era.

"That's truly hard to say. This fellow has not appeared throughout the entire Sixth Era. In the years I've been gathering data, I've only heard some legends. According to an unearthed stele near a nameless lake in southern Carsonric: 'The demon fell upon the mermaid, coins like rain, injuring countless.' I think this likely refers to the alien creature, the mermaid, defeating and sealing it."

After the Doctor finished speaking, without waiting for Xia De to raise a question, he proactively stated his own view:

"But aren't mermaids sea creatures? Other stele inscriptions unearthed in that same region indicate that even in the Fifth Era, that area was land. Moreover, although the mermaid race is powerful, they shouldn't be able to defeat that fellow easily; Greed is very formidable."

Hearing "mermaid," Xia De roughly guessed what was happening, but he didn't dare to say it. Regarding sins and desires, mermaids always leave their shadow. Thus, it seemed Xia De had no chance to find that demon in this era.

"Doctor, the fellow we are discussing should still be in a sealed state; only I... can enter the interior of the seal. If I want to snatch a soul from the other party, and that demon also knows I very much want that soul. Under the circumstance that I definitely cannot defeat it, how should I negotiate? I will definitely be extorted, so what can I offer?"