Chapter 1765

No one spoke to Xia De, so he wandered among the large circus wagons on his own. Almost everyone was busy with their own tasks; it was normal, extremely normal, but it was precisely this normality that made Xia De feel something was wrong.

Pretending to be interested in the souvenirs sold by the circus, he stopped at a stall. Most of the souvenirs were cheap items acquired from various places across the Old Continent during the circus's travels, then marked up for sale in the next city. Xia De even saw anchor pendants from Coldwater Port, maple leaf bookmarks from Midhillburg, empty wine bottles with famous winery labels from Huntington City, and ugly stone ornaments from the Randell Valley.

He had originally wondered if the circus had accidentally acquired a Relic that was causing subtle incidents, but he was soon drawn to a stall selling various decks of Rhoder cards.

Not only did they sell standard decks, but there were also wooden card boxes sold by various branches of the Divination Society across the Old Continent. Because the styles of the boxes and the engraved emblems differed by branch, collectors indeed enjoyed such items.

Besides standard decks and boxes, there were even a dozen or so Rhoder cards with special card faces on the stall. While these cards weren't as expensive as Special Rule cards, they were still items worth showing off among card players.

Xia De paused to look, and although he hadn't intended to buy anything, he was drawn to a card with the face of "a cat looking up under a tree."

It was a Moon 10, the same suit as the "Origin: Space" he was currently searching for. But even if he found "Origin: Space" in the future, he could still put this cat card into his backup deck.

"Pet Series: Delarion Desert Cat."

Xia De named the card, and the man behind the stall smiled:

"That's right. So, do you want to buy it? This much will do."

He held up his palm and shook it at Xia De. The price was reasonable, within a range Xia De could accept.

"It's just a pity you don't have any Special Rule cards here."

Xia De sighed, almost certain that at least the man in front of him was just an ordinary person.

"I'm running a small business here. All the cards here combined aren't worth as much as a single Special Rule card. However, if you want to play, you can go find our troupe leader. That gentleman is the best card player among us, and he has a Special Rule card in his hand."

Xia De raised an eyebrow, first indicating he would buy the Moon 10 card, then began chatting with the man about the circus. The two gradually grew familiar, even playing a round of cards together. Through this, Xia De gained a deeper understanding of the circus's basic situation and learned that the circus had indeed recruited new hands since arriving locally.

Most of them were minors responsible for manual labor like moving equipment, and when the troupe left, they would take one or two as apprentices. These certainly wouldn't be Grey Glove agents, although neither MI6 nor the Grey Gloves prohibited child labor, such tasks wouldn't be assigned to minors.

As for the adults recruited locally, there were five or six. The number was uncertain because some were just day laborers who might leave one day and never return. As for those who stayed long-term, one was the new circus accountant, Mr. Merkel, and another was supposedly the troupe leader's distant nephew who had come specifically to rely on his uncle.

"Oh, in the middle of last night, the dogs kept by the troupe kept barking at the outside, and later we found a man unconscious in the farmland. The troupe leader said if there's time, he'll go into the city to report it this afternoon. The guy is still unconscious, but there are no visible injuries."

Saying this, he glanced at the three policemen questioning circus members not far away:

"They don't care about this matter; it's really something. They're all policemen, why draw such clear lines?"

"Found an unconscious man last night... I'm from the city; I can go take a look at him in a while. By the way, I also want to play a few rounds of Rhoder cards with that troupe leader and see his special card. Do you know where I can find him? Is that him talking to the police over there?"

Xia De asked this last, and because playing cards had brought them closer, the man watching the stall stood up and asked around for Xia De:

"The troupe leader went into the village to discuss laying a temporary gas pipeline with the village chief; he'll be back in half an hour. That over there is our deputy leader; he doesn't play cards."

"That's fine. I'll wander around the camp a bit more."

Xia De said, then walked toward where the unconscious man was.

The circus didn't have a suitable place to house him, but fearing he might die like that and cause the circus's outsiders to be treated as criminals by the locals, they finally placed him in the tent where the circus apprentices lived.

Everyone in the troupe had things to do, so no one had time to look after him, to the point that when Xia De slipped into the tent, no one stopped him:

"Aren't they afraid of things being stolen?"

The living conditions for the apprentices weren't very good; besides living quarters, the tent was piled with various props used for performances. At the very end of a row of bunk beds made from discarded steam pipes lay a man in his thirties with a pale face and yellow hair.

Xia De saw his face and was stunned for a moment, then sure enough, he saw a soul floating above him, making faces in Xia De's direction:

"Giles hasn't woken up yet, I won't let anyone near him! It's dangerous here, big bad guy, go away!"

The soul of the little girl, Laste Edwards, whispered, looking quite content with her own amusement. For a moment, Xia De doubted whether he was still in Green Lake or had returned to Tobesk City. Then he realized he had truly encountered Professor Manning's friend again, the former grave robber Durt Giles, and the eldest daughter of the second generation of the Edwards family who had died young.

Although the little girl's soul was evaluated as having great power, she couldn't recognize Xia De just by his appearance. Therefore, when Xia De approached, she even waved her hand to strike Xia De's chest—which would make an ordinary person suddenly feel a chill throughout their body.

But unexpectedly, Xia De grabbed the girl's hand.

He looked at her eyes seriously, and Laste Edwards put away her funny face, revealing an innocent smile, then suddenly pulled her hand away to leave, but couldn't break free from Xia De's grip no matter what.

With a *poof* sound, she dissipated into smoke, then appeared on the other side of the bed. This supernatural ability, which only appeared in storybooks, was actually a unique spatial power, and it seemed that even as a ghost, she had inherited the outstanding bloodline of the Edwards.

"Professor's friend, we met in Tobesk."

Xia De said very steadily, not chasing the girl, but sitting by the bed and placing his hand on Durt Giles's forehead.

【Unconscious. Contacted a powerful force exceeding his own mental tolerance, thus falling into a self-protective slumber.】

In other words, he saw something he shouldn't have.

"How did you come here?"

He looked up and asked the girl hiding to the side. This ancestor of Megan's, besides Laplace Klein Howard, the oldest member of the Edwards family, now recognized who Xia De was.

She tried to float closer, and seeing Xia De didn't grab her again, she put her hands on her hips and "warned":

"I'm only eleven years old, don't you have any bad intentions toward me."

"Um... please don't say things like that, I'm a bit scared. No more jokes. I know you don't have any malice toward me. How did you come here? Didn't I say, don't come to Green Lake?"

The girl thought for a moment:

"Giles went to eat yesterday and argued with me about not scaring wild cats. We were in the alley, and suddenly we came here!"

She gestured with an exaggerated motion:

"Really fast, came here all of a sudden. I recognize this place, home is in the lake over there."

"Suspected spatial transfer... is it really fate..."

Xia De frowned and looked at the unconscious Durt Giles again. There were no traces of spatial power on him, nor any obvious external injuries. Although spatial transfer was extremely dangerous, he didn't look like he was unconscious because of that:

"Do you know what happened to him?"

The girl gestured and spoke again:

"We came here all of a sudden, Giles wanted to take me to figure out where this was, so we walked toward where there was light. Then, we saw a circus~ a circus~ a circus that only exists in books! Giles was scared by the tiger, cowardly Giles, poor Giles, and then he fainted!"

She said with a smile, spinning around in the air.

Xia De understood most of it:

"Is that tiger a bad thing?"

He tried to express himself using the girl's way of speaking, and Laste Edwards nodded as expected:

"Yes, bad thing, bad thing. And it's contagious, it's a disease! As soon as Giles wakes up, we'll leave immediately."

"Contagious... can you tell me, is that tiger still in the camp? I want to get rid of that tiger, so that even if your... friend doesn't wake up for a while, he won't have any problems."

The soul blinked at Xia De, seemingly surprised by Xia De's idea. She flew above Durt Giles, spread both arms, and drew a circle in the air.

Faint light marks flickered in the air, and a translucent gray light sphere covered Durt Giles. This was a means of sealing space, which was very similar to Xia De's "Thorn of the Moon."

"I'll go with you!"

Laste Edwards said:

"The tiger hurt Giles! It's a bad thing."

"Why didn't you go yourself just now?"

"Because I can't beat it."

So, although Laste Edwards's way of thinking was childish, she definitely wasn't lacking in common sense. ===== CHAPTER 1766 =====