Chapter 347

Princess Princess Lei Qianya had made full preparations for the joint action on Wednesday. She arranged a special carriage and coachman in advance and made a fake identity for herself that was convenient for action.

Now Xia De was still a secret agent of the Military Intelligence Service operating secretly in Lengshuigang, while Princess Lei Qianya was a contributor active at Lengshuigang pier, contributing to the local "Tuna Literary Newspaper". She had a full set of documents there, and unless someone recognized her face directly, don't even think about seeing through her identity.

"Do you often do this? I mean in Toby Julian, also use a fake identity to operate?"

Xia De asked curiously when boarding the carriage.

"Often did this before knowing Duo Luo Qian, after all, father's discipline is very strict, no one in the family dares to disobey his meaning. Even a princess like me who is already an adult, or princes like my brothers who even have children, unless giving up the title, don't even think about having any freedom. But it's much better after knowing Duo Luo Qian, I occasionally ask her to use her body to act, that's really interesting."

It sounds like the current king of Delarian is a very harsh person to his children.

"Is this "Tuna Literary Newspaper" real?"

Xia De became interested in her reporter documents again.

"Of course."

The princess said, and after the carriage started, let the maid in the carriage help pour tea. This carriage looked ordinary from the outside, but all kinds of utensils inside were complete. Fixed small table, tea set, aromatherapy, Xia De even found a rifle in the dark compartment under the carriage seat.

"This identity is real."

"You bribed the local newspaper?"

"Of course not, "Tuna Literary Newspaper" itself is my industry."

Xia De immediately showed a sudden realization expression. Outsiders claim to be well-informed, but their imagination about rich people is still a bit too lacking.

The destination of this visit is the dilapidated old city area at the junction of the South District and the Pier District of Lengshuigang City, which is the old site of Lengshuigang City before the New Continent was discovered. But as the exploration of the New Continent deepened, the center of Lengshuigang gradually migrated to the north of the city, which is more suitable for building deep-water piers, causing large-scale abandonment of the old city area in the south of the city.

Now there are still residents there, but most of them are old people who miss the memories of the past, or poor people who have no money to rent houses in the city.

The carriage carried the two of them, and at eleven o'clock in the morning, brought them to the ancient street called Keizer Lane. This street is the dividing line between the coastal pier area and the old city area in the south of Lengshuigang. Looking east along the lane, one can vaguely see the Peace Church with old classical style spires. That old church has a history of nine hundred years and has undergone many reconstructions, representing that the Peace Church is the first church among the Five Gods Churches to take root in Lengshuigang.

It is still raining, moss is everywhere in the corners, and there is almost no one on the street. The desolation of the ancient lane is not only because of the rain, but from the windows blocked by wooden boards nearby, the empty and open shop doors, and the gravel road surface that is potholed due to disrepair, even on a sunny day, there are probably not many pedestrians on the streets of the old city area.

It is best not to be too conspicuous when moving in the nearby area, especially the old city area east of Keizer Lane. It is not that Xia De discriminates against the bottom citizens who linger on the old days, but in this seaport city, the residents who live in this kind of cold and damp old city area are mostly gloomy and angry, full of hostility to outsiders.

On the way here, Princess Lei Qianya told Xia De that the nearby area is one of the areas where missing person cases of outsiders in Lengshuigang occur most densely.

That Ringed Shushi who claimed to have lifted the mermaid curse lived in the ancient street in front of him. Xia De and Princess Princess Lei Qianya got off the carriage at the entrance of the street, and each held an umbrella to come to the street surface. They made clever makeup in the carriage. In this era when photography technology is backward and there is no clever recording method, such concealment is enough.

Very coincidentally, at the same time the two got off the carriage, another taxi carriage stopped at the entrance of the street. Xia De and the red-haired girl both looked curiously, and found that the people who got off were two men holding notebooks and wearing glasses.

The older one was wearing a white shirt, with a brown double-breasted vest of a very old-fashioned style outside, and a black fountain pen in his pocket. He was about fifty years old. The young man looked five or six years older than Xia De's appearance, his hair was combed meticulously, and after getting off the carriage, he looked at the street scene around him curiously.

Both were holding umbrellas, with badges of the same style hanging on their chests, and the older one was also holding a cane. Xia De took a look at the princess, and the latter explained to Xia De in a low voice:

"That is the badge of the local university in Lengshuigang, I remember it is... Lengshuigang Third Mechanical Manufacturing Academy. These two people should be scholars from the school."

The scholars who got off the carriage also noticed Xia De and the two, but because there was no intersection between them, seeing that both sides were dressed decently, they nodded across the rain curtain to greet each other.

It's just that as the four people walked forward along the street, Xia De unexpectedly discovered that the other party's action route seemed to overlap with his own.

"Sorry, may I ask if you are also here to visit that antique collector Mr. Jude?"

After the young scholar approached a little, he asked in a low voice on the side of the street. And seeing the strange man approaching, Princess Lei Qianya dodged, while Xia De slowed down and chatted with the other party:

"Yes, this lady is a reporter for the "Tuna Literary Newspaper", and I am her assistant, and can be considered a bodyguard. May I ask who you are..."

Although the social atmosphere in this era is relatively open and it is normal for women to go out to work, female reporters acting alone usually have a male assistant when going out, which is also for safety.

Princess Lei Qianya nodded relatively coldly to the young scholar, who was attracted by the beautiful girl's face and explained in a low voice:

"This is my teacher, Professor Kajia, I am Lim Scott, we are here to visit Mr. Jude for the topic in our hands."

Professor Kajia nodded kindly to the red-haired girl with outstanding temperament and Xia De.

"Are you scholars?"

Xia De asked again.

"Yes, folklorists."

Princess Lei Qianya had no reaction, but Xia De blinked. According to the plot of the classic horror novels he had read, visiting this kind of remote old city area, and under the circumstances where most of the information about the visit object is unknown, the four people actually appeared with three professions: reporter, detective, and folklorist, which is a very ominous sign.

"My teacher and I are doing a topic on the old city area in the south of Lengshuigang. Mr. Jude, who lives here, has some information in his hands that we are very interested in. It was through someone's introduction that we came here."

The young scholar continued, and Xia De also explained that he and the lady beside him came here to collect information for a special column on the renovation of the old city area in the south.

Since both sides wanted to visit the same person, the four people walked together. With the cover of the two folklorists, the visit of Xia De and Princess Princess Lei Qianya could also appear more natural.

It's just that when the group arrived downstairs of that stone building that had experienced hundreds of years of time, Xia De looked at the rainwater sliding along the wall and always felt that this trip would not be that simple.

Most of the buildings in the old city area in the south of Lengshuigang are old houses from a hundred years ago. Probably because of local customs, the houses are mostly gray stone buildings and are not painted.

After knocking on that somewhat rusty iron door, it took a long time for someone to open the door for them. Behind the door was a middle-aged man with a gloomy expression, heavy eye bags, and dark skin. He was wearing a leather long apron with star-like white traces on the apron, looking like flour:

"Good morning, sir, we are reporters from the "Tuna Literary Newspaper", and these two are folklorists from Lengshuigang Third Mechanical Manufacturing Academy. We are all here to visit Mr. Jude."

Xia De and Mr. Lim Scott handed over the reporter and professor's business cards respectively, representing the identities of the two teams.

The middle-aged man took the business card, looked at it with bulging eyes, and then looked at the four people standing at the door holding umbrellas. His face was very bad, and his accent was also very strange, his throat occasionally making a rumbling sound:

"Good morning, gentlemen and ladies. Please come in first, wait in the foyer, the gentleman is reading in the study on the second floor. I will go to report, please do not walk around."

The gentlemen let the reporter lady enter the door first, then rubbed their feet clean on the doormat at the door in turn, and put the dripping umbrellas on the wooden umbrella stand at the door.

Without the owner's permission, the four people stood in the foyer for the time being. Fortunately, this building with a long history was even larger than Xia De's St. Theresa Square No. 6, and it was not an exaggeration to call it a mansion, so it didn't seem crowded.

Probably because of the heavy rain today, the indoor humidity of the stone building was not lighter than the outside.

I don't know why the lights were not turned on indoors. The morning of the rainy day made the whole house very gloomy. The foyer of course had no windows, and the rainy day sunlight projected from the living room made large areas of shadows appear indoors.

On the wall of the foyer hung an oil painting in cold tones depicting the ocean on a stormy day, and there were even capsized fishing boats in the storm.

And the four guests in the foyer stood in the darkness like this, looking at this somewhat terrifying oil painting, listening to the increasingly violent rain sound outside. The strange atmosphere in the room made them involuntarily imagine what kind of person Mr. Jude would be.

Old and yellowed wallpaper was pasted on the wall, and behind the peeling wallpaper was a moldy wall. This house has stood from ancient times to the present, witnessing the changes of Lengshuigang in countless days and nights. If you want to study local folklore, the house itself is the greatest value.

If Duo Luo Qian had the intention to take material, coming to the house to take a look, she would definitely be able to find more ideas. And the strange atmosphere inside the house was also very consistent with the identity of Ringed Shushi.

Xia De was just curious whether that Mr. Jude, who had not yet appeared, would suffer from rheumatic diseases because he lived in this kind of place all year round.