Chapter 3932

Today's "Scholar City" was not sunny weather. Xia De heard the sound of rain outside while he was still inside the Blue Ink Library. When he appeared in the alley with an umbrella, he discovered that it was indeed raining locally.

However, both the upper city district and the lower city district of Arcadia City were on the cliff, so there was absolutely no need to worry about floods. As for landslides... the city had existed for a thousand years, so this problem should be completely unnecessary to worry about.

It was hard to find a carriage on a rainy day. Xia De waited for a long time at the street corner of Green Vine Street before he got on a carriage to the "Gear Tower" in the upper city district. Because it was an uphill road, the coachman didn't dare to let the carriage go too fast on a rainy day when the street was slippery.

This led to Xia De rarely being late when meeting people. When he got off the carriage at the entrance of the Gear Tower next to Scholar Square, the time had already reached 11:03, three minutes past the scheduled time.

Xia De was very sorry for this and had even thought about exactly how to apologize. But when he found the counter on the first floor and explained that he had an appointment with Mr. Finch and Mr. Munoz, the manager of the Gear Tower who walked over in a hurry was very sorry and said to Xia De:

"The two gentlemen said they would meet you, but they haven't arrived yet. Maybe it's because it's raining outside... How about you go to the fifth floor to rest for a while? Or, I'll have someone take you to visit the Gear Tower?"

The two old gentlemen were shareholders of the Gear Tower. Although they wouldn't interfere too much with the operation here on a daily basis, they were quite influential.

Xia De thought they would come soon, so he chose to go upstairs to wait. And this wait lasted from 11 o'clock to 11:30. Shortly after the grandfather clock that played music like a music box in the lounge reported the time, Mr. Finch walked in with an apologetic face:

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I'm really sorry, I'm really sorry. I really encountered some things. The 【Church of Creation】 suddenly sent invitation letters to the famous inventors and mechanics in the local area early this morning, inviting us to go to the Candle Keep Library to listen to a lecture at 10 o'clock this morning."

He sat down while speaking:

"The church rarely does this kind of thing, and this invitation was only sent out a few hours in advance. I was worried that there was very important information, so I went to listen to the lecture. I didn't expect that the lecture was actually a laboratory safety lecture."

The old man's mouth twitched:

"It's still being lectured over there now. I asked Munoz to help me listen, so I ran out first."

Xia De felt that he probably knew the reason. Although yesterday's accident happened in Tobesk, the 【Church of Creation】 participated in the investigation throughout and suspected that they knew about "Life Spark" before, so it is understandable that the church quickly made a response in the surrounding cities.

And Mr. Finch clearly hadn't received news from Tobesk, so Xia De used "I have friends in the church" as an excuse to briefly describe the explosion in the northern capital.

Mr. Finch was also there when the "automatic coffin" in the Gear Tower went out of control the day before yesterday. After hearing Xia De say this, he immediately understood the church's intention:

"Yes, what Arcadia City lacks the least is precise and complex artificial machinery. If this kind of contagious intelligent plague spreads widely..."

Mr. Finch frowned, clearly also realizing the threat of this plague to civilization:

"Let's not mention whether the church knew about 'Life Spark' long ago. The key problem now is, can't this phenomenon of mechanical activation be detected and prevented in advance?"

"This is not something I can explain clearly. Let's wait and see the church's news."

"I will contact my colleagues in the Hidden Cultivation Society later. The impact of this disaster on civilization is really too great... Oh, although Munoz is still listening to the lecture, I have brought the 【Active Metal】 for you."

He said and put the briefcase on the coffee table. After neatly opening the metal buckle, he displayed the crystal tube as thick as a wrist embedded in the lining.

Both ends of the crystal tube had silver hoops, and rune strings with obvious enlightenment elements were engraved on the silver hoops.

And what was contained in the crystal tube was a two-colored liquid. The liquid was divided into upper and lower sides. The lower layer was liquid metal like mercury, which was the body of the relic; the upper layer was crimson metal.

"This is copper amalgam, a copper-mercury alloy, which is highly toxic. Mr. Watson, I don't know what you want to do with this relic, but before using this thing, you must not let it leave the containment container. I can guarantee that it will be effective for a year and a half, and as for the production method of the container, I can give it to you together."

He represented Mr. Munoz, who was not at the scene, and traded with Xia De, and Xia De also gave the originally agreed price.

Afterwards, Mr. Finch said quite apologetically:

"Originally, I made an appointment to meet you at 11 o'clock, wanting to have lunch with you, but now it seems there is no way to entertain you this time."

"It doesn't matter, Mr. Finch, you go ahead and get busy."

Since he had already obtained the relic, Xia De didn't care about other things.

But this old gentleman from the Hidden Cultivation Society still felt very sorry, so he didn't let Xia De leave immediately and shared various news he heard locally recently with Xia De.

First of all, of course, it was what happened in Oakham Park on Friday night. As expected, not only did Xia De and Mr. Bernhardt successfully retreat, but the local church also didn't catch that group of ring mages suspected to be from the 【Blood Spirit School】 afterwards.

Although the church later fished Lady Connaught and her young lover who were almost drowned out of the lake, the two knew nothing, and even lost their memories of the last hour.

This also once again corroborated Xia De's guess; they were just bait thrown out.

"I was also at the park exhibition hall that night, accompanying Miss Astley to attend the charity banquet. Both sides who took action at that time had high-ring mages, and high-level relics were suspected to have appeared."

Xia De said half-truthfully. Now he hadn't seen Mr. Bernhardt's investigation report on the corpse, so except for Vigo, it was best that no one else knew what he had done.

And Mr. Finch's second piece of news was somewhat unexpected to Xia De:

"Baron Ramsay's mansion was stolen last night, and the things in his collection room were looted. I don't even dare to think about how many crowns were lost in total."

"Who?"

Xia De was startled, and then reacted:

"Baron Ramsay who holds the original design manuscript of the 【Mark I Steam Engine】? Then that manuscript..."

"That is the Baron's most important collection. The possibility of it surviving is not high."

Mr. Finch said, and Xia De frowned. This was not because he was worried about the design manuscript; even if he couldn't get that manuscript, it wouldn't be a big problem. He was worried about another thing:

"Miss Astley introduced me to the Baron at the charity banquet on Friday night, and at that time I also proposed to acquire that design manuscript, but was directly rejected by the Baron. Now, on the second day after I was rejected, the Baron's house was looted. This won't bring trouble to Miss Astley, right?"

"It shouldn't. Although Baron Ramsay is prominent compared to ordinary people, in Arcadia City, he is not very special in front of the Astley family. Moreover, many people covet the Baron's collection; he is a very famous collector."

Mr. Finch said. He didn't suspect Xia De; after all, with Xia De's means, if he wanted to get that manuscript, he wouldn't need to make such a big commotion.

"It's just that in this way, the difficulty of you wanting to get the manuscript is even greater."

Old Mr. Finch sighed, and Xia De felt it didn't matter. At most, he would go to communicate with old Mr. Leibury again:

"Let's talk about this matter later. I encountered some other things locally. If that manuscript appears in the black market or auction house later, I will pay attention to it again."

As he said this, he picked up his teacup. Xia De temporarily didn't have the leisure to help the Baron find the thief. At the current stage, the matter of suspected 【Blood Spirit School】 activity that Mr. Bernhardt was investigating was more important.

Mr. Finch nodded:

"I will help you keep an eye on it. When I went to the Candle Keep Library to listen to the lecture today, I heard others chatting during the tea break. It is said that among the stolen collection, there are some very incredible things. It is said that one of the Rod cards can be traced back to the initial..."

Then the old man saw Xia De's eyes suddenly turn to him, and that look was very powerful.

"What's wrong... are you interested in Rod cards?"

Xia De didn't deny this point:

"Is it the founding series?"

"I don't know about this. After all, the Baron doesn't have the habit of publishing his stolen collection in the newspaper. It must have happened that precious Rod cards were lost, but no one can say clearly which one it is."

Mr. Finch felt amused by Xia De's performance, but also felt that this was in line with the temperament of young people:

"Regarding the theft case, 'mechanical plague,' and 'Life Spark,' if I have news on my side later, I will communicate with you again. Then leave a contact address, Mr. Watson. Where are you staying locally at present?"

"Do you know the Fragrant Residence in the upper city district?"

Xia De asked, and Mr. Finch, who was a local, nodded immediately:

"Of course I know, that is..."

He thought that it was Miss Vigo Astley who took Xia De to trade plant illustrations with Professor Thorne, and not long ago Xia De also admitted that he went to the charity banquet with that lady. And before this, there had never been any rumors locally that the lady with poor health had intimate contact with any man.

She didn't even have close contact with women—because of her peculiar constitution.

"You..."

So the old gentleman looked at Xia De in surprise, not expecting that this young man introduced from out of town by old John would have such ability.

He even suspected for a moment whether Xia De used the means of a ring mage to confuse the lady with poor health, but then thought of Xia De's outstanding temperament and his astonishing appearance even after being covered by illusion magic, so he wasn't very surprised.

"That's good. I will send a letter to the Fragrant Residence if there is anything later. I hope that behind this series of things, there won't be a bigger conspiracy."