Chapter 509: An Unexpected Place to Stay

"Miss Miss Jia Lin Na even suspects whether I am a man."

Xia De stood on the slope before the entrance to the great bridge, watching the surface of the river for the occasional red halo while explaining to Luweiya:

"This is truly laughable; the gods themselves have admitted that I am a man."

"That is good."

Luweiya looked as if she wanted to laugh.

After entering the Lower City in the north of the city, Dacnisi gave up swimming at the bottom of the river channel and instead moved rapidly near the surface. When he finally chose to go ashore, he also chose to move through a dark vortex to go directly from the water to the shore, in order to avoid being discovered by the Church.

Without the water flow obstructing the view, it was easy to discover the direction in which those blood-colored halos were moving this time.

Xia De and Luweiya chatted while turning from the tree-lined path along the river into a small alley nearby. Dacnisi did not pass over other people's rooftops; instead, every time he encountered a fork in the road, he used his dark talent to move, never leaving any traces at the intersections.

He circled the vicinity several times with great caution, to the point where Xia De and Luweiya, who were wandering around, almost attracted the attention of the residents in the nearby blocks.

Finally, Dacnisi walked out of the alley abruptly and moved all the way toward the east.

He did not leave the scope of the Lower City, but perhaps thinking he had shaken off the pursuit, he stopped circling. Finally, he ducked into Rotten Fish Alley, the very alley where the blind musician Mr. Mandisi once lived.

Passing under the gray suspended corridor between the two towers, then passing an empty building that had suffered a fire, he entered a slightly more open alley. Continuing east, he passed through those dilapidated apartment buildings with peeling walls that stood in the Lower City, and following the direction of the steam pipes, he finally arrived at the five-way intersection centered on a large locust tree.

"I walked this road when I came to find the late blind musician Mr. Mandisi."

Xia De said to Luweiya, and because he knew that ahead lay an alley piled with feces and trash, he covered his nose and mouth with his collar in advance.

"Then where did you set out from at that time?"

Luweiya asked.

"Song Square, which is the center of the Lower City."

"I come to this neighborhood often; the Lower City's Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi black market accounts for sixty percent of the city's total share."

The two of them walked almost in reverse along the path Xia De had taken last time, and after walking out of the intricate slum alleys, they arrived at the street north of Song Square. Then, on this morning shrouded in thin mist, they actually entered Song Square along with the bustling crowd.

"His place to stay is actually in this vicinity?"

Luweiya appeared somewhat surprised, while Xia De stood beside the square, watching the target of those blood-colored halos enter a location he was very familiar with:

"There is something even more surprising."

"What?"

"He is staying here."

Following the direction Xia De pointed with his finger, Luweiya looked past the vendors and crowds in the square and saw the hotel that occupied most of the eastern side of the square, seeing the image of three cats on the wooden sign, as well as the name "Three Cats Hotel."

"Are you sure he is staying here?"

Luweiya found it somewhat hard to believe. On the road here, the two had discussed Dacnisi's possible hiding places, such as the sewers beneath the Lower City, the drainage ditches beside the river, the cracks in the walls at the end of dead-end alleys, or haunted old houses that had long been abandoned and uninhabited.

But they never expected that the other party would actually stay at the Three Cats Hotel.

"I am even more surprised that even though he is staying here, the Church still cannot find him."

Xia De was also somewhat stunned, but 【Blood Echo】 would not be wrong. This was a tracking of three powers: blood, time, and space. Unless Dacnisi sensed someone using this ability to track him, it was absolutely impossible for him to make counter-measures.

"The other party might have disguise-type abilities; perhaps when we find him, his appearance will be different from what you saw."

Luweiya reminded him, and Xia De nodded, hesitating for a moment;

"Although I am sure the other party is at the Three Cats Hotel, for safety's sake, we should still go in and take a look. We don't need to see him with our own eyes, but we must confirm the other party's specific location. Once confirmed, we will immediately go and report the information to the Church."

In such a densely populated location, Xia De and Luweiya did not want to fight with Dacnisi.

"No problem, but wait a moment."

Luweiya took out a coin and tossed it:

"No problem. Although the divination result is not necessarily completely accurate, at least I am sure that we are not in mortal danger on this trip."

"That's good, please follow me."

Merging from the intersection at the edge of the square into Song Square, the midday sun of late summer shone in from behind the buildings surrounding the square. It was already ten o'clock in the morning. As Xia De pulled Luweiya through the crowd, he even thought that if things went smoothly, they could have lunch together at noon.

And if there were no accidents, this should be Xia De's last adventure this summer.

Xia De was already very familiar with the situation inside the Three Cats Hotel. After entering the hotel, he did not approach the counter but first found a table next to the female bard playing the lute and summoned a waiter to order some drinks and food.

Luweiya observed the situation on the first floor and borrowed the Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi cards from Xia De to perform a divination.

Xia De's eyes carefully observed the stairs on the first floor. Because what he saw were the figures left by Dacnisi within 24 hours, the red halos on the first floor were indeed quite numerous.

Through the depth of the color, one could effectively distinguish how close these red halos were to the current moment. Xia De found the halo he had been tracking all the way, and then compared it with other halos, basically confirming that after Dacnisi returned here last night, he had not come down again.

This created a new problem. Although he had not found other movement traces of him near the Three Cats Hotel on the way here, this six-ring mage with a demon on his body might still be here, but the possibility of him leaving by other means could not be ruled out.

The waitress brought a tray, bringing the two the Three Cats Hotel's specialty "Sheep Milk Beer." The beer foam floated above the liquid surface, and when the full glass of drink was placed on the wooden-grained table, it made a thud sound.

Luweiya took back the cards and returned them to Xia De. After the waiter left, she said in a low voice under the sound of the lute:

"Dacnisi is highly likely still here, but I cannot be completely sure. Xia De, for safety, we cannot go upstairs directly."

"Yes, I understand. But we cannot just leave like this..."

Xia De looked up and thought for a moment:

"It is now ten-oh-three in the morning. We will sit here for half an hour and not make any extra moves. After my 【Blood Echo】 state disappears, if Dacnisi still hasn't come downstairs, I will think of other ways."

"No problem."

Luweiya said, picked up the glass and took a sip, then frowned:

"Oh, this is truly hard to drink."

At ten-twenty-seven in the morning, Xia De's eyes returned to their normal state, but Dacnisi still had not appeared on the first floor of the Three Cats Hotel. During this period, four people had walked down from upstairs, none of whom were Ring Mages.

Seeing that the time was about right, Xia De brought Luweiya to the counter. The hotel owner, Madame Madame Sangmei, obviously still recognized this detective who had won the 【King's Order: Substitute】 from her hands, so she joked with a smile while wiping her hands with a towel:

"Oh, isn't this Detective Han Mi Er Dun? Here at our place again? Look, you brought another young lady this time, truly beautiful; is this your new assistant?"

Luweiya raised an eyebrow.

"Madame Madame Sangmei, good noon. I still have something I need your help with this time, but this time I don't have time to play cards."

Xia De greeted her familiarly and hoped that this time it would be as smooth as last time.

"Rest assured, before I figure out how to deal with you, I don't want to give you the cards I worked so hard to collect again."

Madame Madame Sangmei put down the rag she was using to wipe her hands and then asked curiously:

"Then detective, who are you looking for this time?"

Xia De did not want to rashly involve ordinary people in the grievances of Ring Mages, not to mention that Dacnisi was not an ordinary Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi.

Just as he was thinking about how to phrase his words to try to persuade the other party to give him the ledger directly, rather than asking for clues about the hotel guests from the other party, a voice suddenly rang in his ears:

【Outsider, watch your back. A high-ring mage has entered the hotel.】

"What? A high-ring mage?"

His eyes widened slightly, and then he shook his head at Madame Madame Sangmei:

"I still want to ask about that Miss Miss Feilian from last time; the client is truly troublesome, and there are other requirements. But this time I cannot find her directly; she is full of lies, and I want to understand some situations from you."

Madame Madame Sangmei did not know Xia De's original intention, so she did not see that he had abruptly changed the subject. But Luweiya knew what Xia De originally wanted to ask. Although she was very puzzled, she stood to the side and did not speak.

【Coming toward your direction.】

"I really don't want to deal with this kind of technical worker, but last time she obviously still had some things she didn't say. Oh, I even left Mr. Mandisi's relic to her, and she actually still lied to me."

Xia De complained while standing in front of the counter.

"It seems you rarely deal with this kind of professional; they have always been like this."

Madame Madame Sangmei shook her head, looking as if she were accustomed to it:

"People like them, they have seen too much..."

"Madam."

【It is him.】

A man who was a head shorter than Xia De and somewhat thin walked to the side of the counter. After taking off his hat, he knocked on the table while speaking. He looked quite kind and also looked sickly. Even though the temperature at noon in late summer was still not low, he was still wrapped in a heavy coat.

That coat was dark red, even somewhat close to black, with both rows of buttons fastened, as if he were worried that he would freeze to death if he unbuttoned it.

He smiled apologetically at Xia De:

"Sorry sir, I have an urgent matter to ask this lady; could you let me speak first?"

As he said this, he pushed a coin toward Xia De. Xia De nodded to indicate understanding and sat down with Luweiya at a slightly adjacent table. ===== CHAPTER 510 =====