Chapter 596

Xia De didn't tell them that he intended to enter the boundary of life and death to find Priest Ao Gu Si, but planned to wait until the group meeting tomorrow afternoon to think about the wording before saying it together.

Needless to say, the girls would definitely oppose Xia De doing this.

"Xia De, Old Dad John came by this afternoon."

Just as he walked to the second floor with his head down thinking about things, Mia rushed over. When Xia De was holding her, the blonde young lady in the study said.

"What did Old Dad John come for?"

Xia De asked while holding the excited cat. The cat sniffed Xia De's lapels suspiciously and then sneezed.

"Dad said the special blood you wanted to buy has been found. He paid the deposit for you, and the blood has already arrived at his pawnshop, telling you to take the money and pick up the blood when you have time. What kind of expensive thing did you buy? Old Dad John actually came to find you in person?"

Dorothy asked, capping her fountain pen, sitting behind the impressive desk in the study, pressing her neck, and then walking out with a smile:

"You don't know, when Dad knocked on the door and saw that it was Luweiya and me who opened it, how surprised he was."

Old John was very familiar with the Schneider group, so saying "surprised" actually didn't mean he would think too much.

"Did anyone else come to find me this afternoon? There wouldn't be a client coming to the door, would there?"

Xia De asked again, putting the cat on the coffee table.

"No client came to the door. Didn't you say that for your business, you might not even encounter one client in a week?"

Luweiya also walked down from the third floor. She was wiping her palms with a towel, and Xia De could faintly smell the scent of machine oil for lubricating mechanical bearings.

"But at least I earn a lot."

Xia De said the truth, and Luweiya shrugged:

"But how do I remember that most of your income comes from another aspect?"

"Yes, that duchess."

Dorothy teased.

The three of them went out together to have dinner at a restaurant on Silver Cross Avenue, and the two ladies returned separately. But they would both come again tomorrow. Luweiya still had to fiddle with her stargazing equipment, and Dorothy had to help watch the cat to prevent Xia De from not returning all day and starving it.

And after saying goodbye to the two ladies, Xia De took Mia and the gold pounds to Old John's Pawnshop. Old Dad John lived above the pawnshop, so he would close very late:

"Good evening, Dad."

When Xia De pushed the door, the old man in the shop was bookkeeping. Hearing the sound, he looked up and greeted him, and after calculating the account book in his hand, he talked to Xia De about business:

"I know you are in a hurry for the special blood, so I paid the deposit to my friend in advance and asked him to send the blood over. Don't say you don't have enough cash, so you can't afford it."

As he spoke, Old John called Xia De to help, and the two of them moved a wooden box out from under the counter together.

After prying the box open with a crowbar, cold air immediately surged out. The wooden box was filled with straw, and some ice cubes for cooling were placed among the straw, but most of them had melted.

Old John reached into the straw and rummaged, finding a cold brass-colored metal box. After opening it, the cold air was even heavier; inside were two pieces of solid ice buckled together. And between the ice cubes was a long glass tube the thickness of a thumb, and the viscous red blood seemed to be frozen due to the low temperature.

"Why is there a fishy smell?"

Xia De asked. Mia looked curiously at the box in front of her, but didn't jump into the straw.

"Sent by ship along with low-temperature stored fish, of course there's a fishy smell."

Old John used his wrinkled, aged hands to take the glass tube out of the ice:

"Oh, my god, it's really cold. Xia De, hurry up and take it!"

He handed the glass tube to Xia De, and then he rubbed his hands violently. And Xia De, who took the glass tube, also felt the chill of the glass tube.

He thought about it and moved the glass tube close to the cat on his shoulder. Mia immediately meowed to stop Xia De's behavior.

This cat wouldn't be stupid enough to risk its tongue getting frozen to lick this kind of thing.

"What kind of blood is this?"

Xia De asked curiously.

"Blood of a Rhine Demon, shake the container."

Xia De shook the glass tube in his hand slightly, and the bright red blood actually gradually revealed the distinct colors of a rainbow.

"It's really beautiful."

"The blood is beautiful, but the Rhine Demon is incomparably dangerous.

This is an extremely dangerous alien creature active on small islands in the outer seas. Legend has it that the population of the entire species has always been maintained at under 49. Seeing a Rhine Demon under any circumstances requires personally killing a relative with blood ties to oneself; otherwise, parents, children, and spouses will all die. Therefore, besides being called 'Rhine Demon,' this dangerous thing is also called 'Family-Exterminating Demon Ghost'."

Old John couldn't stop clicking his tongue:

"Very dangerous, only God knows why this creature exists. There is a saying that they were created to restrain a terrifying subspace evil thing with very strong reproductive ability, but this saying cannot be confirmed. In any case, the blood of the Rhine Demon can be considered incomparably precious. This can be used as an auxiliary material for many rare magic potions, and holders of sublimation words related to blood ties must use this blood as ritual material after constructing complete sublimation words to advance."

"Indeed not bad, how much?"

Xia De was very satisfied.

"I won't bargain with you this time. This is a friend's thing; he wants 4900 pounds."

This price is very expensive. You know, 4900 pounds can even buy a very useful weapon-type relic. The merman's elixir that Xia De sold didn't have this price either. But the problem is, according to Old Dad John's description, this price is actually just a little high. After all, Xia De wanted it very urgently. Under normal circumstances, Xia De thought 4500 might be able to buy it.

"For this kind of blood, my friend has formed a grudge with a 9-ring blood-sucking species. You don't know how dangerous the situation was at that time."

Old John said again, starting to pack up the wooden box.

"Forget it, 4900 pounds is 4900 pounds."

Xia De sighed and said, actually thinking about going to Miss Miss Jia Lin Na tomorrow to get another kind of blood. In this way, the second adventure in 3014 of the Fifth Era, which had been postponed by him for a full week, could begin.

Coincidentally, Xia De was going to enter the boundary of life and death in the next day or two. He didn't know what would happen inside, so he could take the blood, key, and door pendant together. Once he encountered danger, he could go to the past time to rest for 30 minutes.

He believed that even in that kind of place where life and death were unknown, the 【Time Key】 could still be used.

"I bought very expensive spells at the St. Byrons library a few days ago. If I hadn't won some money later, I wouldn't even be able to take out so much cash. Your friend really knows how to estimate the price. If he were any higher, I wouldn't be able to afford it."

As he spoke, he started to take money out of his pocket. After this high consumption, he only had more than 200 pounds of savings left. The gold pounds in his hand were about to be less than two digits, which caused great anxiety to the outsider.

Old Dad John had seen Xia De take out banknotes that absolutely couldn't fit in his pocket before, so he wasn't surprised:

"Didn't you just win 3000 pounds because of Big City Player? Don't be so gloomy, young man, gold pounds are meant to be spent.

And it was only because of my face that he only charged you 4900 pounds; otherwise, it would be 5000. Oh, I also bet on you to win, so I won't charge you for the shipping. Detective, you absolutely can't imagine how many people died for this blood before he got it. Although these human lives have nothing to do with us, they are indeed only worth 4900 pounds in the end."

"Therefore, we must be people who can set a price for our own lives."

Xia De said, and the old man looked at him unexpectedly and nodded:

"That is indeed the case. I am very happy that you can realize this point. But before you plunge into an intense and exciting adventure, I need to remind you that this blood must be stored at low temperature. No matter how you plan to use it, don't keep it for more than a week."

This world is so real that any material will expire instead of being preserved permanently.

"I understand, Old Dad John."

He put the glass tube back into the ice, and the cold feeling reminded him of the emptiness of his wallet at this moment:

"Regarding the acquisition of rare blood, continue, I still need blood."

He didn't forget to remind him when leaving; after all, the third cocktail party still needed blood.

"This is not easy. I will help you inquire about the news, and you also remember to prepare the money."

Dad shrugged, so Xia De had to find a way to get some money for himself.

First, he sent Mia and the tube of blood home, then changed into an old set of clothes of Detective Sparrow that he hadn't worn before, and then put on a wide-brimmed black hat. Xia De hurried out in the night.

He originally didn't intend to get involved in the matter between the "Gray-headed Eagle" and the neighboring country's spies, but now that he was in need of money, he had to complete the task that Detective Sparrow hadn't finished.

The intelligence obtained from Mr. Virgil Cameron needed to be passed to No. 1 Wick Street. That was a street located in the Lower City. In the city map left by Detective Sparrow, this street was not particularly marked.

The carriage took Xia De to the street corner. After getting off the carriage, he could only see a few gas street lamps flickering with ambiguous dim yellow light on the street filled with thin mist.

The municipal maintenance in the Lower City was very poor. He didn't know when the gas street lamps on Wick Street were erected. Now, at a glance, only two-thirds of the lamps were still on.

No. 1 Wick Street was at the street corner, to be precise, behind the street sign at the street corner. Standing on the street and looking at the building, the lights were on on every floor of the three-story apartment building, and every window had curtains drawn.

This street was very quiet, and Xia De couldn't hear any sound in the house at all.

"The problem now is, I know the location to pass the intelligence, but I don't know how to tell others that I have intelligence."

He thought in his heart, stepped onto the steps, hesitated for a moment, and knocked on the door.

A few dozen seconds later, footsteps appeared behind the door. Without asking who was outside, the person behind the door opened the door directly, but didn't take off the anti-theft chain.

Xia De retreated a little and saw that the person who opened the door was an old gentleman wearing a white wig, brown pajamas, and round-framed reading glasses.

He looked Xia De up and down suspiciously:

"May I ask who you are?"

This looked like a plain and unremarkable citizen of Tobesk, perhaps just reading a book in the living room with hot tea.

"I... I'm here to sell a fountain pen."

Xia De took the fountain pen out of his pocket.

The old man behind the door lowered his head slightly, his eyes looking at the fountain pen from above his reading glasses:

"Why are you only here now? I've been waiting for several days. Wasn't the appointment day Wednesday?"

Xia De breathed a sigh of relief in his heart:

"Sir, you have to understand me too. There are so many buyers who want this pen, I can't just let others know that this pen is in my hands."

"That's true, I thought you had failed......"

He didn't take the pen but turned and returned to the house. Xia De stood at the door and didn't push open the half-opened door.

It seems that "Gray-headed Eagle" is indeed good at disguise and concealment. This contact person actually doesn't know the real "Gray-headed Eagle."

"The agreed price."

Not long after, the old man inside the door handed Xia De a briefcase. When Xia De handed the fountain pen to the other party, the old man also pointed to the box:

"You did a very good job this time. Inside, besides the agreed price, there is also a letter from home for you. Don't forget to read it."

"Old sir, do you think I'm just starting in this line of work?"

Xia De said calmly, nodded politely as a farewell, pressed his hat, turned around, and walked into the long night again.

The old gentleman at No. 1 Wick Street curled his lips, watching Xia De's figure disappear at the street corner, and then closed the door:

"This guy is really cautious."

After returning home, Xia De couldn't wait to open the box. Inside were stacks of five-pound banknotes, and they were all non-sequential old banknotes, with no conspicuous marks on them.

Xia De put the briefcase under the gas desk lamp in the study and appreciated the spectacular sight of a box of banknotes with Mia the cat.

But the letter wasn't found in the box. Xia De thought about it, and after tearing the box apart bit by bit, he thought of using Priest Ao Gu Si's revealing potion to treat the cloth lining of the box.

Sure enough, a long string of numbers appeared on the fabric. After deciphering according to the code corresponding to the three novels, the general meaning was that "Gray-headed Eagle" was mobilized to take risks for intelligence this time, so for safety, all original contact methods were voided. "Gray-headed Eagle" entered a long-term dormant state again. When a task needed to be performed, a next special letter would be sent.

"Don't contact me again, the last task of Gray-headed Eagle has been completed."

Xia De said in a low voice, burning the cloth full of codes. After confirming that the cat, which was poking its head around, had no interest in the fire basin, he turned the banknotes into toys and stuffed them into the locked drawer on the top layer of the desk:

"Gray-headed Eagle is already dead, don't let trouble find me! I have enough things on my hands already."

He whispered to the desktop again, not knowing whether he was talking to himself or to the soul of Sparrow Hamilton that might exist.