Chapter 914: The Person Who Cannot Be Seen

In that instant, it was as if the 【Evergreen Leaf】 had been placed before his eyes—information flooded from the slate into his mind. But the amount of information was very small, all of it broken sentences.

"So that's how it is, it's really one-third."

But Xia De's face showed not the slightest disappointment; instead, he grew even more excited. Although the information was all fragmentary, from the broken sentences Xia De could fully confirm that the knowledge within the slate was absolutely related to enhancing time perception.

"Xiao Miya, I didn't pick the wrong target. This is exactly what I wanted—a way to enhance time perception and obtain the most truthful information about time!"

He excitedly picked up the clearly reluctant cat, his heartbeat quickening, blood rushing to his brain. His thoughts immediately scattered, possibilities being proposed and ruled out one after another. Whether the Sixth Epoch was truly the Sixth Epoch, and whether the present was truly the present—perhaps in other people's eyes this didn't matter. But for Xia De, who could travel through past time, it mattered greatly.

A light tap of his finger sent the slate drifting backward, but it quickly stopped, hovering in the air level with Xia De's eyes. The long-waiting little Xiao Miya swiftly slipped from Xia De's hands, landed on his leg, then shot upward in a single bound, leaping onto Xia De's shoulder, and then with a sudden spring actually "caught" the floating slate, and with astonishing balance, stood there.

"Meow~"

The orange cat looked smugly at Xia De, and Xia De smiled back at Xiao Miya. Reaching his right hand toward the slate again, little Xiao Miya hopped back down along Xia De's arm to his leg.

Stroking little Xiao Miya, Xia De looked again at the slate in the air:

"I thought once it gave me the knowledge, the slate would turn to ash, but it's still here."

He touched the slate with the silver corner again, but the slate did not transmit the knowledge to Xia De a second time, indicating that the slate's "mission of transmitting knowledge" was complete.

"Why wasn't it destroyed?"

Xia De was somewhat puzzled. He had encountered many Old Gods before, but whether they represented miracles or blasphemy, those deities would absolutely never let the items they created appear where they shouldn't. Since the slate had transmitted its knowledge without being destroyed, it meant the slate still had a use.

"Why would the 【Grey Robed Sage】 leave it for me?"

A light tap on the slate's side sent it spinning smoothly in the air on its own axis. Silver light flakes still drifted outward, and Xia De could easily imagine how beautiful an artwork this would be in a lightless long night.

"It can't be that it's giving me a lamp, can it?"

He took the slate and placed it back into the box, but no matter what, having one more "divine artifact" left behind by an Old God with no ill will toward him was a good thing. Perhaps when Xia De found all three slates, the slate's secret would fully reveal itself—any interference the Old God who departed in the Fifth Epoch had made in the Sixth Epoch had its reasons.

Since the Blood-Sucking God had schemed for a thousand years just out of boredom, wanting fine wine, perhaps the Library's Guardian God really had just given Xia De a beautiful work of art—or perhaps—

"Is it possible that transmitting the knowledge of enhancing time perception was only incidental, and giving me three wondrous slates was the Old God's true purpose?"

"She" was chuckling softly:

【Very likely.】

"If you touch the slate, can you sense anything special?"

Xia De closed the box.

【Miracle element, very pure miracle element.】

"How pure?"

【As pure as the Silver Moon.】

Xia De nodded, and carrying the cat and the box, went down to the basement, placing the slate together with the four 1-shilling banknote printing plates.

Before leaving, he took one more look at the four "gifts" taken from the gift box:

"What if I, as Grey-headed Owl, gave these four printing plates to Princess Margaret?"

This was Xia De's self-amusing thought before leaving the basement.

Having finished dealing with the time slate, it was just past ten. Little Xiao Miya was unwilling to go out with Xia De, so Xia De went alone to the university district to visit Professor Manning.

Unlike Professor Deleike, who had disabled legs, Professor Manning was in excellent mental and physical condition, and therefore was not at home every day. That morning, when Xia De arrived at 17 Cat Tail Alley in the thick fog, his knock brought no response.

Fortunately, he had anticipated this. After waiting a while and confirming that neither Professor Manning nor the servants were home, he took out his notebook, intending to write a note and slip it through the door crack.

But before Xia De could finish writing, he felt someone pat his shoulder:

"Oh, Xia De!"

He turned to look, and behind him was the smiling Yi Lu Na.

Standing in the fog, the seventeen-year-old Miss wore a white blouse with a ruffled collar and two rows of silver decorative buttons at the chest, with a brown warm women's overcoat over it. A black silk scarf was tied at her collar, and she carried a brown checkered handbag in her hand—this counted as quite formal attire.

The hazy light of Friday morning pierced through the dense fog, and the grey world seemed to gain more color because of her presence. Every time he saw Yi Lu Na, Xia De had to sigh that she really was like the protagonist of this world:

"Oh, good morning. Yi Lu Na, what are you doing here?"

"I'm currently nominal detective Miss Beas, commissioned by the Reedwich Field to come here and investigate a theft case."

Yi Lu Na pointed to the police badge pinned to her chest—she still remembered that her first visit to Xia De's home had also used this identity:

"Professor Tilis Manning, yes, 17 Cat Tail Alley. Xia De, are you also here to see this old professor?"

"Yes, Professor Manning is an old friend of mine, but he's not home."

Xia De waved the notebook in his hand—the note wasn't finished yet.

"No matter, I made an appointment for an eleven o'clock visit before coming. The professor should be back soon."

Yi Lu Na said, curiously eyeing the unopened door. It was her first time learning that Xia De knew such an old gentleman.

Xia De nodded:

"There's still ten-odd minutes until eleven, let's wait together. But what kind of theft case requires even the Church to step in? Just now I even thought the professor had... never mind."

He felt he shouldn't speak ill of others behind their backs, and besides, the professor's hobbies were just a bit unusual.

He tucked his notebook back into the inside pocket of his coat and turned to lean against the wall of Cat Tail Alley. Yi Lu Na, holding her handbag in both hands, stood by the lamppost looking at Xia De. On the street outside them, the grey fog seemed to have frozen solid, and on this winter day with the temperature plummeting, only the hurried figures of pedestrians could be glimpsed flashing past.

No one could disturb them. Yi Lu Na liked this atmosphere very much:

"It's related to a relic. A while ago, the Church of Creation notified all the churches in this parish that a humanoid relic related to theft had appeared in the city. To this day, no one has ever seen its true form—this is a person who cannot be seen."

------Aside------

PS: Guess what the three slates are for. If you guess right, you can get an extra chapter. Of course, the answer will be revealed at the end of this volume. The author promises that at the volume's end, Xia De will learn the truth about the Sixth Epoch's time.

After all, this is a volume of knowledge and wisdom, and it is time for Xia De to learn those stories.

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