Chapter 915: 【Jack the Thief】

"Sage-grade relic 【Jack the Thief】 only appears in human settlements with populations exceeding thirty thousand, and tends to appear at night to conduct random thefts. Even if you encounter it, it will only accelerate its escape; under normal circumstances, it does not harm people. The objects it steals always possess special value, and this is a thief that grows stronger against stronger opponents. Even for a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, if their home has no special anti-theft measures, it will only use ordinary people's methods to steal. But if, in order to keep a secret, one exaggerates and uses Angel-grade (Grade 1) relic anti-theft measures, then 【Jack the Thief】, rated as Sage-grade (Grade 2), can exert bizarre power surpassing Angel-grade."

Yi Lu Na introduced:

"'Jack' is not actually its name; it is only called that because Jack is a fairly common male name, giving it this title, meaning this relic hides among countless ordinary people."

"I understand, it's like how 'Mary' is one of the most common female names. That sounds interesting, growing stronger against stronger opponents...... are there other characteristics?"

Xia De asked with great interest.

"Of course there are. The true negative characteristic is that the personality of the person stolen from by 【Jack the Thief】 may undergo slight changes. The early stage manifests as annoyance at oneself for not guarding one's property well, then this annoyance ferments into regret over losing the property, until it becomes a desire to compensate for the loss by stealing from others."

"Assimilated by 【Jack the Thief】?"

Xia De asked, and Yi Lu Na cautiously nodded:

"It's not merely the bad habit of kleptomania; their internal bodily structure also changes, and they are gradually permeated through the soul by Whispering elements. Jack the Thief itself is only a thief, but the relic derivatives it infects with kleptomania are all lunatics possessing mysterious qualities."

Seeing Xia De listening very attentively, Yi Lu Na smiled somewhat embarrassedly:

"The materials actually explain it very clearly, but I couldn't memorize all of it, so I can only explain this much."

"This is already very detailed. At Tuesday's Lakeview Manor banquet, I heard Miss Jia Lin Na mention this matter. So, Professor Manning has had something stolen?"

He asked again, and the nominal police officer Young Lady immediately nodded:

"Three days ago, that is, this past Monday, someone took advantage of the night to break in here and stole an antique vase from Professor Terris Manning's collection. Our squad received the task of visiting the burglary victim, using a divine artifact prepared by the church to confirm whether the victim had been affected and thus infected with kleptomania."

Yi Lu Na showed Xia De the iron ring on her finger; Xia De's eyes could see the sun motif on the ring's surface.

"Look, this is it. The first step is to use this ring to touch the professor, and the second step is to judge the professor's psychological state through some simple questions. Recently theft cases have been frequent in the city, and the captain has me responsible for visiting victims in the university district."

This kind of task was just the right difficulty for Yi Lu Na, and could also train this immature Miss. She took off the ring and handed it to Xia De. As Xia De put it on his finger, he was still sighing inwardly that Professor Manning's luck was really bad.

A carriage passed through the thick fog behind Yi Lu Na, the dense fog allowing the two to only see the carriage's dark silhouette. They temporarily stopped talking, silent under the low sky. Xia De tilted his head to look at the street scene of Cat Tail Alley behind Yi Lu Na, while Yi Lu Na pretended to casually size up Xia De.

"On Wednesday evening I already discussed the Lakeview Manor matter with Luvia. Any progress from the church on the Vinenas trial?"

After the carriage passed, Xia De brought up the matter again, and Yi Lu Na nodded:

"'The Unseen One' could refer to many things, and might even be 【Jack the Thief】; the church is still investigating. The three great Arcane Academies have already stepped in on this matter, and the first trial will probably end very soon. Even if it can't be seen, the church, the academies, and even the Truth Society will find a way to locate it."

"The identity of the fourth Chosen One, Luvia is still verifying. But what I care more about is, the Apuna Library and the Truth Society exchanged intelligence with each other—has the Zhengshen Sect not punished them?" M.

When Xia De asked this question, Yi Lu Na's face showed an unhappy expression:

"The True God Sect and the Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi groups including the Prophets Association are only cooperating, not in a superior-subordinate relationship. Generally speaking, as long as they don't go too far and can compensate for their mistakes, the church will not impose measures like punishment."

"Did they go too far this time?"

"Yes, they had a fragment of the Poem in hand but didn't share it with the church immediately. Oh, Xia De, I'm not saying the church is the most reliable, but sharing this kind of thing with the 【Truth Society】 clearly shows they had their own ulterior motives. After Tuesday night, the Apuna Library immediately admitted their mistake to the church and handed over all the materials about the Poem fragment in their possession, but we are still not satisfied, and there will be warning measures afterward."

"I don't understand, what is the Apuna Library doing this for? They want to invest in the Chosen One too?"

Xia De found this inconceivable; given the Apuna Library's scale and organizational nature, they didn't have this capability.

"Of course not investing in the Chosen One, it's for the Secret Keeper."

"The Secret Keeper?"

Xia De still didn't understand, so Yi Lu Na reminded him:

"With the appearance of the Chosen One, Secret Keepers will frequently appear around him or her to give tests and trials. Don't forget, only by making no wishes can one obtain the 【Sage's Mica】; but if one doesn't want the Mica, those 'Secret Keepers'—whether relics or other beings—can fulfill a certain degree of 'wishing' function. Especially wishes leaning toward wisdom and knowledge, those are what the Apuna Library wants."

"So that's how it is."

Xia De nodded in understanding, but then thought of the three "wish-makers" he had encountered in Huntington City. Professor Deleike had to pursue memories of the past because of his wish, the poet gained luck but also bore a heavy burden, and only that old fisherman who liked fishing could accept his wish magnanimously, not even regretting it when his fishing rod later broke:

"This time the Chosen One wanting to obtain five pieces of Sage's Mica is itself a kind of trial. But if one wants to use this opportunity to gain unlimited chances to make wishes...... wishing comes at a price; I hope everyone understands this."

Although Yi Lu Na really liked standing on the street like this, quietly chatting alone with Xia De, and hoping Professor Manning would be a little late, even the Chosen One couldn't make Professor Manning late.

The spirited old professor returned to Cat Tail Alley right on time. Although the seventeen-year-old Miss was somewhat disappointed, she also knew work was important, so she went up to greet him together with Xia De.

"It's been several weeks since we last met, Professor."

Xia De greeted him warmly and extended his hand wearing the ring. Professor Manning was also pleasantly surprised by Xia De's appearance and naturally shook it.

The ring showed no reaction whatsoever, indicating that Professor Manning most likely had not been affected by the relic...... Even a relic like 【The Pen of Joyful Dreams】 that directly manipulates deep dreamscapes couldn't leave permanent aftereffects on Professor Manning; Xia De actually didn't think 【Jack the Thief】 could. This battle-hardened archaeology and history professor had remarkably resilient spirit.

The professor and Xia De were quite familiar friends, so excessive pleasantries weren't necessary. As for Yi Lu Na, because of the appointment letter sent in advance by the Reedwich field, there was also no need to waste time stating the reason for the visit at the door.

Xia De nonchalantly returned the ring to Yi Lu Na, and Professor Manning invited the two inside. Upon learning that Xia De had previously known the nominal police officer Young Lady because of a detective commission, the professor visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

Obviously, in this era, police showing up at one's door was not a good thing for anyone. Even though Professor Manning was the victim, and the police officer at the door was a lady, the professor was still somewhat uneasy.

Yi Lu Na was handling "official business," so Xia De let Yi Lu Na deal with the theft case first.

Although she was only a nominal police officer, she had actually received police training, so after entering she very professionally inquired about the details of Monday's investigation, inserting psychological questions into the inquiry. After confirming no details were missed when reporting the case, Yi Lu Na also invited Xia De to survey the scene with her.

The antique vase Professor Manning lost was not of high value, but it was a retirement gift from his students to him, an antique Professor Manning cherished greatly. The vase was originally placed in the corner of the first-floor living room; Xia De had seen it many times when visiting the professor. After careful examination, extremely faint residual traces of Whispering elements were indeed found.

Xia De couldn't even use those elemental traces to track it down.

Based on Yi Lu Na's professional judgment of the traces, the thief opened the locked window late at night, directly broke into the room, and upon finding the vase carried it away; the entire process wouldn't exceed five minutes, appearing very professional.

"Look at this."

Yi Lu Na, wearing white gloves, pointed at the street-facing window. The living room window of Professor Manning's home had a groove on the windowsill; pressing the latch down would firmly lock the window. The window frame edge Yi Lu Na pointed at clearly had metal friction marks. Xia De thought carefully:

"An iron wire was inserted through the window gap, hooked the latch and pulled it up?"

"Yes, Detective, you seem quite professional too."

Yi Lu Na nodded and recorded this detail. Xia De once again experienced the meaning of "ordinary theft methods."

After confirming the method of intrusion, Yi Lu Na used a small knife to collect some rust from the window and put it into a small paper bag. Professor Manning might not have understood this behavior, thinking it was some advanced detective technique, but Xia De understood this was to give the church material for accurate divination.

After surveying the scene, Yi Lu Na cooperated with Xia De to search the living room. The result was of course no gains. Although famous thieves in the outsider's cognition all like to leave letters or their own emblems at the crime scene, 【Jack the Thief】 had no such laughable bad habit.

－－－Digression－－－

PS: Someone answered yesterday's question correctly. Recently it's been busy with the end of the semester, I'll find time to add more updates.