Chapter 945

Before Mr. Leibert opened his mouth, Xia De emphasized again:

"I am proficient in ancient languages. Besides the language of the Fifth Era, I have also dabbled in part of the language of the Fourth Era."

This was the bargaining chip he thought of before proposing the transaction with 【Apuna Library】. Knowledge is wealth, and the outsider understands this point very well. Although he only had the meager savings of five-digit Jin Bang, the "wealth" in his head was quite a lot.

"Oh? The language of the Fourth Era?"

Mr. Leibert, who entertained Xia De, said curiously:

"Our library does indeed collect part of the books of the Fourth Era, most of which have not been translated into modern language. If you are really proficient, then we can offset the value of that ancient object by translating books. The library has always believed that knowledge and wisdom are the most precious wealth..."

He turned to look at the bookcase behind him:

"I have a book here, "Lost Melika," which records information about the cannibal tribe of the Fourth Era, the Aken tribe. There are a few lines of ancient language on it. If you can identify them..."

Saying this, he wanted to get up to get the book, and Xia De stretched out his hand directly:

"Library retrieval."

The old book with a black cover flew from the third layer on the left of the east wall directly into Xia De's hand with a swoosh. The nose behind the mask twitched, and inspiration made him feel that he touched sticky blood, but the book was actually very dry, which meant that the knowledge in this book was extremely dangerous.

"Is it this one?"

Xia De placed the book on the tea table, and Mr. Leibert sat down in surprise:

"What was that strange art just now?"

Xia De didn't answer. Mr. Leibert looked at him curiously, opened the fifth page of the book, and pointed out the sixth line of those twisted letters that looked like simple sketches of cattle and sheep hooves:

"It's these, this is the quoted sentence, I think it shouldn't be copied wrong."

The whole book was a handwritten copy, shaped very much like the narrow black notebooks carried by detectives and policemen. A red thin rope was used as a bookmark, and the yellowed paper was covered with milky white traces like orange silk, like some kind of mold.

Xia De looked at the sentence, and suddenly felt that strong discomfort made him seem to hear wailing in his ears.

"This one~ looks very difficult to translate, yes, this kind of language is quite obscure, and weird and disgusting."

Xia De frowned, pretending to be in a difficult situation, and it took a full five minutes to translate those two lines of letters:

【Brain-eater, wise and intelligent; arm-eater, infinite strength; foot-eater, poor and inferior; scalp-eater, King of Melika.】

After translating, he pretended to be in an unstable mental state, lowered his head and panted heavily for a long time before calming down. And Mr. Leibert confirmed that Xia De's translation was very close to the current mainstream view of the analysis of those letters.

So the two reached a transaction. Xia De would come to No. 21 Ikem Street again tonight, and Mr. Leibert would hand over the same kind of letters that needed him to translate—probably fifty or sixty letters—to Xia De. Xia De would finish translating before Sunday and bring the translation results over before Sunday night, at which time he could get the stone slab he wanted.

Xia De originally thought that among the three stone slabs, the stone slab of Apuna Library was the most difficult to obtain, but didn't expect that with Old John's help, it became the easiest one to obtain. Although it hadn't been obtained yet, there shouldn't be any more accidents.

So the last stone slab that hadn't been obtained was only the one likely hidden in the library of St. Byron's Comprehensive Academy. Xia De needed to go to the library in person to have a chance to find it, and the only opportunity he could go to the library in person at present was that the librarian, Miss Danister, confirmed that the "Guide of the Moon" was useful, and needed him to appear in the library to open the clue of 【Silver Moon Library】 with the light of the core spirit rune.

"So, the most important thing at present is that Sir Prishia."

Xia De thought in his heart, but didn't see that gentleman during this visit to No. 21 Ikem Street. According to the description Xia De heard from Doctor Shi Nai De on Saturday, Sir Prishia was different from Princess Margaret. The latter was very enthusiastic about contacting the local Ringed Shushi group after arriving locally, and purchased precious materials, items, and specialties in the local black market through Mr. Alan Madison's group. And Sir Prishia, after contacting Madison's group on the night of the Lake View Manor, never took the initiative to contact the local correspondence Ringed Shushi again.

So it seemed that it wouldn't work to collect the light of "Guide of the Moon" through Doctor Shi Nai De's friends, so Xia De still had to take Princess Margaret's path.

After visiting No. 21 Ikem Street in the early morning, Xia De returned home and went to the White River Valley Vineyard in Huntington City through the basement. When changing carriages after entering the city, he bought a copy of "Huntington Morning News" from a newspaper-selling boy.

The first few pages of news had no great relationship with Xia De, but he saw the news that the well-known old-continent charity institution "Snake Heart Hospital" was purchasing real estate in the local area to prepare for business on the third page.

Snake Heart Hospital had already communicated with the local city hall, obtained the help of the city hall, and received policy-based funding. This was an institution under the 【Spirit Cultivation Sect】, and Sister Daifulin, for the secret of Pantanal, was determined to insert more manpower locally. If the sister's plan could go smoothly, she would probably be able to enter the depths of the Great Swamp with the witches in February 1854 to hunt "evil things of Pantanal" and recover the sparks of the original fire.

That was something a few months later, and currently had no great relationship with Xia De. He sat in the carriage reading the newspaper and came to Professor Deleike's home again. The professor had been waiting for Xia De to visit for a long time, and impatiently asked the maid to push him to the study, and the old man asked Xia De impatiently:

"Mr. Watson, good morning, you finally came. Your investigation, is there any result now?"

"I entrusted my friend in Tobesk to contact Professor Manning and found your letters, but the value of those letters is not great, just knowing that you were very healthy before visiting the 'Goddess of the Lake'."

The professor was a bit disappointed, and Xia De took out the photo he tucked in his notebook:

"But I found new clues elsewhere, professor, may I ask if you recognize this photo."

He handed the group photo of the professor and Haer De Wundiba, the holder of the "arrow" more than a decade ago, to him. Professor Deleike reached out to take it, and his eyes widened in astonishment:

"I have no impression of this group photo at all. Looking at the background, this should be a photo taken at a village in the Pantanal Great Swamp. I also remember that piece of clothing in the photo, but I don't remember taking a photo with this person."

He raised his head and asked Xia De:

"Mr. Watson, who is this? Does he know something? Can we find him?"

"Haer De Wundiba, arrested and executed by the Religious Inquisition of the 【War and Peace Sect】 of this parish more than a decade ago."

"What?"

"This is a cultist."

Xia De said, looking seriously at the professor's expression, and the astonishment and panic on the old professor's face didn't look like it was faked:

"Oh, what did I do more than a decade ago?"

"This is hard to say."

Xia De pointed to Haer De Wundiba in the photo:

"Even now, this dead gentleman is still being investigated by people. When I investigated this matter, I almost had a conflict with those dangerous guys; they dare to kill, and they also won't care about the police."

Professor Deleike tremblingly placed the photo on the desk, and then tightly grasped the armrest of the wheelchair with his right hand, panting heavily:

"Mr. Watson, I'm really sorry to let you get into danger, do you know more things?"

"The current investigation progress is only these. That 'Goddess of the Lake' seems to have not only erased your adventure memory but even blurred a large number of relevant clues. From the current information, professor, the memory you lost may not be the price, but things you actively gave up and didn't want to know."

The old professor's already old face seemed to be ten years older in an instant, and the piled wrinkles made the age spots so clear:

"You mean, I did something wrong, and it's even possible that I committed a crime, and the wish I made was to let the Goddess of the Lake erase all traces?"

"A conclusion cannot be obtained at present, but this guess should be very close to the truth."

Xia De paused, giving the horrified Professor Deleike time to think.

After the professor picked up the teacup, Xia De asked softly again:

"Speaking of which, professor, does your home have any antiques whose origin you don't remember?"

The professor recalled:

"No... at least I think there isn't, I remember every item in the house very clearly."

His tone was not very firm; clearly, he also knew that his memory was not firm.

"In your collection, is there an arrow?"

Xia De leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, narrowed his eyes, and asked again in this study piled with books, in the light of the gas lamp lit because of the heavy fog outside the window.

"Yes, I also collect antique weapons."

The old professor answered quickly, and Xia De felt his heart jump violently. His peripheral vision swept across the red and gold wallpaper of the study, swept across the old-style gas lamp, swept across those bookshelves:

"Can you describe the specific appearance of the 'arrow'?"

"I'll take it for you to see directly."

The professor said and was about to call the maid, but frowned and looked at Xia De again:

"Speaking of which, I seem to really not remember where that arrow came from."

The old man inside the desk licked his lips that had just been moistened by tea and were peeling. He was a bit dazed:

"Oh, yes, if you hadn't asked, I wouldn't even remember that I had that item. For more than ten years, I seem to have never checked it, but I am very sure I have this item. This feeling is really..."

Kansas Deleike raised his head in the wheelchair and looked at the ceiling of the study. The familiar study seemed to rotate at this moment, everything in front of him was becoming blurry, and the feeling of spinning made him want to lower his head and vomit, but then he felt himself being supported:

"Professor, professor!"

He heard the young man's voice, felt the teacup being brought to his face, and the heat was steaming his cheeks.

"Drink some tea quickly, professor, professor!"

Xia De fed the tea with No. 4 holy water to the old professor. The professor's throat swallowed the tea with difficulty, and then he closed his eyes and leaned back on the back of the wheelchair as if he were dead.

After a long time, he opened his eyes again, and there was some spirit in his old eyes. His lips moved a few times, and his voice was gradually returning to normal:

"Yes, I possess an 'arrow'. Although I don't know where it came from, I remember it is in this study."

"Where is it?"

Xia De looked around, trying hard to find traces of secret compartments. According to the outsider's understanding of detective novels, there should be a mechanism of "moving books to open secret doors" in this kind of study.

"Here."

The professor lowered his body with difficulty, pulled open the drawer at the bottom left of the desk, and took out a slender red mahogany box. There were no words on the box, but instead, there were chain-like patterns circling around.

"It's really... for more than ten years, I never thought about why there would be a box in the drawer."

The professor closed his eyes and sighed, and handed the box about one meter long to Xia De.

Xia De didn't feel any traces of elements when touching the box, but when he opened the box, whispering elements emerged immediately.

He narrowed his eyes, and the palm holding the box exerted force suddenly. In the red lining was embedded a golden-colored arrow with bronze patterns on the surface. The ancient atmosphere showed that it came from ancient years, and the heavy sense of history made Xia De almost hold his breath.

The patterns crawling on the surface of the arrow head constituted a strange kind of text:

【Knowledge is Power.】

"The answer is on the riddle; it was really found at Professor Deleike's place—Sage-level relic 【Aikenola's Arrow of Knowledge】."