Lord of the Mysteries: :From Apprentice to High-Dimensional Overlooker,After the "Fool" slowly stepped into the light gate, the broken "cocoons" behind him swayed gently. So in the East District of Backlund, a certain unlucky guy woke up in a strange body and ignorantly opened the door to a new life. "I have fought the good fight, I have walked the path, I have kept the faith." Several years later, stepping out of the barrier and facing the surging Outer Gods, Douglas still remembered the moment he chose to take the potion. This journey, which has never had a way out, finally ushered in the end. "From now on, there is a crown of justice reserved for me." The fan fiction of the Lord of Mysteries, with the old survivors as the protagonist, the timeline is after Klein fell asleep. There is no plug-in, and it is not a cool article.Chapter 1: CrossingTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 3026 wordsUpdate time: 2022-09-18 01:29:01
Well...
What? My head hurts...
For some reason, the peaceful dream was dispelled by waves of long, dull pain. Jing Wenying frowned in her uneasy sleep, trying to turn over and bury her head in the quilt to wait for this inexplicable pain to pass.
She subconsciously thought that maybe it was because she stayed up too late or used the air conditioner for too long. Anyway, it was not a big deal and it would get better with a good rest, so she prepared to continue sleeping.
However, while trying to turn over, she suddenly found that her body had become very heavy and sluggish. Even moving her arms was extremely difficult, as if her consciousness could not fully control her body.
This feeling of disharmony and disconnection made Jing Wenying sober up a little. She vaguely thought that maybe she was suffering from sleep paralysis. As soon as this thought came to her mind, she felt chest tightness and shortness of breath...
Jing Wenying realized the problem and tried to control her body. According to past experience, as long as she moved her fingers or blinked successfully, this abnormal state would be refreshed.
The headache that had awakened her was of help at this moment. The physical pain firmly locked her consciousness, which was occasionally erratic. After struggling for about ten seconds, Jing Wenying finally gathered her strength and suddenly turned over and sat up.
The feeling of being out of control suddenly eased and soon disappeared. However, the next moment, she felt her throat dry and itchy, and she couldn't stop arching her back and coughing. The cough was so intense that she could smell a faint rusty smell in her mouth, as if she had just finished a two-kilometer run.
What... happened... Jing Wenying coughed until tears and snot came out, but she was complaining in her heart, no way, is the physical condition of modern college students so worrying? Didn't I just turn on the air conditioner for two more days?
As she regained consciousness, she found that her whole body was sore, her chest was stuffy and she was short of breath. She might have really caught a cold. Jing Wenying put her hand on her chest and finally calmed down the cough, breathing heavily. She reached for her glasses and opened her eyes blankly, ready to shout "Mom——".
She opened her mouth, but before any sound came out, she was suddenly stunned.
My vision is so clear, it is completely different from the naked eye vision of a person with 600 degrees of myopia.
But the scene presented in the extremely clear vision is so strange!
The low, dusty roof; the rough, dark, stained walls; the wooden floor with piles of debris; the crooked cabinet that is about to fall apart; the coal stove-like thing next to it with a kettle sitting on it; the iron rack in the corner with a washbasin that looks very old...
And all of this was shrouded in a dim, faint crimson light and shadow, which made everything hazily tinged with a certain weird flavor.
Jing Wenying slowly opened her eyes and looked around at everything, her mind went blank for two seconds.
Holy shit… Holy shit? Holy shit!
Oh my god!!!
This is not my room!
Where am I? Where am I?!
No... She looked at the clear world in front of her, then suddenly realized something and lowered her head to look at her hands.
These are a pair of rough and powerful palms with rough calluses at the base of the fingers. The five fingers are relatively slender, with rugged protrusions at the joints, and blue blood vessels can be vaguely seen winding under the skin.
My hands obviously don't look like this… Jing Wenying dully gave the idea of "clenching a fist", and watched the hands slowly close the five fingers and loosely clench into a fist, thinking to herself, who the hell am I???
A sudden pain in her forehead interrupted Jing Wenying's thoughts. She took a breath and raised her hand to press her temple to relieve the pain, but the texture was rough, as if she touched something like gauze.
The exposed forehead skin beneath the gauze was slightly hot, which made Jing Wenying sure that she... or this body was indeed sick. Fever, cough, maybe the flu...
She put down her hand silently, scratched her ears habitually, and calmed down. Based on her years of experience surfing the Internet, she judged that she probably, perhaps, should have traveled through time...
How could this be possible! I was lying peacefully in my own bed, I wasn't hit by a dump truck, I didn't commit suicide, I didn't read any weird books, I didn't download any weird apps, I didn't make any weird wishes... How could this be possible? Is this reasonable?
Also, since I have traveled through time, where is my system? Where is my cheat code? Where is my martial arts secrets? Where is my portable grandfather?
Even if there was nothing, it would be too much to put it on a guy who was injured and sick...
Jing Wenying let out a depressed "tsk", sniffed, and lifted up the thing covering his body that looked more like a torn sack than a quilt. He stood up shakily, preparing to search this room that he could see through at a glance, clean out the "birth point", and then make his next plan.
At this moment, she heard a series of footsteps coming from outside, getting closer and closer.
The room is not soundproof enough... Jing Wenying was thinking this as she casually reached for the drawer of the cupboard to open it, when she suddenly shuddered. A sharp sense of crisis like a needle pricked her heart, causing her to subconsciously turn her head towards the door and pay attention to the footsteps approaching in the corridor outside the door.
At this moment, Jing Wenying felt that these footsteps were coming towards her. And they were definitely not good people!
There was no time to trace the source of this inspiration, Jing Wenying's expression twisted instantly. She had just seen that there was no place to hide in this room, no other exit, and not even a decent window. There was only a narrow ventilation hole close to the ceiling that leaked in a little crimson light, which was definitely not enough for a person to get through.
This... Jing Wenying couldn't help but think of the idiom "catching a turtle in a jar", but she was the poor "turtle" at the moment...
Hearing the footsteps approaching terribly, Jing Wenying's next thought in panic was to urgently find something to defend herself. But her reaction was already a few beats too slow. Before she could pull the drawer open, the thin wooden door had been kicked open from the outside!
Jing Wenying, who had never experienced anything like this, instinctively stepped back and staggered against the wall behind her. Her mind was sluggish, and she fumbled with her hands helplessly for a few times before leaning against the wall, as if trying to find a way out from this solid brick and stone structure.
The moment her palm touched the wall, she suddenly had an inspiration and had a strange feeling.
It is a feeling of lightness and freedom that emerges in the mind.
This feeling seemed to tell her: A wall of this height is not an obstacle!
Jing Wenying subconsciously looked at her hand pressed against the wall, and saw a flash of fluorescence on the edge of her palm.
Then, her entire palm sank into the wall without any sense of hesitancy!
Huh?!
Shock, doubt, confusion and other emotions all surged at once. But reality did not leave Jing Wenying any room for thought. At this time, those who kicked open the door had already rushed into the room and found her without a doubt.
She saw the yellow-haired man with one eye blind in the lead raised the stick in his hand and swung it hard at her head.
The movement seemed to be in slow motion in her eyes. But the opponent's undisguised and surging killing intent made Jing Wenying break out of her blank mind. The instinct for survival undoubtedly took over at this moment, commanding her body at the critical moment. She turned around regardless of anything and rushed towards the wall with the fastest speed and the most resolute posture.
The sound of the sticks hitting the floor seemed very close to my ears.
However, in a flash, Jing Wenying had passed through the wall and fell to another damp and dirty ground. She raised her head in panic and found that she was in a public bathroom on each floor of a university dormitory building, and this bathroom had an open window that was big enough for someone to get out!
The loud cursing and the hurried footsteps from the next room made Jing Wenying unable to think about anything else. She struggled to get up and rushed to the window. She pushed herself up with her arms and jumped out to escape.
However, she ignored the fact that she was seriously ill and had no strength to support her body. The leap was extremely distorted and she could only "roll" out of the window with difficulty. She had no room to adjust her landing and fell heavily to the ground from a height of more than four meters.
The fall made Jing Wenying dizzy and she thought her brains were all over the floor. Fortunately, the wound on her head started to sting wildly, allowing her to regain consciousness in time. Under the influence of the crazy secretion of adrenaline, she stubbornly got up and ran!
What a joke! I have to die again just a few minutes after traveling through time? Isn't it embarrassing! !
She had no sense of direction at all, just running wildly along the road, turning left and right. She didn't even know whether the people behind her had caught up with her. The only sound in her ears was the wind and her heavy breathing. Her vision was blurred as if covered by a layer of red gauze. Maybe the blood flowed into her eyes, but Jing Wenying didn't bother to wipe it off.
But soon, she felt herself losing strength, and her steps became slow and stumbling.
While trying to adjust her breathing, Jing Wenying raised her eyes and looked around, and found that the surrounding environment had changed from dirty and messy to barely clean, as if she had run out of the previous area.
She listened carefully and heard no sound of anyone chasing her. Finally, she stopped, leaned against the wall of the building next to her, and gasped for breath.
The running just now had overdrawn the little energy left in this body. Jing Wenying held her trembling knees and coughed violently for a while, but it did not relieve the pain in her throat and chest. Instead, her eyes became dark and her vision tended to become blurred again.
It's over... I hope this world has the fine tradition of being helpful and saving the dying and the wounded... Help me up, I can still help... As she thought so, she felt her body slowly slipping and falling to the ground, her cheek touching the ground, and the world turned 90 degrees in front of her.
Before Jing Wenying completely passed out, she saw a crescent-shaped red moon hanging quietly in the high and distant indigo night sky.Chapter 2 After the HuntTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 4007 wordsUpdate time: 2022-09-18 01:30:11
Images flashed quickly through her mind, one after another incoherent, like a failed movie clip.
But the protagonist of each picture is a boy with black hair and light yellow eyes. As the pictures keep switching, the boy seems to be growing up.
As Jing Wenying watched, she gradually realized that these intermittent images were describing the little boy's past life in the simplest form - from some of the images, she learned that the boy's name was Douglas.
When Douglas was seven years old, he followed his father, a farmer, to Backlund and lived in the chaotic East District. When he was fourteen, his father died in a factory accident. Douglas lost his family and home and had to struggle to survive alone at the bottom of society.
She could see Douglas trying to steal food from the stalls in the market... He fought, used violence to take food from other children, or was robbed by others... He worked with other ragged tramps on the docks to carry goods, pull ropes for ships, and scrub decks... He sneaked out a cigarette butt in the poorhouse and smoked it by candlelight... He joined a gang and committed crimes such as highway robbery and burglary...
This gloomy life continued until one day when Douglas was 17 years old. Before that, he was appreciated by the upper class for his cleverness and was selected among several candidates to meet a mysterious man who covered all his identity features with a cloak and a mask.
It was this mysterious man who gave Douglas a bottle of magic potion and made him an extraordinary person!
After seeing this, Jing Wenying finally understood that the previous wall-walking was not a so-called time-travel skill, but one of the extraordinary abilities that can be brought about by drinking magic potions in this world!
She exhaled, slowly opened her eyes, and curled her lips in self-mockery: It turns out that my time travel is really so ordinary... Even the extraordinary ability is the original owner's own! It has nothing to do with me!
...And the owner of this body was originally a man! But I am a woman! This is inappropriate! Jing Wenying roared loudly in her heart.
But thinking about the hygiene level and living conditions of the poor in this era, she quickly comforted herself that at least she didn't have to deal with her menstrual period every month, and there was no risk of being kidnapped and sold... As long as I kept my chastity, no, I kept my male ethics! There was nothing to worry about physically!
As for problems like going to the toilet, I can just get by with my eyes closed, so what can I do if I have my eyes circumcised...
As my thoughts were spinning, the door clicked and was opened from the outside.
An old man with gray hair and brown priest clothes walked into the room with a tray in his hand. Seeing Jing Wenying sitting on the bed, the old man smiled kindly: "I'm glad to see that you have recovered so quickly."
"You gave me a new life, Father Schultz." Jing Wenying, who was wearing Douglas, sat up a little straighter, raised her head and politely responded to the priest's gaze, and said from the bottom of her heart, "I, please forgive my stupidity. I don't know what kind of praise can match your noble character."
——Two days ago, she fainted on the street due to physical exhaustion, and was rescued by Father Schultz from the Earth Mother Church who happened to be passing by on business, and brought back to the Harvest Church in the southern part of the bridge. The Earth Mother Church seemed to have a lot of experience in medical treatment. After examining Douglas, the priest prepared several medicines and cured her illness in just two days.
Except for some external injuries that have not yet healed, the rest of Douglas' body is now in excellent health.
"Don't worry about it." Schultz put the tray on the table and then made a prayer gesture. "We are all children of the Mother Goddess, and the Mother Goddess taught us that life is precious and harvest is joyful."
Praise the Mother Goddess! Your teachings to believers are very practical, very realistic, and very humanistic... Jing Wenying muttered in her heart.
She didn't dare to really praise out loud. After all, according to Douglas's memory, gods seemed to really exist in this world... and "he" had no faith during his lifetime, so it was not easy for him to praise or pray to God casually.
Now, although the Church of Mother Earth saved his life, Jing Wenying, who was born under the red flag before the time travel, has always been an unbeliever and has no intention of believing in anything easily.
At least not yet.
The priest did not stay for long. It was daytime and there were still things to do in the church. He just brought Douglas food and visited him. After a few pleasantries, the priest left the room.
The tray brought by the priest contained a bowl of vegetable soup, a large cup of tea, a few slices of toast and a piece of butter. It was a typical Western way of eating, which hardly aroused Jing Wenying's appetite. But not wasting food was a dogma engraved in her genes. At least she had something to eat. If she hadn't been picked up, she would probably have been eaten by wild dogs now...
She quickly finished her brunch without being picky. After being in a daze for a while, she had to face reality, pushed the tray aside, and took out paper, pen and ink from the drawer.
This room where she was staying temporarily was originally a lounge for priests, equipped with mirrors, paper and pens for priests to tidy up their appearance. Jing Wenying held the old pen with peeling paint and spent a few seconds thinking whether to write in Chinese or the current Rune language.
Chinese is confidential enough... But considering that I am in a church, if I write something that no one can understand, I will be accused of believing in a cult or colluding with the devil, which will be troublesome... Well, it's better to be safe! Jing Wenying glanced at the candle on the table and decided to burn it after use to reduce hidden dangers.
She picked up her pen and wrote the first question on the paper in Rune:
"1. The identity and purpose of the 'mysterious man'? Is he dangerous?"
After writing, she raised her hand and pinched her temple, browsing the original owner's memory faster.
According to Douglas's understanding during his lifetime, "potions" and "extraordinary powers" should be a secret existence in this world, unknown to ordinary people.
Generally speaking, only the churches of the seven orthodox gods would train official Beyonders. Under the crackdown by the church officials, it was very difficult and dangerous to privately make potions and become a Beyonder.
At the same time, this also means that things like magic potions should be very precious, and it is impossible to just pick any subordinate and make him an extraordinary person.
In this way, the "mysterious man" who made Douglas a Beyonder seems very suspicious...
Jing Wenying also discovered that the tasks directly assigned by the "mysterious man" were very vague and fragmentary in Douglas's memory, with almost no useful information, which made her suspect that the other party had used mystical means to deal with them for the sake of confidentiality.
After all, in this world where extraordinary powers exist, even the dead can speak. Jing Wenying can only recall some fragments of "himself" inciting strikes, smuggling machines, and promoting some doctrines in the East District, as well as the names of the two organizations, "Aurora Society" and "Genzhi Society", which sounded not very serious.
However, even though her memory was vague, her body trembled almost instinctively when she wrote down these two nouns.
It seems that these two organizations left a very terrible impression on the original owner.
Fortunately, according to the original owner's memory, after the "Backlund Great Smog" incident at the end of 1349, the "mysterious man" never contacted Douglas to issue new tasks, and never showed up again.
It is possible that the mission has been completed and I am no longer needed... But as a member of a secret organization, he did not consider killing me to silence me. I really have to thank him... or her?
Well, it is also possible that the "mysterious person" himself met with an accident, died or fled in a hurry, and had no time to deal with me...
As a result, Douglas no longer had a boss since 1350. Relying on the reading and writing skills he had learned when working for the "mysterious man", the knowledge of occultism and the connections he had accumulated, he continued to work as a bounty hunter in the East District and lived a decent life.
Now it is the end of 1352. Three years have passed, and this "mysterious man" should no longer pose a threat to Douglas. Jing Wenying pondered for a moment, circled the names of the two secret organizations, and decided to avoid them in the future.
Then she wrote the second question on the paper:
"2. Why was Douglas injured and hunted down?"
Jing Wenying looked at the question and couldn't help but smile bitterly. It wasn't that she didn't know the answer, but the key point was that the answer she knew was incomplete.
She remembered that about three or four days ago, Douglas took on a well-paid task while attending an underground gathering of extraordinary people: helping a man named Thomson to temporarily keep some dangerous items.
However, I don't know if it was a side effect of time travel or something unexpected happened in the middle, but Douglas' memory seemed to have been deleted out of thin air. In the last second, Douglas and Thomson met to hand over the items, and in the next second, the memory jumped to two days later, when Douglas hid the dangerous items alone in a sewer in the East District with injuries.
As for where Thomson went, what they encountered, and the identity of the pursuers... Douglas didn't remember any of this key information, along with all the trivial things that happened during those two days.
Jing Wenying habitually tapped the paper with the tip of the pen, leaving a few deep ink dots on it. Based on the known information, he roughly wrote down his guesses and plans:
"What is known is that the pursuit was caused by this commission; the commissioned item is very dangerous; the pursuer knows my identity, so he can chase me to the safe house within a day; the pursuer is 'One-Eyed Ford', or someone has hired him."
She had learned from her memory that the single room she was in when she woke up that day was a safe house of Douglas in the Backlund Bridge District, and that the yellow-haired one-eyed man Ford who almost cut her head with a stick was a relatively well-known villain who ran several gambling venues in the dock area and also worked part-time as a murderer and debt collector.
"Speculation: The pursuer wants to obtain the entrusted item; Thomson, as the original owner, has been killed; hand over the entrusted item?"
She put a big question mark after the last short sentence, feeling a little conflicted.
Thomson was a middle-aged man with a slightly high hairline and a slightly plump figure. He had a brown beard that covered his chin. When he attended parties, he was always keen on the mysterious knowledge in the field of astrology. He seemed to have a good family background. Douglas had been commissioned by him several times to purchase mysterious astrology books and materials for him at other parties.
The two thus established a preliminary friendship. Thomson himself was not an Extraordinary, but he longed to become one. Unfortunately, there were few formulas circulating in the underground market and it was difficult to distinguish the authenticity, so Thomson had never been able to realize this wish.
However, before this commission, when Thomson informed Douglas of the commission information, he excitedly said that he would have a valuable opportunity!
"As long as I can keep this item safe, the accumulated merits will be enough for me to exchange a formula from them and become a Beyonder!"
The "they" in this sentence made Douglas in the memory and Jing Wenying at the moment alert. Under Douglas's questioning, Thomson admitted that he had joined a secret organization and bought the item at an auction for the organization. The organization promised to give him a formula and told him that other forces might covet the item. He was asked to hide the item within a few days and wait for the organization to send someone to collect it.
"Don't worry about that. This is just my personal commission, just like before." Thomson said as he took out a few 5-pound notes and handed them to Douglas. "You are someone I can trust, and you happen to be a Beyonder who is good at hiding! Look, I will pay you 15 pounds in advance. It only takes three days. If you help me hide the things for three days, I will give you another 35 pounds!"
Douglas finally accepted the task due to the 50-pound reward and his confidence as an extraordinary person of the "apprentice" path. He agreed with Thomson to keep the item for safekeeping from November 17 to November 20, and then return it at the party on the evening of November 20.
As a result, after handing over the items on the night of November 16, Douglas lost his memory between November 17 and November 19, and Jing Wenying woke up in the small bed in the safe house in the early morning of November 20. Then, Ford came to kill her, she escaped, fainted, and was picked up by the Earth Mother Church, where she lay there for two days.
Today is already November 22nd. I have missed everything I should have missed… Jing Wenying scratched his head in annoyance and continued writing:
"Risk: If I hand over the items, the forces behind Ford might kill me to silence me; even if I come back alive, I might be retaliated by the secret organization behind Thomson.
The best way is to call the police, report it directly, and use official power to crack down on the organizations behind both parties! "
Faced with this situation of gangs robbing gangs, Jing Wenying, as a person living in the 21st century, instinctively wanted to seek protection from official forces.
But the thing is, she is Douglas now, and Douglas is a wild Beyonder.
If she really reported it, she would probably get a pair of shiny silver bracelets first...Chapter 3 Hello, DouglasTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 3985 wordsUpdate time: 2022-10-15 22:28:16
Thanks for the invitation. I just traveled through time. Are you planning to spend your whole life in jail?
Everyone here is talented and speaks nicely. I love this place very much.
Fuck you!
Jing Wenying, who had been law-abiding for twenty-three years in her previous life and had won the title of "Three Good Students" many times, twitched her eyebrows to dispel the bad ideas in her mind.
No, she must not be caught. Losing her personal freedom would mean she would lose the opportunity to explore the mysticism and find a way to travel back in time!
Through the past two days of sorting out the original owner's memories and observing the surrounding environment, Jing Wenying has come to understand that the technological level of this world is roughly equivalent to that of the Industrial Revolution on Earth, and the customs, clothing, and diet of the Kingdom of Loen are also similar to those of Britain at the time.
This made her simply give up the idea of relying on high-tech products such as time machines to solve the problem of time travel.
Fortunately, there is a system of mysticism in this world, which gives Jing Wenying some hope.
Douglas is currently only at Sequence Nine, which is the lowest point of all extraordinary paths. The higher the sequence, the stronger and more bizarre the extraordinary ability will be. At the level of Sequence Four, one can already be called a demigod!
Since there are gods in this world, then maybe gods can do things that humans can't do? For example, traveling through time and space?
In order to travel back in time, she would undoubtedly have to work hard to find opportunities for promotion so that she could get in touch with more mysteries and more extraordinary things!
"However, Douglas has been a Beyonder for nine years, and still hasn't found the potion formula corresponding to Sequence 8..."
Thinking about the extraordinary items and materials that Douglas had seen in underground gatherings, which cost hundreds or thousands of pounds... Jing Wenying made a simple calculation in her mind and closed her eyes in despair.
Just now she was thinking that Douglas was too rash to accept such an obviously dangerous task for 50 pounds, but now she completely understood.
I'm really short of money!
She sighed deeply, straightened up, and continued writing on the paper:
"Plan: Leave the church today and learn the movements of both parties first. For example, is Thomson dead? Did he leave the contact information of the organization behind him? What force is behind Ford? Returning the property to its original owner is the best way. This will effectively divert the attention of the pursuers and prevent me from being attacked from two sides.
Or I could find an opportunity to cause a direct collision between the two parties, so that the authorities would notice the abnormality without having to report it. As long as the thing is not in my hands, I will not be a key figure, and I may not be exposed through proper cover-up.
I swear to God, I am really just an innocent bounty hunter who was caught up in the incident!
First go to the East District, get the hidden savings, inquire about Ford's movements, find an opportunity to take back the entrusted items, and confirm whether there is any contact information. Go to the Astronomy Observation Enthusiasts Association in Cherwood District mentioned by Thomson to see if you can get Thomson's address, etc.
The safe house may be under Ford's surveillance, and Verity needs to be relocated."
After writing the last sentence, the hand holding the pen seemed to unconsciously draw several lines under the name "Viriti" to emphasize it. Jing Wenying was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and put the pen cap back, put the pen and ink back in place, tore off the paper and read it over several times, then lit a candle and patiently burned the paper to ashes.
She picked up the tray with the dishes, went to the backyard of the church, rinsed the dishes with tap water, and put them back where they should be. After returning to the room, Jing Wenying roughly flipped through the "Sacred Book of Life" of the Earth Mother Church, learned about the teachings of the Mother Goddess, the creation view of this world, and several other major gods, and then began to do stretching exercises and push-ups in the small room, moving her body that had been lying down for two days and adjusting her condition.
Around four o'clock in the afternoon, after all the believers in the church hall had left, Jing Wenying found Father Schultz, helped him clean the hall, and told him that she was going to leave in the evening.
The gray-haired priest looked at him with a hint of surprise and said, "You don't have to be so anxious. It doesn't matter if you wait until tomorrow morning."
Jing Wenying took the rag out of the basin, wrung it out, and wiped the candlestick while smiling and responding: "Thank you for your kindness, Father, but I have fully recovered, and I am sorry to trouble you again. And, um, I have something else I must do."
Father Schultz nodded and thought for a while. Jing Wenying was not in a hurry to leave, so she followed him to clean the hall, just as a way to pay for the room fee for the next few days. She went to the backyard to pour out the dirty water and dry the rag. Just as she was about to say goodbye to the priest, she saw him sitting in the front row of the hall and waving at her.
After hesitating for a moment, Jing Wenying walked over and sat next to Father Schultz, and followed him to look up at the holy emblem of Mother Earth hanging on the wall. After reading the Holy Book of Life, she could recognize that the holy emblem was composed of wheat ears, flowers, spring water and other symbolic symbols surrounding a simple symbol of a baby, representing life, harvest, motherhood and dedication.
Father Schultz first made a prayer gesture similar to holding a baby in his arms, then turned to Jing Wenying and spoke bluntly: "In fact, the Mother Goddess's Church is preparing to carry out missionary work within a certain range in Backlund to expand its influence. But as you can see, we don't have enough manpower. Although the church headquarters has promised to provide some help, given the complexity of the situation, the help will not come too quickly."
As Jing Wenying listened, her eyes widened in slight surprise.
She could hear the missionary meaning in the first sentence and was not surprised. After all, this was still a church, not the Red Cross, and even if the ultimate goal of saving lives was to increase the number of believers, she could completely accept it.
But the following words sounded so much like a job advertisement...
And... this is... too casual? It's normal to make yourself believe in the Mother Earth, but to save someone on the street and then let him join the church and get a job?
Well, it's even more outrageous when this person is a wild Beyonder.
The priest seemed to see her doubts and said with a smile: "Haha, since fate has led you to the church, it means that this is the arrangement, will and mercy of the Mother Goddess, giving you the opportunity to choose again."
Yes, this kind of self-deceiving logic finally has a bit of the flavor of a charlatan, but why don't I remember that the Holy Book of Life wrote that the Mother Goddess would also interfere in matters of fate...
Jing Wenying muttered to herself, but tried to put on an expression of confusion and surprise to confirm again: "So, what do you mean...?"
"What I mean is," the priest explained patiently, "if you can't find anywhere to go, you can stay here - as long as you believe in the Mother Goddess from now on and swear in front of the holy emblem to practice the Mother Goddess's teachings and spread her gospel throughout your life."
Jing Wenying opened her mouth and made a shocked expression, and started to make urgent calculations in her mind.
To be honest, this was a very tempting proposal. Father Schultz's good deed of rescuing a stranger and the teachings of Mother Earth that praised life and harvest and advocated dedication and help had long since impressed Jing Wenying.
At the same time, for her who was involved in trouble, having the church as a backing would make things much easier - even in Backlund's weak Church of the Mother Earth, it was a legitimate official force.
But, regardless of Douglas's identity as a wild extraordinary person, the real problem is that Jing Wenying finds it difficult to convince herself to spend her life serving the gods and throwing her whole life into the church.
Having a crush on someone is one thing, and believing in someone else is another. Just like in her previous life, it was okay for her to go to a temple to burn incense and worship during festivals and donate some money, but it was obviously impossible for her to shave her head and become a nun and convert to Buddhism.
Furthermore, it would be difficult to get in touch with occult knowledge outside the church. According to the general religious thinking, the understanding of "time travel" should be that the body is occupied by the devil or something like that, which defiles the soul. The solution is probably to put the person on the stake, which is unthinkable... Jing Wenying felt that the occult knowledge that could truly solve the problem of "time travel" could not be obtained within the church.
Thinking of this, Jing Wenying sighed sincerely: "Thank you, Father Schultz, I, I don't know how to describe my feelings at the moment. It's just-"
But nothing can compare to the temptation of going home...
"I'm very sorry, but I can't promise you right now." She carefully selected her words and explained, "I do have some things to deal with, I need to see my family... and, uh, I have to confess to you..."
Facing Father Schultz's gentle gaze, Jing Wenying lied with her eyes open, feeling a little guilty: "After accepting your help and reading the scriptures in the past few days, I really feel the Mother Goddess's love and tolerance for the world. I feel that the Mother Goddess's mercy has given me a new life. I already believe in the Mother Goddess from the bottom of my heart..."
Having come this far, she couldn't help but think of one thing: It is Douglas who believes in the Mother Goddess. What does that have to do with me, Jing Wenying?
Jing Wenying hurriedly drove away this thought that could easily make her laugh, and continued: "But I have done many wrong things in my past life, I am afraid I am not qualified to serve the Mother Goddess..."
She briefly recounted the crimes that the original "Douglas" had committed, omitting only the part about him having been a subordinate of a secret organization and those parts that might be serious enough to warrant a sentence, and included some words of remorse.
Although I don't plan to really work in the church, pretending to have faith has only advantages and no disadvantages. For one thing, the medical technology of the Church of Mother Earth is too tempting. Moreover, compared with a direct refusal, such a euphemism is more likely to be accepted.
Father Schultz really didn't force her to do anything. He just stretched out his hand and touched her forehead and chest a few times. He whispered a few words of comfort and encouragement and then said, "You must believe that the Mother God is always watching over her pious children. From now on, you must follow the teachings of the Mother God and not do anything unjust... Go, you have been reborn, may the Mother God bless you."
"Praise the Mother Goddess!"
Jing Wenying solemnly followed the other party and made the prayer gesture as if holding a baby in her arms, then stood up, put her hand on her chest and saluted to Father Schultz, turned around and walked out of the Harvest Church along the aisle and came to Rose Street.
Pedestrians on the street turned up their collars to keep out the cold wind and hurried on their way home. No one paid much attention to the strange man standing in a daze on the street.
Haha, this should be my first time to set foot on foreign soil... Standing on a street that was completely different from my past life, the strangeness and alienation that came over me made Jing Wenying smile bitterly. She walked to the window of a street shop and, with the help of the reflection of the glass, carefully looked at her new body for the first time.
The worn glass window showed a man with messy short black hair and deep eye sockets. He looked to be in his twenties, with a dark old scar on his left cheek. His facial features were not handsome, but they were decent enough that he wouldn't scare people when he walked on the street at night.
It is worth noting that the man's eyes are a very light hazel brown. If illuminated by sunlight or light, the color will be reflected as an even lighter yellow.
Compared to other people, the color of these eyes is unusually light, but the hair color and skin color are completely normal. It doesn't look like albinism or a defect in the synthetic pigment in the body. Jing Wenying pondered for a moment and gave up the search. As long as the vision is fine, it's fine.
Following her movements, the man reflected in the glass raised his hand to tidy up his hair, revealing a piece of gauze wrapped around his forehead. Overall, the man was about 1.8 meters tall, but due to years of physical labor, his shoulders were slightly slanted and his back was a little hunched; his physique was relatively thin, but the hard muscles attached to his arms and torso proved that he was not a character that could be bullied.
Jing Wenying smiled, and then she saw the man's reflection also grinning, smiling a little foolishly.
"...Hello, Douglas." Jing Wenying lowered her voice with some complexity and said to herself, "Nice to meet you, but I'm also sorry that I occupied your body and took away your life, although I didn't want this to happen..."
She was silent for a few seconds and sighed uncontrollably.
"You are not a good person, but you are not guilty of a crime that deserves death... May you rest in peace. If there is an afterlife in this world, I wish you can grow up safely with your family and live an ordinary but happy life..."
The man in the reflection lowered his head slightly, his lips moving as he murmured.
"Thank you for your hard work over the years. I will do my best to take care of the people you care about, and then... Sigh. I don't know yet. Anyway, I want to learn from you and try my best to survive... survive, and preferably, find a way to go back..."
After the words fell, silence occupied a few minutes again. Finally, Jing Wenying shook his head, as if to throw away all his troubles.
The reflection in the glass also shook its head, then smiled faintly, and reached out as if to touch its cheek. The deep voice sounded again:
"Hello. I'm... Douglas."Chapter 4: Go back home oftenTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 3297 wordsUpdate time: 2022-09-18 01:31:33
Although the work of the Air Governance Committee in recent years has been fruitful, the air quality in the east district, where many factories are located and residents still use cheap coal or even firewood for heating, still does not meet the passing line in autumn and winter.
The residents of the East District had long been accustomed to such a smoky life. The smell of burning coal mixed with the stench of sewage flowing through the sewers. In the streets and alleys without light, workers who had finished their night shift walked slowly and tiredly towards their homes.
Douglas, wrapped in a tattered jacket, mingled with the workers who were getting off work, walking slowly towards Black Olive Street, glancing around from time to time.
Apartment 8 Black Olive Street is Douglas' most frequent residence. It is close to the junction of the East End and the Docklands, and is close to the sphere of influence of the gang that Douglas once worked for.
When there was still a corner away from the destination, Douglas slowed down his pace and slowly approached a few homeless people who were huddled in the street corner to avoid the wind. He squatted with them, turned up the collar of his old jacket to cover most of his face, and looked at the door of Apartment No. 8 from afar.
On the day he traveled through time, he was blocked by Ford in a safe house in the Backlund Bridge District. It was hard not to suspect that the pursuers would search all his bases... If they didn't find anything and didn't get my head, there should be people keeping a close eye on my whereabouts, and there might be people following me near my residences.
This forced Douglas to be cautious.
The homeless man next to him felt someone coming. He glanced at the newcomer listlessly and continued to keep his head down, preparing to take a nap before the police came to chase him away.
At this time, the newcomer gently touched him. The homeless man vaguely smelled a light smell of tobacco and opened his eyes in confusion.
He saw Douglas holding a cheap cigarette and shaking it in front of his nose.
The homeless man subconsciously wanted to reach out and grab it, but then cowardly stopped. He sniffed and looked nervously at Douglas who was holding a cigarette, and stammered: "You..."
"Have you seen One-Eyed Ford around here?" Douglas asked straight to the point.
Although it is unlikely that Ford himself would do such a tiring job...but you can hardly expect a homeless person who lives a muddled life every day to notice the strange movement of people. Douglas can only ask the most famous one.
The homeless man stared at the cigarette, frowning as if trying hard to recall: "See... no, uh... I..."
It seems that he has never seen me before. Douglas thought for a moment, pulled down his collar, let the homeless man see his face, and asked again: "Has anyone asked you to pay attention to me?"
The other party's eyes moved away from the cigarette with difficulty and began to look at his face, but he still looked confused. At this time, another disabled homeless man behind him seemed to be startled by their conversation, turned his head and looked back, and his expression suddenly froze when his eyes fell on Douglas's face.
Douglas, who was facing that direction, did not ignore this abnormality. He immediately looked at the disabled homeless man and shook the cigarette in his hand again: "You know?"
The disabled tramp nodded hurriedly, turned around and leaned over. Douglas found that he was younger than the others, with a rough face and a lot of beard. He had almost lost his entire left arm, and the empty sleeves hung beside his body.
"A few days ago, just a few days ago... When I passed by the Barrel Bar, someone stopped me and told me to pay attention to a wounded man with light eyes and a scar on the left side of his face. If I saw him, I could tell the bartender..."
As he spoke, the disabled homeless man looked at Douglas's face as if to confirm it, and nodded repeatedly: "You, you fit these descriptions very well..."
"Did they find a lot of people?" Douglas suddenly frowned, wondering if their whereabouts had been exposed along the way. There were countless homeless people in the East District.
"I don't know." The other party answered honestly, "It was daytime and there were not many people around..."
Don't be careless... Douglas nodded and threw the cigarette to the disabled homeless man: "Tomorrow, you can go and tell them that you saw me here. Not tonight."
The other man caught the cigarette with his remaining hand and chuckled twice: "No problem... Hey, brother, do you have a lighter?"
"A waste..." The first homeless man muttered in disappointment, shrank back into the corner, and couldn't help but say, "You still have energy and are still strong. You should use this cigarette to refresh yourself and prolong your life when you can't hold on any longer."
"Huh! Who will lend me a light then?" The latter moved the broken joint of his left shoulder, held the cigarette in his mouth, and put it close to the match that Douglas had lit, and took a deep breath. The pungent smell of low-quality tobacco and the gray smoke spread together. The first elderly homeless man uttered a "huh", then sniffed, and then greedily stared at the warm firelight for a few seconds.
The disabled homeless man took two deep puffs, and his eyes showed a little realization and nostalgia, but soon, his eyes dimmed again. The smoke fell like a heavy sigh. He looked at the pale face of the older homeless man, hesitated for a few seconds, took out the cigarette and handed it to the other person: "Here, brother, have a puff..."
The older homeless man looked up at him in surprise, his lips trembling slightly. But in the end, under the other's encouraging gaze, he slowly moved closer to the cigarette holder and took a controlled puff. The familiar and long-lost smell filled his nose, making him unconsciously reveal a wrinkled smile.
Douglas squatted nearby and watched the scene, but he didn't say much. He just held the black-and-white matchstick and thought for a while, then used his fingers as a fulcrum to fiddle with the matchstick, making it spin quickly, while silently saying in his heart: "It is very risky to enter my room at 8 Black Olive Street tonight."
After spinning for more than a dozen times, the matchstick trembled and stopped, with the ignited black part facing Douglas himself. This meant negation, that there was no risk or little risk, so it was worth a try.
——This was a crude divination method that Douglas had just found from his memory. The "mysterious man" had once taught him some simple Beyonder knowledge, which made Douglas realize that Beyonders of the "apprentice" sequence had relatively developed inspiration and a certain ability to divination, especially divination about themselves. If there was no interference, they could get a relatively accurate direction.
After getting the result from divination, Douglas pulled up his collar again to cover his face and secretly observed the street. At this moment, the flow of people had gradually decreased, and any abnormal behavior would be easily discovered, so he did not act immediately. Instead, he followed the patrolling police when they coaxed the homeless people away, walked around in a big circle, and waited until it was dark and the residents of the East District had generally fallen asleep before approaching No. 8 Black Olive Street from another direction.
As an "apprentice", not going through the main door was an instinct ingrained in his genes. The densely packed buildings in the East District provided Douglas with great convenience, allowing him to go around from other rooms and "open the door" all the way.
Walking carefully through the small and messy room, Douglas suddenly thought, does Ford know that I am an extraordinary person?
He did pass through the wall in front of Ford that day, but before that, Ford only came to him with cold weapons. It seems that he didn't know that Douglas had extraordinary abilities? Otherwise, if he wanted to keep an "apprentice" who could escape from any direction at any time, he would at least have to prepare a revolver, right?
Douglas was very sure that Ford himself was not a Beyonder, but if the person who hired Ford wanted to steal something from a secret organization, the chances of him not being a Beyonder were very small. Why didn't the employer remind Ford to be on guard against my Beyonder ability? Well, he hadn't met me directly, so he didn't know that I was an "apprentice"?
That shouldn't be the case. I was probably playing hide-and-seek with the pursuers during those two days when I lost my memory... After two days of chasing without success, the employer should have come to supervise the battle, but they didn't even notice this? Is Douglas so good at hiding?
Or is there some trap in this?
Thinking of this, he had to stop. At this moment, he had come to the next door of his room, and felt that his spirit was very stable, without any warning signs.
Glancing at the family of five sleeping in the room, Douglas took out a coin from his pocket with concern and used a simple divination method again to confirm that it was not dangerous to enter his room tonight.
Douglas stared at the wall in confusion and began to force himself to think in reverse.
"Divination is not omnipotent... Well, there was a misunderstanding in my thinking just now. If Ford wanted to monitor me, he didn't need to start from the outside when he knew I could pass through walls. He could just send someone to stay in my room... Even if the things are not here, I may be able to go home to get money and weapons. They just need to wait here..."
"Well, even if there are people inside, they can't stop me... It's definitely not the Beyonder's job to do such a tough job as surveillance. But even if there are ten ordinary people with guns inside, as long as I react quickly enough, it will only take one step to get in and out... The most they can do is report it to the higher-ups..."
"Well, the worst outcome for me is that they find out where I am and I can't get the money..."
"money..."
"... Damn, that's not right. Why would a Beyonder who can walk through walls and open doors have to go home to get money? Can't he just go to a middle-class house and take some money?"
Douglas, who just realized that he had great potential in crime, couldn't help but raise his hands to cover his face. This was a difficult turn for him to change with the way of thinking he developed in a society without extraordinary people and a sound legal system.
"I wouldn't do that, but that doesn't mean others think I wouldn't either, because I'm a bounty hunter and a gang member named Douglas... From the perspective of East Siders, stealing and robbing are the right ideas? So they used homeless people to cast a wide net to find me? After all, if you want to buy food and consume the stolen money, you still have to interact with people..."
"This way, there's absolutely no need to waste manpower waiting for opportunities..."
"Well, if it were me, I would probably leave a spy in the room for safety reasons... but with only one person, there's even less of a threat to me."
"At worst, I can just leave... I can go to Cherwood District at night and look for clues at the Astronomical Observation Enthusiasts Association that Thomson often visits. Their membership registration may contain Thomson's personal information. I can start from there..."
After sorting out his thoughts and thinking that there was no big problem, Douglas took a deep breath, moved his body slightly to prepare himself, then he took a step forward, passed through the wall, and returned to "his" room.Chapter 5 CluesTitle of the Book:Mystery: From Apprentice to High-Dimensional OverlookerAuthor's name: BambooChapter word count: 3711 wordsUpdate time: 2022-09-18 01:31:55
The room was empty.
Douglas took a quick look around the room. There were messy footprints on the floor, all the drawers were opened, some were even smashed, clothes and other things were thrown everywhere, and even the mattress was cut open a few times, with the thin layer of straw used as padding propped up in a mess.
This is a really thorough search... He calmly leaned against the wall where he could escape and waited for nearly a minute. Only after he was sure that there was no unusual movement, he walked towards the closet.
He had to get the money first. Douglas held the nearly fallen closet door according to his memory, scratched the decorative pattern with his fingers, opened the hidden compartment, reached in and fumbled for several rolls of banknotes. This inevitably made him breathe a sigh of relief, and he roughly counted them in the crimson moonlight.
With the 15 pounds Thomson paid in advance, Douglas's total assets were only 32 pounds 14 soli and 5 pence. He squeezed the crumpled banknotes and stuffed them deep into his trouser pockets. Douglas looked at the damaged items in the house with a heartache: according to the contract, if he wanted to continue renting the house after solving the problem, he would have to pay for the furniture, clean up the house himself, and buy new necessities... This damn thing would cost money...
I don't know if Thomson is still alive, and whether the organization behind him will give him the final payment...
While muttering to himself, Douglas walked around the room twice. Adhering to the principle of making do with what he had, he picked out a yellowed white shirt, a loose and frayed sweater, and a coat of another color from the floor and replaced his old clothes.
While looking for clothes, he suddenly noticed something that didn't fit in with the environment.
A white envelope lay on the desk in the corner, quietly bathing in the faint crimson moonlight.
Douglas didn't pay much attention to the desk at first, because he knew there was no valuable written material there. During the years he worked for the "mysterious man", Douglas had already developed the habit of burning everything after reading it. In addition, the moonlight was limited, and the room was dim and blurry. If you didn't get close, you wouldn't be able to see that there was anything on the desk.
But after discovering it, the existence and incongruity of the envelope suddenly increased. Douglas picked up a baseball cap from the ground slowly and cautiously.
Spiritual intuition did not give any warning... He silently put the cap into his arms, and used a coin toss to confirm that the envelope was harmless before picking it up. Then he walked closer, carefully pinched a corner of the envelope with two fingers, turned around and faced the moonlight to try to peek into what was inside.
It was very light and thin... There was no addressee written on it. Well, the moonlight was not bright enough, so I could only see the appearance of a note inside... Douglas glanced at the gas meter and the corresponding gas lamp on the wall, but he didn't turn on the light in the end, but just moved to the window where the light was slightly better.
"The divination just now did not fail, proving that this envelope should have nothing to do with Feifan... Moreover, it doesn't look like it came from a rough man like Ford. Ford is most likely illiterate. If he wants to issue an ultimatum, why use an envelope? It would be better to paint a skull on the wall. Anyway, he doesn't have to pay for painting the wall..."
"The envelope is of very good quality and very thick. It didn't go through the post office... This must be from Ford's employer or Thomson... But Thomson doesn't know my address. I used to contact him one-way..."
He turned the envelope over and over several times, but there was no clue on the outside of the envelope, which made him scratch his ears in annoyance. After spending nearly a minute to make up his mind, Douglas quickly tore open the seal and poured out the note inside.
There was only one short sentence on it: "32 Eckburg Street, Cherwood District, 2nd Floor, Street Front, Friedman Miller."
32 Eckburgh Street, Cherwood District… Douglas went over the address in his mind and found that it was the location of the Astronomical Observation Enthusiasts Association that Thomson often visited! In the past, when he collected astrological information, he would write the information and mail it to the association instead of sending it to Thomson's home, which was considered to protect the other party's privacy and safety.
As for the "Friedman Mill" behind it, Douglas tried hard to search his memory and confirmed that it was a completely unfamiliar name.
He checked the note twice more and even smelled it. In his previous life, when he was reading a novel, there was a saying that if you write with milk or lemon juice, the words will only appear after it dries and is baked over a flame. Unfortunately, there was no candle in the room, and the flame Douglas rubbed with his spiritual power was not so obedient, and it only achieved the effect of burning the note into ash.
Douglas dusted off his hands and had some ideas in mind.
"At first, Thomson and I agreed to return the item on the night of November 20th, but I missed the date due to the pursuit and recuperation… He was going to hand this item over to the organization, which means that after the 20th, someone from the organization will contact and meet with Thomson. This is a secret organization that holds the formula for the magic potion, and it involves accepting new members. The people who come are likely to be Beyonders…"
"Over the past two days, regardless of whether Thomson is dead or alive, the members of this secret organization have confirmed that the item has been lost. The only clues they can find, besides me, is Ford, who is hunting me..."
"Many intelligence dealers in the East District know me and Ford. I am recuperating in the Harvest Church and have not been exposed, but it is easy to find out Ford's whereabouts..."
"Friedman Miller is most likely a member of that secret organization. He found my residence by tracking Ford's whereabouts or using mystical means, and left behind information that I can verify the authenticity of..."
"If the pursuers behind Fude wanted to lure me, there would be no need to leave a strange name. They just need to ambush me there, and they don't even need to capture me alive. After killing me, they can communicate with me in time, and then they can know where the things are hidden, and they can also cut off the other party's clues..."
At the end of his reasoning, Douglas took out the coin for the fourth time, silently saying to himself, "It's dangerous to go to 32 Eckburg Street, Cherwood District now." He threw the coin high into the air and caught it with his palm.
What he saw was the reverse side with numbers engraved on it, representing negation.
After collecting the coins, Douglas suddenly couldn't help laughing. He felt like a student in the examination room who was answering multiple-choice questions by rolling dice. He closed his eyes and relied on metaphysics...
Well, in addition to flipping a coin, I did make some deductions... Believe in yourself, believe in the occult... He suppressed his laughter and checked the room to see if there was anything missing. Then he put on his baseball cap and left. He dodged patrol officers and took shortcuts by going through walls and doors. It took him more than an hour to walk from the East District to Eckburg Street in Cherwood District on foot.
When passing through other people's houses, I had to suppress the desire to steal.
I am a person with moral bottom line, I am a person with moral bottom line... Douglas rested for a while downstairs of No. 32 Eckburg Street, used coins to predict good and bad luck again, walked upstairs with ease, passed through the locked door, and entered the lobby on the second floor.
At this time, there was naturally no one here. Douglas looked around while wrapping his shoes with old clothes to avoid leaving shoe prints. He first confirmed the layout of the rooms on this floor, then went straight to the office to look through the member registration list.
After successfully finding Thomson's form and noting down the street where his family lived, Douglas quickly browsed through the information of all members and did not find the name "Friedman Mill".
"Well, it's not surprising... But I thought that the so-called preservation of the items for a few days was just a test to see if Thomson would resell or embezzle the items out of greed. In fact, the real members of the organization are right next to him, members of this association, so they left me this address..."
After putting all the information back to their original places, Douglas had to start looking for clues from other places. He went through several rooms, including a conference room with a long table and benches, a lounge with soft chairs, a library with various information, and an observatory with several astronomical telescopes.
Douglas, who had participated in the astronomy club in junior high school, was no stranger to astronomical telescopes. At that time, he had fully mastered the assembly of astronomical telescopes and had a certain understanding of seasonal constellation movements and various astronomical landscapes. However, with the middle school entrance examination and the college entrance examination, the increasingly heavy academic workload left him no time to memorize these trivial knowledge, and he had long forgotten them.
Compared to the equipment in my memory, the astronomical telescope in the other world before me seemed large and bulky. The whole thing seemed to be made of brass, and there were many exposed parts and bearings on the base for adjusting the angle and focal length.
Douglas patted the telescope, which was very characteristic of the steam age, with some emotion, and turned to look at the increasingly full red moon outside the convex window and... and the gray and gloomy night sky in Backlund during the autumn and winter seasons, where the starry sky could not be seen at all.
"...With such heavy haze, it's a waste of time to stargaze." He complained with a twitch of his mouth. He didn't believe that this primitive telescope that relied on lens refraction could break through the blockade of Backlund's bad weather and see the real starry sky.
After leaving the observatory, he searched everywhere and finally found a clue at the front desk: there was a drawer containing letters sent to the association's staff or members, and one of them was sent from Friedman Mill to Thomson!
Douglas sat down on the sofa in the lobby and first checked the envelope. There was still no stamp or postmark, so it might have been delivered by the coachman. With the previous example, Douglas opened the envelope without hesitation and took out the letter to read.
Omitting all the rhetoric that he thought was heavily translated, the letter was generally written in the tone of a friend, telling some of the things he saw during the trip, but it also recorded everything from what he ate in the morning, how much money he won in the casino, and what kind of beauty he watched the moon with at night...
Douglas read it several times and first caught the only building with a clearly written name: Carpentras Hotel!
Other buildings or places were all referred to by descriptions such as "famous local restaurant" and "the most luxurious casino I've ever been to", without mentioning specific names.
Then, he found several numbers in the letter that didn't need to be written out explicitly, such as how many particularly delicious desserts he had for lunch, what time he went to the theater... Combined with the description in the letter, he roughly interpreted the message that Friedman Mill wanted to convey.
"Carpenter's Hotel, room number might be 226. He specifically mentioned the time period from 9am to 11am, probably asking me to look for him during this time period... Well, at other times he's probably out there actively looking for clues to items..."
After deciphering the above information, Douglas let out a long sigh, and inexplicably had the illusion that he was playing a puzzle game.
Well, it's a puzzle game that's not difficult, but the mortality rate might be high…
He thought about it, borrowed the pen from the front desk, and quickly wrote a line of words on the back of the letter paper. Then he folded it in half and put it back into the envelope, making sure that he could see the handwriting at first glance when he opened the envelope and took out the paper.
After putting the envelope away, Douglas looked at the wall clock in the hall and found that he still had plenty of time. He simply lay down on the sofa in the hall and rested for a while. He felt that the plan was going exceptionally smoothly.
"In this case, I don't have to go get the entrusted items for the time being. It's dangerous to carry them with me. I'll wait until I have reached an agreement with the other party before getting them... Well, the subsequent troubles will have to be solved by Friedman Miller and the organization behind him. Otherwise, due to information asymmetry, if I hand over the items and Ford is still chasing me, I will suffer a huge loss."
"Well, the balance... I have to extort some money to cover the medical expenses and rent... Douglas can make money as a bounty hunter, but I may not be able to. I don't know how to fight or track, so my future income will be worrying..."
"How about retiring after this job and joining Harvest Church?"
"Alas, I always feel that the future is bleak..."
He yawned and gradually began to feel sleepy, but he didn't dare to fall asleep here. He turned over, went to the bathroom to wash his face, cleaned up his traces, and walked back into the night.