"Do we need to do anything about those giant trees?"
Megan asked Shade, and Shade shook his head:
"Continue to concentrate on preparing for the battle with the Watchers. Our manpower is far inferior to that of the Five Gods Church. We cannot be distracted from other things."
The big witches have received the letter left by Speaker Isabella in the parliament this morning. She has arrived at the sacrificial site on the top of the mountain and met Sister Devlin. The nun herself was not in trouble, just [Spirit]
The Cultist Group] encountered some minor troubles, but they will definitely be able to reach the Vista Grove within three days.
The witches continued their respective tasks, while Shade went into the city alone to the old city of Vista City to explore the used bookstore that the doctor mentioned yesterday.
The sky in the city has been gloomy since the morning, and maybe the first snow this winter will come tonight. Shade followed the address given by the doctor and wandered the empty old streets while thinking about his time in the past.
I have seen the scenery of Ximu Town several times, while thinking about how this journey to pursue the Rhodes Cards will have an impact on the story of Vista City.
The "Berkeley Bookstore" sign is as inconspicuous as the storefront. It is perfectly integrated with the street. If you don't look for it carefully, you may not even glance at it even if you pass by it dozens of times. It seems to be more beautiful than the one on this street.
It is older than any other store, but it still insists on opening its doors in an era when only one-third of the stores on the entire street are still open.
Even in the old town of Ximu Town, this place is considered a relatively remote place. When Shade opened the door and entered, the sound of a bell at the door made the old man behind the counter in the back of the store look at him.
There were no other customers in the used bookstore, but at least the inside of the store was clean, the floor was tidy, and the bookshelves were evenly arranged, which was in sharp contrast to "Old John's Pawn Shop" where everything was scattered everywhere.
"Old John said they don't have a stronghold in Vista City."
Shade reminded himself in his mind, nodded to the old man and walked directly to the counter.
The owner of the shop is probably the "Berkeley" on the sign. He wears a very obvious wig and looks about the same age as Priest Augustus. The old man wears glasses and looks very curious about the handsome young man from the North.
How could I walk into my store on such a gloomy Saturday morning?
After Xia De confirmed that the other party was just an ordinary person, he did not beat around the bush:
"I'm here because of an invitation."
He said that although it is important to collect a complete set of Wanxiang Impermanence cards, too much time cannot be wasted nowadays.
Shade's frankness caused the old man behind the counter to be astonished:
"Sorry, invitation? This is a store selling used books. Young man, are you in the wrong place?"
Since the doctor was only worried that this matter was a trap by the devil and did not doubt the authenticity of the invitation, Shade was sure that he had gone to the right place:
"I came here for an invitation, and someone told me I could find that invitation here."
He looked into the old man's eyes:
"You can ask for the price, I'm willing to pay the amount you said."
"Young man, please stop joking here. I really don't know what invitation you are talking about. I have opened a shop here for thirty years, and you are the first person to buy an invitation from me."
The old man still shook his head, and Shade would not insist. He just stood there and looked at him. The old man who was reading the newspaper couldn't stand it anymore, so he had to say again:
"Can you tell me what specific invitation you want? Although I don't have one, I might have heard of it."
"An invitation to a secret gathering."
"That doesn't sound like something legal. What are you doing there?"
"Looking for something."
"Is it important?"
"It's very important. Apart from the girl, cat and a few friends around me, this is the most important thing in my life."
Despite Shade's attitude, the old man behind the counter still did not speak. He picked up the newspaper and continued reading, but he could feel the eyes behind the newspaper staring at him.
After ten full minutes, he finally sighed:
"Since you can find me, even if I continue to say that I don't have an invitation letter, you probably won't believe it. I don't know who you are, but if you want to get an invitation letter from me, please do one thing for me.
This is not a simple matter, I am getting older and I can’t wait any longer.”
"Sure, what needs to be done? I hope it's not a long-term thing."
"It's not a long-term thing. If you are fast enough, I think you can finish it today. I want you to help me find someone and bring her to this bookstore. I will give you the invitation letter."
The old man took off his reading glasses and took out a rusty-looking pocket watch from his pocket. Even though the pocket watch had been carefully maintained, Shade could still tell that it was a very old item.
There is a very faded black and white photo embedded inside the pocket watch cover, and the photo is of a girl who looks to be about eighteen years old.
Although Shade didn't know when the photo was taken, judging from the degree of fading, the young girl in the photo was now forty or fifty years old. However, Shade always felt that he had seen this girl somewhere.
The old man did not give the pocket watch and the photo to Shade, but just asked him to look at it carefully:
"Bring her to my bookstore, but don't force her to come here voluntarily. When she appears, I will tell you where I hid the invitation in the woods."
"Although I guess the invitation is in your bedroom on the second floor of the bookstore, I will accept the commission."
Shade asked again:
"Although Vista City is indeed small compared to Willondale City, and its population is not large, it is not easy to find someone in this city who has only seen photos. Do you have any clues?
?”
The old man nodded:
"She should be a flower girl now. No, no, don't get me wrong, she is not the kind of girl who stands at the alley saying she is selling flowers, but in fact she is selling her body. She is really a flower girl."
"Is she a flower shop merchant or an employee of the flower shop?"
"No, they are the kind of flower girls who carry baskets and sell flowers on the street. They are especially common near the Golden Concert Hall at night."
Shade was a little confused:
"But aren't all the flower girls under the age of sixteen? Even if there are a few girls who are eighteen or twenty years old, the lady in the photo in your hand must have been overage for a long time, right?"
"
Although what Sha De said was still straightforward, the old man behind the counter was not angry at all:
"No, she is the flower girl. Go and bring her for me, and then I will give you the invitation. Otherwise, even if I die, I will not let you find the invitation."
Shade waved his hand:
"Don't say such things. Do I look like a bad person? But don't find out that you are really dead when I lead people over."
The old man behind the counter laughed instead:
"I won't die before seeing her, absolutely not. After all, I have been waiting for her here for thirty years."
If you want to find someone out of thin air, besides relying on your own luck, the best way is to ask a fortune teller for help. Even though Luvia always says that "divination is not everything", judging from her performance
, Shade has actually always believed that although divination is not omnipotent, Luvia's divination is.
Of course, this time Shade didn't think he needed to ask Luvia or Bella for help, because he remembered why the eighteen-year-old girl in the photo just now seemed familiar to him.
Just now, when the old man in the second-hand bookstore mentioned "the flower girls who often appear near the golden music hall at night", he suddenly remembered it. After meeting the devil this Tuesday night, before bumping into Mr. Sean Asmon, he bought
The nine roses I ordered have not yet been sent out.
The girl selling flowers who seemed to be frightened by him at that time looked very similar to the girl in the old man's pocket watch, although they were different in age.
Regardless of the relationship between the girl and the girl the old man is looking for, this is a very important clue.
Although he failed to get the photo in the old man's hand, Shade returned to the hotel after leaving the second-hand bookstore. After finding Dorothy, he used the thaumaturgy of the Moon Library to reveal the flower seller on Tuesday night.
The girl's appearance, and then asked Dorothy to help imprint the image on the photo using thaumaturgy.
"Are you going to take this photo and go to the city center to find someone to look around?"
The writer lady who was writing a manuscript in the ship's library just now to avoid being blocked by editors when she returned to Tobesk asked suspiciously. Shade nodded:
"Yes, the local girls selling flowers on the street must all know each other. Even if the girl I'm looking for doesn't come out today, someone must know her address."
Dorothy sighed. She was now sitting sideways on a chair talking to Shade, and the table was piled with books of all kinds. The "Glory Messenger" has complete facilities inside, although the library is not as large as the St. Byrons Library.
, but the internal collection of books is not much better than that of city libraries, which is very convenient for writers who need to find information:
"Xia De, aren't you afraid that the police will arrest you as a pervert with ulterior motives?"
Shade thought about this possibility:
"I can pretend to be a private detective. I mean, I am a private detective. I am looking for that girl to investigate something, so I want to find her. If there is really a police inquiry, can't I just put some money in it?"
It's not that he doesn't believe in the professional ethics of the local police, he just believes more in Carson's strength.
Dorothy then asked someone to call Agelina, who was helping Granny Cassandra:
"Agelina, I have a mission for you."
Dorothy handed the newly "printed" photo to Agelina and explained the whole story:
"You go to the city center and find her, whether you find her address or current location."