35: Chapter 35 Departure

The departure time was set for the last Thursday of November.

The evening before, Lu Li organized the few personal items in his dormitory.

He folded his spare shirts and placed them into his suitcase, tucked the portable copper bottle of holy water and anti-contamination gloves issued by the Potion Room into the layers of the shirts, and shoved the frayed Outline of Loen's Modern History into the side pocket—he hesitated for a moment, but decided to bring it along anyway.

The printing Error on page thirty-seven was a known puzzle in Tingen, but perhaps a new solution could be found in Backlund.

Locked in the suitcase's inner compartment were the three most important items: Old Neil's letter of recommendation, the application for access to the Backlund Beyonder material market, and a steam train ticket from Tingen to Backlund.

Rozanne had booked the ticket for him—a second-class seat by the window. Rozanne said that second-class wasn't much more expensive than third-class, but the seats were spacious and suitable for long-distance travel.

Klein was waiting for him in the lounge. On the coffee table sat two cups of freshly brewed black tea, a plate of digestive biscuits, and a small package wrapped in oil paper.

"Something to eat on the road. Sandwiches and two bottles of lemonade." Klein pushed the package over.

"The eating habits in Backlund are quite different from Tingen. There are a few decent Intis-style restaurants in the East Borough, but if you are staying near the diocesan headquarters, you might not get used to the food."

Lu Li took the package and placed it into the mesh pocket on the outside of his suitcase. "Have you stayed in Backlund?"

"No. But Rozanne has been there. She said the food in Backlund is better than in Tingen, just twice as expensive."

Klein picked up his teacup and took a sip. "I asked her to help me inquire about the rules of the Backlund Beyonder material market. She said the market is divided into two layers—the ground level is the official channel, which requires a church access permit to enter; the underground level is the black market, which doesn't require a permit, but the proportion of counterfeit goods is very high."

"Similar to Tingen."

"It's much larger than Tingen. The black market in Backlund is said to occupy the entire Underground Commercial Street, with dozens of permanent shops and even more mobile stalls. The variety of Beyonder materials is more complete than in Tingen, but the prices are also higher—especially for items related to fire-attribute Sealed Artifacts. Ever since jiaowei was transferred to Backlund, the demand for fire-attribute materials there has surged, and prices have risen by nearly half."

"Is jiaowei's influence that widespread?"

"A Grade 3 Sealed Artifact is considered a rarity in Tingen, but not in Backlund. However, jiaowei is one of the few fire-attribute Sealed Artifacts that can stably provide Spirit Fire."

"Beyonders of the Artisan Pathway and Apothecary Pathway are highly dependent on it. Old Coppersmith was upset for a long time after hearing that jiaowei had been transferred—he said that without jiaowei, his Alchemical Fire would have to be supplied manually, which would significantly lower his efficiency."

Lu Li took this to heart. The greater the demand for jiaowei in Backlund, the fiercer the competition for its transfer application would be.

Old Neil's letter of recommendation could help him open the warehouse door, but it wouldn't necessarily allow him to get his hands on the fire—the approval process was merely the threshold for entry; to actually use jiaowei, he would still have to wait in line.

"After arriving in Backlund, I will first report to the diocesan headquarters and submit the recommendation letter and access application. Once the approval process begins, I will head to the underground market to look for the main materials." He placed the teacup back on the coffee table.

"The two main materials for the Sequence 7: Swindler—the pituitary extract of an adult Transformation Lizard and the hyoid bone powder of a Deceiver—are you confident about finding them in the black market?"

"The pituitary extract shouldn't be a problem. The Transformation Lizard is a common potion material for the Marauder Pathway, and there are at least two permanent shops in the Backlund black market that specialize in this business."

"The hyoid bone powder is quite niche, so I might need some luck. If I really can't find it, I'll have to go through official channels to apply for a transfer from the church—if that happens, the approval time will be extended by another two to three weeks."

Klein pulled a paper figurine from his sleeve and placed it on the coffee table. "If you encounter trouble in Backlund, activate the paper figurine. The perception above the gray fog is not limited by distance, so I will be able to receive the signal."

Lu Li put the paper figurine into his pocket. "I will."

In the evening, Lu Li walked alone on Zoutland Street. This was his last patrol before departure—not to investigate a case, but just to walk through the streets of the city he had traveled through for more than half a year one more time.

The gas street lamps on Iron Cross Street had all been fitted with new lamp shades, which gleamed with a brand-new copper-yellow luster in the twilight.

Hanging on the iron fence at the back door of the Pumping Station was the sealed talisman that he and Klein had replaced with their own hands; the sealing wax on the edges of the talisman was intact, without any signs of being melted.

He stopped in front of the last stall in the East Borough second-hand market. The owner, who sold old books, was hanging a string of copper bells on the shed's support frame. Seeing him walk over, the owner grinned.

"Long time no see. Are you still reading that Outline of Loen's Modern History from last time?"

"Still reading it." Lu Li squatted down and flipped through a few old books that had just been collected at the stall that day.

On the cover of one of them was the serpentine emblem of the Antigonus Family—it wasn't the real deal, but a decorative pattern imitated by later generations; the ink was too fresh, and the edges of the paper lacked the brownish-yellow oxidation marks characteristic of fourth epoch documents.

"This is a replica." He placed the book back on the stall.

"Of course it's a replica." The stall owner hung up the copper bells and wiped his hands with a rag. "The real ones are all locked in the Nighthawks' Sealed Artifact vault now. But this replica is quite well-made—look at the Hermes script on the title page; the font is exactly the same as the original. The person who forged it must have seen the real thing."

Lu Li picked up the book again and turned to the title page. Printed on the title page was a line of Hermes script—"The Ring of the Serpent, the Key of the Blood; when the moon is full, the Door shall open."

The font was indeed the unique style with the upward-curving hooks at the end of the strokes found in the Antigonus notebook; the forger's penmanship was very precise.

"Where did you get this book?"

"Backlund. It was tucked inside some old books that a retired church scribe brought with him when he moved to Tingen. He said this book had been on his bookshelf for at least twenty years and had never been opened."

Backlund. It was Backlund again.

Lu Li bought the book. Five pence, even cheaper than the Outline of Loen's Modern History from last time. As the stall owner took the money, he asked casually, "Are you going to Backlund?"

"Leaving tomorrow."

"The second-hand book market in Backlund is much larger than in Tingen. If you are looking for any rare editions, go to the River Bay District and find a second-hand bookstore called 'Old Eye'. The owner is a retired Beyonder who specializes in replicas of fourth epoch documents. Even the church's Appraiser can't tell the difference with the things he forges."

The stall owner flicked the copper bells, producing a low and lingering hum. "But don't tell him I recommended you—he owes me an appraisal fee that he's been dodging for three years."

Lu Li put the replica notebook and the stall owner's warning into his backpack, turned around, and walked back to the Blackthorn Security Company.

The twilight sank into the depths of Tingen's alleyways behind him, and the gas street lamps bloomed into blurry halos of light in the thin mist.

On the morning of the departure, the sky had not yet fully brightened. The platform at Tingen train station was filled with a white fog mixed with coal smoke and steam. The chimney of the steam train's engine was puffing out thick plumes of smoke, which scattered into fine black particles in the morning breeze, landing on the stone platform.

Lu Li placed his suitcase at his feet and stood on the platform waiting for ticket inspection.

Klein stood beside him and handed him a file bag sealed with oil paper. "The list of contacts and addresses for the Backlund diocesan headquarters. The first is Mr. Moran, the administrator of the Sealed Artifact warehouse, and the second is Ms. Stewart from the Beyonder material procurement department. Old Neil said Mr. Moran has a gentle temper but works extremely slowly, so you will need patience when dealing with him."

Lu Li took the file bag and placed it into the inner compartment of his suitcase. "Understood."

"One more thing." Klein pulled out the paper figurine he had been carrying with him and placed it in Lu Li's palm.

"This paper figurine is a pair with the one I gave you earlier. If you activate yours, mine will heat up simultaneously. No matter how far away, it can be sensed above the gray fog. Backlund is not as safe as Tingen; if you encounter something you cannot handle—activate the paper figurine."

Lu Li clutched the paper figurine in his palm, feeling a faint, subtle warmth from Klein's spirituality on the surface of the paper. He carefully tucked the paper figurine into his inner pocket, placing it next to Old Neil's letter of recommendation.

"Keep an eye on the mold inspections here in Tingen. Don't forget the Backup Team's routine checks every two weeks."

"I won't forget. Leonard said that before his next patrol, he would stick a note on the door of the Pumping Station that says 'No Mold Allowed'."

The steam train's whistle gave a long, echoing blast. Lu Li picked up his suitcase and turned toward the train door. The ticket inspector took his ticket, glanced at it, and used a puncher to make a small semicircular hole on the edge of the ticket.

He found his second-class seat by the window and sat down, placing his suitcase on the overhead luggage rack. Through the train window, he could still see Klein's dark gray trench coat on the platform, walking along the edge toward the exit at a steady pace.

The train slowly started to move. Outside the window, Tingen City gradually shrank in the morning mist—the iron-gray roofs of Zoutland Street, the spires of Saint Selena Cathedral, and that towering gas lamp post on Iron Cross Street all slid past the edge of the train window one by one.

Finally, there was the chimney of the abandoned Textile Factory standing silently in the northwest corner of the city. Its gray-black brick exterior looked particularly dilapidated in the morning light. The layer of dark green mold on top of the chimney had been cleaned off, but in the gaps between the bricks, there remained a few extremely thin, almost invisible gray-white traces of root systems.

Lu Li withdrew his gaze and took out the paper figurine Klein had given him from his inner pocket, placing it on his knee. The paper figurine lay quietly in his palm without any abnormal reaction.

He put it away again, took out the replica Antigonus notebook he had bought at the second-hand stall from his suitcase on the luggage rack, and turned to the title page.

That line of Hermes script appeared exceptionally clear in the morning light filtering through the train window—"The Ring of the Serpent, the Key of the Blood; when the moon is full, the Door shall open." The forger's penmanship was indeed extremely precise; the upward-curving hooks at the end of every letter were identical to the original.

However, the layout of this line of text had a subtle difference from the photos of the original fragments he had seen in the Tingen archives: the spacing between the letters in the original was perfectly equal, and the distance between each letter was as precise as if it had been measured with a ruler.

But the letter spacing in this replica was manually typeset—tighter in some places, looser in others. The uneven spacing itself was not abnormal; what was abnormal were those loose spots, each of which happened to appear in the latter part of the line of text, as if the typesetter's fingers had hesitated when reaching that point.

He closed the replica notebook, put it back into the suitcase, and looked out the train window at the wilderness of the Loen Kingdom that was rapidly receding.

The silhouette of Backlund faintly emerged on the horizon, where steam and morning mist were intertwined. The train was speeding along the tracks toward that vast battlefield, wrapped in layers of fog and mystery.