45: Chapter 45 Lockers

The storage locker was at the very end of the third side alley, turning left from the end of the main corridor.

This side alley was narrower than the others, and the phosphorescent stone wall lamps on both sides were much dimmer. Only the one at the end was still lit, its cold white halo barely illuminating the rusty copper label on the locker door.

The label was engraved with "A-3".

Lu Li stood before the locker door and took out the silver snake emblem pendant from his inner pocket.

The inscription on the back of the pendant shimmered with a faint, dark silver luster under the phosphorescent light. He pressed the pendant against the locker door, and the spiritual lock mechanism inside emitted a subtle click—not the sound of physical springs, but a confirmation on a spiritual level.

Once the snake emblem on the pendant aligned with the seal mark inside the locker door, the door automatically popped open a crack.

There were no potion ingredients in the locker. There was only a letter.

The envelope was made of ordinary kraft paper, with no wax seal or sealing runes at the opening; it was merely folded twice.

Lu Li opened the envelope and pulled out the letter inside. The paper was thin, and the folds were already fraying. The handwriting was identical to the note he had seen at Abraham's—the hook at the end of the strokes was distinctly curved, and the pen pressure was heavy, characteristic of the engraving craftsmen from the collateral branch of the Antigonus Family.

"Mr. Lu Li: It is regrettable that I cannot speak with you in person. You have chased from Tingen to Backlund, from the pendant to the brooch; you have found both halves of the token. The snake emblem token is a debt certificate left behind by Roselle Gustav himself. You have seen the content revealed after the two halves of the token are combined—jiaowei, to be opened with blood on the night of the full moon. This is the condition for repaying the debt. Roselle mortgaged the Sequence 2 Angel advancement qualification of the Door Pathway with his right index finger in exchange for permission to enter the fifth epoch from the end of the fourth epoch. He tried to redeem this finger in his later years, but failed. A debt does not disappear because the debtor dies. As the current manager of this debt, I have been preparing to repay it for the past few years—collecting potion ingredients, researching encryption technology, and tracking the whereabouts of jiaowei. However, after the incident at The Dark Channel, I realized that repaying the debt requires more than just these things; it requires someone who can truly get close to jiaowei. You have the status of a Nighthawk, the resources of the Tingen team, the trust of Old Neil, and the acting needs of the Marauder Pathway. You are more suitable than anyone else to complete this task. Both halves of the token are now in your hands. Once the brooch and pendant are combined, they form the complete snake emblem, and the person holding the snake emblem is the legal successor of the debt. You can choose to inherit this debt, or you can choose to destroy the token and let it disappear forever. If you choose to inherit, jiaowei will tell you the next step on the night of the full moon. If you choose to destroy it, you only need to immerse the token in holy water. Regardless of which you choose, I will not interfere. The materials have been temporarily stored elsewhere; after you make your choice, if you need them, they will appear in the storage locker."

There was no name at the signature line, only a simple sketch of a snake-shaped ring. It was identical to the snake emblem on the paper crane's eyes.

Lu Li folded the letter back up, returned it to the envelope, and tucked the envelope into his inner pocket. He stood before the locker door for a moment, then closed it. The door locked automatically, and the "A-3" on the copper label shimmered with a cold white light under the phosphorescent stone.

After exiting the Underground Commercial Street, the sky had already darkened.

On the way back to his apartment, Lu Li reorganized the contents of the letter in his mind. The client knew his real name, knew he was a Nighthawk, and knew every step of his pursuit from Tingen to Backlund.

This was not a threat; it was an invitation.

The other party had handed the token and the activation method for jiaowei entirely into his hands, effectively pushing this debt that had remained unpaid for hundreds of years, along with the interest, right in front of him.

He recalled what Old Eye had said in the old bookstore—Roselle had traded a finger for the permission to walk out, but he had never returned to fulfill the other half of the transaction.

That finger had been held by the Snake of Fate for so many years; the interest on a spiritual level alone had likely accumulated to a terrifying extent. He needed to return to Tingen as soon as possible to discuss the specific details of this debt with Old Neil.

The next morning, he went to the diocese headquarters to retrieve jiaowei.

Mr. Moran was already waiting at the door of the warehouse, holding a register and a transfer confirmation form for a Sealed Artifact.

"The expedited approval was officially passed yesterday. The transfer of jiaowei is valid for thirty days, starting from today. There are twelve days left until the full moon. There is plenty of time. You can take it once you sign."

Lu Li signed the confirmation form.

Mr. Moran used a key to open temporary storage locker D-7 and moved the small lead-lined sealed box out onto the table.

The box was not large, but it felt much heavier in his hand than it looked. Micro-insulation runes were engraved on the outer shell of the box, the rune patterns shimmering with a dark silver luster under the light.

He packed the box along with Old Neil's backup copper whistle into his luggage and boarded the steam train back to Tingen that afternoon.

When he arrived in Tingen in the evening, the gas street lamps on Zoutland Street had not yet lit up. The sky was dark, and the street lamps cast hazy, yellowish halos of light in the thin fog. Lu Li went straight to the Potion Room.

Old Neil was sitting in front of the workbench, with the mold root temperature decay data sheet spread out before him. He looked up when he heard footsteps. "Did you bring back jiaowei?"

"I brought it back." Lu Li placed the lead-lined sealed box on the workbench and then took the letter from his inner pocket and placed it beside the box. "There were no potion ingredients in the storage locker, only this letter."

Old Neil read the letter from beginning to end, then took off his gloves and leaned back in his chair. He remained silent for longer than usual.

"He claims to be the current manager of Roselle's debt, knows your real name and your status as a Nighthawk, and also knows that both halves of the token are now in your hands."

"He suggests that you inherit the debt, but leaves you the option to destroy the token. The wording of this letter is very polite from beginning to end, with no urging or threats—it is merely stating facts and options. He does not need to urge you. Because jiaowei is already in your hands, the full moon is twelve days away, and all the conditions have been met. Regardless of whether you choose to inherit or destroy it, he has already fulfilled his final duty as the manager."

"What does he mean by 'to be opened with blood'? Whose blood? Open what? The letter only says that jiaowei will tell me the next step on the night of the full moon, but the detail of 'to be opened with blood' in the activation conditions is not explained."

Old Neil stood up from his chair, walked to the cast-iron safe in the corner of the Potion Room, and turned the combination lock to open the door.

He took out the lead-lined tray from inside, which held two items: the silver snake key and the evidence bag containing the brooch and the pendant. He opened the evidence bag and pieced the two halves of the token together on the workbench.

The pendant was a convex arc, and the brooch was a concave arc; when joined together, they formed a perfect, complete snake-shaped ring.

"On the night of the full moon, after jiaowei is activated, it should reveal specific guidance for the next step. Do not attempt to activate it with blood on your own before then. The type of blood, the amount, and the method of activation are not written in the letter; if these details are wrong, it might trigger the default clauses of the debt."

Lu Li folded the letter back up and returned it to the envelope. "Alright. I'll wait for the full moon."

He stored the lead-lined sealed box in the Potion Room's safe, placing it side-by-side with the silver snake key.

On the handle of the key, the garnet flashed a faint, dark red halo at the very last moment before the safe door closed, then returned to silence.

Over the next few days, he ran back and forth between the Potion Room and the Backup Team's patrols. The temperature decay data for the mold root system continued to drop, and the temperature at the center of the concentric circles finally stabilized at a normal level.

While re-examining Iron Cross Street, Leonard hummed an out-of-tune Loen folk song; Daly was re-numbering the evidence from the Hoy secret room in the archives; and the telegraph machine in Dunn's office occasionally sounded, mostly with transfer receipts for jiaowei sent from the Backlund diocese headquarters. Days in Tingen returned to a brief period of calm.

The day of the full moon arrived quickly.

That evening, Lu Li took the lead-lined sealed box out of the safe and walked into the Potion Room with Old Neil.

Old Neil locked all the doors and windows, pulled the blackout curtains, and opened the sealed box. jiaowei lay quietly on the lead base; the orange-red fire inside the furnace glowed brighter than before after the seal talisman was unbound.

Old Neil took the last copper key from the drawer and placed it on the table.

"After activating jiaowei with blood, no matter what it shows, do not rush to make a decision. Come back and discuss it with me." He took off his deerskin gloves, picked up his staff, and walked toward the door.

He paused at the door without looking back. "The deal Roselle made back then, trading his right index finger for the permission to walk out, and he never returned to fulfill the other half. That finger has been in the hands of the Snake of Fate for so many years; the interest on a spiritual level alone has likely accumulated to a terrifying number."

Lu Li did not answer. He took jiaowei out of the sealed box, placed it on the workbench, and then turned off all the lights in the Potion Room.