Chapter 18 Pawn
Daytime in Igwynted, Lower Town, White Pearl Street.
Although White Pearl Street sounds like a street dedicated to selling luxury jewelry, it is not the case as it is located in downtown.
White Pearl Street is a street full of old-fashioned atmosphere, with all kinds of second-hand shops, antique shops, treasure appraisal shops, scrap shops, and pawn shops. The citizens of Igwinter usually pawn any unwanted but valuable items here in exchange for some cash. Some people who think they have good vision come here to shop, hoping to find something good and get rich overnight.
White Pearl Street didn't have a very good reputation in Eaglewind. Not only was there a lot of idlers wandering around here, dreaming of finding treasure and getting rich overnight, but also because of the nature of this place, it was often closely connected with gangs.
There are many people who are in dire straits who have pledged all their property here for a temporary cash. In order to prevent the mortgagor from cheating, many shops are backed by gangs.
The gangs, the gatherings of the rallyists, the gatherings of the gold diggers, the prevalence of the mortgage industry, all of which gave rise to the rampant high-loan industry on White Pearl Street, bankrupting countless families, and silent violence surging beneath the quiet streets.
Dorothy was standing on the side of the street at this moment. She was wearing a plain white dress, her long white hair was tied up, she had a big hat on her head, and she was holding a small bag in her hand, silently observing the street scene in front of her.
There were only a few pedestrians on the gloomy street. The shop windows and signs were covered with dust. Many shop windows were filled with all kinds of old crafts, vases, pottery basins, gold and silver jewelry, and a bunch of structures that were hard to tell what they were. Some shops had no signs at all, and the doors were closed. People could only enter through a small door on the side. Some set up stalls directly on the sidewalk, selling some strange and weird gadgets. The pedestrians either had gloomy faces or shifty eyes. The number of homeless people was twice that of other streets in the downtown area.
After taking a quick look at the street scene in front of her, Dorothy frowned slightly and thought to herself.
"The atmosphere on the whole street is a bit weird... It feels like everyone is acting sneaky, like they are hiding some secret... How can we find the trace of the Holy Communion..."
Dorothy thought somewhat helplessly that according to the intelligence she had obtained at No. 22 Elm West Lane, there should be a Holy Communion base hidden in this street. Dorothy wanted to find it but didn't know how to start for a moment.
After finishing a week's worth of courses in half a day, Dorothy immediately asked Aldridge for another week's leave. From then on, after saying goodbye to Greg and leaving school every morning, she would come here by car and devote herself to the anti-cult cause.
After spending a lot of money from Aldridge, Dorothy felt deeply poor. After thinking it over, she decided that it would be faster to continue hunting the members of the Holy Communion, so she thought about finding the stronghold on this street.
But this is not easy, because Dorothy is not unable to find anyone with problems on this street, but she feels that everyone on this street has problems!
Dorothy had been searching this street full of sneaky people for three days using various small animal puppets. During this time, she had followed several suspicious guys with the puppets, but they turned out to be either gamblers who had lost money and were planning to borrow money from somewhere, or loan sharks. For three consecutive days, Dorothy had not found any clues about the Holy Communion.
"Huh... I really have no clue at all..."
Standing on the street, Dorothy let out a long sigh and said that because she was feeling depressed at the moment, she chose to leave White Pearl Street first and found a random cafe to drink high-sugar coffee.
Sitting on the table, Dorothy drank coffee while thinking about how to find the Holy Communion. When she ran out of ideas, she picked up a newspaper on the table and began to read it to calm her mood.
As soon as Dorothy opened the newspaper, she saw a big headline: News.
"There is still no clue in the case of Burton Weir. The Igwent police are being questioned. Social commentator Mr. Stan is worried that the unsolved case will breed panic among the citizens."
"My goodness... the heat of this case has not yet subsided... It's been a few days and the newspapers are still reporting it. Don't you have other news?" Looking at the newspaper in her hand, Dorothy complained in her heart.
At this moment, Dorothy's eyes suddenly lit up as if she had thought of something.
"Hiss... maybe... I can use it for a little bit..."
As she thought about it, Dorothy opened her bag, rummaged around in it for a while, and took out a worn pocket watch.
Dorothy opened the pocket watch and saw a word engraved on the inside of the cover.
"Burton Weir."
This was what Dorothy got when she was looting at the Burtons' house. In addition to cash and legends, Dorothy also took some miscellaneous items that looked valuable, such as this pocket watch, which Dorothy found in the drawer of her desk. Originally, Dorothy thought that she could pawn them for some money when she had the chance, but she thought it was a bit too ostentatious so she never did it.
"It seems like now... I can show off a little bit..."
Looking at the pocket watch in her hand, Dorothy thought so in her heart.
…
Noon: Eaglewind, downtown, White Pearl Street.
There are numerous pawnshops on White Pearl Street where opportunists gather. In order to satisfy some people's desire for money as much as possible, these pawnshops, in addition to doing pawn business, are often also high-lenders. They are backed by gangs, squeezing money from the lower-class people in society who cannot control their desires, and engaging in gray business.
This is exactly the case with Corey. The Corey Pawn Shop he opened was quite large on White Pearl Street. Due to its abundant funds and quick withdrawal of money, many desperate people came to him to pawn their things or borrow money.
Unlike some other street vendors, for him, high-quality loan making, which makes money the fastest, is his main business, and the pawn business is just a facade.
In Corey's Pawn Shop, Corey, a middle-aged man of medium build, bald head, wearing a shirt and trousers, was sitting behind the counter, smoking a cigarette while looking at the bills in his hand, examining the amount currently owed by his customers one by one. Next to him stood a sturdy clerk.
"Humph... Has that poor fellow Tang En already made 12 pounds? He still hasn't made any move yet, so I'm afraid he can't pay back the money he lost in the bet. I guess I have to urge him a little. I hope he can voluntarily go into the mine. I don't want to take any more fingers.
"Brooke... please find out about Tang En's current situation. If not, we will organize someone to go to his house in two days to collect the money."
"Yes, boss."
Looking at the unlucky guy whose reservation was on the bill, Corey snorted and said, and the waiter beside him opened the door and walked out of the store as ordered. Corey didn't care about anything and lowered his head to continue looking at the bill in his hand.
Not long after the waiter left, the sound of a door opening was heard in the house. Corey put down the bill in his hand and looked towards the door. Then he saw a man wearing a windbreaker and a hat, with a thick apron covering the lower half of his face, slowly walking into the store.
After entering the store, the man in the windbreaker glanced at the various exhibits displayed around him, then walked step by step to Corey's counter, took out an object from his pocket and placed it on the counter, and spoke in a cold tone.
"I want to pawn this thing. Name your price."
"Haha... So you are a guest. Please wait a moment..."
Looking at the scene in front of him, Corey narrowed his eyes, then he put on his glasses, picked up the thing on the counter and began to examine it, and found that it was a pocket watch.
Then, Corey took the pocket watch in his hand and began to observe it, thinking as he observed.
'From the outside, the workmanship is quite fine, the time is accurate, and it works normally. Although it is a bit old, it is generally well maintained... It is probably worth about 3 pounds...'
Although Corey thought so, what he said was actually another matter.
"Well... customer, your watch is badly worn out, and the dial is scratched. It's not going to sell well. I don't think it can be worth even 1 pound... wait, there's a scratch here. Maybe the scratch will reduce the price a little? No... this is..."
As he was talking, Corey finally found the engraving on the cover and began to examine it carefully. Later, he found that it was actually a name.
"Burton Weir...Burton Weir!?"
Suddenly, Corey thought of the name he had seen in the newspapers these days, the name of a gentleman who was killed in his own home along with all his servants. Corey's heart was shocked and he immediately looked up at the guest in front of him.
But what he saw was indeed a black hole muzzle pointing at him, and a pair of cold eyes.
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