Chapter 13 Opportunity
"Used books? Yes... We mainly collect books here, but we can also rent and sell books."
Behind the counter, the alert clerk answered Dorothy's questions, and Dorothy continued to speak after listening.
"Excuse me, do you have these books here?" Dorothy took out a note from her pocket and handed it to the clerk behind the counter. The clerk frowned slightly after reading it.
"The fourth volume of The Radiant Gospel... the third volume of Rhetoric and Language... the third volume of Afu's Logic... the Basic Etiquette... the Geometry and Arithmetic... Hey, sir, you want a lot of books. I'm not sure if we have them all. How about this, you wait here and I'll go talk to the boss."
The counter clerk looked at Dorothy and answered, and Dorothy immediately agreed.
"Well, thank you for your help then."
Then Dorothy watched the waiter go up the stairs behind the counter to the second floor.
…
At this moment, on the second floor of the bookstore, a bald old man was standing in a dim secret room. In front of him was an altar made of bright red bones, with an ear and a mouth growing on the squirming flesh on the altar.
"So, you still didn't meet the mentor in the end?"
Facing the bloody altar, Clifford spoke solemnly, and then the mouth on the altar began to open, and Buck's voice came through.
"No, I visited my mentor's dream cocoon from the dream world, but the dream cocoon refused to open to me. I could not enter my mentor's dream and could not see him."
"Alas... Mentor's preparations for promotion are too cautious. It seems that it is impossible to count on Mentor for the time being." Clifford said with a sigh, and Buck also responded through the altar.
"Hmm... So we need to be more careful now. Since that mysterious society can't do anti-divination and all kinds of information are still unclear, let's not search for them directly in the city for the time being."
"So just ignore them?"
"It's not that we don't care... maybe we can use other channels to find them, such as the Security Bureau..." Buck continued. Listening to Buck's words, Clifford couldn't help but look puzzled.
"An Yin Bureau?"
"Yes, that association has twice taken the initiative to reveal our information to the Security Bureau. I suspect there is some connection between them and the Security Bureau that even our informants don't know about.
"Or to be more bold, James has already noticed the existence of the traitor, but he can't confirm who it is. The association was actually formed by James secretly applying to his superiors for additional personnel. They hid in Igwinter as other associations, bypassing Igwinter and conducting a separate search operation against us, thus bypassing our informant."
Buck continued to speak seriously and expressed his guess. After hearing his guess, Clifford was slightly stunned, and then said.
"You mean to say that the mysterious society is actually the incarnation of the Anyin Bureau?"
"That's right... Otherwise, why would that foreign society always target us without reason once it arrives in Igwinter? If it turns out to be a trick of the Security Bureau, then that makes sense!" Buck said in a matter-of-fact tone, and Cliff nodded thoughtfully.
"It seems that what you said makes sense. There are no scarce mysterious resources in a place like Igwinter that can attract other associations. If that is also the Security Bureau, it makes sense. But... since James has the ability to ask his superiors for more manpower, why doesn't he apply for one or two divination opportunities?"
"Hmph... It's not that easy to apply for divination. There are more than 80 cities in Pritt and more than 80 security bureaus. Each of them has its own difficult problems that need to be solved by divination. There are only a few divination resources in the city. I doubt that their headquarters even have enough for them. How much can be distributed to the lower levels? James has to compete with more than 80 colleagues. In comparison, applying for staff must be much more convenient..." Buck said with a cold snort. It seems that he has a good understanding of the Security Bureau.
"Indeed... that makes sense... Then, if that mysterious society is really an incarnation of the Security Bureau, how should we deal with it?" Clifford said seriously, and Buck also answered.
"Don't make any big moves for now, especially the search for that mysterious society has been temporarily stopped. On the other hand, we can find opportunities to deepen our erosion of the Igwinter Branch. If we can have more informants in the Security Bureau and eventually get in touch with James, then I believe we can also obtain a lot of intelligence about that mysterious society."
"Well... this is the only way for now, but where can I find such an opportunity..."
Clifford said thoughtfully, at this moment, a voice sounded outside the dark room.
"Mr. Clifford, may I ask?"
Hearing the noise outside, Clifford was startled, then he spoke to the altar.
"Okay, let's stop here for today..."
"Um."
As he spoke, Clifford knocked on the bright red altar, causing the mouth and ears on it to return to wriggling flesh and blood. Then he opened the mechanism, walked out of the dark room, closed the dark room, and spoke to the guy in front of him.
"What's the matter?"
"It's like this, Mr. Clifford. A customer downstairs wants a lot of old books, and I can't find them all. Please come and look for them yourself." The waiter responded immediately, and Clifford snorted coldly.
"Hmph...Looking for books again, what a hassle. I might as well just close this store. I haven't received any good stuff in a while anyway."
As he spoke, Clifford walked downstairs. When he walked to the counter on the first floor and wanted to see who was looking for a book, he paused.
At this moment, a young man and a young girl appeared in front of Colliford. The appearance of the young girl directly reminded him of some important information.
"White hair, red eyes... Could this be..."
"Excuse me, are you the owner of this store?" Dorothy asked as she looked at Clifford who seemed a little stunned. Clifford immediately responded.
"Ah, yes, yes, haha, I am the owner of this store. Excuse me, sir or madam, which one of you is looking for a book?" Clifford said directly with a smile, and Dorothy immediately raised her hand in response.
"It's me, sir. May I ask if you have these books?"
As she spoke, Dorothy handed the note to Clifford, who immediately began to read it.
"The fourth volume of The Radiant Gospel... the third volume of Afu's Logic... Rhetoric and Language... ah... they are all books related to middle school courses. This lady really loves learning, which is commendable. It happens that I have all the books you want. Please wait a moment, I will find them for you. This may take some time, so please sit still."
As he spoke, Clifford looked at the guy next to him and then said.
"Danny, serve the two guests some tea..."
"Black tea... I understand, sir."
As he spoke, Clifford walked towards the long bookshelf and began to look for a book on the shelf, while the waiter next to him ran upstairs and started pouring tea on a coffee table.
After filling two teacups with black tea, the waiter thought about the codeword he had received before, then went to a cabinet, opened a drawer, and took out a glass bottle filled with bright red viscous liquid.
Then, the waiter returned to the tea table, poured a drop of liquid into each of the teacups on the table, put them on a plate, and walked down the stairs carefully.
Walking to the counter, the waiter put the plate with two cups of black tea on the counter and then said.
"It will take some time for the boss to find the book. Please have some tea here and wait for a while, sir."
While the waiter was talking, Clifford, who was looking for a book among the bookshelves not far away, was inadvertently observing the brother and sister who had their backs to him in front of the counter with the corner of his eyes.
"I didn't expect this opportunity to come so soon..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com