[282 Once bitten by a snake, afraid of the rope for ten years]

Theodore is a used bookseller.

Because it was passed down from generation to generation, when he was about twelve years old, he began to help his father manage a bookstore called Tulip, and then worked in this business for 30 years. is a little famous.

In addition to buying and selling second-hand books, he also collects some unique or interesting books, which is his personal hobby.

In other words, everyone who runs a bookstore has more or less special feelings for books.

However, it was this common hobby that got him into a lot of trouble…

Theodore had no way of judging how big the trouble was, but he vaguely understood that there was a high probability that a bookseller could not solve it by himself.

Even if he has some friendship with some real power nobles in the central district because of some out-of-print precious books, it is of no use at all.

Because things have gone beyond what can be expected, and rushed in a direction unknown to ordinary people…

Theodore received the book from a downtown smuggler.

It is strictly forbidden to travel between the upper and lower urban areas. The only channel is underground in the central area. It is guarded by Rolle Resources and the Central Army. In theory, there is no such thing as smuggling, and I don’t know where the other party came from. way.

The guy’s tone was very tight, and he refused to say anything. Theodore naturally knew the rules and didn’t ask questions. Remember https://m. xswang.com

But there is no doubt that smuggling between upper and lower urban areas can bring huge benefits, not just books, but many more valuable things.

This book is just an incomprehensible and incomplete ancient book that the other party sold by the way.

It just so happened that Theodore was more interested in this special book, so after getting the news, he made a secret deal with the trustee and got the book.

But I don’t know which link went wrong, which led to the sudden leak of the news. The smuggler with a lot of background disappeared directly from the world after a few days, and there is no more news.

The middleman whom Theodore had asked for was also silent, and only left a sentence when he visited in a hurry a few days before his disappearance – “Don’t admit it!”

While Theodore was puzzled and wandering, things fell silent for a while.

He almost forgot, until… suddenly a guest came to ask about the book.

“I know from Julina, you have goods from the lower city, I’m very interested in these, can you show me?”

Julina is another middleman and long-term partner that Theodore knows, and the guests she introduces are very reliable and trustworthy.

Theodore didn’t take it to heart, thinking that no one had come to buy the things brought by the city for a long time, so he would bring the other party inside and show his collection.

But the words were all in his throat, and he suddenly remembered that the missing middleman stared at him like a trapped beast before he left.

“Don’t admit it!”

Theodore looked at the guest’s deeper and sincere eyes than ordinary people. Out of an instinctive intuition that did not know where it came from, he showed an embarrassed look without changing his face, saying that he had entrusted the missing person because he felt dangerous before. The middleman of ‘s turned everything out.

“I’m so sorry.”

Theodore said so.

The guest suddenly fell silent, stared at his face for more than half a minute, and then said softly, “That’s a pity.”

Then left.

Theodore breathed a sigh of relief subconsciously, only to find that his back was soaked with sweat, and he was glad that he remembered the warning.

But he was clearly too happy too soon.

After that, the whole thing really starts.

Every once in a while, some people will come to ask about the book in his hand, and there are also some obviously wrong guys among the guests he receives on a daily basis.

Theodore could sense that several of them were clearly malicious, but he seemed to have taken no further action out of fear he did not know.

He once heard one of the guests muttering to himself: “The bookstore? Isn’t it another one?”

Then the man looked at Theodore with an unpredictable guess in his eyes, as if he was thinking about whether he might be an alien creature, a very bizarre look.

Theodore seemed to understand something vaguely, that the so-called fear seems to be because of a certain bookstore, which made them have a little reverence for the “bookstore”.

I don’t know… what kind of bookstore is it that can make them avoid snakes and scorpions?

But this kind of fear did not last long. As more and more people came to visit, the eyes of those people were gradually no longer hidden, and their words became more and more oppressive.

Crisis came quietly.

Until one day, Theodore accidentally saw a guest who came to ask him about the books in his hand. After walking out of the Tulip Bookstore, he turned into an eagle at the corner!

That’s right, straight from a human to a bird!

And before the eagle flew away, he deliberately looked back at him, which was full of naked malice, no longer concealed.

Theodore immediately understood that this was a real big deal!

He has long heard that Nuojin also has some existences beyond mortals – “supernatural beings”, including those wizards, knights, elves, or dragons that appear in the legends that have been passed down to this day!

But he had never seen it before, so he took it as a joke after dinner.

But now, he really met!

And, it’s all about him.

This realization made his scalp tingle…

After being flustered for a while, Theodore finally calmed down, remembering the advertisement of Rolle Resources’ new commercial area between 23rd and 24th streets a while ago.

Thinking of the huge resources of Rolle, no matter what these extraordinary people are, it is impossible to start there, right?

Theodore was non-stop, at all costs, got the contract of one of the stores, and successfully relocated the store and most of the things in the store here as quickly as possible.

“I hope Rolle Resources can make them feel a little bit jealous… But what should I do if they still chase after them?”

Theodore could only smile bitterly.

What can he do as an ordinary person with no power?

“This book…what is it?”

Theodore looked at the book in his hand and couldn’t help but murmured this question that came from his heart but could not be answered and dared not ask.

He also secretly took it out and looked at it, but he couldn’t understand what was written on it at all.

It’s a book, but it’s actually more like a notebook. It’s all handwritten, and there are some incomprehensible hand-painted patterns. A lot of pages are incomplete and bloodstained.

In addition, the only few words that can be understood are also meaninglessly scattered all over the page, and the handwriting is very strange, as if a child who has just learned to copy a few words, and there are paintings next to them. There are a lot of suspected comments like things.

Theodore thought for a long time, and after repeated comparisons, he vaguely felt that the writing form of this book was very similar to—

Some sort of research note?