Putting away the small piece of vine fragments, Xia De formally stepped into the cave on the second river bank stone wall he discovered.

The cave here is obviously different from the first one. After entering, what you see is a standard square space, and the stone walls are polished quite smooth. Displayed in the dark are painted mahogany desks, upholstered four-poster beds, large wardrobes with metal handles, special kerosene lamp brackets on the walls, and even hand-painted patterns on the glass lampshades of kerosene lamps.

The shelves look like wooden antiques, and the shelves are filled with various labeled utensils. On the bedside table, there is even a brass-colored bedside kerosene lamp in the shape of a lotus leaf, which is quite a high-end lamp in 1853:

"I found it, it seems to be here."

The dim sun outside the river was about to completely sink below the city, and the mist made it impossible to see everything on the river. Xia De didn't deal with the conspicuous hole, but stretched out his finger:

"Silver Moon."

After calling softly, the moonlight at the fingertips illuminated the "safe house". Xia De still remembered that he had agreed to have dinner with Luvia tonight, so he might have to act sooner.

Halder Ondiba left here for the last time more than ten years ago, but he did not expect that he would never return, so the value of the safe house by the river bank is of great value to the stranger who found it more than ten years later. surprise.

Just for the currency, he found a total of more than 300 gold pounds and more than 50 crowns in cash from the desk drawer. As for the biscuit box and the coins at the bottom of the cabinet, he didn't bother to count them.

Except for the currency, all the spell-casting materials have rotted due to lack of maintenance. After opening the lock of the cabinet with the [Key to the Door], the stench almost made Xia De think that the other party had set up a poisonous mist trap again.

There were no diaries or letters in the drawers of the desk. The surface of the desk was tidy, and there were pens, oil lamps and a folded map of Huntington. But in the locked bedside table, there were three carefully preserved books wrapped in flannel.

Sitting on the bed with the soft mattress, Shad imagined the scene of Halder Ondiba lying here decades ago, reading under the kerosene lamp.

Opening those cloths, the first book did not have a book cover, but the first page was handwritten in Kaseric language "The Creeper in the Darkness". After flipping through a few pages, Shade confirmed that it was written in the fifth era's Dika text Mystery books related to [Snake] written in letters.

There are a few sheets of paper between the pages of the book, on which are described in scribbled handwriting the potion "Verper's Word" that can make people communicate with snakes after drinking, the "cold-blood potion" that can lower the temperature of people's blood, and a kind of Recipe for special snake venom "Ondiba venom". The last one should be invented by Halder Ondiba himself. Unfortunately, Shade is not good at configuring potions, but Priest Augustus will probably be interested:

"This book is very valuable. It's a pity that the [Snake] spirit rune is different from my system, but it should be able to sell for a good price."

On the cover of the second book, "The Mystery of Pantanal" is written in Kasenlik, but this is not a book describing the knowledge of mysticism, but Mr. Bernhardt mentioned that Pantanal Voodoo will write and publish popular science books that introduce the modern and modern changes of the primitive beliefs in the Everglades and the Everglades. Voodoo wants to expand the influence of itself and the primitive beliefs of the Pantanal in this way.

This book has traces of being read frequently, the same handwriting as the potion formula, and many annotations and explanations have been made on the pages of the book. The ring warlock is a staunch "Pantanal regionalist".

"Books on folklore are very interesting, and they can be taken home as bedtime reading. I don't know if Mr. Edmond of Coldwater Harbor is interested in this, but the folklore he studies is marine folklore."

The third book is still written in the Carson Rik language of the sixth century, and it is titled "Huntington Folklore". After opening it, it is confirmed that this is a printed copy in 1840.

"Huh? I seem to have heard of this book."

Xia De directly turned to the last page, and sure enough, in the list of writers, he saw Professor Drake who was listed second. Then he flipped the book forward again, and an old photo that was sandwiched in it slid out:

"This is......"

The black-and-white photo shows two people standing together in what appears to be the entrance to a rural village in the interior of the Pantanal, as evidenced by the muddy fields and low adobe houses in the background.

The man on the left in the photo is tall, with rough skin, sunken eye sockets, and a strange tattoo on his bare neck. Although the color of the tattoo cannot be discerned from the black-and-white photo, both the face and the tattoo fit Father Nobel's description of "Jarde Ondiba".

The man on the right in the photo is wearing an expedition suit with dozens of pockets all over the body, a hat with a tie on his head, and an iron pickaxe in his right hand.

They all smiled at the photo, and the latter was an old man. Although he could stand on two legs, Shad still recognized who it was:

"Professor Kansas Drake?"

Although the professor in the photo is younger than now, judging from the wrinkles on his face, it should have been taken more than ten years ago, not a photo from an earlier age.

"Professor Drake actually knows the ring magician from the Pantanal Voodoo Society?"

Xia De raised his eyebrows.

He was very sure that Professor Drake himself did not know about this matter, rather than deliberately concealing it. The professor never mentioned that he had such a friend, and there was no correspondence with "Halder Ondiba" in the letters checked by Shad.

Turning to the back of the photo, there is a line written on the yellowish background:

[May we walk together on the road of exploring knowledge and history. 】

Those letters are elegant and unrestrained, and Xia De can see that they are very similar to Professor Drake's font.

"The Goddess of the Lake erased all the connection between the professor and the ring warlock Halder Ondiba. The professor himself doesn't remember it, the church can't find it at all, and the Pantanal voodoo society doesn't know about it. Father Nobel mentioned Yes, the date that Halder Ondiba was rounded up and killed by the church was the day after Professor Drake wrote a letter to Professor Manning, and it was two days before Professor Drake set off to look for the goddess of the lake. Hmm ...probably guessed something."

He put the photo aside and checked "Huntington's Folklore Examination" again, this time he found a sentence written on the title page, which was still written by Professor Drake—

[To my best friend, I hope you can find more knowledge in the field of folklore. 】

The blue-black ink has faded a bit, but the font is so vivid that Shade didn't know what to say:

"Interesting, more interesting than I thought."

After searching the desks, cabinets and bedside tables, Xia De tapped on the wall again, and sure enough, he found a hidden compartment on the wall.

"What will it be this time?"

Violently destroying the wall, he found a small box full of jewels from the secret compartment.

After opening the box, it seemed as if light emanated directly from it. Sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds covered the bottom of the box. Gold and silver bracelets, earrings, and rings were stacked together. Antique coins and broken diamonds were interspersed in the gaps in the jewelry.

With a clatter, Xia De dumped everything in the box on the bed. Precious metals and precious stones poured over the yellowed sheets. Xia De scratched at random with his fingers, unfortunately these are ordinary items:

"This person is actually hiding money in the secret compartment instead of relics?"

Fortunately, one of the coins has a whisper element response, which can be confirmed as a relic, but Xia De doesn't know the characteristics. Ondiba probably didn't recognize what it was, otherwise he wouldn't have put it here.

In addition to the above things, Xia De found a pistol and a few rounds of bullets engraved with runes in the small iron box attached to the bottom of the bed; in the interlayer of the bedside table, there was a scroll written with thaumaturgy - [Swamp Chameleon 】The parchment used to learn the ritual; on the back of the blank photo frame hanging on the wall, there was a piece of paper with a prayer praising the "God of Pantanal" pasted on it, but it was a pity that Shade burned it when he touched it.

There are no relics kept by Ondiba in this safe house, and it seems that he only used it as a temporary residence and stored his belongings. Xia De believes that the Ring Warlock who died more than ten years ago must have a safe house in this city where books and letters are hidden, but this time Xia De really couldn't find it.

"So, during today's trip to Huntington, I threatened a mouse and learned that Professor Drake knew the former owner of [Aikenola's Arrow of Knowledge], UU reading www.uukanshu.com and asked me to send I made a lot of money, but it still didn't let me touch the absolute truth."

Xia De sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the box of jewels:

"I thought I could find that sage-level relic directly."

[Is it a little too greedy? At least, you are only one step away from discovering the truth and completing the 'Second Trial of Cherubim'. 】

"She" asked with a chuckle.

Xia De's fingers were picking and pulling the gemstones in the box, listening to them colliding with each other and making a pleasant clattering sound. Xia De heard from Rezia that noble ladies have small boxes for gems and jewelry, but he didn't expect middle-aged men from the Great Swamp to have them too.

Xia De picked out a purple oval gemstone and tossed it a few times. The moonlight from his fingertips made the gemstone shine:

"Tomorrow morning I'm going to see the people at the Apner Library, and I'm going to attend the reading salon on Wednesday the day after tomorrow, and I'm going to catch that nasty thief. I don't have time to waste any more time in Huntington. This winter, I plan to focus on Thomas Basker."

He stood up and packed up the coins, books, and parchment scrolls he had found and prepared to leave. He didn't intend to touch other things in this safe house, such as those expired potions.

Walking out of the cave, the stone wall on the river bank returned to its original shape with the use of thaumaturgy.

Xia De looked up at the night sky, the heavy jewelry box in his hand brought him far less happiness than he imagined:

"Show the professor the photo tomorrow, I hope the professor can remember something. As for this box of jewels..."

This is probably his one-time highest-yielding adventure other than going deep into the underground ruins to kill the silver-eyed man. Moreover, he didn't even lay hands on anyone in this adventure.

7017k

Please pay attention to the latest chapters of Whispering Poetry ()