The Master of the Strange Realm

His mind was tossing and turning, but his expression did not change much. But even if he was curious about his father's apprentice, Miss Cape could not provide more information.

Miss Cape suggested that Jenkins ask other people in the Sage Church, and the father could not be the only one who knew the inside story.

But Jenkins regretfully told her that all the people in the church who might know the inside story were unwilling to tell Jenkins about the past without his father's permission.

Even the insiders among the pagans, such as Miss Audrey, were unwilling to tell what they knew.

Miss Cape left with regret, and the moment she turned around, the strange familiarity was noticed by Jenkins again. Jenkins swore that he had definitely seen a similar back more than once, but no matter how he searched his memory, he could not find any relevant clues.

"I know very few women, so this sense of familiarity, could it be from the corner of the original owner's memory?"

He immediately thought of a very vulgar possibility, maybe Miss Cape came to Nolan when she was a child and met little Jenkins. But this is just a wrong guess. The original owner Jenkins has a good memory. During the period when Miss Cape came to Nolan, he did not meet any strange beautiful or ugly little girls.

Miss Cape was seriously injured in the mirror world. Although she was physically fine, her mental damage was very serious. Before she left, she told Jenkins that she would stay in Nolan for about two months, recover from her injuries and then return to the Church of All Things and Nature.

During this time, she will live in a hotel in the city center. If Jenkins has any new discoveries about Miss Stiver, he can write a letter or go there in person to find her.

Miss Cape left in the night, leaving Mr. Writer and his cat to continue to watch the store. Jenkins opened the detective novel that was upside down on the counter table, but he couldn't read it at all. He was still thinking about his father and the past apprentice.

It was already past eight o'clock, and the night had completely fallen, but there were people under the street lights outside. Occasionally, you can see workers in shabby clothes or middle-aged men who go out to have fun. Nolan's nightlife is very colorful.

Jenkins doesn't like nightlife. Unless he goes out to walk the cat, he usually stays at home at night. Chocolate occasionally sneaks out at night, but will soon go home, probably just wandering around the house.

After Miss Cape left, the antique shop fell into silence again. Jenkins thought about the apprentice for a while, and then immersed himself in the novel again.

Chocolate was expecting Jenkins to play with it for a while, but after waiting for a long time without seeing the man reach out, he lay down on the end of the counter away from Jenkins in a huff.

It shrank into a ball of fur, staring at Jenkins who was reading a book with wide eyes. Jenkins noticed the cat's sight, and seeing it lying there pitifully, he stretched out his right hand and drew some cut fruits and put them in front of it.

With a light sound of snap, the fruit slices fell into the small plate in front of the cat. But Chocolate just stood up and stuck his head out to sniff the fruits, still feeling that he was being ignored.

Suddenly a hand reached out and took Chocolate to the side of the book. One hand pressed on the book to turn the page, and the other hand gently stroked the cat's head.

Chocolate finally showed a comfortable expression, lying there quietly, squinting his eyes as if he was asleep.

But soon someone else came to the antique shop, and it was an acquaintance. When the bell in front of the door rang, Jenkins subconsciously said "Welcome to Daddy's Antique Shop", and then he saw that the person who came in was his neighbor, Mrs. Mistara Forrant.

She also showed a surprised expression on her face, and kept pushing the door open. For a moment, she didn't know whether she should come in. The woman didn't expect to meet Jenkins here. In her opinion, her young neighbor was a young man with a promising future blessed by the Orthodox Church. The possibility of him appearing in the girls' boudoirs at this time was greater than the possibility of reading books in an antique shop.

"Welcome to Daddy's Antique Shop, how can I help you?"

Seeing that the middle-aged woman was still hesitating, Jenkins said the welcome again. He turned the book upside down on the counter again, and then explained softly:

"Hello, Mrs. Forlant. Yes, I work here. This is a test given to me by the church. They said that before accepting important tasks, you must go deep into the grassroots... ahem, I mean, you must understand the lives of ordinary believers. The owner of the store is Father Oliver. He went out to do business. I am an apprentice here and can handle some business. Is there anything I can help you with?"

After hearing this explanation, Mrs. Forlant was relieved and entered the antique shop. She was dressed like she had just returned from a long trip.

Jenkins noticed that the soles of her shoes were muddy and a little wet, leaving some footprints in front of the door. But it didn't rain in the city today, and the accumulated water in the past few days had evaporated long ago, so the possibility of the woman returning from outside the city was greatly increased.

"I want to sell some jewelry. I'm a little tight on money recently."

This should be the truth. For the sake of the strange world of Charles, she even sold her house in the city center and moved to St. George Street.

Mrs. Forlant brought her jewelry box, which contained three gold rings, a gem earring and a necklace with a rusty chain.

Jenkins made a cursory inspection to confirm the number of items, and then used a magnifying glass to examine the gems and metals as his father had taught him.

In fact, Jenkins was not afraid that she would sell fakes. After all, he knew the real and fake identities of this woman.

The result of the preliminary inspection was that the gems and gold were real, but whether they were antiques needed further confirmation. Jenkins valued the box of jewelry at 23 pounds and 7 shillings, but Mrs. Forrant was obviously not satisfied with the price.

Section 1041 Chapter 1023 The Third Guest

"Oh, ma'am, this is already the most generous price. If you are still not satisfied, maybe you can come back tomorrow during the day. Then, father Oliver will be in the store. He may give you a better price... but it may also be lower. Sage, I don't mean to discredit father, but he is really better at business than me."

Seeing that Mrs. Forrant was still hesitating, Jenkins could only say this. In fact, he didn't care much about whether the deal could be reached. He was more curious about where Miss Silver Flute had gone just now.

Jenkins' words made Mrs. Forrant, who was about to leave, hesitate again. She stood in front of the counter and kept asking for a higher price, but Jenkins had no business pressure, so he insisted on the price of 23 pounds and 7 shillings.

In the end, Mrs. Forrant could only leave with the jewelry regretfully, and it seemed that she wanted to try her luck in another antique shop.

After the middle-aged woman left, Jenkins did not pick up the novel immediately. After confirming that she would not come back, he immediately picked up the gloves that had just touched the jewelry and put them in front of his nose to sniff gently.

This action seemed a bit perverted, but he just wanted to confirm his guess. Even if the jewelry had been washed, Jenkins could still smell a faint smell of soil.

To be more precise, it was the smell of "funerary objects". Dad specifically talked about similar things. Funeral objects were sealed underground, and the decay of wooden objects and other funerary objects in the tomb would produce odors. This smell is unique. Unless it is treated with professional chemical reagents or covered with stronger smells, it is difficult to eliminate this smell.

"Miss Yin Di went out of town to rob tombs today?"

He guessed in his heart, but except for the discovery of the dragon's remains some time ago, he had not heard of any new ancient ruins appearing near Nolan recently.

"Forget it, it's none of my business, don't think too much."

He shook his head, put away the things on the counter and started reading again. The cat strolled and sniffed the gloves, then squinted his eyes and didn't know what he was thinking.

There were a lot of customers tonight. Not long after Mrs. Grant left, another old man pushed open the door of the store. He was wearing a very old-fashioned coat, but the price of that coat was probably not cheap. The old man looked very energetic, very tall, almost the same height as Jenkins, and slightly fat but normal.

The old man had a round face, and the age spots and wrinkles on his ruddy face were very obvious, but his eyes were very bright, and there were not many wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. His head was mixed with black and white hair. Based on the face alone, he should be over 50 years old, which can be considered a long life in this era.

Jenkins recognized this as the gifter at a glance, and then the familiar light spots made him understand that this was the stranger who sold dead leaves at Mr. Corpse's party yesterday. He occasionally appeared in Mr. Corpse's party before, and he was not a new participant.

This was the first time that Jenkins met a participant of Mr. Corpse's party in the life of an ordinary person. But now was not a good time to discuss Mr. Corpse. Jenkins was more curious about the purpose of the old man's arrival.

"Are you the owner here?"

The visitor spoke slowly, but his tone was very charming. Jenkins had only heard similar ways of speaking from some pretentious nobles.

"No, this is Oliver's shop, I'm just his apprentice. Dad went out to do business, I can take charge of some business."

He said politely, and the guest nodded, then came to the counter with a cane and put a gold ring in front of the counter.

"Well, please estimate it."

Jenkins was stunned for a moment. This ring was exactly the same as the one Miss Silver Flute showed just now. To be more precise, except for the details of the pattern, it was exactly the same.

"Did they rob the same tomb?"

Jenkins came to this conclusion, but he sniffed but didn't smell the smell of burial objects.

He nodded and took out the tools for inspection, and then further confirmed that this ring was definitely related to the three gold rings just now.

It's just that the visitor's ring is newer and looks like it's been maintained regularly.

"It's really a nice old thing. I can give you 2 pounds. You see, it's not pure gold."

Jenkins showed the surface of the ring under the magnifying glass to the old man. His original intention was to lower the price, but the old man didn't seem to care whether it was pure gold or not.

"No problem, 2 pounds."

Then the old man stretched out his hand to Jenkins. Jenkins looked at him in confusion. After all, it was rare to see such a straightforward customer. But business still needs to be done. The real value of this ring is definitely not less than 10 pounds.

The old man came and left in a hurry, and didn't even give Jenkins a chance to ask about the origin of the ring. Jenkins took off his white gloves and rubbed the surface of the ring directly with his fingertips, but he still couldn't connect the old man just now with his neighbor, Mrs. Forland.

After the old man left, Jenkins thought for a while, and then felt that this matter had nothing to do with him, so he picked up the novel and continued reading.

The story he read told about a shocking crime that happened in an antique shop late at night. The young apprentice, who had not yet started his apprenticeship, looked after the store alone at night when his teacher was out on business. While he was greeting several waves of customers and feeling complacent about doing business, he was completely unaware that the robbers had broken into the store from the backyard.

While the apprentice was going to the toilet one time, the robber came from the backyard to the front and hid under the counter. When the apprentice came back, the robber dragged him into the counter and brutally injured him. Afterwards, he pretended to be an apprentice to receive guests, killing those who visited at night one by one, and finally fled with a large amount of property before the owner of the antique shop returned.

This is a rare story that ends with the criminal escaping, and there are no characters like police officers or detectives in the story. This means that this story is almost a crime documentary, describing what happened that night.

So, this is actually a pretty bad story.

"interesting."

Jenkins muttered softly, stretched out his leg and kicked the counter, and then realized that the counter of his father's antique store was solid, which was to cover up the large secret room below.

"Is it such a coincidence?"

He closed the book with doubts, then opened his eyes of truth and turned his head to look at the backyard. Everything was normal there, only the materials that Dad had hoarded emitted a faint aura.

"Meow~"

Seeing Jenkins looking around, the cat, who had been lying down and taking a nap, also stood up and looked around. Jenkins smiled and stroked Chocolate's head. As if it was inspired, it let out a more energetic cry.

Chapter 1042 Chapter 1024 Under the Counter

The cat is in good spirits, and Jenkins is in a pretty good mood.

Maybe the subtle coincidence between the story being read and the current environment is really just a coincidence. In the next ten minutes, Jenkins searched the entire antique store but found nothing unusual.

His eyes are not without failure, but at least they are absolutely infallible when dealing with any creature that is not a god. For the sake of safety, Jenkins even let Chocolate, who has a very sensitive nose, play a role as a police dog. Although it was not very happy, it still sniffed everywhere.

But nothing was found except for a silver coin that had fallen under a shelf.

Jenkins was very puzzled by this, but he could only attribute it to his overthinking for the time being. He wanted to pick up the book and read other stories, but then the bell at the door rang again. It seemed that the antique shop was doing much better business at night than during the day.

"Good evening, Jenkins, isn't dad here?"

The visitor is not a guest, but Captain Binsi. Jenkins also saw his team members waiting at the door, and after a quick count, it looked like the entire team was out.

"Dad is out on business. I'll be checking the store tonight. He's received news that a batch of 'goods' will arrive from the dock tonight."

Jenkins pronounced the word "goods" with more emphasis, and Captain Binsi nodded immediately and clearly.

"Be careful tonight. [Starry Sky and Balance Church] just sent us news that a serious out-of-control containment incident occurred on their side. A powerful monster suddenly awakened from the seal, and the rioting energy almost destroyed Half of the underground containment facility was suppressed, but part of it escaped.

Tonight, all five churches in Nolan went out to search for the terrible thing that escaped. You should be careful. If possible, it is best to stay in an antique store instead of going home. I remember that Dad should have a packed guest room here. "

Captain Binsi was just passing by here and saw that the antique store was still lit, so he opened the door to inform him of this matter. After saying that, he turned around and left. I guess he still had many tasks to do.

Jenkins came out from behind the counter and stood at the door of the store watching the group of people walking away along Fifth Queen Avenue. He didn't ask what the escaped monster was, and Captain Binsi didn't mention it. By the time Jenkins reacted, Captain Binsi had already walked away.

"It always felt like something extraordinary was going to happen this night."

Jenkins muttered and closed the door of the store. When he turned around, he found that the book on the counter had fallen to the ground. The book was an ordinary book, he had just determined that, so the book must have fallen because the chocolate had kicked it off.

"Meow~"

Faced with Jenkins' accusation, Chocolate angrily protested. It lowered its head and dashed across the counter, pushing everything on the table including the ink bottle, pen, and teacup to the ground, making a crackling sound.

Jenkins suddenly realized:

"Oh, that's it! When the book fell down just now, I didn't hear any sound. There's something weird about it!"

He immediately ruled out the chocolate as a suspect, and then waved to the cat to move away from the book and not to touch it.

"There's something wrong! This must be wrong!"

Generally speaking, when this happens, it definitely means that Jenkins is going to be unlucky. Jenkins picked up the cat very cautiously and looked around again. This time, I focused my attention on the void, and finally saw a very thin black line, passing through the window from outside the street and connecting to the book.

As Jenkins stared at the thread, it trembled violently, causing the book at the end of the thread to tremble as well.

"Let's go!"

Jenkins immediately turned and ran. He pushed open the door and went to the street, trying to catch up with Captain Binsey and his group who had not gone far. But as soon as his body left the range covered by the rain canopy, the surrounding scenery became blurred like oil paint melted by flames.

There was a crackling sound of burning wood behind him. Jenkins turned around and saw the burning fireplace of Daddy's Antique Shop behind him. He widened his eyes and turned back to look at Fifth Queen's Avenue in front of him, but his surroundings had completely changed into the appearance of the antique shop.

This was definitely not a space movement that moved him back to the antique shop again, because the fireplace in the antique shop was no longer used a few weeks ago. This could not be a time travel, because although this place looks like Daddy's Antique Shop, it is subtly different in details.

For example, there is no chocolate mat on the left side of the counter, and the distance between the top shelf and the ceiling is closer than Jenkins remembered.

"It's not a time travel, so this is an illusion?"

Jenkins stood still without moving, opened his eyes and looked around. Just as he expected, black auras were distributed everywhere in the space. It seems that his luck tonight is really bad. The part of the escaped weird thing may be the one in front of him.

"How can it be such a coincidence? This is a bit wrong. Who wants to harm me?"

Wondering in his heart, he carefully put his cat into his clothes, and then wrapped his shirt tightly to prevent it from falling out. Looking around, he really didn't see the detective novel again. Then he walked behind the counter and bent down to find that the originally solid counter was now hollow. A blood-red meat ball curled up in the shadow under the counter.

At first glance, the newborn meat ball actually had a strange sense of sacredness. It looked like a baby; but immediately it felt like a ball of filth, like the dirt formed in the corner of the bathroom that had not been scrubbed for a long time, which was extremely disgusting.

"Meow~"

This is not the voice of Chocolate, the sound comes from the meat ball. Jenkins, who is used to the meow of Chocolate's cat, was disgusted by such a fake cat's meow. Even if the general cat's meow is not as tender as that of a young kitten, it will never be like the hoarse voice of a dying cat with phlegm in the throat and inflamed tonsils.

"What is this?"

Jenkins took a step back and saw that the mass of meat was constantly squirming. The surface of the mass of meat gradually became transparent, revealing the organs and the baby's head that were forming inside.

The beating of the heart was particularly obvious in the antique shop at this moment. Jenkins squinted his eyes and looked at the position of the umbilical cord. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but the black aura of the umbilical cord is the most intense.

Putting his hand in his pocket, he touched the bottle containing the umbilical cord. Jenkins brought it with him because he came home late at night and was worried that the umbilical cord would have problems at home.

"Isn't it the escaped weirdo, but the covetous person attracted by the umbilical cord?"

Chapter 1043 Chapter 1025 Baby and Umbilical Cord