Blind Spot
Chapter 179: Trade 168 Four

Chapter 179: Trade 168 Four

"They also want silver, but they also want what I’ve brought over. Thinking about it, these guys are kind of twisted," Yserine frowned.

"What about gemstones and diamonds?" Li Chengyi continued to ask.

"Don’t know... I don’t have those things. My blonde hair was made from the gold jewelry that my older sister gave me," Yserine answered.

Li Chengyi planned to go out this time and bring in a variety of goods to try and see what exactly was the stable currency of the Black Sea.

He wanted to ask more, but he saw Yserine stretch out her finger and shush him with a sound at her lips.

He immediately understood that something was coming.

He turned his head to look ahead.

At the other side of the bed, a faint glow was slowly radiating from the darkness.

But the faint light was not the bright yellow or white of a lamp.

It was a pale red glow.

Somewhat hazy, a tranquil red.

Looking from beneath the bed, they could see a very large black bookshelf occupying an entire wall gradually materializing.

The bookshelf was filled with many books.

Some were very thick, with hard covers and covers emblazoned with strange, twisted characters that were unrecognizable.

Others were thin, casually inserted in the gaps between the bookshelves, placed on top of the thick books.

On the left side of the bookshelf, there was a small round table made of dark wood, the legs of which were patterned with clouds.

On the right side, there was a single-seater leather sofa in a blackish-brown color.

The armrest of the sofa showed marks of wear and tear from years of use, some of which were faded, revealing the grayish-white beneath.

Everything looked normal.

This place seemed just like a study used by an ordinary person, a study with a bed for sleeping.

That was normal too; some people liked to sleep in their studies.

Li Chengyi and Yserine exchanged glances.

"Have you been here before?" he asked.

"No, this is my first time," Yserine replied.

"Want to go out and try?" Li Chengyi asked again.

"Let’s wait. The time of stay differs from place to place. If we just go out and it changes, we could get completely lost and not be able to return," Yserine whispered.

"How do you know that?"

"I’ve experienced it," Yserine answered. "Once out, the starting point under the bed was no longer the same. I lay there for a long time before I was able to come back by relying on the connection with my main body."

"Alright..." Li Chengyi once again felt that Yserine was incredibly useful.

Without her, he reckoned he would have encountered many pitfalls.

So, the two of them lay there waiting.

About five minutes later.

Whoosh, the sound of a sliding door came through.

Immediately after, a slimy noise, like a mop dragging across the floor, entered their ears.

Soon, a tall figure cloaked in black, with golden patterns on the edges of its garment, walked slowly to the edge of the sofa and sat down.

Only when it sat down did they see the robed figure was wearing a pallid mask, and the lower half of its body was made up of black tentacles, akin to the inky tentacles of an octopus.

"It’s a Believer!" Yserine let out a long breath of relief.

"Quick, take out your item, I’ll help you exchange it!" she quickly patted Li Chengyi.

Immediately, Li Chengyi took out the Heart of Greed and handed it to her.

Watching Yserine carefully place the Heart of Greed can on the ground and push it outwards,

he remembered what a Believer was.

Last time, Yserine mentioned that Believers were a strange group that worshiped Asraduni.

Yserine said they were friendly and open to trade.

He was curious to see what he could get in exchange.

The Heart of Greed can was pushed out and stopped on the room’s thick black and red carpet.

The Believer also noticed the movement here, turned its masked face their way, and stood up.

Amidst a hissing noise, it slowly walked to the side of the bed, leaned over, and picked up the can from on the carpet.

Looking over the can for a while, it seemed somewhat interested.

Turning around, it went back to the edge of the sofa.

After thinking for a bit, the Believer reached out, took a book from the shelf,

The book was neither thick nor thin, with a brownish-black exterior tinged with red, resembling tree bark.

Then, holding the book, it came back to the bed and set it down on the floor, pushing it under the bed.

"Catch it, this is what they’ve traded!" Yserine patted Li Chengyi.

He nodded, extended his hand, and gently grasped it with his Floral Dress-gloved fingers, pulling it in.

"We’re going back now," Yserine gripped his hand, and they slowly retreated from under the bed.

Li Chengyi moved back as well, and soon after holding the book, he crawled out from under the bed.

"What use is this?" He picked up the book and examined the cover.

The front of the book had two vertical bands of patterns.

The pattern bands were made up of lots of smaller droplets, spheres, and number 8 shaped patterns, squeezed together.

In between the two pattern bands, there was a white symbol the size of an egg.

The symbol resembled a sharp bone knife, broad at the top and narrow at the bottom, with a hole in the middle and a handle, like a tool used for ceremonies.

"Shall we take a look inside?"

Yserine was also very curious.

Li Chengyi nodded and flipped open the cover.

Unexpectedly, the inside of the book was filled with neat rows of strange characters, with nothing abnormal.

It seemed that this really was just a book.

"How is it?" Yserine curiously asked from the side.

Li Chengyi was about to reply but suddenly felt the surrounding light distort.

He felt a chill in his heart, knowing they might be about to leave.

There had been no sign under the bed before, but now it seemed that perhaps they couldn’t fully exit the Flash Appearance while under the bed.

After all, he had been inside for some time.

"Big brother? Big brother?" Yserine’s voice seemed to stretch out, slow, and come from a great distance.

Li Chengyi held onto the book, a wave of dizziness flashing through his mind.

Puff.

His vision blurred, and Yserine disappeared.

The room also instantly returned to normal.

The marks on the wall made by the iron bed vanished as if they were never there.

He had returned to reality.

The Blind Spot, Tightening Grasp had a very peculiar characteristic: upon entering, the scene was the same as reality.

And Yserine, as the core of Tightening Grasp, possibly controlled a portion of the Blind Spot zone.

Another part was the other presence at the other end of the bed.

Up to now, Li Chengyi still didn’t know how to completely exit Tightening Grasp because with Yserine there, the Blind Spot was more helpful than troublesome for him. He also didn’t want to exit.

Standing in the bedroom, he lifted his hand and looked at his right hand.

The book was still being grasped by him, between the claws of the Floral Dress.

With a thought, Li Chengyi’s body, clad in Floral Dress, instantly decomposed, broke apart, and turned into countless Feilian’s purple-red petals that disappeared.

He held the book and walked to the only window in the bedroom, checking the book in the outside light.

First, he took a photo with his mobile phone.

The camera captured only blankness, evidently like the products from Silent Store, unusable by anyone other than the owner.

As a trade item provided by a believer, Li Chengyi didn’t believe it was just an ordinary book.

After some thought, he turned and left the room, thump thump thump, he descended the stairs and arrived at the first-floor lobby.

"Who has some paper and a pen, could you lend them to me for a moment?"

Among the few people present, Xiao Zhong, who was serving dishes, raised his hand.

"I have them, boss, I’ll get them for you."

He placed a bowl of dark dishes on the dining table, turned, and ran out of the lobby to his own room.

Soon after, he entered with a notebook and a ballpoint pen.

"Boss, did you make some discovery?"

He handed the items to Li Chengyi, a trace of curiosity on his face.

"Just suddenly felt like writing something down," Li Chengyi didn’t want to reveal that Yserine could help him.

A Blind Spot being capable of communication, once this was leaked, it could very likely attract the attention of many with ulterior motives.

Less trouble is better than more, so he couldn’t talk about the book in his hand either.

After all, it was traded for with the help of Yserine.

With paper and pen in hand, he quickly returned to his room, sat down at the only table, and began to copy the symbols from that mysterious book.

A completely new language, without any clues, he couldn’t possibly learn it by himself.

But relying on the computer, relying on AI, there might be hope for deciphering.

As for the origin of the text in the book, there was not entirely no clue at all.

The believers worshipped the Colossal Beast Asraduni.

So starting from this clue, maybe some key points could be found.

*

*

*

Yunshan County.

In the mountains, a team of men and women dressed in camouflage, carrying full combat gear, was slowly heading towards Wolf Cave along a forest trail.

The person leading the team, walking at the forefront, was a somewhat bald and plump middle-aged man.

The weather was slightly cold, it was already December, but he was still lightly sweating, wiping the sweat from his forehead and temples with a tissue while he walked.

He was called Zhao Shengpeng, a name meant to surpass the great roc.

This showed his parents’ high hopes for him.

However, in reality, at thirty-nine years old, he had worked hard for over a decade to finally ascend to the position of head of Yunshan County’s Security Bureau.

Due to its remote location, few people live around this area, and there have been consecutive murder cases recently, putting a lot of pressure on him from above.

In Yi Country, the Safety Bureau and Jiu Yi are not governed by the same department.

Instead, they are two separate systems.

If the Federation is considered the highest administrative body, deciding on the promotion and appointment of other officials,

then Jiu Yi is akin to a semi-official organization of powerful Mecha Engineers within the country.

While the Safety Bureau is a completely governmental organization.

Within Jiu Yi gather the strongest Mecha Engineers in Yi Country, most of whom are trained by the state, with a small portion being top-level experts recruited from various places.

Therefore, the makeup is rather complex.

The Safety Bureau, on the other hand, is significantly weaker in terms of military force and serves a role similar to the police. There are also some Mecha Engineers who hold high positions part-time, but they are few.

Moreover, one more thing, the director-general of the Overall Safety Bureau also holds a high position as one of the strongest Mecha Engineers within Jiu Yi.

"Director, we’ve been here so many times without finding anything, just running around blindly like this isn’t a solution either," complained a slightly overweight middle-aged man from the six-person team.

"There’s no other way. Recently, several people have gone missing around here. They can’t even be located by satellites. It’s damn strange. The Wolf Cave disappearance case had already been closed, and files put away on the shelf. And now, after such a short time, it happens again?" Zhao Shengpeng also felt helpless.

"But us running around like headless flies isn’t a solution either," another member of the team sighed.

"Speaking of which, just a few days ago, in the county, about a dozen people from The Second Labor Prison suddenly vanished. It was only discovered when they were counting heads. It also happened while they were working at a nearby farm for reformation," a third person spoke up.

"There must be someone causing trouble!" Zhao Shengpeng gritted his teeth. "I just can’t believe this evil!" He clenched the gun in his hand.

"Are you guys scared? If anyone’s scared, get the hell back!"

"Director, that’s not fair. We are the Safety Bureau! Yunshan County relies on us to stand at the forefront. If we were afraid, what hope would this place have?" The overweight middle-aged man said discontentedly.

"To tell the truth, those who can stand here now, none of them are cowards! The real cowards are all back at the bureau!"

"Well said!"

The others cheered in agreement.

"Here, take this!" Zhao Shengpeng gave him a thumbs-up.

"We were born here, grew up here, everyone around the neighborhood, the uncles, aunts, grandpas, grandmas, we know them all. If you think about it, which family isn’t bound by decades of acquaintance? Since we’ve taken on these roles, I can understand skiving off and taking advantage of small benefits in usual times. But in crucial moments, you have to be able to stand your ground!"

Zhao Shengpeng sighed.

"That’s right! The director speaks the truth! Pumped up with solidarity!" the group shouted again.

"Let’s go, let’s check around Wolf Cave first, maybe..."

Thud!

Zhao Shengpeng’s face stiffened, and he suddenly stood still.

He slowly looked down and saw a black sharp claw had appeared out of nowhere, piercing right through the center of his chest.

The claw had penetrated his bulletproof vest from his back, gone through his breastbone, and emerged from the front, dripping with copious amounts of blood.

The rest were stunned.

No one reacted.

Even the various detection devices they carried showed no response.

"Director!!"

Bang, bang, bang, bang!!

Angry roars and gunshots suddenly echoed through the woods.

But quickly, in less than five seconds, all fell silent again.

Everything returned to the quietness of before.