Chapter 288: A Fatter Blackie

In Rolle Resource Development’s newly constructed mall, Tulip Bookstore.

This newly renovated shop was still a little messy. There was a stack of discarded materials by the entrance and boxes full of secondhand books behind the door.

There weren’t many valuable items in the bookstore as it had just been relocated. Most of the more valuable books were locked away in the cabinet.

As such, Theodore, who had just left, wouldn’t have expected a red-eyed pigeon to fly into his bookstore and transform into a person after ‘cooing’ twice.

And from the shadow beneath the pigeon’s feet surfaced a shadowy figure that subsequently transformed into a person as well.

One of the duo was wearing a hooded gray robe. He had grizzled white hair and a vicious-looking face. In his hands was a short, golden scepter with a wolf head tip.

The other person was clad in a tight-fitting black shirt, with his face concealed in the darkness. His wrists and ankles were bandaged, and he wielded a set of golden, razor-sharp claws in his hands. Hanging on his shoulder straps was a row of daggers, while there were three black swords attached to his belt.

If there were any personnel from the Truth Union present here, these two would have been immediately recognized as criminal transcendent beings and notorious mercenaries that were on the top of the bounty list.

The former Wallis, a Pandemonium-ranked druid from the Sapir clan that used the wolf as their totem. He was skilled in summoning and shapeshifting magic.

The latter, who had an ill reputation as “Shadow Assassin,” was Louie. He was adept at stealth and had once assassinated a Destructive-rank.

Wallis scanned through the boxes of books. “It’s not here. Looks like we are late.”

Louie didn’t respond and instead headed to an opened box at the side and stared at the traces that it had been rummaged through.

Wallis walked over and raised his scepter and gave it a little wave. A layer of pale blue light appeared over it, and he lowered his head and uttered, “He has gone out, together with that book.”

He followed the faint blue footsteps which extended from the boxes and led outside. Then, he looked up and saw the dilapidated bookstore across the street.

“That looks like… another bookstore?”

Wallis hesitated. He had heard about the rumors of an unknown bookstore in this area.

Even though there were only a handful of such rumors and most seemed extremely exaggerated, unbelievable, and lacked any tangible information, many of those coveting the book had some reservations because of this and dared not make their move.

Also, the informer he had back with the clan had come back with news about a matter relating to the Chapman Witch. It was said that she had gotten her power through gaining the support of the bookstore.

This made him apprehensive.

“How about we just wait for now? When he returns, we will take him captive and interrogate him…”

Louie sneered the moment Wallis proposed his idea. “Are you certain that the book will still be with him when he returns?”

“That…” Wallis frowned as he thought to himself. You can’t possibly be thinking about barging into the bookstore and snatching it, right?

If that bookstore is really as those rumors say…

“You don’t have the luxury of choosing.” Louie returned back to his shadow form and melded into the other shadows in the room. “Don’t forget, the organization has tasked us to retrieve the book. You know as well as I do what the consequences are if we do not accomplish it.”

His chilly tone lingered in the air. “Besides, that display of weakness totally disappointed me. I might have to postpone your admittance into the organization.”

As Wallis was thinking of his response, he saw that Louie had already entered the bookstore.

He gritted his teeth and hurriedly transformed into his pigeon form and flew onto the roof of the bookstore. At that moment, he managed to catch a glimpse of Louie’s shadow form that had swiftly camouflaged himself within the shadows between the bookshelves.

But shortly after, the shadows there seemed to swell up…

It was as if someone was struggling violently within.

——

Inside the bookstore, Lin Jie was pondering.

Since the journal appeared in the Lower District of Norzin and came into my hands, it means that the owner of the journal had come into contact with this other world. His research isn’t false; the contents of his journal are truthful apart from the ramblings.

Because of my first impressions and Azir’s period of lost culture, I’ve never thought about why a completely different and foreign world would also be using the same Chinese characters and English words as their main languages.

Moreover, the details and language structure were exactly the same as Earth.

Therefore…

Lin Jie stared at the bloodstained journal fixedly. My subjective consciousness was tampered with since I transmigrated over?

It was as though his language settings had been adjusted to “Chinese (Simplified).”

Upon refreshing, it had immediately ‘translated’ the garbled characters into a language that he could understand.

And there had only been one such existence capable of performing what seemed like miraculous ‘feats’ to ordinary beings while having constantly ‘supported’ Lin Jie…

Blackie?

Find the original at Hosted Novel.

Lin Jie raised his brow and subconsciously looked over Theodore’s shoulder, at the space between the bookshelves. The shadow in the narrow and slightly slanted gap trembled, and soon after, a dark, blurry shadow of a torso appeared.

It was as if there was an invisible person standing there.

At that very moment, the shadow nodded politely, then raised a hand and waved.

Just like it was trying to say, ‘You’re welcome.’

I see… So, this is all a part of transmigrating benefits?

Lin Jie mused for a moment. Having felt that he understood what Blackie was trying to imply, he slightly relaxed.

It made sense… If he had been unable to communicate after transmigrating over, his situation three years ago would have been much direr. Forget about having to make ends meet by selling books; just interacting with other people would have already been a huge problem.

While he wouldn’t suffer to the extent of the journal’s owner who lacked references and users of the language, resulting in constant dead ends, misconceptions, and not making any progress, it would still take Lin Jie at least more than a year to be able to converse fluently.

In the past, Lin Jie had previously always complained that Blackie was irresponsible for disappearing right after granting his wish and transmigrating him over to this world without so much as explaining the price he had to pay.

This had led Lin Jie to think that the cost of realizing his wish was to be ‘exiled in this other world.’

Yet, he hadn’t imagined that ‘after sales service’ had already been provided.

I have wronged you, Blackie!

And when Lin Jie put more thought into it, he realized that the languages of Earth and Azir were different, which also meant that his customers couldn’t have understood any of the books that he had brought over.

Yet, the fact was that they not only understood but were able to have discussions with Lin Jie about them…

What did this imply?

This meant that Blackie hadn’t just modified Lin Jie’s lingual system, but also conveniently adjusted the words displayed in his books, allowing people from this foreign world to understand them, thereby making it possible for Lin Jie to sell them.

That’s really thoughtful…

Lin Jie came to a sudden comprehension and gave a slight heartwarming smile.

But why does it seem like Blackie appears to be slightly fatter?