Transcendent Dawn

“Mr. Sean!”

Returning to his apartment, just as Su Lu got off the carriage, he saw Wood stubbing out the cigarette on the ground and ran over. Behind him followed two goons from the Shark Meeting, their faces full of apologies: “Sorry… We found the woman you mentioned today, but she ran away…”

“She ran away?”

Su Lu frowned: “Did she leave any belongings?”

“Yes, her duckbill cap fell when she was running away…”

Wood hurriedly pulled out a black duckbill cap, secretly relieved.

He was raised poor and unused to waste, picking it up with intentions of using it at home, but now it came in handy.

“Great, you can leave the rest to me.”

Su Lu held the cap in his hand for a look; it was a generic style. Handed it to Hallock for a sniff, then headed across to his own apartment with it.

Hallock sniffed around on the ground, suddenly perked his head up, his eyes glowed, and he barked with excitement.

“Hmm? There’s already a lead, take me there!”

Su Lu was exhilarated.

With all four legs, Hallock was sprinting, turned a corner, and saw a noble lady walking with her Poodle…

Hallock approached gracefully and started circling around the Poodle with a flippant attitude.

“Damn!”

Su Lu looked at Wood and the others who were trying to hold back their laughter, his forehead creased: “I swear… if you do this again, I’ll have a dog roast tonight!”

“Whimper…”

Hallock hung his head in defeat, resigned to sniffing the ground from the beginning.

“Huff huff…”

The slums.

Margaret ran into her rented room, panting heavily: “Thank goodness… they didn’t catch up… did I blow my cover?”

Thinking for a moment, she quickly changed out of her neutral clothes that she wore for surveillance into a blue dress.

If there were a mirror in the room, it would reflect a beautiful young woman with golden curls replacing the unassuming figure that had been tailing earlier.

“What a shame… I can’t go back… how am I going to get my grandfather’s heirloom?”

The young girl laid her face on the table, a look of worry covering it.

Boom, boom, boom.

Just then, she heard someone knocking at the door.

The girl got up like a startled cat, cautiously moved to the door, “Who is this?”

There are loads of thieves, robbers, and gangsters here… So many people are dying silently each day, and the cops simply can’t cope!

A beautiful girl living alone in such an environment must learn how to deal with dangers!

“Open up, we’re here to take the water meter reading!”

A young man’s voice came from outside.

“Read… the water meter? What’s that supposed to mean?”

As the girl was confused, a loud noise followed with the door brutally kicked open. A figure, black and white motley like a wolf, bolted in.

“Ah!”

She screamed as she was knocked to the ground. A husky’s head hovered up close to hers, its pink tongue sticking out as if it wanted to lick her face.

“Ah…Get it away! I hate dogs!”

She sounded in agony and disgusted, changing how she sounded.

“Hallock, stop!”

Su Lu walked into the room immediately, glanced around the shabby room, and asked the girl, “Answer my question! Who are you really?”

With Hallock’s help, he easily located the girl’s hideout.

Furthermore, observing from the mental realm, he discovered that the girl was just an ordinary person and there were no Occupational Persons lying in wait, making matters straightforward.

“I… My name is Margaret!”

Looking at a husky’s razor-sharp teeth, Margaret quickly yielded.

“Why were you spying on my apartment?”

“I… I wanted to retrieve my great-grandfather’s heirloom, he used to live in your apartment…” Margaret’s voice was tear-stricken.

“You mean… Old Mad? I thought he was a bachelor?”

Su Lu frowned.

“He just never married…” Margaret weakly defended.

“Alright…”

Su Lu sighed, seemingly feeling the mockery of fate, “Hallock, this is not how to treat a lady, it’s impolite!”

He asked Hallock to step back and helped Margaret up, “If it’s just for the heirloom, why didn’t you register and claim it from the police? Or directly ask the landlord?”

“I…”

Margaret looked at her new dress, now stained with a few black paw prints, almost in tears, “Because grandfather didn’t register his marriage, I can’t prove my inheritance right… And I didn’t know where to find the landlord…”

“Then, why didn’t you just come to me directly?”

Su Lu smiled, “You hesitated…. because some of the heirlooms are… special… like… texts describing mysteries, transcendent entities, rituals, pacts, etc.? You were afraid that your lead would make me pay more attention to them, and study them?”

“You already know… you know everything…” Margaret’s eyes went blank, seemingly losing all her confidence.

“In reality, those occult resources are not really something… if you answer my question and prove your identity, I don’t mind giving them back to you.”

Su Lu asked, “You’re not from here, are you?”

“Yes, I come from the Eastern Federation’s state of Dixie… My grandfather was always attracted by mysteries, wandering everywhere chasing legends… I didn’t expect him to ultimately choose to reside in Lore city…”

Margaret answered.

“So… what drove you to the Western Union to retrieve your grandfather’s heirloom?”

Su Lu asked curiously.

Under his gaze, Margaret couldn’t even lie, she replied quietly, “It is… a mysterious group… They found me, said I had ‘talent’, and could join them, they demonstrated magic-like powers… the price, however, was retrieving grandfather’s heirlooms…”

“Mysterious group? Any insignia or names?”

“I don’t know… I never saw their real faces… they only referred to themselves as Followers of the Great Serpent!”

‘Followers of the Great Serpent? The Ancient Snake Society? Demons?’

A chill ran down the spine of Su Lu, he thought of the Gulam Language written in Old Mad’s notes, but there was nothing profoundly significant on it except for some oddly mysterious symbols.

He suddenly turned towards Margaret, “Did you make use of something mysterious to put a curse on the person who took the ancient text?”

Uh huh, the cause of Owen Dougweir’s nightmares might be this.

Though Margaret was just an ordinary person, some rituals required minimum qualification and could utilize power from rare magical items!

“No… I did not! I was just hanging around your apartment because I didn’t know how to approach you… I mean no harm, really!”

Margaret quickly denied.