Tyrael Anthology

Bai Xiaowen sat outside the high walls of the town mayor's residence like a stone statue, until evening before he stood up and opened his eyes.

Li Shuyi had been keeping watch for him. Seeing Bai Xiaowen stand up, she quickly asked, "How is it? Have you found anything? I was worried we'd be discovered after all this time."

Bai Xiaowen said with a smile, "The mayor's study has a magical alarm system. The Shadow Assassin almost got exposed, but luckily I framed a cat to avoid arousing the guards' suspicion. I could only wait until the mayor, Halerum, himself entered the study, and then sneaked in."

After a pause, Bai Xiaowen added, "Fortunately, all the hard work paid off. I'm now certain that Halerum has a problem."

"Is there any evidence?"

"There's no direct evidence, but Halerum's behavior is very suspicious. He's been flipping through a book called [Tyrael Anthology] in his study," Bai Xiaowen said. "Normal reading involves slowly reading page by page or quickly skimming. But Mayor Halerum is rapidly turning pages, pausing to compare, then rapidly turning pages again, comparing again... His purpose is too obvious."

"Now that you mention it, it certainly doesn't sound like normal studying; it's more like spies exchanging secret signals," Li Shuyi said.

Bai Xiaowen nodded. "The page he was referring to had sentences written on it from [Tyrael Anthology]. It looked like excerpts of excellent lines, but in reality, it was probably a code word for rendezvous."

"Now that we've confirmed he's involved, how do we get the evidence?" Li Shuyi frowned in thought. "If only we could get our hands on that one page, we could study the contents of his meeting."

Bai Xiaowen laughed and said, "It wasn't difficult at all. I knew the contents of that page were important, so I memorized them."

Li Shuyi: "..."

Bai Xiaowen laughed heartily, "Let's go back to Sheriff Ahan's house, find a copy of [Tyrael Anthology], and study what secrets are hidden in the mayor's secret code."

The two walked back. As they passed the entrance of a small alley, Bai Xiaowen suddenly frowned slightly, turned around, and shouted, "Who goes there? Come out!"

Li Shuyi placed her hand on the hilt of the sword.

"M-Sir, it's me..."

Gide hunched his shoulders and emerged from the alleyway, his expression somewhat fearful.

"You were following me?" Bai Xiaowen narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint in them.

Gide quickly replied, "Sir, how could I dare to follow you... I came here specifically to see you. It's just that you've been at the sheriff's house the whole time, and I didn't have a chance yesterday..."

"Speak, what do you want from me?"

Gide said cautiously, "On behalf of all the members of the Crow Organization, I am willing to pledge my loyalty to you, sir... We are still useful, and we hope you will allow us to live."

Bai Xiaowen was initially taken aback; this sudden shift in the Crow Organization's demeanor was indeed unexpected. However, Bai Xiaowen instantly recalled his deceased servant Joshua and roughly understood the psychology of Gide and the others, who perceived him as a capricious and ruthless powerful figure...

Although Bai Xiaowen didn't think the Crow Organization could play any significant role, Gide's defection was still a good thing. He nodded and said, "I understand. Now, let me ask you a question."

Gide felt a chill run down his spine and nodded repeatedly.

"Go get me a book, the title is... The Tyrael Anthology. My time is limited, the sooner the better," Bai Xiaowen said.

Bai Xiaowen initially thought this was a simple request, but to his surprise, Gide looked distressed. "My lord, those kinds of poems and anthologies are just for nobles to decorate their image. People like me from the lower classes have no way of getting them... There aren't any bookstores in Hodge Town either. Nobles buy books by ordering from traveling caravans. If you want this book, my lord, you'll have to wait at least a week for the caravan to arrive before you can get it."

"What use are you to me after just one week?" Bai Xiaowen snorted.

Gide was so frightened he almost knelt on the ground. "My lord, please calm down... how about I just go to the mayor's house and steal it? I heard he has several bookshelves in his study, there should be this one there."

"Bullshit!" Bai Xiaowen cursed. "I'm currently living in the house of the mayor's son-in-law, Sheriff Ahan. You want to steal books from the mayor's house for me? If Ahan finds out, he'll charge me with theft?"

Gide knelt down completely. "My lord, I really didn't think of that... By the way, since you're staying at Ahan's house, you can borrow books from Ahan's wife Ginny. It's said that Ginny loves reading, and when she married Ahan, she brought many books from her family."

"You know Ginny too?" Bai Xiaowen, a little curious.

Gide's face flushed slightly. "This... Ginny was the dream girl of all the young people in Hodge Town back then, but we commoners didn't have the courage to pursue her..."

Bai Xiaowen shrugged. "Alright... I don't need you to handle the book anymore. Go do one more thing for me."

Gide, with a servile look on his face, said, "Please give your orders, sir."

Back at Ahan's house, Bai Xiaowen met Ginny. Ahan wasn't home yet, so Bai Xiaowen immediately asked if she could borrow a few books to read and pass the time.

Ginny was delighted and very generous, leading the two to the bookshelves and letting them choose whatever they wanted. She then went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Bai Xiaowen squinted and scanned the area, finding the [Tyrael Anthology] in the corner, and immediately pulled it out.

"Ginny is really a book lover. Look at this book, the pages are yellowed and wrinkled, I don't know how many times it's been read," Li Shuyi said.

"Okay, let's check it first. To be on the safe side, all our conversations will be through the Team Channel," Bai Xiaowen said through the Team Channel.

Li Shuyi (Team Channel): "Okay."

"The first sentence: 'Our family lives in town, please take us with you!'" Bai Xiaowen recalled the contents of the notepad Halerum had been holding at the time, and recited it steadily.

The sound of pages turning filled the air. Finding such an ordinary sentence in a book would be difficult, or at least a waste of time, for two people who had never read the book before. However, Bai Xiaowen was not afraid of reading at all. After glancing through it once, he could memorize the entire book. The ancients' saying of reading ten lines at a glance and memorizing after one reading was no different.

"It's page 21, line 18." After Bai Xiaowen turned to the corresponding sentence, Li Shuyi followed Bai Xiaowen's instructions and wrote down the page number and line number.

"The second sentence: 'That bastard Iron Man, how dare he lie to me!'" Bai Xiaowen said, squinting his eyes.

It's page 40, line 5.

"The third sentence..."

Bai Xiaowen memorized all the sentences written on that page, then compared them with the [Tyrael Anthology], noting down the page numbers and line numbers one by one. In the end, the two of them obtained a long string of numbers.

"What... what do these numbers mean?" Li Shuyi rested her chin on her hand, looking at Bai Xiaowen with pleading eyes.

"This is a fairly common numerical code. Have you noticed that, disregarding the page number, the number of lines in all of them does not exceed 26?" Bai Xiaowen tapped his fingers lightly on the table and said with a smile, "Each line number corresponds to a Latin letter. By combining these letters, you can derive the code."

"The order of the alphabet? The number 18 corresponds to R... 5 corresponds to E..." Li Shuyi seemed to realize something, and wrote down the letters one by one according to the numbers in all the rows.

A string of coded text finally surfaced:

"On the 12th of the Mistmoon at Night Owl Wharf"

Li Shuyi read the sentence softly and said, "The time and place are both there. It seems this is the code for the rendezvous."

Bai Xiaowen nodded. "That's right, I checked the date. Mistmoon is the second month of the year on the Black Tide Continent, which is this month. The 12th... is today. That means the two sides will meet tonight at Night Owl Wharf."

"In the midst of this heinous slave trade, we, as messengers of justice, are about to step forward," Li Shuyi said with a smile.

"We still need to find a way to let Ahan witness this scene firsthand," Bai Xiaowen thought more deeply. "The mission objective is to assist Sheriff Ahan in solving the missing persons case. In other words, if Ahan doesn't accept our conclusions, we probably haven't completed the mission."

At dinner time, Ahan returned. He looked somewhat dejected and wasn't in high spirits.

"What's wrong? Is there no progress?" Bai Xiaowen asked.

Ahan nodded gravely. "Two more residents have gone missing, just last night, in the West District."

Bai Xiaowen exclaimed angrily, "The mastermind behind this is too rampant!"

"...I patrolled the West District just two days ago!" Ahan said through gritted teeth. "If I had run into them...I would have made those damn bastards pay!"

"I believe you will catch them, Mr. Ahan," Bai Xiaowen said.

"That's right, I will definitely catch those rats, hang them up, and let all the residents of Hodge Town see their true colors!" Ahan clenched his fist, making a cracking sound as his bones popped.

After dinner, Ginny tidied up and washed up. Ahan picked up his helmet from the table, got up, and walked out. "We're patrolling the South District today. Try not to go out at night."

Bai Xiaowen stood up. "Let's go together."

Li Shuyi added, "Yes, Mr. Ahan, we will definitely be able to help."

Ahan recalled that the two men had managed to kill the Voodoo Cult and acknowledged their strength. He nodded and said, "Alright. But night patrols are not an easy job."

As they walked out of the courtyard gate toward the militia assembly point, Bai Xiaowen suddenly stepped in front of Ahan and blocked his way.

"Hmm?" Ahan looked over with a puzzled expression.

"Mr. Ahan, if you don't want to be made a fool of, please change tonight's patrol plan," Bai Xiaowen said.

"Why?"

"After a day of investigation, I have every reason to suspect that there is a spy in the patrol team who is pulling the strings behind the scenes," Bai Xiaowen said calmly. "Don't you find it strange? Why do missing persons cases always happen in towns that are not patrolled?"

Ahan's thick eyebrows furrowed. "That's impossible. My men are all top-notch young men; they would never do something so heinous."

"Trusting your subordinates is a good thing, but blind trust is not advisable," Bai Xiaowen said. "If Mr. Ahan is willing to trust me, then change the night patrol plan and take the militia to patrol the East District! Moreover, this process must be kept absolutely secret from outsiders, and the militia must not leave your sight or contact the outside world after receiving news of the plan change..."

"I find it hard to believe you," Ahan said seriously.

"I understand. To you, I'm just a neighbor you've met a few times, and I only recently moved into your house. But the militiamen on patrol are your comrades-in-arms who have fought alongside you for many years. But you can also consider whether my suggestion will cause you or Hodge Town any loss," Bai Xiaowen said calmly. "There's an abandoned dock in the East District called ' Night Owl Wharf '... Once you go there, the mystery that has been troubling you for months will be completely solved."

Ahan stared intently into Bai Xiaowen's eyes. "What... is something you're hiding from me?"

"In fact, what I discovered is too unbelievable to be true. You definitely wouldn't believe me if I told you directly. Seeing is believing," Bai Xiaowen said.

"...Alright. I agree to your request. But if you can't give me a satisfactory answer tonight...my trust in you will vanish," Ahan said solemnly.

"Trust me, I won't let you down," Bai Xiaowen replied calmly.

Night Owl Wharf has become an abandoned junkyard.

Ahan led a patrol of militiamen, silently lying in ambush among the trees outside Night Owl Wharf.

All the militia members were brought over during a routine patrol when the route was temporarily changed. Bai Xiaowen also required the militia members to work in pairs, monitoring each other, and no one was allowed to make any unusual moves. They could not even leave Bai Xiaowen's sight when they went to the toilet.

Bai Xiaowen further narrowed the range of his Divine Might, monitoring all the militiamen.

Unfortunately, while the Black Tide Plane doesn't have cell phones, it does have magical items like the "Alert Stone" that can be used to transmit messages. Although Mayor Halerum might not be so vigilant as to give the "traitor" a communication device beforehand, it's better to be safe than sorry. If a moment's carelessness leads to a leak and the deal is canceled, Bai Xiaowen will inevitably face Ahan's questioning, and then things will become very complicated.

Ahan tacitly approved of Bai Xiaowen's grouping and surveillance. He was like a volcano brewing, ready to erupt at any moment.

The moon was high in the sky, Night Owl Wharf was eerily quiet.

Suddenly, a caravan of carriages slowly made its way along the abandoned road until it reached the abandoned dock. Then, several drivers jumped down, opened the back of the carriages, and unloaded tattered sacks.