It was 9:10 AM when he arrived at the station. After at least three trains departed from the platform, a steam locomotive, surprisingly painted with a rare black finish, pulled into the platform from the south.
The front of this steam locomotive was clearly different from the previous ones. Even someone with no experience could recognize it as a special train.
Xia De recalled the train schedule he had just seen. This train should be a special one, carrying merchants from the southern foothills of the Rommel Mountains, traveling between the two countries. On one hand, it was to save time, and on the other, having merchants come in groups also helped with business, so it was supported by both countries.
“Could it be this one?”
He thought to himself, standing motionless beneath a platform pillar adorned with wanted posters and recruitment advertisements. The train slowly came to a stop, and with the sound of gas gushing, hot white steam mist sprayed out from beneath the carriages onto the platform.
The people waiting to pick up passengers surged forward, and within a few minutes, almost all the passengers had disembarked from the carriages.
Xia De still didn't move, and then he saw a middle-aged man wearing a black hat and dressed very ordinarily step out from the first carriage at the very front.
He looked around, and soon spotted Xia De leaning against a platform pillar, holding a newspaper. As he approached, he carefully examined Xia De's attire, nodded to him, and spoke in carson rick, “Sir, do you like men?”
“Huh?”
Xia De was startled, then remembered the password mentioned by Professor Higgins:
“No.”
He also used carson rick.
“Then what age of pretty girls do you like?”
The man asked again.
“All ages.”
Xia De said, enduring his embarrassment, really wanting to punch the person who came up with this password.
“Then, are you interested in going to see pretty girls with me?”
“I am.”
He completed the last phrase of the secret code, and clearly saw that the middle-aged man also breathed a sigh of relief:
“Nice to meet you.”
He said in delarion, extending his hand to Xia De, who also shook it: “I hope the next password can be more normal.”
“It's the superior's decision, we can't interfere.”
After shaking hands, Xia De handed over the briefcase he was holding, but the man shook his head: “This kind of commercial secret, you should hand it over yourself.”
He pointed to the open door of the first carriage.
This special train would stop here for about an hour. After changing locomotives, loading cargo, and passengers boarding, it would then pass through the mountain entrance and return to Carson Rick. Therefore, the important person from Carson Rick on the other side of the mountain might be the one to pick up this briefcase this time.
“Alright.”
Xia De hesitated for a moment, then followed the man towards the first carriage.
The first carriage of the special train was reserved for special guests. The entire carriage was completely open, arranged like a reception room. And when the door behind them closed, all the noisy sounds from Middelburg Train Station were surprisingly blocked out.
The carriage was filled with the scent of spices, and girls in maid uniforms seemed to be preparing breakfast for the owner here.
A translucent screen separated the sofa set from the desk. Xia De could only see a lady sitting by the desk, but he didn't know who it was.
As he noticed the shadow, Xia De surprisingly felt the badge on his chest warm slightly. The warmth was very faint, which meant that the woman behind the screen should be a follower of a certain Great Witch, with extremely low witch power. Xia De didn't even have to worry about his special nature being discovered by her.
“Wait, is Miss Jialinna or Miss Aurora playing a joke on me?”
At this moment, even if Miss Jialinna suddenly walked in from outside the carriage, Xia De wouldn't be surprised. But it was clear that the other party was indeed here to pick up the goods, and the woman behind the screen was a follower of a Great Witch whom Xia De didn't know.
“Why do I always encounter unfamiliar witches?”
He muttered to himself: “Are there any other Ring術士? Which Ring?”
【Behind the screen, possibly Four Ring, possibly PentaCircle. Besides her, there is another Ring術士 of One Ring or Two Ring further back in this carriage.】
“Understood.”
Xia De did not sit on the sofa, but instead held the briefcase up with his right hand and supported the bottom of the box with his left hand: “This is it.”
He wasn't very clear about the current situation, so he tried to speak as little as possible, using carson rick, which was fine for such simple sentences.
“Who are you? Where is Professor Higgins?”
The voice from behind the screen said. Judging by the voice, she shouldn't be very old, and she also used carson rick.
“Dead.”
Xia De really wanted to explain that “financial disputes with locals” were the cause of death, but his foreign language skills weren't good enough, and speaking delarion in this situation would seem very abrupt, so he could only give a simple answer.
“Then, who are you?”
The voice behind the screen asked the question again: “Are you one of us?”
“Us” should refer to Gray Gloves.
“Of course.”
Even if Professor Higgins died, he shouldn't reveal such a secret that could lead to complete annihilation to a stranger.
“Then, what is your codename? Are there any ‘of us’ like you in the Middelburg area?”
“I'm good at disguise.”
“Disguise” was one of the more complex Carson Rick common words Xia De currently knew: “I'm on a secret mission, it's not convenient to reveal my identity.”
The pause in the middle wasn't to appear cool, but because he was stuck on a word. The word “secret” was a bit tricky to pronounce, and he had to figure it out before speaking.
“You mean, you are one of us on a secret mission? You occasionally encountered the dying Professor Higgins, gained his trust, and then took over his mission?”
The voice behind the screen said.
“Yes.”
Xia De answered simply, placing the box at his feet. But the car door remained tightly shut; the owner of the carriage had no intention of letting him leave.
“Sir, I highly doubt your identity. Tell me your codename. My clearance level is very high; I know most ‘of us’.”
“You definitely don't know me.”
Xia De said in a deep voice.
“Is that so? The people I don't know are at most no more than ten, so you're saying you're one of those ten?”
“Yes.”
“Hmph~”
The voice behind the screen laughed: “Do you think I'll trust your words?”
“I brought what you want.”
Xia De kicked the box.
“But how do I know this box is what I want?”
The woman asked. Xia De hesitated: “I can tell you my codename, but you'll have to bear the cost of hearing my identity. My involvement in this mission is already a violation, and revealing my codename is absolutely forbidden. Madam, if you are sure your identity is sufficient, then I will continue.”
“Please speak, I believe I can hear any news.”
“Alright, I am…”
Xia De sighed in his heart, and quietly apologized to Sparrow Hamilton Detective, who rested in Tobesk Public Cemetery: “I am Gray Headed Eagle.”
For Leia's arrangements, he had no choice but to say this. And the Gray Gloves should not yet know that the real “Gray Headed Eagle” was dead, otherwise they would not have trusted the information in the transmitted pen.
There was a moment of eerie silence in the carriage, then the woman behind the screen laughed again, a very arrogant laugh: “This joke is even more interesting than the last one.”
“Madam, I don't know if you are qualified to hear me prove my identity.”
Seeing his confidence, the woman hesitated: “You all leave first.”
So, only the lady, Xia De, and another low-Ring術士 remained in the entire carriage. That was a maid, who also seemed to possess very little witch power.
“I received the intelligence from Virgil Cameron of the Cet Kingdom.”
He was very direct, and this sentence was a long one he had prepared in advance during the interval when everyone was leaving. Since he had decided to impersonate that ace agent for Leia's sake, he wouldn't reveal any flaws.
“No, no, if you were an MI6 agent, you might also know about this. In fact, no one in the entire Gray Gloves knows exactly who Gray Headed Eagle is—his age, appearance, or even gender. Those who know his identity only know a small part of the truth, and together they can piece together a general description of this gentleman.”
The woman paused: “But you are very lucky. I once spoke with him through a wall when the current King met him.”
Xia De's heart skipped a beat; he knew nothing about this: “Oh no!”
“Mr. Gray Headed Eagle is very cautious, almost flawless, but he probably relaxed in the palace, so I still discovered a small hobby of his. Please tell me, sir, Gray Headed Eagle is a person who is very fond of pocket watches. Even if the pocket watch is inconsistent with the identity he disguises himself as, he will definitely carry an expensive pocket watch, which can be explained by other excuses. So, what kind of pocket watch does he have?”
Xia De breathed a sigh of relief. He knew the style of Mr. Sparrow's pocket watch, but just as he was about to speak, he immediately realized something was wrong: “Mr. Sparrow's pocket watch isn't expensive! Is this a trap?”
He narrowed his eyes slightly: “Since they talked through a wall, how did this woman know the style of Mr. Sparrow's real pocket watch? No, she's bluffing me… But she should indeed know Detective Sparrow's small hobby, an inconspicuous small hobby…”
“I don't love pocket watches.”
Having figured out the trap, Xia De's lips curved into a smile: “I love black tea.”
He paused: “Yorkshire black tea.”
To commemorate that Detective, he had specifically gone into the city to find the same tea leaves. Because the price was truly astonishing, Xia De would never forget that kind of tea. After all, even the picky Miss Jialinna and Leia had praised that black tea as very good: “Do I need to be more specific about the origin?”
After a silence of 3 minutes and 23 seconds:
“I think, it's no longer necessary.”
The woman's voice from behind the screen said softly: “But how did you get here?”
Her tone was filled with disbelief, and Xia De breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed the lie had passed.
Just as he was about to say that his presence here was for a top-secret mission, the door connecting to the second carriage was knocked at this moment.
Subsequently, a maid hurried in and whispered a few words into the ear of the woman behind the screen.
