C1 Pawnbroker Boy

The night, under the vast starry sky, the stars were like dust, and the moon shone down like a waterfall. It was a silvery-white color that was slightly cold, and although it was bright and clear, it could not penetrate the darkness.

There were too many mysteries hidden in the unknown darkness.

In the Earth City, there was a small city that looked like its name. It was not big, but only a dozen or so kilometers in diameter.

The streets were quiet as usual, and from time to time, there would be barking, which made it seem especially loud and noisy.

No one knew when, but the sound of footsteps could be heard in the alley. As time passed, the footsteps became louder and louder.

At the end of the dark alley, there seemed to be a black hole that could devour people, causing fear to appear in one's heart.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer. Suddenly, a black figure appeared in the darkness. Without any hesitation, he quickly appeared on the street. The barking stopped, and the street became quiet.

The head of the black figure was slightly tilted from time to time. It seemed to be looking around, but at the same time, it also seemed to be looking for something.

The black shadow looked around for a while and suddenly found a pawnshop.

The pawn shop wasn't very big. There was a couplet on the side of the door. The black figure squinted his eyes and saw the couplet under the bright moonlight.

The shop was open at 12 AM. All the treasures in the world were in the shop!

On the horizontal signboard, there were four big golden words: "Lin Ji Pawn Shop."

Looking at the pawnshop, the black figure paused for a moment. He leaned forward slightly and was about to move on, when suddenly, the black figure turned his head and looked into the darkness of the alley. He paused for a moment, and his breathing gradually became rapid.

The next moment, the black shadow gritted his teeth and sighed in his heart. He raised his head and looked at the Lin's Pawnshop, walking forward with heavy steps.

...

Unfortunately, tonight's pawnshop was Shibao's.

Shibao himself did not like the name Shibao at all, but since he was an orphan, he did not know his own background.

According to the shopkeeper, he had picked him up from the edge of a grave. The shopkeeper had often heard from some storytellers that the feng shui of a normal grave was quite good, and that it was a rare treasure trove.

Thus, for the sake of luck, the shopkeeper gave the name "Shibao" that made people laugh out loud.

Ever since Shibao had become sensible, he had often asked the shopkeeper to come up with a better name for him, but the shopkeeper refused. Whenever he mentioned this matter, he would blow his beard and glare at him, angrily rebuking him.

And he doted on Shibao like his grandfather. Subconsciously, he didn't want to go against the shopkeeper's wishes, so the matter gradually came to an end.

Tonight was Shibao's night again, and Ah Cheng had returned to his hometown. He had to come by himself that night, and every time that night came, it was an inhuman torture for Shibao.

Not for any other reason, but because he couldn't sleep on the bed, he could only lie on the table and sleep. That feeling, was really...

According to the manager, the pawnshop was a gathering place for treasures, so there was no reason to miss any opportunity to get them. One had to guard the pawnshop twenty-four hours a day, and even at night, one had to sleep on the counter so that at night some random customer would come in and buy some items, so as not to miss the chance to get them.

However, even so, as far as Shibao knew, he had never seen any treasure. At most, there were some impoverished governmental and merchants, who were forced to live or lacked some money to buy some jewelry, jade artifacts, and the like.

As for the so-called treasures that he had heard from the shopkeeper before, they were the ones he had read about in the books. How could there be a treasure in a poor and remote place like Earth City?

At this moment, Shibao, who had just fallen asleep for more than two hours, was sleeping. He was so happy that he couldn't help but count his treasures. One, two, three...

Suddenly!

Bang, bang, bang...

With a series of rapid knocks on the door, Shibao, who was still counting his treasures in his dream, was mercilessly pulled back.

Shibao muttered reluctantly. He slowly raised his head, frowned, rubbed his sleepy eyes weakly, yawned a few times, stood up and stretched his body. He shook his still confused head a little to clear it up.

After a while Shibao looked at the ground and walked towards the door, dragging his feet with extreme reluctance. He cursed in his heart and complained loudly, "Who is it? How can I sleep in the middle of the night? What are you doing?"

Dong Dong Dong...

The knocking on the door did not stop, causing Shibao to feel annoyed. He shouted in dissatisfaction: "Alright, stop knocking, come on, come on! Seriously, it is late at night... "

Following that, Shibao muttered to himself a few more times and quickly lit the candle. He lit up all the candles in the room by himself and walked to the door.

Shibao quickly pulled open the door and locked it. He wanted to see who it was, to disturb his sleep in the middle of the night...

However, what was strange was that the moment Shibao pulled open the door, he felt an extremely cold aura hit him.

The invisible chill made him feel not only his body but also his heart. He couldn't help but shiver, instinctively.

[Why is it so cold on such a hot summer night? Oh my god...]

At this moment, Shibao's mind was filled with doubt and complaint, and after being affected by the inexplicable cold air, he shrank his body and slowly raised his head to look at the person in front of him, who exactly was it and what did he look like?

However, when Shibao raised his head and looked over.

Hiss ~ ~

Shibao took a deep breath, but he was truly shocked.

Shibao's expression suddenly changed. This person...

The person in front of him was nine feet tall and wore a black robe. His hair was loose and his face was heavy. His face was slightly pale and although he was tall and strong, he couldn't hide the fatigue in his eyes.

Even though it was so, those dark and cold eyes emitted a fierce aura. It was extremely frightening. In addition to that, the faint strange smell that was being emitted from his entire body seemed to be blood... wait!

Blood!?

The smell of blood pierced his nose, causing Shibao to suddenly feel a sense of fear in his heart.

Shibao did not dare to look at him. As he dodged his gaze, he noticed the mark of a burning Black Blade on the back of the black-robed man's broad and rough hand.

The mark was vivid and lifelike. With a glance, it gave off a mind-stirring feeling, causing one's heart to feel a chill, and fear to suddenly appear.

At this moment, Shibao's heart was already slightly trembling.

As a child who had grown up in a pawnshop, Shibao often had to deal with all kinds of strange things or people. As time passed, his eyes became no less discerning.

The man in front of him, in spite of his clothes, reeked of blood. He was obviously not the man from the east end of the street.

Human... blood!?

Thinking of this, Shibao was frightened by his own guess, and almost lost his footing.

However, he had studied for a few years after all, and he had learned a lot of things. He knew in his heart that under these circumstances, he had to show absolute naturalness and calmness.

"This, this... Master, it's already so late at night. What do you need from me?" Shibao asked in a flattering manner.

Although he had to remain calm, after all, Shibao was just a thirteen-year-old child, and this was the first time he had encountered such a situation, so it was impossible for him to force himself to remain calm and speak without any problems.

"Anything here is worth it?" The man in the black robe glanced at Shibao and said without the slightest emotion. It was as if he was talking to a stone, cold and tasteless.

"Actually, it is also... It is not that anything can be pawned. If that was the case, it would not be called a pawnshop anymore. The key is to see ..." Shibao seemed to be afraid of offending this guy who seemed to have killed someone, so he carefully explained as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

The man in the black robe sneered, but he didn't say anything. His right hand slowly reached into his chest pocket, took out something from it, and suddenly placed it in front of Shibao's eyes.

At first, when Shibao saw the black-robed man put his hand into his pocket, his heart skipped a beat. He thought that he was going to take out some kind of weapon, but just as he was about to dodge, he saw that the black-robed man had taken out a book. Shibao heaved a sigh of relief and cursed himself for being so suspicious.

After that, looking at the book in the man's hand, Shibao couldn't help but feel at a loss as to what to do. He looked at the black-robed man blankly, smacked his lips, and swallowed his saliva.

"This is ..."

"It's a pawn!"

"Oh, then I, I... Can I take a look at this book?" Shibao pointed weakly at the book in the black-robed man's hand.

Hearing that, the man in the black robe hesitated for a moment, then looked at Shibao. After that, he expressionlessly replied and handed the book to Shibao.

Seeing this, Shibao was a little surprised. He looked at the black-robed man again and saw that he didn't have any other reaction. Only then did he hesitantly take the book from the black-robed man's hands and carefully flip through it.

Looking at the somewhat old book in his hand, Shibao had an indescribable feeling. Looking at it again, there were two words written on the blue cover. It might have been some kind of ancient text, but Shibao couldn't understand it.

Not only that, other than the words written in it that Shibao could not understand at all, the entire book made Shibao feel as if there was nothing special about it. It seemed to be a book that ordinary people could not understand.

Could it be that this guy cheated me of money because I was young? But look at this person... Such attire... Shibao thought to himself.

"This ..." This master, I don't understand this book of yours either... It ... Shibao was in a bit of a difficult situation, and he deliberately shut his mouth as he spoke to the black-robed man.

"Don't waste your breath. Just tell me how much this book is worth, okay?" The man in the black robe said with a slightly mocking tone, with a hint of impatience.

As expected, another guy came to swindle money! Shibao thought in his heart.

"Eh ... Master, what do you think, uh... How about ten cents? You can come back tomorrow if you think the price is too low, and let our manager see it. He may know the value of the book, and you know it, it... "

"Okay, ten wens it is! However, I will be back in two days to redeem the book. If you dare to sell it or make a mistake, humph! " The man in the black robe glared at Shibao with a ferocious expression.

Shibao did not expect him to agree so quickly, but what he said next gave Shibao a shock. He couldn't help but look up at the man in the black robe. His ferocious expression made Shibao's heart skip a beat, and his mind went into a daze.

Shibao suddenly felt as if everything he was thinking had been seen through. A cold feeling suddenly appeared in the depths of his heart, causing Shibao to be extremely shocked.

Shibao hurriedly replied, "This, this little one doesn't dare! Don't worry, when you came to retrieve the book, this little one will definitely return the original item. As for the interest, this little one can make a decision, I don't want a single cent!"

As of this moment, Shibao had ridiculous doubts about the black-robed man's intention to swindle money.

He didn't even dare to think about it.

"Also, do you have any books related to ancient text annotations in your store? If you have, you can name any price you want. "

At this moment, Shibao, who was writing a certificate, couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this. He had never encountered such a thing before, but then he frowned and said, "This... I think our shopkeeper will have it, but now... "

As he spoke, Shibao walked in front of the black-robed man and handed over the certificate.

"There's no need to rush. I'll come back in a few days to collect it all. Don't worry, as long as there's any, I'll double the price and interest." The black-robed man smiled strangely.

After that, the man in the black robe took it and walked out of the pawnshop.

By the time Shibao came back to his senses, the man in black had already disappeared into the darkness.

Seeing that the black-robed man had left, Shibao patted his chest and heaved a sigh of relief. He looked at the book in his hand and felt extremely depressed. In the end, he could only sigh softly and close the door.

"What a strange person ..."

However, just a few breaths after Shibao closed the door, two black figures suddenly flashed onto the street, paused for a moment, looked around, made no sound, and actually looked at the Lin's Pawnshop as well.

After that, they turned their heads and ran forward. In a few breaths, they disappeared without a trace, as if they had merged into the darkness...