Lord of the Mysteries

Returning to his chair again, he heard the faraway cathedral’s bells chime again. It continued seven times before Zhou Mingrui slowly stood up. He went up front to the cupboard and took out his clothes.

A black vest with a matching suit, trousers that clung tightly to his legs, a halved top hat and his faint scholarly air made Zhou Mingrui feel like he was watching an English drama set in the Victorian era.

He suddenly muttered softly as he shook his head with a wry smile, “I’m not going for an interview. All I’m doing is buying some ingredients to prepare for my luck enhancement ritual…”

Klein was so concerned about his impending interview that it became instinct. When he was not focused enough, he habitually wore his only decent set of clothing.

After taking a breath, Zhou Mingrui took off his suit and vest, switching to a brownish-yellow coat. He also changed to a felt hat with a rounded edge of the same color.

With his outfit done, he walked to the side of the bed and lifted a square cushion. He reached his hand into an inconspicuous hole beneath and rummaged around before finding an intermediate layer.

When he retracted his right hand, there was a roll of notes in his palm. There were about eight notes with faded dark green colors.

These were all the savings Benson had at the moment. It even included the living expenses for the next three days. Two of them were five-soli notes and the remaining were one-soli notes.

In the Loen Kingdom’s currency system, soli was ranked second. It originated from ancient silver coins. One soli was equivalent to twelve copper pence. They had denominations of one and five soli.

At the top of the currency system was the gold pound. They were also paper based but were guaranteed by gold and pegged directly. A gold pound was equivalent to twenty soli. They had denominations of one, five, and ten gold pounds.

Zhou Mingrui spread a note and caught a whiff of the faint unique ink.

This was the smell of money.

Perhaps a result of Klein’s memory fragments or his constant desire for money, Zhou Mingrui felt like he had instantly fallen in love with these notes.

Look, their designs are so beautiful. It makes the stern and old-fashioned George III and his two mustaches appear especially adorable…

Look, the watermark that can be seen when the note is placed against sunlight is so alluring. The exquisite design for the anti-counterfeit label makes it completely different from those fake fancy schlocks!

Zhou Mingrui admired it for nearly a minute before pulling out two one-soli notes. He then rolled up the remaining notes and stuffed them back into the cushion’s concealed layer.

After arranging and flattening the cloth around the hole, Zhou Mingrui folded the two notes he had taken out neatly and placed them into the left pocket of his brownish-yellow jacket. He separated the notes from the few pence he had in his trouser pocket.

With all of this done, he placed a key into his right pocket and brought a dark brownish paper bag along with him and quickly walked toward the door.

His shuffling footsteps slowed down from a brisk pace until it eventually stopped.

Zhou Mingrui stood by the door and was unsure when he had already begun to frown.

Klein’s suicide was fraught with peculiarities. Would he encounter any ‘accidents’ if he were to leave just like that?

After some deep thought, Zhou Mingrui returned to his desk and pulled open the drawer. He then took out the shimmering brass revolver.

This was the only defensive weapon he could think of, and it was the only weapon with sufficient power!

Although he had never practicing shooting, just pulling such a revolver out would definitely daunt anyone!

He caressed the revolver’s cold metal before stuffing his revolver into the pocket where his notes were. He clasped the money in his palm as his fingers pressed onto the gun’s handle. It was perfectly concealed.

Feeling secure, he who knew a little of everything suddenly had a worry.

I end

of a solution. He drew the revolver and released the cylinder. He then aligned the empty chamber which was a result of the ‘suicide’ along

even if there was a misfire, he would discharge an ’empty

into his pocket, Zhou Mingrui kept

his hat with his right hand and pulled

in from the window situated at the end of the corridor. Zhou Mingrui quickly went down the stairs

had unique climate characteristics. The highest annual temperature was not even 30°C on Earth, with even cooler mornings. However, the streets were awash with filthy water and strewn junk. From Klein’s memories, this was not a rare sight in low-income communities, even if there were sewers. After all, there were just too many people and

try our delicious

a bowl in the morning and feel invigorated

fish from the port for

and eel soup make the

“Conch! Conch! Conch!”

the farms outside the city.

…

the rushing pedestrians. Some of them would stop and carefully compare before purchasing. Others would impatiently wave their hands

in his left hand, he held

citizens who were working part time after losing their

until he reached a point where the crowdedness around him restored to normal. He straightened his back and raised his head to

The melody was

several children in ragged clothes with sallow complexions due

listened to the music and moved to the beat, dancing self-made choreographies. Their faces were filled with joy as though

passed by; her skirt was

gaze appeared dull and sluggish. Only when she looked at the bunch of children did a faint glow flash. It was as though she had seen herself from three decades

into another

was a seventy-plus year old granny named Wendy Smyrin. Her hair was completely grayish-white and she always wore a genial smile. From the

the Tingen biscuits and lemon cakes she

gulped a mouthful of saliva

eight pounds of

where’s Benson? Is he not back?” Wendy

more days,” answered Zhou

Wendy took the rye bread, she sighed. “He sure is a hardworking

of our Khoy University~ Oh, you will soon be able to earn money. You should not be staying in the apartment you are currently living in. At the very

to be a young and energetic woman today.” All Zhou Mingrui could do was respond with

it was true

rooms, two bathrooms, a huge balcony upstairs, two rooms, a dining room, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and an

gold pounds and ten soli. One had to know that despite working for so many years, Klein’s brother, Benson, only had a weekly salary of one pound and ten soli. Ordinary workers at a factory did not

earning three to four thousand yuan and earning fourteen to fifteen thousand

this was under the premise that he passed

were unable to get recommendations to become a public servant. And those who studied history were more limited in job opportunities.

into account that the knowledge Klein grasped were fragmented and incomplete, Zhou Mingrui felt awkward and guilty

I have always been this

brown paper bag that Zhou Mingrui

half a pound as differences

eleven pence two

pence the month before the

the streets for the repeal of the Grain Act,” said Wendy as she