CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER 45: THE TOWN MERCHANT

The style of Cairns Town is different from that of Victoria City. The small town before him was filled with a British countryside style. The town wasn’t large, and outside each building, various plants were planted.

The flea market here was also organized based on the streets and the gardens in front of each villa.

In each garden, there would typically be one or two stalls.

Anyone could freely enter the gardens and select the items they wanted from the stalls.

Gu Xi wandered around a few gardens and discovered that, just as the carriage driver said, country folks indeed have an affinity for various kinds of mirrors.

Most stalls at the flea market were selling various mirrors, ranging from palm-sized makeup mirrors to full-length ones, from the currently trending mercury mirrors to the somewhat antique copper mirrors; everything was there.

Some people even managed to find a large number of mirror shards from somewhere and placed them on their stalls for sale.

Those coming to buy items didn’t mind this; instead, they would eagerly sift through the shards in hopes of finding something valuable.

Under such circumstances, Gu Xi didn’t just stand by and watch; sometimes, he would pick up a mirror shard to inspect its condition.

However, most were ordinary mirror surfaces, with only a few sections tainted with some mysterious power, though not heavily — they fell into the category of grey trash.

Yet, the vendors selling the mirrors didn’t consider their goods to be trash, often quoting relatively high prices.

Initially, Gu Xi thought carrying over a pound of money wouldn’t make him wealthy, but he could at least buy something here.

But he didn’t expect that he would be so broke here; with the little money he had, he couldn’t afford anything.

Meanwhile, Gu Xi also noticed some cultists here who didn’t bother to disguise themselves, walking around openly in black robes.

The vendors and passersby didn’t find this strange, and some even greeted them.

Gu Xi wasn’t interested in meddling in such matters.

At that moment, he was merely looking to kill some time and gain some knowledge.

Gu Xi had already planned to spend an hour or two here, have some lunch, then return to the previous bus stop and take the steam bus back.

Afterward, he wasn’t planning to leave the tavern. He just needed to wait for the people from the Destiny Compass to complete their task. Once he had set up the anchor point, he could exit the current game.

With this mindset, Gu Xi’s attitude while browsing the flea market was different from others.

He didn’t have anything he wanted to buy or sell; he was merely browsing to kill some time.

This change in attitude made the vendors view Gu Xi differently; they assumed he was an expert who wasn’t impressed with the items before him.

At this moment, as Gu Xi left one garden, intending to visit the garden in front of the next villa, a man surreptitiously stopped him.

"Sir, I think you’re looking for quality items, right? I have goods here, top-notch goods."

Gu Xi glanced at the man. He wasn’t very tall, with a prominent nose and deep-set eyes, a face full of freckles, and a tall top hat from under which unruly red hair peeked out.

He wore a black trench coat, and even while blocking Gu Xi’s path, he tightly gripped his coat, showing an action Gu Xi had seen with street vendors before.

"What’s this about quality goods?"

"Yes, over here!" The man’s eyes lit up, and after glancing around, he led Gu Xi to the roadside, where he pulled his trench coat aside to reveal what was hidden underneath.

When Gu Xi looked, he realized, oh boy, the man had hidden at least thirty mirrors inside his coat.

Most of these mirrors were mercury ones; among them were some intact ones and others that were broken. However, every mirror had different magic patterns engraved on them.

With Gu Xi’s current knowledge, he couldn’t fully recognize the situation with the magical runes on the mirrors.

"Well, didn’t I tell you? I have quality goods."

"Where’s it from?"

Gu Xi didn’t reach out but continued to observe from a distance.

"Don’t worry about its origin. I’m called Sorlo, I’m a professional, an adventurer by trade. I have the ability to find treasures. All these have been appraised by me; they’re nothing like the fakes at those stalls. Everything I have is quality."

From a distance, Gu Xi couldn’t determine the quality of these items, and he hesitated without saying much.

Sorlo noticed Gu Xi’s hesitation and immediately said, "Since you’re here, you might as well pick up one and have a look."

As he spoke, he removed his trench coat and handed it directly to Gu Xi.

No longer hesitating, Gu Xi touched the mirrors, and information about them appeared in his eyes.

[Ordinary Mirror Surface (Grey)...]

[Mirror Surface Tainted with Anomalous Qi (Grey)...]

[Mirror Surface Influenced by Mysterious Power (Grey)...]

[Mysterious Mirror Surface that Lost Its Power (Grey)...]

The more Gu Xi looked, the more he felt helpless, a change in his gaze that didn’t escape Sorlo’s notice.

This surprised Sorlo a bit; he never expected Gu Xi to be so picky.

These items were meticulously selected by him as premium items.

Even the professionals and powerful cultists from the city acknowledged his taste, but Gu Xi didn’t approve of any of the items.

After Gu Xi examined everything, Sorlo cautiously took out a box and said.

The box was thoroughly black, engraved with many magic patterns, seemingly sealing something.

"I sensed that you weren’t impressed with these, so come take a look at these few mirrors. It’s not that I didn’t want to bring them out; these mirrors are extremely strange, so much so that even I have to keep them sealed in a lead box."

"Open it and let’s see."

Though Gu Xi wasn’t satisfied with the mirrors on the coat, he had to admit Sorlo had a good eye.

More than half of the mirrors on the coat had anomalous qi — much better than the goods sold at the garden stalls.

Therefore, he still regarded Sorlo’s selection highly.

Upon hearing Gu Xi, Sorlo opened the box, and Gu Xi noticed that the first layer contained a shard of the mirror.

The shard was palm-sized but entirely made of pure silver, and at first glance, the original mirror was a fine item.

However, for some reason, Gu Xi sensed a distinct aura of death emanating from this shard.

Was this mirror dead?