Garon tried his best to look normal as he suppressed the wound on his chest.
It seemed that he had to go to the dojo for a check-up.
"Ying Er, I'll eat at the dojo later. You don't have to worry about me. I'll take the food home first. "
"You're going to the dojo again? It's rare for mom and dad to have free time." Ying Er pouted.
"It's okay. I heard that mom and dad's work is getting easier. We'll spend more time together in the future." Garon rubbed his sister's hair and smiled. He secretly asked his master to adjust his parents' work positions. It seemed that it was working.
But what made him puzzled was that his uncle could easily do the same thing, but why didn't he do it?
After putting the food home, Garon went downstairs and went straight to the dojo.
The city seemed to be undergoing major renovations. Some places were being demolished and rebuilt. There were workers and bullock carts everywhere. The usually clean streets in the city center had become dirty and messy.
As he walked quickly on the sidewalk, Garon kept thinking about the three people he met earlier. He was getting more and more suspicious.
"If the talent that the old man once told me about was that kind of invisible force field, then I'm not sure if it's that kind of talent. Then the key to all of this is that book! It's the book that I've read before! " A glimmer of light flashed through Garen's eyes. "Back then, it was after I read that book that the old man showed a disappointed look, saying that I didn't have the talent in this area. After that, I never saw that book again. Maybe that's the key clue … "
Garen walked slowly on the street. Just as he turned a corner, a small biscuit cart slowly approached him. The old man who was pushing the cart smiled as he walked past him. He passed a small piece of paper to Garen without batting an eyelid.
Garon was slightly stunned. He looked down at the paper. There was a drawing of a golden ring on it. There was a line of words below.
"Stone Bridge No.3, 28 Willow Street. Something important."
Garon kept the paper and took a deep breath. He turned a corner and walked toward the zebra crossing in the middle of the street.
*****
Huaidong Noodles
A light yellow river slowly flowed through the city center. It was like a yellow ribbon in the city, dirty as if it hadn't been washed for a long time.
On both sides of the river were rows of pale yellow square houses. They looked like two rows of building blocks that were not neatly placed. They were of different heights and were a little mottled. Vaguely, one could see people walking past the windows of the houses from time to time.
On the surface of the river, there was a grayish-yellow stone bridge at regular intervals. On the bridge, there was an endless stream of vehicles and pedestrians.
On the stone bridge furthest from the city, there was a silver-black half-body sculpture in the middle. The sculpture was more than three meters tall, and it was the sculpture of a man with a mustache surrounded by flowers.
A white-skinned man wearing a checkered sweater stood in front of the bronze plaque in front of the statue. The man looked to be in his thirties or forties. He had brown eyes, a typical aquiline nose, and short gray hair. He gave off a gloomy and silent feeling.
On the left side of the bridge not far away, a strong young man with short purple-black hair slowly walked over. The man was wearing ordinary black sportswear. Although the clothes were loose, they still couldn't hide the outline of his muscles, making the clothes bulge. The faint sunlight shone on the skin of his bare arms. A layer of white fluorescence appeared faintly, as if a layer of white ash had been smeared on his body.
When the man walked past the black statue, he glanced at the aquiline-nosed man standing beside the bronze plaque. The aquiline-nosed man calmly shook his right hand, revealing a golden earring in his hand.
"Ninth Lord?"
"Ninth Lord?" Garon frowned and looked at the aquiline-nosed man in front of him. He suddenly remembered that he had just taken over the position of Golden Hoop Number Nine, and immediately understood. "What's the matter?"
"Sixth Lord is studying the corpses of those people. He thought that you might be interested, so he asked me to inform you," the aquiline-nosed man replied respectfully. His voice was very soft, just enough for the two of them to hear.
"Corpses … Take me there," Garon's face darkened and said in a low voice.
"Okay, please come with me."
The aquiline-nosed man turned around and strode towards the other side of the stone bridge. Garon followed closely behind.
After crossing the stone bridge, the city smell on the street faded a lot. There were very few cars, and most of them were ox carts and horse carriages. Black cow dung could be seen on the side of the road from time to time.
The two of them quickly crossed two streets and walked into a small path with a green hill on one side. A black wall was built on the other side of the path, separating the path from the surrounding residential buildings.
The entire path had entered the outskirts of the city, and the sound of crickets could be faintly heard from the hill on the left.
Garon followed the aquiline-nosed man and walked forward quickly, looking around from left to right from time to time.
Quack quack …
The sound of ducks came from the front. After turning a corner, a flock of Bai Mao ducks came from the grassland in front of them, swaying and quacking. An old farmer wearing a yellow straw hat was leisurely chasing after the ducks with a branch in his hand.
Garon and the aquiline-nosed man slightly avoided the ducks and continued to walk forward. Soon, they saw a wide and flat yellow field at the end of the path ahead. It looked like a small open field. Behind the open field, a light yellow two-story building stood tall, surrounded by small green trees.
The sun shone down, covering most of the building in the shade of the trees.
"This is the place." The aquiline-nosed man walked to the entrance of the flat field and stopped. "This is one of our temporary bases in Huaishan. Please come in, the Sixth Master and the others are waiting for you upstairs. "
Garon glanced at him, but didn't say anything. He strode forward and walked into the building.
A black-haired woman walked out of a room on the second floor. She was tall, with her long hair tied into a ponytail. She wore a tight-fitting leather jacket that showed off her curvaceous body. The most eye-catching thing was her eyes, which were dark purple.
The woman's skin was fair, and her facial features were delicate. However, her eyes gave off a cold feeling.
She seemed to have seen Garon below. Her eyes narrowed, and then she turned around and walked into the room with a cold snort.
Garen was speechless as he smiled.
"Golden Hoop Number 10 is also here … Looks like she recognized me." He shook his head, lowered his head, and strode into the building.
He walked up the stairs quickly. On the right side of the second floor, there was already a muscular man with dark skin.
"Please come this way. According to the rules, please wear the ring that represents you," the muscular man reminded him in a low voice.
Garon nodded, took out the golden ring from his pocket, and pinched his earlobe. He hesitated for a moment, and then put it on his left pinky. The size of the golden ring was just right. He turned the earring and moved the number side to the top. Then, he strode into the room on the right.
There was only one room on the right side of the stairs on the second floor.
The room was spacious.
There was a square table, two bookshelves side by side, and a few high-back chairs. They were all made of a reddish-black wood, and he could faintly smell a light fragrance.
Two people stood in front of the bookshelves, a man and a woman. The woman was the black-haired, purple-eyed Golden Hoop Number 10, and the man was a blonde, one-eyed man. The two of them leaned against the bookshelves and seemed to be chatting.
Beside the table, the red-haired Golden Hoop Number 6 was playing cards with a pale man in a black cloak.
"You're here? Everyone is here. "Golden Hoop Number 6 stood up with a smile and threw down the cards in his hand. "Number 8, sorry, I won again."
"Bullsh * t!" Number 8 cursed, and stood up to look at Garon at the door. "You're here? You're a bit late. "
Garon nodded. "I'm not familiar with the place, sorry." It was Number 8 who invited him to join the Golden Hoop, so they were quite familiar with each other.
He walked directly to Number 8, pulled out a chair, and leaned against it.
"Why did you suddenly call me here?"
Golden Hoop Number 6 smiled, but didn't answer him directly. Instead, he gently clapped his hands.
"Alright, everyone, everyone is here. It's rare that so many of us are gathered here for the Silversilk Castle. From me to Number 10, five of the top ten are here. This is a rare situation that we've been in for many years. "
"Cut the crap." The purple-eyed woman from Golden Hoop Number 10 rudely interrupted him. "We have our own areas to be responsible for, and we're not here to listen to you waste time."
"Alright, alright." Number 6 scratched his head. "First, let's introduce our new member, Number 9!"
Clap, clap, clap …
Sparse applause could be heard.
Garon shrugged.
"I don't know anything yet."
"This is for you." Number 8 gave him a stack of white papers. "You can't take it out after reading it. Someone will burn it."
Garon took it and looked at it.
The information was all about the Golden Hoop.
After casually flipping through the information, Garon had a general understanding of the Golden Hoop organization.
The entire Golden Hoop was a large-scale organization that sold relics, antiques, and jewelry. Through the connections of the top ten Golden Hoops, they gathered information about different antiques. Once a buyer had a demand and offered a price, the people in the organization would immediately act, either by stealing or robbing. They would definitely get the item.
Most of the top ten Golden Hoop leaders weren't directly related to each other, but were on the same level. They each had their own connections and power, and they were only united because of their own interests.
Every top ten Golden Hoop was responsible for the management of an area, which included the source of information about antiques and the contact with sellers. The acquisition of antiques could be done by themselves, or through other areas within the organization. It was a network of interest groups.
Just as Garon was looking at the information, Golden Hoop Number 6 continued to speak.
"In recent years, the customer's demand for Antiques of Tragedy has increased, so Number 9 joined us as an appraisal expert. He has a special talent, which is to be able to verify the authenticity of Antiques of Tragedy. That's why I agreed to accept him. "
"Number 9 is also a Secret Technique Practitioner. In terms of level, he should be about Level E, "Number 8 continued. "Previously, we had already decided that Number 9 would join us with three votes. Now, let's end this here. Number 6, let's get down to business. "
"Alright." Number 6 nodded. He glanced at Golden Hoop Number 10, who was spitting disdainfully, and said with a smile, "Our Golden Hoop's higher-ups occasionally change. Didn't Number 7 just join us not long ago? It's only been two years. Alright, let's get down to business. "
His face gradually became serious.
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