hotmtlnovel Chapter 19 Sir, you are very suspicious.
Chapter 19 Sir, you are very suspicious.
It just doesn't seem right for a monocle to be in this kind of place, does it?
Suspicious +1
Suspicious +1
……
As Lorne lifted Rachel up, he slowly leaned closer to examine the monocle.
This!
This monocle looks like...
It looks quite valuable.
Although he didn't have much knowledge of appraisal, the original owner, as a rich young master, often played with antiques, so he naturally had some extraordinary inspiration or intuition.
Lorne naturally inherited this trait. As a "monster," his intuition was exceptional, so he could immediately recognize the extraordinary nature of what lay before him.
This is at least an antique!
This stone chamber is at least several hundred years old. Could this monocle be a burial item? No, that's not right, there's no coffin here either...
Lorne turned his gaze to the stone box that had just been opened.
Could it have been in the box from earlier, but I opened it too roughly and didn't notice it, so it flew away with the lid?
"Laki, how are you?" Lorne held the cat in his arms up to his eyes.
"Meow~" Laki meowed softly, seemingly unchanged.
amount……
Laki has been rummaging around for ages, there shouldn't be any problems, right? If it's an antique, then this trip won't be a complete loss... Lorne bent down to pick up the monocle.
wrong!
Lorne's knees froze halfway down—this thing was too clean, so clean that it stood out starkly from the surrounding environment, which had been steeped in centuries of dust.
"Could it be a trap, like the one just now?" Lorne recalled the nesting doll box from earlier.
"But Laki was fine after touching it... Maybe it's okay for animals, but not necessarily for humans..."
He decided that when in doubt, he should consult the oracle first, so he took out his pendulum and cast a divination once again. After receiving a result confirming that everything was safe, he was still a little uneasy, so he put down the cat he was holding.
"Rachi, I've taken care of you for so long, it's time for you to put your talents to good use."
"Go, bring me that monocle, and remember to be gentle with your bite."
Lorne was directing the cat, which he hadn't actually raised for more than a few days.
Laki, now back on the ground, shook herself, glanced at Lorne with a speechless look, then swaggered over to the monocle, picked it up like a mouse, and leisurely walked back to Lorne's side.
Although fate had not given any warning, Lorne always felt a strange sense of dread whenever he saw the monocle.
Lorne took the monocle from Rachi's mouth, gently wiped it with his finger, and examined the little gadget carefully in the dim light of the torch.
"It's not glass; it looks like it's made of polished crystal."
"It does indeed look like an antique."
This occurred after Russell spearheaded the Industrial Revolution and began the widespread use of glass in the world. Before that, humans had not mastered the technology to make lenses from glass, so almost all lenses before that were made from polished crystal.
However, once glassmaking technology matured, glass completely outperformed natural crystal in both effect and cost, and crystal lenses gradually fell out of fashion.
Lorne was actually quite curious about these glasses. They only had frames and lenses but no temples, so to wear them, you had to use your eye muscles to hold them in place.
This requires the wearer to have as deep an eye socket as possible; otherwise, the item will touch the eye directly and cannot be worn at all.
He definitely couldn't bring it with him before he time-traveled, but he should be able to now.
"This is?"
Just as Lorne had searched around without finding anything and was about to leave, he was surprised to find something at the stone door.
It was a rectangular piece of paper.
"Playing cards?"
Lorne only realized it was a 3 of squares when he got closer.
It's quite exquisite! Unlike the mass-produced goods from a factory... He picked it up and examined both sides.
Hand-painted, it can also be considered a work of art.
Could it be from this room?
Monocles are understandable, but surely playing cards can't have a history of hundreds or thousands of years.
Lorne suddenly had an idea.
Wait! Could it be that I'm too late, and all the truly valuable things inside have already been taken?
This monocle was also left behind by someone else.
No way, why am I so unlucky!
……
……
It took several more hours to get back to the city from the outskirts of Tingen. This time, the harvest was not much, which made Lorne a little depressed.
"Well, it wasn't a complete waste of time," Lorne consoled himself, fiddling with his monocle.
……
"Be vigilant; the Aurora Society members may do some unpredictable and crazy things."
"Captain, the spirits around us are acting strangely," Leonard said to Dunn Smith beside him, gripping his pistol.
"Yes, one of them is injured and should still be around here." Dunn nodded and continued:
"Cohenri, you stay where you are and keep watch."
"Luo Yao and I entered the alley next to us from the front and back respectively."
"Leonard, go down the other road to prevent them from taking a longer route to escape."
Dunn analyzed the situation and made arrangements.
"If you run into them, just deal with them for a while," Dunn said to Leonard before leaving, remembering something.
"We'll be there as soon as we hear the noise."
Leonard pursed his lips and chuckled, "Don't worry, Captain, I'm very strong."
Seeing his teammate's confident demeanor, Dunn nodded without saying anything more.
……
……
"Without realizing it, we've come this far. By the way, which street are we on?" Lorne looked around and was a little disoriented.
Streetlights in this era were mostly gas lamps, whose illumination was incomparable to those of the streetlights in the original world. Moreover, there were not many streetlights, which could only provide a little light at night, allowing people to barely see the road.
By the time Lorne was walking back from the outskirts of Tingen, it was already dark, and by the time he returned to the city, it was well past the time when he could hail a horse-drawn taxi.
Having no other choice, Lorne had to walk back to the Azure Hotel.
"A world without electric lights is such a hassle! By the way, could I invent an electric light and apply for a patent? After all, this world does have electricity."
"If that's the case, a generator would work too. Besides, the original owner was a follower of the god of steam and machinery, so it would be reasonable for him to invent something." Lorne thought about how to use the knowledge from his original world to generate income for himself.
The treasure hunt yielded far less than he had anticipated: only an antique-looking monocle, a playing card, and a somewhat worn wooden box. It was a far cry from the scene of gold and jewels Lorne had envisioned.
Rent, food expenses, and the recipes and materials for potions needed for subsequent promotions all cost money, especially promotions. The recipe for a Sequence 8 potion alone costs around 500 pounds.
500 pounds, in terms of purchasing power, is roughly equivalent to 40 in the original world. And that's just the recipe; the materials would probably cost several times more.
In addition, he also owns a cat.
"I'm short of money."
"Meow!"
Laki, who was lying in Lorne's satchel, suddenly cried out in alarm.
"What's wrong with Laki...?"
"this……"
Lorne was speaking when he felt his spiritual intuition being triggered.
Something's wrong around here!
"This time the feeling wasn't as strong; it shouldn't be a warning from fate."
"Was it just that the 'monster's' ability was triggered?" Lorne stopped and carefully observed his surroundings.
"Walking on the street so late at night, sir, you're very suspicious!" Leonard emerged from the shadows at the street corner.
However, he saw the person in front of him take something out of his pocket and put it on his face.