Chapter 170 Eavesdrop and Act

Han Xiao and his group took a low-altitude transport flyer to the northern part of No. 8 City. The lead from the Rock Mercenaries pointed to a popular commercial street, bustling with people and noisy. The street was wide, with a fountain plaza in the center and various shops along the sides.

Following the address, the group arrived in front of a shop. The building was painted in a riot of colors, with magical lanterns that changed color on both sides of the open door.

Melos looked up at the shop name and his face twitched.

"Philobiblios Bookstore… What kind of name is that?"

"Let's go in and see."

Stepping into the shop, the interior was surprisingly simple. The floor was smooth, brown wood, with rows of glazed wooden bookshelves filled with books. These books exuded a rich magical aura, seemingly high-end magical texts recorded in magical script. The shop was filled with the scent of books. In a place like Noria, almost only mages still used books, so this was clearly a mage's shop.

The clue said that someone here knew the target's whereabouts. Han Xiao looked around. The bookshelves obscured the view, so he couldn't see if anyone was inside. He patted Melos on the shoulder, signaling him to call someone.

Melos was about to speak when he suddenly realized a problem. "Wait, why don't you do this kind of small thing yourself?"

"You're strong, have a loud voice, and full of vigor," Han Xiao said expressionlessly. "Mainly because I'm too lazy to call."

"…"

Melos glared at him and shouted, his voice like thunder.

"Is—any—one—here!!"

Rattle…

A noise came from deep within the bookshelf, as if the person inside had been startled by the shout and accidentally bumped into the shelf, causing a pile of books to fall, accompanied by a painful "Ouch".

"W-wait a moment, I'm coming out…"

A male human wearing a mage robe hobbled out, constantly sucking in cold air. He had been hit on the foot by a brick-thick book. When he saw the group, he put on an enthusiastic smile.

"I am the owner of this bookstore. Do you like singles or multiples? Do you prefer beautiful or brutal? What race of creatures do you like? Oh, you are all humanoid species, I have humanoid creatures of any skin color here!"

The group was confused. Sylvia couldn't help but ask, "What are you talking about?"

The mage shop owner blinked and suddenly realized something. "I see, I also have hybrids. Whether it's insects, fungi, beasts, or machines, I have any race you can think of, guaranteed to meet all your tastes!"

What's with the hybrid stuff, do you think you're rice?!

Han Xiao felt more and more that something was wrong. "Isn't this a bookstore?"

At this moment, Aroshia flipped open a book on the bookshelf. Everyone looked over. This magic book was full of illustrations, and the images were moving, lifelike. This was a kind of image-retaining magic, often used for recording, like a movie being played in a book, each image a fragment.

It looked high-end, but the content was…

"Ah!" Sylvia's face turned red instantly, and she quickly turned her head away, but her eyes couldn't help but drift back to the book.

"Th-this…" Melos looked dazed, his worldview shattered.

Aroshia seemed thoughtful. "So this is the process of material life reproduction…"

"Discovering unknown information buzz… Data collection in progress buzz…" Phillip's mechanical eyes flashed wildly, capturing every frame.

The Volga brothers moved like rabbits, snatching a large pile of books from the bookshelf with lightning speed, spreading them out on the counter. "How much? I want all of these!"

"Stop it."

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, reached out, and slammed Aroshia's book shut, casually throwing it aside. He stared at the mage shop owner and said in a deep voice, "I'm looking for a guy with precognitive abilities. He should have left you a message."

The mage shop owner's smile suddenly froze, becoming disappointed. He muttered to himself, "Not here to buy books again. I've already decorated the place so formally. Why are people so afraid of others knowing about this kind of thing?"

He glanced at the group, and the mage straightened his clothes, standing up straight. His lecherous aura suddenly changed, and he looked like a mage should. "Let me introduce myself. You can call me Yi Xuan. I am a teleportation mage. This bookstore is just a side business. My main business is providing teleportation services."

In some magic-oriented planets or advanced civilization planets, there would always be mages who run teleportation businesses, teleporting customers to another location on the same planet, saving the time spent on vehicles. The farther the teleportation distance, the greater the consumption and difficulty, so generally, it was only used for teleportation on the same planet. Rarely would there be inter-planetary teleportation, because if the location wasn't accurate, the customer would be thrown into the universe. Only powerful enough mages dared to perform ultra-long-distance teleportation.

When Ames blasted the DarkStar mothership, she used teleportation magic to instantly arrive from several star systems away, and the caster was another Super-A Grade mage who she sparred with. The precise positioning was on the Longtan floating island, which happened to be present at the time. It was an incredible feat of magic to have no deviation across several star systems.

"You're a teleportation mage?" Han Xiao asked. "So the target I'm looking for was teleported by you to another place in Noria?"

Yi Xuan shrugged. "He paid, I teleported, a normal transaction."

"Where did he go?"

"Ha, I won't reveal customer privacy so easily." Yi Xuan grinned. "Oh, right, he also left me a message to pass on to everyone who is looking for him."

"What did he say?" Han Xiao frowned.

"He said he wants to play a game with you. As long as you steal the Crystalfire Heart, he will meet you."

"Crystalfire Heart?" Han Xiao nudged Phillip with his toe. "Check it out."

"Searching buzz… Found it buzz…" Phillip's mechanical eyes suddenly shot out rays of light, forming a semi-transparent projection in the air, showing the Crystalfire Heart's information.

[Crystalfire Heart: A ring ornament made of rare crystals born in lava, very exquisite and luxurious. Legend has it that it can immunize against high temperatures and burning. It was once auctioned for 7.93 million Enas and bought by Noria Consortium leader Rockefeller to give to his wife. When Rockefeller and his wife attend public events, his wife always wears this ring…]

"Se-seven million nine hundred and thirty thousand!" Melos almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Spending so much money just to buy a broken ring to please a woman?!

That could at least buy several warships!

His worldview was crumbling again.

Han Xiao's face changed. "He wants me to steal a priceless ornament from the wife of a super consortium leader? Is he trying to use us or is he just messing with us?!"

Stealing valuable ornaments from the wife of the consortium leader who controls this planet in Noria is a death wish!

The Dragon Emperor's teacher is clearly trying to mess with me!

"Don't ask me, I'm just paid to pass on the message." Yi Xuan spread his hands. "Rockefeller's wife is in Noria, but don't expect me to teleport you there directly. I don't want to be seen as your accomplice."

Narrowing his eyes, Han Xiao said in a deep voice, "I'm not interested in completing this excessive request either. Where exactly did you teleport him to?"

Yi Xuan was impatient. "Didn't I say, I won't reveal customer privacy, and don't think about bribing me. I have professional ethics."

"Then don't blame me for beating you up." Melos immediately put on a ferocious expression, raised his fist the size of a casserole, stepped forward, and prepared to scare the teleportation mage.

His hand was about to touch Yi Xuan's collar when suddenly, something unexpected happened!

Buzz—

A circle of light doors suddenly appeared, precisely in the tiny gap between the two. Melos was startled. He reacted quickly, immediately stopping his momentum, hastily halting, and about to retreat. Unexpectedly, red tentacles suddenly stretched out from the light door, wrapping around his body, suddenly bursting with great force, directly pulling the unbalanced Melos into the light door, disappearing without a trace.

Immediately afterward, a vortex-like whistling sound came from the air, and the light door rotated, shrinking toward the center point, quickly disappearing without a trace.

"Melos!" The eldest of the Volga brothers exclaimed.

Everyone's faces changed suddenly.

The atmosphere froze for a moment.

Yi Xuan glanced at everyone triumphantly.

"As expected, just like that person said, people who come looking for him won't get the information they want and will threaten me. Hmph, you didn't expect it, I was prepared!"

Han Xiao was quite calm, helplessly supporting his forehead. When Melos acted, he noticed something was wrong and wanted to stop him, but before he could speak, Melos was tricked—a martial artist's quick movements are also a problem!

Sure enough, the target guessed this situation, so he reminded the teleportation mage in advance, tricking them in the process. When the target made the excessive request of stealing the Crystalfire Heart, it formed a "cause" for the prediction, and even without using precognitive abilities, he could calculate their reaction, knowing that they would most likely reject the request and then look for other ways to get the information from the teleportation mage, and threatening was obviously a very likely behavior, thus putting them in a dilemma.

'Teleportation magic, a tricky ability…' Han Xiao clicked his tongue inwardly. Melos was unlucky and got caught. The first priority was to get him back.

The atmosphere was tense. At this moment, Yi Xuan pointed to the door, with an expression of being in control, and said lightly, "I am proficient in teleportation magic, and I am always in a state of being about to trigger it. Before you touch me, I can teleport away, so don't think about threatening me.

"And your companion wanted to offend me, so I will make him suffer a little. I will teleport him back in two hours, throwing him at the north gate of No. 8 City. Then you can go find him yourselves. I am not interested in fighting you now. If you are not buying books, then please get out of my bookstore. You are not welcome here!"