"Sorry, sir, Mr. Xilin has left."

"What, Hei...Mr. Xilin has left?"

Laird hurriedly rushed to the address Jiangxi Lin left at the end of the letter, but after all, he still could not see the Black Crow Master he had always wanted.

"Yes, sir, Mr. Xilin left a little after five o'clock."

Rachel looked a little weak when she looked at the sturdy man in front of her who was more than twice her size.

Although there is nothing out of the ordinary in his behavior so far, except that his voice is a little louder and his tone is a little more urgent, which is a bit scary.

"All right."

Laird sighed,

"What time does Mr. Xilin usually arrive in the morning?"

"Well... sometimes it's around eight-thirty, sometimes it's nine o'clock."

Rachel said not very sure. After all, Mr. Xilin is a junior arcanist and can be late and leave early.

Although Mr. Xilin is rarely late or leaves early.

"Thanks."

Laird's anxious mood has now slowly calmed down.

"You're welcome, sir."

Rachel responded politely.

Although the strong man's voice was still loud when he spoke, it was no longer so urgent that he seemed to be grabbing his neck and questioning him sternly.

…

…

Jiang Xilin took An An and opened the door.

Immediately, there was an extremely comfortable warm air blowing through the entrance hall.

After changing her shoes, An An ran straight to the study room on the second floor with her schoolbag on her back.

Recently, An An can control more and more stars, so he also took out some basic knowledge books that he had obtained from the Bright Arcana School in Dongting City for An An to read and study.

Jiang Xilin hung his handbag and coat on the coat rack in the living room and followed the smell of dinner to the kitchen.

Standing at the door, leaning against the door frame, looking at Vera in the kitchen with her long brown hair tied into a bun, revealing her slender neck,

"What delicious food did you cook tonight?"

"Fried fish steak, braised fish head with beans, boiled bitter chrysanthemum, and bread slices or wheat rice, you choose."

"Slices of bread."

Jiang Xilin knew that both Vera and An An grew up eating bread, and it was okay to eat one or two meals of wheat rice occasionally.

"OK."

Vera replied, then took out the bread, chopping board and knife from the cupboard, turned to look at Jiang Xilin,

"Do you want to cut it?"

"OK!"

Jiang Xilin did not refuse, but walked in with a smile.

He rolled up his sleeves, washed and dried his hands, and then cut the bread.

"Is there any news from Dongting City?"

"The letter was sent just a few days ago. How could it be so fast?"

"I see, I'm impatient."

Jiang Xilin smiled and put the sliced ​​bread into a glass dinner plate.

"It's useless to be anxious. It takes five or six days to come back and forth. By the way, Xilin, have you encountered any problems at work recently?"

When she said the latter sentence, Vera stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Jiang Xilin beside her, with deep concern in her eyes.

"No?"

Jiang Xilin's smile was imperceptibly blocked for a moment, and then he continued to cut the bread with his head down as if nothing had happened.

"Why do you ask so suddenly?"

"Because you didn't seem to be in a good mood last night, and you seemed to have something on your mind."

Vera's expression was very serious, and she did not take her eyes away from Jiang Xilin.

Jiang Xilin's smile became even brighter as he lowered his head to cut bread.

He stopped what he was doing, put his head next to Vera's fair ears, and whispered teasingly:

"It's my fault that I went to bed too early last night and didn't satisfy you, leaving you with energy to think wildly. We'll go to bed later tonight. You have to work hard and try to hold on longer..."

Vera really had no shame in listening to this.

So she raised her hand and pushed Jiang Xilin gently. When he couldn't push, she hit him twice and said with a shy face:

"You, don't say this, this...thing to yourself! I'm talking to you about business."

Jiang Xilin was amused by her shy expression.

He raised his arms and gently put his arms around her shoulders,

"Last night I just thought of some bad past events, events from a long, long time ago, so my mood was somewhat affected. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"As long as you're fine."

Vera lowered her head with a blushing face, gently brushed the broken hair on her face, and murmured softly.

…

…

After the daily meditation training, Jiangxi Lin answered a few questions about the "General Outline of Arcane Science" for An An.

Then the little guy left with satisfaction.

Jiangxi Lin was sitting behind the desk, looking at the thin "General Outline of Arcane Science" bound in cloth on the table.

He vaguely remembers that this was redeemed when he attended the secret gathering of the Bright Arcane School for the first time in Dongting City.

At that time, he eagerly read this book back and forth countless times.

Now I compare it with the original content of the book again and look back at the reading notes I wrote before, and I find that my understanding at that time was so shallow.

"Bang bang bang."

There was a slight knock on the door, and Jiang Xilin turned his head and looked over.

Vera stood at the door with her wet hair disheveled.

Her cheeks turned red from the steam. She looked at Jiang Xilin and shouted softly:

"Xilin, do you want to sleep?"

Jiang Xilin put down the "General Outline of Arcane Science" in his hand, stood up and walked to Vera's side, smelling the moist fragrance emanating from her body.

"You've already taken a shower. Didn't you say you were waiting for me to come with you? You were still thinking you could help me rub my back!"

"You and An An were meditating in the study, and I took a shower first. I didn't say I wouldn't rub your back after I took a shower."

Vera rolled her eyes speechlessly.

Then she felt her vision shake.

It was Jiang Xilin who suddenly hugged her sideways.

…

…

A hall of unknown size.

Countless phlogiston lamps with dancing flames are scattered here and there.

But the space seemed to be always shrouded in a layer of black fog, and the light of the phlogiston lamp was completely compressed to a radius of less than ten meters.

Once out of the range of the phlogiston light, you immediately enter the darkness where you can't see your fingers.

And in the center of this vast room.

There is a three-tiered altar.

There is a throne made of steel placed on the altar.

Sitting on the throne was a strange young man who was half flesh and half machine.

He leaned sideways against the armrest of the Iron Throne, holding his forehead with his right hand, and twisting a piece of letter paper with his fully mechanical left hand, reading word for word.

The more he looked at it, the higher the right corner of his mouth was raised, while the mechanical face on the left half had no expression, which made the already weird man even more weird.

He kept this posture and read the contents of the letter, then sat upright, raised his head, stared into the abyss-like darkness above his head, and murmured as if to himself:
Chapter completed!