Chapter 22: 21、Jade Scroll
Menierman Sumei spoke softly, "It is a copy of the Jade Scroll made by Master Moni, the real Jade Book is in the Court of Destiny."
Charles was still profoundly shaken.
The Jade Scroll of Master Moni had also been included in university textbooks and was acclaimed as the pinnacle of human alchemy.
He also noticed that Menierman's expression was very complex, containing hatred, regret, sorrow, resignation, as well as many other indescribable emotions that were difficult to decipher.
Charles struggled to suppress the Bloody Glory boiling inside him to the extreme. Under the influence of the Jade Scroll, it was becoming increasingly uncontrollable. Out of curiosity, he asked, "Can these memories still be accessed?" He had always been curious about this question during his school days, but there was no answer in the textbooks, and the professors wouldn't explain, saying only that this was knowledge he should not touch.
Menierman said, "They will be crushed by the Jade Scroll and transformed into pure knowledge, the Jade Scroll does not retain any ordinary memories it extracts."
Charles understood that having one's memories extracted by the Jade Scroll was no different from killing a person.
The process of erasing memories was uneventful, and Zimmerman Axel Robin quickly became as dumbfounded as a wooden chicken.
The profound and ancient illusion of the Jade Scroll slowly vanished, and the countless drifting, insubstantial grey mists also disappeared along with it.
The glow of the Fighting Spirit on Menierman's body subsequently receded, and the Bloody Glory within Charles stopped boiling, retreating back to the Bloody Vortex between his eyebrows.
The Jade Scroll, this supreme alchemical treasure, had too strong an influence on supernatural powers.
Charles didn't feel at ease.
The alchemists, dressed in black overcoats and hoods, performed a series of operations and bestowed upon Zimmerman Axel Robin a brand-new personality and a forged identity.
His new name was Huntington, a captain in Kilmainham Prison, loyal to the Royal Family with exceptional martial techniques.
After the alchemists had done their work, they handed over a document. Menierman signed his name on it and then handed it to Charles, saying, "According to Imperial law, this document must be signed by two people."
Only then did Charles realize why Menierman had brought him here. He didn't dare to read the content of the document carefully, just scanned it briefly and signed his name.
Menierman didn't stay any longer and took Charles through that mysterious door, returning to Kilmainham Prison in the Marn District.
This short journey made Charles feel very oppressed.
Menierman had given him half a day off, and he had also finished work early.
Charles even hitched a ride in his direct superior's carriage, which dropped him off as he entered Val de Vaz District.
He returned to the Alexandria District, first terminated his rental contract with the Savings Association's apartment, paying a compensation fee, then hired a cargo carriage to have all his personal belongings moved by the apartment's manservant. He left the place he had lived in for a full two years, bidding farewell to the past of Charles Mecklen.
It wasn't until he arrived at Elysian Pastoral Street No. 58 that Charles realized how many personal belongings the former tenant actually had, some of which were books.
He put all the miscellaneous items in the large study room and moved the books to the small study, intending to store them separately.
The previous homeowner had taken away all the valuable items; there were no books left in either of the two studies. Books are very expensive in this world, and only the clumsy furniture was left behind.
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The larger bookroom was about sixty to seventy square meters in size, with all four walls lined with bookshelves, as well as an extremely large conference table, whose matching chairs were also left behind.
The smaller bookroom, which should more appropriately be called a resting room, contained a very old desk and matching chairs, two sofas for entertaining guests, and a recliner for napping, making it more suitable for daily rest. Only one and a half walls were outfitted with bookshelves, and it seemed that the space was not meant for storing books but miscellaneous items. Now, only some empty boxes and a few letters and such remained.
He didn't bother with other luggage and simply organized the small bookroom a bit, cleared out the miscellaneous items, placed the books he had brought over onto the bookshelves in the small bookroom, and also inserted the predecessor's diary among them.
These "predecessor" books were helpful in understanding more about his new identity, and he planned to peruse them when he had spare time. As for the diary, he always felt it was inappropriate, and never dared to read it again.
Since most of the original occupant's clothing had been discarded, apart from books, there were only some daily necessities left, such as tableware.
Charles's collection of tableware was quite small and made of tin, which was much cheaper.
After placing the tableware in the dining room, Charles felt hungry. There wasn't any food at home, and although he had brought some ingredients with him, he didn't want to cook them himself because...
The dishes made from those ingredients were hardly palatable.
Not wishing to waste the entire afternoon tidying up, Charles decided to go out for a bite to eat. He left No. 58, turned onto Elysian Pastoral Street, and soon passed a bakehouse. Without much consideration, he went in and asked, "What bread do you have today?"
In the Fars Empire, most bakehouses were independently operated by the ladies, who did everything from baking to selling the bread themselves.
Therefore, the style and flavors of bread varied greatly from one bakehouse to another.
The red-haired young proprietress of this bakehouse, about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old and petite in stature, smiled and answered, "Our croissants are famous far and wide. Would you like some?"
Charles smiled and said, "Then I'll take twenty, please."
The red-haired proprietress quickly packed twenty croissants for him.
Charles asked a few more questions and was delighted to discover that this shop actually had Dongli country's flower tea, which tasted much better than the Empire's black tea. He purchased some and then left the bakehouse.
Although Elysian Pastoral Street was very bustling, now was also a good time for a walk as the street was busy with people and traffic, Charles headed straight back to No. 58 without any further strolling.
Once home, he ate two croissants with clear water and put the rest in the side cabinet of the dining room, planning to use them as food for the next few days.
In this ancient alternate dimension Empire, there was no such thing as refrigerators, and food could not be kept for long.
After hesitating for a moment, Charles decided to go down to the basement to take a look. He had already explored the three-story house but hadn't yet visited the basement. With daylight still good, it was the perfect time to take a tour.
Charles lit a kerosene lamp as the architects in the Fars Empire would never allow windows in a basement. This was a characteristic of the Empire, and even during the day, the basement was inevitably dark.
It would be rather inconvenient if it were night.
The staircase to the basement was long, with three turns, and at each turn, there was a lamp stand on the wall for placing a kerosene lamp, indicating that the basement might be over five "pimi" high.
Charles had done the conversion; one "pimi" in the Empire was slightly longer than a meter on Earth, with one "pimi" being about 1.15 meters. With this ceiling height, the basement was considered quite spacious.
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