Chapter 362
Almost on the other side of the globe, Professor Atkinson and Dolores were walking through a crowded night market dressed as tourists. It was just about the time when the night market was at its most crowded and lively, and since this is a civilian area, they were not able to use any spells to find the person they were looking for.
“Hello my good sir. You want some cheap El-Lu Wee bags?” a sketchy looking Chinese man approached them: “It’s very authentic, very nice looking, sturdier than usual as well! Buy one for this nice lady here! Hey! You want some cheap El-Lu Wee man?”
“No, no, thank you - we’re just here to look for someone.” Professor Atkinson shook his head and his hands.
“Jesus, the food does smell good though.” Dolores sped along the way with Professor Atkinson, avoiding passionate street vendors and the crowd generally.
“It should be right ahead - he said he would be meeting us in a seafood bistro ahead of us.” Professor Atkinson checked the map on his phone, then pointed forward.
“Of all the places, why a seafood bistro?” Dolores asked: “Isn’t Hong Kong also famous for other food as well? Doesn’t sound like something an elemental lord would enjoy.”
“Paulo isn’t just any regular elemental, isn’t he?” Professor Atkinson shook his head: “I heard a few days ago he was still in California, and now he’s here, having seafood and doing god knows what.”
“Jimmy! Here!” in just about five minutes, Professor Atkinson and Dolores saw a Chinese man sitting beside a table with a hotpot on it waving at them. Sweat was coming down from this Chinese man’s forehead, and as Professor Atkinson and Dolores came closer, they saw that this Chinese man was wearing a broken and loose white tank top, a pair of dirty short pants and flip flops.
Paulo Chang, a new elemental lord, and one that was active in the human world, both among civilians and power wielders, unlike most of his peers. If the professor and Dolores hadn’t known better, they would just assume he was just another late night foodie out for a snack, or in this case, a seafood feast.
“Jimmy, Dolores, welcome to Hong Kong.” Paulo Change showed Professor Atkinson and Dolores two chairs: “Sorry to meet you halfway around the globe, but trust me you won’t regret it. Come! Have some food with me. You want some pineapple beer? Some pissing shrimp?”
“What shrimp?” Dolores was confused by the name.
“Pissing shrimp.” Paulo Chang laughed out loud and picked up a fried mantis shrimp glazed with salt and pepper and threw it in his mouth, when he bit and chew it made a crunchy sound like a handful of fresh potato chips: “It’s just mantis shrimp - but I like this name better, more down to earth and sounds funnier. ”
“I’ll have a beer, please.” Professor Atkinson nodded and said.
“Same - we ate before we came.” Dolores sighed, though she was quite tempted.
“That’s a pity.” Paulo chang turned back and yelled at the owner of the bistro in Cantonese: “Low-ban - lyong jee bo lwo bear!”
“Pineapple beer, enjoy” the owner served chilly bottles of beer and placed them right in front of Professor Atkinson and Dolores.
“So, Jimmy, it’s been a while.” Paulo Chang scooped a huge spoon of shrimp from the hot pot and ate them all without even peeling: “What brought you here? And why must it be in person? - not that I don’t enjoy the company.”
“We want two badges.” Professor Atkinson took a sip from his beer and said: “We want to visit the edgelands.”
“Edgelands huh?” Paulo Chang nodded: “Why? Researching godfalls and relics isn’t fun anymore?”
“It’s somewhat related, and some of our findings have pointed us in this direction.” Dolores said: “To be specific, we want to visit some of the archives and libraries in the edgelands if they are still there, and some other historical sites if possible.”
“Yeah, yeah, I just came back from the edgelands a few earth days ago, the libraries and archives are definitely still there.” Paulo Chang said: “You’d better bring your own codex to read the books if your elemental common language is rusty. If you buy from the locals you’re definitely gonna get ripped off.”
“That won’t be a problem.” Dolores said.
“Good, good. ” Paulo Chang nodded, his eyes shined in blue and his movements froze for around five seconds: “It’s done. You’ll have your badges tomorrow morning, just let me know where you’ll be staying so it can be delivered. I need to remind you though, these badges can only get you to and from the edgelands, I will encode a message in the badges to let the keepers of libraries and archives know that you are my guests. But for other parts, like historical sites, special passageways, or the Bastion, you will need to talk to the ones in charge.”
“Understood.” Professor Atkinson raised his pineapple beer bottle for a toast: “Thank you very much!”
“Don’t mention it.” Paulo Chang bumped his glass with Professor Atkinson and Dolores: “We could use some human guests and scholars in the edgelands. It’s been decades if I remember correctly.”
“Decades? Has it been that long?” Dolores frowned: “My god - I thought I knew things were not well, I didn’t know our relationships had become this bad - ”
“It’s not our relationships, the relationship between humans, mortals and elementals are mostly the same as they were.” Paulo Chang lit up a cigarette and said: “It’s just that the edgelands have become less and less human friendly - mostly the environment. Which reminds me, don’t stay there for too long, if you intend to do more research, either transcribe or come back and rest regularly - you could sustain serious side effects or even injuries if you stayed there for too long. And also there’s the issue of creatures from the gaps appearing in the edgelands - ”
“Creatures from the gaps?” Dolores asked.
“Foul and ugly beasts born from the spatial gaps between different elemental realms.” Professor Atkinson answered with a frowne: “But how? I thought the edgelands were quite far away from those gaps?”
“Well, apparently not anymore.” Paulo Chang shrugged: “But don’t worry, if you stay within the protected area around the bastion, you should be fine - mostly.”