19: Chapter 19 A Rainy Day Off

On the third day after returning from The Dark Channel, an unheralded winter rain fell over Tingen City.

The rain began falling at three in the morning, and by six, it had thoroughly soaked the entire city. A thin layer of water had accumulated on the cobblestone street of Zoutland Street, and before the streetlamps could be extinguished, their dim yellow light shattered into blurry patches of reflection in the puddles. Lu Li stood by the window on the second floor of the Blackthorn Security Company, holding a cup of black tea that had already gone completely cold. He watched the rain stream down the windowpane, washing the silhouette of the apartment building opposite into a blurry, gray watercolor painting.

He had worked four consecutive night shifts. The maintenance of the Chanis Gate seal, the re-inspection of the Textile Factory ruins, and the archiving of evidence from the Underground Channel Secret Room—each of these required his presence and signature. Yesterday evening, Dunn finally couldn't bear to watch any longer. Using his authority as captain, he forced a day and a half of leave upon him, writing in the remarks section of the leave slip: "Forbidden from entering the archives, the Potion Room, Chanis Gate, or any work-related areas. Any violation will result in a deduction of half a month's salary."

Lu Li had originally planned to sleep all day in his dormitory, but his biological clock woke him up right on time at six in the morning. He had grown accustomed to the Nighthawks' schedule—handing over shifts at four in the morning, sleeping until noon, and starting paperwork in the afternoon. Now, suddenly given an entire day of blank space, he found himself at a loss as to how to fill it.

He stood by the window for a moment, finished the cold black tea, and decided to go downstairs to find something to eat.

In the lounge on the first floor, Leonard was slumped on the sofa in an extremely unseemly posture. His upper body had slid to the edge of the cushion, the back of his head was suspended in mid-air, and his two long legs were propped over the armrest of the sofa. An open copy of "Selected Modern Loen Poetry" was draped over his face like an eye mask. His chest rose and fell evenly with his breathing, his mouth slightly open, emitting an extremely soft sound somewhere between a snore and a cat's purr.

Lu Li tiptoed around the sofa and walked toward the pantry. But before he was even halfway there, the poetry book on Leonard's face slid off, landing on the floor with a soft thid. Leonard sat up abruptly, speaking before his eyes were even fully open: "I wasn't asleep. I was contemplating poetic imagery."

"You contemplated for at least two hours," Lu Li said, leaning against the pantry doorframe and pointing at the red mark on Leonard's chin left by the spine of the poetry book. "That poetry book is only sixty pages in total, and you fell asleep by page ten."

"That's because the poem on page ten was exceptionally boring." Leonard bent over to pick up the book, glanced at page ten, and quickly shut it, stuffing it into the gap between the sofa cushions. The expression on his face was somewhere between shame and stubborn denial. "This poem is about a Shepherd waiting for his lover under the moonlight, waiting all night only for the lover not to show up. I don't think this kind of material is suitable for Nighthawks to read—what we wait for every day isn't a lover, but patrol logs and reports of Sealed Artifact abnormalities."

Lu Li did not expose him. He rummaged through the pantry cabinets and pulled out an unopened bag of tea leaves. Bringing it close to sniff, he found it was the Marquis Black Tea that Rozanne had brought from home last week. The label even read "For VIP Reception Only." Lu Li thought for a moment, put the tea back, and instead pulled out a tin of ordinary Ceylon black tea, more than half-consumed, from the bottom drawer.

"Don't take that," Leonard said, leaning over the back of the sofa and speaking in a solemn tone as if sharing a major state secret. "Rozanne has three hiding spots for her Marquis Black Tea. The bag in the cabinet is just a decoy. The one she's truly reluctant to let anyone drink is kept in the bottom drawer of the third filing cabinet in the archives, covered by a seal that reads '1347 Abnormal Event Review—To Be Destroyed.'"

"How do you know that?"

"Because the key to that filing cabinet sat in my drawer for two months without anyone claiming it." Leonard rolled off the sofa, shuffled over to the pantry door in his slippers, and lowered his voice. "I've only stolen it once—no, not stolen, borrowed. I only borrowed it once. That tea is indeed better than Ceylon, but you have to add two spoonfuls of sugar, otherwise it's as astringent as Old Neil's extraction solvent."

Lu Li put the Ceylon tea back into the drawer, took out the decoy bag of Marquis Black Tea from the cabinet, broke the seal, and scooped two spoonfuls into the teapot. Leonard's eyes widened. "Are you crazy? Rozanne will count the tea leaves when she gets back."

"I'll tell her you stole it."

"She would believe that." Leonard seriously considered the possibility, then took two teacups from the drawer and placed them on the tea tray of his own accord. "Since you insist on stealing—borrowing—it, as your accomplice, I have an obligation to help you share the loot. Two cups, both with sugar."

Outside the pantry window, the rain was still falling. The two of them sat in the lounge holding their teacups, listening to the patter of raindrops against the windowpane, neither of them speaking for a moment. Leonard's poetry book was draped over his face once more, but he didn't snore; he just lay there quietly, occasionally letting out a comfortable, idle sigh.

After a long while, Leonard suddenly pulled the poetry book off his face, revealing an expression he had been holding back for a long time, and sat up straight. "Let's change the subject. Yesterday, while patrolling Iron Cross Street, I ran into an old man selling antiques. On his stall, there was a copper comb said to have been passed down from the late fourth epoch. I couldn't resist touching it—and guess what? The teeth of the comb started combing my hair on their own."

"I assume you didn't pay for it."

"Of course I didn't. But the old man looked at me with a very aggrieved expression and said, 'This is the dowry used by the third young lady of the Antigonus family.' I told him, 'Old man, if the third young lady of the Antigonus family had a dowry, it would be locked in the sealed vault at the Nighthawks headquarters right now, not sitting on your street stall.'"

Lu Li lowered his head to take a sip of tea. Even when mentioned in casual banter, the surname Antigonus made a certain string in his heart vibrate gently. Yet Leonard's tone was so casual, as if he were discussing a name that only existed in the margins of an old newspaper. This was a skill unique to veteran members who had spent several years at the lower ranks of the Nighthawks—the ability to turn the most dangerous, hidden entities into jokes, using humor to dissolve the dread they should have inspired.

"And then?"

"Then the old man put the copper comb away and fished out something else from under his stall—a palm-sized silver snake-shaped pendant, claiming it was a genuine item from the Hoy Family's annual sacrifice. I squatted down to take a closer look. On the back of the pendant, there was an engraved sealing rune that was completely identical to the Antigonus secondary seal design Old Neil drew on the blackboard last week." Leonard rested his teacup on his knee, his tone shifting subtly on the word 'genuine.' "I bought it. Cost me three pounds."

"Your standard for distinguishing genuine items from fakes is based on the runes Old Neil draws on the blackboard?"

"No, it's based on the old man's expression. When he gave the quote, his eyes drifted to the left three times. Drifting to the left means he's making up the price; drifting to the right means he's making up the story. When he's making up the price, the item in his hand is usually real." Leonard tossed a sugar cube into his mouth and chewed it twice. "That pendant is currently in evidence locker C-7 of the archives, kept alongside Welch's notebook fragments and the silver sacrificial vessel. Old Neil said the rune on the back of the pendant is a rare variation of the 'ring of the snake,' and it will take three days to produce an analysis report."

Lu Li set down his teacup and thought for a few seconds. "You spent three pounds on a genuine Antigonus item, and then just handed it over to the evidence locker?"

"I don't have a hobby of collecting antiques. Besides, keeping anything with an Antigonus emblem under your pillow will give you nightmares—don't ask me how I know." Leonard yawned and leaned back on the sofa. "When I handed it in, Dunn took a look and said that once Old Neil finishes his analysis and confirms there's no residual contamination, it might be transferred to the Church Museum. If it really ends up in the museum, the label should read 'Donor: Leonard Mitchell.' I'll take a day off to go see it then."

His tone when saying this was very flat, expressing neither anticipation nor regret, merely stating an imagined future scenario. Watching him rest his teacup back on the tray, Lu Li suddenly realized that Leonard Mitchell perhaps knew how to survive in the mysterious world better than anyone else in the squad. It wasn't through caution, nor through intelligence, but through an innate sense of propriety—he knew when to be serious and when to relax; he knew what should be handed in and what should be kept in his heart. This sense of propriety was more precious in the Beyonder world than any Sealed Artifact, because it couldn't be acquired through acting, but could only be maintained by a person's natural adherence to a 'normal life'...

The rain outside subsided slightly. Lu Li took the initiative to wash the used teacups, wiped them dry carefully, and returned them to the cabinet. He resealed the bag of Marquis Black Tea and put it back in its place, then sat back on the sofa and spread open this week's edition of the "Tingen Evening Post," which he had taken from the lounge's newspaper rack. He didn't actually care much about the news; he was simply enjoying this temporary blank space of time where he didn't have to think about any conspiracies or seals.

A few shafts of afternoon sunlight leaked through the gaps in the clouds, shining onto the lounge carpet. Leonard's poetry book had been turned to page eleven; after reading two lines, he draped it back over his face. The distant tolling of the Saint Selena Cathedral's hourly bells drifted in, sounding much lighter than usual in the fresh post-rain air.

Lu Li turned the newspaper to the last page and wrote a letter in the first blank space of a crossword puzzle. At the end of the street outside, a vendor was crying out his roasted chestnuts, and a sweet fragrance blending caramel and charcoal drifted into the lounge window with the breeze.

The door to the lounge was pushed open. Daly stood at the doorway, holding three cups of steaming coffee in her hands, with an unopened bag of biscuits tucked under her arm. Seeing Lu Li and Leonard each occupying a sofa, she raised an eyebrow.

"I knew you two would be here," she said, placing the coffee on the coffee table and tearing open the biscuit bag. "Rozanne says some tea is missing and is currently making a report at the front desk. Which of you stole it?"

Leonard immediately pointed at Lu Li. Lu Li pointed at Leonard. Their fingers crossed in mid-air in a perfect misalignment.

Daly looked at them for a moment, then took two biscuits from the bag and placed one next to each of their teacups.

"Next time you two steal tea leaves, remember to wipe clean the tea stains in the cabinet. That's how Rozanne noticed the tea had been moved." She sat down on the opposite chair, lightly tapping the rim of her coffee cup with her fingertip, the corners of her mouth curving slightly. "But don't worry, I've already wiped the stains away. Consider this hush money. You two each owe me a cup of black tea. Brewed with Rozanne's Marquis tea leaves, and with two spoonfuls of sugar."

With that, she picked up her own cup of coffee, leaned back against the chair, and gazed out the window at the gradually clearing sky. Leonard picked up his poetry book again, turned to the dog-eared page, and actually began to read.

Lu Li filled in the second letter in the third blank of the crossword puzzle. At that exact moment, the sunlight outside poured in completely, spreading a bright sheet of gold across the carpet. Leaning back on the sofa, he let this fleeting moment pass as slowly as possible.