Chapter 1381: A Situation
Tim sat opposite Ning, wondering what was happening. Jasmine, on the other hand, wasn’t as willing to just sit around.
“I need to keep looking,” she said. “Those jewelry belonged to my mother.”
“They’re long gone,” Ning said. “There is no point in searching for them anymore. You can only report to the authorities after getting off at the next stop.”
“Will they even find her?” Tim asked with a sad look on his face. “I… I did not think that Miss Penelope could be a thief.”
“Neither could I,” Ning said. “Now, both of you come here. I have something to help you calm down.”
Ning brought out the leather book with golden embossed lettering on it, the Book of Treasures.
Tim looked at it with a somewhat confused look. “How will this help us calm down, Sir Ning?” he asked. “Isn’t this book just to—”
“It will,” Ning said. “Come one, place your palm on the left page.”
Ning opened the book to a random empty section and had Tim place his hand on one of the open pages.
Tim wondered if the book had other abilities that he wasn’t aware of. That was surprising given the fact that technically, this book was his.
He had used the book, and thus he was aware of everything the book could do.
While it was an amazing book, it was only capable of doing just one thing. It could only show the description and history of treasures that were placed on the pages.
‘Hmm, does the book count humans as treasures by some chance?’ Tim wondered. ‘Am I going to look into my own history to see where that woman has disappeared to?’
If that was the truth, then he would be very much surprised at how this book could be used.
“Your turn,” Ning said to the woman. “It will help you calm down.”
“Truly?” the woman asked curiously. “Is that… a Zurin treasure?”
“Yes,” Ning said. “It had a calming effect to it.”
“Incredible,” she said softly. “It is not every day you see two treasures being used at one.”
She placed her gold bejeweled hands on the page.
Tim looked at the hand and then at Ning, slowly realizing that Ning was maybe lying this entire time. He had certainly lied just now, so he could have been lying from the very start.
He wasn’t trying to do anything but have the girl in front of him place her gold on the book.
‘Is he trying to check if one of these rings is a Zurin Treasure?’ Tim wondered. That had to be the case.
He used the book, and a golden glow brightened the room suddenly. When the glow vanished, he looked at the pages quickly and saw… nothing.
There was nothing in the book. None of the rings that this woman wore were any sort of Zurin treasure.
He looked toward Ning, searching for any sort of hint as to what he should have done.
However, Ning wasn’t focusing on him at all. Instead, his eyes were fully focused on the door of the compartment. He suddenly darted to the door and held it close tightly.
“What are you doing?” the woman asked, suddenly turning around to look at Ning. However, Ning’s eyes were focused on another part of the train.
He ignored the woman and smiled at the space underneath the desks, reaching out into the empty space.
Something jutted out from the empty space and stabbed Ning in the palm, but it was no different than stabbing a large sheet of metal with a flimsy knife. The sharp tip of whatever was invisible couldn’t pierce through his skin.
He grabbed the object and yanked it out. The thing in his hand suddenly became visible, turning into a sharp awl with an old, bulbous wooden handle.
Ning tossed it aside. “Come out on your own accord or I will kick you down there.”
The train rattled soundlessly and no one could see anything, except for Ning. He looked straight at the invisible woman, a look of genuine surprise at the fact that Ning could even see her.
She stood still in the middle of the compartment, with Tim unable to see her at all. He could only judge where she was based on where Ning was looking at.
The faint light of the electric lantern was just bright enough to add a creepiness to the figure that appeared from invisibility.
Clad in a tight dress that hugged her body, with a skirt that went down past her knees, was not Penelope at all. Instead, it was a young woman with long black hair that cupped the side of her face, which held a cold look.
It was Jasmine.
“What?” Tim shouted out immediately in surprise. “Two people? Twins?”
“No…” Ning said while looking into the eyes of Jasmine who showed her emotions on her face. A look of anger, embarrassment, hate, and fear. “The one in front of you is not Jasmine, I fear.”
Ning reached back for the Awl and tossed it to Tim. “Stab her.”
“What?” Tim freaked out.
“Stab her. Hard!” Ning ordered. “You’ll see something.”
Tim hesitated for a bit, but as he was hesitating, he noticed something very weird. The woman that was standing in front of him, looking at Ning did not move at all.
She stood still, not even a hint of breathing to her. The situation was very weird.
He reached out to grab her shoulders and he felt the woman’s physical body. It was there. It was a real body. However, the woman was still neither breathing nor reacting to his touches.
Tim thought of nothing else and stabbed the woman on her shoulder with the awl. The woman didn’t show any reaction at all. He barely felt any feedback at all either.
Tim grimaced as he pulled the awl back out and saw no blood leaking from where he had stabbed her. In fact, there wasn’t even a wound.
“What… What is going on?” Tim asked very much confused at this point.
Ning continued staring at the real woman who had arrived and smiled. He put the book forward.
“If you would be so kind.”
pronovels.com
