Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1447: Chapter 174: When Night Falls, Say Good Night; When Day Breaks, Say Good Morning

On the town’s streets at night, a black cat wanders, sometimes disappearing, sometimes appearing, like a wandering soul.

It arrived at Mr. Smith’s restaurant, which was already closed and dark — at this time, Mr. Smith was naturally still in the hospital, accompanying his wife who had been admitted to the intensive care unit.

The black cat leaped onto the restaurant’s windowsill, watching inside… After a long while, it jumped down from the windowsill, once again wandering through the silent, deep night of the small town.

It passed the small park at the street corner, paused briefly, and continued to roam… its tail gently swaying.

As it walked, it stopped beside a homeless man sleeping in the alley — as it arrived, a mouse suddenly fearfully darted out from the man’s clothes, fleeing in a flash, disappearing into the sewer.

It didn’t pay attention to the frantically escaping mouse but lightly jumped onto the chest of the homeless man… crouching there, silently watching the man’s face.

Weathered, disheveled, bearded, wrinkled like folds… and the slowly decreasing body temperature — this homeless man’s life likely came to an end about half an hour ago.

Its tail still swayed, gently touching the man’s body, as if in some kind of caress — finally, the man’s body temperature was entirely exhausted, becoming cold, prompting it to jump off his chest.

As it left, the black cat’s tail brushed over the man’s forehead — the tail curled up at the tip, like a hook, pulling out something.

A grayish misty orb — it brought the orb into its mouth, subsequently nibbling away at it.

The cat, like a child strolling with a snack in hand… continued its wandering once more.

Eventually, it ended this wander, stopping before a house — this was Mr. Smith’s house, yet all lights inside were off at this moment.

It suddenly leapt over the iron gate, arriving at the door of the house — the black cat’s body began to grow, gradually transforming into a human shape… dressed in a black formal suit, Hades.

Hades stood before Mr. Smith’s home, adjusted his bow tie at the collar, then cleared his throat, gently knocking on Mr. Smith’s door — naturally no one would answer, as Mr. Smith’s entire family was in the hospital at this time.

He knew this, regardless of knocking for an hour, two hours, no one would open the door for him… He knew this, that’s why he’s knocking on the door in this way.

He knew this.

Later, he stopped knocking, instead retreating… down the steps, then moving the small flowerpot on the third step, reaching beneath the step’s board — he finally retrieved a key.

Opening the door, entering the house, closing the door… he didn’t turn on the lights, he could see everything in the dark.

He actually wanted to turn on the lights… perhaps turning on the lights would be nice.

He walked slowly into the living room, circled the sofa, then sat down — sitting upright, hands placed on his thighs, leisurely surveying everything in the living room.

A casually thrown blanket on the sofa immediately caught his attention — he took the blanket, wrapping it around himself.

He continued to survey the surroundings… his gaze quickly landed on the table ahead and the kitchen — he abruptly stood up, blanket draped, arriving there.

The stove still had the dinner Lady Elura initially prepared for Mrs. Deborah, but perhaps couldn’t deal with it in time when the ambulance came, simply turned off the heat and left it there.

He lifted the pot lid, it was borscht… evidently already cold.

However, his eyes lit up, he glanced around then directly stepped back, opening the disinfectant cabinet under the stove to retrieve a spoon.

Claiming to be Hades, he now cradled the pot from the stove, then sat at the dining table, using the spoon in hand to scoop up the cooled borscht, eating in spoonfuls.

Lady Elura possessed Russian lineage, hence generally prefers using beets for borscht… eating as he went, he eventually set the spoon aside, directly cradling the pot, drinking the remaining soup as well.

— Don’t eat so hastily! You’re getting it all over your face! Lift your head, and let mom wipe it.

He suddenly lifted his head like this, even closed his eyes, seemingly waiting for something — he didn’t wait for it, opened his eyes, then slowly sighed… He picked up a napkin, wiping his mouth clean of soup.

He stood up again, walked along the stairs going up, shortly arriving before a room’s door — this was Joe’s room.

Opening the door, he directly entered Joe’s room, coming to the 1.2-meter children’s bed, turned on the small lamp on the cabinet beside the bed.

He lay down like this, wrapped in the blanket, pulled over the duvet from the side, covering himself, then curled up, falling asleep.

Then he reached over and turned off the small lamp.

He murmured, “Goodnight.”

Then all was silent.

…

…

The next day quickly arrived… in this dilapidated house, as the first moment of sunrise reached inside through the cracks, Teacher Prin gently opened his eyes.

He seemingly didn’t look too tired, silently got up, then went to the bathroom inside the house, turned on the rusty faucet, simply freshened himself.

“Thank you for accompanying me through the night.” After freshening up, Teacher Prin looked in the mirror… spoke to a reflection of a certain spot in the mirror.

At the beam of the door a small mosquito landed, subsequently transforming into Nero’s form.

“Morning, big brother~” She casually leaned against the door, one hand combing through her somewhat disheveled bangs, the other surveyed Teacher Prin, soon changing to a smiling face, extending a palm, “Overnight fee, kindly 100 bucks~!”

Teacher Prin slowly turned around, calmly said, “I have no money on me, and… I can’t quite figure why someone like you would need money.”

Nero squinted her eyes and smiled, “Because there’s an unscrupulous manager up there, squeezing work without giving salary, so I’m really quite poor!”

Teacher Prin shook his head, “You already took away my book.”

Nero looked into his eyes and suddenly asked, “Do you recognize me?”

Teacher Prin was slightly surprised, then said, “Of course I recognize you, I don’t think my memory is that poor… After all, this is the third time we’ve met in the past two days, why do you ask that?”

The first time was in the abandoned warehouse, the second was last night in front of the hospital… and now it’s the third time—Nero quickly flashed through the scenes of these three meetings in her mind.

She immediately clutched her heart, looking pitiful, “Do you really not remember me? Clearly, when you were young and watching the moons with me, you called me big sister, ‘little sweetheart’, and said you would protect me forever.”

“Maybe you’ve mistaken me for someone else.” Teacher Pru opened his mouth.

At this point, he finally confirmed one thing, he really didn’t know this white-haired girl—she had multiple facets, each one was her… so all this time, he couldn’t be swayed by simple language.

Simultaneously, he was also self-mocking, thinking his understanding of people was still insufficient—originally, this white-haired girl couldn’t be defined by humanity, right?

“You really don’t recognize me?” Nero suddenly moved closer to Teacher Prin, tilting her head and scrutinizing him.

Teacher Prin lightly exhaled, saying, “I have a complete memory from childhood until now, and I’m sure I haven’t forgotten anything… So, it’s impossible for me to know you.”

“You’re lying.” Nero suddenly whispered, “You’re stating a fact within a lie.”

Teacher Prin retreated a step, increasing the distance between him and Nero, using the tone from their first meeting, said, “If that’s what you think, then so be it… I have nothing more to say. But I still hope you don’t approach Mr. Smith’s family anymore.”

“What if I do approach them?” Nero suddenly sneered, “I can take you out once, and naturally, I can take you out a second time. And this time, your book is still in my hands.”

“You mean this?” Unexpectedly, Teacher Prin casually raised his hand—a book with a black cover instantly appeared in his palm.

Nero was startled, instinctively blinking, then inserted her hand into her body, starting to rummage through… After a while, she couldn’t help but be amazed, “Huh, it’s really gone!”

“No time to linger, I’m heading out now.” Teacher Prin shook his head, “If you like to follow, then follow… but it’s best not to turn into a mosquito.”

He walked past Nero and proceeded to head out.

Nero suddenly whispered, “Hades.”

While observing Teacher Prin’s reaction—she noticed Teacher Prin did have a reaction to the name, but merely an unexpected one.

Teacher Prin turned around, curious, “Hades? Do you mean Hades from the Greek God System… Why bring up this name suddenly?”

Nero shrugged, “Don’t you find it similar? Your abilities… just like Hades.”

Teacher Prin was silent for a moment, “Maybe… It’s indeed a deathly power, but I’m not him.”

“I merely said it’s similar; I didn’t say you’re him.” Nero casually chuckled.

Teacher Prin nodded, then went out—he didn’t continue to engage Nero further, some things aren’t solvable by mere force… Moreover, considering even the book was used, yet still resulted in this, force obviously isn’t the solution.

If she were to keep following him, perhaps in some way, it’s a good thing.

As long as she sticks around, he can confirm she hasn’t approached Mr. Smith’s family.

Watching Teacher Prin go out like this, Nero leaned against the dilapidated house’s door, starting to ruffle her bangs, muttering to herself, “So strange…”

The Yama Sword had once cleaved half of Teacher Prin, swallowing this half completely—yet now, Teacher Prin had recovered, as if the severed half had never gone missing.

But this wasn’t what Nero found strangest—after all, she couldn’t completely comprehend the power of souls… She wasn’t like the boss or that unscrupulous maid either… Perhaps viewing Teacher Prin’s condition as his special ability made sense.

So, what puzzled her most was… the connection between stupid husky and Old Ha.

Old Ha recognized her, but stupid husky clearly didn’t, based on his past reactions—Old Ha’s words were scrutinized by Nero as well, and indeed they weren’t lies… Discerning lies seemed to be an inherent ability of Black soul envoy, allowing her to easily sense deception—no matter how emotionally controlled or skilled the opponent was.

Since neither Old Ha or stupid husky lied, what exactly went wrong?

Nero stretched lazily, shrugging her neck, “What on earth went wrong for your scents to be identical… It’s truly intriguing!”

So, what truly baffled Nero was: The Yama Sword had once swallowed half of Teacher Prin, and had sliced open Joe’s body extracting his soul, and also penetrated Old Ha’s body, touching his spiritual essence—yet Old Ha, stupid husky and Joe, the scent of their souls was unmistakably the same.

In simple terms—one soul split among three different beings. Old Ha and stupid husky possess similar abilities… like Hades, King of the Underworld’s power, whereas Joe is merely a five-year-old oblivious little dog.

Regarding Joe’s uniqueness, perhaps it’s only his sensitivity to perceiving the arrival of a Reaper, just a heightened intuition.

“Half a year ago?”

Nero suddenly recalled Joe’s mention of the family bucket incident, her gaze shifted as if forming a plan—she bit her lips, then forcefully mimicked a vomiting action… a lump of black-gray mass emerged directly from her mouth.

The lump had a small tail, little folded hands—a face somewhat reminiscent of her own, appearing notably juvenile—essentially like a ghost.

Nero contently patted the lump’s head, then pointed toward the direction where Teacher Prin left… the lump immediately chased after.

Subsequently, she planned to visit the local police station—but prior to the station visit, Nero decided to buy breakfast in the town.

Black soul envoy actually doesn’t require food… yet she still retains this habit.

Just as Da Zhe enjoys doing housework, just as the boss follows normal human routines—they all retain some former habits.

Of course, she opted not to return to the manor for breakfast because returning now would certainly make her the last to arrive!

No way she’d do the dishes!

Blah blah blah blah blah—!