Three days later, in the early morning, there was a cafe with a "Kandi and Cook" sign in the East District.
Opposite Ed was a hale and hearty old man with only a gray beard on his chin, wearing a patchwork of colorful clothes. The gap between his front teeth is very large when he speaks, and he looks a bit shrewd, but not conspicuous.
"No, thank you."
Facing the cigarettes that the other party took out from the cigarette case and handed over, Ed waved his hand to refuse, then looked around and whispered:
"I said, is it really okay to meet here?"
It was breakfast time right now, and the surroundings were full of workers and clerks who were eager to fill their stomachs and go to work. As long as you were attentive, you could hear the conversation between the two of them.
"Relax. As long as you act natural, it's better here than trying to find a remote corner joint."
The old man put the cigarette on his lips, put the wooden cigarette case back, fumbled for the matchbox in his pocket and lit the cigarette, took out his handkerchief and dusted off the crumbs left by the previous guest, and finally looked calm and calm. He explained angrily:
"This is a cafe, not a bar. After the people here have had their fill of cheap tea and dry bread, they either go to the dock to move things and unload the goods, or they carry their briefcases and squeeze into the public carriage to rush to the city center. There are not so many likes. Nosy bastard.”
It does sound like that's what happened...
Ed nodded, "Let's talk about business..." He did not touch the cup of turbid coffee on the table, which looked not much cleaner than the puddle he fell into last night, "You should know the purpose of my coming here. .”
The document Eaton gave him included a partial list of intelligence agents in Silvermist City. The investigation mission has been released through the Eagle's Nest, and Ed's task is to wait for subsequent investigation reports and find out potentially useful clues to verify them one by one.
"Yes, "Wild Boar" El, the guy from the other side..."
The old intelligence agent put out the cigarette butt, slowly ate the pea stewed lamb in the bowl with a spoon, and took a bite of the pear:
"I heard that the fragrant pears in the Principality of Hundred Flowers are good. Unlike the local pears in Laeria, they not only taste sour, but also leave a mouth full of dregs when chewed. Speaking of which, I went to the Principality of Hundred Flowers several times when I was young. The people there do I am really good at cooking, except roasted snails——"
"You do have clues about him, right?"
Ed quickly interrupted his nonsense. He still had five or six pieces of information to deal with today. Counting the distance, even if he rushed there non-stop, he would have to wait until late at night to get it done. He would not have time to chat with people.
"Yes, that's right - you see, I just chatted for a few words and you became impatient. Young people must not be impatient, especially in a profession like yours. The more impatient you are, the more likely things will go wrong."
The old man wiped the stew juice on his lips with the edge of the bread, folded half of it and stuffed it into his mouth and continued:
"I'll make a long story short, he works as a clerk in a second-hand antique store in Flea Bottom."
"Flea Alley? Won't anyone doubt his accent?" Ed wondered.
The so-called "Flea Bottom" is Flea Alley, the largest flea market in the East End. But in a place like this where people come and go, no one noticed a new foreigner?
"What are you suspecting? There are at least 100,000 gangsters in the East District, many of whom are illegal immigrants from foreign countries. These guys are not protected by labor laws at all. Small shop owners like to hire these outsiders."
The old intelligence agent smiled with his big yellow teeth.
Although considered a ruthless leader, Richard II did go against all odds during his reign and enacted the first labor rights bill in history, the Lyrian Labor Guarantee Act.
All formal citizens holding Lailean nationality are protected by the Lailean Labor Security Act. These include the "fourteen-hour maximum working hours principle" and a series of minimum compensation guidelines for injuries and illnesses caused by work.
Unfortunately, however, hiring non-citizens is not covered by the act. Therefore, many shopkeepers like to hire immigrants and illegal workers as laborers.
"Why didn't he just leave Silvermist City? Is there a reason?" Ed asked.
A Level 2 Extraordinary would endure the humiliation and work illegally in Silvermist City. Well, the fat and thin duo did similar things...but that's because they couldn't get out of the city at the time, and Mr. Boar could obviously have escaped long ago.
"I'm afraid you have to ask him yourself about this. I am an intelligence professional, not a psychological counselor."
The old man who cleaned up the food smiled, took out a handful of salt-fried sunflower seeds from his pocket and started eating it. This must be the source of his big gap in teeth:
"Denver antique store. I'm sure you can find out the address."
This was the first time Ed heard such a definite answer. The intelligence agents I met in the past two days were very careful in their words, "may appear somewhere" and "maybe related". There were few statements as confident as this old gentleman.
"Well, it seems I have to go there myself. Thank you for your service."
In any case, the information this time was indeed worth a trip to the field. He stood up and wanted to shake hands with the old intelligence agent and say goodbye.
"Please do it. If you want to thank me, you'd better pay the bill."
The old intelligence agent ignored Ed and unceremoniously moved the broth and coffee that Ed had not touched in front of him.
Ed smiled helplessly, walked to the bar, took out a small silver 1 shilling coin from his pocket and handed it to the landlady's hand.
Coffee was a penny, stew five pence, and a portion for two people cost exactly one shilling - a luxury price that other diners could not imagine, and most people could only afford two or three pence for breakfast.
The worker who was busy filling his stomach with tea and filling his stomach with bread was finally attracted by the reflection of the silver coin. He turned his head and glanced sideways at Ed. It seemed that the words they just said were not as conspicuous as this shilling.
