He Holds a Rose from the Abyss

Even in such a noisy environment, Chi Lang still accurately captured Sheffield’s voice.

He had a very surreal feeling that he almost felt like he had heard it wrong.

Sheffield removed his hand from his face and instead held his hand, spreading his palm flat and placing a rose in his hand.

The rose that Sheffield had just plucked from the rose garden.

Sheffield gently squeezed his fingers again, bending his fingers up a little bit, letting him hold the rose.

“Take it back for me,” Sheffield said with a smile. “I’m going to meet the necromancer.”

“Will you be all right?”

“It’s fine, he’s just a nobody.” Sheffield took his hand with a smile in his voice, “Please take care of my rose.”

Sheffield glanced at the shadow again, the necromancer had left, but he could guess where he went. Sheffield straightened his sleeves and walked slowly into the darkness.

When Chi Lang returned to the bedroom, he first took out the withered rose from the vase and inserted the newly picked flower into it.

In his mind, the phrase “my rose” was replayed over and over again.

My rose, my rose, rose ah, he now feels restless when he sees the rose.

People really can’t live too comfortably, living too comfortably is easy to have some strange thoughts. After he solved the troubles of money, unconsciously, he began to think about deeper and higher pursuits.

Chi Lang laid down on the bed, took the quilt and covered his head, he rolled around on the bed and poked his head out of the quilt again. He drank a glass of water, then went to take a shower and read a book for a while in peace and quiet.

He went to lie down again, then sat up again and did an eye exercise.

And prayed sincerely to his eyes.

I beg you, he’s not here, can you stop showing his face? Fight a little bit.

As soon as he closed his eyes, Sheffield’s smile always appeared in front of him. Both the smile that blends into the night and the smile that is reflected in the sunlight during the day are separated from the almost black and white memory and becomes a colorful existence.

He suddenly felt that he was very lucky. In this world, the first person he met was Sheffield.

Chi Lang still sat up, took a few deep breaths, and started reading.

‘Can’t sleep,’ Chi Lang thought, ‘I seem to… like him… a little bit, ah.’

Chi Lang stayed in the bedroom until seven o’clock, Sheffield didn’t come back, he could only leave a note in the bedroom, and then went out.

Outside, the sky was clear and all the buildings were covered with a light golden shimmer.

‘So beautiful, just like Sheffield’s hair color,’ Chi Lang thought.

He restrained himself from continuing his rambling thoughts while walking slowly to the watch store outside the academy.

According to Luth’s request, he studied under one of the watchmakers here.

The watch store was small, with only a few clocks on one wall, and several pocket watches spread out on the counter, each different from the other.

In this day and age, there was something exquisitely beautiful about a hand-made pocket watch.

The shopkeeper took him to the workbench in the inner room, and since Chi Lang had already learned the theory here a few days before, today was the day to start the real hands-on work.

He needed to take tweezers and a monocular magnifying glass and start with the polishing of the parts.

When Chi Lang held the pocket watch, he glanced at the time on the clock hanging on the wall. Then he bowed his head again and began to do the work at hand.

Chi Lang felt that something was wrong.

The watchmaker was still explaining something to him, but he couldn’t hear a single sound. To be more precise, he couldn’t hear the outside world.

He could hear the hands of the pocket watch turning and the sound of its gears rubbing against each other.

Chi Lang held the watch in front of his eyes again. His eyes showed the structure of the watch, from the dial to the gears, all the parts seemed to become clear. And as long as he concentrated, he could even see the slight unevenness of the edges of the gears.

Chi Lang also naturally discovered the reason why the pocket watch was broken, it got stuck at the junction of two gears. He took the tweezers and, instinctively, began to do the repair work.

This instinct, like eating and drinking, without having to think about what to do at all.

However, this state did not last long, and Chi Lang’s eyes soon became blurred again. With another blink, the pocket watch was still the same pocket watch, but he could no longer see any parts, nor could he clearly hear the sound of the hands turning.

The world in his ears became noisy again, and he heard the watchmaker ask: “Hey, why have you started repairing? I haven’t finished talking yet.”

The watchmaker leaned over and said, “The place where you put your tweezers is right, it’s just…”

Chi Lang no longer had the heart to listen to what he had to say, he jerked his head up and looked at the clock, about one to two minutes had passed.

For two minutes, in the past two minutes, the weird state he had been through was like a hallucination.

Holding this watch, Chi Lang was completely unable to recall how he got into that state. And no matter how much he concentrated now, he could not return to that state.

On this day, Chi Lang tried many methods, but could not return to that state. But he knew very well that in that short minute or two, he could see the structure of the pocket watch and know how to fix it.

And at this time, his hands were sloppy, and the action of repairing the watch was very, very slow.

Chi Lang pondered about this and returned to the academy. He went to the laboratory first, and unexpectedly found that Luth had changed his clothes.

For someone like Luth whose clothes looked perpetually dirty when he didn’t leave the lab for years, this time, they are neat. He also combed his thinning hair and straightened his collar.

“Are you going out?” Chi Lang asked him.

Luth’s eyes looked a little arrogant, and he replied lightly: “Go to the opera house.”

Huh? Chi Lang thought it was a little strange, but he saw Luth sizing him up and down again: “There is a very good show seven days later… do you want to go with me?”

Chi Lang thought it was even more strange. Although he had heard Sheffield talk about the opera house before, he never thought that a person like Luth would also go there and invite him.

“No. I probably have to spend more time in the watch shop these days.” Chi Lang wanted to figure out the state of things today.

“Alright,” Luth began to organize his sleeves, “get the basics out of the way and get into the Magic Research Society sooner.”

“What on earth is the Magic Research Society? How do I get in?”

Luth glanced at him again: “Young man, don’t always think about asking others. If you can figure out some questions by yourself, just figure it out yourself. The reason why curiosity is a beautiful desire is that it forces you to explore knowledge.”

Chi Lang lowered his head, expressing his guilt.

Luth would always say something odd and strange, and sometimes Chi Lang had to admit that there was some truth in what he said.

“I won’t answer the previous question. But I can tell you how to get in,” Luth yawned, “as long as you can come up with anything that is novel to this world, whether it’s a finished product or a conjecture, it’s enough to be recognized by them.”

After Luth said this, he told him “Remember to close the door when you leave the laboratory”, and then left the laboratory to go to the opera house.

Chi Lang also didn’t stay in the laboratory, he slowly walked back to the dormitory. In fact, his mind was very messy, thinking about the Magic Research Society for a while, why Luth went to the Opera House for a while, and what happened at the watchmaker today.

In this mess of thoughts, he thought of Sheffield again, he wanted to talk about all these things with Sheffield.

Chi Lang didn’t see Sheffield in the bedroom, only a note left by Sheffield – “Whoever invites you, please do not go to the opera house for the next few days.”

Strange note, and it appeared after Luth had extended an invitation to him, as if Sheffield had known Luth would invite him.

Chi Lang still trusted Sheffield more. He carefully folded the note and put it in the book.

Sheffield didn’t come back until Chi Lang fell asleep, and when he woke up in the morning, he didn’t see Sheffield, but he was sure that Sheffield had come back.

Because there was a new rose in the vase.

Chi Lang went to the watch shop, this time making a point of remembering the exact time before picking up his pocket watch. Then he picked up the pocket watch again, and as expected, he saw the construction of the watch again, and all that remained in his ears was the sound of the hands turning.

He even felt that he could make a new pocket watch exactly like this one.

But this state didn’t last long, and when he got out again, he glanced at the time again.

A little more than a minute, excluding some judgment and watch time, the time he spent in that state was almost one minute.

Chi Lang put down the pocket watch. According to his judgment, he should only be able to enter that state once a day.

Although in that state, he can be described as omniscient about pocket watches.

But what is the use of one minute? One minute, even if a watch is repaired, there is not much meaning.

An idea flashed through Chi Lang’s mind like a blessing, what if it didn’t just work for pocket watches?

So Chi Lang went to the locksmith to find a lock the next day. The moment he picked up the lock, he clearly saw the internal structure of the lock.

Although only for a minute.

According to his current information, this ability was only once a day, and only one minute at a time, and it was effective for both locks and clocks. As for whether it would be effective for other mechanical products, he still had to verify.

Although he didn’t know what he could do in one minute, Chi Lang thought, let’s call this state “mechanical time” for now.

Well, if it only worked for locks and clocks, he would rename it “The Fast Minute of Locks and Clocks”.