Chapter 281 (1/2)

After being led in circles through a weird, old street in Athens, the group finally arrived at the Shadowy Divide, a peculiar spatial anomaly trapped in time. Most of the modern buildings had disappeared by then and were replaced by ancient, stone buildings as well as statues. Most of them slanted towards the centre of the road like hunting beasts ready to pounce. Hao Ren noticed at the end of the twisted street, stood a building that was vastly different from its surroundings. It looked rather old, but it bore the hallmarks of a modern two-storey, corner lot building with red bricks and blue tiles. The ground floor had a giant glass window and there was a signboard by the door, akin to a storefront.

The “old friend” whom Vivian was looking for was standing in front of the shop waiting for them. She called herself Hesperides, which was a rather odd-sounding name.

Hao Ren eyed the lady, who was clad in black for a moment. He was rather interested in this “old friend” that Vivian made despite her insular nature. Hesperides looked like a lady in her early thirties and she was wearing a rather conservative, dark dress. Her look was mature and attractive, but there was some sort of gloomy aura about her that made it hard for you to focus on her face too long. There was a peculiar ornament hanging across her forehead. It was beautiful but you’d be hard pressed to find another person wearing such an old fashioned piece of jewelry nowadays. It looked almost like it came out of a wall carving.

“You seemed to have made some new friends.” Hesperides was pleasantly surprised by the number of strangers that Vivian brought along. As she sized them up, the caution in her eyes flickered and disappeared. “Hmm… You having one friend was a rarity enough. To see you with so many… my, my, what actually did happen?”

“Not much, I’m just living life day by day.” Vivian shrugged and went into the shophouse. “I’m not here for idle chatter today.”

Hao Ren followed Vivian into Hesperides’ shop and noticed that the store was chock-full of old items. It appeared that the first floor was indeed a shop lot, and there was a long counter near the staircase. There were old clocks, weird-looking masks, worn-out wooden carvings and a whole lot of thingamajigs on the counter as well as nearby shelves. Vivian frowned at the messy scene, the housewife in her tingling almost to a boiling point. “This is so messy… Why are you always lugging trash around every time I see you? What are you up to now?”

“Now? I’m selling antiques of course,” Hesperides replied nonchalantly as she pulled out a few chairs for the group to sit. She herself was seated behind the counter. “I can’t be idling all the way. I need to have something to do or else I’ll rot away. That little girl over there, don’t touch the stuff on the counter. That mask was worn by a pharaoh before.”

Lily quickly placed the scary-looking mask back onto its stand as she stuck her tongue out at Hao Ren. “So, what do you go by, nowadays? What do I even call you?” Vivian said as she pointed at Hesperides.

“I go by Christine these days… I’ll probably use it for a good decade or two.” Hesperides shrugged.

“Christine?” Vivian frowned. “A follower of Christ? What’s gotten into you? How did you face your liege?”

“It’s just a name anyway and my liege has been dead for a long time, so who cares?” Hesperides shrugged her again. “And I guess you’ll be calling me by my real name soon, you and your horrible memory.”

Lily was staring at the antiques around the room before something struck her. Pointing at Hesperides, she exclaimed, “Ohhh!! No wonder your name’s so familiar! Isn’t Hesperides the name of the evening nymph in Greek mythology?”

Hao Ren was stunned by the news while Hesperides waved her hand. “That was a long, long time ago. Please don’t bring it up. Now, even I need to buy a ticket to visit Athena’s temple for nostalgia sake… This just makes me sad….”

Lily slid down her chair in excitement. “Oh! So, it is true?!”