Michael gave no reply.
He frowned and pondered the meaning of the bookstore owner's words. Police... He definitely isn’t referring to the ordinary police. This fellow seems even more like a mastermind pulling the strings from the shadows compared to me. There’s no way he's referring to the ordinary police, can he?
If this fellow has been awaiting me to take the bait from the beginning and has everything all laid out, he's definitely the mastermind from the shadows.
Therefore, the police he refers to are probably the 'police' from Secret Rite Tower that maintain the extraordinary world order and have that inexplicable sense of justice.
Before arriving here, Michael had only roughly learned about the situation here and didn't even bother using aether to investigate. He knew that next door was where the Church of the Dome traitor, Vincent, had gathered believers of the church and probably where he was planning to convert them.
But he hadn't really noticed the involvement of Secret Rite Tower personnel.
In any case, all these people were like ants and he didn't care what happened to them. The only one Michael was concerned about was this bookstore owner.
Who would have expected things to have screwed up on the spot...
Now, this body of his was ruined and things seemed a little complicated.
Now hearing what the bookstore owner said, it seemed as if he was implying that Secret Rite Tower had set up an ambush here... Although Zuikaku and his magician corps were pretty strong, they still couldn't go up against Secret Rite Tower.
Most importantly, Lin Jie seemed to have a clear understanding of Michael's thoughts, and even seemed well prepared.
"Haa..."
Michael narrowed his eyes. He knew that the man was indeed stronger than him, but still didn't believe that he was omniscient.
He would rather attribute all this to the bookstore owner's wisdom, taking a single step while planning ten steps ahead. This was indeed the sort of game people at their level played.
"Perhaps 'Wisdom' suits you even better than Felix. Seems like you have never shown all sides of yourself to others."
Michael has tacitly assumed that the bookshop owner Lin Jie was Bakak, the Calamity Dragon known as the symbol of 'Devastation' who had disappeared during the First Era.
Although he was the Great Light Elemental Scholar and had survived since the First Era, he still wasn't as old as those Ancient Dragons.
When Michael first started to make a name for himself, Ancient Dragons had already largely disappeared, and there was only an old dragon, Origin Dragon, Felix. Michael had once visited this old dragon once, but heard of its demise shortly after.
Since his opponent was a powerful elder, Michael's attitude naturally changed, and he was willing to give his opponent due respect.
Huh? Lin Jie was confused. What's with his tone? Why is he praising me after being seen through?
Lin Jie had never heard of the name “Felix”, but from his tone, Lin Jie could roughly tell that this person had come straight for him from the start.
Not only did he know Lin Jie, but it seemed like he had also learned about Lin Jie from a lot of other people.
And now, he discovered that Lin Jie in person was rather different from the rumors and was in fact someone very intelligent... Lin Jie even suspected that this fellow was actually beating around the bush to say that he wasn't smart, but didn't have the proof.
Or perhaps this fellow failed in his bid to feign insanity and changed his game plan to stall him and wait for reinforcements or find a chance to escape?
Lin Jie could not be fooled by this evil trick, but since the other party seemed to have a desire to pour out his thoughts, Lin Jie would naturally try to extract some information from him.
Deceiving people was something he was most adept at, and there was no way he could lose against such a guy.
At least, that was what Boss Lin thought. He then replied nonchalantly, "What others see isn't the real me, of course. They rely on subjective feelings and what they get is second-hand information that is already processed. And when you hear of this information from others, that is already third-hand information.
"You rushed over to try to kill me without fully understanding me." Lin Jie glanced at the youth with an air of superiority.
"From this, I can infer that you aren't very 'smart'."
While I don't know whether this fellow was actually mocking me, I'm sure it won't go wrong if I took the offensive.
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This seemingly haughty youth looked like someone who couldn't handle provocations. And people were more likely to speak without thinking when they were angry.
This bit was most important because the other party had assumed Lin Jie was an ordinary bookstore owner and never expected such a huge battering. By saying this, he would surely misjudge Lin Jie to be harboring some big secret.
"You!" Michael had lived for hundreds of millions of years and had always been superior to all other living beings. This was the first time someone had said he wasn't 'very smart'.
Coincidentally, "intelligence" was the trait that Michael was most proud of. He was instantly infuriated as Lin Jie mentioned his pet peeve. A surge of anger rushed over him and he was itching to teach this bookstore owner a lesson.
But as he looked up, he saw the jet black dragon scales on Lin Jie's face 'receding' back under his skin as the bookstore owner returned to human form.
The Great Light Elemental Scholar realized that there might have been a deeper meaning to this remark.
People don't see him for who he really was.
This could mean that he wasn't actually the bookstore owner by the name of Lin Jie, but the Calamity Dragon Bakak from ancient times.
But at the same time, when putting together his comments on Felix and seeing this fellow changed from a half-dragon form back to human, could the bookstore owner be implying that the Calamity Dragon Bakak wasn't the real him either?!
Michael's eyes narrowed and he felt shock for the first time in a long while. "Who exactly are you?!"
If the Calamity Dragon Bakak isn't his real identity, then who exactly could he be? What exactly was he hiding from that time where I had yet to exist...
Michael's heart skipped a beat. Wasn't the 'unknown' what he was seeking after all?
It seems like I've succeeded in fooling him, Lin Jie thought to himself.
From that expression, that young man seemed to have made up his own amazing version of me.
I don't really know what's going through his mind, but that isn't the point. More importantly, I have to get some useful information from him.
Lin Jie smiled wryly. "Before asking others for something, shouldn't you first show some sincerity?"
Since the other side didn't seem to show any fear, it probably meant that the young man had something to lean on, perhaps a large criminal organization like Blood Feast.
They had dared sendsomeone straight to his doorstep to kill, so who knew what they might plan next.
There were more than one enemy. Getting rid of this one today would be useless for Lin Jie because there would be many more even if he were to eliminate this one.
Only by a thorough study and eliminating the root cause would he be able to prevent future incidents.
In any case, Claude had always been involved in this matter and it was said that Joseph would come over tonight. Thus, the book cafe's safety was essentially guaranteed tonight.
Lin Jie would first lead him on and let this young man show some 'sincerity'. As for what sincerity was, he would first... he would let the other party interpret it for himself.
Michael composed himself. This so-called 'sincerity' was simple in his opinion.
Since he wanted to know the bookstore owner's identity, he could never ask for it just by using an ordinary identity. That would be way too impolite to someone of the same level and it was reasonable for the bookstore owner to make such a request.
Of course, he couldn't just make his Light Elemental body appear in Norzin right away.
"Alfred Harvey Grantham...
"This is half of my real name. Of course, that is already the past. My current name is Michael."
Real names were powerful. Even half of it was enough to command Light Elemental beings below Destructive-rank.
"Is this good enough, for my sincerity?"