Chapter 55 - A Heart

Kelly had certainly told him to wait for her somewhere, but Hecathe had better plans. 

Instead of going to the address that Kelly had given him, Hecathe strolled down the roads and headed for another place. 

He wasn't sure about the way since he had never been here before but he knew what way he had to choose thanks to Alphius's diary. The man had not only kept a neat record of all the transactions that happened in the black market but he had also kept a detailed address and direction that could help people find the place. 

Hecathe turned a few useless streets first in order to make sure that he was not being trailed and when he was a hundred percent sure that there was nobody following him, he entered a small restaurant that looked to be completely normal from the outside. 

"What would you like to eat today, sir?" Since the restaurant was so small, there was hardly any staff kept at the place and hence, it was the owner who came up to Hecathe and asked him politely. 

"A heart," Hecathe spoke as he looked at the owner, "A heart of a Dorgon that has been roasted to the crisp. Completely black with no taste at all. Sold for nothing more than a single stone." 

It was clearly an order that was not displayed on the menu and it was only natural that the restaurant didn't serve such a dish, but the owner smiled as he heard this answer from Hecathe, and without saying anything in return, he gestured for Hecathe to follow him. 

As expected, the man suspected nothing and this just came to prove that Hecathe was now well-versed at pretending to be Alphius. 

After hearing the secret code, the restaurant owner took Hecathe towards the kitchen, and just as Hecathe had read about the place, there was an old fire stove in the kitchen behind which there was a hidden door. 

The man put out the fire first before opening the door for Hecathe and gesturing for him to go inside. 

Hecathe nodded in satisfaction as he saw this, "Thank you." 

The reason why Hecathe thanked the man was not because he wanted to show his gratitude, but rather, it was because he was supposed to say it since it was noted down in the diary that if a person were to not say thank you to the restaurant owner after being led to this door, the owner would not let the person go to the black market. 

The owner had a smile on his face as he nodded back in turn and said nothing more. 

Hecathe stepped forward and entered through the door without any hesitation and the door immediately closed behind him, trapping him in the darkness. 

Since the information he had was proven to be correct till now, Hecathe was sure that the rest of the instructions noted down were true as well so he didn't worry too much about the darkness since he knew what was going to happen next. 

He took calm breaths as he waited for the passage to light up on its own and just as he had expected, within the next few seconds, small light could be seen lighting the way in front of him. 

Now all he had to do was follow the lights and that was exactly what he did. 

Hecathe leisurely walked forward in a steady manner and he was soon greeted with another door that opened as soon as he arrived. 

"Sir, please follow me," A man wearing a white mask greeted Hecathe as soon as the door opened and Hecathe nodded as he followed the man. 

If there was one thing Hecathe liked about this place, it would be the fact that everyone here got straight right to business and wouldn't bother wasting time in idle talk.

The man led Hecathe towards a small balcony that had a rather medium-sized sofa placed on it for viewers to sit in.

Hecathe sat down on the sofa with his left leg crossed over the other as he got comfortable. 

"Sir, here you go," The man who had led Hecathe here gave him a card as he spoke, "This shall be your code." 

Hecathe took the card and nodded in turn. 

The man showed Hecathe a bell-like thing as he spoke, "Sir if you need anything please feel free to call me."

He nodded once again as he merely glanced at the bell and responded, "Thank you." 

The man turned around and left the place shortly after bowing and thanking Hecathe back as well. 

Once the man had left the place, Hecathe looked down at the card to read what code number he got. 

The people who visited this black market would often try to hide their real identities so it was a general rule that they were all given a code. The code that they were given would become their identity and they could keep using it instead of using their real names. 

This system was quite comfortable for a lot of people, Hecathe included. 

[Code number: 10112] 

Hecathe sighed as he looked outside the balcony and thoroughly examined the place. 

The building was constructed in a cylindrical manner with the middle part being left hollow for the stage. There were about ten or more floors on the building and each floor had at least ten or more balconies facing the stage in the middle. 

Although the stage was all the way down, everyone had a clear view of the stage from their own seats. 

Hecathe straightened his back as he casually let his eyes trail through the faces of the people who were on the other balconies. 

As expected, most of them wore masks, and the ones that didn't wear a mask could be counted with one hand alone. 

Even the staff who worked at the place wore white-mask to hide away their faces. 

Hecathe was on one of the lower levels so when he looked up at the balconies above, he could clearly understand that there was an order to the seats given to everyone. 

The higher the floor seat you were given, the higher your status in this auction was and most of the higher floors were taken by the mecha-suits. 

"Your captain is missing but you guys still bother attending this place....?" Hecathe muttered to himself as he felt a little amused by this fact.