Shadow of great britain

Chapter 1 Arthur Hastings

When the first ray of sunlight in the morning shines through the blinds into the bedroom, the bed covered with white sheets is already empty. The owner of the bedroom has already washed up. At this time, he has put on his own clothes and went to the mirror to tidy up his appearance.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror, Arthur Hastings was unhurriedly and meticulously fastening every button of his tuxedo.

A pitch black top hat, a dark blue turtleneck tuxedo, dark gray riding boots, slim white trousers with shiny silver buttons and a cowhide belt. There is a thick and slender wooden baton on the right side of the belt, hanging on the left side. In the scabbard of the sword is a police officer's knife with a distinctive Victorian style.

He looked at himself in the mirror, brushed off the dust on the blue and white armband on his left arm, and then nodded slightly.

"You look really presentable in this uniform. Gee, who would have thought that such a noble and outstanding young man could actually be a villain who signed a contract with the devil?"

An evil and cold greeting sounded in Arthur's ears.

Strangely, there was no one else in the mirror but Arthur.

But in Arthur's opinion, this is obviously not the case.

His deep black eyes shimmered with a faint red light.

"If it weren't for your gift, I should be sitting in the London Stock Exchange or a bank at this time, admiring the beautiful scenery on both sides of the Thames River, enjoying food and coffee, and handling hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds of stocks. Business, just a few words can make those who fall in the eyes of money go crazy. Instead of taking a weekly subsidy of twelve shillings and traveling to the most filthy and chaotic East End of London all day long, risking their lives. Dealing with thieves and murderers.”

An illusory figure gradually solidified in front of Arthur.

It was a young man wearing a colorful acrobatic suit, a clown hat, a clown nose, exaggerated red and white makeup, bulging eyes, and horns on his head.

He was lying across the frame of the floor-to-ceiling mirror, staring at Arthur intently with his red bloodshot eyes.

Arthur was stunned for a while before frowning slightly: "Agares, what are you wearing today?"

As soon as he finished speaking, crazy laughter rang in Arthur's ears. The harsh laughter seemed to penetrate his eardrums, and by the way, his heavenly spirit cover and the roof were lifted together.

"Happy April Fool's Day! Arthur!"

Agares was laughing so hard, he was so proud of Arthur's confused look just now.

Arthur looked at the weird devil indifferently, then calmly leaned over and picked up the red-headed nose that fell on the ground.

"Here, your nose fell off."

Agares raised three fingers to gently twist the red-headed nose and corrected him with a beaming expression.

"Oh, my dear Arthur. This is not my nose, but my breakfast today!"

"Your breakfast?"

Arthur looked closely and realized that the red-headed nose actually had a painful face, and this face looked familiar to him.

"Oh? Isn't this Professor Dempsey? It's been more than half a year since I graduated. How have you been during this time?"

The face with the red nose let out a wailing cry: "Arthur, please don't let this devil torture me anymore! I admit that it was my fault to deliberately make things difficult for you in your studies, but didn't I already arrange for you to graduate successfully? ?Why, why do you still do this to me?"

Arthur turned a deaf ear to Professor Dempsey's pleading, he just shook his finger gently.

"Mr. Demps, it's unfair for you to say that. Let me restore the facts for you.

The reason why you let me graduate smoothly was not because of your conscience, but because I broke your good deed when you were about to force Alyssa. And the reason why I happened to be there was because I had arranged all this.

You promised me at that time that as long as I didn't expose this matter, you would do anything. In this case, it is natural to sacrifice your soul, right? "

"But...ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Before Dempsey could finish his words, Agares threw him into his mouth.

Following a burst of intense chewing, scarlet blood dripped down the corners of his mouth.

Agares's facial features were tightened into a ball. As his throat trembled and Dempsey wailed in pain, the devil rubbed his belly contentedly and burped loudly.

"This meal is a bit too rich for breakfast."

Arthur was obviously used to such bloody scenes, and he even had the time to ask: "How does it taste?"

Agares' half-meter-long tongue scraped the corners of his mouth like a wiper, drawing the last bits of blood and residue into his mouth.

"It smells good, but a bit smelly. Okay, let me see what I should have for lunch, right?"

Agares snapped his fingers, and as the flames danced on his fingertips, a recipe wrapped in cowhide appeared out of thin air in his palm.

He flipped through a few pages at random, and suddenly his eyes lit up, pointing to one of the portraits and shouting to Arthur: "Hey, Arthur, what do you think of this?"

Arthur was arranging his hair on his temples. He took a moment to glance at the menu. There was a picture of a beautiful girl with long pale blond hair holding a lace-trimmed white umbrella.

He asked casually: "Do you want to eat Alyssa?"

Agares closed his eyes and fantasized, and a lot of saliva flowed out of the corners of his mouth uncontrollably.

"If I remember correctly, this lady seems to be interested in you, right? Girls in love are the easiest to be deceived.

Just use a little bit of your nowhere charm, and you can easily put her into my mouth. A young girl who has been betrayed by her lover and is despairing of all hope, just think about it and know that it is a delicacy in the world.

Um……

Maybe add more seasoning. Arthur, do you think it will add some flavor if you cheat her a dozen times in front of her after cheating her? "

"Aren't you afraid of the bitter taste?"

Agares clasped his hands with a smile on his face: "Oh, my dear Arthur, you misunderstood me. When I said let you have sex, I didn't mean to have sex with a woman. That is too routine. You have to remember , I am a devil."

Arthur wasn't angry when he heard this. He just picked up the black tea cup in front of the table and took a sip gently.

"Do devils like to cheat on men?"

Agares' head suddenly swelled, and his facial features deformed by anger were almost touching Arthur's head.

"Arthur! Not all devils like to cheat with men, I'm talking about you, you! Don't misunderstand me!"

But Arthur obviously doesn't accept this trick. He has long been accustomed to Agares's scary tricks.

"So you are the only one who likes me? Agares, you are too unsocial."

"I asked you to cheat on men!"

Agares roared, his voice making Arthur's hair fly in the wind.

Arthur replied without changing his expression: "I refuse."

"Why?"

"Because the burden is too great."

"To Alyssa?"

"for me."

Agares was like a deflated rubber ball, his whole body deflated instantly, leaving only a piece of skin spread on the carpet.

"Okay, okay. No matter what, you can deceive Alyssa first, and we can discuss the affair later."

"I reject."

"Why this time?"

"This is mainly due to two considerations. First, Alyssa and I have no interest entanglements, and she has also helped me with Professor Dempsey. Because I am a conscientious person, so I do not I don’t intend to repay kindness with enmity.”

"Oh! What did I hear? Conscience! Arthur, I never thought a poor boy like you could have such luxuries!"

Agares's skin expanded instantly, and his illusory body stretched out his head and inserted it into Arthur's chest, twisting his neck around without any hindrance.

"It's dark and empty here and I can't see anything. Conscience? Where is that heart of gold?"

Seeing that Arthur didn't answer him, Agares continued to yell: "Arthur, can you hear me? Can you speak? Words?"

Arthur just replied lightly: "I may not have a conscience. But at the same time, I am also very sure that my mind is not broad enough to produce an echo."

As soon as he finished speaking, Arthur picked up the tea cup and drank it all in one gulp.

After a while, Agares came back holding his wet head.

He conjured a handkerchief out of thin air and wiped his head, then said dissatisfiedly: "Then go on to the second point."

"Second, it's because you have no credibility with me. You said you would help me, but you didn't do it."

"Why didn't I do it?"

Agares was furious, fire burned on his head and boiling oil rolled in his hair.

"You said you wanted to go to university, so I went to great lengths to arrange for you an old country squire with a lunatic mind to be your cheap uncle, and by the way, I used his connections to get you into the newly established University of London.

In exchange, you will provide me with a steady stream of souls. This is what we agreed on!

Now that you have become an outstanding college graduate as you wished, my promise has been fulfilled, and now it is your turn to cash in your chips! "

Arthur turned a blind eye to Agares' anger and said indifferently.

"I'm honored to be called a good college graduate by you, and it would be great if the bankers and politicians thought so too."

"oh……"

Agares couldn't help gritting his teeth and suppressing a smile when he heard this, but the smile in the corners of his eyes still betrayed him.

"Arthur, don't be so pessimistic. I believe that one day the University of London will definitely be able to obtain a teaching charter from the royal family and parliament. By then, your academic qualifications will be recognized by society. But before that, you still need to endure."

"A devil, but you tell me to be patient?"

Arthur loosened his collar, trying to make his neck more comfortable.

"Agares, I think you should just become a Calvinist. The profession of devil is not suitable for you. In other words, you already knew that the University of London could not get a charter, so you deliberately asked me to study here. A university that is not qualified to award degrees uses this to cultivate my anti-social personality so that I can better help you do things?"

Agares grinned almost to his earlobes. He crossed his fingers and whispered softly: "Arthur, you are really a little roundworm in my belly. You can see through all my little thoughts. But how do you know?" My thoughts?"

Arthur glanced at him, picked up his calfskin bag and opened the door: "Of course because this is not the first time I have experienced this. Gaining knowledge but not finding a corresponding job will definitely turn people into rebels. of."

A bloody mouth suddenly appeared in front of Arthur. The white teeth were filled with the flesh, blood and bones of various creatures. The huge tonsils hung in the air like a swinging pendulum clock.

"But what can you do if you see through it? Praying to the devil for happiness is stupid enough in itself. Just do things for me, and maybe you still have a chance to change your destiny."

Arthur frowned slightly and raised his hand to cover his nose in disgust: "Agares, you should see a doctor. This level of bad breath cannot be explained by a small cold."

"It's clearly written in our contract. Arthur Hastings, your soul has long been mine. If you can't fill my stomach, I have to use you to accompany my meal."

"What did you just call me?"

"Arthur Hastings." Agares laughed arrogantly: "Are you so frightened that you even forgot your own name?"

Arthur curled his lips and asked helplessly: "Who told you that I was called this name?"

"Um?"

A hint of something bad appeared in Agares's heart: "You, don't you have this name? Impossible."

Arthur rolled his eyes first, and then pointed his middle finger at Agares.

"I have told you many times, my name is Yang Fan. As for the Arthur Hastings you mentioned, I also want to know where he has gone.

If you can find his soul, then before you eat him, please be sure to summon him and let me ask.

In addition, if you are not capable of making me rich, please move away from me immediately. The little roundworm in your belly is going to go to work. "