shadow of britain

Chapter 1 Arthur Hastings
When the first ray of sunlight in the morning shone into the bedroom through the blinds, the bed covered with white sheets was already empty, and the owner of the bedroom had already washed it clean. At this time, he had already put on his outfit and came to the mirror to tidy up his appearance.

In front of the full-height mirror, Arthur Hastings was fastening every button of his tuxedo meticulously.

A pitch-black bowler hat, a dark blue turtleneck tuxedo, dark gray riding boots, slim white trousers with shiny silver buttons and a cowhide belt. In the scabbard is a police officer's knife with a distinctive Victorian style.

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

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

An evil, cold greeting sounded in Arthur's ear.

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

But in Arthur's view, it was clearly not the case.

There was a reddish gleam in his dark eyes.

"If it weren't for your gift, I should be sitting in the Stock Exchange or a bank in London at this time, enjoying the beautiful scenery on both sides of the Thames, enjoying food and coffee, and passing hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds of stocks Business, just a few words can make those who fall into the eyes of money crazy. Instead of holding a subsidy of twelve shillings a week, traveling to and from the dirtiest and chaotic East End of London all day long, risking their lives to go to Deal 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, protruding eyes, and horns on his head.

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

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

As soon as the words fell, a maniacal laugh rang in Arthur's ears. The piercing laughter seemed to penetrate his eardrums, and by the way, he lifted his cap and the roof of the house.

"Happy April Fool's Day! Arthur!"

Agares laughed backwards and forwards, he was very proud of Arthur's bewildered expression just now.

Arthur looked at the eccentric devil indifferently, then calmly bent down and picked up the red-headed nose that fell on the ground.

"Here, your nose fell off."

Agares raised three fingers and gently twisted the red-headed nose, while correcting with joy.

"Oh, my dear Arthur. It's not my nose, it's my breakfast this morning!"

"Your breakfast?"

Arthur looked closely, only to find that there was a painful face on the red nose, and he was familiar with this face.

"Oh? Isn't this Professor Dempsey? It's been more than half a year since I graduated. How are you doing these days?"

The face on the red nose let out a wail: "Arthur, please don't let this demon torture me again! I admit that it was my fault for deliberately making things difficult for you academically, but didn't I arrange for you to graduate smoothly?" ? Why, why are you still doing this to me?"

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

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

The reason why you let me graduate smoothly is not because of your conscience, but because I broke your good deed when you were about to force Alisa.And the reason why I just happened to appear there is because I arranged all of this in the first place.

At that time, you promised me that you would do anything as long as I didn't reveal this matter.That being the case, donating your soul is a matter of course, right? "

"But... ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

Before Dempsey finished speaking, Agares threw him into his mouth.

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

Agares' facial features were tightly clenched, and with his throat throbbing, accompanied by Dempsey's painful wailing, the devil rubbed his stomach contentedly, and belched loudly.

"For breakfast, this meal is really too rich."

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

Agares' half-meter-long tongue scraped across the corner of his mouth like a wiper, sucking the last bit of blood and residue into his mouth.

"It's delicious, but it's a bit smelly. Okay, let me see what I should have for lunch, shall I?"

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

He flipped through a few pages, and suddenly pointed to one of the portraits and shouted at Arthur, "Hey, Arthur, what do you think of this?"

Arthur was arranging the hair on his sideburns, and he took a moment to glance at the menu, which showed a beautiful girl with long pale blond hair holding a white umbrella with a lace border.

He asked casually, "Do you want to eat Alisa?"

Agares closed his eyes and fantasized, the corners of his mouth were drooling uncontrollably.

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

All it takes is a little bit of your irreplaceable charm to get her into my mouth with ease.A young girl who was betrayed by her lover and lost all hope, just thinking about it, she knew it was a delicacy in the world.

Ok……

Maybe a little more seasoning.Arthur, do you think that after you have tricked her, if you split her legs a dozen times in front of her, will it add some flavor? "

"Aren't you afraid of bitter taste?"

Agares put his hands together and smiled: "Oh, my dear Arthur, you misunderstood me. When I said to let you cheat, I didn't mean to cheat with a woman. That's too routine. You have to remember , I am a devil."

Arthur was not angry when he heard the words, he just picked up the black tea cup on the table and took a sip gently.

"Do devils like to cheat on men?"

Agares' head suddenly swelled up, and the facial features deformed by anger almost reached Arthur's head.

"Arthur! It's not the devil who likes to cheat on men. I'm talking about you, it's you! Don't misinterpret what I mean!"

But Arthur obviously didn't like this, and he had long been familiar with Agares' scary tricks.

"So you're the only one who likes it? Agares, you're too out of place."

"I'm asking you to cheat on a man!"

Agares roared, and the waves of his voice made Arthur's hair blow in the wind.

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

"why?"

"Because the burden is too great."

"To Alisa?"

"for me."

Agares was like a deflated ball, his whole body collapsed in an instant, leaving only a piece of skin on the carpet.

"All right, all right. No matter what, you trick Alisa first, and we can discuss the cheating thing later."

"I reject."

"Why again this time?"

"This is mainly due to two considerations. First, Alisa and I have no conflict of interest, and she also helped me with Professor Demps. Because I am a person with a conscience, I do not I don’t intend to repay my kindness with revenge.”

"Oh! What did I hear? Conscience! Arthur, I can't believe that a poor boy like you has such luxuries!"

Agareth's skin swelled instantly, and his phantom body stretched out his head into Arthur's chest, twisting his neck around without hindrance.

"It's dark and empty 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? Talk? Talk??"

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

As soon as the words fell, Arthur picked up the teacup and drank it down.

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

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

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

"Why didn't I do it?"

Agares was furious, fire was burning on top of his head, and boiling oil was rolling in his hair.

"You said you wanted to go to university, so I tried my best to arrange for you an old country squire who is not clear-headed to be your cheap uncle, and by the way, I used his relationship 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 excellent college graduate as you wished, my promise has been fulfilled, and now it is your turn to honor your chips! "

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

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

"Oh……"

Hearing this, Agares couldn't help gritting his teeth and suppressing a smile, but the smile in the corner 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 issued by the royal family and the parliament. By then, your qualifications will be recognized by the society. But before that, you still need endure."

"A devil, but told me to be patient?"

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

"Agares, I think it's okay for you to become a Calvinistic Christ. The profession of the devil is not suitable for you. Or, you knew that the University of London could not get a charter, so you deliberately asked me to study this A university that is not qualified to award degrees, so as to cultivate my anti-social personality, so as to help you do things better?"

Agares grinned almost to the earlobe, and he crossed his fingers and whispered softly: "Arthur, you are really a little roundworm in my stomach, you will see through my little thoughts. But how do you know?" of my mind?"

Arthur glanced at him, picked up the calfskin bag and opened the door: "Of course it's because it's not the first time I have experienced it. Gaining knowledge but not being able to find a corresponding job will definitely turn people into rebels of."

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

"But what can you do if you see it through? Praying to the devil for happiness is stupid enough in itself. Do things for me obediently, 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 belonged to me. If I 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, "Could it be that you were so frightened that you even forgot your own name?"

Arthur pouted, and asked helplessly, "Who told you that my name is this?"

"Ok?"

There was something bad in Agares' heart: "You, don't you have this name? Impossible."

Arthur rolled his eyes first, and then gave Agares the middle finger.

"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 is.

If you can find his soul, please call him for me to ask before you eat him.

In addition, if you don't have the ability to make me rich, please move away from me immediately, the little roundworm in your stomach is going to go to work. "

(End of this chapter)