In the midst of the envious gazes and exclamations of the onlookers, coupled with the crestfallen expression of the stall owner, Ye Feng pocketed the items from the mithril treasure chest and then walked away.
The two of them reached a crowded and rather noisy area. Ye Feng turned sideways, bending slightly, and whispered to Xiao Xiao, "Xiao Xiao, is anyone still peeking at us?"
"No, Big Brother~ That feeling of being watched from afar is gone~"
Xiao Xiao closed her eyes for a moment and then shook her head.
"Hoo~"
Ye Feng let out a sigh of relief. "That's good!"
Before, when he and Xiao Xiao entered this building and had only been browsing for a short while, Xiao Xiao had found an opportunity to tell him that someone might be secretly watching them from a distance.
Although Ye Feng himself hadn't found anything after much searching and inquiry, he had great confidence in Xiao Xiao's perception.
After all, Xiao Xiao's peculiar perceptive abilities had been proven many times along their journey...
This was what led to Ye Feng's deliberate act of opening the treasure chest in public just now. Although he didn't know who was watching him, he didn't want them to judge him as a calculating person...
"This Mech City truly lives up to its reputation as a major power. It seems I'll need to be even more cautious~"
Ye Feng muttered to himself and then continued to stroll through the bustling hall with Xiao Xiao.
...
"Young explorer, how about a fortune-telling!"
As Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao were walking, a slightly hoarse female voice suddenly rang out from Ye Feng's back right.
"Hmm?"
Ye Feng turned his head in confusion and saw that the speaker was a woman clad in a rough linen cloak.
The woman had snow-white hair, a sharp and long nose, and an extremely aged face, resembling a witch from the Middle Ages.
Seeing Ye Feng looking at her, the aged cloaked woman pushed forward a deck of cards with a magical array pattern on the back.
"Young explorer, please shuffle the cards~!"
Saying this, the aged cloaked woman made an inviting gesture to Ye Feng.
"Oh my god, is that... is that Madam Alice?"
"Why is she here?"
"My heavens~! Madam Alice has actually left the Cabin of Time?!"
...
"Brother, why don't you give it a try? Madam Alice is a renowned divination master in Mech City, and her predictions are very accurate!"
"Indeed!"
"Young man, you're so lucky. Madam Alice's divination fees are very expensive, and whether you get a reading or not depends entirely on her mood!"
...
As soon as the aged cloaked woman finished speaking, the surrounding crowd began to discuss animatedly.
Ye Feng frowned slightly, examining the cards in front of her, and slowly said, "22 cards... Are these Tarot cards?"
"Precisely!"
Alice smiled slightly and nodded.
"I heard your divination is very expensive, and it depends entirely on your mood?"
Ye Feng glanced at the growing crowd of onlookers beside him and asked with some confusion.
"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll give the young explorer a free divination!"
Alice replied indifferently.
"Fate~!"
After a pause, Alice added again.
"Hmm?"
Ye Feng frowned slightly. He wasn't particularly interested in fortune-telling.
However, Xiao Xiao beside him was quite excited to watch, her pretty face filled with curiosity.
"Uh... how does this divination work?"
After a moment's hesitation, Ye Feng decided to satisfy Xiao Xiao's curiosity.
"Please shuffle the cards!"
Alice nodded slightly, extending her equally aged right hand with its long fingernails, and pointed to the Tarot cards laid out on the table.
Ye Feng didn't think much of it. He directly picked up the deck of Tarot cards, face down, stacked them in his hand, and then shuffled them with a "snap, snap" sound.
After a short while, he placed the Tarot cards back on the table.
"Please cut the deck!"
Alice's gaze was very deep as she looked at Ye Feng. She pointed to the cards Ye Feng had just shuffled.
"Oh~"
Ye Feng replied softly and then, as Alice instructed, reached his hand towards the horizontally arranged Tarot cards. He picked up a stack of cards from the top of the deck and placed this stack at the bottom of the original deck, closer to himself, creating two stacks.
Immediately, he took another stack from the top of the second stack and placed it above the first stack, away from himself, thus creating three stacks on the table.
Finally, he picked up the first stack of Tarot cards and placed it above the second stack, and then placed the stacked cards above the original third stack, restoring it to a single deck.
This scene left Xiao Xiao stunned, not understanding why he was doing this!
At this moment, Alice again extended her incredibly aged hand. She grasped the Tarot cards that Ye Feng had shuffled and cut, pushed them gently, and with a quick turn, the Tarot cards were instantly spread out in a circle on the table. Combined with the magical array pattern on the back of the cards, it gave off an esoteric feeling.
"Young explorer, please draw one card!"
Alice once again made an inviting gesture to Ye Feng.
"Putting on a show~"
Ye Feng muttered to himself, then reached out and casually drew one card, turning it over directly.
"What the..."
Seeing the face of the Tarot card he drew, Ye Feng was speechless.
The front of the Tarot card he drew depicted a young man in colorful clothing.
The young man was walking on the edge of a cliff, holding a flower in one hand and a wooden stick in the other. A red bundle was slung over the end of the wooden stick. The young man tilted his head slightly, with a rather comical expression. It was "The Fool."
"Holy cow, it's the Jester!"
"This young man is too pathetic..."
"Magician, Emperor, Empress, High Priestess, Chariot, Moon, Star... none of them... this guy is really unlucky..."
"The Jester... Hahaha~"
...
The crowd fell silent for a moment, then erupted into laughter, clearly because Ye Feng had drawn "The Fool" card.
"What nonsense is this!"
"Xiao Xiao, let's go!"
Seeing this, Ye Feng got up with some dissatisfaction and left. Xiao Xiao also lost interest in watching the show. She furrowed her brow tightly and quickly followed him.
Neither Ye Feng, Xiao Xiao, nor the other onlookers noticed that at this moment, Alice's eyes beneath her black cloak were filled with shock...
...
"Big Brother, that woman who looks like a witch was really mean. She mocked Big Brother in such a roundabout way!"
Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao hadn't walked far when Xiao Xiao looked back in Alice's direction, her face full of indignation.
"Don't bother with that old woman. She's probably just a con artist like those you see under the overpasses~"
After the initial slight frustration, Ye Feng didn't take it to heart, simply considering Alice to be like those self-proclaimed "half-immortals" he had seen under overpasses before.
"Oh, okay~"
Seeing this, Xiao Xiao nodded and didn't dwell on it anymore. As for the "Jester" or whatever it was, she had already cast it to the back of her mind.
"Big Brother, Sister Yun Yao is here!"
At this moment, Xiao Xiao pointed in a certain direction with great delight.
...