Eric Turner grew more anxious inside, but outwardly appeared even more relaxed. After getting out of the taxi, he casually bought a bottle of mineral water from a nearby shop, glanced around almost imperceptibly, and then, drinking the water, walked into the antique market. It was his first time here, and he had no idea how big the place was or how many people usually came. Only after entering the market district did he realize just how crowded it was. This was, after all, the largest antique market in Shanghai, and since it was Sunday, the place was packed wall to wall with people. If someone were to throw a bomb in here, it would easily kill hundreds—one could imagine just how dense the crowd was.

Eric Turner didn’t act flustered or anxious; instead, he strolled along at a leisurely pace, stopping to look around as he went. He entered every shop selling ancient jade to ask questions—not only to get a sense of the prices, but also to muddy the waters regarding his true intentions. Even if someone was watching him through another piece of newspaper, they wouldn’t be able to figure out what he was really after.

In this way, Eric Turner slowly made his way to shop number seven. This shop specialized in ancient coins, jade pendants, and some old artifacts, with more than a dozen yellowed, thread-bound modern books stacked together.

As soon as Eric Turner entered, he didn’t bother with the usual tricks of seasoned antique hunters, like pretending to look at irrelevant items. He went straight to the pile of jade pendants and thumb rings. After all, that wasn’t his real goal, and spending a bit more money didn’t matter. What he was truly after was in that pile of books. After asking about the price of the jade pendants and picking through them for a while, he finally bought a moderately priced green jade pendant, which cost him over two thousand yuan. But as the saying goes, “Gold has a price, jade is priceless.” The pendant wasn’t some famous ancient artifact, and the quality of the jade wasn’t great, so the price was still a good deal for the shop owner.

After that, Eric Turner looked at the other artifacts before finally turning to the pile of books and flipping through them. The shopkeeper, clearly noticing he was a student, said, “These books were all published in modern times. There aren’t any real ancient texts among them—just different editions, so they have some collectible value. If you want them, just take them for a hundred yuan each.”

At that moment, Eric Turner’s heart was pounding, because he had really found a yellowed, thread-bound copy of the Dao De Jing among them. He didn’t hesitate—he set the Dao De Jing aside and casually picked out three more books, then said to the shopkeeper, “You see, I’m just a student. I’m only buying these books to read. I could spend a bit more on the jade pendant since it’s a gift, but a hundred yuan per book is too expensive. How about this: let’s cut the price in half—fifty yuan per book. I’ll buy four books, so that’s two hundred yuan in total. How about it?”

The shopkeeper frowned slightly, then smiled and said, “Alright, young man, you didn’t even bat an eye when buying the jade pendant, so I can tell you’re a straightforward person. Two hundred yuan it is. Just make sure to come back and support my business in the future.”

Although Eric Turner was anxious inside, he appeared even more at ease on the outside. He smiled without replying, took two hundred yuan from his wallet and handed it to the shopkeeper, even asking him to carefully wrap up the four old books. Only then did he calmly walk out of the antique market. His actions were so natural that no one could tell how anxious he was inside—a testament to his remarkable composure.

(Inner strength—does it really exist? Can I… actually learn this inner strength?)

When Eric Turner got home, he didn’t immediately open the Dao De Jing. Instead, he took out the newspaper fragment and stared at it quietly for a long time before finally reaching for the Dao De Jing…

Chapter Four: If I Were a Hero, I Would Repay Good and Evil! (Part Three)

“The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth; the named is the mother of all things…”

This is the most familiar passage from the Dao De Jing, and there was nothing here that particularly surprised Eric Turner. He carefully read through all the chapters and text, but found no secret codes or annotations between the lines, nor any hidden layers between the pages. After all, this book had passed through several generations, and whether or not there were hidden layers could be determined just by feeling it. There was nothing unusual about the cover either—this was just an ordinary thread-bound Dao De Jing.

Eric Turner knew that if there really was something in this Dao De Jing, it would become clear with a gentle check using the newspaper fragment. But would that use up a causality point? He already understood the importance of causality points, and had done some preliminary experiments to test how hard they were to obtain. On his way back, he had deliberately run a few tests: for example, he left the mineral water bottle in a conspicuous spot, and later saw someone throw it into the trash from a hidden place. The causality points on the newspaper fragment neither increased nor decreased, which meant he hadn’t affected anything.