The North American Gourmet Demon Handbook

So he gritted his teeth and said, "Since Mr. Li saved the Paradox Clock Tower, I will give you a real treasure as a reward. It is also to express my gratitude and that of our Brotherhood of Time Skeletons."

Oh? And there's a surprise?

After Li Shanze accepted the "Historian" emblem, he no longer expected to get anything useful from McGee, so he kept trying to get more information from McGee.

Now that there is an extra gain, Li Shanze naturally does not hesitate.

"What treasure?"

McGee carefully took out a box that looked familiar.

Li Shanze took a closer look and realized that this box was similar in design to the one that contained the "Eye of Blasphemy" and later turned into pieces of wood.

Seeing Li Shanze's surprised expression, McGee remained calm on the surface, but felt in his heart that it was reasonable.

Yes, the FBI Special Affairs agent, the husband of Ms. Alessia, it’s not surprising that he has seen the Box of Silence.

In fact, Li Shanze didn't even know that this kind of box had a name.

McGee thought, I have taken out all the treasures that can be put into the Box of Silence, and your insatiable appetite should be satisfied.

So he opened the box with a bit of show-off, revealing a pair of handcuffs inside.

Since this was a treasure given to him, Li Shanze would naturally support McGee when he saw his show-off look.

"What is this?" Li Shanze asked in cooperation.

"These are a pair of handcuffs forged by the Brotherhood of Time Corpse, in conjunction with the power of historical reckoning. They are also known as the Three-Fifths Compromise Bill handcuffs."

McGee said rather boastfully.

"Unlike the Three-Fifths Compromise, these handcuffs are not limited to black people. They can restrict 60% of the mobility and combat power of any target."

Li Shanze noticed McGee's choice of words and repeated, "Any target?"

McGee nodded and confirmed, "Yes, any target."

"Is it not just limited to humans, but also includes those fantasy creatures? For example, angels, demons, etc.?" Li Shanze continued to ask.

At the same time, Li Shanze stared at McGee, trying to figure out from his expression whether he knew that Alessia was a devil.

However, McGee didn't seem surprised by Li Shanze's question. He nodded and said, "Of course. Even for the unicorn of the church's Grand Knight Kate Mackenzie, these handcuffs can limit its mobility by 60%."

So Kate's horse named Mickey is actually a unicorn in disguise?

This was the first time Li Shanze knew about this.

"After all, these three-fifths handcuffs are considered 'concept items'. You see, they need to be preserved in the Box of Silence."

Li Shanze and Xia Li looked at each other.

They also remembered that the "Eye of Blasphemy" was also placed in a very similar box of silence.

It seems that this ring called Eye of Blasphemy is also some kind of conceptual prop.

The two men temporarily suppressed their doubts, and Li Shanze asked, "How do you use these handcuffs?"

"Just yell 'You're under arrest' to the person you're handcuffing," McGee laughed.

He patiently explained how to use it: "These handcuffs can be worn on a daily basis - and as an FBI agent, Mr. Li, these handcuffs are absolutely perfect."

Uh, do they really want me to cosplay as the FBI? Li Shanze thought with a bit of amusement.

"Furthermore, if you handcuff the target's hands after they've finished shouting, they will completely lose any ability to resist or escape."

"Well, if it's the unicorn that belongs to Great Knight Kate Mackenzie, we'll need to cuff its two front hooves so it won't have the strength to break free," Mackey said.

That’s enough. Why do you always pick on Kate’s unicorn? Do you have any hobbies that you don’t want to tell others, old man?

Oh, and I heard that white people have always had strong tastes. There were sheep brothels on ships during the Age of Exploration, and British Prime Minister Cameron, who presided over the Brexit referendum, once had sex with a pig...

Li Shanze's eyes suddenly became strange.

McGee didn't know that the example he casually gave made him look very strange in Li Shanze's eyes. He was still explaining the precautions.

"These three-fifths handcuffs can only be used once a day—of course, after handcuffing the enemy, they can last for at least a week."

"However, after each use, regardless of whether or not the enemy is cuffed, it must be placed back into this special Silence Box to recharge for 24 hours before it can be used again."

Then he pointed to the cotton carved into the walnut box, and to the inscription of some of the terms of the Three-Fifths Compromise, and to the hinges cast from the shackles of plantation slaves, indicating that they were for special use.

"Remember, only this Box of Silence can charge these handcuffs."

Originally, Li Shanze was thinking about whether he could use this Box of Silence to help charge Xia Li's Eye of Blasphemy, but now it seems that this plan has failed.

"Oh, and also, you have to take the handcuffs out of the Silence Box when using them," McGee said with a smile. "After all, this is a concept item that can be activated with words. To avoid accidental injuries, of course, silence is required."

After hearing McGee's joke, Li Shanze finally understood why the Box of Silence was called this name.

He then took the Box of Silence containing the handcuffs with a smile, nodded, and said with a smile, "This really suits me. Thank you, Mr. McKee."

Seeing that the props had taken root under his feet and showed no intention of leaving, McGee couldn't help but groan inwardly and had to continue to praise the concept props and emphasize its preciousness.

"You are Ms. Alessia's husband after all. You may have seen many conceptual items. However, for us wizards, creating any one conceptual item requires nearly a hundred years of hard work by an entire school."

"These handcuffs have been under the supervision of my teacher's teacher, and they are a concept prop that was only recently successfully created."

"Think about it, your job has always been to hunt down all kinds of extremely vicious and 'special' criminals. These handcuffs that will leave the criminals with no chance of escape are perfect for you."

"And, you see, the perpetrators have left the Paradox Clock Tower in ruins. The Temporal Corpse Brotherhood's entire resources are likely being channeled into repairing the holy site. They probably won't have the resources left to create another concept item for another hundred years."

McGee's crying poor was simply to say that he had nothing more to offer, but as he looked at Li Shanze playing with the handcuffs, he was not worried that Li Shanze would use this conceptual prop against him.

In McGee's opinion, Li Shanze didn't need this kind of conceptual prop to deal with him, and he didn't dare to cast time-related spells in front of Li Shanze.

And, there is an even more crucial point - he has no left hand, so he is not worried about having his hands handcuffed.

"Or, do you want to go to the Paradox Library?" McGee said.

If you don't leave, I'll shamelessly take you away, okay? You can't just shamelessly stay here any longer, right?

Hearing that McGee was going to take the initiative to lead the way, Li Shanze nodded happily: "Okay, then let's go to the Paradox Library."

Why don’t you lead the way earlier? Who wants to stay in this damn place any longer?

McGee could never have imagined that Li Shanze, who was able to find this place, was actually dragged here by accident to some extent. He did not actively find the Paradox Clock Tower, so he did not know how to leave.

If McGee had known that he could have saved those precious three-fifths shackles by suggesting going to the Paradox Library earlier, he would have been so angry that he would have had a cerebral hemorrhage.

Now, McGee, who felt that it was easier to invite a god than to send him away, was almost moved to tears when he heard that Li Shanze, the "greedy little villain", had finally given up on extortion and was willing to leave.

"That's good, that's good. Come, please come this way." McGee walked briskly, as if he was afraid that Li Shanze would go back on his word.

He took the lead and walked towards a hidden side door.

No matter whether you leave or not, I'm leaving anyway.

"This place is not connected to the Time Corridor. Entering from here is the Paradox Library." McGee breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Li Shanze and Charlie following him.

"Now, all you have to do is show the Historian's Crest here to open the door to the Paradox Library."

Seeing that the two "bad guests" were finally about to be sent away, a smile appeared on McGee's face again.

Today's update will be late

I got up early to write, but when I got up I saw a message on WeChat saying that my uncle passed away two days ago. I don’t know why they only notified me late last night. I need to rush back to attend the memorial service. Please forgive me.

Word count patch Word count patch Word count patch Word count patch Word count patch Word count patch Word count patch Word count patch Word count patch Word count patch Word count patch

191 Missing 11 Days

Contrary to Li Shanze's expectations, the interior of the Paradox Library looks very simple and not grand at all.

The library appears to be a simple circular hall supported by tall columns carved with hourglass and clock patterns.

The outer edge of the circle is surrounded by circular bookshelves, with a few tables and chairs scattered around for people to use, and a bronze sundial placed in the middle.

The bronze sundial smells of pine resin and verdigris.

Next to the sundial, there are four faceless stone statues.

If you look closely, you will see that this circular hall is actually divided into four concentric circles by different floor materials.

The outermost layer is a bookshelf and a circular corridor covered with a velvet red carpet.

On the wooden floor of the inner floor, there are wooden tables and chairs.

One layer further inward is a layer of brass gears with scales engraved on them.

In the small circle in the center are four faceless stone statues and a bronze sundial.

Because the circular bookshelves are all moved to the edges, the entire circular library, despite its small overall area, still appears spacious and relaxing.

"Well, this isn't a grand library. Are you disappointed?" McGee asked at the right moment, with a reserved smile on his face.

Li Shanze also smiled and said, "I think this library may have another mystery."

"Yes, that's right." McGee snapped his fingers, pointed at the space excitedly and began to introduce it.

In fact, this seemingly small library has almost unlimited floors.

The corridor formed by the outermost bookcases and velvet red carpet is called the Ouroboros Corridor. As the name suggests, each layer holds its own tail in its mouth.

As long as you walk forward or backward along the twilight line where light alternates with darkness, you can reach a new level, and the books on the bookshelf will be completely different from before.

"Time, in a sense, is space," McGee said proudly. "If you stretch a finite space across an infinite timeline, it becomes an infinite space."

“We freeze the same space at different times, freezing it at the moment when it is filled with books.”

"Using this technique, we can classify different books and save them yesterday, the day before yesterday, last month, last century, and last era."

Li Shanze asked excitedly, "So, crossing the terminator is like arriving at a different time? It's like going back to the past?"

"Not exactly. This is the Paradox Clock Tower." McGee looked at Li Shanze with a smile. "Those books belong to the past. But for people, it's the present, of course."

“When one picks up a book and sits down at a wooden table to read, the past and the present meet—in fact, reading itself is the meeting of the past and the present.”

"Reading itself is a dialogue with the past. It might be a history book or scripture from 2,000 years ago, or a tweet from a minute ago, but in any case, it was born in the past. It is precisely by cleverly utilizing this characteristic of reading that we can make this paradox possible."

When talking about his pride, the smile on McGee's face became even wider.

It was not difficult for Li Shanze to tell from this rather smug smile that this Paradox Library was designed by McKee.

"Of course, since the library's collection is frozen in time, if anyone attempts to remove it, it will be instantly restored to its shelf. This is why the library's collection is not available for loan, because it's impossible."

McGee beamed as if he were showing off his masterpiece.

Charlie then curiously asked, "But what if the book I'm looking for was stored in a much longer time? For example, if a book was stored on July 14, 1789, how many terminators would I need to cross?"

"Ah, the day when the Bastille was stormed." McGee patted his head, as if he had suddenly realized something.

Li Shanze had no idea why McGee looked as if he had suddenly realized something.

At this time, the smile on McGee's face became increasingly difficult to conceal, as if he had just figured out a difficult mystery, and his good mood could not be concealed at all.

He pointed to the concentric circle formed by the brass gears with a smile, then waved his hand, and the brass gears began to turn.

"You can adjust the time scale here. Then, you only need to cross the terminator once to reach July 14, 1789."

The sound of the brass gears turning stopped, and then there was a clicking sound.

"Please follow me, and let's go see what books were in the Paradox Library on July 14, 1789."

After saying that, McGee took a step forward.

Li Shanze and Xia Li looked at each other and followed.

Before crossing the twilight zone, McGee smiled back and said, "Please follow me, both of you."

He took a step forward as if nothing had happened.

In Li Shanze and Xia Li's sight, there was still the monotonous and seemingly unchanging circular library, with McGee leading the way in front.

Li Shanze looked at McGee's joy which was becoming increasingly difficult to conceal, and he couldn't help but become alert.

He was prepared for the trap, so he held Charlie's hand and took a firm step forward.

As soon as you step over the terminator, the surrounding scene suddenly changes.

The circular bookshelf still looks like a circular bookshelf, but the tables and chairs are no longer simple wooden tables and chairs, but exquisite furniture from the salons of French high society.

It was like taking a step across the long river of history and arriving in France during the Great Revolution of the 18th century.

Although the environment has changed, this is not a trap. McGee still looks in a good mood and smiles kindly.