"Third-party identity? There is really no such thing this time. Miss Pharmacist, although my identity seems a bit mysterious to you, I don't have that much time to play ordinary people's spy games... just to make some money."
It’s just money and maintaining relationships.”
The sorceress smiled and said nothing, but became more and more curious about Shade.
What appeared on the third batch of wordless letters were some strange pictures. Neither Shad nor Megan recognized them, but judging from the fact that the locks were all ordinary locks and the letters were stored in similar specifications, they were disgusting.
Lee attached the same importance to the three batches of letters, and they were all used as cover-ups to maintain his status as a "gang leader."
So Shade collected the third batch of letters and went back to see if Miss Carina was interested. He couldn't give it to Director Anlos directly, so it was best to let the Duchess go through it.
In addition to these three drawers, there were pistols, bullets, unknown potions and other miscellaneous items in other drawers of the desk. After further inspection of the study, they finally discovered the safe hidden behind the bookshelf.
Opening the safe, the first thing Shade noticed was the black metal pendants of more than a dozen "Reunifiers", the same ones he saw when he was pressing for information in the stables of the tavern in the fishing village by the lake.
It was the first time for Megan to see this kind of thing, but after inspection, she was convinced that these were ordinary items:
"This is somewhat similar to the Edwards family coat of arms, both spirals gathering inward."
She said this, so Shade asked for three pendants to keep for study, and left the others to her.
Apart from the carefully kept pendant, the most important thing to them in the safe was naturally Bad-Eye Barry's account books. These were not the account books of his illegal business, but the account books of his regular transportation of supplies to the central island of Green Lake.
Although he is the leader of a gang, he is very organized in keeping accounts, recording the date, ship information and even the weather. Megan browsed through it for a while and roughly understood what the so-called supplies were:
"It's not the daily necessities you imagined. It's strange. It's a lot of metal ore, earthwork, and wood. Although there are also animals such as pigs, cattle, and sheep, they just want to die... What is this going to do? Establish
A whole new city?”
There are more than ten account books in total, which completely record everything that Bad Eye Barry shipped to the lake from 1849 to 1854. As for the previous account books, I have not seen them, but they must have similar contents.
"So what does he get out of it?"
Shade asked puzzledly:
"In other words, what can the cultists get? Although these things are cheap, they are in such large quantities and need to be transported secretly, so the cost is definitely not a small sum. What exactly is the Order of the Drowned going to do?"
"There is no income recorded in the account books."
The sorceress shook her head, and then motioned to Shade to check the other items in the safe.
The safe was not big, so it mostly contained documents, papers and valuable gold and silver jewelry. In addition to the account books, they also found letters between Bad Eye Bali and the sect, but only from the past few days. The content was
The next shipment is about to arrive.
This kind of letter should be destroyed when it expires, and there is no stamp date on the envelope, so it can only mean that what happened here is indeed the behavior of the cult and not Bad-Eye Barry alone.
"There are a few more books here, let me take a look, "The Mystery of the Abyss: The Creeping Darkness", "Life and Death: The Dividing Line of the Ocean", "Corpse Speaks: Echoes of the Dead". These are all books by ring warlocks, and they are capable of
Gain the precious knowledge of spiritual runes."
Shade said. Megan glanced at the books and waved her hand for Shade to put them away. The wise witch obviously already had similar knowledge.
Shade was not very interested in the spiritual runes involved in these books, but he thought that the college library would be happy to collect these books. And when he took the books out of the bottom layer of the safe, he noticed that there was a
with an old black and white photo.
He took out the photo out of curiosity, and then saw a body soaked in water.
"Um?"
While Shade's eyes scanned the photo, the corpse's eyes also opened suddenly. Then, gurgling water emerged from the photo, and the pale hand stretched out of the photo and grabbed Shade's wrist.
"Do you know the pain of sinking in water, knowing that you are falling but unable to do anything about it?"
A series of bubble sounds reached the ears, and the hand grabbing the corpse of Shade's arm did not try to pull him into the photo. Instead, more and more water poured out of the photo.
The invisible darkness blocked all the light in the room. Xia De clearly knew that except for the water under his feet, the entire room was very dry, but he felt that he had been soaked in the entire room with the sound of gurgling water.
in water.
Except for the dim glow of the photo itself, all the surrounding light disappeared. He couldn't see the four walls of the room clearly, and he couldn't even feel that he was standing on a solid floor.
He seemed to be falling in the water, falling deeper into the abyss. He could feel the invisible threat waiting for him further below, and he could also feel that the feeling of drowning made him almost unable to breathe:
"Breathing underwater."
This spell was originally related to the "God of the Drowned in the Deep Sea". It was learned by Shade when he first used the Mystery Lock [Match Girl] to prevent the god from taking away the girl. Therefore, in this case, it took effect almost immediately.
After Shade adjusted his condition, although he couldn't figure out whether he was hallucinating or really being transferred to another place, he still struggled to swim upstream.
He did not dare to throw away the photo in his hand easily, so he could only hold it and keep swimming upstream. And just a few dozen seconds later, he heard the sorceress's voice ringing in his ears:
"don't want......"
There should be another paragraph behind it, but it was drowned in the sound of water.
"What?"
Shade was stunned, stopped moving upstream, looked hesitantly at the dark waters above his head and the dark waters below his feet, and then asked in his heart:
"Was that voice real?"
【Yes, I can feel the power of the witch used to connect to you.】
"So what do you think?"
【Just like you.】
"Oh well."
Shade then gave up on going upstream and headed downstream instead. The dim light in the photo in his hand became darker and darker, and the temperature of the surrounding water became lower and lower. When the light completely disappeared, on the deep seabed, in the words he spit out
As the bubbles floated past his eyes, he finally saw what was waiting for him at the bottom.
A skeleton was entangled with water and rags, and jumped out from the bottom of the dark abyss. It was surrounded by death and resentment, carrying fear and hatred, and stretched out its hand towards Shade, who was sinking like "seeking his own death."
At that moment, Shade, who "fell" into the deep sea, in this terrifying scene, actually felt that he somewhat understood the thoughts of the drowned person who died alone at the bottom of the sea. The same loneliness and helplessness, and that indifferent heart were also caused by this.
And born.
Unfortunately, he didn't have more time to think, and Shade found the right direction. The moment the skull touched him, he felt that he had broken through a thin layer of paper, and then he realized that he was breathing heavily and holding the
The photo shows him standing in a dry study room, with Meghan looking at him worriedly:
"Are you okay? It seems that this photo is a trap to prevent thieves. I just saw you stunned there, and you appeared in the photo, so I knew you must have been deceived."
She grabbed Sha De's wrist and used her spiritual power to touch Sha De's spirit with concern, only to find that Sha De's spiritual power was as huge as the full moonlight in the night sky. At this time, Sha De's whole body was dry.
Yes, even my hands are dry, and there is no liquid gushing out at all in the photo.
Looking at the photo again, it actually burned in Shade's hands. Shade threw it away, and took a few steps back with Megan, watching the photo burn in the air, and the last wisp of ashes combined into the evil god in the air [
God of the Drowned in the Deep Sea], and then pounced on Shade.
"careful!"
"It's fine."
A slight sense of coldness, carrying a curse, poured into Shade's soul, but it was quickly dissolved by the divine radiance.
"She" reminded Shade softly in his ear:
【Outlander, you are cursed.】
【The curse is lifted.】
If it is a curse from a real god, even if Shade has a drop of divinity, he cannot be exempted from it. But obviously, although the curse attached to this photo is related to gods, its power is much weaker. If it is an ordinary ring warlock, it may be
He was about to be hit, but for Shade it was completely negligible. What really affected him was the moment of loneliness of falling into the deep sea. He was confused as to how he could feel and understand the thoughts of the drowned people in the deep sea.
"I'm fine, but will the destruction of this photo alert Bad-Eyed Barry?"
After confirming that he was really not affected, Xia Decai asked, and Meghan shook her head slightly in concern:
"I don't know, but don't worry about him. My people have watched him. If he returns, at least before night, I will receive an early warning. Besides, he is just a low-level warlock. Even if he comes back, he can
How about it?"
Meghan was obviously more concerned about Shade than Bad-eyed Barry, and was afraid that Shade would be in the same condition as in the morning again, but fortunately, everything was fine with him.
The Unifier's pendant, account books, and occult books, these are all the valuable items that Shade and Megan found in the safe. Although it sounds like a small amount, after all, it is impossible for Bad-Eyed Barry to collect all the important clues.
Put them all in the same place.
Just when the two of them had finished searching the study, the maids' interrogation of the mistresses had come to an end. Those women were just ordinary people, and they were ordinary people with not very strong wills. It was easy to ask questions of value.
information.
Meghan and Audrey's head maid, the girl called Jill, compiled the information and informed her master.
"Miss, this is indeed one of the most important strongholds of Bad-Eyed Barry. He spends at least a week here overnight every month. Some of those women have seen what Bad-Eyed Barry looks like when he takes off his blindfold.
. He rarely took off his eye patch, and most of the time he wore it even when he was asleep. According to the mistresses, Bad Eyed Barry's right eye was not rotten, and there was a black eye white in his eye socket.
Strange eyeballs."
"It's most likely the Demon Eye. The Order of the Drowned sent him to carry out the mission here. Of course, it's impossible not to give him the means to save his life and increase his strength."
Meghan made the judgment easily.
The last piece of information provided by the women was that there seemed to be a secret passage underneath the house, because they would sometimes see Bad-Eyed Barry walking straight out of the basement, and he smelled like a sewer.
This time Megan did not go down with Shade, but asked her maids to go to the basement to take a look.
Sure enough, they soon discovered a secret passage connecting the city's ancient sewer system from behind the basement wall. Not far from the secret passage, they discovered warehouses and conference rooms that had been excavated and built in modern times, and even more than a dozen farmed animals were discovered.
The water ghost.
As the most common place for Bad-Eye Barry to spend the night, a small prayer room was also built in the sewer. According to the descriptions of the maids, dead fish and human bones were hung everywhere in the prayer room as offerings. It can be seen that this place is really
It was carefully managed by him.
This secret passage directly communicates with the sewer system of Green Lake City, so it is not certain where the exit at the other end of the secret passage is.
However, Megan vaguely remembered that her father, Alphonse Edwards, the third son of the fourth generation, once mentioned that the establishment of the sewer system in Green Lake City seemed to have been sponsored by the first generation lord, the starting point of the family.
While the maids went to the basement, Shade and Megan also entered the bedroom of the villa.
There is also a safe in the bedroom, and it is better hidden than the one in the study. None of the mistresses know it. But as long as you are determined to demolish the house, it is not difficult to find the safe.
Stored in this safe were some magic potions, alchemy items and letters. Megan still reached for the letters, while Shade went to check other things.
Although there are labels on those potions, Shade will definitely not drink potions obtained from enemies, and the value of alchemy items is not very high, so there is no need to use other people's things for cheap.
It was the delicate drawstring bag in the lower right corner of the safe that caught Shade's attention. After opening the bag, he found a wooden key. He was immediately delighted, but then he discovered that the key was the wrong size and not that special.
Traces of elements:
"It's not a time key."
Seeing that the adventure of "Seven Days Travel" was coming to an end, Shade thought he would encounter another key by chance.
After hearing Shade's soft sigh, Megan, who was reading the letter, glanced at him, and then saw the key in his hand:
"This is......"
The key is made of wood. On the cylindrical key post, there are short cylindrical protrusions facing in different directions. The front and back sides of the key handle are inlaid with flawless rubies and sapphires respectively. If you look at the light, you can see the man.
An illusory shadow writing with his head down in the study.
Meghan hurriedly took out the key from her pocket. When she and Shade landed on the island for the second time last week, they used the remains of the lord's wife, teeth and other items, and forged the key at the blacksmith.
Sure enough, although the materials of the two keys and the details of the key teeth are different, the size and shape are exactly the same.
"This is also the key you need? But why is it in the hands of Bad-Eye Barry?"
As he spoke, he gave the key to Megan, who was a little excited after taking it:
"Then only he knows. I didn't expect that I would get the second key like this. In addition to the keys made with your orichalcum and the black pearls from this morning, I have three keys."
"Ask him if you have a chance."
Shade didn't care and continued to rummage through the safe, but there was no further gain. However, the content of those letters was surprising. They were also correspondence between Bad-Eye Barry and the Order, but the letters were more personal.
Judging from the content of the letter, the cultist group is indeed related to a certain being on the island, and refers to him as "that gentleman". The attitude of the Drowning Order towards it is also to be cautious in cooperation, and the letter
In the letter, he repeatedly emphasized that he must not believe anything said by "that gentleman". At the same time, every time he met and talked with "that gentleman", the whole process must be informed to the sect.
"That gentleman? I guess, there is a high probability that he is your ancestor."
Shade smiled and said to Megan, who also agreed:
"Who else could it be but him?"
At the same time, the letter also revealed some other contents. For example, the letter naturally described the location of "that gentleman" as the "Central Island of Green Lake". This is consistent with the witch's investigation that there is no large number of people on the island.
The facts of the shipment of goods do not match.
"They have other collaborators."
Megan pointed to the last letter and said to Shade:
"The Order of the Drowned is responsible for communicating with the island, but in fact, the Order of the Drowned is far more involved in this matter. However, other forces cannot get in touch with 'that gentleman', so they only sponsor the Order
Some of the actions. Judging from the names mentioned here...it is certain that those involved in this matter are the followers of the evil god [Dragon Eater], and the illegal ring magician group [Tyranny Club] active in the border area - that
It’s a group of war lunatics, and the [Truth Society].”
"The Truth Society again?"
"Again? Do you know them?"
Megan asked in surprise, Shade nodded:
"I have had some unpleasant experiences with them. I heard that they were also present during the Pantanal War last winter."
"I have also had contact with them. They are crazy lunatics who pursue knowledge and wisdom. However, there are indeed a few members among them who can be called wise men. Unfortunately, if wisdom cannot be controlled, it will only lead to madness.
It’s just a shortcut.”
Of all the ring wizards Shad knew who were associated with the title of "Knowledge and Wisdom," Megan seemed to be the sane one.
In addition to this certain information, there are also some uncertain contents. In the letter sent a month ago, the sender repeatedly asked Bad Eye Barry whether he had obtained the "qualification" because he could not see the mail sent by Barry.
He didn't reply to the letter, so it's impossible to know how he replied, but Shade felt that the "qualification" mentioned here was probably that small key.
Megan could see Shade's doubts, she shook her head slightly:
"I only know that there are keys and doors. I don't know what they mean. Next time I land on the island, I can find a way to take you to the door, but I may not be able to succeed. In the morning, I said that I know those things
Where exactly the goods were transported, I think it should be where the door is. That door... does not really exist on the island. There may be more than one island in the middle of Green Lake."
After finishing speaking, he pursed his lips a little worriedly and asked Xiang Shade:
"You don't think that I've been hiding important things, do you?"
Her demeanor surprised the maid beside her.
"Absolutely not!"
Shade immediately shook his head, because it was actually him who had been hiding important things.