They emitted fluorescent light of various colors, and at an extremely slow speed, they lifted off the ground, slowly floated up, and then moved towards the space in front of the cardinal.
The process was very slow. After a full ten minutes, these light spots condensed into two strange halos in front of him.
A chaotic and blurry gray-black mass with a faint crimson glow seeping in from the inside, quiet yet evil.
One is a cluster of brilliant and dazzling colors, dotted with bright or deep stars, romantic and beautiful like a fairy tale.
“Is this the divinity that remains here?”
Saint Cosman looked at the two very different halos, thoughtfully.
"Sure enough, there are two different kinds of divinity... Was Stio's accident really the result of a battle between two divinities?"
Just then, the Cardinal opened his eyes.
His calm eyes cast their gaze towards the gray-black mist that was emitting a crimson glow, and he slowly spoke:
"'Ordinary World'."
Then, in Saint Cosman's extremely shocked eyes, he shifted his gaze to the bright halo next to him that looked like a galaxy.
The eyes, which had remained calm and indifferent until then, seemed to be rippling with some meaningful waves at that moment.
It was as if they had seen something extremely shocking, and even the "messenger of God" under the Pope's throne was moved.
After a silence of more than ten seconds, he moved his lips and uttered a word in a tone that sounded almost like a dream:
"'Panacea'..."
Chapter 206 Astrologer's Notes
The sun sank into the horizon, and the burning red and dim setting sun faded away.
It is already night in the bustling Sunset Harbor.
A cheap single rental apartment in the western area, adjacent to the Garland area.
In the narrow room without a separate bathroom, the small window was suddenly opened outwards.
A small, black lizard crawled in from under the window frame.
It moved quickly along the wall to the ground, then wandered around in the space of only a few square meters for a while, and suddenly expanded and deformed rapidly.
Qi Ji's figure was quickly condensed.
"Is this right here..."
She glanced around.
There were no lights on and the windows were not oriented in such a way that moonlight could enter, so it was pitch black in front of me and I could hardly see my hand in front of me.
But the darkness did not hinder Qi Ji's vision at all, and soon, the layout of the entire room came into her sight.
There is a single bed leaning against the corner, a moldy and worn wooden bookshelf, and a small desk that is either three or four hands long.
The air was filled with the smell of dampness and mold, and the walls and furniture had yellow spots and peeling marks.
A rather shabby and run-down environment.
This is White's residence.
In fact, knowing the name and appearance, it is very easy for Qi Ji to find someone in a big city.
With the help of countless reconnaissance puppets, she can easily obtain a lot of useful intelligence and information from people's conversations and inn records, and then find the target's traces and clues.
Now, although White himself is dead, she still found out where he lived in Sunset Harbor.
Qi Ji looked around and then walked towards the very old bookshelf.
The bookshelves were filled with all kinds of books, all of which were more or less moldy and damaged.
She glanced around, locked onto a target, then reached out and pulled it out.
The entire bookshelf was shaken noticeably by this not-so-violent movement, making a creaking sound, giving people a feeling that it was very unreliable and might collapse at any second.
The book that Qi Ji pulled out was a thick notebook-like book. Its edges were already severely damaged and rolled up, and the leather cover was also mostly broken and peeled off.
It had obviously been used for a long time and its owner had been tinkering with it a lot.
When you open the pages of the book, you will see words written in a not-so-beautiful handwriting, and occasionally you can see hand-drawn sketches.
Qi Ji casually flipped through the first half and found that this was a book that served as a note, draft and diary, most of which were casual writings by the owner White.
There are venting of dissatisfaction with the difficulties of life, records of one's own research results, drafts of calculations, and some self-composed poems and passages for self-entertainment.
Both the layout and content are quite messy. It is obvious that its owner was very casual when using it and did not deliberately modify or organize it.
This also means that the content of this notebook is very close to White’s true psychology.
When he wrote these contents, he was mostly talking to himself, rather than writing for anyone else.
For Qi Ji, the contents of this notebook are confusing, but also detailed.
"This guy turned out to be an astrologer."
By reading the first half of the note, she had a rough idea of who the person was.
White's main job is as an employee in a private bank. His salary is reasonable and his work is relatively decent and easy compared to that of lower-level workers.
Logically speaking, one shouldn't turn one's living environment into a doghouse.
But the problem is, he has a hobby: astrology.
Strictly speaking, it is by studying the laws of the starry sky and celestial phenomena and finding the corresponding relationship between them and various phenomena on the earth, so as to obtain information about the past, present and even the future.
The first step in all this is to observe the various celestial bodies in the night sky and study their characteristics and appearance.
In the early stages of this notebook, White's records were relatively academic and normal, and he felt like an ordinary amateur astronomer.
But the further you go, the more eerie the notes reveal.
This is not only because the writing of words and the drawing of diagrams began to become distorted, dirty, full of heterogeneous passion, revealing ominousness and madness.
Also, the above content is becoming increasingly pathological and paranoid, and there are always some extremely emotional and even religious descriptions.
Later on, the content of the notes had little to do with astronomy. A large number of dirty and chaotic symbols and patterns filled every blank space, like the graffiti of a mental patient.
It's more like the mumbling of a fanatic in madness.
Through those contents whose meanings can be barely discerned, Qi Ji roughly restored White's later mental outlook:
He began to pursue something that could not be described positively, and for this reason he gave up taking care of his own image, stopped taking a bath, and stopped washing his face.
He even quit his previous respectable job and had to sell off his household belongings for the minimum funds for survival.
He locked himself in a dark rented house all day, never going out except for eating and going to the toilet. In order to observe the celestial phenomena every moment, he reversed his daily routine, sleeping during the day to stay awake at night.
His chaotic schedule and cheap diet made his body thinner and his complexion increasingly pale.
Dirt and sour smell accompanied his body all the time, making him look like a tramp.
But he was completely unaware of it, or he simply didn't care about it.
The only thing he cared about was his own research, and his devotion, enthusiasm and admiration for the existence that could not be described directly.
As long as I can get closer to it, no matter what the cost, it is insignificant...
"brush--"
Qi Ji opened the last page of the notebook.
Suddenly, a dense, messy, distorted and ugly text came into view.
Although the handwriting of these words was so sloppy and distorted, like wriggling maggots, which made people feel irritated just by looking at it, Qi Ji still understood the contents of this page.
This is a diary-like self-narration:
“June 1016, 6:
"I, White, a devout follower of the vast star realm, write this declaration today.
“I don’t know who will see the following content, and I don’t care. I just want my determination and courage to leave a little mark in this absurd and false world.
"It has been nearly a year since I came into contact with 'Astral Mysticism' last July. My study has become much more perfect and improved than it was in the beginning. I believe that I will soon achieve initial results.
“Well, ‘Astral Mysticism’ is a name I gave myself.
“Since ancient times, human beings have had almost no exploration and understanding of the astral world. Apart from knowing the most superficial and superficial phenomena such as the sun and moon rising in the east and setting in the west, and the four seasons changing from spring to autumn, we can be said to be as ignorant as a newborn baby.
“As for the mysterious astral world, humans can only say that they ‘know’ it, but cannot say that they ‘understand’ it. Even if they ‘understand’ it, it is only at the most superficial level, far less than one ten-thousandth of what they know about the earth and the ocean.
“But now, this situation is about to be broken!
“And the key to all this is me!
“After nearly a year of hard research, I overcame countless difficulties and obstacles and opened up an unprecedented path!
"It's 'Astral Mysticism'!
“By observing some unusual movements of some stars, I can be sure that there is an extremely large object that is wandering in the vast starry sky without stopping.
“It cannot be directly observed. It seems to be transparent and has no substantial body, but it contains some kind of extremely powerful and great power, so much so that it can distort starlight and allow me to discover it.
"This is a phenomenon that has never been recorded in any astronomical organization, official documents or textbooks!
"The 'Astral Mysticism' that I founded is a discipline that explores the laws and nature of existence such as 'mysterious objects' that wander among the stars.
"And I have achieved remarkable results. Through observations over this period of time, I found that the movement trajectory of the 'mysterious object' is not irregular.
"Statistically speaking, it has a greater probability of appearing in the starry sky between the 'Harvest' and 'Lighthouse' constellations.
"That is to say, as long as I conduct astronomical telescope on this area of the sky, there is a high possibility that I can directly observe the appearance of that existence!
“Of course, its outline is too vague. It is far from enough to rely on the naked eye or telescope. I also need some assistance from the spiritual realm.
"I intend to use the method of 'spiritual divination' to allow my consciousness to penetrate the vast and infinite starry sky, and in an extremely brief moment, glimpse the location of the main body of that outline.
“Although I am just an ordinary person and cannot display any magical supernatural powers, I still have a good chance of finding the right state thanks to my meditation ability that I have cultivated over a long period of time.
“Of course, this requires the assistance of some special materials and drugs, such as pure crystals, or hallucinogens that can paralyze human nerves.
“I have already purchased the corresponding materials, spending almost all my savings.
"The city lights are too bright, which greatly reduces the visibility of the starry sky, which is not conducive to my observation.
"I have to go to the suburbs, to an area that is remote enough and far away from modern civilization, to better increase my chances of success.
“Tomorrow, tomorrow night I will set off to the western suburbs to find a suitable place.
"I will unveil the mysteries of the astral world and gain more real knowledge. The strange shape wandering in the astral world is the first step of my journey.
"I can not wait any more!"
At this point, the note is completely finished.
The rest of the paper is blank, with no content.
"Snapped!"
Qi Ji closed the book and looked out the small window.
This diary-like narrative is actually closer to an essay that White wrote on a whim when he was excited.
There is no polishing of language and wording, and it is basically written whatever comes to mind. There is no obvious logical relationship between sentences, and the description jumps a lot.
But combined with her previous "thrilling" experience of channeling White's residual spirituality, she was able to draw a lot of information worth thinking about.
"The astral world... the mysterious form... the great being..."
Through the small window, she looked up at the sky.
At the end of the field of vision, a brilliant starry sky stretches to infinity in all directions.
Quiet, magnificent, and bright, it is like a palette overturned by the Creator.
I don’t know how much unknown weirdness, mystery and malice are lurking.
=========================
There will be a free single chapter later, which is a solicitation of opinions on the development of the plot for the next volume. If you are interested, you can participate.
Soliciting opinions on the development of the next volume
This volume (Volume 2) is also coming to an end. I estimate that if nothing unexpected happens, there are still ten chapters to go. The planning of the outline of Volume 3 should also be put on the agenda, but I am a little confused and uncertain at the moment, so I want to brainstorm.
