The others chatted while Hitzfeld flipped through the book.
"Probably." Torres said, "I haven't been there either... I just heard about it."
"What if there's a fire here, or if evildoers break in? Wouldn't that mean a lot of important documents will be lost?"
"I'm not sure, but I've heard a rumor that the really important data is backed up and isn't originally here."
Hitzfeld ignored them.
Her whole attention was on the book.
There is no introduction, no lead-in.
After a rough look, I found that it was a collection of many strange stories and legends recorded in an ancient way. However, from the notes of each chapter, I could see that many of the legends were related to history.
This book has six chapters in total.
They are "Thermidor", "The Infected", "The Devil's Snake", "The Gourmet" and "The Scent of the Sun".
It does seem unreliable.
Hitzfeld was secretly complaining in his heart.
Although the notes seem to link them to historical materials, just as you cannot judge that "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" is real history based on this, the authenticity of these stories must be greatly discounted.
How could Priscilla introduce such a book to me?
Could she have made a mistake?
Or is it just a coincidence that there is another book called “Shadow of the Ancient God” on a higher level?
I was confused.
But Hitzfeld decided to finish it first.
Because she had just turned to the last part, she read it backwards, starting from Chapter 6, "The Scent of the Sun."
This is also a very strange chapter title.
The fragrance of the sun... Does the sun have a fragrance?
When Hitzfeld saw the name, the first thing that came to his mind was... the weekend mornings in his previous life when he took the quilt out to dry, and the smell he smelled when he put his face to it after it was dried.
It smells really good.
It can’t be called a fragrance, but it gives people a very peaceful and comfortable feeling.
Thinking of this, she reflexively put her face close to the pages of the book and sniffed.
I don’t know if it’s an illusion.
She seemed to smell a similar, but stronger, hot, light fragrance.
Chapter 76: Shadow of the Ancient God
No, this doesn’t seem to be an illusion!
Shaking his head, Hitzfeld frowned.
There is a faint fragrance lingering between the pages, which may be difficult for ordinary people to detect, but she is a quasi-perfumer!
Both the lady and Pusance praised her talent in perfume making, and the most intuitive talent for perfume making is actually to have a keen sense of smell. She was 100% sure that she was not wrong.
This couldn't be the smell of the pages themselves.
Fur doesn't smell like this, it's more spicy.
It's not the smell of ink either. The smell of ink is much stronger than this.
If we rule out the possibility that there is someone very fast who can take the books outside to dry them and then put them back at the speed of light - even if that is possible, it is snowing heavily now - then there are not many conclusions to be drawn.
"Maps." She looked up. "Did you see anything unusual when you went to get the book?"
"Ah?" Darent was chatting with Carlo. Hearing this, he turned his head back in surprise. "What's unusual?"
"For example, if you saw someone standing there," Hitzfeld asked tentatively, "it might be a woman, and she also took the book... and then she just put it back and you arrived..."
Her voice got lower and lower as everyone else looked at them as if they were crazy.
"Let me confirm again." Darent sneered, "Are you asking me a serious question, not just teasing me?"
"Forget it, just pretend I didn't ask." Hitzfeld ignored him.
From these people's reactions, you can tell how crazy her guess is.
She herself felt it was crazy... It was as outrageous as a modern person getting up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, groping his way to the toilet door and staring into the darkness inside, suspecting that there might be a female ghost waiting for him there.
How could I have such a thought for no reason?
She rubbed her temple.
However, this fragrance cannot be produced by the book itself... It is attached to the book, and the only possibility is that it was picked up when someone turned the pages.
This was a very high-end perfume, so high-end that even she couldn't smell the ingredients. She could only simulate it based on her impression of the scent itself, and instinctively sketched out the image of a woman in her mind.
Of course... there was only a rough outline of her figure; her face was blurry and couldn't be seen clearly no matter what.
Let’s look at the content first.
She immersed herself in it.
The scent of the sun.
The story of this chapter is a bit disgusting. It describes a small town being invaded by evil spirits, and the people inside are turning into monsters one after another, but the protagonist of the story still insists on his belief in the goddess, and ultimately cannot escape the fate of being swallowed.
However, one thing caught her attention: there was a strange description at the end of the chapter when the author simulated the inner monologue of the victims.
[I really miss the scent of the sun...]
[I really want to smell those flowers again...]
After thinking for a while, Hitzfeld flipped forward and started reading from the first chapter.
Chapter 1, "A Strange Talk by the Lake", describes a water monster that appeared in a lake adjacent to a border town. Like Chapter 6, the narrator uses the first person. Reading it makes people feel as if they are there, and they are adventuring together by the foggy lake.
At the end of the story, the protagonist seemed to be crazy. He insisted that he saw the water monster with his own eyes, but no one believed him. Everyone thought he was possessed by evil spirits, and he was eventually thrown into the fire and burned to death amid the surging public opinion.
Chapter 2, "Thermidor Festival", focuses on a festival that Hitzfeld had never heard of, as if it was the country's grandest and most enthusiastic celebration every year, more important than the New Year every year.
This chapter is also written from the first person perspective, describing the celebration from the perspective of a flower-selling girl.
The girl had a good ending. She was noticed by a nobleman at the celebration, which was better than continuing to sell flowers.
Chapter 3, "The Infected." A first-person diary that coldly and calmly records the individual's experience from infection to the deformed outcome.
It is in sharp contrast to the romance and happiness described in the previous chapter, "Thermidor Festival". From the beginning to the end, it is filled with deep despair. The story is so real that Hitzfeld is almost sure it happened.
But what made her both terrified and unbelievable was that the infection described in this "diary" looked more like a biological virus than a simple evil shadow.
It takes less than a week from infection to deformation.
During this week, the narrator considered suicide and went to the church and the police, but ultimately did not take action because of his desire to survive.
His skin began to fall off in large flakes, and his flesh began to twist like a mosaic, seemingly able to "decompose and devour all organic matter."
At the end of the story, he seemed to have gone crazy, but his mother knocked on the door and awakened his last bit of conscience as a human being. In order to prevent his mother from seeing this terrible appearance and to completely destroy these terrible viruses, he poured alcohol in the house and set it on fire, ending his life in the blazing flames.
[I curse...]
[I curse those who bring disaster...]
[May the divine fire burn their souls and let them wail in the flames until the end of time.]
After staring at the ending silently for a few seconds, Hitzfeld turned the page again.
Chapter 4, "The Demonic Serpent".
This is an adventure story. The protagonist joins an expedition team and is stranded on a desert island due to a shipwreck. It is a story about his adventure on this deserted island.
Since the narrative style of each previous article was different, Hitzfeld was not too surprised.
Familiar first-person perspective, familiar involving various monsters.
She was very absorbed in watching it because it was really interesting. There were many strange creatures that she had never heard of, and each one seemed to have really appeared in the world.
Including a cat that can escape into the shadows.
A horse with optical projection that can create optical illusions.
It is more than ten meters long, with colorful bodies, like a giant python.
There are also giant spiders that move in groups and can simulate walking upright like humans.
It's written just like the real thing...
She shook her head as she read it, thinking that it was a great loss that Nan Xinze's novelist did not see it.
But what does it have to do with the chapter title?
really weird.
Demonic snake...
Are you talking about the colorful giant python just now?
With this mentality, she turned to the next page.
Then her breathing hitched.
Next page...there is no text introduction.
The two sheets of paper were connected together to form a huge illustration. The content was a dark cave with a huge human head standing in the air, with a long and thin neck, as if a giant's head and a snake's body were spliced together.
The plot is that the expedition team encountered this monster, and to their surprise, it was actually intelligent. It made a request to them that they must cook food that satisfied it before it would let them go.
[Nante did not heed its warning and tried to escape, but was swallowed by it.]
['I'm tired of eating raw meat,' it roared in the cave, 'Why do you force me to do this? ']
[I don’t know what happened next. I only heard loud noises, fierce screams, and roars… I just ran all the way out, kept running, ran all the way to the beach and jumped into the sea. When I looked back, I found that no one else followed me out.]
[I don't know what happened to them.]
[But this thing does remind me of an old legend.]
[Also about the human-faced demon snake.]
[A story about a gourmet.]
--------
There is still one chapter left during the day, so I start paying off my debts~
Chapter 1: The Gift of Food Pays Off Debt
Seeing this, Hitzfeld frowned again.
I continued turning the pages, and sure enough, I saw that the next story was "Gourmet".
So you guys are still making TV series, right?
Then you should finish writing this story.
What happened to the person who escaped in the end? Did he escape from the island? What happened to his companions? You should explain it clearly.
If you don't care about the authenticity of "The Demonic Serpent", it can indeed be read as an extremely wonderful short story. Hitzfeld was already fascinated by it in just a few minutes, and was extremely indignant at this kind of out-of-context behavior.
Once again, she flipped through all the pages with a more rigorous attitude than before, and looked especially closely at the small notes below to make sure that they really did not mention the author.
In fact, there should be six or even seven authors - the writing styles of the six articles are different. If the book was put together by someone else, then there are undoubtedly seven authors.
"What are you looking for?" Darente had just finished discussing with Carlo what color underwear the Pope usually wears, and the next moment he saw Hitzfeld sitting behind the bar flipping through a book.
He was curious. Wouldn't this be enough time for her to finish reading the book?
Why are you flipping through the book like you’re the first time I got it? What’s going on?
"Shut up." Hitzfeld glanced at him gloomily.
"Chat about your life."
"There's something wrong." Darent scratched his head, unable to figure out what was wrong with her, and turned around to continue chatting with Torres.
Hitzfeld turned the page back and began reading Gourmet.
