In return, he was willing to hand over all the Golian territories under his rule to the other party, including the livestock and population on the territory.
"This lunatic..." Li Ang grinned.
He had heard of Mokeli. Among the many lords of Goli, he was notoriously stubborn and self-righteous, and attached great importance to short-term interests.
Aman's head alone was not enough to make him abandon everything he had and sell his soul to Eclipse. Those evil followers must have given him other benefits, and he might have already taken them.
"How should I put it?" After reading the letter, he handed the paper back to Aman. "From a personal point of view, I would like to drive you out and let you freeze to death, but my job tells me that I must let you live and return to Goli alive."
"I didn't fully trust Sara before. This is my fault." Aman bowed his head sincerely. "I just hope you can forgive me once because I am not a qualified successor... not a good leader. I swear I will not let my allies down again."
Li Ang squinted at him, staring at his olive skin, his high nose bridge and the scar on his face, and suddenly smiled: "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, right? Don't let such a small problem affect the friendship between the two countries..."
When Hitzfeld finished cleaning in the temporary bathroom and changed into a new dress, she saw the two men arm in arm, chatting and laughing happily in the smoke.
"..." Pinching his hair, Hitzfeld turned and left, going to see Mrs. Charles first.
The woman's condition was better than she had imagined. When Mrs. Charles heard what had happened, she was not afraid at all. Instead, she excitedly asked if she could also be given a gun. She wanted to contribute.
After hesitating for a while, Hitzfeld handed over the gun that he had previously given to Ashley but the latter had no chance to use to her, so that she at least had a weapon to defend herself.
After teasing the sleepy Bella for a while, the girl left and went straight into the door opposite.
All the cars behind car 3 were cut off, and all the supplies that could be looted were moved away. The locomotive was now lightly equipped, with only three cars, 1, 2, and 3.
Among them, Sheriff Rand, Mike and Bieber were guarding the front of the train and car No. 1. Mrs. Charles, Bella-Charles, Hitzfeld, Ashley and other ladies lived in car No. 2. Aman and Mary... Leon Boris and others lived in car No. 3.
Aman and Mary shared a room, and Leon and Boris shared a room.
Hitzfeld heard that Baliu originally wanted to live with Leon because there were many empty rooms in the carriage, but was rejected by Leon.
She wondered when these two would ever be together, so she opened the door to her dorm and saw Ashley already fast asleep in the lower bunk on the right.
Lily was held directly in the girl's arms, using her as a pillow and for warmth. The two sides leaned on each other, looking both funny and a little warm.
Hitzfeld didn't say anything - even if they stopped in Nanling City, it would still take more than ten hours, so they must get a good rest at night.
He walked over to cover the girl with a blanket, then looked up and saw Baliu sitting on the upper bunk opposite with a roll of parchment in his hand.
"How's the sheriff?" Hitzfeld asked softly.
"Nothing serious, is it?" Baliu's voice came from behind the manuscript paper, "Don't underestimate the old bird's endurance. It happened so many years ago. Do you think he will be sad?"
"That's hard to say." Hitzfeld's voice was even softer. "After all, that seems to be the reason why he went into this profession."
With a "whoosh", Baliu suddenly put down the manuscript and stared at her.
Hitzfeld stood still, not even his eyes changed.
"This is just a guess after all..." Barriu leaned back again, "He himself said that no wounds were found after the autopsy. Who can be sure that he was also a 'Doctor of Mechanics' at that time?"
"But they are very similar." The girl still insisted, "The wound is hard to find, the murder weapon and the bullet cannot be found, and all kinds of diseases can be triggered by toxins. I don't believe there are such coincidences in the world."
"If you want to pity the sheriff, why not pity Papaconi Larson?" Bariu leaned over and yawned. "Isn't this an unprovoked disaster for him? One of their two plans... is to use his drug addicts, frame him, and then kill him..."
"Mr. Larson had bad intentions when he started this journey. I won't pity such a person."
Hitzfeld let her hair down, took off her long skirt, sat on the bed on her left, and tried to wrap herself in the quilt. Her cold feet touched a warm object.
There were no heaters on the train for fear of poisoning. Winter was simply torture, and the only solution they could think of was to fill hot water bottles.
The light warmth gradually turned into a hot feeling that spread from the soles of his feet. Hitzfeld felt comfortable all over and reached out to touch the table by the window.
On top were food, which were also supplies looted and transferred. They included a box of white bread that had been made not long ago, with a layer of cheese, honey and crushed sugar on the surface, which was enough to satisfy the need for filling the stomach.
After taking a bite of the bread, it felt too cold, so Hitzfeld picked up a still warm sausage from the iron plate, first broke a dent in the bread, and then poked the sausage into it.
For a moment, the only sounds in the car were the slight sound of her taking and putting food, the clanging sound, and the sound of the wind outside the window like a ghost howling.
After filling his stomach and drinking some warm water, Hitzfeld felt his feet were not so cold anymore, so he got out of the quilt and moved to the upper bunk.
Baliu had been immersed in the manuscript when she suddenly felt a pair of eyes staring at her. She turned around and was startled by a head that popped up.
"Have you finished reading it?" Hitzfeld asked unceremoniously, "You should take a rest. Let me take care of these things."
These parchments may look insignificant, but in fact, they are the "evil books" mentioned by Armand Angelo.
After receiving it, Baliu determined that it was a part of the Book of the Dead, belonging to the "Dead Pages", which recorded a large number of secret legends and the arrangement methods of sacrificial rituals.
It is said that there are also divination and prophecy, and the blood magic mastered by the Mechanical Yang Cult actually comes from a piece of "Dead Soul Fragment".
No one knows who the author of this book is, because the entire "Book of the Dead" was compiled by many people using various ciphers. It contains countless secret ways related to the supernatural. I don't know how many supernatural organizations and schools of spiritism dream of owning them.
"This is something very dangerous..."
Baliu hesitated.
"The forbidden book among the forbidden books... I'm not sure you can read it."
Hitzfeld's response was simple—she reached out and snatched the stack of parchment from Baliu's arms.
"Take it easy."
The tree girl rolled her eyes.
"Insomniacs don't have to sleep, but it's best to take a nap and meditate before dawn, which can effectively relieve mental fatigue."
She wasn't particularly worried about Hitzfeld because the necromancy fragment was written in a cipher.
This kind of code has never appeared before, and it takes a lot of effort to decipher it. Bariu couldn't figure out anything except the bloody ritual pictures, and she thought Hitzfeld would be the same as her.
"Uh-huh……"
Hitzfeld dealt with it in a mess and quickly retreated back into bed with his things.
It's still too cold.
I have to wrap myself tightly in a blanket and use a hot water bottle to come alive.
After a while, she began to look through the remains of the undead pages by candlelight.
How mysterious is the legendary Book of the Dead?
At first glance, she saw a large section of ciphertext in the shape of blocks stacked together.
Frown first.
She had never seen such a secret code before.
Raise your eyebrows again.
But it looked like some kind of...hieroglyphics that she recognized.
Chapter 44: Dead Souls Fragment 2
"I can only say that it is very similar, but not the same... too many details are different."
After carefully identifying and comparing all the ciphertext blocks in this paragraph with the hieroglyphs in his memory, Hitzfeld determined that they were not the same language.
The difference is still huge.
But the important thing is that she can gain enough experience from hieroglyphics, and this experience can greatly speed up the deciphering of the ciphertext, as some of the rules are common.
"It's really strange. It looks like someone who knew this kind of writing had forgotten it and created it based on some residual impressions."
Hitzfeld didn't quite understand why such a strange situation happened, and her attention was not always focused here. She was soon attracted by the deciphered content.
The first page of the parchment contains a paragraph of text, which can be roughly interpreted as: [Those who know the secrets of the upper world will be given the desires of the lower world, and those who exchange the desires of the lower world will be given the secrets of the upper world.]
It's a bit cumbersome and difficult to understand. According to Hitzfeld's understanding, it should be said that those who want to know the secrets of the upper world must exchange them with the desires of the lower world; and those who exchange the secrets of the upper world with the desires of the lower world must obey the instructions of the upper world where the secrets came from, and work for the upper world with peace of mind from then on.
That should be about what it means, right?
Hitzfeld raised his eyebrows and glared, actually he wasn't quite sure.
It should be fine to translate it into that language, but it was her first time encountering this kind of ciphertext, and she wasn't sure if there were any hidden patterns that she hadn't discovered.
Some ciphertexts were just small dots, and a change in one symbol could cause the entire sentence to change drastically. She was not so arrogant as to think she could translate it perfectly with just one glance.
"But if I'm right, then the meaning of this passage should be... a warning? Or advice?"
This is ultimately a kind of warning to those who see this - once you decide to use the desires of the lower world to exchange secrets from the upper world, you must be prepared to pay the price.
So what do the “upper world”, “lower world”, and “desire” refer to here?
Instinctively, when seeing the secret code representing the "upper realm", Hitzfeld first thought of the Kingdom of the Sun God and the Secret Realm of the God.
Then she thought of the endless void... and a shadow passed through the pitch-black stars.
After shaking it a bit, she confirmed that this was a fragment of the dead, a part of the ultimate forbidden book "Book of the Dead", and felt that the previous options could be ruled out.
It is most likely written by an evil disciple, a manuscript similar to a textbook. The so-called upper realm should refer to the void or even the universe where the real evil gods - or outer gods - are located.
Maybe it's... a place like the Gray Mist Temple?
The Gray Mist Temple was definitely not safe during the time of Saint Fili, as there was no goddess there at that time. He was polluted there and eventually died as a result.
By the time I got the Book of Howling and communicated with the temple through it, the danger level there was much lower.
Although the chains on the pillars next to it... the things locked at the end of the chains are a bit suspicious, at least you can occasionally see the goddess sitting there and her weapons placed there.
And that particularly huge book.
The big book that was spread out on the long table in the temple was the largest book Hitzfeld had ever seen in his two lifetimes.
It also has self-awareness, and it seems as if there is a living creature living inside it. Even this thing can cast magic to rewind historical scenes.
You have to know that it's not just recalling memories, this ability is no less than turning back time.
It's even more outrageous than that, because the book itself is in another dimension, and it doesn't even know what the real Laceres continent looks like.
It knows a lot of things... The evil monster that has been bothering Sarah for so long is contemptuously called "Desire Abnormal No. 2". Perhaps the power of that book is enough to fight against the real evil god.
Now that the Book of Howling was gone, and he couldn't go back to the Gray Mist Temple, Hitzfeld regretted not bringing the book back with him.
I was a little too timid at that time.
"Then, the lower world must refer to Changxia... oh... it should be the continent of Icarolin, or 'Namiya' as Sophia said."
During the beach adventure, Hitzfeld was able to travel back in time to the beginning of all life, where she met the four original ancient gods.
They are Victoria, Moines, Sophia and Benita.
For now, she can only be sure that Sophia is in charge of "wisdom" - who named her baby the Crown of Wisdom?
And Moins is in charge of "destruction" - or possibly "disaster" or "cleansing".
Benita is probably something like "destiny".
Victoria was the only one who didn't know.
The sword that can erase everything is more of an authority than a rule, just like when your computer is infected you need some means to remedy the situation...
Sophia calls this world "Namiya", and Hitzfeld guesses that this is the "underworld".
As for secrets and desires...
She continued to read, and her expression gradually became less attractive.
The more she interpreted, the more certain she became that there was nothing wrong with her initial translation.
The rest of the page records all the [methods] - that is, detailed descriptions on how to arrange rituals to communicate with the upper world, and how to collect the desires of people in the lower world in order to trade with the gods in the upper world.
She even saw a method that could tap into the greed in human nature through a series of rituals, in order to create a powerful "false god"!
Isn't this referring to the Black Snake?
It turned out to be a manuscript of this level... No wonder those evil followers wanted to kill Aman!
Hitzfeld was sweating all over.
Turning the page, she saw a picture that showed a large snake vaguely outlined in a mist. The ferocious snake's head opened wide and held the snake's tail, swallowing it and growing. In the middle was a beautiful castle, with souls flying out of the windows and merging into the mist. It looked extremely mysterious and evil.
"..." Closing his eyes tightly and rubbing his eyebrows, Hitzfeld took a while to make sure he could continue watching.
She admitted that what Baliu said was right. A lot of the content in the Book of the Dead was too weird and too evil. Even well-trained people with strong self-awareness would be shocked after reading it. Ordinary people would easily fall into it and become slaves driven by the pages.
Because although desire is invisible, it is indeed everywhere.
The simplest greed - some people are greedy for money, some are greedy for sex, but some are greedy for transcendence and immortality. As long as they cannot control this desire, they are likely to be bewitched by these methods and embark on the evil path of collecting human desires and exchanging secrets with the "upper world".
But... this itself is already a kind of secret method or secret art.
After Hitzfeld recovered, he was a little confused.
Is this level not enough for the writer to call it a "secret"?
