Of course, although the relics in the ruins couldn't be taken, there were other spoils.
Besides the Secret Keeper Level magic eye, 【Greedy Silver】, the Silver-Eyed One also had a relic on him.
It was a blood-stained iron scissor, likely collected to synthesize 【Mercury Blood】.
Actually, he should have had more relics around him, but the trio couldn't find them no matter how hard they searched, and finally guessed that they were absorbed by the tree that had burned to ashes.
On the incomplete corpse of the Vampire, two relics were also found.
One of them was very familiar, 【Puppeteer's Script】, totaling five pages, with the first two pages blackened, leaving three unused pages.
The other was a fang, directly embedded in the Vampire's mouth; if not for the hint from the woman in his mind, Xia De might have missed it.
With the four relics from the Silver-Eyed One and the Vampire, plus the 【god's gift box】 and the small mercury bottle in the underground warehouse, this adventure yielded a total of 6 relics.
Besides the relics, Xia De himself was promoted to the second ring and gained the Ling Rune - whisper 【Toy Manufacturer】, two Miracles 【Toy Making】 and 【Moonlight Greatsword】, and a drop of divinity.
The harvest this time was truly immense.
Being with The Chosen, people entangled by fate, was indeed very dangerous, but the rewards also exceeded the norm; at least, Xia De had never had an adventure with so many gains.
Having prepared thoroughly this time and risked greatly to oppose a High-Ring Sorcerer, the compensation received was already sufficient.
Besides these, the Silver-Eyed One and the Vampire also had notebooks and letters on them; these were also Xia De's trio's spoils of war, with no reason to leave them for the Church.
However, the current environment was too dangerous, so it was better to wait until they returned to the surface to appraise the relics and letters.
"But how are you going to take these two corpses away?"
Miss Annette was on the side Divining whether there would still be great danger when leaving, while Miss Bei Ya Si pointed to the two incomplete corpses on the ground.
The Silver-Eyed One's corpse was something Xia De had promised Miss Jialinna long ago, and the Vampire himself was a member of the 【Blood Spirit School】.
Although the corpse was severely damaged, the Witches might have spiritual communication methods, so he planned to take it along as well.
"You're not going to carry them on your back, are you?"
The young Sorceress showed a feeling of disgust.
"Of course not, I find them disgusting.
Look, I just learned the Miracle 【Toy Making】."
Saying that, Xia De squatted down and fiddled with the corpses, making them curl up as much as possible.
Then he took off his coat, which had accompanied him on this journey.
This coat was also tattered, but it was perfect as a casting material.
He shook the coat in his hand twice, then suddenly tossed it upwards.
It unfolded in the air and, upon landing, completely covered the Silver-Eyed One's corpse.
Xia De picked up the coat, and there was no corpse underneath it; instead, there was a cloth doll in the shape of the Silver-Eyed One's corpse, curled up in an extremely awkward posture.
"Look."
He picked up the doll, and Iluna looked at it with great curiosity.
"You can turn dead objects into cloth dolls?"
"Not just dead objects, living things can also be transformed, but they must completely trust me.
Besides cloth dolls, they can also be turned into puppets or ceramic dolls, but only into toys.
Depending on the actual volume, there is an upper limit to the transformed volume.
For example, this corpse can only shrink to the size of two fingers.
As for the level of trust in living things... I have to experiment to find out."
Saying that, he used the coat in his hand to cover the Vampire's disgusting remains again, turning it into a cloth doll as well, and continued to explain:
"But this Miracle is ineffective against any relic and has very poor effects on casting materials, otherwise it would be too convenient."
Xia De said regretfully, looking at a pile of messy casting materials scattered next to the Vampire's cloth doll.
"However, I can use this to identify 【relics】.
Just throw a large canvas over them, and anything that doesn't turn into a toy definitely has a problem."
Because he had a map, Xia De easily led the two girls to the secret room where eighteen gold plates and religious texts were stored.
There were other things here, such as the notes of the Church's Ring術士 throughout history, and the history of the Church.
The three of them each picked a few books to take away, and Xia De even took all the information about the 【god's gift box】.
Entering the ruins was nerve-wracking, but leaving them was much easier.
The compass guided them out of the labyrinth; the repaired mirror was useless to the Two Ring Xia De this time and was kicked over by him; the giant gargoyle-like Golem was still in a dormant state, so there was no need to offer an eye a second time.
The trio were in a good mood along the way, and when they lit the 【Bordor Candle】, which had only one minute of use left, and climbed out of the passage excavated by 【Mercury Blood】, they saw that the warehouse was still the same, with no one having noticed anything unusual, which made their mood even better.
They took the small mercury bottle and burned the last bit of the candle, then left the printing factory.
The City's night breeze dispersed the dust and heat from their bodies.
Moonlight and mist felt especially intimate to them, having spent several hours underground.
They didn't stop walking, but kept moving forward until they were far from the street where the printing factory was located, then they confirmed that this adventure was truly over.
Standing in the alley, shadows swallowed the trio, but at close range, by the Moonlight, they could all see each other's faces.
"Thank you for everything you did for me tonight."
Miss Bei Ya Si said, embracing both of them separately.
She subconsciously reached out and touched the eye patch over her left eye.
"I need to go to the banquet to find the captain and inform him about the existence of the second and third divine descent containers.
The gains from tonight will be kept by you first, and we'll divide them at Xia De's house tomorrow night."
"No problem."
Xia De and Miss Annette said.
The reason they didn't go with her to the mansion where the charity banquet was being held was because their identities were not suitable.
Moreover, the Church had already taken control of the situation.
Even if there were additional divine descent containers, as long as that banquet was disrupted and the crucial ritual condition of the "Blood Feast" was absent, divine descent would still be impossible.
But vigilance still could not be relaxed, which was why Iluna Bayas wanted to rush over as quickly as possible.
"Then see you tomorrow night, Miss Annette, see you tomorrow night, Xia De."
She said softly, then stood on tiptoe and, very naturally, kissed Xia De on the side of his face.
Blushing slightly, she took a step back, looking at Xia De's blurred face in the shadows with a gentle smile.
"I didn't mean anything else."
Saying that, she turned and hurried away along the alley.
Xia De felt a sense of loss; this was the second time he had been kissed tonight.
Miss Annette, who was beside him, smiled and patted him.
The Diviner was in a very good mood now.
"What are you thinking about?
We should go back and rest too."
Although the angel healed everyone's wounds except for his left eye, the fatigue in his heart still remained.
"Alright then, see you tomorrow night.
But these six relics..."
He said with difficulty, as relics whose specific containment conditions were unknown were even more dangerous than steam bombs.
"The 【god's gift box】 is yours, take it with you.
The containment condition for the two magic eyes, 【Greedy Silver】, when not installed in a human body, is regular contact with silver powder; you can keep this one for now.
You also take the 【manipulator's script】 for now, after all, you're the only one who has touched this thing."
The Diviner said, considering for a moment:
"The remaining three relics whose names and uses are unknown will be temporarily kept by me.
Helping Iluna Bayas, you can understand it as me completing an important fate node, so my Divination ability has also improved."
She pointed to her purple eyes.
"When I go back, I'll try my best to Divinate information about the other three items.
Although it might not be very useful, at least I can know the containment conditions."
"Alright then, but you must be careful."
Xia De said with some concern.
"You're the one who needs to be careful.
I'm only one ritual away from advancing to Four Ring, and you're only Two Ring, yet you're carrying so many dangerous items."
In the darkness, those purple eyes looking at Xia De seemed to glow.
She suddenly moved closer to Xia De, and they looked at each other at close range.
The woman asked softly:
"Before we part, could you satisfy my curiosity and answer a question?"
"Please ask."
Xia De was already prepared to be asked about secrets.
They had just seen the Mystic Lock, and surely understood that the recent merman incident was related to him.
But Xia De guessed wrong.
"Whose kiss do you prefer, mine or Iluna's?"
Her light laughter came from beside his ear, and her purple eyes, truly close at hand, seemed to deeply imprint themselves into Xia De's heart.
Looking at the pretty girl in front of him, smiling so cheerfully, somehow, Xia De felt his heart seemed to stop for the moment.
"You just wanted to ask that?"
He said softly.
"Yes, you must answer."
The brown-haired girl's smile was very deep.
"Hmm..."
He thought for a moment, and though a bit flushed, he still spoke truthfully:
"Actually, I didn't really feel anything, after all, the time was too short."
The purple-eyed girl smiled, shook her head, and her shoulder-length short hair swayed with the movement of her head.
She didn't bring up the topic again, her eyes still held a smile, and her tone changed slightly:
"Xia De, are you willing, like this adventure, to accompany me to witness the remaining twelve The Chosen?"
"Of course, I said so underground."
This answer was unhesitating.
Such adventures, though dangerous, were indeed necessary; he still needed 10 drops of divinity.
If every subsequent adventure with The Chosen went as smoothly as tonight, that would be wonderful.
"Then from tonight onwards, the fates of us three are truly bound together.
I hope we can continue to walk this path together."
Luvia Annett's smile was unexpectedly a little sad.
Without saying anything more, she softly wished Xia De goodnight, then also turned and left the alley.
Xia De stood there, watching her back disappear into the night's thick fog, then, holding the cold god's gift box, he also walked out of the alley.
"What exactly has Luvia Annett experienced?"
He thought to himself.
【Everyone has their own story.】
"Yes."
He thought again of the two ghosts in the cemetery.
"I also have my own story, as long as I don't regret it..."
Standing at the alley entrance, he took a deep breath, the smell of burning exhaust filling his lungs, along with the unique warmth of a Summer night.
"No matter what, this night is finally over."
