In the medicine's synthesis formula, the doctor occasionally used terms Xia De didn't understand to refer to certain additives.
Although Xia De's knowledge of herbs and potions was shallow, judging from the synthesis method and the order of adding the agents, this “red potion” was very likely to be an active ingredient.
“This is a laboratory-purity synthetic agent given to me by my friend from the Third Mechanical College in Tobesk.”
“Lies.”
The black-haired girl, who was looking down at the medical records, said without raising her head, and Mr. Alfred’s sweat immediately streamed down his face.
Xia De shook his head, putting down the notebook in his hand:
“Doctor, I have reason to believe that the so-called ‘red potion’ is a powerful hallucinogenic drug you purchased from the black market.
This unknown illegal drug stimulated Mr. Bondi the musician’s eyes, and also caused him to fall into addiction and hallucinations, ultimately leading to the tragedy of suicide.”
“It’s absolutely not a hallucinogenic drug! I tried it myself! It’s just for treating eyes.”
Mr. Alfred said loudly again, but being stared at by Xia De’s scrutinizing gaze, he surprisingly felt an inexplicable fear of the young man in front of him.
“What exactly is the red potion?”
He stared into the ophthalmologist’s eyes and asked.
The middle-aged man trembled with a wince, but still bravely looked at him.
The two looked at each other for a long time.
Xia De’s gaze remained unchanged, except for a strong urge to blink.
The doctor, looking into Xia De’s eyes, felt increasingly terrified.
The young man opposite clearly showed no fierce demeanor, nor was he as terrifying as the gangsters he had seen in the nearby district, but the more he stared at Xia De, the more an inexplicable pressure made his heart pound, as if he was looking up at some indescribable behemoth.
Finally, the doctor gave up hiding, and shifted his gaze somewhat dejectedly:
“That is the gift of the ancestors.”
Xia De sighed and turned to look at his assistant.
The black-haired girl looked eager for a story, while Xia De sighed that this troublesome matter had finally come to an end.
Compared to Xia De's investigation process, Doctor Alfred's story was relatively boring.
The doctor was not a native of Tobesk, but had settled there from another place.
Although he had successfully settled in this great City, known as the Northern Pearl, Jacob Alfred still returned to his hometown every year to visit.
When he returned to his hometown this spring, the doctor considered selling the old house in his hometown to get cash to expand his clinic in Tobesk.
While cleaning up the old house, an earthquake unexpectedly occurred locally.
The earthquake caused cracks in the basement wall of the old house, and behind those cracks, Doctor Alfred discovered a hollow compartment used to store items.
There were three items in the compartment: a bottle containing red potion, a roll of parchment written in an unknown language, and a ring.
“How wonderful!”
The black-haired girl said.
“That’s all.
I don’t recognize the words on the parchment, and the ring looks like an antique.
As for the potion, although I don’t know its specific effects, I saw an eye symbol on the parchment, so I thought it might be useful for eyes.
Later, I experimented with small white mice and found it was indeed useful.
Then I added some other herbs to make it effective on humans.
Mr. Bondi was my first test subject, and I really succeeded; he truly regained his sight.”
Doctor Alfred took out an old leather box from the safe, placed it on the coffee table, unlocked it with a key, opened the box, and took out the three items, placing them on the table.
The yellowed bottle contained only three-quarters of the red liquid, the rest had been mixed into that bright yellow potion, and the parchment looked quite ancient, indeed written in an ancient language.
As for the last item, that simple, square-faced iron ring—
“Outsider, you have touched a ‘whisper’.”
“Oh? A relic?”
“A relic?”
Miss Servite was a little surprised.
It was difficult to identify a relic that wasn't active without knowing its specific properties.
Xia De, with his sensitive soul, was able to make a quick judgment.
He put on gloves and held the ring in his hand, and the voice in his ear directly confirmed that it was a relic.
The ring's band was black iron, and the face was made of a deeper, ancient black iron material.
The face was rectangular, slightly convex around the edges and concave in the middle, but the pattern inside the rectangle was raised.
Xia De suddenly widened his eyes:
“Can a ring also be considered a seal?”
This was an ancient metal seal ring, and the pattern on the seal—
“Knock, knock, knock~”
The three of them looked at the study door behind them.
The sudden knocking didn’t cause too much fright, but they all felt a chill in their hearts at that moment.
The person outside was knocking on the door panel very regularly, with no intention of stopping.
“Doctor, excuse me, is there anyone else in your house?”
Miss Servite asked, slightly frowning.
Looking at the doctor again, after confusion, an expression of terror crept onto the doctor’s face:
“No, before you came, there shouldn’t have been anyone else here.
Someone broke in here! Oh, who, who is outside!”
He asked loudly, but there was no answer from outside the door.
The knocking maintained its original frequency, but the sound grew louder and louder.
Miss Servite stood up:
“Detective, be careful.”
Both she and Xia De felt an abnormal sensation coming from outside the door.
After telling the doctor to hide under the desk, Xia De also stood up.
A cold wind quickly seeped through the door crack.
Although it was a late summer afternoon, the light in the area where the door was located suddenly dimmed, as if something was absorbing the light.
In just a few seconds, the two people standing in the middle of the study saw that the doorway area had fallen into pitch-black Darkness.
The door completely disappeared into the Darkness, and the sound of knocking also seemed to be completely absorbed by the Darkness, vanishing without a trace.
“What is this?”
Tifa asked in a low voice, taking a step forward to shield Xia De behind her.
Miss Jialinna had ordered her to follow Xia De, and one of those commands was to protect Xia De.
Xia De rubbed the face of the metal Demon Hunter seal ring in his hand with his fingertip, then carefully slipped it onto his index finger.
He already knew what kind of relic this was; the seal pattern on the ring face was precisely the exorcism emblem found on Riddle, the Prophet of the fifth epoch.
This was the Demon Hunter Seal, the mark used by Demon Hunters of the third epoch to hunt Evil Spirits and demons.
Xia De had only heard Luvia mention it yesterday, saying he would definitely encounter it if he just kept moving forward, but he hadn't expected this seal to be a ring.
If he had seen it was a seal just now, he would definitely not have touched this ring.
“I think it’s probably a demon attracted by this ring.
Once this ring has not been held by a Ring術士 for a long time, it will attract a demon when it encounters a Ring術士 again.
This is one of its negative characteristics, as if the ring’s original holder wanted the ring’s next owner to understand the mission they bore.”
Xia De said in a low voice.
“What?”
The maid thought she had misheard.
“This ring is a relic, and its negative characteristic is attracting demons.
I don’t know why it appeared in my hand when I was looking for it, and I don’t know why there are demons in the City of Tobesk, but now the demon has come, the Evil Spirit demon remaining from the third epoch has come.”
He walked towards the constantly wriggling Darkness that was spreading forward, but his right hand was caught by Tifa.
The maid frowned, her expression serious as she asked:
“Wait, Mr. Hamilton, what do you intend to do?”
“Of course, to test whether I can really fight this thing.
It’s not strong, no, it’s not strong.”
This was also why Xia De didn't immediately escape through the window.
The weak Angel-level potion was on him, and the Demon Hunter Seal was also in his hand.
Just as a demon, considered relatively weak by “her,” appeared, the Outsider wanted to test whether the weapons he had painstakingly prepared were effective.
Miss Servite was somewhat disbelieving that the two-ring Xia De considered the terrifying creature bringing Darkness not strong:
“Mr. Hamilton, I know what this is.
This is a Servant of Secrets that emerged from the out-of-control angel-level relic, the Darkness Field, outside the City.
It brings Darkness to devour light, expanding the range of the Darkness Domain, attempting to plunge the entire world into forgotten Darkness.
I must ensure your safety.
We must leave immediately!”
This meant she could deal with it, but with Xia De beside her, she couldn't take the risk.
“Servant of Secrets? Oh, so it’s a derivative of an out-of-control angel-level relic.
I’ve heard of this.
So, I can’t leave even more.”
Seeing that the maid was still holding him, he explained again:
“Please rest assured, the thing I fear least is Darkness; Darkness cannot devour us.”
“Detective, are you perhaps worried that this Darkness will spread through the district and engulf more humans, which is why you’re unwilling to leave?”
The maid asked, somewhat disbelievingly.
“How could you think that? Even if I’m a good person, I’m not that good.”
His expression was equally serious as he looked at his assistant for the day:
“Miss Servite—no, Tifa, do you really think I’m the kind of person who seeks death?”
He directly called the girl in front of him by her first name.
“How do you behave when Miss Jialinna takes you to handle matters? Tifa, although you’re not wearing a maid dress now, please revert to your normal maid state.”
“But—”
“I won’t boast in front of a pretty girl for the sake of appearances, nor will I rely on your strength just because you’re by my side.
This time, you are the maid, you are the Detective’s assistant, please obey my command.
Hold my hand, and come with me to deal with this thing.”
He looked into Tifa’s eyes, and she, seeing his serious expression, blinked, then her expression relaxed a little:
“But I must emphasize two points: First, if we truly encounter danger, we retreat immediately.
Second, until Miss decides to marry you, you are not my master, so please do not command me.”
Xia De nodded:
“Yes, Miss Tifa Servett, you might indeed need to protect me later.
But at least for now, please hold my hand, and don’t be swallowed by the Darkness.”
Their hands clasped together.
Xia De took the first step, and then they both walked into the wriggling Darkness that was spreading forward.
Stepping from the normal area of the study into the edge of the Darkness, although there was no spatial displacement, their bodies still felt a state of weightlessness.
But what the black-haired girl cared about was not that momentary weightlessness, but that upon entering the Darkness, the Darkness enveloping them from all directions seemed to melt her body and snatch her soul in the next second.
This terrifying illusion of being devoured by Darkness did not last long, as a faint light dispelled the abnormal emotions.
She saw that the hand she was holding was faintly glowing, and then she saw Xia De himself emitting that pure, moving saint-silver light.
It seemed that because they were holding hands, this light also slightly adhered to her body, keeping the surrounding Darkness away.
“You see, Darkness cannot devour me.”
Xia De said, and they both summoned their Destiny Rings.
Darkness also could not devour the dazzling four-colored light on Xia De’s Destiny Ring.
Because their Destiny Rings were too close, when the two metal rings appeared in the steam mist, they produced sparks as they rapidly rotated, and then slowly adjusted their size and floated away in opposite directions.
“The plan is this.
Find the demon, then kill it.
How do you feel?”
Xia De asked, looking at the surrounding Darkness.
“A very simple plan, but how will you find it? Wait for it to attack us?”
Tifa also looked around.
“No, no, please wait a moment, Moonlight!”
The silver light at his fingertips flickered slightly, unable to dispel this Darkness at all.
This was the first time Moonlight had no effect, but it was also within Xia De’s expectations; after all, even the sage-level relic Fishbone Pirate Ship could suppress Moonlight, so it was normal for an angel-level relic specifically targeting light to be even more powerful.
“In that case, I’ll have to touch this Darkness more deeply.”
He took a deep breath, inhaling the air into his lungs.
He listened for a moment, and after receiving a hint, he led Tifa forward.
The area covered by Darkness was not large to begin with; this was not a spatial anomaly.
Therefore, having chosen the correct direction, after only a dozen steps, an abnormal sound appeared ahead.
