Xia De walked out of the Sin Mansion's gate with trepidation, turning back to glance at the large manor courtyard filled with golden fallen leaves. An ordinary person would probably never imagine how dangerous this place truly was.
Sister Devlin and Mr. Bernhardt had not yet left; they were waiting for Xia De in the woods beside the gravel path that extended from the gate. The Sister held a very familiar kerosene lamp in her hand. As Xia De walked over, he noticed dozens of blind Sisters wearing silver eye masks standing in the woods. Sister Devlin had indeed not come alone.
Xia De hadn't noticed them when he arrived, likely because he had come earlier. The figure he saw before entering the gate should have been Armand Bernhardt.
"My business is also concluded."
Xia De waved to them, and the Sister and the formally dressed Mr. Bernhardt stopped their conversation and looked at the approaching Xia De.
"Mr. Hamilton, thank you very much for this time."
He placed his right hand on his left shoulder and bowed slightly to express his gratitude, seemingly having fully confirmed Xia De's identity. Xia De was somewhat worried about this, but before he could express this emotion, Sister Devlin softly said:
"Mr. Armand Bernhardt can be trusted."
Xia De nodded:
"There's no need for thanks. I just hope that we can keep each other's secrets."
"Of course, compared to you, I'm actually the one worried about my identity being leaked to the Orthodox Church. After all, you are human, but I am not."
Saying this, the elegant, upper-class middle-aged man took out two business cards and handed them to Xia De and the Sister respectively:
"If you have anything, you can come to this address to find me. Then, farewell, both of you."
"Farewell."
"Farewell."
Mr. Bernhardt turned and left. Xia De glanced at the business card and found it was the same as the one he received last time in the alley behind the Sicar Inn.
"What were you two just talking about?"
Xia De asked the Sister curiously. Their relationship was quite good, so such a question was not impolite.
"He heard from somewhere that the Order is connected to the Witch Council, so he wants to establish a relationship with the Witch Council to acquire a relic."
The Sister said, then motioned for Xia De to go down the mountain with them. Xia De wanted to entrust the Spiritual Cultivation Order with solving the problem on his third floor, so it was convenient that he didn't want to separate from the Order.
"Mr. Hamilton, did you see the Ancient One on the mountaintop?"
The hem of Sister Devlin's gray-black Sister's robe was extremely long, almost sweeping the fallen leaves on the ground as she walked. But judging from the sound of her feet stepping on dry leaves, she must have been wearing boots.
"Yes, its condition is very poor. I used a Miracle inherited from the yellow moon to temporarily restore its sanity. The Ancient One admitted its poor condition but still gave me power, allowing me to help everyone escape just now. Oh, and one more thing, it mentioned four 'nails'."
The Sisters of the Order walked in two columns, with Xia De and Sister Devlin walking side by side in the middle.
Sister Devlin was not surprised by the so-called "four nails":
"If you had entered the city today, Grandma Cassandra would have told you about this too. The Church, with the help of the Prophet Association, has made significant progress in researching the state of the Gap."
To be precise, as the Five Gods Church was making final preparations for the ritual that would play a huge role in sealing the Gap, they unexpectedly unearthed information left by ancient Ring術士 in the Sicar Mountain area.
Relying on the deciphering of ancient texts, the assistance of the Prophet Association, and the special power of the core figure codenamed "Miss Balance," combined with the fragmented sections of the whispering chapters concerning "death," they finally learned the entire process of the impending disaster.
After three earthquakes, the seals located at the foot, middle, and peak of the mountain would gradually fail. At the same time, the death power accumulated in the Gap and temporarily unable to be released would cause four already departed lives to return to the world.
No one would remember that they had left, not even themselves. But they would serve as nails firmly fixing the Gap and reality together, causing the outbreak of death to approach more quickly.
The final scene before the death outbreak turns the Sicar Mountain area into a ghost realm will be the complete failure of all three channel seals. Finding and removing those four souls that have returned to the human world will effectively delay this process.
"Those four souls carry the most fundamental power of death. Once the Gap collapses, the power of any one of them will be no weaker than an angel-level relic. Therefore, even for the aftermath work after the disaster strikes, finding and dealing with them is a necessary task."
The Sister introduced to Xia De.
The group continued to walk through the woods. The Spiritual Cultivation Order was very familiar with Sicar Mountain.
"So, it's already the final stage before the disaster?"
"Yes, according to the current signs and the Prophet Association's report, if those four nails are not found, the disaster will inevitably occur before the end of the withered moon."
"That fast? Oh, actually, it's not fast."
Xia De shook his head.
Besides the matter of the Gap, Sister Devlin had also obtained preliminary investigation results regarding Joey Barton, the Boy in the Crow Club who could cover his eyes with rhode cards and see others' deaths.
At the Disciple Club in the city center, which was where Xia De first met Sister Devlin, the Sister explained the investigation results to Xia De:
"In short, this is a rare case of a reverse-aging person."
"Excuse me, is that a technical term? I don't quite understand."
After thanking the servant for the teacup, Xia De began to listen to the Sister's investigation report.
Just as Xia De had thought, the "Boy" was not a Boy at all.
Joey Barton was born in 1810 of the sixth epoch common era, and he was forty-three years old in 1853, which was the present. He was a local of Middlesburg, born into an ordinary family in the south of the city.
His father was a workshop foreman in a steam factory, and his mother was a female worker in a wool textile factory. Both of them had passed away from illness over twenty years ago.
Forty-odd years before Joey Barton's birth, giving birth at home was still a common practice. However, due to an abnormal fetal position, Mrs. Barton gave birth to her child in a hospital. And by a strange coincidence, that hospital belonged to the Spiritual Cultivation Order's property.
Sister Devlin easily found the birth record and confirmed Joey Barton's identity.
"He suffers from a peculiar illness."
The Sister's voice was still as steady as ever:
"After birth, his body rapidly grew, then rapidly aged. By the age of three, his height, weight, and various physiological indicators were almost identical to those of a seventy-year-old."
A very calm voice told a very shocking story.
Xia De listened intently, extremely curious about this suspected Chosen One.
"But then he did not continue to age; instead, he became younger and younger with age. This experience did not happen in Middlesburg; after Joey Barton was three years old, his family sent him out of town for treatment."
The Sister handed Xia De the prepared photograph. Xia De put down his teacup, took the photo, and saw a middle-aged man lying in bed:
"This is what Joey Barton looked like at fifteen. At this point, he had already transitioned from old age to middle age. This is also the most complete photo the Order could find of him before he returned to Mi Fort at the age of thirty-two, looking like a young man."
"Born as an old man, a middle-aged person in adolescence, a young man in his prime, and now a child. Oh, so this is what you mean by a reverse-aging person. His life must have gone through many stories, right?"
Xia De said with great emotion.
"Yes, but in just three days, the Order couldn't find those stories."
Sister Devlin paused:
"It's worth noting that the investigation also didn't uncover the origin of him becoming a Ring術士. When he returned to Mi Fort at thirty-two, he was already a Ring術士, and subsequently joined the Crow Club."
"He became a Ring術士 out of town?"
"Yes, and his rare condition should not have gone unreported in newspapers. Also, after Mr. and Mrs. Barton passed away, the source of his treatment expenses is unclear. There is reason to believe that an unknown Ring術士 organization discovered him and became interested in him, thus providing him with treatment expenses and leading him into the door of the extraordinary after his talent awakened. But clearly, his talent is not outstanding."
After all, he was still only a First Ring.
"Joey Barton very likely holds secrets about the Gap. His special illness might also be related to the Gap. The Order will continue to investigate him, and after Grandma Cassandra and Lady Aurora return from Sicar Mountain, I will request assistance from the Witch Council."
The two Witches went into the mountain today to investigate the large hollow in the mountain's belly that Xia De mentioned.
"I'm also very interested in him. I plan to make another appointment later, and bring another very capable friend of mine to see him again."
Only Luvia could instantly identify a Chosen One, while Iluna, being a Chosen One herself, only had a very vague perception of other Chosen Ones. Xia De wanted to bring Iluna to meet all three current suspects.
"No need for an appointment. After we visited last Sunday, we already made an advance appointment using the Cassandra Auction House's connections. You can go tomorrow afternoon."
The Sister handed Xia De a badge with a crow pattern:
"If there are new clues, please share them with the Order."
"No problem."
Xia De nodded, and felt that among Priest Augustus, Sister Devlin, and Joey Barton, Mr. Barton's suspicion as the primary candidate for the "death Chosen One" had been infinitely magnified.
After discussing Mr. Barton's matter, Xia De finally had the opportunity to talk about his own affairs. Since Sister Devlin already knew Xia De's identity, Xia De didn't need to hide that he lived at Saint Delan Square Six in Tobesk.
He hoped that the Sister could temporarily travel to Tobesk through the traveler's travel door to "observe" the situation on the third floor and confirm whether a Gap channel of this scale could be sealed.
Because of the help Xia De provided in the Sin Mansion, Sister Devlin naturally wouldn't refuse Xia De's request. However, the traveler's travel door needed to be transported to Middlesburg before the Sister could go to Saint Delan Square through that door.
And no matter who hired a carriage to transport such a heavy object from the abandoned tower in the mountains to the foot of the mountain, it would leave unavoidable traces.
Considering the secrets of the abandoned tower and the Space Labyrinth, Xia De finally decided to invite the Sister to meet him in the basement of the abandoned tower in the mountains this evening.
Although this would inevitably lead the Sister to guess Xia De's secret of traveling between the two places, it was an unavoidable situation. Using the Space Labyrinth to travel between the two places was not Xia De's core secret. For the safety of his home, it was an acceptable outcome for this Sister, who seemed to see through everything, to know.
Although he hadn't known this Sister for long, Xia De believed that her character was very noble and that she was a trustworthy person.
Without having lunch in Middlesburg, Xia De excitedly returned home, then carried Mia to the Prophet Association to wait for Luvia to get off work. He had too many things to share with Luvia: the revived undead, the secret of the reverse-aging person, and the two new blood money.
The trip to the Sin Mansion finally brought new progress to the matters in Mi Fort.
