Whispering Verse

"Third-party identity? There is really no such thing this time. Miss Pharmacist, although my identity is a bit mysterious to you, I don't have that much time to play ordinary people's spy games...just to make some money." It’s just money and maintaining relationships.”

The sorceress smiled and said nothing, but became more and more curious about Shade.

What appeared on the third batch of wordless letters were some strange pictures. Neither Shade nor Megan knew each other, but judging from the fact that the locks were all ordinary locks and the letters were collected in similar specifications, Bad-Eye Barry attached the same importance to the three batches of letters, and he maintained " The cover-up of the identity of "gang leader".

So Shade collected the third batch of letters and went back to see if Miss Carina was interested. He couldn't give it to Director Anlos directly, so it was best to let the Duchess go through it.

In addition to these three drawers, there are pistols, bullets, unknown potions and other miscellaneous items in other drawers of the desk. After further inspection of the study, they finally discovered the safe hidden behind the bookshelf.

When he opened the safe, the first thing Shade noticed was the black metal pendants of more than a dozen "Reunifiers", the same ones he saw when he was pressing for information in the tavern stables of the fishing village by the lake.

It was the first time for Meghan to see this kind of thing, but after inspection, she was convinced that these were ordinary items:

"It's similar to the Edwards family coat of arms, which is a spiral converging inwards."

She said this, so Shade asked for three pendants to keep for study, and left the others to her.

Apart from the carefully kept pendant, the most important thing to them in the safe was naturally Bad-Eye Barry's account books. This is not the account book of his illegal business, but the account book of his regular delivery of supplies to the central island of Green Lake.

Although he was a gang leader, he kept records in a very orderly manner, recording dates, ship information and even the weather. Megan browsed through it for a while and roughly understood what the so-called supplies were:

"It's not the daily necessities you imagined. It's strange. It's a lot of metal ore, earth, and wood. Although there are also animals such as pigs, cattle, and sheep, but they just want to die... What is this going to do? Build A whole new city?”

There are more than ten account books in total, which completely record everything that Bad Eye Barry shipped to the lake from 1849 to 1854. Although I haven't seen the previous account books, they must have similar contents.

"So what does he get out of it?"

Shade asked puzzledly:

"In other words, what can the cultists get? Although these things are cheap, they are in such large quantities and need to be transported secretly. The cost is definitely not a small sum. What exactly does the Order of the Drowned want?"

"There is no profit recorded in the books."

The sorceress shook her head, then motioned for Shade to check the other items in the safe.

This safe is not big, so it mostly stores documents, papers, and valuable gold and silver jewelry. In addition to the account books, they also found letters in which Bad-Eye Bali had communicated with the Order, but only from the past few days, and the content was that the next shipment was about to arrive.

This kind of letter should be destroyed when it expires, and there is no stamp date on the envelope, so it can only mean that what happened here is indeed the behavior of the cult and not Bad Eye Barry alone.

"There are a few more books here. Let me take a look. "The Mystery of the Abyss: The Creeping Darkness," "Life and Death: The Dividing Line of the Ocean," and "Corpse Speaks: Echoes of the Dead." These are all books by ring warlocks. They are capable of Gain the precious knowledge of spiritual runes.”

Shade said. Megan glanced at the books and waved her hand for Shade to put them away. The wise witch obviously already had similar knowledge.

Shade was not very interested in the spiritual runes involved in these books, but he thought that the college library would be happy to collect these books. And when he took the book out of the bottom layer of the safe, he noticed an old black and white photo underneath the book.

He took out the photo curiously, and then saw a body soaked in water in the photo.

"Um?"

While Shade's eyes scanned the photo, the corpse's eyes also opened suddenly. Then, gurgling water emerged from the photo, and the pale hand reached out of the photo and grabbed Shade's wrist.

"Do you know the pain of sinking in water, knowing that you are falling but unable to do anything about it?"

A series of bubble sounds reached the ears. The hand holding Shade's arm on the corpse did not try to pull him into the photo. Instead, more and more water flowed out of the photo.

The invisible darkness blocked all the light in the room. Xia De clearly knew that except for the water under his feet, the entire room was very dry, but he felt that he had been soaked in the entire room amidst the sound of gurgling water. in water.

Except for the dim glow of the photo itself, all the light around it disappeared. He couldn't see clearly the walls of the room, and he couldn't even feel that he was standing on a solid floor.

He seemed to be falling in the water, falling deeper into the abyss. He could feel the invisible threat waiting for him further down, and he could also feel that the feeling of drowning made him almost unable to breathe:

"Breathing underwater."

This spell was originally related to the "God of the Drowned in the Deep Sea". It was learned by Shade when he first used the Mystery Lock [Match Girl] to prevent the god from taking away the girl. Therefore, in this case, it took effect almost immediately. After Shade adjusted his condition, although he couldn't figure out whether he was hallucinating or really being transferred to another place, he still struggled to swim upstream.

He didn't dare to throw away the photo in his hand easily, so he could only keep swimming upstream with it. And just a few dozen seconds later, he heard the sorceress's voice ringing in his ears:

"don't want......"

There should be another paragraph behind it, but it was drowned in the sound of water.

"What?"

Shade was stunned, stopped moving upstream, looked hesitantly at the dark waters above his head and the dark waters below his feet, and then asked in his heart:

"Was that voice real?"

[Yes, I can feel the power of the witch used to connect to you. 】

"So what do you think?"

【Just like you. 】

"Oh well."

Shade then gave up going upstream and started going downstream instead. The dim light of the photo in my hand is getting darker and darker, and the temperature of the surrounding water is getting lower and lower. When the light completely disappeared, in the deep seabed, while the bubbles he exhaled floated past his eyes, he finally saw what was waiting for him at the bottom.

A skeleton tangled in water and rags jumped out from the bottom of the dark abyss. It surrounds death and resentment, carries fear and hatred, and reaches out to Shade, who is sinking like he is "seeking his own death."

At that moment, Shade, who "fell" into the deep sea, in this terrifying scene, actually felt that he somewhat understood the thoughts of the drowned man who died alone at the bottom of the sea. The same loneliness and helplessness, which is why the indifferent heart is born.

It's a pity that he didn't have more time to think, and Shade found the right direction. The moment the skeleton touched him, he felt that he had broken through a thin layer of paper. Then he realized that he was breathing heavily and standing in the dry study room with the photo. Megan looked at him worriedly:

"Are you okay? It seems that this photo is a trap to prevent thieves. I just saw you stunned there, and you appeared in the photo, so I knew you must have been deceived."

She grabbed Shade's wrist and used her spiritual power to touch Shade's spirit with concern, only to find that Shade's spiritual power was as huge as the full moonlight in the night sky. At this time, Shade's whole body was dry, even his hands were dry, and there was no liquid gushing out at all in the photo.

Looking at the photo again, it actually burned in Shade's hands. Xia De threw it away, took a few steps back with Megan, and watched the photo burn in the air. The last wisp of ashes formed the holy symbol of the evil god [God of the Deep Sea Drowned] in the air, and then pounced on Xia De. Virtue.

"careful!"

"It's fine."

A slight sense of coldness, carrying a curse, poured into Shade's soul, but it was quickly dissolved by the divine radiance.

"She" reminded Shade softly in his ear:

[Stranger, you are cursed. 】

[The curse is lifted. 】

If it were a curse from a real god, even if Shade had a drop of divinity, he wouldn't be able to fully exempt it. But it is obvious that although the curse attached to this photo is related to God, its power is much weaker. If it were an ordinary ring warlock, he might be hit, but for Shade, it could be ignored. What really affected him was that moment of loneliness falling into the deep sea. He was confused as to how he could feel and understand the thoughts of those who drowned in the deep sea.

"I'm fine, but will the destruction of this photo alert Bad-Eyed Barry?"

After confirming that he was really not affected, Xia Decai asked, and Meghan shook her head slightly in concern:

"I don't know, but don't worry about him. My people have watched him. If he returns, at least before night, I will receive an early warning. Besides, he is just a low-level warlock. Even if he comes back, he can How about it?"

Meghan was obviously more concerned about Shade than Bad-Eyed Barry, and was afraid that Shade would be in the same condition as in the morning, but fortunately he was fine.

The Unified One's pendant, account books, and occult books, these are all the valuable items that Shade and Megan found in the safe. Although it sounds like a small amount, after all, it is impossible for Bad-Eye Barry to put all the important clues in the same place.

Just when the two of them had finished searching the study, the maids' interrogation of the mistresses had come to an end. Those women are just ordinary people, and they are ordinary people with not very strong will. They can easily ask for valuable information.

Megan and Audrey's head maid, the girl called Jill, compiled the information and informed her master.

"Miss, this is indeed one of the most important strongholds of Bad-Eye Barry. He spends at least one week here every month. Some of those women have seen what Bad-Eye Barry looks like when he takes off his blindfold. . He rarely took off his eyepatch, and most of the time he wore it even when he was asleep. According to the mistresses, Bad-Eyed Barry's right eye was not rotten, and there was a black eye-white and white in his eye socket. Strange eyeballs.”

"It's most likely the Demon Eye. The Order of the Drowned sent him to carry out the mission here. Of course, it's impossible not to give him the means to save his life and increase his strength."

Meghan made the judgment easily.

The last piece of information provided by the women was that there seemed to be a secret passage underneath the house. Because they would sometimes see Bad-Eyed Barry walking straight out of the basement, and he smelled like a sewer.

This time Megan did not go down with Shade, but asked her maids to go to the basement to take a look.

Sure enough, they soon discovered a secret passage connecting the city's ancient sewer system from behind the basement wall. Not far from the secret passage, they discovered warehouses and conference rooms that had been excavated and built in modern times, and even more than a dozen farmed animals were discovered. water ghost.

As the most common place for Bad-Eye Barry to spend the night, a small prayer room was also built in the sewer. According to the descriptions of the maids, dead fish and human bones were hung everywhere in the prayer room as offerings. It was obvious that this place was really carefully managed by him.

This secret passage directly communicates with the sewer system of Green Lake City, so it is not certain where the exit at the other end of the secret passage is.

However, Meghan vaguely remembered that her father, Alphonse Edwards, the third son of the fourth generation, once mentioned that the establishment of the sewer system in Green Lake City seemed to have been sponsored by the first generation lord, the starting point of the family.

While the maids went to the basement, Shade and Megan also entered the bedroom of the villa.

There is also a safe in the bedroom, and it is better hidden than the one in the study. The mistresses don't know it. But as long as you have the determination to demolish the house, it is not difficult to find the safe.

Stored in this safe are some magic potions, alchemy items and letters. Megan still reached for the letter, while Shade went to check other things.

Although there are labels on those potions, Shade will definitely not drink potions obtained from enemies, and the value of alchemy items is not very high, so there is no need to use other people's things for cheap.

But it was the delicate drawstring bag in the lower right corner of the safe that caught Shade's attention. After opening the bag, he found a wooden key. He was immediately delighted, but then he discovered that the key was the wrong size and not that special. Traces of elements:

"It's not a time key."

Seeing that the adventure of "Seven Days Travel" was coming to an end, Shade thought he would encounter another key by chance.

After hearing Shade's soft sigh, Megan, who was reading the letter, glanced at him, and then saw the key in his hand:

"This is......"

The key is made of wood and has short cylindrical protrusions pointing in different directions on the cylindrical key post. The front and back sides of the key handle are inlaid with flawless rubies and sapphires respectively. If you look at the light, you can see the illusory shadow of a man writing with his head down in the study.

Meghan hurriedly took out the key from her pocket, which was forged at the blacksmith using the lord's wife's teeth and other items when she and Shade landed on the island for the second time last week.

Sure enough, although the materials of the two keys and the details of the key teeth are different, the size and shape are exactly the same.

"This is also the key you need? But why is it in the hands of Bad-Eye Barry?"

As he spoke, he gave the key to Megan, who was a little excited after taking it:

"Then only he knows. I didn't expect that I would get the second key like this. In addition to the keys made with your orichalcum and the black pearls from this morning, I have three keys."

"Ask him if you have a chance."

Shade didn't care and continued to look through the safe, but there was no further gain. However, the content of those letters was surprising. They were also correspondence between Bad-Eye Barry and the Order, but the letters were more personal.

Judging from the content of the letter, the cultist group is indeed related to a certain being on the island, and calls him "that gentleman". The attitude of the Order of the Drowned towards him is also vigilant in cooperation. The writer repeatedly emphasized in the letter that he must not trust anything said by "that gentleman". At the same time, every meeting and conversation with "that gentleman" must be informed of the entire process to the Order.

"That gentleman? I guess he is most likely your ancestor."

Shade smiled and said to Megan, who also agreed:

"Who else but him?"

At the same time, the letter also revealed some other contents. For example, the letter naturally described the location of "the gentleman" as "the central island of Green Lake", which was inconsistent with the fact that the witch found out that no bulk cargo was transported on the island.

"They have other collaborators."

Megan pointed to the last letter and said to Shade:

"The Order of the Drowned is responsible for communicating with the island, but in fact, the Order of the Drowned is far more involved in this matter. However, other forces cannot get in touch with 'that gentleman', so they only sponsor the Order Some actions. Judging from the names mentioned here...it is certain that those involved in this matter are the followers of the evil god [Dragon Eater], the illegal ring magician group [Tyranny Club] active in the border area - that It’s a group of war lunatics, and the [Truth Society].”

"The Truth Society again?"

"Again? Do you know them?"

Megan asked in surprise, Shade nodded:

"I have had some unpleasant experiences with them. I heard that they were also present during the Pantanal War last winter."

"I have also had contact with them. They are crazy lunatics who pursue knowledge and wisdom. However, there are indeed a few members among them who can be called wise men. Unfortunately, if wisdom cannot be controlled, it will only lead to madness. It’s just a shortcut.”

Of all the ring warlocks Shad knew who were associated with the title of "Knowledge and Wisdom," Megan seemed to be the sane one.

In addition to this certain information, there are also some uncertainties. In the letter sent a month ago, the sender repeatedly asked Bad-Eyed Barry whether he had obtained the "qualification". Because he could not see the reply sent by Barry, it was impossible to know how he responded, but Shade I just feel that the "qualification" mentioned here is probably that small key.

Megan could see Shade's doubts, she shook her head slightly:

"I only know that there are keys and doors. I don't know what they mean. Next time I land on the island, I can find a way to take you to the door, but I may not be able to succeed. In the morning, I said I know those things Where the goods were shipped, I think it was where the door was. That door... doesn't really exist on the island. There may be more than one island in the middle of Green Lake."

After finishing speaking, he pursed his lips a little worriedly and asked Xiang Shade:

"You don't think I've been hiding important things, do you?"

Her expression surprised the maid beside her.

"Absolutely not!"

Shade immediately shook his head, because it was actually him who had been hiding important things.