Whispering Verse

"What sad news... So could you help deliver this money to Mr. Le Maire's family? I think they need the money very much."

Although he knew that Mrs. Flamel's commission was fine, Shade still didn't forget to continue acting. Then just as he expected, Mr. Delal waved his hand at him:

"I know that Le Maire has a distant relative in Tobesk who can inherit the inheritance, but only the lawyer knows the specific address. Since he has unfortunately passed away, I think there is no need to pay back the money."

Mr. Delal and Mr. Le Maire are old friends who have known each other for many years, and it is a bit sentimental to say this.

After Shade pretended to be enthusiastic and consoled him for a few words, Mr. Delal found a wine glass and red wine and drank a glass of wine with Shade. When the two clinked glasses, they wished the soul of Mr. Le Maire, who was buried at the bottom of the sea, to rest in peace.

Shade had achieved his goal and there was no need to stay any longer. After drinking, he planned to leave immediately, but the liquid in the cup reminded him of another red liquid, so out of curiosity, he blinked and used the spell [Echo of Blood] to observe the room.

The result was far beyond expectations. The floor and walls were normal, but the entire ceiling was filled with a blood-colored halo. This is not because the ceiling is stained with blood, but because blood seeps down from the top of the head on the second floor.

Judging from this amount, it was difficult for Shade to imagine what was going on upstairs.

"Are you sure Mr. Delal is an ordinary person?"

I had already confirmed it when I entered, but I still couldn't help but ask.

【Very confirmed. 】

"Well."

It seems that there are still some things that need to be investigated clearly regarding Le Maire's estate. And since the other party is just an ordinary person, Xia De thinks there is no need to pretend not to see it.

He nodded, put down the wine glass in his hand, took out his pocket watch and took a look:

"It's getting late, so Mr. Delal, let's meet again."

After saying that, he stood up and Mr. Delal saw Shade to the door in a normal manner.

Opening his umbrella at the door, the young stranger nodded to Mr. Delal again before walking into the rain.

An hour later, Shade returned from the hotel. He put on the clothes that were soaked from diving, put on a cloak with a hood, and didn't forget to put on a mask on his face. He stood in the alley behind Mr. Delal's house without an umbrella. inside.

Mermaid Alley is a very good alley nearby. The ground is paved with bluestones. Even on such a rainy day, you will not step into the mud. But the alley behind the row of two-story buildings, like alleys found everywhere in this era, was completely turned into a mud pit after being soaked by the rain. Not many people are willing to come to this kind of place, so it is convenient for Shade to move around.

After observing the metal pipe on the back wall, I tried shaking it and found that it was still strong, so I climbed up along the pipe. This kind of pipe fixed on the wall is fixed with buckles and steel nails at regular intervals, so it is also convenient for Xia De's movement.

Climbing to the second floor, when he saw that the distance was almost there, he reached for his pocket with one hand, chanted a mantra, dropped the frog legs, and then pounced, jumping to the second floor with a jumping ability that a normal person would never have. Window sill.

There were some flower pots originally placed on the windowsill, but Shade hit them and some of them fell down. But the rain was so loud that there was almost no sound when the flower pot fell into the mud.

According to the location of the living room, the room with blood should be inside this window now. But the curtains were closed so that no one could see inside, so Shade asked:

"Can you feel the elements?"

【Not yet. 】

I tried to push the window open, and sure enough it was locked from the inside with brass buckles.

But this was not a problem for Shade. He waved his palm forward, and the arc-shaped moonlight accurately cut the metal window frame, and then destroyed the lock inside. Likewise, the slight shattering of glass and the sound of breaking metal were also masked by the rain.

He didn't open the window immediately, but held his breath for a while and listened to the sounds inside. After confirming that he had not been discovered, he gently pushed the window open a gap.

The smell of blood wafted out from the cracks in the window almost immediately, and quickly dissipated in the moisture of the heavy rain.

Shade couldn't help but frown. Instead of pushing the window open immediately, he squatted on the window sill and carefully opened the curtains in front of him with his fingers.

There was actually light in the room, and you could see through the cracks in the window that six long red candles were inserted on the floor covered with fresh plasma. A huge six-pointed star was painted on the ground with jet-black plasma, and six candles were placed at the six vertices.

At the same time, some strange ancient characters were written in the gaps between the six-pointed star patterns, and some glass vessels filled with meat balls were placed.

In the room behind the curtains, all the furniture had been cleared away. Except for the wall where the invisible window was located, the other three walls were all covered with prayers written in common script. The paint was of course blood.

Looking up at the ceiling, several human skulls have steel nails nailed to the top, and ropes tied to the steel nails hang down from the ceiling. Because the windows were opened to allow the outdoor wind to flow in, the skulls swayed slightly, which was particularly eye-catching in the dim light of the candles.

"Still no trace of the four elements or spirit?"

【No. 】

"Then I understand."

The terrifying scene in the room made the expression behind the mask become more serious:

"It's a cult of ordinary people."

It's not just ring magicians who believe in evil gods for the sake of power. The worship of evil gods among ordinary people is the largest type among cultists.

Maybe it was because I came into contact with and joined the cult, maybe I just saw something in a book and derived my worship, maybe it was because I came into contact with some special items, it was also due to family reasons, maybe there was something wrong with my head... But no matter which one it is, according to the words of senior priest Rat August——

Any cultist should be executed immediately, there is no need for those guys to be saved.

Mr. Dral is probably a cultist among ordinary people, and the things in the room are some kind of ritual he is performing. The layout of the room looks a bit like a so-called evil ritual, but in fact, judging from Shade's shallow knowledge, this ridiculous ritual does not conform to basic rituals at all, and is more like something made up by ordinary people.

The ritual itself will naturally have no effect, but this behavior is also quite dangerous. In a world where extraordinary power truly exists, even if the ritual is incorrect, it may lead to some kind of terrifying twisted power.

The Orthodox Church strictly prohibits such behavior, and the contemporary Five Gods Church is relatively mild in the eyes of the public. However, if it was not Shad who discovered this scene today, but the church, then Mr. Delal would probably be executed immediately.

"Things seem to be getting a little complicated. Speaking of which, the inheritance... How did the crew member Le Maire die? Was Mrs. Le Maire inadvertently involved in some conspiracy? Or, these two It actually has nothing to do with it.”

Shade thought for a while, pushed the window open enough for him to get in, and then jumped in from the window sill. The feeling of his boots on the blood was very bad.

He gently closed the window behind him, glanced at the wall with the window, and immediately saw a tripod placed against the foot of the wall. On the tripod was a large open book.

Not hearing the footsteps outside, Shade walked over and flipped through the book a little. The black leather cover, dark blue faded ink, and yellowed and moth-eaten pages look very much like a so-called ancient occult book.

But after Xia De flipped through it, he realized that everything in it was made up based on imagination. It was unsystematic, the content was ridiculous, and the terminology was completely wrong. It's okay to deceive ordinary people, but any ring magician can see through the truth of this book at a glance.

The only thing that surprised him was that the page that was opened in the big book with the title "Conch Text" was a ritual to pray to the evil god to lift the curse.

The ceremonial pattern of the pentagram on the ground is exactly the same as the hand-drawn pattern on this page, indicating that the owner here, Jason Dellal, does not have a broken head to worship the evil god, but wants to pray to the other party to lift the curse.

Things seem to be getting weirder and weirder.

Putting his hand on the book and letting the woman's voice in his heart confirm that the book itself was just an ordinary object, he took out the revolver from his waist. After taking a look to make sure that he had taken it correctly, he quietly walked to the door and then deliberately stepped on the floor.

The silence downstairs continued for a second, and then Shade heard the sound of a porcelain teacup falling to the ground. There was a thumping sound going up the stairs, but the footsteps did not enter this room, but entered the next room.

The chair was pushed away, the lock was turned, the drawer was pulled open, and then there was the sound of bullets being pressed in.

The panicked Mr. Delal pulled the safety of the cold gun in his hand with trembling fingers, and then walked out of the door cautiously.

But just as he walked out of the door, the gun was pressed against his forehead outside.

Shade was standing in the corridor wearing a black robe with water dripping from it. For some reason, Mr. Delal breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his opponent was a human and the weapons he used were firearms.

He probably thought that his ritual really attracted something amazing.

"lay down your weapon."

Shade's dull voice came from behind the mask, and the middle-aged man did not recognize that the young man in front of him was the young man who came to visit not long ago. He hesitated, and Shade snorted.

"oh!"

Under the effect of the spell, flames suddenly shot up from the sleeve of Mr. Delal's gun-holding hand. He immediately dropped the pistol in panic and slapped the wall with his sleeve to put out the fire.

The flames were quickly extinguished. He was trembling and wanted to turn around and run away, but was kicked in the crook of the leg by Shade.

Sitting on the ground in fear, with his back leaning against the wall, Shade's gun was still pointed at his forehead. Since his sleeve suddenly caught fire for no apparent reason, the middle-aged man already understood what a stranger was:

"The Ringmancer."

"Yes."

"Help me, I can give you whatever you want."

He raised his hands and even wanted to hug Shade's arm, but the muzzle of the gun moved and he immediately did not dare to move.

"save you?"

Xia De raised the gun in his hand and pointed it at the room covered with plasma:

"Now, come into this room with me and tell me what happened to you."

"I say anything, I can give you money, help me!"