In the dark coffin, the old bishop, who was wrapped in bandages like a mummy, finally revealed the secret he had concealed for half a century, and after that, there was a long period of silence.
Agatha's voice broke the calm: "But it is obvious that this matter is not over."
The old bishop did not speak, so Agatha asked again: "In your opinion...are the anomalies that frequently appear in the city-state and the shadow of Dagger Island...also in the Frost Queen's calculations?"
"The queen is not a god. She may have predicted in advance that there would be rebels to stop her crazy move, but it is impossible to predict what will happen here half a century later." Bishop Ivan shook his head, he still While recalling the details of that year, but it was probably too long ago, many of the details were actually blurred to him, "I actually can't remember what the queen told me that night. During the funeral ceremony, , she seems to have been talking to me, but you know, holding a ceremony requires a high degree of concentration, and you also have to inhale incense in advance, I... I really can’t remember what she said to me. "
Having said this, he paused and spread his hands helplessly: "Under normal circumstances, there would be no 'dead man' lying on the platform to exchange ritual experiences with the priest who performed the ceremony. "
Agatha was silent, thinking quietly for a moment before suddenly speaking: "Can you tell me about the situation back then? Before the Qianyuan Project was completely ended... you also saw me in that church What?"
”.... In my impression, it snowed heavily that day just like this year, and for a long time, the snowfall, large and small, almost never stopped, and the snow often covered the blocks around the chapel. The road was covered, making it difficult for people to see the boundaries of the road, and there were a lot more people falling because of it," Bishop Ivan recalled quietly, and his low and deep voice seemed to pull people's imagination directly to half a century. During the cold winter before, “People who had fallen injuries often came to the church to seek help—because the neighborhood clinic was full at the time.
"At that time, the Submersible Abyss Plan had caused a lot of uneasiness in the city. It was not a taboo topic like it is today. Although the core part was classified, most people knew that there was such a plan to explore the sea, so People who come to the church often tell me about the 'strange things' in their eyes..."
"Strange thing?" Agatha couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, strange things. Some people said they saw lights appearing in houses that have been uninhabited for a long time. Some people said that their familiar neighbors suddenly changed their appearance when they went out one day. Some people said they saw the gate of the cemetery opened in the middle of the night. The buried people walked out of the cemetery in a grand manner at night - there were all such horror and bizarre stories, day and night. Since the most evil thing in the city-state at that time was the Abyss Plan, people put all these stories into the cemetery. Normal phenomena were all attributed to the Hidden Abyss Project, and then... they began to be attributed to the Frost Queen."
"The people who were buried in the cemetery walked out gracefully," Agatha suddenly frowned as she listened to the old bishop's story, as if thinking of the present moment, "There are also lights appearing in uninhabited houses. This .....This sounds..."
"It sounds very similar to the forged corpse in Cemetery No. 3 and the room you saw at No. 42 Hearth Street, right?" the old bishop said slowly, "But the difference is that you saw Tangible evidence, and even evidence of suspected 'elements' were collected. At that time, there were only all kinds of rumors in the city-state - people came to me every day to tell me that they had encountered something strange, but the guards were everywhere We went out, but all came to nothing."
"All in vain?" Agatha asked.
"Yes, of course, when we receive reports from residents, we have to send people to investigate. Even half a century ago, we had these rigorous procedures. I sent many people to investigate those scary stories. The gatekeeper of the cathedral back then was even like you. We also conducted the investigation ourselves, but we found nothing. Apart from the nervous citizens, everything in the city-state was actually normal - but in contrast, the Qianyuan Project's testing site was gradually completely sealed off. , all the terrible things happened in the blockade.
"As for what happened there...you must have seen it in the archives - it keeps coming out
The replica submersible that appeared, the unregistered strangers, and the explorers who died in the deep sea. "
Agatha was silent for a moment, her thoughts racing in her mind. For some reason, she always felt that she smelled a hint of disobedience in the old bishop's story, a hint of something... that no one had noticed for half a century.
"In other words, although the Qianyuan Project caused panic in the past, in fact all the abnormal events were concentrated only in the test site, and the city-state was actually operating as usual - although everyone was under great psychological pressure, the city's operation was also affected by the The Queen's extreme decree has encountered difficulties, and abnormal incidents have been reported constantly. However, from the perspective of extraordinary power, the pollution from the deep sea "has never actually escaped the blockade?"
"...At least that's how I remember it," the old bishop nodded slightly, but then changed the subject, "Of course, even so, I'm not defending the Frost Queen back then, even if Everything is really normal in the city-state, and her Qianyuan Plan has stretched Hanshuang's economy and everyone's nerves to the critical point, even if the Qianyuan Plan has always been under her control and has never gone out of control, that rebellion... An uprising is bound to happen."
Agatha didn't seem to pay attention to what the old bishop said at the end. She just thought about it silently for a while, then shook her head: "It's better to focus on the present, Bishop Ivan, about the current situation in the city, and my I have this report letter in my hand, and I want to know what you think."
"You found traces of the Annihilation Cult in the city, and there is evidence that they were behind it. This is actually a good thing. The most terrifying thing when extraordinary pollution occurs is not that the enemy is found, but that the enemy is not found."
Bishop Ivan spoke slowly and raised the letter in his hand.
"This is also mentioned in the report letter you brought - it is suspected that the Annihilation cultists in Frost City have communicated with the power of the deep sea through some kind of secret ritual, causing the deep sea pollution to directly spill over to the city-state, so we should find a way to find those A place where cultists perform rituals.
Agatha stared at the old bishop's eye exposed outside the bandage: "Do you think... the visitor who wrote this report letter can be trusted?"
"At least everything mentioned in the report letter now has evidence that it is true. Even the parts that cannot be confirmed for the time being are logically established." Bishop Ivan nodded, "Of course, I can't Assert whether the being who wrote the letter can be trusted - the extraordinary emotions and perspectives of the superior beings are different from those of ordinary people, so we can never get along with them based on human emotional logic.
"All I can say is that when they temporarily show neutrality or friendliness, we can cooperate with them or even actively cooperate. But when they suddenly find it boring and are ready to turn their backs, we don't have to be confused or surprised. We need to know The only superior beings in this world who can truly be trusted and loyal to are the Four Gods, and all others are neither enemies nor allies."
The old bishop's words contained the wisdom of more than half a century. Even though they were of equal status, Agatha lowered her head slightly with respect.
"The next time the visitor appears again, I will try to contact him proactively to see his current attitude."
"This is best." Bishop Ivan nodded.
Agatha thought for a while and then looked at the letter currently in the hands of the old bishop.
"Then now, there is only one last difficult puzzle left."
Following her gaze, Bishop Ivan's gaze also fell on the last part of the report letter.
The content of the entire letter is easy to understand, but only the last part, whether it is the cemetery caretaker who originally received the letter, or the current Bishop Agatha and Ivan, have difficulty understanding its deep meaning.
The two spokesmen representing the highest will of the church in the city-state came together, and the three eyes exposed under the bandage stared at the end of the letter.
The mysterious visitor left a mystery in his secret letter.
.....What does this string of numbers mean? Bishop Ivan asked hesitantly.
Agatha slowly shook her head: "I don't understand either."
"...Perhaps you can ask a fortune teller to deduce it, or ask someone from the mathematical field to
Experts in the field of occultism come to calculate together - it may be a secret number pointing to the future of the city-state. "
"That makes sense."
On the edge of Uptown, at No. 44 Oak Street, next to Fireplace Street, Duncan stood in front of the narrow window at the end of the corridor on the second floor, looking at the gradually falling night.
After a while, he suddenly turned his head and looked at Fanna who was dazed next to him: "Do you think they are paying now?"
Fanna woke up from her distraction and looked confused: "Ah... ah?"
"Go to the bank for me tomorrow and see if they have paid the money," Duncan said seriously, "I left an anonymous account number in that report letter, which I use specifically to receive the report bonus."
Fanna: "...Huh?"
