Sean found an apartment with a pretty good environment not far from Ninth Avenue, outside Modisi Park.
This place faces the park, with no neon lights shining all night, and there is not much traffic. It is a nice place to live.
The landlord is a tall, thin man named Harris, who looks gentle and easy to deal with.
The initial monthly rent price quoted by Harris was NZ$25 per month. Before negotiating the rent, Sean had a rough understanding of the rent in this apartment building and knew that there was no water in Harris's quotation. However, in order to save money, Sean still used his function to lead the conversation with Harris, making him realize that 20 New Zealand dollars was a more appropriate price.
For safety reasons, Sean signed the contract under a false name on the pretext that he had lost his ID. Harris was a little reluctant at first, but Sean offered to pay an extra month's rent as a deposit, and he readily agreed.
"The "Questor's Manual" clearly mentions that you cannot use supernatural powers to occupy the interests of ordinary people." Sean opened the curtains in the fully furnished room and looked at the back of the landlord as he left downstairs. "However, I'm here The ability to guide conversations is more akin to speaking skills and does not involve the moral issues of the explorer.
"Harris seemed relatively calm just now and showed no signs of guilt." He put down his finger and the curtains blocked the light outside the window. "This place can be considered safe for the time being."
After Sean waited for a while and made sure there was nothing else going on, he wore his hat lower than usual, raised the collar of his windbreaker, and left the apartment building.
While packing his things in the "Fog and Rose" hotel room, there was a knock on the door. When Daisy walked in, her face was a little gloomy: "Sean, didn't I say you can live here forever? Why..."
Sean quickly explained: "No, Daisy, I didn't leave here because of you or because it's not good here. It's just that, you know, the things I got into were more troublesome. For example, the incident with Aaliyah's photo last time, and the dead body Attacks, when I stay here, always bring about some bad things. Your place is a hotel after all, and I will feel bad if it affects your business.
"Besides, I don't live far away. It's near here. We can still move around frequently."
Daisy's expression changed from gloomy to enlightened and a little touched: "So that's it. It seems that I misunderstood you. In fact, you don't have to pay too much attention to this. I also hope to be able to help you."
"You have helped me too much," Sean gently held Daisy's arm and said seriously, "Really, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be making the progress I am now."
Daisy looked at Sean in a daze, her green eyes flashing. After a long time, she sighed: "Actually, my decision to help you that day at the discipline center was an impulsive decision on my part.
"Because your eyes look so much like his."
Sean looked at Daisy with some confusion, and the latter smiled softly, and there seemed to be some fatigue in the smile: "Okay, remembering the past will only make me weak. I still have something to do, so I won't accompany you. ." After saying that, she returned to her confident and charming demeanor, winked at Sean, and left.
Sean looked at the empty door, and Daisy's tired smile that just flashed lingered in his mind: "What has she experienced before?"
——
There were not many things, so Sean quickly packed them up and moved into his new home. Since his new home had a kitchen and tableware, he went to the market to buy beef, tomatoes, onions, lettuce and other vegetables to prepare for his own cooking.
After having a long-lost Leon-style dinner, Sean poured himself a glass of hot water and sat on the green leather sofa in his new home.
"It's much quieter here than Ninth Avenue." He relaxed his nerves comfortably on the sofa. The curtains were closed at the moment, and he could see the firefly-like street lamps in Modisi Park from a distance, as well as the pedestrians walking in a hurry under the street lamps, tightly wrapped in clothes.
In the quiet night, he warmed his hands with a warm mug and began to think about his future goals: "Obviously, the first task now is to find out what organization the 'Seraph' symbol left by Aaliyah represents. ——It can basically be concluded that this organization kidnapped Aaliyah. As long as we have any information about it, we can start the next step of the investigation."
However, Sean has also consulted almost all the information on semiotics, religious symbols, and trademark symbols that he can find in the library.
As it turns out, none of the symbols come close to what Aaliyah described.
"They must be a very secretive organization. You can't find relevant information in the public library." Sean lowered his head and took a sip of hot water. "There is only one way to obtain this kind of weird or confidential information - Becoming an official Explorer will unlock the corresponding level of 'Explorer Library' permissions.
“They are an organization involved in mystery, and you should be able to find relevant information in the Explorer Library.
"So now I must pass the explorer's assessment as soon as possible!"
With this in mind, Sean stood up, walked to the desk, and placed the last of the ten books that Catherine had given him - "Research on Practical Folklore Techniques" in front of him.
After Catherine's introduction, I learned that this book requires knowledge of other books to read smoothly, and it is also the most difficult to read among the ten books. However, among all the basic knowledge books, it is also the most useful for newcomers - it will provide some magic techniques that can be used without faith and are similar to "divine magic" for any explorer to use.
Although they are some of the most basic techniques, having these means means having basic methods of dealing with evil.
For Sean, in addition to his ectoplasm ability, he has some more ways to deal with it.
"Another sleepless night." Sean closed the curtains, turned on the desk lamp, chose a suitable position, and started his book-browsing journey tonight...
——
About sixty kilometers west of New Testament City is the town of Levin.
John Hopkins seemed to hear a shrill cry in his sleep, and he woke up.
There's been some unrest in town lately. Thousands of bats flew over the town in the past few days. Yesterday, Sam's horse next door was attacked by an unknown beast and was eaten until his stomach was empty. Sam's youngest son cried for a long time.
I wonder if the influence of these strange events actually caused John, who always slept well, to wake up in the middle of the night.
He smelled an indescribable odor and felt uneasy in his heart. He lit a match with his cold hand and lit the lantern on the table.
He put his bare feet into his boots, put on his waistcoat, wrapped himself in a blanket, and walked out into the street.
The smell seemed to be coming from the direction of the old church next to it. John was a devout believer, and he knew that hiding was of no use in the face of strange things, so he took a wooden stick and a lantern and boldly walked towards the church.
Squeak! A door nearby was suddenly opened, and John was startled.
Fat Jock also held a lantern and crept out from behind the door: "John, it's you! I thought I heard someone shouting just now..."
It's not my auditory hallucination. John nodded: "I heard it too. There seems to be something going on over there at the old church. I'm going to take a look now. Are you coming with me?"
Jock hesitated for a moment, then said: "Wait for me." He returned home, put on his clothes and shoes, and then came out with a lantern.
The closer we got to the old church, the more obvious the stench became. Not only did John have a good nose, but he also had an excellent olfactory memory: He felt that the smell was a bit familiar. When he thought about it carefully, it seemed like the smell of blood mixed with the smell of livestock excrement in a slaughterhouse he had been to before - it was like hell. the taste of.
John didn't just shudder. The two stopped, and the timid Jock pushed him: "What are you doing?"
John took a deep breath and took out a diamond-shaped frame with body temperature. This diamond-shaped frame was made of copper with rounded corners. It seemed to be old: "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, evil and filthy things, Get out of here now!"
This is the prayer taught to John by the old priest in the town. After John read it out in a firm voice, he felt a little more courageous in his heart.
After seeing his companion's eyes become firmer, Jock also calmed down a lot.
The two of them walked to the door of the old church with their lanterns in hand. The old double wooden doors painted green were open, and the disturbing stench became more obvious.
Jock raised his head, as if he saw something, and squinted his eyes: "John, what do you think that is?"
Following Jock's line of sight, John looked up. He saw what seemed to be a black flag hanging from the highest point of the old church, fluttering in the night wind.
"Black flag?" John frowned, "Jolly Roger?"
In their minds, pirates only exist in novels and movies. Even if there are pirates, why would they come here?
The two looked at each other and decided to go to the church to have a look.
The two of them walked into the church closely next to each other. Because the lobby was empty, their footsteps echoed.
Jock was about to vomit due to the increasingly strong smell. He swallowed saliva repeatedly and suppressed his gag reflex.
John stopped, and Jock turned his head to look in confusion. He found that extreme fear was frozen on John's face.
"What's wrong, John?" Seeing John's expression, Jock's heart dropped into the ice.
Holding the lantern high, John seemed to turn into a sculpture frozen in a moment of shock.
Jock followed John's gaze.
On the huge diamond-shaped frame hanging above the podium, there was a man who was tied upside down. When he saw the man's appearance, Jock spat out "Wow".
John took a few trembling steps closer, and the light of the lantern illuminated him more clearly. The tied man's head was pointing to the ground, and blood was constantly dripping. There was already a pool of dark red on the ground... The skin of the man's body was peeled off, and blood was constantly flowing out between the bright red muscles.
John suddenly remembered the "black flag" fluttering in the wind outside the church.
His eyes seemed to be in a state of madness: "That's not a black flag... that's the priest's skin..."
