After receiving the mask and completing the task settlement, Sean took the elevator to the underground "Questor Library". Moonlight wanted to go back to her room to rest, but the two of them separated while waiting for the elevator.
The Explorer Library is located on the first to fourth floors underground. The deeper the layers, the more confidential, rare and...dangerous the books and information collected.
Almost all seekers have a curiosity about mystery or, like Sean, a mystery that needs to be solved. Not only that, some mysterious knowledge itself will tempt people to explore in depth.
If there were no restrictions on reading permissions, many explorers would go crazy because they were forced to read books that their mental strength was not strong enough to cope with.
Restricting the explorers' reading rights is not to create information gaps. The real purpose is to protect the explorers!
Sean's mask "Sea of Unknown" has permission to read the entire negative level, which is also the largest permission among masks of the same level.
The elevator descended to the first floor and opened the door. Several supervisors wearing red masks glanced at Sean and let him walk into the quiet library on the first floor.
Although the Explorer Library is located underground, its size is completely beyond Sean's expectation. In the six-meter-high space, there are rows of super-large bookshelves that almost touch the top.
In order to get the books high on the bookshelves, there are two floors of sky corridors above the ground.
Sean looked towards the depths of the library and found that he couldn't even see the end: "How big is the first floor alone? Then there are three floors below...how many books are there?"
While walking, Sean thought about it carefully and discovered the error in his thinking: "There must be fewer rare materials, so the collection of books on the negative floor is the largest. As expected, the volume of books will decrease with the depth of the level... …”
There is a circular space in the center of the library, where there is a map of the entire negative floor and a book index function.
The floor plan of the ground floor resembles a giant cross. Sean walked from the south elevator to the circular center of the cross, and the book on signs and semiotics he was looking for was in an area to the west.
However, when he was looking at the map, he discovered a strange place.
On the floor plan, the names of each area are marked according to the classification of books, such as "Signs and Symbolism" and "Theological Materials" and so on. However, there is a blank space in this cross-shaped northern area.
Sean raised his head and looked towards the blank area. Layers of bookshelves blocked the view, so nothing could be seen.
There was an explorer wearing a white ape mask nearby who noticed Sean's behavior. He turned his attention away from the index book in his hand and said to Sean: "That's the old book cemetery over there."
"That empty space on the map?"
The white ape nodded: "That's right. The former site of the Explorer Center was the State Library. For some reason, that library sank underground.
“The books that sank to the ground were a mess and no one had ever cleaned them up.
"There are rumors that you can find a lot of out-of-print materials in the old book cemetery - I went there, and it was so chaotic and mixed with so many ordinary books that it was hard to find anything valuable."
"But some people are very superstitious and spend all day there..."
"I soaked and soaked and never went out again. I wandered around the old book cemetery all day without seeing the sun, looking for books and reading... It was like I had become a lonely ghost."
"Look at me..." The white ape's eyes flickered in the light of the electric light. He pointed at his head, "It's best not to go there. It has the magic power to turn people into dementia..."
In order to find the abstract symbol of the "seraph", Sean read a lot of books on semiotics and soteriology.
Except for eating and dealing with internal emergencies, he spent the whole day immersed in books.
However, he was never able to find any further clues, not even a pattern similar to that one.
In the midst of growing anxiety and aimless browsing, he opened an ancient Salvationist book to a page with a picture of a seraph, and suddenly realized that he had made a mistake.
He stared at the pattern on the page, his eyes widened: the wings of the seraph in ancient books, one pair covering the face, one pair covering the feet, and one pair used for flying, showing a very special posture, like A flower in full bloom is not the posture of its wings spread behind it.
The pattern Aaliyah drew was not an "angel" at all!
Reminiscent of the blasphemous speech in the record "Midnight Elopement", Sean suddenly realized that he was looking in the wrong direction: he should not be looking for symbols and signs of salvation!
He immediately stood up, picked up the unfinished book and put it back in its place, and then hurriedly changed to an area - "blasphemous crime files".
Every book here is in dark red, and the title page is marked with a warning that it may cause mental shock.
Sean simply ignored these, and quickly browsed the books with his eyes. He took out one after another with his hands and ectoplasm, and began to flip through them quickly...
After hurriedly browsing through many crazy illustrations, Sean's hand stopped quickly turning the book.
He saw a symbol - a humanoid thing standing in a circle composed of a black snake. Two pairs of giant horns and a pair of bat-like membrane wings corresponded to the pattern drawn by Aaliyah.
"Ring of Judas?" The demon Sardar who is restricted by the black snake ring, and the organization using this symbol is called "Ring of Judas".
"It turns out to be an anti-Savior organization..." Sean nervously turned to the next page, only to find that the information about the Judas Ring was blank, and all the blank pages had a red finger pointing up to his mouth. The logo - "Silence", a common logo in the explorer industry, means that relevant information must follow the three no's principles: it cannot be discussed, it cannot be disseminated, and it cannot be mentioned...
Sean smashed the table in frustration: "The Judas Ring is an organization banned by the Holy Palace! All information has been banned!"
He raised his head with complicated eyes, feeling both the excitement of getting new clues and the annoyance that the investigation had been hindered: "Aaliyah is controlled by the Judas Ring organization. And that Mr. Kennedy is a member of the Judas Ring!
"The so-called Utopia should be a religion created by Judas Ring to shake the faith of Salvationism."
After learning about the other party's situation, Sean's hands felt cold: "A blasphemous organization so notorious that it was banned by the gods kidnapped Aaliyah. They either wanted to recruit her as a member, or they wanted to sacrifice her. As a sacrifice...
"Looking more optimistically, after controlling Aaliyah, they treated her with courtesy and repeatedly played her brainwashing records, and also induced Aaliyah's evil personality...
"From all indications, it is more likely that they will absorb Aaliyah!
"However, we cannot rule out the possibility that they will still sacrifice Aaliyah in the future!"
Knowing that it was impossible to find any information about the Ring of Judas in the Explorer Library, Sean returned the book to its original position and left in a hurry.
"Don't be too pessimistic!" Sean walked quickly and looked stern, "The most important breakthrough has been achieved - I have learned the name and basic situation of the other party.
"With a name, the investigation will be able to move forward more easily..."
—
After undergoing a mental evaluation the next day, Sean and Moonlight were allowed to leave. After saying goodbye to Jasmine, who still needed to be observed, the two walked out of the Explorer Center.
In a deserted place downstairs, Sean told Moonlight about the progress of his investigation.
Moonlight, who was standing by the flower bed, took out a cigarette from the silver cigarette case - this time he did not hand it to Sean, but directly held it in his mouth.
Sean looked at the cigarette in Moonlight's mouth, and a strong desire surged in his heart. He opened his mouth, and used strong willpower to control the urge to ask Moonlight for a cigarette, but his body moved unconsciously.
Click, click! Sean lit the steel lighter in his hand, and the flame with a little white light in its heart was sent to the front of the cigarette before Moonlight lit the cigarette with a match.
Moonlight lit the cigarette with white flames and said deliberately coyly: "Oh, what a gentleman - it's a pity that I'm not a lady...
He deliberately said sarcastically: "Sean, there are many opportunities to show off in missions. Don't be so anxious to show off your treasure..."
Sean held his forehead: "No, it's not about showing off, this damn thing wants to light up a cigarette!"
Moonlight suddenly realized: "So that's what it is..."
"Try not to smoke in front of me," Sean sighed, "otherwise I would light cigarettes for you all the time, which would be really weird if others saw it."
Moonlight smiled, her eyes narrowed, her teeth a bit sharp.
Sean knew his advice had backfired.
Moonlight took out the metal "Jack" playing card placed in the inner pocket of his suit. The brass mirror between the black lines reflected the sunlight: "If there is anything, please contact me directly with poker - if you want to carry out any dangerous investigation, Remember to call me."
With only a little spiritual power, simple communication within the team can be carried out through playing cards with magic attached to them.
Although the investigation is still shrouded in mystery, Sean feels much more at ease now than before.
