He greeted Priest Augustus familiarly, and the middle-aged Priest subtly hid the novel, which shouldn't have been in the church, under his desk.
After checking Xia De's two documents, he asked them to wait for a moment, then went out.
But he quickly returned, handing him back the deed and property title kept in the document bag.
“Later today, the church will send… a professional house appraiser to inspect the current condition of that house and determine if you can open the sealed areas.”
Of course, as Xia De left the church, Priest Augustus, who was seeing him off, quietly told Xia De on the stone steps in front of the church that the “professional house appraiser” was a Ring術士 from the Dawn Church.
Because he was thinking about Mia’s dinner and the storybook he got from Louisa, Xia De didn't chat with Priest Augustus anymore and went straight home.
Since Dawn Square, where the Dawn Church is located, is very close to the Tobesk City center, the sunset had only just appeared on the distant horizon when he arrived home, and in Saint Delan Square in front of his house, there was unexpectedly a group of young people enthusiastically feeding pigeons with breadcrumbs.
There were many pigeons in the square in summer, sometimes even stopping on the second-floor bedroom window sill of No. 6 in the square early in the morning.
Mia loved to watch the pigeons on the window sill through the window, so Xia De never opened it.
After dinner, Xia De originally wanted to immediately check the book he borrowed from Louisa.
But the “building safety inspectors” from the Dawn Church arrived earlier than he expected; they came in the evening.
The safety inspector was Mr. French, an elderly gentleman who looked to be the same age as Priest Augustus, wearing a somewhat outdated brown checkered coat.
When the two shook hands, the whispering voice in his ear was already reminding him that this old gentleman was a Ring術士.
The so-called safety inspection was just a walk around the areas to be opened.
Mr. French talked to Xia De about the past events of the house while walking with him from the first floor to the second floor.
He observed the blocked passage on the first floor, stood for a while in front of the locked door on the second floor, and finally discussed what happened when the church cut off the stairs to the third floor.
Mr. French found no abnormalities in the house, so he smoothly signed the safety report.
Xia De had thought he would have to pay someone to open the passage and repair the stairs, but unexpectedly, when Mr. French left, he asked about Xia De's schedule and brought a team of workers half an hour later.
While the blocked passage on the first floor was completely cleared, the other two areas could not be resolved for the time being.
The key to room No. 2 on the second floor was originally kept in the church, but due to the approaching Holy Prayer Day, the church was checking its storeroom and did not allow sensitive items to leave during this period, so the key would only be delivered within a week.
Old Mr. French told Xia De not to pick the lock himself.
As for the broken stairs to the third floor, they could not be repaired for now; the problems on the first and second floors were due to a century-old curse, while the third floor was genuinely closed for safety reasons.
This meant Xia De needed to find someone to repair the house himself, and when repairing, he should notify the church, which could help connect the stairs for free.
By the time the first floor of Saint Delan Square Six was reopened, the window boards removed and glass installed, and the rubble cleared, it was already close to 8 PM.
Xia De, who had been standing on the stairs holding Mia and watching the construction team work, came down to bid farewell to Mr. French, who had also been there the whole time.
“If you find any problems with the house, remember to find me at the Dawn Church.
Of course, since you know Augustus, you can also go to him; he can find me.”
Mr. French was very enthusiastic:
“Although you might find it strange that the Dawn Church is responsible for this matter, after all, three years ago, it was the church that sold the house to Sparrow Hamilton.
So this matter is reasonable, there's no need to doubt it, yes, that's how it is.”
Xia De could only nod in response.
After seeing off the group, he finally had the opportunity to enter and inspect the first floor of his house.
Because the gas pipes on the first floor were cut off for safety when the passage was sealed three years ago, there were no gas lamps on the first floor.
Xia De, holding the cat and carrying a glass-covered kerosene lamp, walked from the newly cleaned entrance hall into the large living room on the first floor, and as expected, saw nothing inside.
The two windows in the living room had been sealed with wooden boards for a long time, and coupled with the tightly closed passage connecting to the entrance hall, there was not even much dust on the floor.
But it wasn't very dark here; Moonlight and the light from the gas street lamps next to Saint Delan Square spilled into the room from the windows, and the bright gas light from the entrance hall behind him also illuminated the area.
“Are you still there?”
Xia De asked softly in his mind while inspecting the first floor.
“Do you fear ghosts?”
“Of course not, I just wanted to ask, since you said my soul is sensitive, have you sensed any problems here?”
“Not currently, but you can walk further inside.”
The area of the first floor was twice the size of Xia De's living space upstairs, as the second floor was divided into two rooms.
But due to some past events, the first floor now only had load-bearing walls and a floor; the decorative walls and furniture for dividing rooms all needed to be prepared by Xia De himself.
It was empty, but the advantage was that he could see the entrance hall when he turned around, so it wasn't too scary.
Mia's eyes glowed in the dark; the timid cat was initially afraid of the unfamiliar environment, but after being carried around by Xia De for two circles, she got used to it.
She struggled, wanting to jump out of Xia De's arms, and seeing no danger here, Xia De put her down on the floor.
The small cat ran around on the floor, making pattering sounds.
But soon, Mia disappeared from Xia De's sight.
After searching around, he found that opening the first-floor passage also finally revealed the door behind the stairs leading to the basement.
Xia De was naturally happy about this; the house was too big for him to live in alone, and he had long thought about renting out a part of it.
If the basement was large enough, he could even divide it into compartments to rent to the poor...
“How can I do that? Am I crazy from thinking about pounds?”
Xia De slapped himself, then bent down to pick up Mia, who was constantly scratching at the wooden door to the basement.
There was no furniture on the first floor, and the walls had been carefully maintained in the past, so they still looked decent, showing no signs of age.
But this door had been standing here for who knows how long; the wood veneer was severely rotted, and even the small orange cat's claws could leave marks.
When he tried to push the door, he almost pushed the entire door down.
But precisely because this door was not sturdy, the air circulation between the basement and the outside was very good, so there was no need to worry about lack of oxygen.
When Priest Augustus spoke of this house, he did not mention any problems with the basement, so with a creaking sound, Xia De boldly pushed open the door and walked down the steps with the cat in his arms.
The basement ceiling was only about two meters high, a bit low.
Standing on the steps and holding the oil lamp high, besides the rusted steam pipes piled in the corner, there was only stale air.
“The church is really cautious; they really moved all suspicious items, not even leaving a single pebble.”
The orange cat Mia huddled in Xia De's arms, curiously looking at the dim surroundings.
But because the basement floor was not clean, Xia De did not put her down this time.
Thinking of walking around the basement to see if there were any burrowing mice making their homes there, he walked down the steps.
But the moment his shoes touched the ground, the whispering voice in his ear spoke:
“You have encountered a Miracle.”
“Miracle?”
The Miracle element was related to God, so Xia De stopped his movements, holding the oil lamp higher, trying to see any strange traces:
“I knew this place wouldn't be peaceful, but for a ‘Miracle’ element to appear, that's completely not in my plan.”
Fortunately, the whispering voice only appeared once; if it had repeatedly reminded him of the element's appearance, Xia De would definitely have turned and left right now.
But after walking around the basement with the oil lamp, he found nothing except that he would have to spend money to install gas lamps here.
He even carefully checked the walls, trying to find strange unknown languages, but there was nothing here.
If there were, the church couldn't possibly have failed to discover them.
“This is interesting; two Nine Ring術士 died on the first floor a hundred years ago, and after that, the owners here kept dying suddenly.
It seems it's because of these Miracle elements; elements are harmful to ordinary people...”
Thinking this, the Destiny Ring in his soul rotated, starting with the Miracle 【Echoes of the Past】.
He only heard his own footsteps and Mia's displeased meows.
“If sound doesn't work...”
His right eye showed a bloody hue; even though the oil lamp could only illuminate a small area, in Xia De's vision at this moment, extremely faint bloody traces appeared in the dark parts.
These traces were probably remnants from a hundred years ago, looking like footprints, and almost covered the entire basement, leading from inside the basement towards the entrance.
“There are no bloodstains leading from the entrance into the room, which indicates that the bloodstains appeared due to something that happened inside the basement.”
He thought to himself.
Xia De started from the basement steps, going against the walking order of that person from a hundred years ago, following the direction of the intertwined footprints to find the end.
The final stopping position was in front of the wall directly opposite the basement steps.
The footprints stopped in front of the wall, and both the wall surface and the ground had deeper bloodstains.
At the same time, the owner of the footprints that appeared from here seemed to have lingered in the vicinity for quite some time, causing the blood-stained footprints to continuously overlap, before finally heading towards the basement exit.
“How can there be blood so high up on the wall? It doesn't look like it was splattered, more like it was smeared... Also, why would they linger here? What happened here? Even if they were thinking, there's no need to be in the basement... Is there space behind the wall? No, the church couldn't possibly fail to discover such a trick.”
Xia De frowned, holding the cat with one hand, placing the kerosene lamp at his feet, and then reaching out to press against the wall.
At this moment, he only felt a cold sensation, and when he tapped it with his knuckles, he heard no hollow Echo.
“Should I find a hammer and break this open?”
Xia De thought, staring at the wall for a while longer, and before giving up, he had a new idea:
“It doesn't cost pounds to try anyway.”
Thinking this, he summoned his Destiny Ring.
Mia was startled by the bell and whistle, widening her amber eyes and looking back from Xia De's shoulder; the orange cat had never seen such a thing.
The Destiny Ring slowly rotated, and Xia De controlled the core rune 【Time-Space】, making the rune glow slightly by manipulating the flow of spiritual energy.
That light shone on the wall in front of him.
Then, a part of the wall disappeared like an illusion, revealing a narrow passage...
Xia De believed his expression must have been the same as the cat's, who was currently looking at the Destiny Ring.
“There is a hidden wall ahead.”
She said with a smile.