It was extremely quiet all around, and seeing no one, Xia De walked towards the sofa.
He didn't sit down, making it easy to leave at any moment.
But his eyes once again caught sight of the brass-colored metal gear box on the coffee table.
By common sense, Xia De would naturally not proactively touch any unknown item.
However, up close, besides seeing the various sizes of gear knobs on the brass cube metal surface, he actually saw a line of twisted, musical note-like characters on the upward-facing side.
Although he had never seen it before, Xia De still understood it:
“I am watching you in the darkness.”
Immediately, the whisper in his mind reminded him:
【You have touched the whisper.】
“What, this is a relic?”
Xia De exclaimed in surprise, and at the same time, he noticed that the bright gas lamps and crystal chandeliers in the room had become dim.
A strange sense of terror made him lower his head to stare at the brass gear box.
The box had silently opened at some point, its front cover askew from the main body.
As the lights grew dimmer, rolling black mist surged out from within, like waves crashing outwards.
“Isn't this a plot device from a horror novel... This is...”
【relic containment failure.】
Xia De didn't even have time to react before the surging black mist completely extinguished the light in the room.
The surroundings were completely pitch black, as if a layer of black ink had been painted over his eyes.
In the darkness, the feeling of fear grew stronger, causing Xia De's body to tremble uncontrollably.
In a world where darkness had descended, his sense of direction was completely lost.
Xia De felt as if he had fallen into the most terrifying abyss, his body and mind simultaneously assailed by fear.
At one moment, he even believed that he was being watched by a vast, unspeakable entity in the darkness.
Extreme panic made him want to scream, but the Outsider quickly calmed his emotions.
He knew what was most rational to do at this moment.
In the dark space, rationality and sensibility fought against each other.
This fear was not under his emotional control; it was an instinctive reaction.
At the same time, the moment the fear surged, a whisper came from the darkness.
It wasn't the pleasant female voice in his head; it was a whisper of hatred and resentment, as if thousands of people were speaking at once.
The sound was like white maggots crawling and rubbing in his ear canals, and he even got goosebumps on the back of his exposed hand.
“Hmm? Why can I see the back of my own hand?”
He looked down at his hand, a faint silver glow covering it, preventing his body from being completely swallowed by the darkness:
“Yes, I am no longer an ordinary person; I am a Ring Sorcerer.”
He managed to calm down amidst the fear, looking at his hands and feeling the brass Destiny Ring slowly rotating in his soul, calling it forth.
Bell tolls!
Behind his body, enveloped in Silver Moonlight, the white steam in the dark space also seemed to be tinged with silver light.
Whistle!
A distant, inexplicable shriek echoed through time and space, its Vibration shaking the profound darkness.
Giant Hammer!
The Giant Hammer struck from the depths of steam and darkness, and amidst the flying sparks, the brass Destiny Ring appeared behind him, spinning at an extremely high speed, scattering sparks into the darkness.
“Silver Moon!”
Even without mastering any Miracle of the Silver Moon, simply by what he thought at this moment, Xia De, standing in this darkness, still followed his thoughts and shouted, raising his right hand.
The complete manifestation of the Destiny Ring is the strongest posture of a Ring Sorcerer.
The brass ring, scattering sparks, received its master's call, and the Silver Moon core Ling Rune flickered.
Xia De seemed to hear a woman's laughter in his ear at this moment, and then, on the index finger of his raised right hand, a silver light bloomed like a dazzling sun.
The Moonlight gradually spread outwards, like time flowing backward, causing the surrounding dark curtain to recede.
At the same time, Xia De also noticed that in front of him, golden light outlined the silhouette of a seated woman.
Her light was also dispelling the terrifying darkness that had emerged due to the relic's loss of control.
“This is the person who wanted to see me...”
Xia De thought to himself, watching the light dispel the darkness and restore the surroundings to the appearance of the reception room.
The darkness retreated unwillingly, wanting to tear at Xia De, but unable to approach the Silver Moon's radiance.
The whispers also cursed the people emitting light, the voices overlapping repeatedly, almost indistinguishable.
But Xia De still heard the most obvious sound among them; more than one whisper spoke that sentence.
This was not directed at him; it was an unintentional whisper in the darkness.
The Outsider understood this inexplicable language:
“Old God! You damned thieves! Thirteen...”
The darkness completely receded, and the silver light from Xia De's finger also gradually faded.
But he felt that if he needed to, he could still use such an ability.
This could entirely be considered the first Miracle he created, the Light Spell of the Silver Moon.
Although it wasn't very useful.
The last whisper kept echoing in his ears.
Xia De was surprised by its content but didn't know if it was true or false.
Content heard in the whispers of a relic out of control is usually not credible.
He looked down at the brass cube box on the coffee table, but it was already closed, as if the earlier surge of black mist was just an illusion.
He then looked up in the direction where the golden female figure had been.
That was the wall where the bookshelf was located, and in the lower right corner of the entire large bookshelf, there was a wooden door with a crack open.
The doorknob was pure gold and blended well with the bookshelf, so Xia De hadn't noticed it when he first entered the room and stepped onto the palm-width red wool carpet.
He instinctively knew that the woman who wanted to see him, the golden-colored lady from earlier, was in the room behind this door.
The room felt a little cooler than the corridor.
It should be noted that the corridor itself was cooler than the City on this summer night, and the temperature in the room seemed to be like late autumn.
“The temperature seems a bit abnormal.
I remember the temperature was normal at first.
Has the aftermath of the relic losing control not ended yet?”
【The power of a High-Ring Sorcerer affects the environment; the other party is probably very angry.】
“High-Ring? Above Nine Ring? Wait, how do you know? Also, why is she angry? Shouldn't I be the one who's angry?”
Xia De was startled.
At this moment, a voice finally came from behind the door:
“Young sir, do you know how much trouble you've caused? The Poet Grade relic, the darkness box, only loses containment if its activation incantation is recited and the user possesses Ling Runes related to light or celestial bodies.
I merely wanted to meet you.
Why did you do this? This incident once again tells me that I absolutely cannot leave relics lying around, otherwise, who knows what kind of people one might encounter.”
Her speaking speed wasn't very fast; it was the Northern Common Language with an accent.
From her voice, her age shouldn't exceed thirty, but she might have just turned twenty.
Her tone was very elegant, and even Xia De could hear the undisguised anger in her voice.
“I... I'm sorry, I didn't know... I'm not trying to shirk responsibility, it's just... May I ask, what do you need me for?”
He didn't know how to explain.
The lady behind the door certainly wouldn't guess that the invited guest could easily read ancient texts, nor would she know the guest's Ling Runes.
Therefore, what happened just now was indeed caused by Xia De.
He wanted to offer compensation, but the other party was a High-Ring Sorcerer, and he definitely couldn't afford it, so he could only ask what the other party wanted.
Earlier, both he and the other party had used the power of a Ring Sorcerer, and the lady behind the door was not surprised, indicating that she already knew the Detective's identity when she invited him from the second floor.
This made Xia De very confused.
He had only been a Ring Sorcerer for one day; no one should have recognized him.
But at least the woman behind the door was not Mrs. Lasoya.
Even without having heard Mrs. Lasoya speak, Xia De was very sure that someone whose gender was unknown could not speak with such an elegant and calm tone.
“Young sir, how should I address you?”
The woman behind the door asked.
Xia De couldn't see through the door to the other party, but he believed that the other party could see him.
He could completely imagine the scene of the woman sitting behind a table, talking to him through the door.