“So what needs to be done now?”
Xia De, who had fully understood the current situation and adjusted his mindset, asked. The current situation didn't seem more dangerous than when he had a gun pointed at his head just now.
“Find the nodes of the ritual.”
Miss Annette pulled down her skirt to cover her feet and took out a pinch of sparkling powder from a small pocket at her waist. She placed the powder in her palm, and with a gentle blow from her lipstick-stained lips, the powder scattered, seeming to float in the air under the gaslight.
The blood mist already made everything in front of them blurry, and now with the added dust, the corridor became even more hazy. Miss Annette took off the ruby hairpin she was wearing, touched it lightly with her finger, and handed it to Xia De:
“I need to use the Document-level relic, Truth Dust, to enter the illusion and cooperate with my other self to find the ritual nodes from different perspectives. This will take about five minutes. During this time, you must hold my token to guide me back, otherwise I will fall into the cracks of the dream realm.”
“Just holding it is enough?”
Xia De asked, gripping the hairpin tightly.
“You cannot go too far from the third floor, or I will lose contact with the token. The token can only be held by a conscious living creature. If I hadn’t found you just now, I would have gone to the garden to catch a cat or a fish. Remember, Detective, there are only seven minutes until the Evil God, Lord of the Blood Banquet, descends, and I will stay in the illusion for five minutes. During this time, do not touch anyone and wait patiently.”
She paused, her expression turning serious:
“If I don’t return within five minutes, leave here via the main staircase. The Orthodox Church Ring術士 team downstairs can protect your safety. I am very sorry, Detective, you, who only have one ring, should not have been involved in this matter.”
She pursed her lips.
“It’s alright, after all, I’m here too.”
Xia De gripped Miss Annette’s hairpin, his expression serious. He didn’t know what would happen next, but since he was already standing here, there was no reason to leave:
“Although I’ve just awakened from blind idiocy and haven’t been in contact with this civilization for long, since I can’t leave, then I am also a part of this place, and I should do what I ought to do.”
Of course, the fact that this matter was not as dangerous as it sounded was also a reason.
The Diviner girl with purple eyes smiled, blinked, and said as if she had made up her mind:
“If I don’t return, and the doctor and others are also killed, then the only safe place tonight is the Ring術士 team under the Sun and Earth Church of the Orthodox God, Lantern Old Man.”
They were the team of dozens of people, and Xia De had encountered them twice tonight.
“More precisely, the safest place is by the side of the youngest lady in the team, Iluna Bayas.”
“Why?”
Xia De also thought of the somewhat nervous, brown-haired girl. Miss Iluna Bayas’s hair color was very similar to Miss Annette’s, but the Diviner had short hair.
“Because she is The Chosen, the protagonist of the first section of the poetic collection whispering chapters… one of the thirteen The Chosen.”
“What?”
Xia De looked up and asked, vaguely realizing the importance of this information:
“Thirteen again? No, that’s not the point, what is whispering chapters?”
“I haven’t even told the doctor and the others about these things, but if we survive, I’d be happy to explain them to you later. For now, there are more important things to do.”
The purple-eyed Diviner shook her head slightly, then turned and walked towards the corridor where the shimmering powder floated. Her figure, along with the illusory powder and phantoms, disappeared into the bright yellow light and shadows. The blood mist refilled the space that the shimmering powder had just occupied.
Only the astonished Detective remained here:
“What does that mean? That Miss Iluna Bayas is The Chosen? Old Gods, Sin Gods, Witches, relics, Sublimation Words, whispering chapters… What exactly is going on in this world? It seems something big is about to happen in this era I’ve come to.”
At this moment, in the deathly silent manor, it seemed as if only Xia De was alive. There should have been a battle happening on the second floor below, but not a single sound came from it. Standing in the blood mist of the corridor, a chilling sense of danger compelled Xia De to find a place to hide.
But Xia De didn’t dare to enter any of the rooms. He only found the banquet hall on the third floor, which was the room where Doctor Schneider and the other two were confronting Mrs. Lasoya.
As soon as he approached, the voice in his mind repeatedly reminded him of the appearance of four elements. And Xia De even saw densely packed rune chains on the grand double golden doors.
He didn’t dare to interpret those runes, fearing that he would faint at such a critical moment.
“Four more minutes, and Miss Annette will be back.”
Xia De thought to himself, standing nervously at the entrance of the banquet hall, waiting. The banquet hall faced the central main staircase of Lakeview Manor, and he was very worried that the Cultists would defeat the Orthodox Church Ring術士 team and break into the third floor.
“It’s not past midnight yet, is the current situation considered good luck tonight?”
He thought about unimportant things, constantly checking the time on his pocket watch.
He wanted to take out the Puppet Master Happy’s Script to flip through it, perhaps he could find a way to resolve tonight’s incident from the last use of this Secret Keeper Level relic.
But perhaps Xia De’s good luck had finally run out. Before he took out the small book, the silent manor finally made a sound.
The next moment, an astonishing explosion erupted from the banquet hall beside him, breaking the peaceful moonlit night.
The two golden doors were shattered in the flames and smoke, and Xia De, standing at the doorway, was directly thrown out, spitting blood as he hit the wall on one side of the staircase, rolling onto the cold ground along with the portrait of a bearded nobleman that had originally hung on the wall.
“Oh!”
He tried to get up in the smoke and dust, but felt his body wouldn’t obey. This blow definitely caused internal injuries.
At this moment, he finally discovered the truth of the explosion. The Golden-haired girl Writer flew out of the banquet hall in the explosion, and it was her body that had broken through those two doors. Now Miss Louisa lay at the staircase not far from Xia De, half her body in a pool of blood, her long golden hair gradually stained with blood, her life unknown.
“I knew it wouldn’t go smoothly.”
Xia De endured the severe pain in his left arm and chest and struggled to his feet. He touched the Golden-haired girl’s face and used the spell False Immortality to ensure she wouldn’t die within half an hour.
He wanted to help Miss Louisa escape to the other end of the corridor. Although his pocket watch had been damaged in the astonishing explosion just now, he knew that Miss Annette was about to return, and he couldn’t leave the third floor now.
Another loud bang came from the banquet hall. The white steam from the manifested Destiny Ring dispersed the blood mist, almost completely blocking the doorway. Xia De heard Priest Augustus’s roar and his prayers to Mr. Dawn. It was hard to believe the old man had such strength.
“You go quickly!”
Doctor Schneider’s voice came from further inside the banquet hall, speaking to Priest Augustus. But the next moment, the Priest’s Destiny Ring was struck by a silver beam of light. He staggered out of the room and into the corridor, then also saw Xia De and Miss Louisa.
Although Xia De had changed clothes and was wearing a mask, Priest Augustus knew it was him:
“How did you…”
“It’s very difficult to explain… cough cough.”
Not only Xia De, but Priest Augustus also coughed up blood. The smell of blood in the air suddenly became stronger:
“Not good, the God Descent Ritual is about to begin, let’s go quickly.”
The Priest wanted to help Xia De and Miss Louisa up, but he was also heavily injured and had only been holding on. After just two steps, he fell heavily and actually fainted. So Xia De also reached out and touched the Priest. He now had a very bad premonition.