The old man's tone was very calm, as if he was calmly telling a story, and he just happened to appear in this story for a while.
"I'm sorry, I tend to talk too much when I get older," the old priest smiled and looked at Vanna and said, "Do you have friends from other sects?"
"...I have a good friend who is a clergyman of the Academy of Truth," Vanna thought for a moment, "but she doesn't often tell me about the teachings of Lahm, the God of Wisdom."
"The followers of the God of Wisdom... This is normal. Their beliefs usually require a college degree or above to understand, and sometimes you need to pass a higher mathematics score test," the old priest nodded as if it was a matter of course. "In comparison, the followers of the God of Death are the easiest to deal with - after all, we will all die."
At this point, the old man paused and looked at the neatly arranged files behind Vanna with some curiosity: "Your Excellency the Judge, can you tell me what you are looking for?"
Vanna suddenly hesitated.
She didn't know whether she should tell the secret to the old priest in front of her. The hidden fire was very likely pointing to a very dangerous shadow, and she couldn't be sure whether the "shadow" was monitoring the city-state in some way, nor was she sure whether the old man in front of her could really help her. If she rashly told the truth, it might alert the enemy.
But after a brief hesitation, she decided to reveal some information.
This is the deepest part of the Deep Sea Cathedral, the sanctuary of the Storm Goddess, and the old priest who is in charge of the archives is a staunch warrior. He stays here to provide assistance to visitors in this situation.
"I'm looking for a file. It's not quite accurate to say it's a file, because it may not have existed in the first place," Vanna said slowly as she considered. "Strictly speaking, it's a clue that happened in June 1889 and may point to a fire, but the relevant information has been erased."
"The fire in 1889?" the old priest pondered, "I don't remember any big fire..." He suddenly stopped and looked at Vanna thoughtfully.
"So, the erased data also includes our memories, right?"
"At least it includes people's memories," Vanna nodded gently. "I don't have enough evidence. Apart from my own 'cognition', I have no way to prove the existence of the fire. I'm not sure what force is manipulating this matter. I... I'm just suspicious."
She suddenly felt a little embarrassed. As an inquisitor, she was used to questioning and investigating, but the situation this time was completely different from the past. She didn't know who the target of her suspicion was, and she was not even sure whether the target was a human or a ghost. She started the investigation based solely on her own ideas, which was very inconsistent with her usual calm and steady style of doing things.
However, the old priest in front of her just nodded calmly: "Your piety and character are the evidence, Your Excellency the Inquisitor."
As soon as he finished speaking, the old priest quickly walked to a pillar between the nearby bookshelves and used his mechanical prosthetic hand to knock on several specific protrusions on the pillar. The next second, a low roar came from deep in the floor, followed by the creaking sound of gears and connecting rods. ….
The door of the archives was closed, and some of the bookshelves inside began to move slowly, while some of them moved closer and closed. In the vacant areas, one pillar after another with many complex runes depicted on them slowly rose from the floor.
As the pillars rose, the subtle sound of waves echoed softly in Vanna's mind.
"...There's no need to mobilize so many people," Vanna was a little confused by the old priest's behavior, "This is just a preliminary investigation."
"My past experience tells me that there is no 'preliminary' investigation into a huge threat," the old priest slowly walked towards Vanna. He raised his brass mechanical hand, "and I think something that can interfere with cognition on a large scale, or even erase certain historical events, is a 'huge threat'."
"...but your rash action of closing the archives may cause a lot of trouble."
"No, the archives are randomly sealed off a few times a month to give the sacred devices and bookshelves here some exercise," the old priest laughed, revealing an uneven
"Don't let the ancient scrolls be quiet for too long," was the rule.
"Then I have no doubts."
"You just checked a lot of information. Judging from your expression, you must have discovered something, right?" The old priest nodded. "I can help."
"I found some records about 'heretic cults' - although they have no direct connection with the incident I want to investigate, and the records themselves are very scattered, I feel something is wrong," Vanna said frankly, "Those heretical cults have common characteristics, and they occurred in the first half of 1889 and came to an abrupt end after the factory leak in the sixth district..."
The old priest listened carefully to Vanna's description, and then found the corresponding files with the help of the other party.
"That's it," Vanna pointed at the documents she had found. "Sacrificial rituals that should have been invalidated, substantial mental damage, and although the scale was small, they were all real acts of heresy. The final reports of all the cases seemed normal, and those who should have been arrested were arrested and those who should have been sentenced were sentenced. But I think that each of these cases was actually... not fully investigated."
"For a case of this scale, arresting and trying the perpetrators is enough to complete the investigation. But you are right. When several similar incidents are piled up together... the situation is different," the old priest looked through the files and frowned. "All the people who held the sacrificial activities were "inexplicably bewitched", but the source of the bewitching cannot be investigated..."
He muttered, looking up suddenly.
"Your Excellency, you have only examined the files from 1889?"
"Yes," Vanna nodded, and then immediately responded, "You mean..."
"Your case did happen in 1889, but have you ever thought that these strange heresy cases may not have started in 1889?" the old priest said quickly, and then looked up at the other rows of bookshelves, "The earlier records are here, the three rows from the bottom to the top are all here, you can read them all." Vanna immediately walked towards the files and began to check the records in the files with the old priest. ….
Vanna immediately walked towards the files and began to check the records in the files with the old priest.
But just a moment later, they almost simultaneously found records of similar heretical cult incidents in the case files they were reading.
There are records from 1888, 1887, and even all the way back to 1886.
"There is also a record here... a sacrifice incident that took place in the port area. And here, it was only two months since the last record!"
Vanna flipped through the file book in her hand quickly, feeling her heart pounding. She looked up and told the old priest about her discovery, but suddenly found that the old priest was standing in front of the bookshelf, staring at a certain place motionlessly.
"Did you find anything?" Vanna immediately frowned and asked nervously.
"There is no record for 1885," the old priest whispered as if he was muttering to himself, "it should be here, in this row, after 1884... But now after 1884 it is directly 1886..."
"Let's stop here," Duncan said as he looked back at the direction he and Shirley came from at the edge of the sixth block. He exhaled slightly and said, "I don't think we'll get any more results if we investigate here any further."
They stayed in the small church for a long time, but with their current level of mysticism, which was "two people combined are no better than a dog", it was obviously not enough to crack the strange time and space closure phenomenon in the underground temple.
Before they left, the underground sanctuary returned to its original state. The nun who was between ashes and the living was still praying devoutly in the main hall of the church, and had no reaction to the departure of Duncan and Shirley.
The exterior of the church is still dilapidated and the area around it is still empty.
But Shirley didn't really care about the secrets in the church. "Can I... can I really go home?"
She looked at Duncan nervously, her tone tinged with an inexplicable hesitation.
"Of course, I have never restricted your freedom to leave," Duncan smiled and ruffled the other's hair.
Shirley was about the same age as Nina, but the girl was so petite and frail that he couldn't help but treat her like a younger child. "Today's investigation is over. You can go home now."
Shirley subconsciously turned her head to look in the direction of home and wanted to move, but suddenly hesitated: "Then... after that, shall we continue investigating?"
"Of course, this matter is far from over." Duncan raised his eyebrows, "Why? Are you reluctant to leave?"
"Ah, no, no, no!" Shirley waved her hands quickly, "I just... during the next investigation:
"I'll find a way to contact you, or you can come to me on your own initiative," Duncan smiled and rubbed Shirley's head. "And it's not just for investigations. If you encounter any other difficulties, you can come to me directly for help."
Shirley blinked, feeling that something was a little strange, but finally nodded slightly. However, before turning around and leaving, she couldn't help but ask curiously, "Then...what are your plans next?"
"Me?" Duncan was stunned, thought for a moment and said, "I'm going to buy a bicycle this afternoon." Shirley was stunned: "······Ah?"
"Buy a bicycle," Duncan repeated seriously, "I promised Nina, it's been a few days, and I should fulfill my promise today. What's wrong?"
Shirley opened her mouth for a long time before finally saying, "Ah...Agou said that you have to do something about the subspace invasion..."
Before she finished her words, a shadow suddenly appeared in the air beside her, and Ah Gou shouted hastily in the shadow with a hoarse voice: "I didn't say that!!"
The next second, the shadow disappeared again - it was obvious that Agou was afraid that he would be seen if he showed his face outside.
Duncan: …
He talked for a long time, and finally gave a helpless smile: "Okay. Now the Subspace Invasion is going to buy a bicycle for his niece - let's say goodbye."