White mist lingered in the cemetery left by the ancient god of death. Xia De squatted in front of a square gray stone tombstone. Yin Luna stood behind Xia De and watched Xia De carefully carve the information he knew at present on it:
Thomas Granger (Sixth Age, 1739-1780)
The second son of the Granger family, missing.
Died by suicide.
As the stone chips fell off, Shad pasted Mr. Granger's handwritten letter on the tombstone, but the tombstone did not respond.
"It seems to be the second guess."
He used the Breath of Time to erase the words written a few seconds ago, and then rewrote the content:
Thomas Granger (Sixth Age, 1743-1780)
The second son of the Granger family, missing.
Sacrifice your life to save the mad earth.
Died from the mad curse of the earth.
The stone chips fell on the ground surrounded by white mist and disappeared. This time, after the letter was pasted on the tombstone, the stone chips in the blank space below the tombstone automatically fell off. Obviously, Xia De guessed right.
"So, Mr. Granger actually told the truth in his suicide note! He really died because of a curse. I didn't expect at the time that the curse he was talking about was actually the curse of the earth."
Place of Death:
Just after these words appeared, the changes suddenly stopped. Xia De stood up somewhat unexpectedly, and Yin Luna didn't understand what was going on:
"Why isn't it continuing to display? Don't we have enough information?"
As the words fell, small letters continued to appear. Xia De and Yin Luna lowered their heads and looked at the text that continued to be displayed, and then they both widened their eyes in surprise:
Place of death: Old World, United Kingdom of Carsenrick, eastern suburbs of Huntington City, basement of White River Valley Vineyard Winery, next to the statue of the Ancient God's Original Rift.
"What?"
Yin Luna looked at Xia De in confusion, and Xia De suddenly remembered the unidentified male remains he saw when he first arrived in Huntington City in early winter (Chapter 845).
"Oh, Mr. Granger, it turns out... we have met before."
When Shad first saw the skeleton in the White River Valley vineyard, he had planned to find time to bury it, but because he had been busy preparing for the Secret Keeper's test throughout the winter, the skeleton was still there and Shad hadn't even touched it.
Yin Luna had never been to Huntington, so after knowing the result, Xia De went to Huntington himself to make sure that the skeleton was still there - he just had to go downstairs to get there directly.
Seventy years later, the skeleton still lay quietly beside the ancient god statue, leaning against the circular wall. Shade was very curious about what Thomas Granger was thinking before his death, but fortunately he still had a chance to ask this question.
"He clearly died because of the Crazy Land, but his body and soul were not petrified."
After Xia De came out of the basement again, Yin Luna said softly. Xia De guessed that this was related to the special place of death. The power of the original rift statue was enough to completely eliminate the curse of the crazy earth.
Now that the corpse has been found, it is a simple matter to use it to find the soul that has not yet left. Especially for fortune tellers, corpse fortune telling is the most basic learning content.
Early on Friday morning, just after daybreak, Shade broke into Old John's antique shop. Although Father John opened the shop very early, it was only seven o'clock and he looked sleepy:
"Detective, what are you doing so early in the morning? Are you going to introduce me to another guest?"
"I'm not a guest. I want to buy a coffin to hold the body that is only left with bones. It's okay if it's a bit expensive. I know you must have one here, so I didn't go to the coffin shop outside the city because it's too far."
As he was about to take out his wallet, Old John was very interested in what Shade was doing:
"If I sell coffins first thing in the morning, I'll be unlucky all day."
He complained and led Shad to the backyard. Shad wanted to take the skeleton back to Randall Valley City, but of course he couldn't just carry it there.
The reason why he came to disturb Old John so early was that Shade wanted to stop Luvia before she went to work at the Prophet's Association. Under Old John's gaze, he used a huge piece of canvas to turn the coffin into a toy, then went home and took the cat to Randall Valley City.
The reason why he brought the cat with him was that Shade went to Old John's place without making breakfast this morning. The "Plenty Land Inn" also provided breakfast, so he could eat there. However, the cat, who didn't know Shade's plan, became extremely anxious when Shade took it out without feeding it breakfast.
The "Land of Plenty Inn" where Luvia was temporarily staying was quite close to the Randall Valley Prophet Association. It could even be said to be on the same street, so she didn't have to get up too early every day. She could have a leisurely breakfast and then walk to the association.
On this rather dull Friday morning, the purple-eyed girl finished washing up and walked down from the upper floor of the hotel to the first floor, complaining in her heart that Xia De did not stay the night with her.
Just when I was about to ask the waiter for the usual breakfast, I unexpectedly saw the detective feeding the cat against the wall on the east side of the first floor.
After looking around and not finding anyone familiar, Luvia came over with a smile. She touched Little Mia and sat down opposite Shade amid the cat's dissatisfied cries:
"I remember that last night, you and Yin Luna went to the island in the middle of Lake Pantanal to look for clues. Why did you come to see me so early?"
She rested her arms on the table, and looked at Shade with her face in her hands:
"Why, you left Yin Luna overnight, so you came to apologize to me this morning?"
"How could I do something like that?"
Shade patted Mia's head, indicating that her breakfast feeding was over:
"We have found Thomas Granger. Specifically, we found his body."
He briefly described his experience last night, and Luvia frowned slightly:
"Did he choose to die next to the ancient god's statue to prevent his body from further polluting the earth?"
"But dying in Huntington is not normal at all."
Xia De called the waiter and prepared breakfast for Luvia:
"Thomas Granger died seventy years ago. At that time, the White River Valley Vineyard had nothing to do with my friend, the vampire Mr. Bernhardt. The owner of the vineyard at that time has long passed away, and I have no way to find out how Mr. Granger went to Huntington."
But it is definitely not like Shade who set up signposts randomly. Except for Shade, others must find a hidden space to touch the statue to set up signposts.
"But I have a guess."
Xia De lowered his voice slightly:
"Earl Granger told me that before his great uncle disappeared, he felt guilty about the Farmer family. Is it possible that before he died, he wanted to go to the center of the Pantanal to solve the problem of that land, but because he could not bear the curse on himself, he finally collapsed in Huntington outside the swamp."
“It is indeed possible.”
Luvia nodded:
"In this way, everything is connected. All we need to do next is find Granger's soul, and all the secrets will be revealed... Do you want me to help you read the body?"
"Yes, the coffin is kept in the Forgotten Church. You can go with me after get off work at noon."
Although it is possible to turn the coffin into a toy and take it to Luvia's hotel room for divination, Shad does not want to put such a thing where Luvia sleeps.
"No need to wait until noon."
The purple-eyed fortune teller said lazily:
"I can just ask for leave. After all, I don't have much work to do here. I'm just waiting for the association to contact the cult that has the unique "Sublimation Codex". I'll ask for leave after dinner. Plus, I have Saturdays and Sundays off, so I should be able to get the results in three days."
"Take a break?"
Xia De was a little surprised, and then naturally extended an invitation:
"If things go well, how about going around the city with me? Or we can ride out of the city together. The snow scenery in the streams and valleys outside the city is quite beautiful."
"I think it's all right."
Luvia smiled reservedly.
At 8:30 in the morning, Shad carried the cat and returned to the Forgotten Church with Luvia.
Because most of the back half of the church was collapsed ruins, Shad placed the coffin in the main hall of the church, in front of the seated statue.
When Shade opened the coffin, Luvia reached out and touched the skeleton:
"I can still feel the miracle element. The power radiated by the ancient god statue alone is so great. Since the ancient god left in the Second Era, it has been the Sixth Era. I didn't expect that it still has such power. Although the miracle element will interfere with the divination results, it shouldn't be a big problem."
In fact, strictly speaking, the interval is not just four eras.
After saying that, she handed Shade a piece of chalk and asked Shade to write ancient rune symbols on the inside of the metal coffin to assist in the divination ceremony.
So the two of them got busy together, and Mia was placed on a chair next to the statue.
The cat squatted there watching them work, opened its mouth wide and yawned out of boredom, then tilted its head to look at the stone statue beside it, then raised its butt and moved away. It didn't like to have too much contact with people other than Shade.
After the symbols on the coffin were written, Luvia used her most commonly used cards for divination. After she drew three cards in a row, namely "Death", "Guardian" and "Fate", she asked Shade to go home to the third floor to get her spare crystal ball, but the crystal ball's divination was not particularly ideal:
"I saw some vague images, but they were quite unreliable. His soul seemed to be in some very special state."
After the crystal ball divination, the next step is water divination. Pour clean water into a basin, and excellent fortune tellers can see the revelation of fate from the reflection of the water. But this still doesn't show much, and in the end Luvia even immersed her face in the water for half a minute before she stood up again.