Xia De did not stop the other party from having an army of undead. After all, even if there were an army of corpses and water ghosts, it would be the church that stopped them.
"But I can't give it to you now, it has other uses for me."
The corpse waiter came with a tray, on which was a third of a skull. The skeleton looked very different from a human skull, and its volume was at least twice that of a normal human head. However, because it was incomplete, Shade could not be sure what it would look like when it was complete.
"I know this does not belong to me, so please allow me to return it to you after the Ceremony of the Chosen One."
The fortune teller continued, and Shade did not try to grab it. After all, the priest also said that everything at the moment was an illusion. He just thought that he had eaten a hallucinogenic mushroom:
"Do you know who this bone is supposed to belong to?"
Xia De asked, and the fortune teller shook his head slightly:
"I placed some bones in my daughter's ossuary, hoping that she would sleep peacefully. I think it was the bone fragments and finger bones taken away by the tomb robbers that attracted your friend. There are too many secrets in this world, and even I don't know them all. I think the person who is closest to knowing everything among the living people now should be the crazy Sir Rockins Prisher."
He suddenly stopped talking and turned to look to the side. The corpses dancing to the music gradually made way for a straight road. At the end of the road, the figure of priest Augustus appeared with his hands behind his back.
Shade guessed that the priest was not hallucinating, otherwise the serious expression on the fortune teller in front of him would be too realistic.
"This skull does not belong to me. Please allow me to return it later."
He said this to Father Augustus, who shook his head quite seriously:
"Although you are very polite, this is not yours."
The shadow of a huge wing appeared on the wall behind him. Even if the broken wing was just a shadow, it was still shocking. The light of the crystal chandelier gradually dimmed until it turned into a dark green. At the same time, the melodious music had discordant notes and gradually became eerie and strange.
The dancing corpses all stopped and turned to look at their lord together with Priest Augustus. This scene actually made Shade wonder who was the villain here.
The fortune teller wearing a monocle smiled and took out a palm-sized book from his pocket. The book had a brown hard cover. At a glance, Shade saw the Ouroboros mark on the front of the book, representing "Ancient God - Mr. Huan", and the bone sickle mark on the back, representing "Ancient God - Ancient Death".
"Angel-level relic, 'Soul Storybook'."
Shade said softly, and the book, which was about the same size as the card, floated in front of Laplace Howard.
It was not simply suspended, but several transparent hands held it in front of the fortune teller and opened the corresponding page for him.
After some barely perceptible flashes of light, all the bodies in the banquet hall fell down. The green lights returned to normal, and only three people were still standing in the magnificent hall.
Shade looked at Priest Augustus and asked for his opinion. The old priest frowned slightly, and after thinking about it, he compromised:
"I will return half of it first. When you hold your family banquet on the island, I will go to the island in person and claim the other part."
"That makes sense. I am honored to have you come to my territory to watch the final ceremony."
The priest waved his hand, and the one-third of the skull that should have been impossible to split by any external force was split in half again. The gray fog came, covering the scene in front of him, and when the gray fog disappeared, the surroundings returned to the scene outside the country village, under the oak tree at the crossroads.
The moon in the night sky was still so charming. When blown by the warm night breeze, Xia De truly felt like he was out of the illusion.
The three hung corpse brothers have been burned into charcoal and will soon be revived on another island.
Father Augustus held the sixth of the skull in his hand and looked up at the tree, wondering what he was thinking. As for the doctor, he looked around suspiciously:
“Is this the real world now?”
"Yes doctor, you can ask me a question that only we know."
"Hmm... What was the first thing we said to each other when we first met last spring?"
Ask for the time.
"Ask about the time. And it's not spring, it's summer."
The doctor then relaxed:
"What did you see just now? I suddenly came to a cemetery and was besieged by a large group of zombies. Although the priest said that those were all hallucinations, the pain was very real. Fortunately, the hallucinations are over, otherwise I would have really fought back... ...Have you got the priest's promotion materials?"
"Half of it."
The old priest showed a tired look on his face. He carefully put the one-sixth of the skull into his robe.
"I am old after all. I thought I could succeed... It seems that when the church finally lands on the island, I will have to go and get the remaining part myself."
Dr. Schneider nodded, without asking what happened just now:
"That's normal. If I could get such a precious thing without taking risks, I would think it was a trap. You should still remember the efforts I made for that material last summer. Don't worry, Priest. I will go with you. Since we know where the material is, we will be able to get it eventually."
The priest nodded, and Shade told the two to leave:
"Tonight's operation is half successful. Priest, doctor, when you return, please prepare for the final landing on the island. It should be soon, no more than a week."
The priest and the doctor had no doubts about this. Although they did not actively bring it up, they both understood what the final battle in the Green Lake area meant. The doctor wanted to help, to find some sense of participation for himself, and to test his newfound strength, while the priest wanted to do it for the remaining bones.
Everyone has their own things to do, and everyone is making final preparations.
It was very late when the three of them returned to Green Lake Hotel that night. They did not have a midnight snack, but went straight to rest. However, Shad did not return to his room, but knocked on Dorothy's door and took back Little Mia who had been waiting for him to come home.
It was late at night, and because Dorothy was still in a special period, she did not let Shad stay overnight, so Shad returned home with the cat.
A good night's sleep at home is always very pleasant. After waking up early on Saturday morning and looking at the familiar ceiling, Xia De felt completely refreshed.
I went downstairs to get some goat milk and newspapers, and then took the cat to Green Lake Hotel. Reverend Augustus and Dr. Schneider still got up very early, and had breakfast with Shade while discussing the news. This morning was really nice.
As for Miss Writer, she usually had to get up after 8:30, so Xia De wanted to accompany her to have breakfast before going out. Today was the day for the Prophet Association to hold the large-scale divination ceremony that had been prepared for a long time. The current president of the Prophet Association would also appear, but this had nothing to do with Xia De. He only had to wait for the divination results from Yin Luna.
He had intended to try to check the contents of the witch's task list today, to analyze what the witch of time had seen from the future, and then to attend the high-profile banquet in the evening. But before Dorothy came downstairs for breakfast, he saw Megan hurrying in.
As soon as the brown-haired witch entered the room and saw Shad sitting against the wall, at the table where they first met, she immediately walked over and hugged him.
Xia De didn't understand what was going on. After comforting her softly, he took the cat, who was still eating, and went to the basement with Megan.
Today, the hotel basement has been renovated, and the ritual core array flashing with dazzling blue light ensures that every corner of the building is protected by the power of the witches. Those red, golden, black and brown hairs that are almost invisible to the naked eye are the "spiritual wires" or "etheric wires" woven by the witches with their own hair.
This is the most suitable material for witches' secret arts. Although witches can control the growth of their own hair, contributing so much hair like this time is still an extremely luxurious act.
Because this place is very important, all the witches have taken a small number of people to take turns to guard the basement. Because it is a shift system, the girls are not sleepy even if they are on guard. Seeing Xia De and the witch come in, they consciously put down the novels, Rhodes cards and checkers in their hands, pretending to be busy and started their daily maintenance work.
"What's wrong? Am I not here?"
Xia De asked the girl in front of him softly. Megan's face, which looked much younger than Miss Carina, was a mixture of worry and fear. It was hard to imagine that a witch of her strength would have such an expression:
"I had a dream last night. In the dream, I unknowingly entered the family mansion on the island again. I woke up before pushing the door and wanted to turn around and leave, but Sloss Edwards walked out of the mansion..."
He was the second son of the second generation and Megan's great-grandfather. He was transformed into a strange evil creature made up of tentacles because of his fear of death.
"He gave me an invitation to attend a family banquet where six generations of the family could reunite."
She held onto Xia De's arms tightly with both hands, pursed her lips and stared into Xia De's eyes:
"When I woke up this morning, two invitation letters were already in my hands."
She took out one of the invitations and handed it to Shade. It was a folded, gold-stamped invitation. The cover had a family crest that looked like the black spiral symbol of the "Returner". Below it was written in cursive letters "The Forever Noble Edwards Family". The background was the scenery of Green Lake Town and a nearly transparent root family tree consisting of six generations of the Edwards family, a total of 21 people.