Chapter 1300: The Phantom Opera House

After leaving the Wilde Opera House, Xia De braved the snow, suitcase in hand, and arrived at the local Prophecy Society. Although the heavy snow was drifting and the weather was freezing, it still could not dampen people's passion for Rod Cards.

The square at the entrance of the Prophecy Society was filled with countless carriages, and the stairs on both sides of the fountain statue at the entrance were bustling with people. Xia De had originally been curious about what day it was, but after seeing Luvia, he learned that the entire Old Continent was simultaneously releasing a brand-new Rod Card deck today: the "Phantom Opera House Series."

The so-called "Phantom Opera House" was not a real opera house, but a fictional one, a term used to refer to opera houses in general. This deck was not a reprint, but a completely new series. Among all the cards issued, there were over a thousand cards with special artwork, as well as a total of 52 special rule cards. In other words, except for the Kings and Queens, every other suit and number corresponded to a special rule card.

A superstition circulated among Rod Card players that purchasing cards on the first day of a deck's release increased the chances of encountering special rule cards. Therefore, despite the snowy weather, so many people had come to the Prophecy Society to participate in the event. The local society was hosting a regional tournament, and the top three winners would receive ten, five, and three boxes of the new cards for free, respectively.

"You're actually not tempted by this."

The Prophecy Society in Randall Valley City had a larger footprint and more rooms, so Luvia simply found an empty room to talk with Xia De. She did not work as a diviner here, so Xia De could not ask her for a divination.

"When have you ever seen me take the initiative to buy released cards?"

Xia De said with a smile:

"My cards are all won."

"It's hard to imagine that when I first met you, you were so insistent on not gambling... You don't need to explain; I know you still don't gamble, you're just interested in Rod Cards themselves."

Luvia knew Xia De very well:

"Coming to find me so early, you must have had some very important gains, right? Yesterday, when you and that lady were at the Temple of the Dark Night, besides obtaining the Sands of Time soaked in the dark night, did you discover any new clues?"

"There are indeed new clues, but very few. The point is, that seventeen-year-old girl from Tobesk obtained new information from the place where she works."

Xia De handed over his notebook, trying his best to avoid stating key information directly in a place like the Prophecy Society.

Luvia frowned as she took a look:

"Heart of Stone... Except for the third point, which is a bit obscure and difficult to understand, the rest completely matches your guesses."

"Yes, but it only corroborates my guesses. I need to contact the Guardian again as soon as possible to confirm my thoughts. But if this goes smoothly, we will welcome a Chosen One even stronger than Sister Dvelin."

Luvia nodded:

"Then what are you going to do today? Visit Count Granger to get that antique key?"

"The Count won't be back from outside the city until tomorrow. Today, I'm going to visit the haunted Watson Manor."

"Hela Ossenfort's family... Be careful."

Luvia said softly. Seeing Xia De stand up and pick up his suitcase to leave, she called him back:

"Since you're at the Prophecy Society, I'll give you a small gift. Wait a moment, I'll go buy a newly released deck of cards; you can keep it as a brand-new backup deck. And since I'm an insider, the price is very cheap."

Seeing her say this, Xia De did not object. Luvia returned quickly after leaving the room and handed a very ordinary flat wooden box to Xia De.

Decks sold by the Prophecy Society that might contain special cards were all packaged this way, while cards that definitely did not contain special cards could be bought anywhere and were packaged in paper boxes. To prevent people from using strong light to determine if there were special cards inside when buying at the Prophecy Society, the outer packaging of Rod Cards was always made of wood.

Of course, compared to the lacquered wooden card storage box Xia De received when he exchanged the "Sage's Glowstone" for "Founding Knowledge" with the society, this wooden box packaging seemed much cruder.

This was the first time Xia De had unpacked a brand-new Rod Card deck. Although he had claimed not to be interested just now,

after getting it in his hands, a smile still appeared on his face. Luvia was naturally very happy to see him like this.

Limited by packaging costs, there was no mechanism for opening the wooden box; the box itself consisted of two parts, top and bottom, connected together after being sealed with wax at the joint. Xia De used a small knife to scrape away the layer of wax, opened it, and took out the brand-new fifty-four Rod Cards.

The smell of ink rushed towards him; the scent of brand-new cards was very intoxicating.

He happily weighed the deck, then pressed it onto the table and pulled it sideways, letting the cards arrange themselves in an arc on the table. In this way, one could see at a glance if there were any special patterns among the fifty-four cards:

"Oh, look, Luvia, your luck is really good!"

Because it was a brand-new deck, the cards were arranged by suit and number. Xia De saw at a glance the exquisite pattern on the second-to-last card of the Moon suit, which was the Moon 12 card. After picking out the card, he saw a line of small print printed directly below the card face, which undoubtedly meant that this was really a special rule card:

"Luvia, you really are my lucky lady!"

The purple-eyed girl was also slightly surprised, not expecting her luck to be so good today.

The card's artwork was divided into two parts, top-left and bottom-right. In the top-left part of the card, on a brightly lit stage, a faceless dancer was dancing; the bottom-right part of the card was a pitch-black, neatly arranged audience, with a blurred figure outlined by a brush sitting alone in the center of the second row of the audience, which was also the center of the entire card face.

"【Phantom Opera House · Silent Audience】, Suit: Moon 12. If this card is drawn and the previous card is also a Moon suit, all players except the user are forced to stop playing in this round."

He read out the rules of this card with a smile:

"This rule is really good, especially in multiplayer games, where it can have a greater effect. I'm really looking forward to... I mean, I have one more special card now, it's 23 cards now."

"Still 31 cards away from completing the entire special card set."

Luvia summarized. Xia De stood up and kissed Luvia gently on the forehead:

"Thank you so much, Luvia."

"I really wish you would use another reason to kiss me... But that's fine, as long as you're happy."

Luvia did not have much of an opinion about Xia De liking to play Rod Cards; after all, besides Rod Cards and Mia, Xia De's private life was truly monotonously outrageous. She and Dorothy actually had the same worry: Xia De's life of low material desire seemed to be moving further and further away from them. So, before Xia De really wanted to become a "Saint," they had to seize the time to corrupt him.

"Speaking of which, I went to see those two ladies this morning; why did they say you were injured?"

Seeing Xia De preparing to leave, Luvia asked again. Xia De blinked and immediately shook his head:

"It's already fine. There were indeed some accidents, but they were just small accidents. Even the 【False Undying】 state didn't appear, so it's nothing."

The purple-eyed girl looked at him:

"I always feel like something is wrong when you say that. However, since you don't want to say, I won't ask you; just be careful and stay safe. Also, who hurt you? Those two ladies also spoke very vaguely."

"It was... someone I hurt. Although I was hurt, this was also deserved."

Luvia's look at him became even more strange:

"Your physical injuries are healed, but has your mind been affected? Alright, alright, I know you're fine; you don't need to prove it to me."

She kissed Xia De's cheek lightly:

"Be careful, don't underestimate any opponent or enemy. The path we walk is destined not to be ordinary, but don't be arrogant enough to think that we are the ones chosen by fate... Arrogance is the original sin."

But Xia De always felt that this sentence was more appropriate to describe the long-haired Luvia than to describe him. The long-haired Luvia's way of doing things was very different from the short-haired Luvia.

After saying goodbye to Luvia, Xia De braved the wind and snow and returned to the street again, heading towards today's true target, which was

the family manor of the Watson family, who had suffered a total extermination.

Watson Manor was also not in the city. Although the Watson family was a very successful merchant family back then, they were still far behind the local old-money aristocrats. The manor was located in the northern suburbs of the city, but fortunately, it was not very far from the city.

Because he did not know if strange things would happen near the manor, Xia De did not ride a horse there, but took a carriage to the outskirts of the city first, and then walked to his destination.

Watson Manor had been abandoned for three years. Because of the rumors of it being haunted, even the surrounding woods were avoided by everyone. Three years of time was enough for wild grass to submerge the original path, and enough to erase the traces of human activity nearby.

Xia De, who was searching for the manor's location with the guidance of a map, could barely distinguish the traces of a fork in the road that had existed before under the snow at the end of the country road. Following the traces of the fork deep into the cedar forest, in the gaps between the trees, he could barely see the manor standing not far away.

The closer he got to the manor, the gloomier the sky became. Although it was winter and there were no leaves on the branches, the clawing branches connected to each other, making the woods look somewhat eerie and unsettling.

The snow fell heavier and heavier. Xia De held his hat against the wind and moved forward, squinting his eyes as he watched the manor, which stood at a position higher than the woods, getting closer and closer. Even in the snowy weather, three crows were still circling above the manor, gloomy black clouds pressed down, and the tangled dry branches were twisted and deformed. Xia De felt like the unlucky protagonist in a horror story who had crossed the wind and snow to enter a haunted house for shelter.

Seeing that the manor was right in front of him, three figures were sitting in the cedar forest ahead. Only after getting closer did he see that they were not three living people, but three skeleton frames wearing rags.