Chapter 202: Glowing Paper Pages

To be precise, the time the knocking sound rang out was two-twenty-seven on Saturday morning. And the sleeping Xia De was not woken up by the sound downstairs, but by the cat sleeping beside the pillow.

This timid cat was exceptionally alert when sleeping. After the knocking sound downstairs woke it up, it lowered its head and kept scratching the pillow with its claws to make noise. And after Xia De woke up, Mia immediately drilled into the thin blanket he was covering, only revealing its small head and looking out alertly.

"It's okay, don't be afraid... Oh, who is looking for me so late?"

Xia De took the revolver from the bedside table, then yawned and walked downstairs in slippers. The timid cat followed at his feet, but when Xia De arrived at the foyer, the orange cat stood at the corner of the stairs, peeking downstairs, with a worried expression.

"Who is it?"

The gas lamp in the foyer was yellowish. Xia De stood behind the door and shouted to the outside. He didn't lose his vigilance because of sleep. While holding the gun in his right hand, the silver moonlight in his left hand also lit up.

"Xia De, it's me."

Judging from the timbre, it was Miss Annet. Only then did he open the door a crack, his body sticking behind the door, looking out from the side, and seeing that it was indeed the short-haired brown-haired fortune-teller lady, only then did he yawn while pulling open the anti-theft chain:

"Good evening, Miss Annet."

Even a Ringed Shushi had to sleep. Xia De now wanted to return to bed very much.

"Good evening, Xia De."

Miss Annet's spirit was obviously very full. Her face had an excited expression. After being welcomed into the door by Xia De, she smiled and pointed to the paper bag she was holding.

"Look, I got it."

"Got what?"

"A Relic with Old God power, just went to the train station to pick up the goods with Old John."

Xia De was no longer sleepy.

The gas lamp in the living room was adjusted to the brightest. Miss Annet and Xia De sat on opposite sofas. Miss Annet put her coat on the back of the sofa, wearing a white lotus-leaf sleeve white shirt, and excitedly took out the cubic metal box from the paper bag.

"Xia De, I remember you said that you can understand any text, so I came to find you so late. Quickly help me see, what is written on the box?"

The metal box was not a Relic; the thing inside was. The box itself was a special vessel for containing Relics and was sold to Miss Annet along with the Relic; this was also an antique.

Xia De examined it carefully under the gas lamp. The six sides of the box were different pictures, and in the corner of each picture were dense ancient texts like tadpoles.

After reading it in detail, he separated the order of the six sides before starting to explain:

"This probably talks about the process of the ancients sealing this item. The first two pictures say that the god holding the scales fell from the sky, so all the statues of this god in the material world cracked."

"This should be the process of the Old God - the Fallen Judge falling."

Miss Annet analyzed, using expectant eyes to let Xia De continue to explain.

"The next two pictures talk about the loss of control of this item. This box should not be the original box, but a replica made by later discoverers, so some languages were recorded incorrectly when recorded. According to my understanding, the general meaning is that the thing in the box was originally a weapon bestowed by the god to mortals, but with the departure of the god, the weapon's power lost control, causing great destruction... Is there a long-handled bell inside?"

"Yes, that's right, it's a bell."

Miss Annet nodded with a smile. Since Xia De had known her, it was the first time he had seen her so excited:

"Being able to buy this Relic can be considered my good luck. This is a Keeper-level Relic 【Judge's Holy Bell】, and the body is a bell. The effect is that after ringing the bell, the power of the next Miracle or Curse used by the Ringed Shushi will be greatly enhanced."

"What about the negative characteristics?"

Xia De asked while observing the texts against the light. The cat was lying beside him dozing... or maybe it was really asleep.

"Long-term contact with the bell will cause a shift in the user's personality. Calm people will gradually become irritable, easily angry people will become calm, greedy people will become indifferent to fame and wealth, and kind people will lean towards evil. In general, it is to reverse the prominent traits in the personality and reverse them again after three lunar cycles. Each reversal will make extreme emotions even more extreme. But this is ineffective for Iluna Beiyasi; her balance talent restrains this negative characteristic."

Xia De also deciphered the meaning of the last two pictures at this time. The last two pictures involved the process of the 【Judge's Holy Bell】 being hidden by the ancients:

"The departure of the god caused the church to collapse, and the original divine object also became a disaster. People paid the price of their lives, let the ancient... this word has no corresponding meaning in modern times, it is probably the meaning of a wise man. Let the ancient wise man build this box, contain the Holy Bell, and warn later generations that the truth of the Old God's fall... do not easily explore."

The text behind this was very shallow, and it was almost impossible to read against the light. He could only take a pencil and paper, press the paper on the surface, and after quickly sweeping with the pencil, he obtained clearer traces:

"The truth of the Old God's fall is not that they encountered enemies; they left voluntarily... Hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

Miss Annet asked suspiciously. She saw the surprise on Xia De's face. Xia De also read the last sentence at this time:

"The Old Gods left voluntarily... for the sake of this world."

He looked at Miss Annet:

"What does this mean?"

"The era of the Old God's fall is too far away from now. No one can tell the story of the thirteen original gods in detail. But a certain view of *The Whisper Poem* believes that the thirteen witch emperors left *The Whisper Poem* because they received the inspiration of the remaining power of the thirteen Old Gods. As for the reason for the Old Gods' departure, it is also the first time I have heard that they left voluntarily."

Miss Annet answered cautiously. Xia De understood that the other party didn't know much either, so he didn't think about it anymore, but opened the box lid and took out the bell placed in the soft straw.

This was not a small bell of the hanging ornament type, but a golden hand bell the size of one and a half palms. On the surface of the long-handled hand bell, there were wonderful spiral-shaped carvings, but they were just decorations rather than text, so they could not be deciphered.

When picking up the bell, it didn't make any sound. This bell could only make a sound when the long handle was held tightly and shaken.

"Can I try it?"

He asked the owner of the bell, and after getting permission, his right hand held it tightly and shook it gently:

Ding-dang~

That sound, in this quiet night, seemed to spread to a more distant place at once. The echoing sound made the cat lying beside Xia De look around.

The feeling of fullness of power made Xia De even feel the spirit turning into substance and galloping in his body, so he actively activated the Miracle 【Maze - The Little Match Girl】, which was a Miracle he couldn't fully use.

Snowflakes drifted down from the sky. While Miss Annet reached out to touch the dancing snowflakes in surprise, she saw that a phantom of a little girl carrying a basket actually appeared beside Xia De. But that was only for less than a second before it disappeared before her eyes.

Snowflakes drifted down from the ceiling. Xia De looked at the bell in surprise:

"So powerful, it enhances not only the effect of the Miracle, but can even cross the Ringed Shushi level to use the Miracle."

But it was still not enough for Xia De to fully use the Maze.

Miss Annet's palms closed, feeling the cold feeling while wanting to ask what Miracle this was, but she suddenly froze for a moment, then tilted her head and looked at Xia De's study room with the door open:

"Xia De, there is something glowing in your study."

Xia De turned his head and saw that it was the position of the desk drawer. A faint white light flickered like the frequency of breathing, soft and quiet.

"Glowing? What thing?"

He thought in surprise, carefully walked into the study, and after opening the drawer, saw that what was glowing was the paper page of 【Poet Cohen's Manuscript】 that could contact the college.

A line of text appeared on the paper page:

【Xia De, please dress slightly more formally when going to Bill Schneider's study group tomorrow afternoon. Your request to view the *Canon of Sublimation* has been approved, and the librarian, Miss Danister, wants to see you. — Hessen Garcia】

When Xia De finished reading the last letter, all the text on the paper page disappeared, and the paper page no longer glowed.

He froze for a moment, locked the drawer again, and then turned back to the living room. Miss Annet was putting the Holy Bell back into the box. She had a curious look, but out of politeness, she didn't ask about Xia De's privacy.

Instead, it was Xia De who, after picking up Mia again, asked very seriously:

"Miss Annet, did the college give you the task of monitoring others in the group."

"Monitoring? Others?"

Miss Annet looked at him and asked back suspiciously:

"Why monitor others?"

"This... let me tell you a story I haven't told before. Actually, before today, I always thought that it was possible that they said that to all five of us."

When he first accepted the task of monitoring the other four, Xia De hadn't fully trusted the four people in the group, so he didn't say this. But the two weeks of getting along made him gradually trust Miss Annet, Miss Louisa, Priest Augustus, and Doctor Schneider, and he intended to reveal this matter at an appropriate time.

And now, it was a good opportunity to reveal it to Miss Annet.

He didn't hide anything about the content of that night's conversation and told the problems of the other four people, including Miss Annet, one by one.

Miss Annet had noticed Miss Louisa's "abnormality," was completely unaware of Doctor Schneider's problems, and as for Priest Augustus's problems, she made an explanation after considering it for a while:

"The college's view is correct. Priest Augustus joining Saint Byrons is indeed related to that uncontrollable accident of an Unknown-level (Level 0) Relic, and he indeed wants to investigate the truth of that accident. But what kind of power the priest possesses, even I don't know... I only know that the priest's self-healing ability is very strong."

"How strong?"

Xia De asked curiously.

"Conservatively estimated, as long as he doesn't die, any injury can fully recover within ten minutes."

Xia De was frightened by this "conservative" estimate. He was not the one who didn't understand anything three weeks ago; he knew very well that this level of self-healing ability had already exceeded the normal range. ===== CHAPTER 203 =====