Shadow Apostle

There was dust everywhere on the floor and furniture in the farmhouse.

It’s not the smog and ashes that are everywhere around Mingyue City.

Rather, they are fine particles like dust and sand.

Just like the dust falling from Mr. Kent's body.

Kent had already put his clothes back on, and despite his exhaustion, he took Horst and Jessica around the farmhouse.

There are five people in the family, one husband, one wife, and one son and two daughters.

All four of them were bedridden, each of them gray-faced and extremely weak.

He was only in a semi-conscious state and seemed to be conscious, but even if he called, he didn't have the strength to open his eyes, so he could only hum twice as an answer.

There were half-dried porridge bowls placed by the beds of several people. The food in them was still fresh, but there was still a lot left.

After carefully checking everyone's body, Jessica motioned to Horst and handed over the medical kit.

Taking out a long needle as thick as a thumb, each person injected thick white liquid into the blood vessel.

Although Horst felt that the image of the drug was full of subtle feelings, it was undeniable that after five injections, the complexion of the five people had improved significantly.

I can't say that my face is radiant, but at least I have color all over my body.

He even had the strength to sit up.

The peasant woman even wanted to get out of bed and pour water for the two distinguished-looking ladies and gentlemen, but Jessica pushed her back on the spot.

By the time Kent took the two of them back to the restaurant at the door after comforting all the patients, it was almost nine o'clock in the evening.

Night has fallen.

Thick clouds covered the silver and crimson moons.

In the lonely farmhouse, a bean-like light lit up.

There was a kerosene lamp, and there had been no gas bill in the farmhouse for months.

"Master Priest, Mr. Zhuomu." Kent's voice became louder after recovering some strength from his weakness, "I'm so sorry, it's so late, and I haven't even prepared anything for you to eat. Sir, please wait a moment, I'll go get some bread, at least it can fill my stomach, otherwise..."

"Don't. We won't eat anything and drink nothing."

Eating and drinking at the scene of a suspected mystery-related event, for fear that the connection between oneself and the mystery is not close enough.

Horst interrupted Kent's attentiveness without thinking, sat down with Jessica, and put the medical kit aside.

"Miss Jessica, what exactly did you inject?"

"Huh? Oh." Miss Berndt was a little lost in thought, and then said after a moment, "It's just an ordinary nutrient solution."

"Um?"

"Their symptoms were actually very similar. It seemed like all the nutrients in the body had been sucked away. So I added a dose of nutrient solution. I didn't expect the effect to be so good."

"Well, and your family..."

"No, it's completely different. The effect of that magic circle is to directly extract life force, and it can suck people into mummies in a short time, but this one is different."

Horst glanced at the confused Kent, knowing that he didn't understand what he heard, so he stopped evading: "Is this much lighter?"

"No, the direction is completely different. There is no comparison at all. It is difficult to explain. You can understand the situation here as severe malnutrition."

"ha?"

"It's just that they're extremely deficient in nutrients and that's why they're so weak."

"No, I understand what malnutrition is, but, hungry?"

Horst turned his eyes to Kent, who was keeping him company.

"No, the food left at home is barely enough for one meal a day."

"That won't be the case." Horst shook his head. He was experienced in starvation.

"You didn't hear me clearly, Mr. Horst. It's that something is constantly sucking away all the nutrients they take in, rather than not taking them in."

Jessica looked through the records and explained:

"They show no signs of hunger, and their stomachs are still full, indicating that they eat enough to maintain life. But together with all the nutrients they have consumed and themselves, the concept of 'nutrition' has been extracted from their bodies."

"That said, I have a feeling that their situation is actually very similar to the plants outside. Those plants also seemed to have been drained of water and nutrients, but in fact they only withered for a few days. And I even suspected that, Could it be that the so-called chicken plague is a similar situation?"

"Um?"

"According to the custom of the mysterious world, first establish a temporal correlation." Horst used his cane to draw circles on the loose soil on the ground. "Now there are events that have reason to be related. First, find the mutilated corpse."

Horst tried hard to recall the map he had found on the body of the human-faced rat priest. There were indeed many circles in the Qingmai District. He couldn't remember whether there were any nearby, but such a distinctive corpse must be unmistakable.

So he drew the first circle on the floor.

"After that, chicken plague began to appear one after another and spread rapidly, that's right, Mr. Kent."

Seeing Kent's blank nod, Horst drew a second circle.

"The plague then expanded to large livestock and then further to plants."

The third and fourth circles were also drawn, but there were question marks at the connections.

"Then Mrs. Kent saw the light in the well, and then all the Kents fell ill."

The fifth and sixth circles were also drawn, but the cane was pointed on the fifth circle.

"Mr. Kent, which came first, the withering of the plants or the vision your wife saw in the well?"

“The crops die first.”

"That's the sequence. The two question marks represent possible unknown events."

Horst tapped his cane on the ground and stared at a bunch of circles, lost in thought.

"Much like the corpse brought something, Mr. Horst."

"plague?"

"No, it's not like the plague." Jessica said with certainty, "The plague will only spread over time and rarely increase its influence over time."

Horst pretended to understand.

"Alas." Jessica sighed and explained, "From a therapeutic point of view, it is almost impossible for the plague that affects plants to affect animals. However, some of the plagues that affect chickens can be transmitted to cattle, sheep and other animals. For humans, however, it is almost impossible that it was originally effective for chickens, then suddenly became effective for cattle and sheep, and then suddenly became effective for humans, the possibility is too low.”

Horst really understood this time, thanks to modern education.

"So it's less like a plague and more like something growing."

"Hiss, yes." Horst clicked on the circles one by one. "They are growing up. From being able to only affect chickens, to cattle and sheep, to plants, and then to people, their ability to influence is growing step by step."

"But there is still a loophole in this inference, Mr. Horst." Jessica shook her head and said, "The connection between chickens and cattle and sheep is just speculation without any evidence. It is best to find the sick livestock and verify whether they are It has similar characteristics.”

Their eyes turned to Farmer Kent at the same time.

Kent thought for a while and was a little unsure: "When the chickens I raised died, they were indeed very thin and useless to feed, but they didn't have as much dirt on them as we do."

"Animals have hair, so it won't be so obvious." Jessica shook her head, "But just being thin doesn't prove anything. It's best to have sick livestock."

"Let's do this, Mr. Kent." Horst thought for a while, "In the past few days, you can ask the farmers nearby. If anyone's cattle and sheep have begun to get sick, please notify me immediately. I am at 85 Villa Street, Princess District. No. 102. I don’t have to leave a message for the landlord, Mrs. Jennifer. I’ll also ask the owner of the restaurant near my home when I go back. She also has a ranch. The cattle and sheep should not be sick yet, at least not yesterday.”

"I'm also going to ask my family's farmhands if they have encountered them. No one has informed me recently, so they probably haven't encountered them." Jessica said, "Before that, I can make inferences according to your method for the time being, Mr. Horst. ,please continue."

"According to the inference just now, it seems that those corpses brought something that could grow, and it slowly grew here."

Horst tapped the first circle:

"But the city government should have inspected those corpses."

"Yes, I personally checked some of them, and there is no source of the plague." Jessica sighed, "The problem is that in the mysterious field, there are too many intangible and insubstantial things that only exist in concepts, and even Some of them have characteristics similar to living things. So we can't tell whether there was anything unknown that was hidden in the corpses and spread here."

"Then it absorbs nutrients here and slowly grows until..." Horst clicked on the fifth circle, "I was seen by Mrs. Kent, and then, is there a mysterious connection?"

"But just now we went to the wellhead to see it." Jessica said, "It's just an ordinary well, there's nothing there."

As she said that, Jessica glanced at the direction of the well outside the window. Outside...

"Mr. Horst, if I remember correctly, it is cloudy today, there is not even moonlight."

"Um?"

Horst was shocked and looked out the window.

There seemed to be a dim light hidden in the dark night.

"It wasn't there just now." Horst felt a chill on the back of his neck, "Is it time?"

"It's not like that." Jessica's voice was also a little stiff. "My feeling is that I suddenly realized that it was shining there, more like..."

"When we understand that, we see it."

The heartbeats of both of them seemed to speed up a few beats.

This is the most typical occult phenomenon.

To understand means to exist.