Shadow Apostle

"I'm back……"

"stop me……"

"Kill me, kill me, kill me..."

"I heard it, no, kill me..."

"We must destroy it and not let it stay..."

"They are coming..."

"They are everywhere..."

Three rows of solid wood bookshelves cover three walls. The filled shelves make people feel like they are in a room made of books.

The aroma of rosin and ink spread in the study, diluting the omnipresent weirdness in the blood-stained corridor.

In the corner of the study, several candles as thick as wrists were burning. Next to the desk under the candlelight, Horst was staring at some writing papers in a daze.

As Jessica said, these things have no logical connection and are completely scattered sentences, as if a person is talking to himself meaninglessly.

However, Horst had a splitting headache.

Every time he turned a page, his spirit was under tremendous pressure. His overly sharp spiritual sense made him see a variety of visions every time he glanced at the notes.

In the darkness outside the candlelight, there seemed to be countless invisible shadows surging, with malicious eyes peeping greedily. There seemed to be countless incomprehensible whispers ringing in the ears, whispering, groaning, seemingly absent, like Weeping like complaining.

This was a feeling of reality that he had never experienced before. Horst even felt that something was really staring at him from every corner of the room. He suddenly turned his head and looked in the direction of his sight. In a trance, he seemed to see a The black shadow floated away.

"What's wrong, Mr. Horst?"

Horst's movement alerted Jessica, who was walking from the corner of the study holding several rolls of drawings.

"Nothing, where did these notes come from?"

"It's in the drawer of the table where you are sitting. When I came to check and take pictures yesterday, I saw the drawer was half open and found it inside."

"These are your father's notes? And your father passed away a year ago?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure it's his. He did die a year ago. He died a normal death. The Church's Tribulation Monastery sent someone to check before he was buried. Why, do you think he wasn't left behind before?"

"Well, I'm back, I'm worried about this."

"Mr. Horst," Jessica suddenly said with a solemn expression, "Don't over-interpret these mysterious documents, because we can't tell which sentence is real information and which sentence is a malicious trap. Maybe only one sentence above is an illusion. A murmur passed down from generation to generation, but this sentence is enough to plunge us into a world of madness forever.”

Jessica's words made Horst feel that the notes in his hand became extremely cold, as if there was endless malice coming from his fingertips.

"This is the advice given to me by a senior level 2 awakened person in our church who studies mysticism. From then on, I will intentionally avoid mysterious documents and documents. You are such an excellent mysterious hunter, so you can avoid mysterious documents and It’s unrealistic, but please don’t let your guard down, the mystery from the fantasy world will always be the most terrifying enemy of mankind.”

"I understand, thank you for reminding me." Horst immediately put away the records. Mysterious items such as documents have always been the most dangerous, and they have not even appeared in the reward order. It seems that it is indeed not simple, "Bernt Miss, your senior is now..."

"Two years ago, he jumped from the bell tower of the Tower of Justice. He jumped while holding a scroll he was interpreting. He died on the spot."

The two of them fell silent in unison, and the study fell into dead silence.

"Forget it, let's take a look at the drawings first."

After a moment of silence, Horst stuffed the records into the lining of his windbreaker and took the drawings handed over by Jessica. The thick paper was already very old, and there were several rolls left on thin sulfuric acid paper next to it. Backup.

"This is enough."

Spreading out the backup copy of the drawing on the sulfuric acid paper, Horst could barely understand the first layer of the plan. He dipped the tip of his pen in ink and carefully drew a small circle on the drawing.

"Foyer corridor?"

Horst nodded and continued drawing.

"Waiting in the living room."

"Recreation Room."

"East corridor."

…

Horst relied on his memory to mark the locations of the blood stains on the drawing one by one. The range of these blood stains may be large or small, and the spacing may be sparse or dense. After looking at the entire drawing, Jessica and Horst did not find any. law.

It can only be said that there were scattered blood stains everywhere in the entire house. Only some of the dozen or so photos Jessica took were selected, otherwise the number might be several times larger.

Until the entire floor plan was marked one by one, Miss Berndt found nothing except that Horst's memory was very good. Those messy circle marks were combined like an ugly graffiti, which looked incomparable when placed on the drawing. Satire.

Was he mistaken?

Jessica looked at Horst a little nervously, but Horst's expression was unmoved and he had no intention of explaining. He just smiled faintly and picked up the floor plan of the second floor and continued to mark it.

Hmm, I can see it myself.

Miss Berndt thought angrily, but she pulled the candle closer and brightened the wick so that Horst could see it more clearly.

As the other two sheets of sulfuric acid paper were covered with small circles one after another, Jessica gradually understood Horst's idea. When he finished the last stroke, she immediately helped him dry the ink, and then put the three huge sulfuric acid sheets The papers are folded together and flattened tightly.

The translucent sulfuric acid paper immediately showed the traces drawn by the pen, and many pen circles on the three pieces of paper were stacked on everything.

However, the two exchanged glances, and both could see the anticipation in each other's eyes.

Seems right.

boom.

The two shoulders bumped together lightly, but no one cared to say anything. Their heads were next to each other, shoulders were touching shoulders, just like this under the candlelight, whispering softly, while carefully fine-tuning the position of the sulfuric acid paper.

"Just relax over there."

"Come on, a little further to the left."

"Hiss~~ found him."

A few minutes later, Miss Berndt rubbed her arms and stared at the three layers of sulfuric acid paper with complicated eyes, while Horst had already stapled the three pieces of paper together with pins.

"You really amaze me." Miss Burnt exclaimed, "This method can be cracked just by looking at it."

I play too many puzzle games, but I am an otaku time traveler.

Horst did not answer, but took off his hat, bowed slightly, smiled mysteriously, and then turned his attention to the drawing.

Those unrelated and messy patterns are stacked together. Although some dots still cover each other due to deviations in their exact positions, the overall structure has taken shape.

It can barely be seen that there is a layer of circles on the outside of the figure, and two mutually inverted triangles filled with circles inside. The triangles are stacked together to form the shape of a six-pointed star.

Horst didn't know much about the specific content, it was beyond his experience, but at first glance it was not a good thing.

Horst took a few steps back and took a closer look. Jessica stood beside him, staring at the pattern on the paper in silence.

"Do you understand? Miss Burnt."

"I don't know much about it. I'm not specialized in mysticism and magic circles, but I can record it and go to the church tomorrow to ask the experts to help me look at it. But this alone is definitely not enough."

"Um?"

"What determines the specific efficacy of the magic array is its core." Jessica knocked on the area in the middle of the six-pointed star on the drawing, "That's what's here. The outer edge is just the amplifier or receiver that allows its power to spread, and the inside is core."

However, on the drawing, only this area was blank, without a circle.

Horst pondered for a moment and asked, "Does this villa have a mezzanine or a basement?"

"No, there is no such complicated structure designed here, at least I don't know about it." Jessica frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly her eyes lit up and she said loudly, "No, there really is one, and it should be at that location."

"Um?"

"The steam engine room is full of machines. It cannot be used as a basement. Normally we would not go in at all. I didn't think of it for a moment. Yes, it is the steam engine room. The last piece of the magic circle puzzle must be there. As long as you copy it, tomorrow If I ask someone to analyze it, I can find out what the mastermind behind the scenes wants to do. I always have a hunch that the purpose of making the villa like this is not just to attack the Burnt family."

As she said this, Miss Jessica Bernd glanced at Horst, then walked up to him, took off her hat with the veil hanging down, lifted up her skirt and performed the courtesy of a lady very solemnly.

"Mr. Horst, you have proven your ability with the most professional performance. The Berndt family will never forget the friends who lend a helping hand in times of crisis. Please feel free to ask for anything you want to find from the library. Indeed, we are ready to repay your kindness by opening our doors to you when this is all over and providing all the help you don't know you need yet to help you realize your long-cherished wish. I wish you and Bourne The friendship between the Te family will last until the end of all ages.”

"Although I really don't want to dampen your mood, Miss Berndt, I must remind you one thing. That will happen after the matter is completely over, not now." Horst said solemnly, " I feel that this is not the end of the problem, on the contrary, the real trouble has just begun.”

"Um?"

"The steam engine room, Miss Berndt." Horst sighed, "Don't forget that we encountered signs when we first came in."

Jessica was stunned for a moment, and immediately recalled that she couldn't turn on the gas light when she first entered the door. It was Horst who reminded her at that time, and she realized what this meant.

If it is indeed a sign in the mysterious incident, it means that something related to the gas pipeline occupies a place in the mysterious incident.

And the place most closely related to gas pipelines... is the steam engine room.

Jessica only felt a dull tingling on the back of her neck, and a chill quietly rose in her heart.

"You have to face it, and there's no point in hiding. No matter it's good luck or bad luck, this is a proverb from my hometown."

Horst took out Serena, put on his hat and walked out of the study first.

I don't know if it was a coincidence, but the moment I stepped out of the study, the bell of the Tower of Justice could be heard faintly from the window.

"Dang, Dang, Dang..."

It's three o'clock in the morning.