Silas raised the lamp above his head, using the light to examine the office.
Since the security personnel were already asleep, it didn't matter if the lamplight reflected on the window glass, as long as they weren't too obvious about it.
Perhaps because Mr. Pound was a manager, the office décor was rather upscale, and the space was larger than other offices. In the center-rear of the room sat a white oak desk with a matching chair. The wood's color was warm and lustrous, appearing glossy and translucent under the lamplight.
"Hmm?"
Leonard couldn't help but sound surprised. "They give their manager such nice furniture? This company is richer than I thought."
"Should we have asked for more than 10 pounds?"
Silas said with a smile as he looked around.
Against the wall stood a locked iron filing cabinet. Beyond the cabinet were a sofa and a coffee table.
The sofa's leather looked high-end, and the coffee table was made of black walnut, even more expensive than white oak, with a coffee pot and cups placed on top.
Besides these, the bookshelf and the coat rack behind the door also appeared to be of rather high quality.
Leonard leaned closer to the desk and sniffed slightly, furrowing his brow. "The paint smell is still strong. This was bought recently."
"So what?"
Silas felt Leonard was acting a bit strange.
Weren't they here to investigate an affair? Why was he looking at this desk?
Leonard looked up at him. "Business at the docks hasn't been good for the past three months.
The dock workers have work one day and none the next.
How is this shipping company making money, and why would they be willing to replace the manager's furniture with such high-end stuff?"
After this questioning, Silas was also stunned for a moment.
"But they did buy it. Who knows why?"
This behavior was at most somewhat suspicious. Maybe this company had some under-the-table dealings, but they had no way to verify that now.
Leonard thought for a moment. Buying a desk probably couldn't prove anything, so he smiled casually. "Forget it, let's get to work first."
He spread his right hand toward Silas, gesturing, "Be my guest."
Silas nodded and took out the candles, herbs, essential oils, and other items he'd prepared in advance from his pockets, then lit a candle on the floor.
"Go get that hat from the coat rack."
He said to Leonard, who quickly complied.
Silas took the hat and drew out his silver dagger to create a spiritual wall, sealing off the entire office space.
He sat down opposite the candle. At this moment, the candle symbolized himself.
Silas dripped a drop of "Dark Decay Essential Oil" into the flame. This represented the domain of death.
The essential oil sizzled as it was burned and vaporized, and the air immediately filled with an indescribable smell.
"Feels like we've entered a hospital morgue."
Leonard commented with a furrowed brow.
Silas ignored him and continued to sprinkle moonflower powder into the flame.
This flower only bloomed at night, and it was said that when you approached the flower at night, you could hear phantom whispers.
The unpleasant smell faded, replaced by another kind of serene and mysterious aura.
The air around the candle became peculiar, as if some invisible thing was stirring, creating ripples.
Leonard was affected by the atmosphere and stopped talking.
Silas took a deep breath and shouted loudly in Ancient Hermes, "I!"
The air near the candle trembled accordingly, as if responding to him.
Silas switched to Hermes and continued chanting:
"I summon in my name,"
"Spirits wandering in illusion, higher beings whose essence is reflected in this place, friendly ones willing to answer questions."
Whoosh!
The instant Silas finished reciting, the candle's flame took on a deep blue color, then swelled to the size of a human head.
From within the flame emerged a phantom face.
And then, nothing else.
Just a face!
The face floated in mid-air, looking at Silas, seemingly waiting for him to speak.
Silas had already witnessed many grand scenes and wasn't the least bit surprised by such a strange entity.
The ritual he was using this time was called a spirit summoning ritual.
Through his own spirituality, he summoned a spirit world creature to achieve his own purpose.
The "higher realm" in the incantation referred to the spirit world in mysticism, a peculiar space that didn't exist in reality.
The advantage of this ritual was that it bypassed the restrictions of deities and could gain enhanced abilities by borrowing the mystical nature of the spirit world.
The disadvantage was great uncertainty. Spirit world creatures were numerous and strange, and their danger level and reliability were unknown.
So Silas deliberately added constraints to the incantation.
"Located in this place" required that the summoned creature know about the situation here, and "friendly beings willing to answer questions" was to hope the other party would have a better attitude.
At this moment, the spirit world creature had been summoned. It was time to ask questions.
"Do you know the owner of this hat, Mr. Pound?"
Silas held up the hat and asked.
The floating face seemed to convey the thought of [confirmation] to Silas.
"Do you know who Mr. Pound's affair partner is... uh, can you understand what I'm asking?"
Silas asked somewhat awkwardly. Unexpectedly, the other party continued to express affirmation. It knew.
"Then can you draw her, or tell me her name?"
Silas asked further.
This time, the phantom face didn't answer. It floated up and down, as if very confused.
"Could it be that Mr. Pound has more than one affair partner?"
Leonard interjected in a low voice from the side.
Huh?
Silas was stunned at this.
Then how should he ask the question?
After thinking for a moment, Silas got up from the floor, took a company map from a promotional brochure on the bookshelf, and spread it out on the floor.
"Is the location of Mr. Pound's affair inside the company?"
The other party gave an affirmative answer.
"Then can you show me the locations where he had his affairs?"
Silas asked.
If they could determine the locations, the investigation would be much easier.
After getting the other party's affirmation, Silas used his dagger to cut his finger and let the blood drip onto the map.
The drop fell exactly on the manager's office where they were located.
Blood was a material rich in spirituality and could serve as a medium for rituals.
The phantom spirit world creature stared at the map, and some kind of strange power began to push the blood across the map.
Leonard and Silas both held their breath, watching the blood's trajectory, which represented Mr. Pound's usual activity routes.
The blood left the office, entered the corridor, circled through various offices once or twice, but didn't linger, continuing downward until it exited the office building.
"Outdoor action?"
Leonard's low voice suppressed laughter.
The blood crossed the courtyard, entered the back of the company in the opposite direction, advanced along the Tussock River, and finally stopped at a river bay marked "abandoned dock," circling continuously.
The blood Silas had dripped gradually gathered at this spot. Under the lamplight, this place turned a blood-red that looked almost purple.