Southern coast of the Conquest Sea, Kankdar.
In the afternoon, in the deep part of a certain forest on the outskirts of Kankdar, stood an artificial building. Beneath the wide leaves of dense palm trees was a luxurious small building with courtyard decorations. From the outside, it looked like a villa built here by a wealthy family from within Kankdar.
In the villa's courtyard, there were fountains and numerous tree sculptures. In the deep, secluded environment, several teams in uniform patrolled back and forth inside and outside the courtyard. Two guards also stood at the courtyard gate, their expressions focused, guarding the gate behind them without pause.
Inside the small building within this heavily guarded courtyard, in a room on a certain floor of the third story, a woman was currently sitting. The woman was around twenty years old, wearing a plain dress, with shoulder-length brown curly hair and slightly yellowish skin. Her appearance suggested she was not from North Wu, but rather had some characteristics of New World people.
The room the woman was in had walls on all four sides, with only the skylight above open to bring light into the room. The entire room had only a simple bed and a table, with nothing else extra. The woman was sitting on the bed, hunched over with her hand covering her head, her eyes wide open. Her entire face was pale, and her facial expression showed a state of apparent terror.
The woman sat alone in the empty room, her eyes wide with a twisted, vacant expression as she looked around, gazing at every corner. Her entire body was curled up in the corner between the bed and the wall, continuously muttering amidst subtle trembling.
"Ah ah… cup mother… Holy Mother… my mother… cup mother… Holy Mother… my mother…"
The woman nervously and continuously repeated her muttering amidst subtle trembling, her pale face filled with weariness. She looked like she was suffering from a severe mental illness. Just as she was muttering incessantly like this, the room door suddenly opened, and a man with a turban wrapped around his head and wearing a North Wu robe walked out. The man, with the face of a local North Wu person, looked at the trembling woman sitting on the bed after entering the room, then frowned slightly and asked.
"Sazhuoya, do you feel any better? Did that medicine from before have any effect?"
Hearing the man's words, the woman called Sazhuoya turned her head and looked at the man with weary eyes. After suppressing her muttering, she shook her head slightly and said.
"Hoo… hoo… Effect… there was a little effect, but only a little… Basically, it's still the same. My head is buzzing every day, and that Sister's words keep echoing inside… My body occasionally gets unbearably hot… I always end up thinking of that cruel woman I've never met, and I even want to cry as soon as I think of her… Wuwu…"
As she spoke, Sazhuoya couldn't bear it and had an emotional breakdown, bursting into tears. She buried her head in the blanket and cried loudly, her sobbing echoing throughout the space for a while.
Seeing Sazhuoya's emotional state like this, the man roughly understood that the medicine he had given her earlier had had little effect. He could only sigh helplessly.
"It seems the degree to which you were affected by Spirit Sight is much deeper than expected… It can't be treated with simple methods. We'll go back immediately after we fulfill our contract with Robert. You just stay at the base and get proper treatment."
The man said this to Sazhuoya, who had just managed to temporarily stabilize her emotions with great difficulty. After wiping the tears from her face, she said weakly to the man.
"Hoo… hoo… Now, now it can only be like this. Damn it! Why was I affected like this when that Sister only recited two sentences of secret transmission!"
Clutching the sheet, Sazhuoya said fiercely with some anger, while the man beside her slowly replied.
"Spirit Sight has a much stronger influence on discarnate spirits than on normal people. At that time, you were in the state of a spirit possessing someone else, so you were naturally affected more deeply by Spirit Sight. That little Sister must have known this, which is why she specifically used Spirit Sight to expel you. According to the intelligence, she was formerly affiliated with the Church's Historical Scripture Department, so it's normal for her to know some secret transmission.
"However, the principle that Spirit Sight is more harmful to spirits is rarely known even among Silence Extraordinaries. How did that little Sister know this? Did she perhaps read it in some book before?"
The man said with some doubt, while Sazhuoya on the other side clearly grabbed the sheet impatiently and spoke.
"That damn little bitch… If I get the chance, I'll definitely make her die a horrible death… Ngh…"
Sazhuoya said this, not hiding her anger towards the Sister she had failed to possess back then. At this moment, she suddenly felt a headache and immediately covered her head with a pained expression. Seeing his companion being tormented by Spirit Sight again, the man standing at the doorway couldn't help but shake his head, then continued to speak.
"Once Robert's plan succeeds, that little Sister won't have a good time either. For now, just continue to rest here. For us, guarding that thing well is the final mission. Once the mission is over, we'll go back, back to the base to give you proper treatment."
After speaking, the man turned around and exited the room, closing the door behind him. Seeing the man leave, Sazhuoya could only retreat back into the corner of the bed and continue her trembling self-muttering.
And at this moment, above the room, on the edge of the slightly open ventilating ceiling window, an inconspicuous butterfly was perched there, observing the situation inside the room.
...
Meanwhile, in the forest five or six kilometers away from this villa, Naifnis, dressed in a long robe, stood under the dense shade of the trees, looking intently in one direction within the forest. Beside her, a lynx spirit was floating while licking its paw.
After gazing into the forest for a moment, Neff shifted her gaze to her side. At that moment, a picnic mat was spread on the ground there, with tea and dessert placed on it. Next to the dessert, Dorothy was leisurely drinking tea with her eyes closed, resting her mind. As she drank, she placed the tea on the mat, then opened her eyes. At this moment, Naifnis took the opportunity to ask.
"Miss Dorothy, how is your investigation over there? Have you found that prince's soul?"
"I'd say I've pretty much found it… In that villa over there, there are quite a lot of guards. The part of the villa leading to the basement has many Ghost sentries and powerful Spirituality detection. With such strict security gathered there, it's safe to say those guys must have sealed the soul there."
Putting down the teacup, Dorothy said slowly. Hearing Dorothy's response, Naifnis beside her couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Dorothy's response at least proved that her previous tracking was not wrong and that the thing they were looking for was over there.
"Since we've confirmed the location, let's find a way to steal the soul. Miss Dorothy, is that soul-sealing thing easy to steal?"
Naifnis continued to ask Dorothy, while Dorothy stroked her chin, thought for a moment, and then replied.
"Judging by the security forces they've deployed, it will likely be very difficult to steal that thing without anyone knowing. The basement where that thing is located not only has high-intensity Extraordinary detection but also high-density spirit patrols, leaving almost no blind spots. It would be very difficult even for my Insect Corpse Puppet to fly in, let alone for a person to go in and steal it."
Recalling the initial investigation of the distant villa, Dorothy said this. Naifnis beside her couldn't help but frown slightly upon hearing Dorothy's response, then continued to speak.
"Hmm… we can't steal it… If we can't steal it, Miss Dorothy, you're not thinking of just taking it by force, are you…?"
With a hint of worry in her tone, Naifnis asked Dorothy, while Dorothy also shook her head in response.
"Taking it by force isn't suitable either. In that villa, there are at least two Chalks stationed. It's not realistic for us to quickly deal with them and snatch the thing just by ourselves.
"Once we make a move and fail to quickly deal with the targets, they will have time to call for reinforcements. At that time, Kankdar's city guard, and even Mayor Robert himself, will quickly arrive. We might end up making an enemy of the entire Kankdar before we even get our hands on the item. Taking it by force is an even worse decision."
Dorothy continued to speak to Naifnis. Listening to Dorothy's words, Naifnis secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Feeling a little more at ease knowing they didn't have to fight head-on, she continued to ask Dorothy.
"We can't secretly steal it... nor can we openly snatch it... Since that's the case, how else are we supposed to get Mazhar's soul?"
Naifnis questioned Dorothy, seeing that the current Dorothy showed no sign of trouble. Instead, she was leisurely eating dessert, which told Naifnis that Dorothy must already have a plan in mind. As expected, after eating a piece of dessert, Dorothy smiled and spoke.
"Heh, of course there's a way. While I was scouting just now, I stumbled upon an interesting point. Using this point, perhaps we can steal the item without those guys noticing..."
"An interesting point..."
Looking at the smile on Dorothy's lips, Naifnis showed a puzzled expression.
...
Time passed, and gradually, a day went by like this. As the sun gradually set and the moon rose, Kankdar welcomed the night once more.
It was deep night in Kankdar, with the bright moon hanging high. In the villa in the suburban woods, the strict guards were just as vigilant as during the day.
On the third floor of the villa, inside the empty room, Sazhuoya was still curled up on the bed, occasionally trembling and murmuring. Her symptoms had not improved at all from daytime until now; her consciousness was still being disturbed by Spirit Sight.
"Holy Mother... cup mother... my mother... Holy Mother... Tsk... Damn it! Why am I reciting it again? It's just a few sentences, why can't I forget them! Ugh..."
Grabbing her head and rubbing her hair, Sazhuoya's face was distorted as she fiercely blamed herself for why she couldn't forget the Sister's words from back then, and why her mind was filled with her voice every moment. She clearly wanted to forget, but the voice kept ringing out helplessly.
"Ah, ah... I can't stand it..."
Grabbing her head, Sazhuoya painfully collapsed onto the bed. She wanted to forget the Sister's words, but they were more firmly etched in her memory than anything else in her life. She wanted to reject these words, yet deep down, she desperately craved for the Sister's voice in her mind to continue speaking, to reveal the content that followed those words. Her pain, to a large extent, stemmed from this inner struggle.
"Huff... huff..."
Lying on the bed, Sazhuoya, clutching the sheet tightly, was panting incessantly. While panting, she suddenly heard a crisp sound from above. Hearing this sound, Sazhuoya looked up and saw the skylight on the ceiling.
At this moment, bright moonlight was shining down through the transparent skylight window. Sazhuoya could see the bright moon in the sky through the window, and by the moonlight, she could also see countless tiny black dots moving on the skylight glass. Upon closer inspection, they were clearly ants.
On the glass illuminated by the moonlight, swarms of ants, seemingly from nowhere, were moving in formation on the window glass. These ants lined up in columns, outlining lines on the glass. These lines intertwined, forming letters one after another, and the letters formed words, which then formed sentences.
Suddenly, Sazhuoya saw words and sentences appearing before her eyes on the skylight.
"I bathe in the birth mother's amniotic fluid, I bathe in the cup mother's blood, I bathe in the Holy Mother's tears..."
Looking at the text on the skylight, Sazhuoya, lying on the bed, was instantly stunned. Her gaze was fixed on the skylight, staring at the ants, staring at the words and text that the ants were gradually forming and dissolving. These words seemed to possess magic, completely capturing Sazhuoya's attention, making her unable to take her eyes off the skylight.
"Sequel... sequel... It's the sequel... It's the sequel..."
Staring at the text on the skylight, Sazhuoya couldn't help but murmur to herself, her expression wooden. The look of pain on her face, the remaining trace of rationality in her eyes, were completely swept away at this moment.
The ants outlined the text that Sazhuoya deeply desired to know on the skylight, but these words didn't appear for long before being interrupted again. Just as Sazhuoya felt startled, the ants arranged new sentences.
"To seek the rest of the text, go to the third-floor balcony. Do not tell others your desire..."
"Third-floor balcony... third-floor balcony..."
Looking at the words on the skylight, Sazhuoya got up from the bed in a daze, then put on her slippers, opened the door, and walked out of the room. Before long, she arrived at the balcony. At this moment, on a pillar on the balcony, Sazhuoya saw countless moths crawling there. Their bodies connected, outlining new information for Sazhuoya on the pillar.
"Ah, my mother, my three mothers, my one mother, I and all lives are compatriots, all lives and I originate from one mother..."
"I seek in dreams, the sound of wings fluttering within the skull, I traverse the secluded forest, seeing the remnants of moth scales..."
On the pillar, Sazhuoya saw the sequel she wanted to see and also saw new content. She widened her eyes, taking in this content. Then she realized that these sentences were still just small fragments. After reading them all at a glance, a new desire emerged from her heart.
"What's next? What's next? Whether it's the mother's or the moths', what comes after? What comes after?"
With a wooden expression, Sazhuoya murmured silently. At this moment, the moths in her sight flew up, flying towards the distant dense forest, seemingly guiding something.
Seeing this, Sazhuoya immediately went down the stairs and into the courtyard. The patrolling guards, upon seeing her, couldn't help but ask with concern.
"Madam Sazhuoya, where are you going? You haven't recovered yet, please don't walk around casually."
Sazhuoya said this, then walked out of the courtyard without looking back. The patrolling guards could do nothing, as they had no authority over Sazhuoya.
Sazhuoya said this, then walked out of the courtyard without looking back. The patrolling guards could do nothing, as they had no authority over Sazhuoya.
Leaving the villa, Sazhuoya walked into the dense forest. Not long after walking, she saw a swarm of moths fluttering in a clearing. Among these moths, dark gravel rose from the ground, combining in the air to outline new sentences.
"Three mothers are one, there is only one mother in the world, my mother, the mother of all, the mother of this world..."
"Moths lure me to seek light, tell me the truth, reality is also a dream, a dream is also reality..."
"A ray of heaven's light, a sound of vibration, the teaching is one, this is the first enlightenment..."
Gazing at the content before her, Sazhuoya stood frozen in place. She stared at the old and new text before her with a hungry gaze. After she finished reading the brief fragments, the black sand suspended in mid-air suddenly gathered into a stream and drifted towards the distance. Upon seeing this, Sazhuoya followed without hesitation.
Following the black sand, Sazhuoya hurried through the dark dense forest. She didn't know how long she walked. When her shoes were thrown off her feet, when her bare feet bled, she finally saw the black sand slowly stop.
At this moment, a tall, dark figure, completely concealed by a cloak and hood, appeared before Sazhuoya. The guiding black sand, upon meeting the figure, circled around it, forming a ring. Sazhuoya, upon seeing the figure, slowly walked forward. Her gaze fell upon the face beneath the figure's hood, but she saw only a patch of dark shadow, no features whatsoever.
"Why... have you come?"
Seeing Sazhuoya approaching, the tall black figure spoke in a low tone. Listening to the figure's words, Sazhuoya murmured in response.
"I... want to know what comes next..."
"What comes next? Is it mother? Is it moth? Is it number?"
"All the subsequent content... everything that follows? Those... the sequel to the secret transmission..."
"I want knowledge, the knowledge of those secret transmissions..."
Looking up at the tall figure, Sazhuoya spoke her only desire at this moment. The black figure paused slightly after hearing this, then began to respond.
"Very good..."
"Then... for what you seek, pray, recite the prayer, pray towards that one... They will tell you everything..."
Along with the black figure's words, the black sand around him surged again. This black sand gathered in front of the black figure, forming new sentences. After seeing them, Sazhuoya murmured silently.
"Upon this world without end... The place where endless destinies unify... The door and key to infinite truth..."