Chapter 1 The Demise

"Just like that... dead?"

"Yes, Lord Locke."

A long cordon was stretched out at the train station in the small town of Linz.

Within the cordon, a pool of blood.

A hot wind, carrying a slight scent of blood, blew through the corridor. Locke squatted before the pool of blood, his expression complex. As the Star Envoy guarding the small town of Linz, he had been in office for several years, and this was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre "supernatural event."

The deceased's neck was broken, and when turned over, only a face burned beyond recognition by flames could be seen.

His "face" had been taken away.

"What about the surveillance footage of the time of the incident?"

Locke raised his head.

He looked up at the ceiling of the corridor, frowning slightly. "Didn't the alarm go off?"

"Lord... that's the strange thing."

The subordinate respectfully said, "Last night, the surveillance room at Linz Station was peaceful, showing no anomalies."

"Deepsea malfunctioned?"

The absurd thought flashed through Locke's mind, and he quickly shook his head. "Maybe the station's hardware is aging... Since there's no footage, start investigating from the origin station of the train, and find out the identity of the deceased."

"The origin station..."

The subordinate brought up the Deepsea archives search interface and searched according to the clues Locke provided. After a moment, his pupils contracted, and he fell silent.

Locke examined the corpse. He used his ability to create a breeze to conduct a subtle examination of the bottom without making contact.

The trench coat was neat, as if it hadn't been through a fight.

It seemed the entire fight was swift, without any complications, a complete crushing victory...

The murderer might be a Tier 3, or even higher, transcendent.

"Did you find anything?"

After a few seconds, he frowned and asked.

"Found it..."

The subordinate's voice was somewhat hoarse. "The deceased is... Professor Holling of Holy Cross Academy."

"Holling?!"

Hearing this name, Locke couldn't help but raise his voice a little.

His expression was shocked as he re-examined the deceased's trench coat... It was indeed in the custom style of an Uptown craftsman, and the Holy Cross Academy crest was engraved on the inside of the lapel... The news made him feel dizzy.

This small town of Linz had no big figures except for a Grand Academician.

He never expected the deceased in this accident to be the famous Mr. Holling!

"Excuse me, can we take a look inside?"

A very soft voice sounded outside the cordon.

Locke was taken aback.

The cordon was controlled by low-level transcendents from the Source Tower. At this moment, there was a commotion outside the corridor. Locke raised his head and saw a very young figure.

It was a young man with "Eastern Continent features," with black hair and black eyes. Although he was smiling, his eyes were dark as an abyss.

The moment their eyes met, it made people feel a palpitation.

"Eastern Continent people..."

Locke found the face somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember it for a moment.

He stood up and asked in a deep voice, "May I ask who you are?"

This should be the "Star Envoy" in the rumors, Gu Shen thought, looking at the young man with three stars embroidered on his shoulders and sleeves. He slowly said, "Who I am is not important..."

He stepped slightly to the side, revealing the road behind him.

"Grand Academician Ian?"

Locke's heart skipped a beat. He glanced angrily at his subordinate.

The deceased's identity had just been clarified.

Ian had arrived immediately.

The latter looked innocent, signaling with his eyes that it had nothing to do with him...

"Let them through."

Locke sighed softly and waved to the subordinate who had set up the cordon.

The four entered the cordon.

He knew the Grand Academician and Hooper. On his first day in Linz, Locke knew that this old man was the most important figure in the entire small town. If anything went wrong, Uptown would be furious... But he had never seen the other two young people.

Besides the black-haired young man, there was also a woman in ancient garb wearing a white cat mask, who looked slender and outstanding, like a person who had stepped out of a painting. The former was someone one dared not look at too much, while the latter was someone one couldn't help but want to look at more.

Were these two young people also disciples of Grand Academician Ian?

Over the years, Locke had seen many people come from Uptown, wanting to see the Grand Academician... Apart from Professor Holling, it seemed that no one had successfully entered that small courtyard.

"Sir, are we just going to stand by and watch?"

The subordinate next to him lowered his voice.

"What else can we do?"

Locke raised his hand and said calmly through telepathy, "This case is too bizarre, it's not something we can handle. Since the deceased is Professor Holling, Uptown will definitely send a more powerful 'Star Envoy' to come."

"You mean the murderer's strength is above yours? Possibly Deepsea Layer Eight?"

The subordinate was momentarily stunned when he heard this.

"Layer Eight? Heh..."

Locke, who had examined the corpse, shook his head, feeling a palpitation.

He hadn't been able to figure out what the real fatal wound was among the wounds on Mr. Holling's body after looking at them for a long time. The murderer who created all this was probably far more powerful than Layer Eight...

He looked at the two young people squatting before the pool of blood, feeling somewhat curious.

Judging from their appearances, these two were probably only twenty years old.

At this age, no matter how talented they were, they should only be at Tier 3 at most, right? Could they really see anything?

Gu Shen calmly stared at the pool of blood.

The shadow of [Profiling] was blurred in the station. The person who acted interfered with the backtracking of mental energy.

An expected operation.

He asked softly, "When did the surveillance footage go missing?"

"One o'clock last night," Chu Ling said. "There was a gap of about fifteen minutes... After fifteen minutes, everything returned to normal, and the footage in the surveillance room was replaced with static."

Because it was a remote small town, no one was taking the train late at night, so no one in the surveillance room noticed anything until the body was discovered in the morning.

"Senior Brother Holling... came back this time to share some research results on ancient texts."

Looking at the congealed blood on the ground, Hooper looked grief-stricken.

He had thought that he would be able to meet him smoothly this time, but he didn't expect...

That this kind of accident would happen.

Ian sat numbly in his wheelchair.

Looking at the corpse whose face had been taken away, the old man's fingers were trembling uncontrollably. Only rough, hoarse breathing sounds came from the mental link equipment... He said nothing, or was immersed in "sadness" and couldn't say anything.

"..."

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes, looked at the pool of blood, and suddenly said, "His briefcase... has been stolen."

"Briefcase?"

Locke, who was beside him, looked surprised when he heard this word.

"Yes, briefcase."

Gu Shen stood up and looked at the Linz head, saying, "You can retrieve the boarding footage from the Uptown train to see the scene of Holling boarding the train..."

"There really is a briefcase!"

The subordinate quickly realized this. He looked at the pool of blood again, examined it, and said, "Lord Locke, Mr. Holling's 'briefcase' that he was carrying with him is really gone..."

"Idiot!" Locke scolded in a low voice, "Such important information..."

"Seal off Linz... Request Uptown to grant higher authority and use [Sky Eye] to lock onto Mr. Holling's 'briefcase'." He immediately gave the order, but was interrupted by Gu Shen before he could finish speaking.

"Lord Star Envoy, there's no need to go to such great lengths."

Gu Shen said calmly, "It's too late now, that person is no longer in Linz, and even if they were... this kind of deployment would be meaningless."

The Central Continent was indeed the most advanced, wealthiest, and most developed continent among the Five Continents.

It was just that the transcendents in the small town were a little slower in alertness and reaction speed.

"The person who killed Holling and took the 'briefcase' only did so because he cared about the documents inside... so after obtaining the information, he wouldn't leave the original briefcase behind, nor would he discard it casually, as that would expose his whereabouts."

Locke murmured, "You mean... take the contents and destroy the rest."

"You can understand it that way... that's pretty much what it means."

Gu Shen nodded.

He guessed that the briefcase should contain ancient text drawings.

That guy took the briefcase, obviously aiming for the ancient text drawings... Ancient text drawings were not items that could be destroyed after reading, so they must still be in the murderer's hands.

Locke was puzzled. "Since his purpose was to take the briefcase, why did he have to kill? And why... does Mr. Holling's face look like this? Was it to make him unrecognizable?"

"Of course not."

Gu Shen shook his head and said, "For this kind of thing, it would be immediately clear as long as you check the Uptown boarding footage... There's only one possible reason for deliberately destroying Holling's face."

This was a murder with a certain "symbol" attached.

The murder at Linz Station was not a spur-of-the-moment act, not a chance accident, but a premeditated plot...

Gu Shen looked at the old man in the wheelchair.

Ian closed his eyes, looking very tired.

A faint sound came from the mental link equipment.

"Let's talk about it when we get back..."

...

...

Some things were not convenient to say in the Linz train station.

As soon as they returned to the small courtyard, Gu Shen took the lead in speaking.

"Mr. Ian... Excuse me for being presumptuous, what kind of research were you and Mr. Holling conducting back then?"

The clue of the destroyed face reminded him of a tricky person he had encountered in the Great Metropolis...

Owl!

That guy was theoretically still running for his life in the Outer Continent, but interfering with Deepsea to carry out murders was very much his style.

"..."

After a long silence.

The old man's face was gloomy, and the mental link equipment emitted a hoarse voice.

"It's... Forbidden Ancient Texts..."

Forbidden Ancient Texts?

Gu Shen and Chu Ling exchanged glances, it was the first time they had heard of this concept.

"When certain ancient texts are arranged in different orders, they will unleash incredible forbidden powers... The premise is that you need to understand 'them'..."

The old man lowered his head, his withered hair flying.

"This is a wrong path..."

"Turing and I once studied 'Forbidden Ancient Texts' together, but the further we went, the more palpitations we felt. These forbidden powers may not bring 'goodness' to the human world. If they are controlled by the wrong people, then they will only bring endless suffering and torment to this world..."

Gu Shen held his breath and asked, "What happened later? Was the research on Forbidden Ancient Texts successful?"

"No... Until the very end, the research results on Forbidden Ancient Texts were not successful."

The old man said in a low voice, "The Ancient Text Society internally terminated this project. It was personally called off by Turing. Everyone was forbidden to continue the research, and all the drawings were sealed..."

Gu Shen subconsciously looked towards the attic.

"Yes... They're all in the cellar."

Ian said softly, "No one knows about this. I have been waiting for the [Key] to appear. This is the wealth that belongs to the [Key], and it is also one of the greatest legacies that Mr. Turing left to the Ancient Text Society."

"Since the project was called off, why keep the relevant drawings and information..."

Gu Shen was somewhat puzzled and asked, "What are the contents of the research on Forbidden Ancient Texts..."

"Contents..."

Ian fell into a long period of contemplation.

After a moment, he said with emotion, "There is a specific sequence of ancient text arrangement. As long as you grasp and understand it, you can 'foresee the future' and 'predict the unknown'..."

"This is, divination?!"

Gu Shen was shocked.

"There is also another specific ancient text arrangement that can make people 'seek their wishes' and 'lock onto causality'..."

The old man chuckled softly.

Another familiar forbidden ability. Gu Shen was a little overwhelmed. He murmured, "Wishcraft..."

Grandmaster Chino, and Li Qingci, were able to perform divination and wishcraft, not by relying on abilities!

Whether it was divination or wishcraft, neither required the use of supernatural abilities. As long as the conditions were met and they were willing to pay the price, even mortals could obtain supernatural power!

Both of these were related to "Forbidden Ancient Texts"!

According to rumors, the "Old Humans" of six hundred years ago possessed this incredible power.

"Besides the two things you mentioned, there's more..."

"These are all divine powers that mortals can control." Ian said in a low voice, "It's just that the project was called off. Without Turing, we couldn't advance the research on Forbidden Ancient Texts. Later, the Ancient Text Society collapsed, and Holling and I waited for the [Key] for a long time. After twenty years of not finding it, we decided to reopen the research..."

Gu Shen came back to his senses.

He asked in a low voice, "Mr. Ian, are there any results from this research on 'Forbidden Ancient Texts'?"

The old man was silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head.

Hooper said in a low voice, "Those ancient texts are really hard to understand... At the current rate of comprehension, it would take decades at the fastest, right?"

Gu Shen breathed a sigh of relief.

This was actually a good thing.

It was hard to imagine what the consequences would be if this forbidden power were deciphered.

Everyone would have divination and wishcraft...

But to cast forbidden spells, one would have to pay with life, flesh, as the price.

Transcending the rules, the order of the Five Continents would be trampled upon.

Humanity was greedy. Without waiting for the source matter storm to descend, mortals who abused the power of forbidden spells would send themselves on the path to destruction in the process of constantly giving up and yielding in exchange for a wish...

"It can't be said that there are no results at all."

The old man suddenly spoke.

He raised his head and looked directly at the two young people in front of him.

"A portion of the drawings in the cellar have been researched... The power of Forbidden Ancient Texts may also give you some inspiration. Back then, Turing was worried that this power would fall into the hands of evildoers."

"But the [Key] is an existence that can be trusted."

Ian tapped his wheelchair lightly and asked:

"Would you... like to take a look?"