Eldritch Horror Theatre - Ch. 145: Disorder (16)
"Being buried in ice and snow like this, we probably won't find a place here to try this key." The Duchess sighed as she observed the surroundings.
"Indeed."
More than ninety percent of this Old City must be buried, and on their way down just now, they saw almost no place where a key could be used.
Fu Qian nodded and directly pulled the Starlight Key from his pocket.
In the darkness, it remained crystal clear and sparkling brightly, but there was no particular abnormality.
"Yeah, put it away for now." The Duchess glanced at it, not showing much disappointment on her face. "The problem we are facing now is arguably much more severe than the Eclipse Curse. We can't worry about this for the time being."
Mhm!
Fu Qian impassively put the key back.
In fact, Fu Qian never intended to use it to unlock anything to begin with.
Having witnessed the entire birth process of the "Starlight Key," he knew quite clearly that this thing was not meant for unlocking locks.
According to Fu Qian's judgment, the Witch probably just used it as a carrier to leave a trace of aura on it.
He had confirmed earlier that the key had not changed at all, otherwise he wouldn't have shown it to the Duchess.
Of course, there was one thing he didn't tell the Duchess—right at this moment, not far from the top of the church, a stained glass window was sparkling, emitting a tranquil and distant glow.
There was no light source inside the church, so logically, this scene shouldn't be happening.
And judging from the Duchess's reaction, she clearly couldn't see this.
This kind of thing had happened before.
As early as the mission where he first met Su Gao, there was a special secret message on the Ritual Notes that others couldn't see, only he could see it.
Now that a similar situation appeared again, Fu Qian roughly guessed that it must be related to his Inspiration.
……
After a short rest, the two of them went straight back the way they came.
The Duchess was clearly anxious to return, leading the way in silence the entire time.
It wasn't until they left the range of the blizzard and the Seven Lights in the sky shone again that she relaxed a little.
It could be seen that the successive sudden battles just now had taken a heavy toll on her.
The small town remained quiet and peaceful, but after all the experiences today, Fu Qian deeply understood the twisted nature behind this peace.
Especially for ordinary people.
He originally wanted to just go back and rest, but the Duchess was clearly unwilling to let Fu Qian go, dragging him straight to the Seven Lights Church.
Arriving at the Priest's lounge, they were told it was too late and he had already gone to bed, but the Duchess unceremoniously had someone wake the Priest up.
"Why come over so late? Is there an emergency?"
After a good while, the Priest opened the door from the inside, looking at the two with some confusion.
"Let's talk inside."
The Duchess squeezed in without explanation. After sitting down, she pointed at Fu Qian and spoke bluntly.
"The two of us went on a trip to the Old City."
"What!" The Priest's expression immediately changed drastically.
"Don't panic. I know this violated the ban," the Duchess kept a straight face, her tone showing no fluctuation. "But we found something far more terrifying than the ban."
"Those monsters... they're here."
"What did you say? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
After a moment of shock before grasping the Duchess's meaning, the Priest's voice developed a bizarre tremble, and his eyeballs began to turn red.
"Stabilize your emotions first," the Duchess reminded him coldly. The price of the Priest's Spire Sequence was irremovable emotional impulses that had to be suppressed at all times.
Clearly, this news was too shocking, causing him to lose control of his emotions a bit.
The Priest also realized his state was wrong and immediately closed his eyes to concentrate.
After a long while, his complexion slowly recovered, and he immediately looked at the Duchess.
"What exactly did you see there?"
"Heavily corrupted corpses, armors possessing self-awareness, and... black fluid inside the armors."
The Duchess stared at the Priest, spitting out the words one by one.
Even having moved far away from there, it was still hard to hide the shock in her tone.
"I have read in some Notebooks that this is a very typical manifestation of certain monsters outside. And also, the Old City is almost entirely buried in ice and snow."
"How could it... how could it be like this..."
Upon hearing this information, the Priest's reaction was identical to the Duchess's at the time, looking like he couldn't accept reality.
"This is an absolutely safe place, it's impossible for them to find it..."
"It's pointless to dwell on this now. And that is not the main point."
"That's not the main point?"
"The main point is that we discovered a Pus Stone in town earlier. I think it's highly likely there is a connection between the two."
"You mean..." The Priest suddenly realized.
"Exactly. The corruption has very likely already spread to the town; we just didn't realize it."
"So we came to find you the moment we returned. We need to start responding as quickly as possible." The Duchess took a deep breath and stated her plan. "We need to conduct inspections on everyone, including members within the Sequence, and simultaneously prepare to leave this place... to migrate to somewhere far from the corruption."
……
"Absolutely not!"
After the Duchess finished, the Priest was silent for a long time before ultimately shaking his head firmly.
"That will cause unnecessary panic. Due to the matter of the Eclipse Curse, the current order is already barely maintained. If there is chaos on the side of the Awakened Ones as well..."
"So do you hope this place becomes the next Old City?"
"There's no rush at this exact moment, and where could we even move to?"
"Think clearly. Complete destruction could happen at any time. Even if you can be immune to the Eclipse Curse, you cannot be immune to the corruption brought by those monsters..."
"Anyway, I disagree! I think we should investigate in secret first..."
The two argued without giving an inch. Fu Qian stood to the side, bored to death, observing the surroundings on his own.
It was evident the Priest had lived here for a long time. Although the decor wasn't considered luxurious, all kinds of items were fully stocked.
"In short, you must keep this matter an absolute secret. We cannot bear the consequences of this news leaking right now."
Finally, the Priest showed a rare insistence, looking at the two with a stern expression.
His prestige built up over the years was still there. This time, the Duchess snorted and turned her head away, no longer arguing back.
……
"You go back and rest first. Thanks for your hard work today."
Coming out of the church, the Duchess was clearly in a foul mood, but still said to Fu Qian.
In any case, his performance today had been quite good.
Not to mention risking danger multiple times, when she had spaced out in the Old City, if it wasn't for his warning, she might not have dodged the second sneak attack.
"Alright."
All the way back to his residence, Fu Qian's mind was filled with the scene he had just seen.
The Priest's room was extremely neat and organized, with everything tidied up perfectly. He wondered if this was done deliberately to suppress his emotions.
Among the neatly arranged items, there was a row of tidy formal suits.
Where there are formal suits, brooches are also a possibility.
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