After shaking hands with both of them, Miss Bei Ya Si sighed as if relieved, and said, “Alright, you’ve regained my trust, but this information makes me even more troubled. I don’t understand. Why has the Orthodox Church never told me about this?”
“Because there’s no point in telling you; it would only make you overthink. Furthermore, even the Orthodox Church doesn’t know more about whispering chapters than I do.”
Miss Annette said. She looked especially pretty when she smiled tonight, and Xia De thought this was due to the color of her pretty red lipstick. Unfortunately, he could only say it was red, unable to distinguish the exact shade, but that red was truly pretty.
“The Orthodox Church’s attitude towards The Chosen is still unclear, because they don’t know what it truly represents. Iluna, cooperating with us will not harm the Orthodox Church’s interests, after all, we are all…”
Miss Annette looked at the young Detective who was pouring tea, who immediately added:
“Positive characters, we are all positive characters in the story.”
“I know that. I trust my judgment of people; you are all good people, and you are all helping me. I am also willing to be friends with you. It’s just…”
Lu Wei Ya of Long Hair leaned back on the sofa, looking at the ceiling. This action revealed her fair neck. Xia De glanced at it and immediately averted his gaze to avoid misunderstanding.
“So, whispering chapters and The Chosen are like this. This explains many things. Heh, I sound like a ‘Child of Destiny’ chosen in those knight novels… An epic of the sixth epoch… Detective, Miss Annette, do you think I truly have the qualifications to become someone who can be recorded in legends?”
After the excitement of learning the truth subsided, the young girl felt lost again.
“Of course, you are destined to be.”
This was Miss Annette’s opinion; she seemed very certain.
“No matter what, we will always be by your side.”
Xia De said. He understood her feelings very well. The feeling of knowing one is special but worrying about not being able to play the role well was very similar to his own feeling of knowing he was an Outsider but worrying about not being able to adapt to his new life.
Because of this empathy, he said more:
“Since we’ve decided to help you, we’ll be with you until the very end, to the ultimate end.”
Both sides being frank with each other resolved the last hidden danger in their cooperation. Although the unexpected meeting and frankness almost got Xia De stabbed by Miss Annette and hit by Miss Bei Ya Si’s Sunlight Gun, the whole process went more smoothly than Xia De had imagined.
After all, he had already gained a sufficiently high level of favor from Miss Bei Ya Si before this. From this perspective, Miss Annette’s plan was successfully realized through Xia De.
After confirming their mutual trust, they discussed the reason for the three of them being at the banquet.
There was no need to elaborate on why Xia De was there; Miss Annette even joked about the phrase “Hamilton of Leijiede,” and Miss Bei Ya Si quietly congratulated him.
As for Miss Annette and Miss Bei Ya Si, they did not have invitations but managed to sneak in.
They came for a relic. That relic could pay the price for Miss Annette’s precise divination, thereby using the divination to obtain the ritual requirements for Miss Bei Ya Si to become a true The Chosen.
“Actually, I’ve always been curious about the price of your so-called divination. Can the price be paid with a relic?”
Before Xia De burst in, the two ladies were about to discuss this very question, and now the topic could continue.
“This can be considered my special talent: paying a price for precise divination of the future. Now I can tell you, there are three ways to pay the price: I pay with a part of my own soul, I pay with a specific relic, or…”
She shook her head and did not continue:
“Look, the relic is this.”
Miss Annette took out a white paper package, covered with spells. The general meaning of these texts from different eras could all be interpreted as “suppress curse,” “purify,” and “sacred.”
The paper package wrapped a small object, which, when opened, turned out to be a gold coin, three times the diameter of a penny. This gold coin must have been an antique, its rusty appearance full of historical charm.
As soon as the gold coin appeared, the voice in Xia De’s head immediately reminded him that this was the item with an extremely strong whisper element that she had sensed. And that paper package could actually block the perception of whisper element from a distance. Xia De’s entry into the room just now probably coincided with the moment the paper package was opened.
This was a cursed item and had to be touched with gloves. That’s why Miss Annette wore white gloves instead of gloves that matched her evening gown. After getting permission, Xia De examined the gold coin. The upward-facing side had a pattern of a skeletal severed hand holding a money bag, while the reverse side had a skull pattern, with a snake flicking its tongue coiled in the skull’s left eye.
There was a half-circle of text on the edge of the reverse side. Xia De asked Miss Annette to confirm that the gold coin’s properties were not triggered by a spell before he deciphered the text:
“The greedy exchange their souls for gold coins.”
“This is a Sage-level (2nd level) relic, 【pirate's blood money】, or rather, a part of it. Records of 【pirate's blood money】 can be traced back to the early sixth epoch, when a group of pirates landed on an unnamed island after a storm and discovered a treasure, which included a chest of coins, and this is one of them. According to the Orthodox Church’s post-incident investigation, the total number of coins was between 1025 and 1034. 27 pirates divided that chest of gold coins and spent them in the dockside taverns, brothels, and casinos after landing. Any pirate who spent these blood money committed suicide by jumping into the sea at midnight on the third day after spending the blood money, their souls absorbed by the blood money, and their bodies turning into undead.”
Miss Annette said. Miss Bei Ya Si looked like Xia De, also just learning what this was:
“Is that all?”
She asked, putting on a glove and taking the rusted gold coin from Xia De’s hand.
“Of course not. The undead formed by suicide by jumping into the sea would return to shore after death, killing the person with whom they traded the blood money, but they would not take the blood money. When the blood money is traded again, they would come ashore again, along with the second person who used the coin and committed suicide by jumping into the sea to become undead, to hunt down the second person who acquired the blood money through trade… This cycle repeats. This means that behind every blood money, there is a group of undead waiting to hunt. And if an individual uses multiple blood money at the same time, they will only be affected by the first one; the other blood money will take effect in the hands of the next user.”
Miss Annette took the coin from Miss Bei Ya Si’s hand, easily flipping it with her fingers:
“Of course, the undead pursuers in the sea cannot leave the ocean too far. Therefore, if a person who acquires blood money through trade lives inland, they will be guided to the seaside by the power of the relic. There’s even a saying that those who hold blood money are guided to the ocean by the power of fate.”
“This is the power of a Sage-level (2nd level) relic?”
Xia De couldn’t help but exclaim. Over 1000 coins represented over 1000 undead teams, and this was the first Sage-level relic he had truly encountered.
“Sage-level is the danger level for all the blood money. If it’s just one coin, it’s probably equivalent to Secret Keeper Level (3rd level).”
Miss Annette said.
“Then containment? As long as it’s contained by the Orthodox Church, wouldn’t those undead in the sea lose their meaning?”
Miss Bei Ya Si asked.
“It’s not that easy, otherwise it wouldn’t be rated as Sage-level.”
Miss Annette shook her head:
“【pirate's blood money】 itself is deceptive. Although you can now see that both sides of this gold coin are unusual, this is its activated form. It only becomes like this when I use it. Once I go to the seaside and die unnaturally, the blood money will turn into an ordinary old coin; in this epoch, it will turn into old pounds. In its unactivated state, it has almost no whisper element itself. Even if a Ring術士 knows the characteristics of this relic, it would be very difficult to find its difference in their own wallet. In the 15 centuries since its first discovery, the Orthodox Church has contained a total of…”
“You used it?”
Xia De rudely interrupted Miss Annette’s speech:
“Miss Annette, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
Miss Bei Ya Si also said worriedly:
“This is why we argued tonight. I know Miss Annette has her own secrets, and it’s understandable that accurate divination comes with a price, but I’ve never heard that a relic could be a price.”
“No need to worry. This blood money was activated by me two days ago, and before that, it had been with me for three months. I traded with myself, so my identity is the one being traded, not the trader. This way, I won’t die in three days, but rather wait for me to go to the seaside and be killed by the undead army. Only by activating it can I use it as a price to consume the relic for divination.”
Xia De also thought this approach was too dangerous:
“The price your precise divination requires is this type of relic, blood money?”
“‘Paying with a relic’ among the three methods is just one form of price; any coin-type relic can be used. Coins themselves are the most complex symbols in mysticism; they can even represent civilization along with text. The 【whisper】 of relics, the 【inspiration】 of coins—what I need is not coins, but the harmonious 【whisper】 and 【inspiration】 elements present in this special type of item. Only in coins and more special types of relics is such power found.”
She played with the gold coin in her hand. Xia De pondered this explanation, while Miss Bei Ya Si, from the Orthodox Church, looked at Miss Annette seriously:
“Miss Annette, do you know that this practice is very strange? I’ve heard of people being able to absorb relics, making them a part of themselves, but those people undoubtedly lost control. What you’re doing is as dangerous as throwing gunpowder bombs next to a bonfire.”
“I’m not absorbing them; I’m paying with them.”
Miss Annette said, with a confident expression on her face:
“This isn’t the first time I’ve done this. Three years ago, I obtained 6 blood money and activated them separately when divination was needed. The first five had to be consumed in a previous accident (Note), and this is the last one I have.”