Chapter 206
The place that Xiao Li has spoken about was the church he had visited yesterday. It was also the cross domed castle that appeared on Wen Wenwen’s map. There was no other reason. To some extent, a temple and a church were the same places. The place with the sphinx should be here.
It was a castle with a cross on top. The entire building was made of grey bricks. Unlike the magnificent castle of people’s imaginations, this castle was extremely depressing. Compared to a castle, it was more like a place where prisoners were punished.
Xiao Li had originally planned to set an alarm clock to meet the ‘first ray of light’ in the prophecy. However, there was the incident with Jin Handong and everyone was called before the alarm clock went off. Therefore, he took the opportunity to come here. The entire town was still sleeping. The wind was strong and blew dust on people’s faces in the darkness.
Xiao Li silently put on his cloak and hat. He covered his mouth and nose with his hands and let out small breaths as he walked up the steps. There was no one at the door and there wasn’t even a lock. It was as if it was a random place where anyone could go in and out. Xiao Li placed his hand on the door and used force to easily push it open.
The inside of the castle was very empty. The stairs were in a circular arc shape and went round and round like a snake tangling around the building. There was a decoration carved on the handrail of the staircase. Xiao Li looked closer and found it was a statue of a sphinx that had been shrunken down countless times.
The sphinx lay languidly on the armrest, lifelike. It was as if it would come alive the next second, opening its mouth to yawn.
“Meow.”
For some reason, the little black cat took the initiative to jump out of the little yellow book. He stretched out his paws and hit the head of the sphinx on the stairs of the first floor. Then he looked back at Xiao Li as if wondering why the body was similar to himself but the head was a human.
Apart from these stairs, the entire church was empty. There were no windows, only the closed glass skylight above his head. Candlestick after candlestick was attached to the wall but there were no candles.
Xiao Li looked around and waved to the little black cat.
The little black cat cocked his head and jumped off the statue of the sphinx. He walked briskly in front of Xiao Li. After being grabbed by Xiao Li and rubbed back and forth on the bottom step like a cat blanket, his pure black fur was covered with dust.
“Meow meow meow?”
He was so angry that he couldn’t even react. He could only watch as the shameless human sat down on the place that had just been cleaned. Before the little black cat could pounce, Xiao Li raised a finger. “Change for three cans, pure meat.”
The little black cat’s movement stopped due to this simple sentence. After a long time, he stretched out a paw and placed it on Xiao Li’s knee. “Meow.”
Five.
Xiao Li replied, “Okay.”
The little black cat swung his tail and jumped into the arms of the human in front of him. He rubbed twice against the human and licked this person’s nose.
Xiao Li retracted his gaze from the skylight above to look at the cat. He reached out his right hand to scratch the little black cat’s chin. The cat purred comfortably from his throat.
Time passed and the night had ended. The sky turned from black to dark blue. Thin clouds surged on the horizon and the first rays of light penetrated through the darkness and spilled into the castle.
The first ray of light...
Xiao Li patted the little black cat and motioned for the cat to jump off his knees. Then he stood up and walked toward the middle of the winding staircase. There were no mechanisms, no abnormalities and there weren’t even attacks from ghosts. Only the first ray of light fell from diagonally above, illuminating a corner. The silence here reminded Xiao Li of the libraries in reality.
Where was the so-called Temple of Records?
Xiao Li squinted slightly and looked carefully at the place where the light hit. It happened to be the junction of the second and third floors. The statue of the sphinx on the stairs of the third floor seemed to have been given eyes. It was bathed in sunlight. In the middle, its tail was the boundary between darkness and light.
Xiao Li walked quickly to the third floor. He first stretched out his hand to scratch the head of the sphinx statue. He felt cold and took a step back, standing in the shadow.
At this moment, many images appeared in front of him like there were 3D surround equipments. They flashed and finally froze on the final scene. The first image was a group from Atlantis standing in front of the temple, wearing white robes and spreading their hands out to the sea.
Then there were two people sitting inside and outside the house. There was a bottle of lit incense and essential oils open. There was a bubble next to the person inside the room. Inside the bubble was a schematic diagram of a grazing farm. The person on the outside was walking towards the farm in accordance with the requirements of the person inside.
In addition, there were many images showing the civilization of Atlantis at that time.
The final image was an overview one. It showed the islands in the middle of the sea. It looked like they weren’t surrounded by the sea but that the sea came to worship them. This was the civilization in Xiao Li’s dream, Atlantis.
However, such a glorious civilization ushered in its end. The sea was no longer the blue of the past, there were angry waves and the blazing sun dyed the sky. The temples collapsed. People fled in panic but they couldn’t find a safe shelter.
The most striking thing in this scene was a hand. It was a hand that covered the sky and the sun. The waves and flames were willing to be its companions. This hand fell down and erased the traces of Atlantis.
Xiao Li tried to touch the curtain of light in front of him with his fingers but they went straight through. Was it uncontrollable? He looked at the images in front of him again and found that underneath, there was messy writing. It was transparent writing that was hard to notice at first glance.
[The sea becomes an iceberg, the glory becomes a curse and everything is no longer glorious.]
[At the cost of the lives of hundreds of sacrifices, I saw the future. I saw the waves of fate.]
[It is ‘he’ who is looking at us, he who calls us blasphemers. We can only become his slaves, enduring the curses, losing freedom and reincarnating again and again. We are stripped from the sub-universe and become part of it.]
[Outsiders, if you read this passage without hindrance then this place is always open to you. It is because you will eventually become ‘us’ and ‘we’ are the same.]
[Before everything comes, to the future ‘us’.]
These were the words left by the Temple of Records for the outsiders.
***
Xiao Li left the Temple of Records and was thinking about whether to go to the movie theatre or go back to the house to find the others first. Then he found that Shen Chenzhi was standing at the door.
The outside wind was very cold and it wasn’t known how long the young man had been standing here. The moment Xiao Li approached, a chill came. Xiao Li no longer asked why the other person was here. He had gradually gotten used to this feeling.
Shen Chenzhi spoke first. “They are in the west.”
They found Wen Wenwen and the others. The group wasn’t near the movie theatre but in front of a store near the outside of the town.
The sun had risen completely and the locals had started to go outside. A group of smiling young people walked into the shop while the reincarnators were in front of the shop. Strangely, the reincarnators seemed to feel something. Their backs were against the wall and they were facing each other with eyes closed.
It had to be said that this scene looked like a blind party at first glance.
Among the reincarnators, Jin Handong whispered, “East, 10 o’clock.”
“If it doesn’t leave, are we going to have to keep walking around with our eyes closed?” Bruce leaned against the wall with his hand. The loss of vision caused him intense anxiety. He tried to take two steps forward and almost fell.
“The thing that is peeping at us isn’t the same as the cut-throat figure.” Wen Wenwen was relatively calm. “We will first focus on the overall situation and see if it disappears.”
The distance between Wen Wenwen and Xiao Li was a bit closer. Xiao Li could see that Wen Wenwen’s face was tense and his cheeks were twitching slightly. His hands were clenched like he was nervous about something.
Closing their eyes... was it that sense of peeping again?
Xiao Li didn’t rush over. Perhaps it was because he wasn’t near the reincarnators so he couldn’t feel the sense of peeping. On the contrary, he widened the distance and circled the place where Wen Wenwen and the others were in order to find the source of the peeping.
There weren’t many places opposite the reincarnators to hide. There were just a few. Apart from the walls and shop behind the reincarnators, there were small roads to the left and right sides. Opposite them was a residential area with green trees, flowers and some basic living facilities.
According to Xu Jiaheng’s mother and the scenes in the movie, the peeper generally preferred to hide in a small area nearby, waiting for the frightened people to see them and scream. The only eligible place here was...
Xiao Li searched in a circle. He first walked to the big tree and placed a hand into the hole in the tree. He found there was nothing and locked onto the trash can diagonally opposite. He walked lightly across the lawn. The sound of grass and wind covered his footsteps. Xiao Li saw the peeper when he was only one palm length away from the trash can.
It was a familiar figure. This person had his back to Xiao Li as he stuffed himself into the trash can. He showed only a pair of eyes as he stared at Wen Wenwen and the others on the opposite side. It might be a terrible thing to be the focus of his vision but standing behind him, there was a completely different emotion.
...It was very difficult to put himself in this posture. The process should’ve been very difficult.
It wasn’t easy.
Xiao Li sighed in his heart. After observing for a while, he reached out and patted the shoulder of the peeper from behind. Tan Li stood up with interest. The doll’s hair stretched out on the other side. Xiao Li patted the other person’s left shoulder while she touched the other person’s right shoulder.
It was two knocks.
The peeper who was peeping well only to suddenly be touched on both shoulders, “???”
The author has something to say:
@Say it to Sherlock bot
[Do you know how scary it is to suddenly be touched from behind when you are staring at someone intently? Do you know???]
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