Chapter 732 — The Difficult Study of Ancient Objects
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
Daniel came to a halt in a plaza.
He sat down on a bench and closed his eyes to rest, yet his fingers tapped lightly against the armrest beside him.
Formless data flowed through it, and a consciousness waiting far away answered the bishop's summons. With a faint ripple surfacing in the air, a female believer in a long white dress appeared before Daniel and bowed deeply. "Bishop, you summoned me?"
"Mm," Daniel said, opening his eyes slightly and nodding. The woman before him was his subordinate in the Long Twilight Order, cultivated by him for years, her loyalty beyond doubt, and he had already promoted her into the security department. Even so, she had no right to know of the master's existence; she was merely a somewhat satisfactory assistant. "Dana, there seem to have been some rumors in it lately."
"Rumors?" The female believer frowned, briefly puzzled.
Daniel projected the few messages he had just seen, letting them float clearly before Dana.
To be honest, Daniel himself had not paid them much mind at first: the mind held a great many linked believers, and among so many were no small number of idle or overly neurotic sorts. Countless useless messages flowed through that vast network every day, and excessively lurid, bizarre tales made up a fair share of such useless information.
Yet when he casually pulled up the statistical data on these few messages, he could not help but take notice.
These things that looked like rumors and ghost stories... had appeared more than once in the past half month.
The female believer read through the information Daniel displayed, thought back briefly, and nodded. "Yes, Bishop, there have indeed been rumors of this sort in it lately. But after investigation, they all proved to be baseless talk."
Daniel lifted his eyelids. "Investigated?"
"Yes," the female believer nodded. "The Inspectors patrolled all over the Phantom Pivot City and found no so-called anomalous void. The managing priests checked all connection records, and no one suddenly vanished from it or dropped connection abnormally, and the believers who claimed to have lost their memories were later found. After examination, it is said, no brain problems were discovered; the so-called memory loss was likely mental imbalance and delusion brought on by prolonged connection."
"All delusion and rumor, then..." Daniel murmured softly. "But there is more than one such message..."
The female believer opened her mouth as if about to say something, but she fell silent at the same moment as Daniel.
An invisible wind blew through the Phantom Pivot City. A global announcement from the great temple at the city's center spread through the whole of it, and every Sleeper active within the city raised their heads toward the great temple as one, Daniel among them.
In his field of vision appeared an announcement from the Pope:
"Concerning the recent reports of mental anomalies, voids appearing in it, connectors suddenly vanishing, and memory defects after disconnection, all are rumors. The faithful within the Order must not believe them..."
When the announcement ended, the female believer Dana blinked and looked at Daniel. "Bishop, it seems the Radiant Pole Order's investigation has reached its conclusion. These are indeed all rumors."
"Rumors, then..." Daniel muttered softly, then waved a hand. "Very well. I have nothing else. Go about your business."
"Yes, Bishop." The female believer lowered her head, bowed, and stepped back half a pace, her figure vanishing into a rippling flash.
Daniel shook his head and let his gaze sweep across the plaza before him.
A faintly glowing vortex of light drifted about the plaza, skimming close to the ground and moving swiftly and silently.