absurd deduction game.

Yu Xing observed the archbishop's expression; the doubt in those old yet sharp eyes seemed genuine.

He then gave a simplified account of the clues provided by the actor, omitting the actor's name and the specific details of the contact, only saying that it was a record discovered by a colleague in an old travelogue titled "Far-off Travels: The Customs of Thirty Countries" and attributed to "Edgar White".

“...The travelogue mentions that after the aurora borealis night, the astronomer kept muttering crazy things like ‘I saw it, and it saw me too.’ After returning to town, he became even more insane and eventually lost contact with his friends. This happened more than 30 years ago,” Yu Xing added.

The archbishop's face showed obvious surprise. He pondered for a moment, then shook his head: "'Far Away'... Edgar White... I vaguely remember that name. He seems to have been a locally well-known travel writer many years ago, but his works... were not on the list of things the church needed to pay special attention to. We have never linked his travelogue to the Riel incident."

That's understandable.

Although the Harvest Church was the de facto controller of Yorickf, it wasn't so idle as to meticulously study every book published by the townspeople. At most, it would flip through the pages a couple of times to make sure the content matched the information on the publication application and that there were no violations before it was approved.

On the contrary, those forbidden books that are not published openly but printed and circulated in secret will be confiscated by the church as soon as they show any signs of being published.

This travelogue had low sales; whether thirty years ago or now, it was an absolute niche book, and even church personnel rarely had access to it.

The archbishop thought for a moment and immediately summoned the deacon who was guarding the door, who was none other than the young man.

"Ivan, take men to the largest bookstore in town, 'Beacon of Knowledge,' immediately and find an old book called 'Wanderings: The Customs of Thirty Countries,' by Edgar White. Search carefully to see if it contains any records about the aurora borealis and astronomers' anomalies. Bring it back to me immediately once you find it," the archbishop ordered solemnly.

"Yes, Archbishop!" Ivan acknowledged the order, glanced curiously at Yu Xing, and quickly left.

The archbishop looked at Yu Xing again, his gaze now more meaningful: "Thank you for providing this important clue, Investigator Yu Xing. If this travelogue does exist and records these contents, it means... that clues to the events of that year may have been scattered in another form, which we have overlooked."

Yu Xing's mind raced, and she asked, "Is Edgar White your real name?"

The archbishop nodded slightly: "Yes."

“Then your reaction now tells me that he, the owner of this travelogue, no longer lives in Yolikf Town.” Yu Xing’s fingers tapped rhythmically on the table. “Otherwise, when you sent people to find the notes, you would also have sent someone to invite the author himself to the scene, after all, it concerns the power of the ancient gods, and you can’t be too cautious.”

“My child, you are indeed a keen investigator.” The archbishop smiled, a glint of admiration in his eyes, and then said, “Indeed, when you just mentioned the travelogue, I was reminded of the case of Edgar White. He didn’t move away; he disappeared.”

"Oh?" Yu Xing, who was not surprised by the result, only uttered a single syllable, signaling the archbishop to continue.

The archbishop's white eyebrows furrowed almost imperceptibly as he drifted into a long-forgotten memory. He slowly raised his head, looked at Yu Xing, and spoke in a drawn-out tone:
"If my old brain remembers correctly, the disappearance of this travel writer occurred only a few months after the tragedy at the Riel family's house."

"Thirty years...that's a long time. It wasn't an event I personally oversaw, and my memory of it is a bit hazy. Wait a moment, my child, let me check the files from back then."

The white-haired, red-robed old man stood up and walked towards the huge bookshelf behind him.

His gaze lingered for a moment on the densely packed spines of the books, finally settling on a rather inconspicuous corner, where he pulled out a relatively thin, dark blue-covered dossier.

A thin layer of dust had settled on the box, indicating that it had been forgotten for many years.

The archbishop gently brushed away the dust with his sleeve, opened the box, and took out the documents inside. He quickly flipped through the yellowed pages, his gaze lingering on a particular page. Looking at the list of "mission executors," he sighed softly, his tone tinged with a sense of melancholy at the passing of time.

"The deacon in charge of the case and his assistants at the time were all old and have gradually returned to the embrace of death. Now, there are probably not many people who can clearly recall the details of this matter."

Yu Xing's gaze swept over the wall full of files, then landed on the file in the archbishop's hand, which came from his private bookshelf. He asked with interest, "Most church files should be stored in the public archives. Why is this file on a missing person case from thirty years ago stored separately in your office?"

The archbishop gently placed the dossier back on the table, raised his eyes, and a deep emotion flashed across his wise and aged eyes.

He glanced around at the stacks of files on his bookshelf, his voice low and steady:
“You’re right. Cases that have been closed or archived naturally wouldn’t be placed here.” He pointed to the bookshelf behind him. “The files that have entered my room and are placed on my shelf are all, without exception, cold cases and mysteries like the Edgar White disappearance case—cases that were never properly resolved and ultimately ended without a trace.”

His tone became more serious, carrying a heavy sense of responsibility and worry: "They may have been temporarily shelved and left to gather dust on my bookshelf because the clues have been cut off, because they involve forces beyond the understanding of the time, or... simply because no reasonable explanation can be found."

"I have always believed that 'no result' itself is a 'result' that needs to be guarded against."

The archbishop's gaze sharpened: "Keeping these files close at hand is to remind myself how much unrevealed darkness and mystery lurks beneath this seemingly peaceful state protected by the Mother Goddess. I worry that one day, these seeds buried by time will sprout in another way, leading to even greater calamities—the Red Moon incident is one of them."

The archbishop held this position for many years, and in this respect alone, his vision was remarkably far-sighted. Over the years, his propositions have been proven true on numerous occasions.

He looked at Yu Xing, his tone meaningful: "Now, the 'fruit' of the Rose Avenue incident has been severed by you, and this travelogue related to it, as well as the disappearance of Edgar White... this seed that has been dormant for thirty years seems to have revealed its veins again because of your arrival."

“My concerns… are not unfounded. Young man, take a look at this file, and I will tell you what I remember.”

Yu Xing picked up the file on the table, gently opened it, and at the same time heard the archbishop's old but gentle voice.

……

Edgar White's disappearance occurred thirty years ago, three months after the Blood Moon. It was a foggy morning, and the town of Yorickf had not yet fully emerged from the shadow of the "Rose Avenue Massacre," a tragedy whose specific details were unknown but which was vaguely rumored, months earlier.

The sound of hurried and frantic footsteps broke the tranquility of the church's morning prayers.

A young woman, pale-faced and with anxious and confused eyes, approached the archbishop who had just taken office as a cardinal and was still full of energy when he wandered around the church.

“Father, Father! Uh… my brother… my brother Edgar is missing! Can you help me find him?”

She is Edgar White's sister, Lena White.

Lina's voice was hoarse, and her bewildered gaze suggested that she wasn't sure how urgent her brother's disappearance was, but something must have happened that made her realize something was wrong and filled her with fear.

So the archbishop decided to hear what had happened, and he summoned a deacon and invited Lina into a side hall.

Through Lina's fragmented and uneasy narration, the Archbishop learns that her brother Edgar, the writer who loves to travel, has become somewhat taciturn since returning from his last trip a few months ago—the aurora tour with Riel—and spends most of his time locked in his study, saying he is organizing his travel manuscripts.

Unlike Riel, who displayed fanaticism, he was more gloomy than usual, but still within the normal range, showing no signs of being corrupted by evil gods or monsters.

So at first, his family didn't pay much attention, assuming he was just tired from traveling or had encountered a creative block.

But last night, when Lina got up to use the bathroom, she seemed to hear suppressed, dreamlike whispers coming from her brother's room, and... a faint sound like fingernails scratching wood.

She was a little scared and didn't dare to check.

However, when she went to call her brother for breakfast this morning, she found the door ajar, the room empty, the bed neatly made as if no one had slept there, and the ink on the manuscript paper spread out on the desk was still wet, with the sentence half-written abruptly stopped.

Edgar White vanished without a trace, leaving no note or clue.

The last sentence left was:
"The city of terror, the city of terror, I must travel there, I can't hesitate any longer, I must—"

"Something must have happened to him! Archbishop and deacon, please, please help me find my brother. Our parents are both bedridden, and we rely entirely on my brother's royalties and my laundry work for a living. What will I do if something happens to him?" Lina became more and more anxious as she spoke, and she couldn't help but shed tears.

This doesn't sound like an ordinary missing person case.

The church immediately dispatched a team led by several experienced deacons to Edgar White's home to investigate and search. The archbishop was not allowed to leave the church, so although he was still paying attention to the report, he could only hear about what happened afterward from the reports and oral accounts of the deacons.

However, the investigation into this missing persons case revealed an even more bizarre aspect than anticipated.

The following is the original text of the document:
The skilled tracker, using his sacred magic, discovered that Edgar's life force had been erased from his bedroom and study by some force, leaving no trace of his departure; it was as if he had simply "vanished" from those rooms.

As the search team expanded outwards from Edgar's house, more than one member reported encountering a "ghost wall" in the nearby alleyways. Despite walking in a straight line, they would inexplicably return to their starting point after several loops, as if space itself were being distorted by some unseen force. Only by reciting hymns and radiating holy light could they barely break free from this cycle.

In Edgar's study, a highly perceptive young deacon would often hear extremely faint whispers, seemingly coming from a distant place. The words were indistinct, but when he listened intently, he would feel dizzy, as if his mind were being pulled into some cold abyss.

The deacons involved in the search all began having similar nightmares over the next few days—dreaming of walking under an endless, distorted starry sky, with a huge, bloodshot eye staring at them from the cosmos, the unfinished sentences from Edgar's manuscript echoing in their ears, repeating and twisting endlessly, and a familiar yet strange town vaguely visible.

Everything foreshadowed the seriousness of Edgar's disappearance. At that time, it was almost certain that Edgar was dead. When Lena was sorting through her brother's belongings, she was horrified to find that all the mirrors and reflective objects in the house were not reflecting her image at certain moments. Instead, they showed a rapidly passing, distorted picture of the starry sky. But when she called for help, the mirrors returned to normal.

The church performed a complete purification of Lina's house, and the archbishop personally funded a donation to her, urging her to move elsewhere with her ailing parents.

As for Edgar...

The church's search lasted for two whole weeks, using various methods, and even asking a deacon who was recovering from an injury to conduct deeper prayers and investigations, but still found nothing.

Edgar White was like a drop of water merging into the ocean, leaving no trace to be followed. All the clues pointed to the intervention of some supernatural force, and this force... had a disturbing similarity to the pollution from the stars felt in the Riel incident, yet it was more hidden and "cleaner".

Ultimately, after exhausting all conventional and unconventional means, the church had to regretfully inform Lina that they could not find her brother—at that time, the cult was rampant, and church personnel in nearby cities were unable to spare manpower to support such a small-scale, bizarre event that only affected one family.

This matter could only be recorded, but due to the lack of direct evidence and the sensitivity of the Riel incident, it was not publicized and was gradually buried by time, becoming another unresolved and strange file in the church's internal records.

……

After the archbishop finished recounting this story, a brief silence fell over the office.

His aged face was filled with reminiscence and solemnity:
"Looking back now, Edgar White's disappearance was by no means accidental. He was likely marked by the 'gaze' from the depths of the starry sky because of his contact with Riel, or because of his own act of writing records. Riel's end was a violent eruption and pollution, while Edgar... was perhaps 'taken away' completely in a more 'quiet' way."

“That travelogue is very important…” The archbishop’s gaze sharpened. “It may very well contain other clues, and I must study it myself. Furthermore, Investigator, I would like to request that you reopen the investigation into Edgar’s disappearance.” (End of Chapter)