Soul Trigger

Chapter 674 A Series of Ghost Stories
Angelica looked at her phone, her brows furrowed slightly.

The screen displayed the workbench interface of the shelter's intranet system, and the other party was her teacher.

But since yesterday, she has not received a reply to the several messages she sent to the other party, and voice communication and phone calls are also unreachable.

Considering the situation at the containment facility over there, which could very well be a small-scale containment failure, Angelica could only suppress her unease and look at the cross in her hand.

She gently tossed the object, then slowly put it down, her palms slightly red.

Just then, my phone rang, the one I had just slipped into my pocket.

She quickly picked it up, but it wasn't the teacher she had expected:

"Jansen, what's wrong?"

"My grandfather is back, and we're on our way to the living room to see him!"

Old Green?
Angelica was slightly taken aback.

living room.

Dressed neatly, Angelica strode across the corridor carpet, followed by the other two members of the knight squad, the Pulitzer siblings, and the Torture Armor that had been re-absorbed with Angelica's blood.

"Wasn't it supposed to be two days? You're back early?"

"I'm not sure, but it's always a good thing to do it ahead of time," Sika shrugged.

As the group pushed open the door, the first thing they saw was old Green, being served tea by the butler, and a figure sitting opposite him with his back to them.

Bordeaux, the Knight of Dead Water.

He turned around and smiled slightly at Angelica, whose eyebrows furrowed.
"It's you."

"Given the urgency of the situation, I called old Green back ahead of time."

"Is it really because the situation is urgent?"

"Of course, I..."

Angelica ignored Bordeaux's attempt to claim credit as he stood up.
“Mr. Green, it’s nice to see you again. These are my teammates, as well as Pulitzer and Equiel, who joined us temporarily. I’m sure you know them too.”

“Of course…” Old Green glanced at everyone, and when his gaze lingered on Ji Li and Ai Guier, a hint of surprise flashed across his face.

After Angelica shook hands with old Green, she sat down on the sofa, while the two team members stood behind her.

Ji Li was about to sit down, but Andrew stopped her and she shook her head.

They're not here as guests; let the leaders come.

But Angelica's voice came from the side:
“Pulitzer, sit next to me.”

Ji Li shrugged at the somewhat stunned Andrew and sat down next to Angelica.

“Pulitzer and his team discovered this, so let Pulitzer ask them.”

Aquilind, standing next to him, smirked but didn't cause any more trouble.

Old Green, however, found it strange that two of his school's students were following the parade of knights.

Seeing the doubt in his eyes, Angelica told Old Grimm that the two of them had become Awakened because of the anomalies in the town and had been recruited into the asylum:
“The things that have been happening in town recently are not simple. Mr. Green should know the inside story.”

Angelica hadn't investigated Old Grimm's cane and his secrets before because Odin's Sanctuary itself wasn't their target.

But now the situation involves the Dead Apostles, and even an unknown group formed by multiple Dead Apostles, which involves the secrets of Odin's Holy Land. You must tell the truth.

Old Green remained silent for a moment:
“If you’re asking about Awakened Ones… of course I know, after all, what I have in my hand is a special ‘holy artifact’.”

He picked up his cane and flicked it casually. A surge of spiritual energy entered everyone's senses, and they understood immediately. Jason even felt a sense of relief, followed by a slightly smug expression—

He was quite proud of his family background, especially his background as a fanatical follower of Odin, especially after seeing his grandfather, who had never told him before, reveal it to everyone.

"But if you're asking where the 'holy site' is located, or who wants it, I'm sorry, I have absolutely no idea."

"Have you seen these photos?"

Ji Li pushed the small box that Sika handed him onto the table from behind. Old Green opened it and was stunned when he saw what was inside:
"This is……"

“Your father, Jason’s great-grandfather.”

Old Green stroked the photos with trembling hands, his eyes revealing intense emotion:
"So, these are the stories..."

"A story?" Bordeaux narrowed his eyes.

Old Green replied without looking up:

“I was too young then, and I’ve forgotten it all. But my father told me these stories again and again, making them etched in my memory. I also told them to Jason when I was little…”

Everyone looked at Jason, but he looked somewhat bewildered:
"Is there any?"

“You have already forgotten, because you have firmly established your faith in Odin, so there is no need to talk about it.”

"What does that mean?" Ji Li raised an eyebrow.

"You may not know that a hundred years ago, this was just an ordinary village. People hunted, farmed, and even faced threats from wild beasts and unknown monsters."

We failed to keep up with the times, living by hunting and farming, and facing those bizarre threats.

The Green family were the first to see the Father, who descended here in a streak of steel-colored light.

He gave us three sacred objects to protect us from wild beasts and three marks representing the believers…

Old Green looked at the cat's eye pendant hanging around Ji Li's neck, which Anya had given him before:
"A cat's eye stone grants one good fortune, a walking stick grants one strength, and a scarecrow stands on the earth to drive away evil..."

"In the end, you left the cane, the mayor's family took the luck, and the scarecrow was stolen?" Ji Li said.

"That's pretty much the story. The arrival of the Holy Father not only attracted us mortals, but also the local exorcist family, which is now the family of the Grand Duke of Saint-Germain—Ludwig. Or rather, it was as if they knew all along and came here in advance to wait."

In other words, this happened after the Pioneers and Felin met, and had already crossed paths with the Ludwig family?
Ji Li pondered, while Angelica narrowed her eyes:
"Didn't the Grand Duke's ancestor have exclusive access to Odin's sacred artifacts?"

Old Green shook his head: "No, they had no interest in the sacred artifacts. They served the Father and only took one of the marks, leaving the cat's eye stone that was originally given to them to my family."

Serving Odin?
Ji Li recalled the Grand Duke he had met before, but he hadn't seen anything related to himself. Old Green's cane and clothes, however, had crows on them.

"Does that mean you're 'not providing service' now?"

Old Green smiled and took a sip of tea:

"After all, the Father has fallen, and they have devoured His body..."

"What did you say?"

A burst of spiritual energy flashed in Ji Li's eyes, and a crack suddenly appeared in the teacup in Old Green's hand, causing him to freeze in shock.

All eyes were on Ji Li, but he had become natural and composed, taking the teacup from Old Green's hand and smiling as he personally poured tea for him.

"Sharing the food?"

"...That's right, the Father's body was taken away and placed in various places on White Island to continue guarding this land."

"The Ludwig family was one of those who received that share?"

"That's how my father told the story. As for the rest, I don't know how much of it there is. It's just a part left blank in the story."

"But you still tirelessly believe in the Father and pass that faith on to Jensen?"

"Because we are different from the others in the story, we firmly believe that the Father gave us everything, even if it is just a story."

But the Green family has indeed grown increasingly powerful, and even today, our family assets continue to increase… The holy land you speak of, or rather, the holy land I mentioned to Jason, may well be a part of the Father's body left in Red Maple Town.”

Angelica interlaced her fingers and let her body hang down:
"Where is it?"

Old Green took a sip of tea with a smug look on his face and chuckled:
"I do not know."

“A group of Dead Apostles has now set its sights on Odin’s Holy Land, including the ‘Puppet Masters’ who were active a hundred years ago. Mr. Grin, we respect your beliefs, but this matter is of great importance, so please do not keep it a secret any longer.”

“I have nothing to hide. As I said, those are just stories from our family genealogy. Jason said you’ve been here for two days, so you should have looked through some of the family’s records…”

“Mr. Green, we…”

Ji Li suddenly reached out his hand, interrupting Angelica's words.

He picked up the photo on the table; it was the one of old Green and his parents.
"You're still hiding something, aren't you?"

A glint flashed in Old Green's eyes:
“What a perceptive lad… but that’s our family’s privacy, and has nothing to do with the holy site you want to know about.”

Angelica grabbed Ji Li's hand, winked at him approvingly, and, ignoring Aquile's displeased expression, turned to old Green while holding the photograph:
"There is no privacy in the face of evil and destruction."

Old Green glanced at Jameson, then looked at the photo:
“Okay… I think you can tell those are my parents.”

Ji Li continued:

"It was also your father and aunt, and you said you don't remember anything that happened back then... but you seem perfectly normal now."

"Yes."

Old Green lowered his eyes:
“My father said that it was the Holy Father who saved me.”

"Inbreeding results in deformed offspring..."

He suddenly raised his hand and took off his gloves.

At the end of that palm, with its bulging veins and gnarled roots like an old tree, were only three fingers.

Jason froze, then realized that he had never seen his grandfather take off his leather gloves before...

"In addition to physical deformities, there were also brain deformities. But the appearance of the Father changed everything."

It bestowed sacred objects, granted health, enabled me to grow strong, spared my family from suffering, and allowed me to successfully give birth to children, resulting in the Jansen I am today…”

He looked at the boy staring blankly at the double-door refrigerator, smiled, beckoned to him, took his hand, and looked at him with eyes full of affection.

Genetic recombination?

Ji Li also picked up his teacup and took a sip:
"Excuse me, how old are you this year?"

Old Green laughed heartily:
"He is already over a hundred years old."

The three people standing behind the sofa were immediately taken aback.

Aside from his white beard, Old Green looked no more than sixty or seventy years old, not at all like someone with one foot in the grave. Ji Li glanced at Jason's enormous frame.

"This is why you still believe in Odin, because the Holy Father saved your life and the entire Grin family bloodline, and also gave you and your offspring extremely healthy bodies..."

"Who knows?" Old Green patted Jason's strong arm.

"All I know is that as long as we continue to believe in the Father, the Green family will continue to prosper, and even though my body is getting old, I have never been seriously ill."

So even if it's just a story, the Father must exist.

"But you don't know where the Holy Land is?"

"do not know."

Angelica suddenly said:
"But when you were on the verge of death, you sent Jason to find the Holy Land..."

Old Green smiled:

"Of course, that is my unfulfilled wish in this life. I've lived to this age, I have money, I have a family, so naturally I need a hope to keep living, right?"

Angelica didn't speak, but suddenly sprang up, her claws stabbing straight at old Green.

The latter neither dodged nor avoided, but Jason was startled.

But how could an apprentice possibly keep up with the speed of the Overlord? He could only watch helplessly as the claws pierced towards Old Green, then stopped just one centimeter from his face—

A cane was placed in front of Angelica.

“I am not an awakened one; it is only because the Father has enabled my body to wield this staff.”

Angelica slowly withdrew her hand, and old Green continued:

"If you can really lead Jansen to Odin's Holy Land, that would be a good thing, and it is also my lifelong wish."

But unfortunately, I really don't know where it is..."

"The town is surrounded by dead men now, don't you care?"

"If they don't know, they don't know. If they wantonly slaughter the town, they probably won't gain anything, right? I have a lot of trust in the Royal Containment Center and the Dark Side Oversight Group."

More than anything else, I'm curious about where you found these photos?

Ji Li: "It was found based on that nursery rhyme."

"Nursery rhymes??" Old Green was taken aback.

"Based on the first two lines of that nursery rhyme, we found your office in the old campus."

A laboratory belonging to the Dead Apostles was located directly beneath that building; that's where these things were found.

“…Dead Apostle?” Old Green was clearly taken aback by this and was somewhat stunned.

"So could you tell us where the last mark is, and what the nursery rhyme actually means?"

Ji Li did not tell Old Green about the log, because there was a nursery rhyme at the end of the log, and he wanted to verify whether the other party's statement was consistent with this fact.

However, old Green was clearly more astonished by the World Tree Imprint:
"The last one? You've already found two!?"

The Knights exchanged glances. Angelica pulled out a second mark from her pocket, from the Gravekeeper, and handed it directly to Old Green.
"Look familiar?"

"No... you don't need to give it to me."

After Angelica revealed its origin, old Green's gaze held a hint of melancholy:

"It's actually the gravedigger... If you can find the last one that Ludwig originally possessed, you might actually be able to find Odin's Holy Land."

Where is that one?

"I don't know." Old Green's expression returned to normal as he looked at Ji Li and said:
"Beneath the pebbles covered in red leaves, the truth lies buried in the forbidden zone of tree roots... You found that so-called laboratory through this, didn't you?"

"Yes."

Old Green smiled and shook his head:

"Perhaps that's where nursery rhymes come from."

Ji Li raised an eyebrow. Old Green's statement matched his guess, but this was not the result he wanted.

"What did you say?"

"This nursery rhyme wasn't originally a nursery rhyme; it was a string of last words. The apostle you mentioned, if I'm not mistaken, was called... the Clay Figure Master?"

Angelica's pupils contracted:
"Have you seen it?"

"On the day the Father descended, it was attacking the village and was the first evil creature killed by the sacred artifact 'Scarecrow'."

"?!"

Everyone was stunned:

"How can this be?!"

"At least, that's how it is in the story."

Ji Li and Angelica exchanged a serious glance.

Although they suspected that old Green was lying, the sudden disappearance of the clay figurine maker a hundred years ago perfectly matched old Green's story.

The logbook in that laboratory must have been written after that.

In other words, the experiment being conducted in that laboratory was not conducted by a clay puppeteer, but by something else entirely!
Angelica glanced at the Dead Water Knight Bordeaux beside her out of the corner of her eye, but Bordeaux also seemed quite shocked and didn't come to his senses for a long time.

……

On the way to the manor restaurant, everyone still felt a chill down their spines.

Angelica was with the Knights squad, with the Torture Armorer watching the Dead Water Knights, while they whispered to each other, probably discussing reinforcements and follow-up arrangements.

Jason led the way, Old Green brought up the rear and talked to the butler about the ingredients for lunch, while Ji Li hung in the middle, deep in thought.

“Pulitzer, I always felt that Mr. Green was lying.”

"Is it just a feeling? He must be lying."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because his answer almost completely circumvented all our objectives, all directions either ended up in a blank or deviated to other places, leaving nothing behind."

"So what he said about the clay puppeteer... was also false?"

"A lie that's half true and half false is the most deceptive...hmm?"

Ji Li suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Along one side of this ornate and spacious corridor are many framed portraits of the Green family ancestors.

Ji Li saw old Green's father and his birth mother, Margaret Green.

However, compared to the photos found in the laboratory, they had a more aristocratic air about them, mainly in their demeanor, and they also appeared to have aged considerably.

“It’s taboo…” Aiquier muttered, glancing at Ji Li.

Ji Li was about to tease this guy when he suddenly froze:

"What did you say?"

Aquil blushed and turned her head away:

"nothing……"

Then he secretly observed Ji Li's reaction, thinking that he was deliberately being direct, but found that the other party was stunned on the spot.

In Ji Li's retina, the logical framework of the Ascension Protocol was rapidly arranging, reorganizing, and generating a large number of deductive results.

Forbidden Love

[Tree Root Forbidden Zone]

[Tree Roots - Odin Faith]

[Restricted Area - Taboo]

The truth is buried in the forbidden zone of tree roots—the truth lies hidden in the forbidden love of Odin.

Overall logical connection and probability: 72%.

Ji Li's eyes flashed:

"Damn it, who wrote this puzzle? It's so ingenious!"

He turned around abruptly, only to see the butler following behind him:

Where is Mr. Green?

The butler said:
"He just received a business call and rushed out, so he asked me to take care of everyone..."

"This old guy..."

Without saying a word, Ji Li immediately entered the evil spirit transformation:
"Angelica, keep up! That guy's trying to escape!"

The group of people in front turned around instantly and saw that Ji Li, in his merman form, had already smashed through the butler who tried to stop him and was charging outside, along with Aiquier, who had also activated his soul armor—

The younger sister had no idea what her older brother was thinking, but she joined the group tour first.

"Captain, this..."

Before the hesitant voice could even finish, two figures had already darted up.

One was Angelica, and the other, even faster, was the Blackwater Knight.

"Sika, Andrew, keep up! Pulitzer, don't rush in! Don't expose yourselves to passersby!"

A surge of various spiritual energies erupted, and Ji Li, following Old Green's vehicle, finally arrived at a familiar plot of land—

The old campus.

(End of this chapter)