Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1711, Chapter 1707: The Ancient Cult

"Shut up, look up, and listen carefully. You understand what I mean; your intelligence is average," he said. "You can notice my weapons and armor, but I need you to look me in the eye. These armors and weapons are for threats you can't even imagine, not for you. Those torture devices over there are for you."

The man opened his mouth wide.

His hands and feet were bound to the wooden chair with rough hemp rope. He struggled to move, but achieved nothing except chafed skin. The speaker looked down at him; the man was very tall and imposing, clad in heavy, golden armor. He held an exquisitely crafted short sword. Before the man could react, he felt a chill on his wrist as the sword sliced ​​through the ropes binding his wrists.

"Those who know you have reported you to me, and they have provided testimony. Their testimony has been recorded and archived, and their signatures and fingerprints are on parchment as a guarantee of its authenticity. The file is right in front of you. Don't look at the file; look at me," the guard said. "When I ask you a question, you must answer. I can know if you are lying. I only want the truth, so I will do things you don't want to see in order to get it. You only have one chance; don't give up hope."

Filled with immense fear, the man obeyed the guards' orders, meeting their blue-gray eyes high above him, his body trembling uncontrollably. The cell was quite empty; he had no companions. When the guards pushed open the door to his mud-brick house, his family had been arrested along with him. The man had lived alone there for a week, filthy and reeking, having received no communication from anyone during his imprisonment. He appeared dazed, falling asleep each night to the distant wails of agony, then imagining his and his family's fate in terror. The fear of the unknown had severely impaired his sanity, enabling him to obediently submit to the guards' interrogation. The man's cracked lips moved, but no sound could escape from between his teeth; he waved his arms, his fingers curling and scratching near his ears and in front of him, before finally falling silent again.

The guards remained silent, simply looking down at him and waiting. This wasn't the first interrogation, nor was this man the only one being interrogated. After a long while, the man moved again, seemingly using all his strength to open his mouth.

"I... said..."

"You've talked about your family history and those itinerant merchants. We know your family has been practicing paganism for five generations, and we know there's a basement under your mud-brick house filled with human skin, bones, and gold."

The Imperial Guards sat on marble seats in the center of the room.

He wasn't equipped with the Guardian's Spear, a perfect blend of melee and ranged weaponry, but carried only the Oath Sword and an exquisitely crafted heat-ray pistol. This pistol, made using Attila technology, had appeared in the Guardian's hands centuries after its creation; the Guardian had erased the Attila royal mark from the gun and removed all of Attila's technological reserves from their database. Although the man didn't know the purpose of the weapons in the Guardian's hands, he knew that anything in the hands of the Golden Angel was a weapon capable of threatening life.

"Perhaps you're clinging to a sliver of hope, so we have to start all over again. For the past month, I've heard a different lie every day, and if you lie to me again, we'll have to start all over again. I won't use this gun on you; you know nothing about it, so you can't understand the fear it brings you. You can only understand the threat this dagger poses."

The man suddenly broke down. He began to cry, to tremble, the wooden chair supporting him to keep him from collapsing. "It was a mistake..." he looked up, as if suddenly given courage, "but I didn't know that my parents, my grandparents, worshipped those gods! I was told from childhood that the gods I worshipped were the true God! The priests all said so, and I couldn't contradict them!"

He became increasingly talkative, while the Imperial Guard remained silent, their helmets resting on the armrests of the marble chairs recording every word and expression the man uttered. Two hours later, the Imperial Guard emerged from the room, passing through the temple corridors filled with young men and women from nomadic tribes recruited six months earlier. The commander of the Imperial Guard waited at the end of the corridor, where Hannibal handed him a data tablet and parchment scrolls.

"He revealed very little information," Hannibal said. "He didn't even realize he was lying."

Constantine opened the document and heard the man's sobs during the interrogation. He touched the parchment scroll written by the scribe with his armored fingers. Elis was a primitive city of 4000 people. Three households in the city had been contaminated, in addition to itinerant merchants from the coast and self-sufficient landowners from several nearby villages. Empty houses near the temple were crammed with suspects. Considering the frequency of cultural and trade exchanges among human settlements during the Ubaid period, this figure was quite staggering, and the Guardian Order did not rule out the possibility that many more potential believers had not been purged.

Upon questioning, it was discovered that the sources of these pollutants were different.

The first family's paternal lineage did not worship the local primitive gods. While humans were still smearing cattle and hunting grounds with their fingers on cave walls, their ancestors had already carefully concealed their true beliefs. They received so-called "revelation" quite early, but the trail went cold after the deaths of those involved. The second family consisted of foreign merchants who had lived in Eridu for twenty years. Their contamination came from the northern Mesopotamian plain. Initially, it was just a gradual social activity among those in the same trade, but they were gradually drawn to regular secret gatherings. Finally, they were given a clay tablet covered in writing and followed the instructions to settle in Eridu. The third family consisted of local Eridu residents. All 30 of their direct blood relatives in the city were involved. They manufactured highly toxic hallucinogenic drugs using materials brought by itinerant traders from the coast, which were then sold to the north by inland traders. The original contaminant of this family is unknown; time has obscured everything.

Although the sources of contamination varied and the individuals were unaware of each other's shared religious beliefs, they all practiced burnt offerings. These disappearances, some dating back over a century, involved both local residents and visiting merchants, with bodies hidden in everything from mud-brick houses to undeveloped farmland in nearby villages. Local records in Elidu indicate that the village experienced several outbreaks of plague, characterized by massive bleeding from organs and pores leading to death. One traveling merchant, who had passed through the village and arrived in Elidu, fell ill outside the city. Locals dug a pit and buried him alive. Those who buried the merchant also contracted the plague, eventually dying from rotting, bleeding wounds.

The plague only stopped spreading after the entire village was burned down and everyone was killed. Everything indicated that this might be a filovirus plague similar to Marburg virus, but Marburg virus and Ebola virus originated in Africa, and it was impossible for itinerant merchants trading near the coast to have reached Uganda and come into contact with fruit bats carrying the virus.

"Our Lord needs answers. The number of believers discovered is higher than average; we must find out the source."

A settlement of 4000 people wouldn't require the Secret Order of the Guard to conduct a complete search in just a few days. However, in that era, there were no household registration records or identification documents, and the availability of cylinder stamps was far below expectations. All investigations had to rely on door-to-door visits. This meant the Secret Order of the Guard needed to speak with every household in Elidu. The Secret Order of the Guard spent half a month making cylinder stamps and registering household information for every family in Elidu.

"Has Captain Miller gotten into any trouble?"

"No, the school was established smoothly, and he spent a lot of time teaching the children."

"Keep his attention focused on the school, and prevent him from interfering with the order's activities any further." Constantine nodded. "The autopsy results?"

Another member of the guard, Hammurabi, was not wearing armor. He wore a heavy robe made of several layers of linen, which was the most suitable medical work clothes for the time.

"No virus was detected," he said. "The temperature of this era is not high enough to kill filoviruses, and no asymptomatic cases have been found in the animal populations near the burial site. It can be confirmed that this is a psionic plague."

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Every morning, the emperor would don a long robe of silk and cotton, don a golden crown, and stand atop a 25-meter-high rammed-earth temple to overlook the city. Each day, Diana would accept gifts on his behalf. Sometimes it was two cows or six sheep; sometimes dates, honey, milk, and lard; sometimes finely brewed beer and at least four cubits (a unit of volume) of grain and flour; sometimes unrefined natural silver. The emperor did not interact directly with the local inhabitants; he represented the supreme power of the era. Like humanity's awe of nature, the power he represented could not have its own consciousness, nor did he wish to abuse it.

A contingent of the Royal Guard was dispatched to proclaim the emperor's authority over the surrounding hundreds of kilometers (essentially the area covered by Ubaid culture). They were accompanied by literate sons of merchants from within the city to serve as scribes, carrying clay tablets commissioned from the local inhabitants and the emperor's cylindrical seal, to issue land certificates to all Ubaid villages. These guards were also responsible for recording geographical conditions, cultivated areas, crop types, expected yields, usage rates of agricultural tools, and livestock numbers. When the guards returned, the emperor knew precisely how much property each household in Eridu and its surrounding villages possessed, including livestock, precious metals, and expensive dyed textiles. Eridu saw the first rudimentary form of a social welfare system, although it consisted primarily of providing meat, livestock, and grain to residents who formed new families or had newborns. Perhaps this welfare system appeased the city; the Royal Guard's arrests in Eridu did not cause panic among the local residents. Instead, it was the former rulers of Eridu who appeared apprehensive, even though most of them had been cleared of suspicion.

There was no written legal code in this era; all laws originated from the temple.

Managing the city was merely a pastime for the emperor during his leisure time; he was always engaged in genuine research in the temple. However, for Diana, the city remained a source of dissatisfaction, failing to provide her with the best quality of life. There were no beautiful gilded crystal glasses, no soft silk bedding, and even the cushions on the marble throne weren't made of cotton. The only thing that pleased her was the wool carpet that stretched from the temple gates to the throne on the steps, a carpet that had taken one-fifth of the women of Eridu four months to complete. The temple paid the women who worked on it daily with flour. To distract the maids from the scarcity of resources in this era, the emperor allowed her to select young girls from the nomadic tribes of Eridu and Hassuna to receive the sorority's standard education.

In this era, girls over twelve are considered the prime age for starting new families, while boys around ten are expected to undertake reproductive tasks. The school enrollment age frees selected children from breeding and farming duties. The girls Diana carefully chooses also don't need to work, but they receive more instruction. Besides standard military and medical training, there is the crucial education in home economics. She regrets that this era cannot provide girls with sufficient chainsaws and powered armor, and she also regrets that these girls are not true sorority reserves; the girls even receive wages for working in the temple.

The Emperor didn't know what Diana's selection criteria were, but he noticed that the girls Diana had chosen seemed to have learned how to apply makeup. Ample nutrition, strict hygiene regulations, and carefully selected clothing made them look far stronger and more beautiful than before. Initially, they were afraid of the Emperor and the Imperial Guard, but six months of close contact had lessened their fear. Although he didn't express it, the Emperor still felt this made him feel better; he was happy to see them mischievous when Diana couldn't see them.

The girls carried trays laden with pristine glass goblets and long-necked bottles, items impossible to produce in this era. Dinah stood beside the throne, her gaze stern as she scrutinized the girls standing quietly on either side of the steps. They held Dinah in awe and envy. Judging from the temple's function, Dinah was the emperor's priestess, and they were her apprentices. They hoped one day to wear the same power armor as Dinah, to become as beautiful and captivating as her; perhaps in their young minds, the priestess's job was simply to wield swords and slay people. This wasn't their fault; after all, Dinah wasn't originally a priestess.

"You did a great job."

"Six months of training is not enough to make them fully qualified. They cannot fight, nor can they perform their duties independently." Diana looked at the girl coldly. "I'm sorry, my lord, they are only half-finished products."

The emperor stared intently at the data panel in his hands, not looking up. He had grown accustomed to not wearing armor in the temple; even his holy sword had been sheathed and entrusted to the commander of the royal guard. Today, he wore a white and crimson silk robe. The sweltering, humid weather was unsuitable for such heavy clothing, and the crimson burial cloth seemed out of place on the Mesopotamian plains of this era. The temple was the tallest building in Eridu; its thick rammed earth walls and glazed mosaic surfaces insulated against the sun's heat, while a damp breeze brought a touch of coolness.

"I need the Secret Guard's report on today's interrogation."

The Emperor put down his data tablet and picked up a clay tablet. Managing a primitive city of 4000 people plus some slaves meant his workload wasn't heavy. He didn't need numerous complex regulations to oversee every resident's life; even raising sheep and cattle within the city was permitted. He was pushing forward with the construction of a sewer system, which required funding from the nobles of Elidu, as the temple couldn't afford a system that could last for hundreds of years. "Where's the grain merchant representative? I remember he had a negotiation with me today. Tell him the meeting is postponed until thirty standard minutes later. Any questions, Diana?"

"They are looking for you, and you are still concerned about the survival rate of livestock calves for farmers in the city."

The emperor looked up at Diana and found that she, like the other girls, was deaf to the voice. Time seemed to stand still, and even the fluttering curtains seemed to freeze in mid-air.

"I am delighted that you have come to this world from the vast ocean. I expect you have already attained the ultimate secrets of the universe." A figure in black robes appeared beside the throne, the Sorcerer Supreme smiling and nodding at him. The Emperor no longer maintained his indifference. Few in this world could see him show emotion, and the Sorcerer Supreme was one of the few. "I wish you could still call me a child, but we both know that is unlikely. I have donned the crown and become the Lord of Kamar-Taj."

"I never imagined that the one who defeated the white colossus in mythology would be you. The Holy Sword was originally yours; I was merely holding onto it temporarily. Fate is always so capricious and tiresome," said the Sorcerer Supreme. It seemed that the Sorcerer Supreme was much happier after abandoning his mortal body. "I'm here to remind you that they are searching for you. They have dismantled every Planck of time since the universe's birth to find you. Be careful. You might think these cases are merely remnants of the age of the gods, but no one can rule out the possibility that they might be bait they've laid out."

The Emperor raised an eyebrow and reached for the crystal goblet on the tray beside him. The deep red wine resumed its motion, the laws of physics of the real world taking effect once more. "This is wine made from wild grapes. It tastes terrible and isn't suitable for winemaking, but this is my only choice. There's no Belgian wheat, no Indian pale, no stout, no sherry casks, no bourbon casks, no tequila, and no rum right now."

Do you believe you only have one choice?

"They cannot come to this era for the time being, can they? The veil is not always filled with attackers, and the relationship between illusion and reality is not eternal. Now that you have found me, I must ask for your assistance. I know you cannot directly interfere with the real plane, but transmitting messages between reality and illusion will not change the Shannon entropy of this universe and will not attract the attention of those behind the veil," the Emperor said cheerfully. "I am preparing to retaliate against them; would you be interested in seeing it?"