Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 914 The Feathered Serpent God from Outer Space (Second Update)

Just half an hour earlier, he had spoken with Laura Crawford via video call, ensuring her expedition team had sufficient supplies to venture deep into the jungle and that nothing too serious had happened. Logically, once deep in the rainforest, Laura Crawford should have lost contact with the outside world, but she carried Immortal City communication equipment, with a communication satellite hovering above her in the atmosphere, allowing her to receive Salomon's call in the humid, sweltering rainforest. After a brief greeting, Laura immediately reported back—she had followed Sir Richard Crawford's notes and the files obtained by Immortal City, and sure enough, she had discovered a ruin in Brazil. The remnants of Trinity might have been there long ago, leaving behind the remains of some soldiers in the ruin's trap.

“We’ve come to the wrong place. The ruins should be in Peru, not Brazil,” Laura said excitedly. She held up the photos she’d taken of the ruins, talking incessantly in front of the camera, as happy as a little girl who’d just received a toy. Perhaps because of the sorcerer’s intervention, Laura’s personality had completely broken free from the shadow of her father’s death and the lingering desires. She was able to happily follow in her father’s footsteps, discussing her adventures in a very relaxed manner. She showed Salomon the reliefs she had photographed in the ruins, the gems embedded in the murals forming constellations—it was based on the clues in the reliefs that she had found the ruins’ true location.

"And we've also found someone from my father's notes... an archaeologist who studies the pre-colonial era, and he's supposedly coming to Brazil soon. I've decided to wait for him here; maybe he knows something!"

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but Dr. Domiggs is with Trinity," Salomon said, flipping through the files. "I'll send Dr. Domiggs's file to your terminal later. However, due to its age and mismanagement, even the intelligence department hasn't been able to obtain much information, and his life remains shrouded in mystery."

"That's enough, Salomon." Laura shook her head. "You've helped me so much; I've never met a more generous benefactor."

"I did this out of a sense of duty, not personal feeling, so there's no need for much thanks." Although he said this, Salomon still smiled. "Besides, if you had dealt with the Croft Foundation's affairs first, you wouldn't need my financial support at all. You have no idea how the old butler complained to me, Lady, that the other estate is overgrown with weeds due to neglect. He asked me to ask you whether you'd prefer cranberry cookies or plain butter cookies. You can find those things on the plane when the supplies arrive."

"Cranberry cookies, please." Laura hesitated for a moment, then quickly concluded, "And tea."

"Of course, there are plenty of tea bags, more than bullets."

After hanging up the phone, Salomon began mobilizing personnel, issuing orders to the army fighting against warlords for the Immortal City in Africa. The army was led by Camilla, an old friend of Agent Coulson, a former Peruvian officer and guerrilla infiltrator. If Trinity had indeed gone to Peru, Salomon believed that Camilla's connections with the locals would make Laura's mission much easier. Meanwhile, the Immortal City was also planning an attack on Trinity's London headquarters, forcing Trinity to commit all its resources to this potentially game-changing mission. To ensure Camilla had sufficient firepower against Trinity, Salomon also provided her with three armed helicopters, a large number of anti-tank missiles and Stinger missiles, anti-aircraft guns, and other weaponry.

If Camilla were to possess a nuclear bomb, she might even be able to overthrow the Peruvian government!

Stephanie will handle this matter; the weapons and equipment given to Camilla will not affect the Immortal City's war preparation progress.

This pleasant conversation didn't allow Salomon to delve deeper into the secrets of the feathered serpent god, but thanks to the knowledge he had gained from reading books, he was able to deduce what would happen after the god's appearance. In the Aztec concept of the five cosmic cycles, floods, jaguars, torrential rains, hurricanes, and earthquakes all had their own legends, and related reliefs can be seen on the Aztec sunstones in the Kamar-Taj collection. These were the fears faced by the early South American inhabitants when trying to survive; by incorporating these fears into mythology, the feathered serpent god, who gained faith in it, also gained power. To investigate the feathered serpent god, Salomon also took advantage of his trip to Vandazar-e-Fauci to purchase alchemical materials and communicate with spellcasters on other planets to investigate the worship of the feathered serpent god on other planets.

On other planets, the worship of the feathered serpent god isn't called "Kukulkan," but rather "Star Demon" because of its ability to block starlight and cause solar eclipses. On some uncivilized planets, they worship a celestial serpent that devours the sun, and solar eclipses are seen as harbingers of doom, thus requiring blood sacrifices—Salomon had detailed knowledge of these planetary blood sacrifices. These civilizations all possessed extraordinary astronomical knowledge, but tribes often waged war in the name of their gods. Similar to the Mayan "War of the Flowers," they would offer human sacrifices to their gods after battles, and priests would dance wearing the skin peeled from the offerings to celebrate the sun's rebirth. Few things in this world could be worse than this kind of revelry—splattering blood and entrails everywhere, indulging in cocaine-laced hallucinogens, watching madmen dressed in human skin dance wildly on pyramids, and everyone immersed in a frenzied atmosphere.

Compared to the floods, jaguars, torrential rains, hurricanes, and earthquakes that our ancestors feared, the appearance of the feathered serpent god always coincided with a solar eclipse. However, a total solar eclipse already occurred this year in March, so we can infer that the appearance of the feathered serpent god was completely unrelated to natural laws. We cannot say that the feathered serpent god could influence planetary trajectories; we can only say that the possibility is very low, but not impossible.

This made things even more difficult for Salomon, whose only clue was the truth that Laura kept uncovering during her archaeological work.

"Hey, Wanda." Although Salomon had the privilege of borrowing most books, making a phone call in the library was not a good idea. The librarian immediately glanced over, and a spell that shone like a xenon lamp was cast on the librarian's eyes. Salomon had to cover his face with books to avoid being blinded by this "silent and subtle hint."

"How about we have dinner together tonight?" he asked in a low voice into the phone. The librarian's prompt was coming again, so Salomon quickened his pace, "Just at the apartment, we're not going to the manor. After dinner, I'm taking you to meet someone you know."

"Who?" Wanda asked lazily.

"You'd never guess," Salomon began to imagine how Nick Fury would behave under Frank Cassel's persuasion. According to intelligence reports, Salomon had uncovered some previously undiscovered secrets. "I can't tell you now, but you'll learn a lot from that guy," he said. "Don't stress it out, relax, just treat it as an after-dinner pastime."

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)