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The Great Old Ones: Chapter 910 The Heretic Salem (End) (Fifth Update)

The view blurred, and the leaping flames seemed to take on a "life" form. However, they were not the beautiful spirits of my imagination, but rather broken, grotesque, bloated, and chaotic things. They formed from the ruins, whispering softly, and slowly approached as they looked this way with their "eyes"...

Reason (Mental): 90/100 (Status: Peeping into the Abyss)

Reason (Mental): 80/100 (Status: Peeping into the Abyss)

Reason (Mental): 70/100 (Status: Peeping into the Abyss)

Reason (Mental): 60/100 (Status: Peeping into the Abyss)

……

The menacing "flames" swarmed around, their bloated forms spewing out hot, sticky liquid that left grotesque trails on the ground. They scurried around the body, seemingly searching for an opening. One of them appeared to have found what it was looking for, and after letting out a distorted, "joyful" sound, it opened its "mouth" wide—

"Investigator?"

Along with the questioning voice, a touch on the shoulder brought the mind back from that unknown world. The "flames" surrounding the area had disappeared, and there were no traces of the high-temperature viscous liquid merging on the ground. Only the words on the yellowed paper in the hand were still clear, and the reason that was slowly calming down returned.

You peered into the abyss, and the unknown terror gripped you tightly. You barely managed to escape and catch your breath, but their gaze has already been set on you.

[Mysticism +30, Archaeology +30, Philology +30, Maximum Sanity -20, You are drifting further and further away into the unknown]

You have discovered fragments of the mysterious document, "The Seven Chapters of the Mysterious Lord's Secret Scripture".

The gates to the abyss have been opened for you...

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After resolving the "murderer in the fog" incident, the group, led by Lin Yi, found the unconscious Shang—and nothing unexpected happened.

The girl who appeared in the underground prison was named Abigail, and she was the person that Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others were looking for. Lin Yi did not stop them from taking her back, but when he suggested that Lin Yi stay at a place temporarily for the heroic spirits, he was unexpectedly refused.

"I still have some things to confirm."

"need any help?"

Having fought side-by-side before, and with the added bonus of +999 to the "Special Attack on the Root Side," Robin Hood took the initiative to speak: "We still have some time. If you need anything, just let us know. Consider it your reward for helping us find this little girl."

"As for a reward... I don't need it for now, but there will definitely be opportunities."

"Sure, you should know where we live. Just come over if you need anything."

Watching the group leave, Lin Yi's smile slowly faded, and he turned to leave.

Underground prison.

The dim candlelight flickered as it approached, its faint glow offering no sense of security but rather inspiring fear—a mere breeze could extinguish this sole source of light.

Fortunately, none of these serious incidents occurred until Lin Yi returned to the "point of occurrence".

When Lin Yi returned to the place where he found Abigail at the end of the underground prison, the familiar smell of blood still lingered in the air. Before, Lin Yi didn't understand where this smell came from, but now it was different.

Walking to the wall covered in cobwebs, I easily pried open the loose wall with my crowbar and found a book behind it, along with a page tucked inside.

By the dim candlelight, I turned my gaze to the books.

"Luocheng Textbook"

The book cover was made of a special material, with a soft, human-skin-like feel to it. After flipping through it, he found that it mainly contained knowledge about summoning and controlling monsters from the deep sea. Setting the "Snail Annihilation City Manual" aside, Lin Yi turned his gaze back to the second page tucked inside the script.

Like the one found among Jack the Ripper's "remains," the yellowed pages contained a line of text—a language that could only be understood through "language proficiency."

Before any analysis could begin, the body seemed to realize something and began to tremble uncontrollably. Its sanity, which had been reduced to 40/80, began to fluctuate violently, dropping to 30/80 in just a few seconds, and showing a tendency to fall to the bottom.

His brow furrowed slightly, and he finally loosened his grip on the book's pages, placing it along with the previous page into the "Snail City Textbook."

“No normal person would easily run into the depths of the dungeon.”

Turning around, she spoke to the dark corner where the candlelight couldn't reach: "Or perhaps, you were originally 'living' in here?"

As he spoke, he patted the cell door beside him, making a dull thud.

Silence reigned in the distance, and Lin Yi remained in that posture until—

"Looks like nobody's here."

Pick up the candle and step out of the dark dungeon. As the only "light" disappears, everything falls back into dead silence and darkness.

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The subspecies singularity "Salem" is far less "grand" in scale and history compared to other singularities that magicians pass through when saving humanity—at least far less significant than singularities that frequently alter history and distort the future.

At least one “trivial” little thing happened in the town of Salem in history.

In April 1692, a clergyman in Salem, Massachusetts, had a daughter and niece who contracted a strange illness. The two girls began to drift into a stupor, sometimes screaming and throwing things around; at other times they would have convulsions and groan in pain. Then, other girls began to show the same symptoms, and panic gripped the entire town.

Doctors diagnosed the girls as being under witchcraft. Several priests came to the town to pray for the patients, but to no avail. The priests then demanded that the girls identify those who were practicing witchcraft.

At the time, it was widely believed that the devil was transmitted from one person to another. That is, the devil needed someone to act as its agent. The devil would then appear as the agent to harm others. The ghost was only visible to the victim. It was this "ghost evidence theory" that was accepted by the courts.

At first, the girls pointed out that three women were witches: a black woman; a beggar woman; and a woman who was married to an indentured laborer and rarely attended church gatherings.

By May 1692, the jails in Salem and Boston were overflowing with witchcraft suspects awaiting trial. Approximately 200 people were accused of witchcraft, more women than men. As the witch trials expanded, some began to doubt the veracity of the girls' accusations.

The hanging of six witches in the summer of 1692 did not end the witch trials throughout the state. More and more people showed symptoms of illness, leading to a surge in witchcraft accusations and trials. People of all social classes, from farmers to merchants, were accused. No one was spared the accusation of witchcraft.

Under intense public pressure, the then-governor of Massachusetts issued an order on October 29, 1692: suspected witchcrafters should not be imprisoned unless absolutely necessary, and no detained suspects should be harmed. On the same day, he also ordered the dissolution of the special courts. The last witchcraft trial concluded in January 1693.

In May 1693, Governor Phipps granted amnesty to all imprisoned witchcraft suspects and terminated all trials. By this time, the Salem witch trials had resulted in 19 people being hanged, one person being stoned to death, and five people dying in prison.

……

Today is April 22, 1692.

P.S.: 2 phosphorus dream durian lingzhi Japanese clothing three-handle 017 blades... Is it already last year?

The Great Old Ones: Chapter 911 The Witch's Trial (1)

By the time we turned back, it was already dark.

After finding the missing girl Abigail, the "troupe" that had come from afar returned to "normal" and began their first performance—a story about King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba from before Christ.

For some reason, Lin Yi did not join the villagers to watch, but instead began the third search of the town. However, unlike the previous two searches, this time the main target was an area resembling a church.

—The pastor’s daughter and niece.

In April 1692, the "Witch Trial," the only event in this town that could be considered "abnormal," began. The two individuals' illnesses triggered subsequent accusations, leading to disaster. From Lin Yi's perspective, whether or not he stopped the "Witch Trial" seemed irrelevant, but he couldn't allow the situation to deviate too much. It's worth noting that Salem had already seen a fallen magician (Gildre's *The Book of the Dead*) and a crazed assassin (Jack the Ripper). It was conceivable that, with the repeated interference of the "Outer Gods," this "Witch Trial," limited to only about twenty casualties, would be distorted into a "singularity" on another level.

At times like these, maintaining control over the status quo is essential. Moreover, Lin Yi is no longer the same as before, completely powerless against those lurking in the shadows...

As you approach the location of the church, do you notice the bonfire by the roadside, and the girls doing strange things around it?

I recall seeing a similar scene during my second exploration of this town not long ago. However, at that time, I didn't pay much attention because I was unaware of the events that occurred in Salem in 1692. But after obtaining two "pages," and with my "Mysticism," "Archaeology," and "Linguistics" all at 80—as well as the bonus of "Peeping into the Abyss"—I noticed something unusual in the seemingly joking behavior of these people.

"Did everyone bring ash tree branches?"

The familiar blonde girl asked the people around her questions. Although they had only been separated for less than an afternoon, there was no sign that she had been thrown into a dark and sunless underground prison and was unconscious not long ago. Instead, she was full of energy and guiding people through this "ritual".

"This is a staff, use it to knock on the door!"

As he spoke, he tapped the ground with a branch of ash tree: "Knock on the ground three times, knock on the unseen door three times, thump thump thump (rat a tat tap)!"

"The door leads to the outside world, so..."

After a pause, he declared in an excited voice: "The Holy Spirit will appear before us and deliver divine revelation!"

A young girl who was following her during the ritual asked in bewilderment, "What kind of revelation will it be, Abby?"

The latter answered without hesitation, as if he had personally witnessed such a scene: "That would be the future you desire, like the person we are eagerly awaiting—"

I don't know if it was just my imagination, but the gaze from afar swept towards the area where Lin Yi was, but it quickly returned to normal.

"There is also N6 phosphorus (II) Ershan Temple Scar f8 Temple Neighbor-Dream, and... not here... going to that unknown, far, far away world."

The girl's slightly immature voice carried a captivating longing: "The Holy Spirit will whisper to us the opportunity to truly fulfill our desires while we are alive."

Such a beautiful blueprint was incredibly tempting to the girls living in the secluded town of Salem, who almost couldn't wait to repeat Abigail's actions—taking ash branches and knocking on the unseen door in the ground.

"I want a dress whiter than snow! The kind that will make him turn his head many times."

"Then I want hair that's as black and shiny as a wet raven feather!"

I want to know who I will marry in the future.

……

Smiling at the girls who were dreaming of a bright future, Abigail watched them complete these actions and continued, "Alright, everyone... silently make your wishes and put the staff into the fire."

Let's sing the song of Tituba together... let's sing the song of protection together?

"--good!"

……

You witnessed an 'unknown ritual'.

[Mysticism (80) check failed]

You find the girls' actions—especially Abigail's—incomprehensible, but out of professional instinct, you secretly memorize the scene before turning and leaving.

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As it turns out, for an "ordinary person" who is extremely average in all aspects (physique, strength, and agility are all average 10), it is not an easy task to set foot in every part of a town with a population of 50,000, let alone find a church in the dark where a pastor and his daughter and niece live.

Asking would undoubtedly be much more efficient, but the problem is that this kind of thing can't be known by others—especially the "natives" of Salem. If all goes as expected, the "witch trial" is about to begin. If these "natives" find out that they are searching for those two "sources" and turn away, they will be "cursed." Even a fool would connect the two events. The "witch trial" might not happen then, but a "witch man trial" will likely be unavoidable.

They were able to act because the "theater troupe" was attracting the attention of most people in Salem, but it now seems there is still not enough time...

Or perhaps the "church" that served as the origin could never be found?

This thought arose when I noticed several figures running out from the suddenly interrupted stage play, surrounding a villager whose face was filled with anxiety and disgust—mainly directed at a dark-skinned woman.

The reason could be roughly understood from their vague conversation.

"...My daughter has been unwell and bedridden since this morning. I thought she was just tired and fell asleep yesterday, and that she would be fine after a nap. But she was groaning and twisting in pain, and I couldn't calm her down. So I had to ask the pastor to come to our house. At that point, my daughter seemed to be in even more pain, and she started acting strangely."

At this point, the pastor interjected: "It was as if it were possessed by a demon, making strange noises, and then it grabbed my neck with unimaginable strength for a child!"

"We held her down with all our might, and then she passed out, collapsing there exhausted. I just wanted to change the soiled sheets, and then—"

The villagers presented a strange object: a human figure carved from wood, imbued with strong local customs. However, in the firelight, it did not bring a sense of security or protection; instead, it instilled intense fear in the people.

"This was found in the bedding—a cursed item!"

The Great Old Ones: Chapter 912 The Witch's Trial (2)

The incident ended with the black woman being taken away, seemingly due to some connection between them. The theater troupe also stopped their performance, and the magician went along, presumably to help the woman suspected of being a "witch."

In contrast, Lin Yi's target was on the other side.

Following the direction from which the villager who had shown the "cursed item" had come, we walked for a full half hour until we reached the edge of Salem.

No?

Looking back at the desolate street, the pale moonlight overhead was enough to make the road indistinguishable. However, the empty houses on both sides did not seem to have suddenly appeared with any residents. It was impossible to know where the villager and priest who had identified the witch came from.

On another note, historically, there were two people in Salem who contracted the disease: the pastor's daughter and her niece. Now, however, it's the daughter of a villager who has no connection to the pastor, and there's only one person involved. Furthermore, the person identifying the "witch" isn't the "victim," but rather the "victim's" parents…

History can only ever be "history," not "reality" used to deal with the current anomalies.

After abandoning the idea of ​​relying on historical clues, Lin Yi hesitated about the next step.

Based on all the clues found in Salem so far, it can be basically determined how Salem, which has been infiltrated by the "Outer God" and shaped by the "Root," operates.

On one hand, as the original ruler, Lin Yi still retains the ability to interfere with a part of the "Root". This can be seen from the "+999 to the Root side agents". Basically, as long as he speaks, those heroic spirits will be "persuaded"... In effect, it is equivalent to an infinitely usable "Command Spell". However, more specific verification is needed.

At the same time, the "Outer Gods" who infiltrated the "Root" also gained some interference capabilities. Just like Gildre and Jack the Ripper, the former was eliminated before he came into contact with the Heroic Spirits, while the latter was eliminated through the battle of the Heroic Spirits. The "pages" they left behind after their disappearance should be the medium through which the "Outer Gods" interfered with the Heroic Spirits.

In this situation, neither side has an absolute advantage over this "home field," so they can only "go in circles" by testing each other... It can be said that Lin Yi's best option now is to find those heroic spirits who are staying in the "troupe" and forcibly "persuade" them to act for him by "attacking the root side," just like how the "Outer God" forcibly drives the heroic spirits to take action.

However, Lin Yi could not guarantee whether those heroic spirits that had already been made public had been tampered with; if that were the case, it would be tantamount to courting death.

In addition to this, there was another "unknown factor" that made Lin Yi even more hesitant to make a decision...

The Eye of the Root.

It was originally the Greater Grail in the Fourth Holy Grail War—a forgery extracted from the "Root" world using the Third Law, capable of analyzing and repeating all magical concepts. However, as the Main God Space's second invasion of its parallel world was completed, it existed as a major combat system in external exploration and the Fragment Wars for a period of time afterward.

In terms of sheer strength, the "Eye of the Root" system may not be as powerful as the AllSpark system with its high war potential or the information manipulation system with its extremely high ceiling. However, after obtaining the "Generalization Rule," many "magic" spells that could only be used under a single rule have become usable in other worlds—a fairly versatile and comprehensive ability. After all, not to mention anything else, there are no fewer than several thousand Noble Phantasms formed from the legends of Heroic Spirits alone, so there must be one that is suitable for you.

However, this system, which had been implanted for a long enough time and even served as an "eye," exhibited unknown phenomena after being infiltrated by the "Outer God." If Lin Yi and the "Outer God" each had 30% of the authority in this "Salem," then the remaining 40% was controlled by its true "owner," namely the Root.