radicalducati Chapter 1 Mysterious Ritual
Chapter 1 Mysterious Ritual
In the dimly lit basement, Su Chen struggled to get up.
Before he even opened his eyes, the pungent smell of blood filled his nostrils.
His body reacted faster than his mind, instinctively covering his nose.
With great difficulty, Su Chen opened his heavy eyelids, and by the dim candlelight, the scene before him gradually became clear.
This is a dark basement, with many miscellaneous items scattered around, and a bronze mirror lying quietly in the corner.
In the center of the room was a huge blood-red magic circle, which was composed of an abstract pattern of an eye without pupils.
Six corpses lay sprawled at the six corners of the magic circle, their heads seemingly vanished into thin air.
Only a bloodstain remained on the ground, and the coarse linen robe on the corpse was also stained red with blood.
In the center of the magic circle, a person was huddled up kneeling, head buried in chest, trembling all over.
Su Chen rubbed his cold left hand, a strange chill spreading from his palm to his arm.
Based on the degree of blood drying, Su Chen made a judgment: these people would not have been dead for more than two hours.
Years of experience in the Anomaly Management Bureau have made this judgment instinctive.
He didn't make a sound, checked himself, and found that he was wearing the same style of robe, with a simple set of work clothes underneath.
I was just dealing with the ghost story "The Mirror Demon" when I triggered its death rule and died. How did I end up in this basement in the blink of an eye?
While silently recalling, Su Chen discovered that he had a new memory in his mind, the memory of a boy named Suren Cheen.
Despite the fragmented memories, Su Chen still managed to extract some keywords from them.
The Duchy of Equilia, Loren Town, a factory humming with steam, the common language of the continent, a mysterious ritual...
Su Chen carefully recalled his memories of the mysterious ritual and finally obtained some valuable information.
Just an hour earlier, Suren Cheen participated in a mysterious ritual of the "Classical Wisdom Society".
The organization's leader claimed that the ritual could pry open sacred objects.
The ceremony proceeded smoothly and indeed summoned the sacred object—a book emitting white light.
The book hovered in mid-air, its pages turning on their own with a rustling sound.
The black ink on the pages kept appearing, flowing, and then quietly disappearing.
As the pages turned, the heads of these cultists exploded one after another, and Suren Chern lost consciousness.
"What a bloody fireworks display," Su Chen couldn't help but think to himself.
"Sigh," Su Chen sighed. "It seems that Suren Cheen is also dead."
Strangely, his head was intact, and Su Chen had even transmigrated here.
Su Chen did not intend to find a way back. In comparison, even this world with its bloody rituals was much better than that world filled with strange tales.
Nevertheless, the mysteries of her time travel and the ritual still need to be solved, as no one knows what kind of threat lurks behind them.
After deciding to survive in this world, he also accepted the identity of Suren Chern.
No longer considering the future, Suren has more troublesome things to face right now.
Because that damned book was lying quietly at his feet.
The book was now closed, its cover featuring an eyeless dome, similar to a magic circle, with the words "General Knowledge Manual" written above it in the common language of the continent.
The book appears harmless at the moment, but Suren has no interest in this dangerous book whatsoever.
The first lesson from the Bureau of Anomalies in my past life was: do not touch any strange objects you encounter.
Only a fool would pick up a book that has just had six heads explode.
He carefully moved his legs, preparing to quietly leave this place.
Just then, a piercing pain shot through my previously cold left hand.
Suren looked down and her pupils contracted slightly.
He saw that his left hand had turned completely pale, and a tentacle extended from the tip of his index finger, shooting towards the "General Knowledge Manual" with lightning speed.
As if sensing a crisis, the book began to vibrate, as if trying to unfold its pages.
At this moment, the tentacles had already wrapped around the spine of the book.
In an instant, the book was covered with tentacles, like a python hunting its prey.
The book's light gradually dimmed, and the eye pattern that had been open in the center of the cover slowly closed.
As the eyes closed completely, the book abruptly disappeared, as if erased by an eraser.
Suren clearly sensed that the book was lying quietly deep within her consciousness.
Suren looked at his left hand, which had regained its color, clenched his fist, as if everything that had just happened was a dream.
No, it wasn't a dream. That bloodless hand from before looked exactly like the "evil spirit in the mirror," and it came with me.
In his previous life, as a senior captain of the Anomaly Management Bureau, he knew that ghost stories were just strange phenomena that followed absolute rules, and they would only be triggered, never attacked.
However, the "mirror demon" on him unusually attacked the book directly.
Suren realized that her time travel was probably not as simple as she had imagined.
He looked at the person in the center of the array; in the original owner's memories, he was the leader of this organization.
The other person is still curled up and not moving, and directly in front of them is the only exit of the basement.
The only exit was blocked; to get out, they would have to face that dangerous guy.
He had to take a gamble; Suren was determined to quickly uncover the secrets of the book.
As soon as he had a thought, a book hovered in front of Suren. The book was semi-transparent and did not seem to be a physical object.
The book's appearance had completely changed; its deep black cover resembled the profound depths of the starry sky.
The eyes in the center of the cover are now closed, and the title has changed to "The Book of Secret Knowledge".
Could it be that the "General Knowledge Manual" has been corrupted by supernatural tales? Suren tried to communicate with the book using his consciousness, and the book opened naturally.
The pages inside the book were white, with a peculiar sheen, and on the title page, written in red lettering:
[Core Secret:]
There are two blank lines after the main text, and below that are four more large characters:
[Common Secret Knowledge:]
The moment he saw those two lines, the information that needed to be filled in immediately flashed through Suren's mind, as if he knew it innately.
Simply by silently reciting it in your mind, you can fix the text after two entries, but it must be a piece of hidden knowledge or information.
You need to fix the ordinary secret knowledge first before you can fix the core secret knowledge.
Regarding the function of the secret knowledge, Suren had a guess in his mind, and then he silently recited and tried to fix a word in his mind.
On the pale white paper, blood-red characters emerged like blood plasma:
[Common Secret Knowledge: Suren Chern likes to drink unsweetened coffee → Secret Tier: Edge of Knowledge]
Suren thought to himself, "The edge of knowledge must be the rating of this secret knowledge. Judging from the name, it is the lowest rating."
Just then, the man's limbs began to twist in a bizarre manner.
Without time to consider the rating issue, Suren quickly added two more paragraphs to the Book of Secrets:
[Suren Cheen is actually a transmigrator whose soul is Su Chen → Secret Level: Practical Insider Information]
[The eerie phenomenon "Mirror Demon" is parasitizing Suren Chern's body → Secret Level: Forbidden Knowledge]
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
The person who was trembling seemed to have been stimulated by something, and frantically banged his head against the ground, instantly staining the ground red.
Suren was somewhat relieved that she hadn't simply walked right past the other person.
He ran quickly, heading in the direction of the bronze mirror from before.
At the same time, he used his consciousness to communicate with the Book of Secrets, fixing the secret about the strange tale in the core secrets column.
[Core Secret: The strange tale "Mirror Demon" is parasitizing Suren Chern's body → Secret Level: Forbidden Knowledge]
At a fixed moment, a new text appeared below the core secret knowledge section.
[The Secret to Deterioration: The Evil Ghost in the Mirror]
The additional text, "Deterioration of the secret knowledge...", was unexpected by Suren, and the method to activate it appeared in his mind.
The Book of Secrets can indeed leverage the power of supernatural tales. Suren also had some concerns. What would be the price?
On the other side, the strange man suddenly stood up straight, his head splitting in two like a watermelon.
The flesh inside is in sheets, like thin sheets of blood and flesh paper, and these sheets make disgusting sounds as they are turned over.
Even though he had seen many big scenes, Su Lun felt a bit nauseous. He forced himself to suppress his physical discomfort and hugged the bronze mirror.
He pointed the mirror at the monster, keeping the mirror facing the monster, and tried to use the power of the corrupted secret knowledge.
In an instant, a chill swept over his entire body, and a strong sense of discomfort enveloped him.
At the same time, he felt a warm energy being drawn out of his body, and the world in his vision gradually lost its color.
The monster was moving toward Suren in a bizarre manner.
Suren used his legs to push off and did a side somersault, the mirror still steadily facing the monster, his back burning with pain from the roll.
Because that energy was extracted, his body is now somewhat out of sync.
However, he didn't stop moving for a moment. He kicked the stool next to him at the monster, trying to obstruct it.
The monster twisted in a bizarre posture, like a piece of clay, and dodged the stool.
At this moment, Suren's arms began to tremble, and the world in front of him was still fading. He gritted his teeth and held the bronze mirror tightly.
Almost instantly, the monster's hands had already touched Suren's shoulders.
Suren was panting heavily. The world in his eyes had turned completely black and white, but he smiled.
Five seconds have passed; this is the murder pattern of the "mirror ghost."
In the mirror, a pair of long, slender, pale hands, almost transparent in color, reached out and grabbed the monster's body.
Ignoring the flesh covering it, the hands firmly gripped the monster's shoulders, instantly freezing its movements.
Its shoulders instantly lost all color, like a faded color photograph.
Then the hands suddenly tightened and pulled back, the movement so fast that only a blur remained.
The sound of flesh writhing vanished instantly, leaving only Suren's panting in the entire basement.
At this point, he could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.
The bronze mirror lay to the side, face up, reflecting Suren's shadow.
He looked to be in his early twenties in the mirror, with black hair and brown eyes, his face covered in sweat and slightly pale.
He had light yellow skin, and his eyes revealed a depth beyond his years.
Suddenly, the corners of my mouth in the mirror slowly and eerily curled upwards.
Suren's blood almost froze at that moment. Although he tried his best to suppress the fear, his hands trembled due to exhaustion.