49: Chapter 49 Preparations Before the Full Moon

Six days before the full moon arrived, Old Neil thoroughly cleaned off the workbench in the Potion Room, leaving only an enamel cup and a newly calibrated distribution map of the seal nodes on the surface.

He lowered his head to check off the combat supplies for the coming week one by one: twelve bottles of concentrated holy water, eight bottles of spirit body resistance potion, six pairs of sealed rune gloves, four portable compasses, twenty bronze bottles of holy water, and twelve emergency signal flares.

After checking off each item, he would gently make a checkmark with his pencil. The faint sound of the pencil tip scratching against the paper was drowned out by the continuous low hum of the distiller. The black tea in his enamel cup had been replaced three times, and by now, it was thoroughly cold.

Flipping to the second page of the list, Old Neil picked up a red pen and wrote "Hoi River water level anomaly" in the blank space. He then took out the archived reports and began to sort through and summarize the abnormal phenomena in and around Tingen City.

In the three rainless days, the water in the Dock District quietly rose by nearly a foot. Fishermen downstream of the Hoi River had been pulling up large quantities of dead fish for two consecutive days; the fish bodies were intact, but their scales fell off at the slightest touch. In the waters of the Storm Cape, multiple merchant ships sighted an eerie black sail ship, its dark red sails lingering for a long time outside the reefs.

In the third section of the drainage branch at Iron Cross Street, this morning's routine sampling confirmed that the mold mycelium had already revived. The original concentric mold circles had completely shifted their center temperature from endothermic to exothermic. Furthermore, the spiritual fluctuations at the seventh induction node of the outer ring had been steadily increasing slightly for three days, showing a clear and stable upward trend.

Old Neil reread the organized anomaly records and drew a straight line with his red pen between "Storm Cape" and "Iron Cross Street."

He stood up and walked to the cast-iron safe in the corner, turned the combination lock, and opened the door to confirm that the jiaowei seal box and the silver snake key were resting safely on the lead tray. The garnet inlaid on the key handle had a calm luster, emitting neither light nor heat, and the seal was stable and secure. After confirming, he closed the door and locked the safe.

In the lounge on the other side, Klein sat on an old sofa by the window, flipping through a bound volume of old newspapers retrieved from the archives. On the coffee table were two cups of freshly brewed black tea and a plate of neatly arranged digestive biscuits. Outside the window, the twilight was heavy, slowly swallowing the last rays of daylight.

Leonard pushed open the door, tossed the patrol log onto the table, and sank wearily into the seat opposite Klein.

He had just finished his night shift patrol at Iron Cross Street, and the hem of his trench coat was stained with the cold, damp sludge from the drainage branch. Without standing on ceremony, he picked up the black tea Klein hadn't touched and drank more than half of it in one go.

"The mold in the third section of the branch has completely revived."

Leonard said in a low voice, "The mycelium length has doubled since yesterday, and the embryonic form of the concentric patterns has reappeared on the stone wall. But this time, it's not regular; there's a clear gap in the outer ring, directly facing the direction of the seventh induction node of the outer ring."

He took out his patrol notebook and opened the latest page, which had a rough sketch of the mold distribution drawn on it.

"I stayed there to observe for a long time. Besides the faint sound of the mycelium growing, I also heard a very low hum, like a bell tolling from a distant depth. It definitely wasn't the morning or evening bells of a cathedral; the frequency was extremely low, making one's teeth ache."

Klein looked up and asked, "How long did it last?"

"About two or three minutes." Leonard closed the notebook. "I immediately took out my compass to check. The needle shifted slightly, deviating less than two degrees toward the direction of the Storm Cape. After the strange noise dissipated, the compass immediately returned to normal."

"The Storm Cape is extremely far from Tingen." Klein tapped his fingertip on the open old newspaper, his gaze calm. "The fact that the spiritual fluctuations there can travel along the Hoi River to Iron Cross Street is enough to prove that this is by no means an ordinary natural phenomenon. It's someone doing this deliberately at sea."

He pointed to a short news item from three years ago on the newspaper, the headline clear and striking: "Unexplained Spiritual Fluctuations Recently Appeared in Storm Cape Waters, Nighthawks Maritime Patrol Team Has Intervened to Investigate."

"In November three years ago, also on the eve of the full moon, an identical spiritual anomaly occurred at the Storm Cape. At the time, it was ultimately concluded as submarine dormant volcano activity, and the case was closed hastily."

Klein closed the newspaper and placed it on the side of the coffee table. "But the timing of this abnormal tide in the river perfectly coincides with three years ago. It's definitely not a coincidence."

Steady footsteps echoed in the corridor, and Dunn pushed the door open and walked into the lounge. He hadn't taken off his dark gray trench coat, the cuffs were stained with dust from Iron Cross Street, and he was clutching a recently decoded urgent telegram in his hand.

"The maritime patrol team sent an investigation assistance notice."

Dunn laid the telegram flat on the table, his tone grave. "There is indeed a black sail ship in the waters of the Storm Cape. The sails are dark red, and the design doesn't match any registered merchant ships. The patrol team tried to approach for verification, but the other party suddenly accelerated in the mist and completely escaped tracking."

"The area where it escaped still has a high concentration of spiritual aura. The preliminary judgment is that it's the ritual residue left after the Aurora Order summoned a projection of the True Creator."

"It seems that Roy King choosing to act on the seventh day after the full moon wasn't done randomly." Klein instantly cleared up the sequence of events.

"On the night of the full moon, the Spirit World tide is at its peak. Superimposed with the spiritual fluctuations at the Storm Cape, the dual resonance can maximize the success rate of the Spirit Descent Ritual. The ritual preheating is completed at sea on the night of the full moon, and the spiritual fluctuations flow upstream along the Hoi River, arriving at Iron Cross Street exactly seven days later, perfectly matching the revival cycle of the mold mycelium."

Dunn took out the map of Tingen City and spread it out, using a red pen to circle three key locations: the mouth of the Hoi River, the third section of the drainage branch at Iron Cross Street, and the seventh induction node of the outer ring.

"The maritime tracking is the responsibility of the patrol team; we don't need to interfere. But Iron Cross Street is under our jurisdiction, and nothing can go wrong."

He issued the order in a low voice: "Starting tonight, the third section of the branch and the seventh induction node of the outer ring are listed as A-level monitoring targets. Rotate every four hours, with twenty-four-hour uninterrupted surveillance."

In the following days, the atmosphere at Iron Cross Street became increasingly tense and oppressive.

Leonard and Daly took turns stationed at the temporary monitor at the Pumping Station. The temperature curve on the dashboard was gentle yet firm, steadily rising day after day.

During the gaps in surveillance, Daly used her own mediumship abilities to assist in calibrating the instrument's sensitivity. Pale blue, slender spiritual tentacles spread out from her fingertips, seeping into the underground branch along the induction lines, leaving small spiritual marks at the most active nodes of the mold. In this way, even when shifts changed, the subsequent guards could use their spiritual perception to accurately lock onto the core area of the mycelium revival.

Leonard had served in the maritime patrol team, so he was particularly concerned about that eerie black sail ship. Whenever he was off duty, he would always review the anomalies of the Storm Cape in the lounge.

"Dark red sails, high-speed sailing, sudden acceleration in the mist... This isn't a modification method for a pirate ship; it's a spiritual acceleration array specifically adapted for high-level maritime rituals."

He placed his poetry book on his knees and looked at the ceiling, saying slowly, "I've seen similar design blueprints. That entire blood-colored sail is itself a giant ritual rune. When the clear light of the full moon falls, the entire ship becomes a mobile altar for the Spirit Descent Ritual."

"If that ship completes the full moon preheating ritual at the Storm Cape, within seven days, there will definitely be members of the Aurora Order carrying ritual items, sneaking into the inland river along the Hoi River."

"All piers along the Hoi River had additional sentries deployed yesterday, and inspections have been strictly tightened." Daly leaned in from the doorway to respond.

Leonard shook his head gently. "The piers won't stop the Aurora Order. They won't use the official pier routes; they will only sneak in through underwater concealment."

While the others were discussing, Lu Li remained silent and watched from the side, never interrupting.

He still maintained his daily patrol rhythm, traveling back and forth to Iron Cross Street every day, stopping at the third section of the branch. He suspended his gloved fingertips above the blank space in the center of the mold circle, quietly sensing the faint heat radiating outward from the circular layer.

Relying on Prometheus's ultimate perception of heat, he clearly sensed that although the spiritual activity of the mold was rising day by day, the curve was not smooth. Many nodes would experience short-term stagnation in revival, and the stagnation time exactly corresponded to the spiritual fluctuation troughs of the seventh induction node of the outer ring.

The truth was already clear: the mold revival was not natural and spontaneous, but precisely controlled by spiritual pulses coming from afar. The person controlling the rhythm was, in all likelihood, on that black sail ship at the Storm Cape.

Two days before the full moon, Rozanne at the front desk received an anonymous letter.

The handwriting on the envelope was unfamiliar and slender; it lacked the brushwork typical of Roy King, nor did it have the characteristic finishing hooks of an Antigonus artisan. It was in a simple, modern writing format.

There was only one short sentence on the letter paper: "Night of the full moon, Storm Cape lighthouse, fire as the signal."

At the signature, a minimalist snake-ring symbol was drawn.

"It's the mark of the Aurora Order." Dunn placed the letter on the table, his eyes grave. "The Storm Cape lighthouse is the ground outpost of the maritime patrol team. Once they take control of it, the entire signal transmission system of the nearby waters will be completely cut off."

Old Neil picked up the letter and carefully inspected it against the light, confirming there were no traces of spiritual encryption, and added slowly, "This letter means that the main force of the Aurora Order has already infiltrated the Tingen inland river area. The signal range of the Storm Cape lighthouse happens to cover the entire water area from the lower reaches of the Hoi River to Iron Cross Street. As long as the lighthouse lights a fire as a signal on the night of the full moon, the black sail ship anchored in the outer sea can take the opportunity to come ashore and land."

On the evening of the day before the full moon, twilight gathered.

Lu Li walked into the Potion Room alone and retrieved the jiaowei seal box from the safe. Lifting the lid, a ball of silvery-white flame in the furnace was quietly dormant on the lead base, steady and waveless, without spilling a single bit of spiritual pulse.

He lightly touched the outer shell of the box with his gloves; the temperature was normal, and the seal was stable and intact. After confirming everything was correct, he locked the lid, put it back into the safe, and placed it side-by-side with the silver snake key.

Walking out of the Potion Room, Lu Li paused for a moment in the silent corridor.

Outside the window, the bell tower of the Saint Selena Cathedral tolled on time, the melodious sound piercing through the hazy night fog, traveling exceptionally far. A low whistle of a steamship drifted vaguely from the direction of the pier, and the water level of the Hoi River was still rising silently and soundlessly.

He suddenly remembered the sentence in the client's letter: "Night of the full moon, inform me of the aftermath."

Tomorrow is the night of the full moon. All the dormant undercurrents will finally surge completely.