Inside the dim carriage, Dorothy began to sort through the Extraordinary items found on Sodod and Kim.
First was Sodod. He didn't have many things on him. Dorothy only found a small amount of storage items, a mechanism ring, and two talismans.
The storage item was a small red wooden block containing 1 point of ""Cup"". After Dorothy's careful inspection, she found that the mechanism ring could store Spirituality storage items and talismans. At critical moments, just a swipe of the ring would activate the intricate spring mechanism inside, pressing the storage items and talismans onto the finger for instant activation, which was convenient and fast, without needing to slowly take out both the talismans and storage items. The talisman was a ""Lamp"" talisman she had never seen before.
'This little mechanism is quite good. Although it's purely mechanical with no Extraordinary components, it can achieve one-click activation of talismans, allowing for covert use and use in combat. I can keep it.'
Thinking this, Dorothy put away the mechanism ring and the other items, then looked at the other things, which were on Kim.
Kim didn't have much on him either. The valuable items were two silver coin-shaped ""Shadow"" Spirituality storage items, and a small black bottle containing less than 30ml of a colorless, odorless liquid. Dorothy activated Spirit Sight for observation and found that the liquid contained Spirituality, a dual Spirituality of ""Shadow"" and ""Cup"".
'This seems to be... the poison Sodod was afflicted with? This venom contains Spirituality. It was because of this venom that Sodod ultimately died, even though he wasn't critically wounded.'
Dorothy looked at the small bottle in front of her, thinking it might be useful in the future, so she threw it into the magic box. To Dorothy's disappointment, although Kim did have Spirituality storage items, there were only a meager two points. Dorothy directly used them to recharge her ring of concealment, restoring the ring of concealment, which had zero Spirituality, back to a 2-point ""Shadow"" state.
'I feel like ""Shadow"" is still not enough. If they had a suitable talisman and went all out, even an Apprentice-level ""Lamp"" could search me out, let alone a high-level ""Lamp"" Extraordinary. After all, a ""Lamp"" Apprentice has at least 5 points of ""Lamp"" energy. If I were to directly compete against their Spirituality, I definitely wouldn't win.'
Thinking this, Dorothy decided that it would be best to stay away from Churches in the future and try her best not to provoke Extraordinary individuals from the Church.
After sorting through Sodod's and Kim's personal belongings, Dorothy finally began the main event: the mysterious cargo Sodod was escorting, which was stolen by Kim, and was originally intended to be delivered to the Tivian Hidden Security Bureau.
This cargo should have been inside Sodod's briefcase, but Kim directly took it out using his ability to pass through walls and put it in his own bag. Now, this bag was right on Dorothy's table.
Although Dorothy had agreed to retrieve the cargo for Sodod, she hadn't promised him she wouldn't look at it. Dorothy planned to inspect the cargo first and then decide whether or not to return it to the An Yin Bureau based on the inspection.
Without further ado, Dorothy opened Kim's bag. Inside was a document bag with the seal of the Alster Security Agency. The seal also had a warning written on it.
"Spirit Sight Warning! Please be fully prepared before perusing."
'Oh? A Spirit Sight warning? That's even better.'
Seeing the warning on the seal, Dorothy's heart skipped a beat, then she peeled off the seal, opened the document bag, and took out the contents.
Inside the document bag was a thin notebook and several photos. Both the notebook and photos were stained with a large amount of blood.
"These are... a book and photos? And they're covered in so much blood. It couldn't be Sodod's blood, could it..."
With a puzzled expression, Dorothy picked up the small notebook and opened it, finding that the bloodstains on it had already dried black, clearly not recent. So, it couldn't be Sodod's blood; the blood was already on the notebook itself.
Without thinking much, Dorothy opened the notebook and read it carefully, finding that most of the writing inside was covered and obscured by the soaked-in blood. Dorothy could only barely make out a part of it. After a brief look, she found that it was actually an investigation log.
The notes recorded the process of an Alster Security Agency Hunter Squad entering the Razor Mountains for investigation and search. The reason was that they had received reports of cult activity there.
...
"May 4th, After quite a struggle, we successfully entered the edge of the Razor Mountains, a place hardly any civilized person would want to come to. The carriage broke down halfway, we were covered in mud, and our clothes were torn by thorny vines. Damn it... If it weren't for the death cases, we would never have bothered with this case and come to this godforsaken place. After this trip, I finally understand why this place has been so slow to develop."
"May 5th, We finally found a mountain village to stay in. The people here are generally nice, but some special customs are unacceptable. They actually eat spider eggs!? Truly an unacceptable rural 'delicacy'. Afterward, we searched for clues in the village..."
"May 7th, Following the clues, we ventured deeper into the Razor Mountains. The surrounding environment became increasingly harsh, but thank goodness we found another village. The people here were much more xenophobic than in the previous village. At first, they were hostile towards us, but fortunately, the hostility eased a lot after explanations..."
"May 8th, My heavens... this village also eats spider eggs? And they even say they can weave clothes with spider silk? What kind of spider silk can be made into clothes?"
"May 8th, These people are crazy. They actually want to execute an old man in the village? Because he not only refused to eat spider eggs but also kept prohibited items at home? We saved the old man, but this also angered the entire village. We had no choice but to retreat from the village. This kind of savage place, far from the Light of the Three Saints, needs a Church! Even a small one would do!"
"The old man showed us the so-called prohibited item, and we found that it was actually a silver mirror. There was a crescent moon pattern on the back of the mirror, which looked very much like the symbol of ""Shadow"". According to the old man, it was originally a sacrificial treasure passed down through generations in the village, and the spider things the young people were doing should be the taboo. I asked him why, and he said..."
"May 9th, Things seem a bit serious. We arranged for a team member to escort the old man back to the first village, while the rest of us continued exploring deeper into the mountains..."
"May 10th, We discovered ruins with obvious religious traces, similar in style to the Shining Light Church, but slightly different in detail..."
"May 11th, More ruins, but many were destroyed, and judging from the traces, the destruction happened not long ago..."
"May 12th,...spiders... are gnawing at the moon..."
...
Reading up to this point, painstakingly deciphering the writing amidst the bloodstains, Dorothy finished reading all the meaningful content and then closed the notebook.
Next, she turned her gaze to the photos. The photos mainly showed what the squad saw along the way, including villages, spider eggs, the mirror called a treasure, and the shattered ruins.
What caught Dorothy's attention was the last photo.
On this black and white photo was a statue of a deity, a severely damaged statue of a goddess.
In the photo, the goddess statue, draped in light gauze with a graceful figure, held a strange object resembling both a mirror and a full moon in her hands placed before her chest. The original head of the goddess statue had been artificially cut off and replaced with a roughly carved, hideous spider's head.