"Mammon!"

"Samael!"

Merka shouted around in the Turing room.

He hoped it was another prank by the two of them, but there was no response in the empty room.

"What on earth is going on..."

Merka dejectedly threw the newspaper and the black stone heavily on the table, and sank into the soft sofa.

Feeling exhausted, Merka flipped back and forth a few times, but the inner feeling of unease drove him to sit up and pick up the small black piece in front of the table.

He was afraid that if he closed his eyes, the black piece would grow legs and run away.

"Why would Theresa be so flustered looking for this thing? Leaving aside everything else, if this thing is so important, it shouldn't be placed in a newspaper."

"And this thing looks so strange, I've never...hmm?" Merka played with the black piece in his hand and suddenly noticed a rough groove on it.

The sharp touch seemed like metal, but it was more like something more noble than steel and bronze.

Merka hesitantly stroked the surface of the black solid, a shocking idea rolled through Merka's mind like a thunderous roar.

Merka realized that this might be something that could never be born in the technologically backward Acadia.

"This is...a USB drive?"

"What does Miss Theresa need this thing for?"

"In the vast Erisburg, there isn't even a computer."

Merka's breathing became rapid, he felt a sense of powerlessness pressed forward by the supreme fate.

The train of fate, like a sea dragon, was rushing through, and Merka was like a hostage tied to the tracks, unable to stop, unable to escape, only able to silently watch everything.

Merka suddenly remembered something, picked up the newspaper and carefully examined the braille on the headline.

"This is the weekly published by Lachesis... How could this be?"

"Why would Miss Theresa subscribe to such a distant newspaper?"

"Damn... What is the connection between all of this?"

Sweat beads, like tiny beans, emerged from Merka's crystalline forehead. Merka tightened the newspaper, a mix of nervousness and regret filled his heart.

"No, I need to at least ask Mammon and Samael what this thing is."

Looking at the black piece in his hand, Merka now felt like it was burning, scorching his hand.

"Wait until they come back..."

But what if they never come back?

Merka startled by his own thoughts, but after careful consideration, he felt that it wasn't impossible.

After all, he was just like someone staying temporarily at someone else's house.

He didn't possess anything special that would make anyone unable to leave without him.

But, if they wanted to confront Oedipus, the two of them were extremely important.

Suddenly, a knock on the door sounded as if echoing in an empty valley, and Merka anxiously turned his head to look.

With a sidelong glance, Merka felt a strong wave of magic power.

The floating magic in the newspaper seemed to directly gather into words, and through Merka's cybernetic eye, a few powerful words on the newspaper were directly mapped into his brain.

"Do not inquire.

Otherwise, you will surely regret it."

--------------------------------------------

"So, everyone here is on the same side?" Maria asked.

The ten disciples looked at each other and nodded one after another.

Some of them had just fallen asleep when they were awakened and summoned here; some were halfway through drinking and their minds were not very clear; even some had crashed into a lamppost on their way here because they were flying too fast.

But with the bishop right in front of them, they dared not use magic under his watchful eyes to alleviate their embarrassment.

"My Lord Bishop, we shouldn't rush with the translation," Provence said. "Everyone is not in a good state of mind, and if we make a mistake, it might not be worth it, right?"

"No," Dunkerque, who had been quiet, spoke up. "The bishop must have her reasons for doing so."

"Actually, no," Maria smiled awkwardly.

"We simply ran out of time."

Maria waved her hand, indicating Paris standing behind her.

Paris nodded and dragged out a huge snakeskin bag from deep within the room.

Paris untied the bag's opening and gave it a gentle push. The stones inscribed with words poured out like waves.

The carved slabs were smooth and elegant, emitting a moist light in the hazy rain.

"If we are worried about making mistakes, then there is no need to worry about that," Maria said.

"I have been translating for three years, and after multiple discussions with foreign language experts, it is determined to be a variant of the Indo-European language family."

"With so many reference samples and the help of foreign translation machines, the chances of making mistakes are extremely low."

Hearing this, Bordeaux couldn't help but ask the question everyone was thinking.

"What is this exactly, My Lord Bishop?"

"What is it and why is it causing such a big fuss? Where did it come from and what is its purpose?"

As soon as Bordeaux finished speaking, the women around her suddenly became alert, their attention focused, wanting to hear what Maria had to say.

"...," Paris was stunned by Bordeaux's direct question. She looked at Maria's silent face and lowered her head.

"If I were to say that gods are not real, what would you do?"

"If I were to say that the religion that has been passed down for thousands of years in our country, sustaining the lifeline of the entire nation, and even the whole world, is false."

"What would you do?"

Silence filled the air, and everyone was shocked by Maria's words, unable to speak.

Among Maria's disciples were those who were almost fanatical about their faith, those who were unwaveringly loyal to the gods, and those who were unswerving in their dedication to their religion.

But none of them could withstand the impact of Maria's words.

"I was just giving an example."

"What I mean is, the secret hidden in this stone slab is just as terrifying."

Maria changed the topic, and everyone present let out a sigh of relief.

"I pried this stone slab from the Tianqi Mountain cave. Legend has it that our ancestors once lived there."

"Due to a fortuitous coincidence, I discovered that this stone tablet contains the method to assassinate Oedipus."

"This is a high-stakes gamble."

"If we cannot exploit this secret to assassinate Oedipus faster, we will drown under the weight of these burdensome secrets."