Chapter 148 Yang Qiu's New Goal
A tiny palm-sized wooden sculpture of a newborn baby lies quietly in a small wooden box.
Darkness, filth, madness, murderous intent, mixed with a crazy and repressed malicious atmosphere, permeated the entire house.
Yang Qiu and Supervisor Lowell sat across from each other at the coffee table, both of them staring quietly at the wooden carving in the box.
They could feel the murderous intent emanating from the wood carving, and they could also hear the increasingly frequent laughter of the baby.
The laughter had been going on for more than five minutes, becoming increasingly frantic and gradually turning into hysterical screams.
Supervisor Lowell sighed softly, breaking the silence. "Such delicate and gentle lines are indeed Mrs. Marion's style. It really makes people... sigh. The greatest sculptor between the eighth and ninth centuries of the new calendar has not rested in peace."
For the former owner of the wood carving, William J. Bancroft, a young man who was born only thirty years ago and a collector of Slok Federal wood carvings, he probably would not have had any special feelings for Mrs. Marion, the creator of one of the many collections he owned - Mrs. Marion had passed away more than two hundred years before he was born.
But to Lowell…Mrs. Marion was his “peer”.
Two hundred years ago, when Lowell was in his prime, Mrs. Marion, a Slok woodcarver, was becoming famous; when the obituary of this great lady was published in the newspaper, Lowell felt deeply sorry for her - even though he had never met that lady.
The reason for such deep emotions is closely related to Lowell's identity as a priest... Lady Marion was invited by the Prosperity Church to visit the Principality of Shiga, and she also created a relief statue of the goddess for the Prosperity Church, which was hailed as a miracle.
Yang Qiu did not have such complicated emotions as Rowell. He nodded, then shook his head and said, "At least the mystery has been solved. This brave lady did not die of cowardly suicide."
Rowell nodded slowly.
Suicides have strong self-destructive tendencies, and in this posthumous work, the strong obsession left by Mrs. Marion is only highly aggressive.
"The Norsemen have blasphemed Lady Marion," Lowell said unhappily, "They have destroyed her reputation and even accused her of suicide after her death!"
There is no such thing as dying to express one's will in this world's moral concepts, and all orthodox religions consider suicide to be a serious crime.
"That happened two hundred years ago. There's no point in talking about it now." Yang Qiu raised his hand, palm down, facing the wood carving in the wooden box. "I need this seal. Please help me let this lady rest in peace."
"With pleasure."
Lowell nodded solemnly, took out the dead wood scepter from the space bracelet, and tapped it lightly on the ground.
Miraculous ripples spread out from the top of the scepter, forming a translucent, sacred-attribute confinement barrier visible to the naked eye, covering the two of them and most of the living room.
There are many reasons for the formation of sealed objects. One of them is Mrs. Marion's posthumous work, which is alienated by the creator's strong hatred and some soul fragments.
A sealed object that has part of the deceased's soul fragments attached to it will be more powerful in a certain sense - a sealed object is a dead object, and no matter how evil its core is, it will only operate according to certain established rules; and soul fragments coming from living things will increase the uncertainty of the sealed object, making it even more bizarre and unpredictable when the murderous intent is unleashed.
Pure dark energy as thick as ink and as smooth as silk surged out from Yang Qiu's palm and poured into the wood sculpture.
The distorted laughter, which had already changed its pitch to sound like a roar, paused briefly.
Then, a high-pitched, explosive roar suddenly erupted.
This mental storm that could make countless people lose their minds in an instant was trapped by the "Holy Confinement" barrier opened by Supervisor Lowell and was confined to the living room space of this big house.
Yang Qiu withdrew his hand and raised his eyelids.
The remaining soul of Mrs. Marion, which was attached to the puppet, was slowly condensing into its true form under the stimulation of the large amount of dark energy he gave it...
After a few seconds, half a...broken face appeared above the coffee table.
It looked like a puppet with the paint on its face chipped off, and only half of its facial features could be seen through the broken pieces.
The remnant soul barely managed to piece together half a face, and tried its best to open its shattered mouth, letting out a frantic scream.
Lowell said regretfully: "It has been too long. Mrs. Marion is not conscious anymore."
Yang Qiu frowned and stared at the remnant soul.
Injecting dark energy to separate the residual soul that has merged with external objects and let it rest in peace is a common method used by black magicians to comfort the dead souls.
When he was still an apprentice to a wizard, he had read Mrs. Marion’s works in newspapers bought by the old man. Those lifelike wooden statues had once amazed him... He didn’t want to use direct violence to force this lady to "rest in peace."
After thinking about it, Yang Qiu concentrated his mind and released his mental power, trying to engrave his spiritual mark in the remnant soul.
Rowell understood Yang Qiu's intention and his eyelids jumped: "Hey, Yang, are you serious?"
"Don't worry, I know what to do." Yang Qiu said.
"You--" Lowell wanted to dissuade Yang Qiu from committing suicide, but suddenly he remembered that this guy could control evil energy and even move the breath of the void to the material plane, so he simply shut up.
Using evil energy to suppress the residual soul's attack instinct, and then using the brand matrix to try to communicate is also a good idea.
What Inspector Lowell didn't know was that Yang Qiu didn't actually need to use evil energy... He treated Madam Marion's residual soul as an "NPC unit" and dragged it into the branding matrix to establish a connection. As the core of the matrix, it was impossible for him to be affected by it - otherwise, the natural disasters, who were definitely a source of mental pollution, would have killed Yang Qiu long ago.
It is a very troublesome task to engrave a spiritual imprint on an incomplete soul. Even with the help of Lowell's "Holy Confinement" to suppress it, it still took Yang Qiu nearly twenty minutes to succeed.
After dragging the residual soul into the branding matrix and establishing a spiritual connection with Yang Qiu, the core of the array, Mrs. Marion's residual soul no longer screamed wildly, but floated blankly in the air; the strong obsession before death turned into fragmented emotional consciousness, which flowed disorderly into Yang Qiu's spiritual realm.
What Yang Qiu sensed most clearly was hatred.
This hatred was too strong, like a poisoned blade that made people feel uncomfortable, and Yang Qiu couldn't help but frown.
Spellcasters all have high perception, and those with high perception can easily sense strong emotions from the living or the dead. With Yang Qiu's three hundred years of experience as a spellcaster, this hatred is enough to rank in the top ten.
This is very different from Yang Qiu's impression of Mrs. Marion.
This lady is the only woman in the Nosk Federation in the past few hundred years whose fame has spread abroad.
Most of the Nosk ladies have neither the opportunity nor the conditions to become famous.
The reason is simple... The extremely patriarchal Storm Church does not recognize the status of women, let alone allow women to get ahead.
The equally patriarchal Church of the Fiery Sun, which has developed great voyages for hundreds of years and maintained its armed forces for a long time to form a deterrent and maintain its international competitiveness, needs women who do not directly participate in wars or go out to sea to engage in industrial and agricultural production, which indirectly gives women the opportunity to gain social status.
The Church of Storms is different. Although it is also keen on offshore colonization, the Norsk Federation has not developed enough industry, and still retains outdated customs such as women cannot touch ships, cannot get involved in shipbuilding, cannot own personal property, and cannot disobey male family members .
Mrs. Marion, who could display her talents and spread her fame in such an extremely harsh external environment, could not be a woman who was full of anger and hatred and extremely aggressive - if she showed these traits, her reputation would definitely be very bad.
Yang Qiu pondered for a while, then said to Rowell, "Supervisor, I remember that Mrs. Marion was a well-educated and gentle woman?"
"Yes." Lowell nodded affirmatively, "Everyone who has met this lady has nothing but praise for her character."
"That is to say, there was some external force that forced this lady to the point where she completely lost control and her temperament changed drastically..."
Yang Qiu looked down at the small wooden sculpture of a baby lying in the wooden box, reached out his hand, and took the sculpture out.
Mrs. Marion was very good at wood carving portraits. No matter how big or small the wooden statues she carved were, they all looked like real people.
The palm-sized wooden sculpture of a baby...is a baby girl.
Yang Qiu suddenly understood.
"So that's how it is... What else could drive a mother crazy except harming her child?" Yang Qiu sighed.
Rowell was stunned: "What?"
"I've been to Nosk." Yang Qiu gently put the wooden sculpture back into the box. "Nosk has a custom that is not known to outsiders... If the first child born is a girl, she must be cruelly killed to prevent the hostess from giving birth to a boy."
Rowell was simply stunned.
"It is said that Madam Marion finally got pregnant after more than ten years of marriage. She must have been very happy with her first child... no matter if it was a boy or a girl." Yang Qiu raised his eyelids again and looked at the twisted and broken face. "She must have been looking forward to hearing the laughter of the child she finally got."
Lowell said incredulously: "That's Mrs. Marion! Just for such a stupid and ridiculous reason - kill her child? Drive her crazy??"
"Inspector, have you ever heard of any state in the Nosk Federation that has a princess?" Yang Qiu asked back.
Lowell is going crazy...
Yang Qiu stood up and looked into the dull face of the floating soul.
Language cannot communicate with a soul that is only left with fragments, so Yang Qiu tried to send information to the remaining soul through the imprint matrix link.
"Ma'am, you are not wrong to hate Nosk."
"You tried to kill all the Nosks you could, and there was nothing wrong with that."
"But just killing is useless and won't change anything."
"Deciding the right to live of babies on behalf of mothers is not Noske's greatest evil... It's just that evil done to women and children is more easily tolerated and tolerated by the public, so it is highlighted as the main contradiction."
The remnant soul's empty eye seemed to react, and its dark pupil trembled.
"Why can't women be respected no matter how talented or docile they are? Why must baby girls who pose no danger to anyone be killed?"
"Because by actually trampling on the most vulnerable groups, an 'order' that is recognized by the public can be quickly established."
“Those who are clearly being trampled on will defend the feet of those who trample on them, so that they can trample on you with a clear conscience.”
"Anyone who thinks they have the right to step on you will step on you without mercy."
“These are all wrong.”
The broken soul's face trembled violently, and tears of blood slowly flowed from its deep black pupils.
Yang Qiu looked at the remnant soul with only one eye left.
"Whatever is wrong will be corrected. Whatever is backward will be replaced by the advanced."
"The Nosk Federation and the Storm Church will surely be crushed by the surging waves along with their backward order."
"I promise you, this day won't be long."
Brother Lowell's mouth dropped open.
He clearly did not sense any magical fluctuations coming from Yang , and the remaining soul of Mrs. Marion, whose presence was extremely strong, actually dissipated into ashes right in front of him.
"What did you do?" Brother Lowell asked in astonishment.
"Well... I made a promise on impulse that I had to fulfill." Yang Qiu spread his hands and said, "It's really hard to control your emotions when facing someone you admired when you were young."
Rowell: “???”
Yang Qiu was surprised and asked, "What's your reaction? I recognized this wood carving as the work of Mrs. Marion at first sight. Is it strange that I once admired her?"
Lowell stared at him for a moment, then shrugged.
"Come to think of it, while we were chatting here, Rex was entertaining the young master of Count Odysseus's family." Yang Qiu put away the box containing the wood carvings and glanced in the direction of the town hall. "This seems to be an opportunity, Lowell, what do you think of me taking this opportunity to capture Innadri?"
Lowell was still searching his memory for the familiar surname Odysseus, but when he heard the second half of the sentence, he almost slipped off the high-back chair.
"Can you be a little more serious?!" Lowell, who barely managed to sit still, shouted angrily.
"Of course I am serious, Supervisor, this matter needs to be resolved decisively." Yang Qiu pointed at Lowell, "In the Bartles family, you are Charlie Rex, and you don't match the Rex that the young master of the Odis family sees now. If you are exposed, it will be very troublesome to explain."
"——Wait a minute! Did you drag me into this on purpose?!" Lowell didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Innadri is not a remote town like Westram. The Gold Coin Church won't allow you to mess around."
"You don't have to worry about that, dear Inspector." Yang Qiu smiled proudly, "To be honest, the Gold Coin Church has already cooperated with me (my undead). "
Rowell: “???”
