The Cycle of Fate

Chapter 37: Tracking

When Lumian opened his eyes, his spirituality had fully recovered, and his body was no longer sore. He swiftly sat up, walked over to the desk, and drew the curtains open with a swish.

The sky was still dark, the red moon was sinking in the west, and stars were scattered across the sky. On a nearby elm tree, the large, intelligent-looking owl had appeared once again, gazing down at Lumian with a piercing stare.

Lumian wasn't startled or angry; instead, he flashed a bright smile.

"You're back again, huh?" he greeted warmly. Yet, his gestures, tone, and expression were enough to make anyone feel an overwhelming urge to punch him.

The owl stared at him for a few seconds before spreading its wings and flying into the depths of the darkness.

Almost simultaneously, Aurore emerged from her bedroom, turned the handle, and entered Lumian's room.

"How did it go?" Lumian asked eagerly.

Aurore nodded and said, "'Paperwhite' is following it."

Her pale blue eyes had turned dark, reflecting the sight of trees rapidly retreating and growing larger.

She then took out a mirror coated in silver and placed it on Lumian's desk. Using a pale white powder, she cast a spell that projected what she was seeing onto the mirror's surface.

Lumian saw the owl clearly. It was flying at a relatively low altitude over the village of Cordu, circling and winding around as if trying to shake off any potential tail. However, since "Paperwhite" was a spiritual being with considerable speed, it wasn't affected in the slightest, maintaining a consistent distance.

After a couple of minutes, the owl circled around to the village square.

It no longer hesitated and flew straight into the cemetery next to the church.

"Why is it here again?" Lumian couldn't help but sigh.

The last time the siblings had spied on Michel Garrigue, the assistant priest, the "lizard" that crawled out of his mouth had also ended up in the cemetery, moving in and out of different graves!

"Could it be that cemeteries are commonly used as lairs and hiding places for villains in stories because that's how it is in reality?" Lumian glanced at his sister.

Aurore sneered, "You know what they say, reality inspires fiction."

"True..." Lumian acknowledged the explanation of a professional writer.

At that moment, the owl flew over to an ordinary-looking grave.

Like most graves in Intis, it consisted of a large pit dug into the ground, where a coffin was placed, followed by a layer of earth, a couple of stone slabs on top, and a headstone standing behind.

Although these details were largely Lumian's assumptions, from the outside, he couldn't discern anything unusual about the grave.

The owl lowered its altitude and landed on the stone slabs covering the grave.

With "Paperwhite's" vision, Aurore and Lumian noticed several suspicious details:

The corresponding headstone was blank, with no inscriptions whatsoever. The stone slabs, which should have been dirty and overgrown with weeds, were clean, as if someone regularly tended to them.

"This grave is definitely suspicious," Aurore commented.

Just as she finished speaking, the two stone slabs covering the grave suddenly dropped down.

No, they didn't just drop; it was more like they opened up.

They opened inward like a pair of doors, revealing a pitch-black space and a set of stone steps leading deeper underground.