Major Repairs, Seeking Monthly Tickets, Seeking Recommendation Tickets

The night was deep and silent.

The attic was filled only with the steady breathing of his mother and sister as they slept.

Under the kerosene lamp, Gallo wrote on a plain sheet of paper with a pencil.

His family's circumstances made it impossible to own ink or a fountain pen. Gallo thought about how, once he moved into a new apartment, it would be nice to have a study of his own—a fountain pen, ink, bookshelves... though, given his memory, bookshelves were entirely unnecessary.

At most, they would serve as decorations, and with that thought, his desire for a study diminished.

At this moment, although the original dark red text on the notebook had vanished, Gallo had already read the contents once and had long since firmly committed them to his memory.

He recalled the forbidden ritual for communicating with the "Eternal Vanguard of the Blood River Conquest, Blood-Howl Gorak," his pencil tip scratching against the paper.

However, he was not copying it verbatim; he was making bold modifications.

He carefully replaced and altered every true name, symbolic icon, and specific prayer filled with blood and madness that pointed toward that demon.

Because he possessed knowledge related to the Subspace, modifying the content of this ritual was not too difficult for him.

The core structure of the ritual was preserved, but the final coordinate it pointed to was cleverly tampered with and anchored to the soul imprint condensed from his own [Spirituality].

To ensure they could succeed in using this ritual to communicate with his soul imprint within the Subspace, Gallo specifically left a trace of spiritual fluctuation on the paper.

If Sacia and the others truly followed this modified ritual, they would no longer be summoning a demon from the Subspace, but rather his own spiritual projection, Gallo Channing.

This was extremely risky, but it was the only method he could think of that would temporarily satisfy their demands while allowing him to investigate their motives in reverse and seize the initiative for himself.

After completing these modifications, he began to write out the remaining contents of the notebook.

Relying on his powerful memory and learning ability, he fluently translated the accounts regarding the ancient Askia Dynasty:

"...When the final sacrifice was completed, the anthem of blood and fire resounded through the royal capital, and the gate to the Divine Kingdom opened wide... The royal family and the devout, who revered the will of 'Gorak,' cast off their mortal shells."

"Their souls bathed in the divine grace of eternal conquest, departing for the promised Divine Kingdom cast from bronze and skulls, attaining immortal glory and their final resting place..."

Gallo paused as he wrote.

To the uninitiated, this description might seem like an epic about the sublimation of an ancient faith, but now that he knew the true face of "Gorak," it was clearly a horrific scene of the dynasty's core hierarchy being collectively bewitched and sacrificed by a Subspace demon, ultimately leading to the destruction of the dynasty and the collapse of their civilization.

Was this so-called immortal glory really what Sacia and her group were pursuing?

He deleted and modified all content in the translation related to Blood-Howl Gorak, performing appropriate substitutions to replace Gorak with himself—though Gallo naturally would not use his real-life name.

Or he could use a title that sounded impressive, like some sort of deity, but Gallo felt that calling himself "God of So-and-So" felt somewhat limiting.

He wanted a title similar to the omnipotent and omniscient God from his previous life.

"Hmm... 'Holy True Lord'." Gallo smiled, feeling that this title was quite interesting, and ultimately decided to finalize it and use it as the replacement in the translated text.

He carefully tucked away the few pages he had translated, while the now-blank human-skin notebook was stowed in the large outer pocket of his coat.

The next morning, Gallo woke up early. With his Inspiration and Spirituality enhanced, he felt his mind become more ethereal, able to reach instant clarity even after waking from a deep sleep.

He took the chamber pot from the attic down to the public washroom in the back alley of Valen Street to empty it, then washed up with bone-chilling cold water.

He then wrapped a piece of buttered white bread in oil paper to serve as his lunch for the day.

"Gallo, are you going to work?" Lily asked, still thick with sleep.

"Yes, I'm heading out now." Gallo looked back to see Lily reaching out from under the covers, holding the cloth doll she had made—the one with the peculiarly twisted face stitched on with thread.

"Belina also says to tell big brother not to work too hard..."

Gallo smiled, walked over to gently pat Lily's head, and then tapped Belina's head with his finger, teasing, "Then... Belina needs to take good care of Lily and Mom too!"

Lily said lazily, "Belina says she knows."

Gallo nodded, then opened the door and stepped out. As he walked down the narrow wooden stairs and onto the street of Valen Street, he immediately sensed the source of the gaze watching him from the shadows through his Inspiration.

It was still the third floor of the residential building he had discovered last night, and he could feel the person monitoring him moving downstairs.

He silently activated remote viewing with his Inspiration, and a pair of spiritual eyes, invisible to ordinary people, appeared above the heads of Malcolm and his two companions behind him.

Because Gallo's Spirituality had also been enhanced, these spiritual eyes were no longer as illusory and could be maintained for a long time, unlike last night when they had exhausted his Spirituality in just a few seconds.

Even after Gallo arrived at Lubo Lane, these spiritual eyes remained suspended above Malcolm and the others, unnoticed by anyone.

Gallo watched the actions of Malcolm and his group in his mind, which he found amusing; the watchers had now become the watched.

By the time Gallo appeared at the Moonlight Cafe, the waitress had already brought out his "sign," and she served Gallo a small plate of pastries and a cup of black tea.

Yes... the cafe served not only coffee but also black tea.

"New Ceylon black tea, Mr. Gallo, please have a taste."

"Thank you."

The flowers in the vase on the table had been changed, and the scent of gardenias filled the air.

After Gallo took a slow sip of the black tea, he immediately offered his praise to the waitress. By this time, many people were already waiting around the Moonlight Cafe, listening for the eight o'clock bell from the tower in the Imperial Industrial University complex.

Gallo would only begin his work after the eight o'clock bell rang. At this point, those who had arrived early would wait and then approach Gallo in an orderly fashion for consultation.

The first to arrive would sit at the table next to Gallo's exclusive cafe table, and if those seats were filled, later arrivals would have to choose other tables further away, so that when Gallo began his work, the people closest to him could queue up for consultation in an orderly manner.

But just a few minutes before eight o'clock, a man wearing a long brown trench coat sat down opposite Gallo.

This sudden line-cutting behavior caused dissatisfaction and whispered accusations from those around him, but Gallo simply smiled and said to the man, "Excuse me, sir, I only begin my work at eight o'clock."

"Oh... is that so!" Malcolm stood up nonchalantly and found a seat at the furthest empty cafe table, still holding the novel he hadn't finished the night before.