As a history graduate, Vanessa found the distorted history in the book quite repugnant.
Fortunately, only the opening briefly touched on history; everything after that explained specific methods of sacrifice in detail.
The girl sat on the sofa, turning the pages one by one.
Before she knew it, the sunlight spilling into the house had gradually slanted westward, and the light grew dimmer and dimmer. Only when the writing on the pages became indistinct did Vanessa look up with a start.
"It's already dark..."
Without realizing it, she had spent the entire afternoon reading.
The book was remarkably thorough, describing every detail of sacrificial rituals.
Vanessa finally understood what that unusually level patch of ground in the basement was for.
-it was a site for sacrifices.
Only a specially constructed altar could communicate more effectively with those "great beings" and thereby obtain power.
But...
Vanessa frowned. The book kept going on about how dangerous sacrifices were.
If everything in the book was true, then even knowing the method, how could she dare try it rashly?
"Forget it. I should head back. I still have work."
The girl stood up and walked toward the door.
But her steps halted at the threshold. Vanessa looked down at the heavy book in her hands.
"This... isn't really something I can take back to the hospital."
She was in a bind. She didn't seem to have anywhere absolutely safe to store these secret books.
After much hesitation, Vanessa finally put the book back in the chest, locked it again, and laboriously shoved it back into the shadows of the attic.
"I can only hope no one comes into this house," she prayed silently.
Once everything was put away, Vanessa left the house, carefully locked the door behind her, and hurried down the street toward the Mist Harbor District.
She had to get back to the hospital quickly.
Yet she had barely gone any distance when her steps abruptly halted, and her whole body froze-the familiar sensation of losing control had descended again.
I'm being controlled again!?
Alarm bells immediately rang in Vanessa's mind, and she looked around warily.
The street was empty and quiet.
Just as the girl was puzzling over this, that will took control of her and turned without the slightest hesitation into a dark, narrow alley beside her.
Driven by that will, Vanessa watched in astonishment as she deftly tied up the hem of her clothes, then used protrusions and gaps between the bricks in the alley wall to climb silently to the top, like a nimble cat.
Elsewhere, Elliot gave a cold laugh in front of the Difference Engine.
After Vanessa had been frightened by Alice in the courtyard, the two had soon left.
Vanessa hadn't noticed where they had gone, as she had been too busy slapping herself, but Elliot had been watching.
Once the two entered a mansion, a [Mysterious Mansion] card popped up, and Elliot took it and placed it in the Clue Area.
And now, it was time to explore!
He placed the girl's card into the [Explore] slot. The target-[Mysterious Mansion]!
Under that control, Vanessa climbed all the way onto a rooftop, then moved lightly across it.
As for where she went, she had no idea-Vanessa had closed her eyes after climbing onto the wall. She was afraid of heights!
Only when her body finally stopped did she dare cautiously open her eyes a sliver.
Was this... near a skylight on the roof?
Vanessa glanced down and immediately felt dizzy. She was lying at the edge of a steep roof, and it seemed she would fall with even the slightest roll!
Still, this position did give her a clear view into the room below.
Vanessa forcibly suppressed her fear, held her breath, and looked down through the skylight's dirty glass.
A group of people were sitting together inside. Even indoors, they wore hoods to conceal their faces, and some even wore masks.
They looked very suspicious.
Vanessa watched intently for a while. The group seemed to be discussing something in low voices. She tried pressing her ear against the glass, but unfortunately, she was too far away to hear anything at all.
The strange people talked for a long time, then suddenly made an opening, and someone carried in a large basin.
Vanessa quickly widened her eyes to make it out. The basin contained some kind of thick, dark-red paste, with a silver spoon sticking straight up in it.
What was that?
It somehow looked a little like...
A sudden flash of insight struck her, and she blurted out, "Meat Paste?"
It did look very much like minced meat, and raw minced meat at that-cooked meat wouldn't look so sticky and dark. And with that spoon sticking straight up in it...
"Are they going to eat raw meat?"
Vanessa was rather puzzled.
Meat eaten raw generally had to meet fairly high standards of quality. Mincing raw lamb, adding a little salt, and spreading it on bread was a traditional way of eating it locally.
But Vanessa hadn't seen any bread.
While she was puzzling over this, a hooded figure stepped forward, holding a sharp knife that gleamed coldly.
Vanessa's eyelid twitched. She had a bad feeling.
Then she saw him slash the knife across his left wrist without hesitation-blood instantly welled up, dripping into the basin!
He then passed the knife to the next person, who did the same, cutting his wrist and letting his blood drip into the basin.
The third... the fourth...
Soon, everyone's blood had mingled with the dark-red Meat Paste in the basin.
They fetched bandages and wrapped one another's wrists, then began stirring the mixture in the basin with a spoon—the blood and Meat Paste blended completely.
Then they picked up spoons and began sharing it out to eat!
Vanessa sharply sucked in a breath, her stomach churning violently.
Actually, blood alone would have been tolerable, but Vanessa stared at the scarlet meat in the basin.
Was that really lamb?
Vanessa clamped her hands over her mouth, struggling not to vomit.
After finishing the meat, the group looked satisfied, as though they had completed some ritual. They chatted briefly, then left.
Vanessa lay on the cold rooftop, not daring to move. Only when all sound below had died away did she climb down the wall using both hands and feet, as though escaping hell.
Still shaken, she had already begun to guess what she had witnessed.
This was definitely some cult or secret society! The Seven Great Churches had no custom of eating raw meat!
And the house where this evil ritual had taken place wasn't very far from No. 37 Pine Resin Alley...
Vanessa could only lament her bad luck at actually running into cultists.
"Oh no! It's completely dark. I'm going to be late for work!" she suddenly realized.
Although she had encountered the supernatural today and even witnessed a cultists' ritual, she still had to go back to work that evening.
Vanessa couldn't help feeling a surge of misery, and she quickened her pace further. Old Razi would scold her if she was late.
Unfortunately, despite all her rushing, she was still quite late when she returned to the hospital. Old Razi stared at her for a long while, his gaze stern, before finally assigning her a task in a stiff tone:
"Deliver this shipment to the Wild Dog Gang. You should know the way. Don't let anything go wrong again!"
Before you continue