Chapter 42: Summoning Spirits
Lu Ze raised the lantern above his head and looked around the office in the light.
—The security guards were all asleep, so it wouldn't be a problem if the lantern light reflected on the window glass, as long as it wasn't too obvious.
Perhaps because Mr. Pound was the manager, his office was decorated in a more upscale style and was larger than the other offices. In the center, toward the back, stood a white oak desk and matching chair. The wood had a warm, lustrous hue, and appeared lustrous and translucent under the light.
"Um?"
Leonard couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "They're giving their manager such nice furniture? This company is richer than I thought."
"Is ten pounds going to be short?"
Lu Ze smiled and looked around.
There was a locked metal filing cabinet against the wall. Beyond it was a sofa and a coffee table. The leather on the sofa looked high-end, and the coffee table was made of dark walnut, a more expensive material than white oak. On it lay a coffee pot and cups.
In addition, the bookcases and the clothes hangers behind the doors also appear to be of relatively high specifications.
Leonard leaned closer to the table, sniffed slightly, and frowned. "It still smells strongly of paint. It was bought recently."
"so what?"
Lu Ze felt that Leonard was a little strange. Aren't they here to investigate the affair? Why are they looking at this table?
Leonard looked up at him. "Business at the docks has been slow in the past three months. The stevedores have only been working part-time. How is this shipping company able to make enough money to afford to buy such high-end furniture for the manager?"
When he asked this question, Lu Ze was also stunned for a moment.
"But they bought it anyway. Who knows why?"
This behavior is at best suspicious, and the company might have some private explanations, but they have no way of verifying them now.
Leonard thought about it and realized that buying a table really didn't prove anything, so he smiled casually and said, "Forget it, let's get down to business first."
He extended his right hand towards Lu Ze, indicating "Please do as you please."
Lu Ze nodded, took out candles, herbs, essential oils and other items that he had prepared in advance from his pocket, and then lit a candle on the ground.
"Go get that hat off the hanger."
He told Leonard, who quickly complied.
Lu Ze took the hat, pulled out a silver dagger, and created a spiritual wall, sealing off the entire office space. He sat directly opposite the candle, which now symbolized himself.
Lu Ze dropped a drop of "Black Rot Essential Oil" into the flame. This was something that represented the realm of death. The essential oil was burned and evaporated, making a "hissing" sound. An indescribable smell suddenly filled the air.
"It felt like entering a hospital morgue."
Leonard commented with a frown.
Lu Ze ignored him and continued to sprinkle the powder of the Moon Spirit Flower into the flames. This flower only blooms at night, and it is said that when you approach the flower at night, you can hear an illusory whispering sound.
The unpleasant smell faded, replaced by a clear, mysterious scent. The air around the candle became strange, as if something invisible was stirring, creating ripples.
Leonard was infected by the atmosphere and stopped talking.
Lu Ze took a deep breath and shouted in ancient Hermes, "Me!"
The air around the candle vibrated, as if responding to itself.
Luze switched to Hermetic language and continued chanting:
"I call by my name,"
"A spirit wandering in the void, a being from the higher realm whose true form is reflected here, a friendly person willing to answer questions."
call!
The moment Lu Ze finished reciting, the candle flame took on a deep blue hue and expanded to the size of a human head. Within the flame, an illusory face emerged.
And then, nothing.
It's just a face!
The face was floating in the air, looking at Lu Ze, as if waiting for him to speak.
Lu Ze had witnessed many big scenes and was not at all surprised by such a strange existence.
The ritual he used this time was called the Spirit Summoning Ritual, in which he used his own spiritual power to summon spirit creatures to achieve his own goals. The "upper realm" in the spell refers to the spirit realm in the field of mysticism, which is a strange space that does not exist in reality.
The advantage of this ritual is that it bypasses the restrictions of the gods and can enhance abilities with the help of the mystery of the spiritual world; the disadvantage is that it is very uncertain, the creatures in the spiritual world are numerous and strange, and their danger and reliability are unknown.
Therefore, Luze deliberately added constraints to the spell. "Located here" requires the summoned creature to know the situation here, and "friendly creature willing to answer questions" hopes that the other party's attitude will be better.
Now that the spirit creatures have been summoned, it's time to ask questions.
"Do you know the owner of this hat, Mr. Pound?"
Lu Ze asked, picking up his hat.
The face floated, as if expressing the idea of "confirmation" to Lu Ze.
"Do you know who Mr. Pound is having an affair with? Um, do you understand what I mean?"
Lu Ze asked somewhat awkwardly, but to his surprise, the other party continued to express affirmation—it knew.
"Can you draw her, or tell me her name?"
Lu Ze asked further.
This time, the illusory face didn't answer. It floated up and down, as if confused.
"Could it be that Mr. Pound has more than one affair?"
Leonard interjected quietly.
ah?
Lu Ze was stunned when he heard this.
So how should he ask the question?
After thinking about it, Lu Ze got up from the floor, took out a company map from the company brochure on the bookshelf, unfolded it and placed it on the floor.
"Did Mr. Pound have his affair at the company?"
The other party gave an affirmative answer.
"Then can you show me the place where he had the affair?"
Lu Ze asked.
If the location can be determined, investigation will be much easier.
After getting the other party's confirmation, Lu Ze cut his finger with a dagger and dripped blood onto the map. The location of the blood dripped happened to be the manager's office where they were.
Blood is a spiritually rich material that can be used as a medium for rituals.
The ethereal spirit creature stared at the map, and some strange force began to propel the blood across it. Leonard and Lu Ze held their breath, watching the trajectory of the blood flow, which represented Mr. Pound's usual movement route.
The blood left the office, came to the corridor, and went into each office and made a circle or two, but it did not stop. Instead, it continued down until it was out of the office building.
"Field battle?"
Leonard's voice was low and contained a suppressed laugh.
The blood flowed across the courtyard, reversed into the back of the company, and moved along the Tussock River, finally stopping at a river bend marked "Abandoned Dock" and circling continuously.
The blood dripping from Lu Ze gradually gathered here. Under the light, this place looked purple-red.