East Borough, 9 St. Anthony Street.
Silas finished flipping through the stack of newspapers and tossed them onto the table.
Apart from the recent assassination attempt on Duke Negan, there was basically no news worth noting in the papers.
At most, there were some journalists calling for measures to be taken to address Backlund's serious air pollution problem.
Indeed, especially in recent days with hardly any wind, the fog had accumulated heavily.
You couldn't see people clearly beyond a few meters... Silas recalled yesterday's events.
The dense fog on the streets had been extremely severe, causing him to make errors in his combat judgment.
"Gulp."
He stuffed the last biscuit into his mouth, chewed it up, and washed it down with hot water from his cup.
"You've finally started eating normal food."
M leaned against the wall and said softly, "I've long advised you that you need to engage in more ordinary human activities to maintain your humanity and resist mental illness.
In the end, my advice wasn't as effective as a single dream."
"Spare me the commentary."
Silas glanced at her.
"Very well."
The latter smiled and changed the topic. "What are you planning to do today?"
What to do?
Silas gave it some thought.
His short-term goal was to completely digest the Shepherd potion.
His medium-term goal was to advance to Black Knight. His long-term goals were revenge and saving Cecilia.
As for the short-term goal, he had been consistently acting as a "Shepherd," and the potion was digesting smoothly. Basically, only a small portion remained.
As for advancing to "Black Knight," Silas had long since begun taking action.
For instance, when he went to Amon's mausoleum a few days ago, he was actually trying to find something of value to use as leverage in exchanging for the "Black Knight" potion formula with the Chief of the City of Silver.
Although exploring the mausoleum had yielded many Beyonder characteristics, the only one valuable enough to match was that portrait of Amon.
However, yesterday, being caught in the aftermath of a battle between demigods had unexpectedly gotten him a Blasphemy Card...
This card recorded the formulas and rituals for the entire "Abyss" pathway.
Moreover, its mystical nature and status were very high, making it worthy of being called an extraordinary item beyond normal specifications.
This gave him much more confidence in his negotiations with the Chief of the City of Silver.
Thinking of this, he instinctively took out that tarot card and noticed the abundant spirituality it contained was quite conspicuous.
Carrying this around with me like this seems a bit inappropriate...
Beyonder characteristics of the same kind attracted each other.
The card naturally carried the high status of the "Abyss" pathway.
If he carried it with him, it might attract some undesirable things to his vicinity.
But if he didn't keep it on his person, he would feel uneasy, worried about losing it.
Wait, in that case, I just need to store it somewhere special.
Silas looked up at M. "Can that sea store objects from reality?"
"Of course it can."
M gave an affirmative answer.
"How do I bring things up there... the same method as when I carried Katie's soul?"
He immediately recalled the scene from that time, so he directly placed the Blasphemy Card against his chest.
He hesitated for a moment, then also took out "Revolver of Luck" and likewise tucked it into his body.
This revolver now had a special mark on it. He still couldn't determine whether it was a good or bad thing.
After stuffing both items inside his body, Silas closed his eyes.
"Whoosh..."
Illusory seawater enveloped his body, carrying him into deep darkness. Countless mad and overlapping terrible ravings sounded in his ears.
He kept falling, falling, until moist sea breeze brushed against his cheeks and cool seawater covered his feet.
Only then did he open his eyes.
Silas had once again arrived at the sea.
Looking around, he easily spotted the only incongruous element in this expanse of water: the peculiar structure he had accidentally summoned last time.
Currently, only its top protruded above the sea, with the vast majority of it submerged underwater.
Silas stepped forward and came to the white spire.
The raised edges on all four sides just happened to separate it from the rest of the seawater, forming an independent "pool."
The seawater in this pool had been purified of its impurities and was completely under his control.
And soaking in this pool was the soul of "Interrogator" Katie.
Silas looked down and saw her illusory spirit body submerged in the semi-transparent black seawater, appearing peaceful and calm, no longer suffering and mad as she had been when he shepherded her.
"Looks like the effect is pretty good. The damage to the spirit body has already been repaired."
As a Shepherd, with just a slight sensing, he confirmed that the other party's soul was in better condition.
This proved that the seawater purged of pollution could truly nurture souls.
"That's good."
M smiled, as if happy for him. "The experiment was successful."
This way, if it came down to absolute necessity, perhaps he could bring Cecilia's soul up here and temporarily place her in this location.
Silas thought cautiously.
No, I can't be so hasty.
At the very least, I need to use other souls and leave them here longer to confirm...
He steadied his mind, reached into his chest, and withdrew the "Abyss" card, as well as the "Revolver of Luck" with its newly marked handle.
In the very center of the pool was a raised platform, which was just right for placing these two items.
Otherwise, if he just left them floating on the sea, that would be too careless. Who knew where they might sink to, never to be found again.
After placing the "Abyss" card on the platform, Silas picked up "Revolver of Luck."
He instinctively glanced at the symbol on the gun handle.
His "Secrets Suppliant" ability allowed him to easily memorize the structure of this symbol.
If he ever needed it someday, he could quickly recall it and draw it out.
"...Hmm?"
Looking at that symbol once more, he suddenly felt it looked somewhat familiar.
This holy emblem seems very similar to Ouroboros's symbol!
That favored one of the True Creator, who also appeared in the "Secrets Suppliant" potion as a Sequence 1, the "Snake of Mercury," the "Serpent of Fate."
He liked to leave murals behind, and the paintings always featured rivers connecting head to tail, giving a similar feeling to this ouroboros devouring its own tail.
Not only that, "Revolver of Luck" was itself a Beyonder item of the "Fate" pathway.
It being manipulated by a high sequence of this pathway would be perfectly reasonable!
Silas felt uncertain and suspicious.
Could it be that the one present at the time was Ouroboros?
No, wait!
He's a favored one of the True Creator. His position would definitely align with that evil god! If he encountered me, he would only be hostile.
He wouldn't use such a covert method to influence things, and especially wouldn't leave behind his own holy emblem to alert me...
Not Ouroboros, but still a high-sequence Beyonder of the "Monster" pathway...
A thought suddenly stirred in Silas's heart.
Could it be that the one present at the time was another "Snake of Mercury"?
If that's the case, this would make perfect sense. He must be in an adversarial relationship with Ouroboros...
On the same pathway, at most three Sequence 1 Beyonders could exist simultaneously.
But if this pathway had a true god, then there couldn't possibly be any Sequence 1s on this pathway.
This was information Silas had just obtained from the potion formulas on the "Abyss" card.
Because the main ingredients for a Sequence 0 potion were the Beyonder characteristics of the other two Sequence 1s from the same pathway!