I changed the world.

Page 412

As he walked toward his lodgings, Father Simon was still thinking about what the patrolman had said. Clearly, what the shop owners he had asked were telling the truth; there really had never been a newly opened bookstore here.

However, he did indeed buy an old book from that bookstore. In that case, the book he bought was quite intriguing. Could there be some secret in this book?

Or is it that some mysterious entity wants to give me a book?

After all, Father Simon had also experienced miraculous events, more than once. At this moment, he subconsciously recalled those events he had experienced.

Filled with all sorts of strange thoughts, Father Simon carried the wooden box and hurried home, his pace quickening. At that moment, his mind was consumed with the thought of getting home as quickly as possible to examine the book more closely…

As he turned a corner, a series of curses came from ahead. He looked up and saw a man reeking of alcohol staggering along, shouting incoherently as if he were facing his enemy. People passing by him carefully walked around him.

Father Simon frowned and subconsciously took a few steps back, preparing to walk around him. At this moment, he also heard some indistinct words, such as "stock market," "dirty," "concealing the truth," "losing money," and so on, mixed with some unpleasant slang.

Father Simon had no interest in financial investments, so he couldn't understand what the man was saying. He could only roughly guess that the man was a drunkard who had lost money in the stock market. Then, the man smashed the bottle in his hand on the ground, squatted down, and began to wail and bury his face in his hands...

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History Books: Chapter 844 Reading

Not knowing what had happened, Father Simon cautiously walked past him. Just then, a couple passed by, sighing and whispering amongst themselves as they looked at the drunkard. Father Simon, passing by, only overheard snippets of their conversation: "News...stock market crash...someone's been wiped out..."

Slightly curious, Father Simon put all of this aside and continued to ponder his strange experience of the day...

When I got back to the apartment, it was 20:23 p.m. local time. Father Simon’s residence was on the third floor of a six-story apartment building on Rue Saint-Baudron. The two-bedroom apartment was considered quite spacious in Bergoppeli, where land is extremely valuable. In particular, he didn’t have to pay rent himself, which was a kind of church welfare.

Back home, Father Simon closed and locked the bedroom door. He eagerly went to the study, placed the wooden box on the table, opened it, and took out the thick book inside.

Using the desk lamp, he carefully examined the book. The book's binding was extremely exquisite, with a wooden cover wrapped in leather. The cover had a metal clasp, and the text on the cover was embossed in the Grammar titled "The Grey Book."

Carefully opening the book, Father Simon discovered that the paper was not ordinary paper, but rather some kind of processed leather, something he had noticed before. He guessed it was parchment, a material commonly used in ancient Western Continent bookmaking, and highly prized by the upper classes at the time. The production process of parchment was extremely complex, requiring multiple steps such as softening, removing hair and meat scraps from animal hides, soaking, stretching, and drying, making it quite expensive.

The books were in relatively good condition, with no missing pages or damage. Considering the materials and condition of the books, Father Simon's purchase price was truly inexpensive. Especially considering that antique items have reportedly been appreciating in value recently.

Father Simon sat at his desk and carefully examined the book page by page, trying to see if there were any hidden items or compartments. However, after working on it for a while, he concluded that it was just a normal antique book and there didn't seem to be any hidden compartments or anything like that.

So, the next step is to look at the contents of the book to see if there is any special knowledge in it.

Filled with speculation, Father Simon opened the book to its first page. Just then, a rustling sound came from the living room, as if some kind of disturbance was taking place.

Father Simon initially paid no attention, but the rustling sounds in the living room didn't stop, as if someone was rummaging through something. However, Father Simon was unmarried and lived alone, so it was impossible for anyone to be there…

Then there's only one possibility... either a thief broke in, or rats got in.

Bergopelli is a historic old city where rats are quite common in the city's sewers, and it is not uncommon for rats to get into residents' homes.

Father Simon wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt a slight warmth in the area where the mark on his arm was. He pulled up his sleeve to look, but the mark hadn't changed. Perhaps it was just his imagination...

He stood up and cautiously walked into the living room to look around. At that moment, the rustling sounds stopped abruptly, and no more sounds came.

Father Simon turned on the living room light and carefully checked the kitchen, dining room, and other places where mice might appear. He found neither a thief nor a mouse. So where did the sound come from?

With his doubts still lingering, Father Simon returned to his study and began to peruse the Grey Book once more.

The author of this book is a Catholic priest named Alain René Jacques Jean de Polignac, whom we will refer to as Alain de Polignac for short. In fact, authors of this kind are very common in ancient books, because in that era, the clergy were the most knowledgeable class. Not to mention commoners, even many nobles in the West were illiterate.

The contents of this book are, in essence, some reflections from Father Alain de Boli and his travels.

In the early part of the book, Father Alain de Polignac records some of his daily habits and experiences in handling religious affairs, as well as his understanding of reading scriptures. In addition, he occasionally describes his experiences of confessing to others. Furthermore, Father de Polignac also met a scholar from the East and praised his knowledge of herbalism. However, he was rather critical of the scholar's faith. At the same time, he devoted a certain amount of space to describing what he considered to be his views on the comparison between Eastern and Western religious theories.

Father Simon didn't study this content in detail, because Old Granian grammar and vocabulary differed somewhat from modern usage. To better understand the content, Father Simon turned on his computer and simply looked up any unfamiliar words online, which sped up his reading speed...

As he read on, Father Alain de Polignac described an incident he had witnessed in the area where a citizen had reported his neighbor, a wealthy widow, claiming that she had been tempted by the devil and was a witch.

Although the widow initially resisted the charges, and some claimed the whistleblower was after her wealth, she eventually confessed to all the accusations after a week of interrogation and also named eight accomplices. Ultimately, all of them were burned at the stake by the Inquisition.

As a professional with a background in religious history, Father Simon knew that such cases were by no means uncommon during that period. In fact, let alone a widow, even a knight would have a hard time enduring the trial in the Inquisition's interrogation room...

He sighed and was about to continue reading when suddenly, the eerie sound came from the living room behind him again. This time, he clearly heard footsteps that sounded like someone walking.

"Tap, tap... tap..."

That was definitely not the sound of a mouse; the sound of a mouse is not so clear and regular!

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History Books: Chapter 845 A Mysterious Night

At the same time, Father Simon felt once again that the mark on his arm seemed to be slightly warm...

Could it be... that the mark is reminding me of something?

Xi/Meng Shenliu listened for a moment, then suddenly stood up, took a few steps to the living room, and slammed his hand on the light switch, turning on the light...

However, there was still nothing...

Even the sound from before has disappeared.

Father Simon was somewhat skeptical, so he searched everywhere, even crawling under the cupboard to look, but he really found nothing!

This made Father Simon feel uneasy. He subconsciously glanced at the window of his living room, which was closed. He walked to the window and looked out, but it was dark outside and he couldn't see anything.

Filled with doubt, he slowly returned to his study. This time, he didn't turn off the living room light. He sat at his desk for a while, and since no strange noises seemed to be coming, he began to read on again…

Shortly after the witch was burned to death, strange things began to happen. In the small town of Grand in the north, a strange body was found. The deceased was an innkeeper who had not come to work for two days. When people went to his house to look for him, he was found dead in his own bed, his body covered with black spots, which was extremely gruesome.

Just two days later, a second death occurred. It was also someone from the same inn, this time a stable boy. He suddenly collapsed while feeding the horses, then began to talk incoherently. Before he could be carried into the house, he died, also covered in black spots.

That evening, the innkeeper and his daughter both developed fevers. The innkeeper's wife called a doctor to perform bloodletting treatment, but it was to no avail. Both of them died in the early hours of the morning.

After that, this strange illness began to spread throughout the city. Patients typically started with a fever, followed by swelling of the neck, and then black spots appeared on their bodies. The process could be as quick as less than a day from the onset of symptoms to death.

The account of Father Alain de Polignac in the book is filled with an increasingly intense sense of anxiety. As a priest, people would naturally come to the church seeking his help. However, the usual prayers and Masses had no effect. He even tried to use the church's exorcism rituals, but these attempts all failed. Even when he tried to command the evil spirits to leave the bodies of the sick in the name of the Son, the sick continued to die one after another.

This scene in the book immediately reminded Father Simon of the infamous Black Death that swept across the entire Western Continent. Modern research suggests that the cause of the Black Death was bubonic plague, which entered the ports of the Western Continent via merchant ships and then spread along trade routes to various cities. Coupled with the extremely limited medical technology and generally poor sanitation at the time, this led to the widespread outbreak of the plague.

Clearly, this was exactly what he had read in the book. Of course, Father Alain de Polignac obviously lacked this knowledge; he sought help from his diocese, and a letter from the archbishop told him that this was the power of the devil, urging him to pay close attention to everything happening within the diocese for suspicious people or events, and to maintain unwavering faith, assuring him that salvation would surely come…

However, apart from that, the archbishop did not provide him with any effective help.

Father Simon read his book while also keeping an eye on the sounds coming from the living room. Whether it was because the lights were on or because there was really nothing unusual in the living room, there was no sound from the living room for the next hour.

This gradually put Father Simon's mind at ease...

Father Alain de Polignac, however, clearly believed the archbishop's advice completely, and even organized a pious prayer ceremony. This so-called pious prayer involved praying loudly while naked and whipping one's back with a barbed leather whip. Originally a method of penance and asceticism for monks, Father Alain de Polignac used it to demonstrate his piety to God and drive away evil.

However, this approach proved ineffective, and the disease continued. In fact, a month later, the nuns and servants in the church also fell ill and died one after another. By this time, the epidemic in the entire city had become extremely serious.

Because Father Depolig described the plight of some patients in great detail, Father Simon felt a deep empathy for them, especially the despair of helplessness, which made him sigh inwardly.

As Father Simon turned the page, he felt a warm sensation again on the mark on his arm, this time even more clearly than the previous two times!

Just then, voices suddenly came from the living room. This sudden change startled Father Simon. He listened carefully and heard what sounded like a deep male voice talking to another, hoarse male voice.

He took a deep breath, carefully stood up again, and tiptoed to the study door. He peered into the living room and then breathed a sigh of relief. The television was on; it showed a dark alleyway where two people were walking forward, seemingly on an adventure, talking as they went.

Then, they pushed open a door at the end of the alley...

Beyond the door lay a world shrouded in mist, which somehow reminded Father Simon of his past experiences in the East…

Before he could react, a strange black shadow appeared at the end of the door. The scene then switched to the faces of the two intruders, their faces filled with unexpected surprise and fear. Then, two huge tentacles reached out towards them...

After a scream, the screen went dark, followed by the credits and acknowledgments...

The scene startled Father Simon, who realized something was wrong. How could the television be turned on in an empty living room?

Then, the TV was turned on, and what kind of grotesque program was it playing?!

What on earth is going on?!

Father Simon glanced at the television station; it was a local satellite TV station. After calming himself down, he turned off the TV, quickly returned to his desk, and began searching on his computer. Soon, he found the channel's schedule and, after checking the time, indeed found the corresponding program—The Dark Gate.

This is an experimental short paranormal program filmed by students, which is said to be quite well received.

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History Books: Chapter 846 Opportunity?

The story revolves around a group of college students exploring an abandoned old house, where they find a mysterious magic book. Following the book's guidance, they eventually open the gate to a demonic world...

Is this content alluding to something?!

And then there's that TV that I turned on for no reason... Something just feels off...

Father Simon had experienced mysterious events, and not long ago, the current situation made him feel that something was very strange...

He took a few deep breaths and then turned off the TV.

At this moment, he was becoming somewhat paranoid. He felt a chill run down his spine, as if some unseen and intangible eerie entity was watching him from the darkness...

He couldn't help but check the living room again carefully, but still found nothing; he didn't even find a single cockroach in the corner of the room.

However, the more this was the case, the stronger the unease in my heart became.

Father Simon had turned on all the lights in the house and was sitting in the living room, hoping for a change in the situation. He didn't even dare to look at the Grey Book anymore; the whole thing was too bizarre, making it hard not to suspect the book's mysterious origins, as if shrouded in a fog...

He sat in the living room for a full half hour, and it seemed that nothing else had happened. Even so, he dared not let his guard down. He placed a baton in front of him, a weapon he had bought after returning to Bergopelli. Bergopelli was a gun-free area, and Father Simon felt that having a self-defense item was still necessary.

During the time after the dance, it seemed that everything had calmed down and the strange events had stopped. Father Simon also considered whether to go out and avoid the area, but after opening the door, glancing at the dark corridor, he retreated. Going out at this time seemed to be an even more dangerous thing to do...

Perhaps… this strange trigger mechanism only occurs when one reads the "Grey Book." Although Father Simon is a priest, he doesn't live in a vacuum. He has previously been exposed to films and novels produced by the modern entertainment industry. In some supernatural dramas, reading a specific book or watching a particular DVD can produce supernatural phenomena. He wondered if what he was experiencing was something like this.

So, does that mean I'll be safe as long as I stop reading?

Recalling the warm marks on his hands from the previous few times, he was almost certain that the "sacred object" was warning him. It was just a pity... Thinking of the pendant that had been taken away, he couldn't help but feel a little frustrated. If he could, he would rather not have the so-called bonus.

Deep down, he actually believed that it was some kind of "chance" for him.

Should we... hand over this "Grey Book" to the Vatican for their disposal? That would seem like a way to shift the risk...