Odis uses a teleportation array to escape back to the basement of 77 Hilton Avenue: the "leader's" secret has been discovered!
The painstakingly cultivated "leadership" and "account" can no longer be used, but with the support of the "Mechanical Heart," the Mysticism Research Association can be reconvened after a period of time.
However, the new gathering can only be held after the negotiations with MI9 are completed.
Odis still felt uncomfortable from the shockwave, but he immediately retrieved the "Ahonna Crystal," worth over four thousand pounds, from the magic circle to avoid being pursued by MI9 agents.
Then he took out a glass bottle that had been placed next to the magic circle but was being used for the first time, uncorked it, and poured the liquid inside onto the wall, completely destroying the magic circle.
In this way, even with some extraordinary means, it would be difficult to find this place in a short time.
Finally, Odis removed her mask, took off her somewhat tattered cloak, and carried them with her as she left the place as Odis.
To prevent a situation like today from happening, Odis has always tried to cover his face when entering 77 Hilton Avenue, so the neighbors don't know what he looks like.
As usual, Odis tried to cover his face with his collar and hat brim before going out. He quickly hailed a taxi and stopped at an inn two streets later.
Upon entering the hotel, he used forged documents to request a room and paid for a week's stay.
Odis opened the door to the room and sat on the edge of the hotel bed. He breathed a slight sigh of relief. With what he had just done, he was certain that MI9 would not be able to find anything about Odis within the next few days.
He rested for a while before escaping through the back window. After walking two blocks, he took a horse-drawn carriage to the Backlund Mechanical Research Society.
The official extraordinary individuals were still very busy today. Max was not there, but Odis met with Captain Icons and described what had happened that day.
Captain Ikonser frowned after hearing this: "'MI9' is indeed going too far. Even if they have suspicions about you, they can't just arrest you like this."
He thought for a moment and then said, "Since Odis's identity has not been exposed, you go back first. I will immediately question MI9 and ask them to stop arresting you."
"When the time is right, I will invite people from 'Military Intelligence Nine' to the Mechanical Research Association. You will come then, and we can explain the situation to each other in person."
The so-called face-to-face explanation was to dispel some of the doubts of "MI9" and tell them that "Mechanical Heart" would not abandon "the leader".
Odis nodded, somewhat satisfied with the answer.
After returning to 77 Hailin Avenue, Odis drank a cup of tea. Once the ringing in his ears from the shockwave subsided, he opened the intelligence he had brought back from 199 Hairun Avenue and continued to study the extraordinary cases that had occurred in the past two days.
From yesterday afternoon to last night, six more extraordinary cases occurred. Judging from the descriptions, these extraordinary cases were also caused by the spillover of the power of this evil god's descent ritual.
Odis looked at the map he had drawn and finally had some ideas.
Just then, a layer of illusory feathers suddenly appeared in the room. They were a pair of pure white illusory wings. The wings opened, and Bernadette stepped out: "I have found the location of the altar."
Odis glanced at the map in front of him again before asking, "Where is it?"
"It's right there in that Quaternary ruin!" Bernadette said. "They actually used the anti-divination properties of that ruin to create a hidden space inside."
That's why she hadn't discovered any trace of the altar.
Odis said, "Tell me the exact location, and I will go and inform the official extraordinary beings."
Bernadette raised her hand, and several exquisite sketches appeared on Odis's desk: "The altar can be found by following the chronological order of the scenes depicted in these sketches."
"On the last page, I noted how to access the space they created."
Bernadette gave this information to Odis in the hope of using the power of the official extraordinary beings to destroy the altar of the "Morse Penitentiary".
Odis nodded: "I'll go to the 'Mechanical Heart' right now."
Having taken two steps with the documents, Odis suddenly stopped: "I will tell them that I obtained the information from the 'Mysterious Queen'."
This level of altar is clearly not something that can be found in a Sequence 7.
Bernadette hummed in agreement and disappeared from Odis's study.
Odis arrived at the Backlund Mechanical Research Society again in a rented carriage, where Captain Ikonser had just returned from MI9.
Odis immediately stepped forward: "Found it!"
Ikonser paused for a moment, then understood what Odis meant: "To my office!"
The two quickly went up to the second floor. As soon as they closed the door, Odis said, "The 'Mysterious Queen' just found me and gave me these sketches. She told me that if I searched in the order marked on the sketches, I could find the altar."
Iconsel was taken aback: "How did she know you were our informant?"
"One of her subordinates bought intelligence from me," Odis lied. "Of course, I didn't know it was the Mysterious Queen's subordinate, but now that I think about it, it must have been her."
"I never imagined there would be such a large Quaternary site deep underground in the dock area." Ikonser didn't doubt Odis's lie. He glanced at the few pages of sketches and said, "I will immediately hand these materials over to Bishop Horamik."
After leaving the research meeting, Odis should have breathed a sigh of relief, but he did not feel any sense of relaxation at all.
Back in his study, seeing the map again, Odis finally understood what he had been worried about.
Theoretically speaking, that Quaternary ruin was the best choice for the "Morse Penitentiary" to set up an altar, but all of this seemed too logical.
This reminded Odis of the ambush by the "Morse Order" that he had encountered while investigating Bernie's residence.
Looking back now, I always feel that the ambush was a bit too perfunctory.
They simply sent a Sequence 6 to arrest a Sequence 7, which was as if they were telling Odis: Be careful, we are still after you.
This also serves as a notification to Bernadette: We are still in Backlund.
Bernadette later managed to find the Quaternary ruins by tracking members of the "Morse Ascetic Order".
All the clues seemed to logically point to the location of that altar.
Thinking of this, Odis continued to study the map he had drawn. He gradually came to a guess and immediately whispered the name of the "Mysterious Queen": "The Holy Spirit who pursues knowledge."
"A beacon in a mysterious world";
"Eyes peering into fate;"
"The King of the Sea";
"The Holy Bernadette Gustave".
He waited a few seconds, but there was no response, so he whispered it a second time.
As soon as he finished reading, a blurry yet imposing figure appeared in Odis's mind, accompanied by a majestic voice: "What is it?"
"We seem to have had a misconception." Faced with the immense pressure emanating from Bernadette, Odis unconsciously lowered her head: "Why did the 'Ascetic Order of Mors' insist on setting up their altar in Backlund?"
Theoretically speaking, this is very risky, especially since the power of the ritual will leak out, and the demigods of Backlund can be fully aware of the ritual in progress.
They didn't need to do this at all; they could have completed the ritual more safely by simply finding a deserted area.
But the fact that they chose Backlund, a place "where demigods are everywhere," is itself very strange.
Bernadette paused for a moment before asking, "What are your thoughts?"
"They need a huge number of lives!" Odis guessed. "At some point in the ritual, they must need millions of lives!"
"In that case, holding the ceremony in a big city is the best choice."
"But in that case, the altar must be hidden."
"They may have decided to perform this ritual after they found the Quaternary relic."
"But they felt that wasn't enough, because the ruins were hundreds of meters underground and there wasn't much life around them!"
"It's very likely that they used this site as a 'smokescreen'."
After a pause, Bernadette asked again, "Where do you think the altar is?"
"In the East District," Odis pointed to the map he had drawn, "the most densely populated East District."
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Based on the intelligence he has obtained so far, this "descent of the evil god" has already triggered 16 extraordinary cases.
Currently, the official extraordinary individuals have only just formed a joint investigation team, and the details of the case they have obtained may not be as comprehensive as those of Odis.
Judging from the locations of the 16 cases, they likely occurred around the Eastern District.
In the West District, which is furthest from the East District, only one extraordinary case has occurred so far.
So far, there hasn't been a single extraordinary case in the East District, which is rather strange.
Unlike robberies that frequently occur in the East District, extraordinary cases don't go unnoticed. Even if no one reports them, official extraordinary individuals can detect something is amiss after the incident.
Thinking of this, Odis sighed: Oh, the troubled East!
Bernadette then asked, "What is the exact location?"
"I don't know," Odis said. "I need to ask a friend for help to pinpoint the approximate location."
Odis planned to ask Klein for help to see if he could use the clues on the map he had compiled to roughly determine the location of the altar.
Of course, an ordinary "magician" would not be able to divine anything using such abstract things, but Klein is different.
This map is essentially an abstract collection of the consequences of an evil god's descent ritual. The "Fool" can use these abstract things to divine some clues.
After leaving, Odis first sent a telegram to the Backlund Mechanics Society, informing them that he had a new lead.
Then they arrived at 15 Minsk Street, where they found Klein waiting for them.
"I've discovered some clues…" As soon as he entered the living room, Odis didn't hide anything and explained the general situation: "We urgently need you to perform divination to see roughly where the altar of the 'Morse Penitentiary' is located?"
He paused and then said, "If this divination is difficult, would it be acceptable to just have a divination done in the East District?"
The rest is up to the official extraordinary individuals to investigate.
Klein did not refuse; he nodded and said, "I need a quiet environment for divination."
Odis immediately got up and went to wait in the outer living room.
Although Klein was the only one left in the room, he was still very careful and pretended to set up an altar, placing the map that Odis had brought on the altar.
Then, pray to yourself, adopt a praying posture, and enter "above the gray fog" to perform divination.
Arriving "above the gray fog," Klein sat at the head of the bronze table, using his own star to establish a connection with the map on the altar.
At that moment, Klein saw a nearly transparent humanoid figure in the corner of the room.
That was Bernadette's "invisible servant"!
Fortunately, Klein was so careful that Bernadette didn't notice anything amiss.
Klein frowned, thinking it was an official extraordinary being who had followed Odis. This ritual was tantamount to exposing Sherlock's secret beliefs.
But considering that "Detective Sherlock" has recently been inadvertently involved in an extraordinary case that seems to be manipulated by 0-08, and is about to leave Backlund, there's no need to worry too much about it.
So he continued with the divination.
At this moment, under Bernadette's command, the "Invisible Servant" looked at the symbol in the center of the altar. It was a symbol she had never seen before and should represent a hidden being.
Soon, the great detective seemed to have finished his "prayer" and quickly drew a sketch with paper and pen.
It was a three-story building, looking somewhat dilapidated, and it did resemble a house in the East District.
"I've found a clue through divination!" Klein exclaimed.
Odis hurried inside, grabbed the sketch, glanced at it, and said, "I'll have someone search for this building immediately!"
As he walked out, he said, "If the official extraordinary individuals receive their bonuses, I will definitely give you a portion!"
Without waiting for Klein's reply, Odis had already left, first going to the telegraph office to send several telegrams.
Although the "account" for "leader" was no longer usable, this did not prevent Odis from bypassing the Mysticism Research Society and sending telegrams directly to several members, issuing urgent orders.
After the telegram was sent, Odis traveled by carriage to the Backlund Mechanical Research Society once again.
He certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to go and verify the advanced nature of such an altar himself.
Captain Ikonser was already waiting in the lobby of the Mechanical Research Society. As soon as Odis entered, he greeted him and said, "Members of the Mysticism Research Society have sent a telegram saying that the building you described is at 16 Gray Rock Street in the East District."
In the telegram he had just sent, Odis instructed members with leads to forward them to the Backlund Mechanics Research Society.
Unexpectedly, there was a reply so quickly. It was clear that the other party knew where the building was, so they immediately sent a telegram back to the Mechanical Research Society.
Odis breathed a slight sigh of relief: "Then, please, Bishop Horamik, go there immediately!"
Captain Ikonser took a deep breath and whispered to Odis, "I can't get in touch with Bishop Horamik!"
He paused and then explained, "Bishop Horamik, along with Archbishop Anthony Stevenson of the Church of the Goddess of Night, Archbishop Ace Snake of the Church of Storms, and Duke Grove Augustus, have all been lost to contact."
Odis thought to himself: Damn it, could it be that I've fallen into the trap of the "Morse Penitentiary" because of the previous "fake altar"?
He then gave a wry smile. If the official extraordinary beings lost four demigods, the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery would need to send at least one angel to save itself.