The black sun hangs high

Chapter 426 Communication and Secrecy

More than half a month has passed since the night Hugh completely disappeared.

In the past two weeks, Justine's rest time has been gradually extended.

At times, Justina would even spend most of her day sleeping. In fact, she would only wake up when she needed to eat, and after consuming some crystals containing a high concentration of magic, she would immediately fall into a deep sleep.

"Well……"

A slight sound came from the wooden box, the sound somewhat muffled, clearly indicating that Justina was still sound asleep and had not yet woken up.

Seeing Justina's appearance, Verine shook her head helplessly. She bent down and, with the help of the mage's hand, slowly took the "little guy" out of the wooden box.

In fact, Justine can hardly be called a "little one" anymore.

Her size has increased significantly; when she slumps down, she can even take up half a table. Her translucent body has also become more profound, and under the light, it always reminds Violet of those incredibly expensive, flawless black gemstones.

Seeing that Justina remained in a dazed state, Verine had no choice but to gently place the crystal in front of Justina's body. Sensing the approaching magic, Justina quickly reacted. She slowly crawled forward a few steps, and then lazily pressed her body onto the crystal.

Now, she's even too lazy to move around much when eating.

With a worried expression, Violet watched Justine slowly extract the magic from the crystal. She brought a chair, sat down in front of Justine, and placed her hand on Justine's round head with two cat ears on it.

"Mother."

Justina let out a soft humming sound. She really liked the gentle caresses and touches, which made her feel cared for and looked after.

Vera responded softly, then handed a few more magic crystals to Justina. Seeing that Justina was eating enthusiastically, she asked, "Has there been any news about your father lately?"

"No."

Justina, while absorbing magic, replied in a weak voice, "But... but I've been having a lot of dreams lately, and I always dream about my father."

"Dreamed about him?"

Weilin raised her eyebrows, and her tired eyes suddenly brightened.

As a seasoned mage scholar, she knew very well that the magical link was not only an invisible channel for transmitting magic, but also a thread connecting the will and soul of both parties. As long as this thread was not broken, even if one party was isolated for various reasons, the other party could still receive some fragments and messages through it. And dreams were an important carrier of these fragments.

"Come on, tell me, what did you dream about?"

"It's...confused, I can't explain it clearly, and I don't understand it."

Justina's ears twitched slightly. She tilted her head, and magical light and some chaotic patterns appeared in her translucent body. These patterns were quite similar to some strange characters in "The Poem of the Night".

After spending some time together, Vera realized that this was a sign that Justine was thinking hard, so she calmed down and patiently waited for her reply.

After a while, the magical light within Justina's body gradually dimmed, and the magical crystals she had used as food all turned into useless dust. Then, two soft tentacles emerged from her body and waved twice at Verin: "Still hungry..."

The pitiful sight amused Vera, who never skimped on the child's food rations. So she took a few more crystals and gave them to Justine.

Justina became happy after receiving the "reward." She slowly trembled as she absorbed the delicious food that exuded strong magic. Then she said, "In my dream, I went to a cold place... colder than the place where it always snowed before."

“I have seen plains, plains piled up with bones, empty, with storms in the distance and some terrible shadows.”

"I also heard many strange roars. They were hungry and wanted to eat but couldn't find any prey, so they could only keep searching in the dark..."

After each sentence, Justina would pause to think for a while. Clearly, the dream messages she received were so fragmented that she had to try to combine and organize them.

Fortunately, although Justine still instinctively relies on Verine, she has completely broken free from her past state of ignorance. The wisdom and memories hidden within her are rapidly reviving, which gives her the ability to process complex information.

If Hugh himself were here, he would be incredibly surprised.

The scenes that Justine is now recounting are clearly what he saw and heard after entering the Dark Abyss Wasteland. Perhaps the order of these scenes is a bit chaotic, but overall there are no mistakes.

"I also saw... um, rats, big, black rats, but they weren't like the other monsters, they weren't that scary..."

"mouse?"

Vera raised her eyebrows. She was very sensitive to this word and immediately thought of the strange summon that Hugh had named "Snicky." So she quickly asked for more details.

"Hmm... Several times, I saw it carrying me along, it seemed to be very fast, but it also felt a little slow... I don't understand, but I know it won't hurt me, it's very friendly to me, but I don't know where I'm going."

As Justina spoke haltingly, the magic ink pen floating beside Verine kept scribbling on the notebook. Soon, she had recorded everything Justina described in detail, and even sorted and categorized it based on her own judgment.

By the time the conversation ended, the notebook was filled with densely packed notes, and it was already past midnight. After giving Justina two more high-quality magic crystals as a reward, Verine carried the drowsy Justina into her private "bedroom." Instead of resting, she made herself a cup of unsweetened stimulant and sat down at her desk to carefully study the notes she had just taken.

As one of the few scholars in the world of Vaan who has conducted in-depth research on "The Poem of the Night" and achieved certain results, Verin has developed her own set of methods for judging certain words, sentences and descriptions. In fact, while Justina was still busy recounting those chaotic dreams, Verin had already noticed the elements and details within them.

Veraine was certain that the scenes Justine described could be found in the poems of the mad poet Aziv.

Although there are inevitably some discrepancies between the two, they are largely similar, especially the characteristics and basic rules of the "cold world" described by Justine, which can be found in almost identical descriptions in the first two chapters of "The Poem of the Night".

The passage of time is imperceptible, as if the beings within it always possess infinite lifespans.

They have difficulty discerning space and can only act according to their senses and intuition, but the end result is always getting lost.

Cold, dark, and filled with an atmosphere of despair and oppression, this world was a paradise for those twisted hunters.

It looks like a chaotic mass of mud, but hidden within it lies a strange set of rules that defy human comprehension.

After thinking for a while, Vera carefully wrote Hugh's name on the paper. Then, she drew a circle around the name and connected it with the scattered notes next to it using a straight line.

Veraine was almost certain that a significant portion of Justina's dream scenes were actually from Hugh himself.

If I'm not mistaken, he's probably riding that giant rat right now, groping his way through the terrible world that Aziv once visited.

Vera found it hard to tell whether this was good news or bad news.

She believed in Hugh's abilities and the unknown power and mission he carried. But ultimately, he was facing a terrifying world full of hostility and threats. He might be lost, trying to find a way out, or even being hunted by those horrific monsters...

But no matter what, he is definitely still alive, and the magical connection between him and Justina still exists. Although the two cannot communicate or contact each other directly, Verin can now get a general idea of ​​Hugh's current situation through Justina's dreams.

Amidst the exaggerated pressure and extreme stifling atmosphere, such news was enough to uplift Vivian's spirits.

At that moment, light footsteps came from outside the door. As if noticing the light inside, the visitor paused at the door before knocking.

Verine got up and opened the door. Outside was the same agent who had taken the letter from her earlier. Seeing Verine, he smiled apologetically and handed her an envelope: "The others are still awake, madam. The letter you requested has been processed. You can take a look and see if there are any changes needed... I'll come to pick it up tomorrow morning."

After exchanging pleasantries, Vera returned to her desk with the letter.

The member in charge of this matter had extensive experience in forging letters and was also proficient in various local dialects and different handwriting styles. After his special processing, Vera's previous letter had been completely transformed.

The handwriting still retains the delicate strokes characteristic of women, but there are more and more misspellings, and many words and phrases have been replaced with local slang, with some places even adding a couple of slang phrases for teasing.

The letter paper was replaced with a piece of oiled paper with obvious creases—this was always used to wrap large pieces of hard bread in the village of St. Steel, and it was also the most commonly used letter paper by the villagers. On its edges, there were also a little bit of blood and animal oil stains.

Everything is so natural.

It was just like an ordinary letter taken directly from the home of a rural hunter.

However, in reality, the messages contained within these texts are extremely complex and dangerous, and the significance they carry is immense.

Following the Watchtower incident, the Black Sun Society significantly increased its control over magical communication devices. They not only began using magical rituals to block all unregistered magical communications, but also used lost magic to summon a group of strange, ancient familiars. These bizarre creatures, similar in size to adults but resembling giant flying mosquitoes, were extremely sensitive to fluctuations in magical power. Despite their fragility, they always managed to detect even the slightest vibrations produced when the communication devices were in operation.

This forced the spies and agents scattered throughout the Kingdom of Saint Steel to abandon those important secret rituals and instead use simpler, more primitive, but also more secure means of communication.

If no mistakes are made, this letter will be subject to multiple reviews by St. Steel's clerks and the mages of the Black Sun Society, along with other letters sent from residents in the rear to soldiers at the front. Once confirmed to be without problems, it will be delivered to various outposts and military camps by dedicated personnel, and will be delivered under the supervision of the society members.

They would even conduct spot checks on the soldiers who received the letters.

However, some members of the Dawn Society have successfully infiltrated the outposts on the front lines of St. Steel. Their goal is to act as flexible relay stations, using all means to pass on the secret intelligence transmitted from the rear.

In the current escalating situation, such a mission is tantamount to suicide.

But in any case, this letter must be successfully delivered.

This seemingly rambling letter contained the locations of several artillery positions that needed to be suppressed, the approximate movement directions of several Saint Steel Legions and Black Sun Society Families, and also concealed the current status of a group of intelligence personnel.

Vera was certain that as long as the letter was successfully delivered to the Dawn Society, it would definitely attract the highest level of attention from leaders such as Mayer.

"Alyosha", "Daia", "Old Peter"... These seemingly ordinary and common St. Steel names are actually the protagonists in Hugh's unfinished work. Besides her, Mayer and others have also seen Hugh's manuscripts.

This was a secret agreement reached between Veraine and Mayer, among others.

When these names appear in intelligence correspondence, it means that the time has come to launch a higher-level operation.

(End of this chapter)