My esoteric uncle Jules

Chapter 152 Entering the Silent Housing
The door opened slightly, raising a cloud of dust.

The light of the Soul-Driving Lamp flickered, illuminating the road ahead.

There was nothing dilapidated or mysterious about it; all that existed was a dusty, unremarkable front hall.

But Jules knew that in this foyer, a pair of malicious eyes were watching him intently.

Without much hesitation, he stepped into the front hall.

Jules thought the two sides would have to play a game for a while before the evil spirit would appear, but to his surprise, the evil spirit's reaction was far more intense than he had imagined.

The moment he stepped inside, the incredibly heavy door slammed shut!
Then, many of the pages of the books on the wall began to turn on their own.

The sound of papers clattering and turning was particularly jarring in the deathly silence.

Jules gripped the Soul-Driving Lamp tightly, its flame flickering slightly, illuminating the dim outline of the front hall.

The pages on the bookshelf were turned faster, and a chilling malice filled the air.

He squinted, scanning his surroundings, trying to spot the evil spirit.

“Come out,” Jules said in a low, calm voice. “I know you’re here.”

The turning of the pages abruptly stopped, and the room fell silent once more.

Then, a low, hoarse laugh came from the shadows where the light could not reach.

The sound was quite eerie, like dry twigs rubbing against a window.

A blurry figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

It was the image of a hunched old man, wearing a tattered gray robe, with a thin face, eyes that gleamed with an unnatural, eerie light, and a book in his hand.

The moment Jules saw the old man, he knew that what he was looking for was the evil spirit he was searching for.

Too lazy to argue with such an irrational evil spirit, he raised the soul-driving lamp and was about to chant the incantation.

However, the evil spirit's next words stunned him for a moment.

"Heh... I actually got to see it, the new librarian of the residence..." The old man's tone was unusually calm, even a little chilling.

Jules frowned and stopped chanting the incantation.

"What do you mean by that?"

The evil spirit before him seemed to be far removed from the kind of mindless being he remembered.

The old man didn't answer Jules directly, but instead gave a sinister laugh:
"Are you here to kill me?"

Jules raised the soul-driving lamp in his hand, the meaning of which was self-evident.

At the same time, he kept a close eye on the changes in the old man.

The other party did retain some consciousness, but that so-called consciousness seemed to be rapidly dissipating.

Upon hearing this, the old man grinned and let out a silent laugh.

"You can't kill me."

As if to verify his words, the entire foyer suddenly trembled violently.

A stone brick, twisted into the shape of a face, protruded in front of Jules, chuckling:

“If it were anyone else, I would have killed them directly, but you are different. You can do what I want to do.”

Jules frowned, completely baffled as to what this evil spirit was up to.

The power displayed by this evil spirit is truly terrifying.

Based on his performance just now, he was at least at the fourth or fifth level, which is completely inconsistent with the intelligence.

But if the other party has such strength, they can just coerce me directly. Why bother negotiating with me?
He said without changing his expression:
"what's up?"

"Find my body."

Bizarre request...

Jules narrowed his eyes, not immediately refusing, but instead saying:
"Where can we find your body?"

"Naturally, it is within this dwelling."

The old man's distorted shadowy form drifted around, and the front hall gradually returned to its original state, but the old man's laughter still echoed in the air:
"As a future librarian, you wouldn't refuse such a small request, would you?"

Jules crossed his arms over his chest:

"It's possible, but you have to explain to me first what a librarian is."

"You do not know?"

The old man's shadowy face reappeared, glaring at Jules, and he said:

"Only the librarians selected by Si Chen can gain the approval of the Silent Residence and take control of the residence."

Otherwise, even if outsiders managed to enter this dwelling, they would have no chance of truly taking control of it.

Chosen by Si Chen...?

For some reason, upon hearing this truly shocking news, Jules even felt a sense of relief.

At least, it proves that Si Chen hasn't let him off the hook yet—I wonder what they're planning that requires someone as insignificant as me to get involved.

Jules glanced sideways at the old man, sizing him up, and said:
"And who are you?"

He couldn't believe that an ordinary superhuman would know such secrets and be able to enter the Silent House and transform into an evil spirit.

Upon hearing this, the old man fell silent.

"I don't know, I'm just a lost memory." As he said this, the eeriness in his voice faded a bit, leaving only a deep sense of confusion.

"All I know is that my body was found deep inside the house, and I have to retrieve it."

He raised his head again, looking intently at Jules.

"Moreover, I can sense another familiar scent on you!"

Jules raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised:
"What is the taste?"

The old man raised his hand, and Jules's memories were suddenly "stirred up".

He instinctively wanted to stop the other person's actions, but when he saw the memory that had been disturbed, he was stunned.

In that memory, he was bending down, holding a quill pen, and carefully signing his name on a contract.

And sitting in front of him was someone he knew all too well—

Steel Lutos!
This memory is clearly the anti-leakage agreement I signed when I agreed to join the Anti-Suppression Bureau!

The old man licked his lips and said:
"Yes, that's the smell... I've encountered it before, but I think I've forgotten it..."

His eyes once again fell into confusion.

This evil spirit in front of me is actually very familiar with the agreement to join the Anti-Suppression Bureau?

Jules couldn't help but glance at the old man a few more times.

He now strongly suspects that the other party may have been a high-ranking official in the Anti-Suppression Bureau in the past.

However, for some unknown reason, he died here, and even his memories were shattered and lost. Over the long years, his mind was twisted into an evil spirit-like existence.

He pondered for a long time, then said:

Do you remember where your body was left?

Since the other party has shown goodwill that is questionable, as well as absolute power that can crush him, then cooperation is the best option at this moment.

But he had a vague feeling that the other party wasn't actually as strong as they seemed—but he didn't want to gamble.

The old man shook his head and said hoarsely:

"I do not remember."

Upon hearing this, Jules' face twitched involuntarily.

"Then I'll go in and look for it myself."

Just as he was about to leave, the old man suddenly blocked his way and said calmly:

"Kill me before that."

The light in his eyes became somewhat frightening, completely different from the rational light he had previously displayed. It was the gaze of a wild beast.

Jules stepped back two paces, raised the lamp of savior, and said:

"Your rationality is fading."

He accurately judged the current state of the evil spirit before him.

The old man grinned.
"I'm just an evil spirit with some memories of my past life. If you're going to make a move, you'd better do it soon, or else..."

He didn't continue, but Jules could tell that the other person's condition was rapidly deteriorating.

Clearly, his previous state of rationality could not be sustained for long.

Chaos and violence belonging to evil spirits are the norm.

Before taking action, Jules' eyes flickered slightly, and he asked one last question:
Aren't you afraid I'll change my mind?

He was referring, of course, to the search for the body.

The old man grinned and said:
"Trust me, you'll receive a substantial reward after the body is found..."

Jules frowned:

"Can't you just explain what it is?"

However, the other party was no longer able to answer his questions.

The old man's mental state deteriorated and worsened at a visible rate, and his once clear eyes were gradually replaced by a distorted and violent gaze.

It was at this moment that Jules finally sensed the old man's true strength.

His lips curled slightly:
"So it really is still Tier 3..."

His initial feeling was correct; the other party was indeed bluffing—however, their methods were so sophisticated that he couldn't make up his mind for a moment.

Without hesitation, Jules, just as Uriel had done that day, raised his lantern high, his expression solemn, and shouted:

"God said, let there be light!"

In an instant, a great light shone forth.

The piercing screams and screams continued, but soon fell silent.

Clang.

Jules carelessly tossed the lantern to the ground, then bent down and picked up, with surprise, a string of nameplate pendants that had appeared out of nowhere.

It has a word engraved on it:
Siren.

"Is that his code name?"

Jules nodded thoughtfully and put it away.

Once I get back to London, I'll check with the Anti-Smuggling Bureau to find out who this code name belongs to.

After confirming that nothing else was left behind, he picked up the Soul-Driving Lamp again and turned his gaze to the door at the deepest part of the front hall.

Based on the priest's and the old man's earlier statement about the "sirens," is it possible that only he can enter?

Jules shook his head, stepped forward slowly, and gently pushed the door open.

There was no resistance as he had imagined; the somewhat rotten wooden door was easily pushed open by him.

The sight inside made him gasp – all sorts of books, neatly arranged on the shelves, though some had been rummaged through.

It's easy to imagine that in the past, this must have been the first stop for those visiting subsidized housing.

But now, they are all covered in dust, gradually fading away with the passage of time.

Jules grabbed a book at random and started reading.

After looking at it for a while, his face twitched, and he threw it back.

"How come there are still those kinds of... fictional works about the Red Cup?" He couldn't bear to look at them.

Although he knew that the Silent House was also known as the Silent Bookstore, and was essentially a large library with a wide variety of books, he never imagined that he would see such a thing.

If Akabei knew, he would definitely tear the author apart!

After checking for a while, he roughly figured out the contents of the books left in the room.

A small portion consisted of secret teachings that were valuable to him, but most of them were simply repetitive retellings of knowledge he already knew.

It was here that he truly learned what the original secret teachings looked like.

The book I read before, "An Introduction to Mysticism," was a "textbook" that was highly condensed from the essence of previous works.

Those secret teachings are more like various fables, often containing absurd and fantastical stories, yet they can teach people something.

Even more embarrassingly, Jules couldn't understand many of the books at all.

He could only roughly judge the content of the book by looking at the similar books placed next to it.

"It feels like so much of it is in Latin..."

Jules was in a real bind.

He wasn't completely unfamiliar with Latin, but the Latin in these books was not human-speaking, and the books were written in an era that, even by the standards of Latin history, was quite ancient.

Asking him to decipher it is really asking too much of him.

After thinking about it for a while, he decided to give up treatment and look for other options first.

There were two doors in the room, but one of them seemed to be welded shut, and when Jules put his hand on it, he felt a strong resistance.

After trying it out and finding himself powerless to resist, he wisely turned his attention to another door.

This time, the door opened smoothly.

However, what was seen in this room was rather shocking—

The remains of some strange creatures lay scattered on the ground, and only a few books remained, almost all of them reduced to ashes.

Clearly, a battle took place here in the past, but the outcome is unknown.

"What exactly happened here before..."

Jules explored and pondered this question at the same time.

According to the centipede, the strange occurrences in the Silent Dwelling probably happened earlier than he imagined, but no one noticed.

But before that, the Silenced Housing Units could still respond to the calls from the Anti-Smuggling Bureau, which means that at least the people there hadn't all died.

Let's explore a bit more and see if we can find any new clues... Jules thought to himself.

……

The priest was resting with his eyes closed when someone knocked on the door and said respectfully:

"Your Excellency, Mr. Jules has something important to discuss with you."

"Him?" The priest opened his eyes, somewhat puzzled. "Didn't he go to the dwelling?"

Jules's soft laughter came from outside the door:
"I've already been there and I'm back."

The priest's bird bone mask trembled with excitement, and he quickly said:
"Please come in quickly!"

Once Jules was seated, he asked impatiently:
"You...defeated that evil spirit?"

The priest spoke with some trepidation.

Jules smiled and nodded, saying leisurely:

"That evil spirit is more powerful than the intelligence reports said..."

The priest gave an awkward smile:

"Well, I'm sorry, we can't really go deep into the Silent House. We can only stay briefly in the front hall at most, so we have no way of knowing the full picture of the evil spirit."

Jules smiled and shook his head:
"Never mind, it's all in the past anyway—besides, I got some things from inside that you might be interested in."

He took out a small box from his pocket, slowly opened it, revealing a thick liquid inside that shimmered with a blue-silver color.

Upon seeing this thing, the priest froze, trembling as he stammered:
"This, this, this is the paint we wanted..."

(End of this chapter)