Lola spoke to the two ghosts, "You can't continue to inhabit this pot. The owner of the pot has a natural spiritual vision and can see you. I will find a suitable place for you. Until then, don't move around randomly, find a safe place to hide in the cathedral."
The female warrior ghost nodded, and together with the ghost Sophia, they drifted away.
Suddenly, Shaun furrowed his brow in seriousness, as he remembered something, "Lola, during dinner today, you mentioned that something felt off about the assassins, right?"
Lola nodded, "Yes, what about it?"
Shaun continued, "I just learned about their true motives, and it seems even more strange. The assassin who died today didn't seem like someone capable of handling such an important task, right?"
Lola said, "Go on." Shaun explained, "I think I might have misunderstood something. Looking back, the method used to kill Father Giovanni and the style of killing them are different. Do you remember when we arrived at the scene where Ize was being forced to confess? We both felt an ominous presence, right? I didn't sense that today when facing the assassin. I overlooked this. Perhaps the real agent of the supernatural hasn't appeared yet, and the assassin you killed today belongs to another faction."
Lola thought for a moment and said, "It's indeed possible. I also didn't sense the same aura from the assassin this afternoon. The situation is complicated; if we split up, we must be careful."
Shaun nodded, "We're not far from the Fountain of the Dwarves. I'll go ask them. The terrifying person they mentioned, let's see if it's the assassin from today."
Lola said, "I'll have Andre report this situation, and I'll also call Father Schwartz directly to prevent the possibility of betrayal from either of them. Then, I'll go to the nearest portal and visit the English Spirit Realm to report and seek help."
Shaun said, "Be careful, and after completing these tasks, let's rest. Tomorrow will be another busy day."
After saying that, the two went their separate ways. Shaun went to the Fountain of the Dwarves, gave a few signals, and then moved to a secluded corner.
Toren immediately appeared at his feet, "Don't you outsiders need sleep?"
Shaun quickly said, "Sorry, it's urgent. The guy you pointed out to me this afternoon, is he the terrifying person you mentioned before? Please speak in standard German."
In his usual disdainful tone, Toren said, "No, he was just following you. I reminded you because you asked me to. Although he's a weird guy, he's not that terrifying. The truly terrifying one is the person who appeared at the gold shop."
Shaun asked urgently, "When did the terrifying person first appear? Was he peeling the skin off someone when he appeared?"
Toren snorted and said, "No, the terrifying guy first appeared shortly after the short sword was dug out. When the sword was unearthed, Heinze and I were quietly watching the excitement, so we remember. After that, the terrifying person appeared for the first time. It was at night, Heinze's hands were itchy, and we were discussing whether to do some chores. That guy came out of the darkness, and it startled us."
Shaun asked, "Where were you at that time?"
Toren muttered a few words in a language Shaun couldn't understand, then said, "It should be a alley called Burgmauer across from the cathedral. There's a flowerbed in that alley, rarely visited by people, so we were playing there."
Shaun frowned, "I remember there are some church properties there." He lowered his voice and said to Torin, "Alright, dear Toren, thanks for your help. If the terrifying person appears, please let me know."
Toren mumbled, "I'll tell you when I decide what I want to eat, and you'll have to give it to us."
Shaun reassured, "No problem." Watching Toren's figure disappear, Shaun headed towards The Qvest Hotel where he stayed.
It wasn't the weekend today, and at this time, except for a few places, Cologne was almost devoid of people.
Walking on the quiet streets, Shaun reviewed the events of the day in his mind. He had been in a tense state, not feeling much, but now that he slightly relaxed, waves of fatigue hit him.
When he reached Zeughaus Str., the main street of the arsenal, he would pass by the Cologne City History Museum. The red brick building, opened as a museum in 1888, housed over three hundred thousand items related to Cologne's history.
As Shaun passed by the museum, he suddenly thought that the first thing to do tomorrow was to visit it. Perhaps some inspiration could be gained, and clues to the "ruins wrapped in modern starlight" could be found.
Passing by the entrance of the museum, Shaun noticed a person standing there. One hand was in the pocket of the pants, and the other held a cigarette.
At this time, the museum had long been closed, and the person stood in a dark place without light. Considering his experiences these days, Shaun became alert, adjusting his muscles to a state where he could react at any moment.
While smoking, the person watched Shaun walk past. When their eyes met, he smiled friendly at Shaun.
The night scenery that was quiet and beautiful gradually became eerie. All the buildings in sight began to deform, changing from a modern style with flat roofs to a sharp Gothic style with pointed spires. The trees around turned from lush foliage to claw-like bare branches. The moon, appearing at some point, was large but had a ghastly pale color, resembling a faintly glowing bone.
Shaun immediately understood that he encountered a supernaturally gifted individual, and he was under attack.
"Is this an illusion, or did he pull me into another space?" Shaun dared not act recklessly, stopping and observing his surroundings.
Under the ghastly moonlight, the sinister buildings and the shadows behind the trees gradually took shape, as if countless pairs of eyes were peering at Shaun from the darkness.
Having been an agent of the English Spirit Realm for five years, Shaun had experienced some supernatural scenes, so he remained relatively calm. He prepared for a fight, but internally lamented his lack of combat abilities: "If only I had a mystic stone to gain a special power, I wouldn't be so passive."
Shaun looked down at the ground covered in dirty mud, and when he tried to move, he felt nothing special. At this moment, the shadows behind the eerie buildings and trees began to slowly materialize, approaching Shaun.
Carefully observing the environment, Shaun tried to figure out whether this was an illusion or another dimension. The shadows gradually gathered around, and Shaun could even see the maggots crawling on the rotten faces of those shadows.
Suddenly, the ground trembled, and a large, bald giant emerged from the largest eerie building. The giant was completely naked, eyes and mouth sewn shut, and pus and blood flowed from its facial features. A massive wound, sewn shut as well, adorned its bloated belly, with wriggling black thread-like worms sealing the wound.
The bald giant walked towards Shaun, and the shadows that had gathered dispersed, as if a pack of frightened hyenas.
Taking a deep breath, Shaun assumed a fighting stance, ready for combat.
That bald giant walked up to Shaun, indeed did not make an attacking move, but instead, he raked his hands up and down on his stitched belly wound, and with a bared sound, surprisingly tore open the huge stitched wound on his belly, which oozed out a lot of pus and blood, and then revealed two faces.
"Lola!!!? Deacon Andre!?" Upon seeing the faces, Shaun was shocked.
At that moment a voice came out from the bald giant's stitched up mouth: "Find the blood of Attila as soon as possible and don't give it to anyone, we will come to you to get it. Otherwise these two will die."
The voice was clear and rational and Shaun knew it was coming from the person who created these illusions.
"Did Lola just get captured? Or was it just a mere threat?" Shaun was pondering this when suddenly the bald giant's giant mouth broke free of its sutures and opened to bizarre proportions, a fountain of pus and blood erupted from the giant's mouth and sprayed Shaun's face.
Shaun was so shocked that he couldn't think whether it was an illusion or an alien space, and intuitively did a cartwheel to avoid the fountain of pus and blood.
"Bzzz!" With a sharp sound of brakes, a strong light tore through the eerie and bizarre world around Shaun, and both the bald giant and the ghostly shadow instantly disappeared.
Shaun saw that the scenery around him had returned to normal, he was still not far from the gates of the Cologne City Museum, he had just moved from the pavement to the middle of the road.
A car stopped less than two metres away from Shaun, its headlights shining so brightly that Shaun couldn't open his eyes for a moment.
"Sir, are you alright? Do you need help?" The owner asked as he ran down from the car and looked Shaun up and down.
"It's fine, sorry about that." Shaun dismissed the car owner and hurriedly took out his phone and dialled Lola's number.
The phone rang a few times and then connected, Shaun breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Lola, are you okay?"
A man's voice came over the phone and said in English, "Do what we say or this woman will die." Said the man and hung up the phone.
"Does this even let anyone sleep anymore!" Shaun was so angry he wanted to slam the phone, "It's only been such a short time apart, how did we get caught!" Shaun thought anxiously.
Then it occurred to him that this was the other party's planned plot against himself and Lola. If the likelihood of Lola finding the short sword was high, then it would be himself who would be taken as a hostage tonight.
"That person's ability just now is so weird, informing me in this way also has a threat in it." Shaun thought.
"Regardless of whether or not Lola has notified the Spirit Realm, I'm going to have to go in again."