A Tale of Forgotten Gods

Chapter 133: Another Case

Mo Fei began, leaning slightly forward. ”There is something I want to know about Threadbinder... What exactly is it?”

The old man’s fingers stopped near the drawer as the warm, hospitable crinkles around his eyes flattened into shadowed lines. He slowly pulled his spectacles off his nose, letting the silver chain clink softly against the brass buttons of his black trench coat.

”Where did you hear that term, Mr. Sherlock?” Old Bai asked, his voice filled with grandfatherly softness.

”I heard it somewhere, an Ascended who wanted to choose it.” Mo Fei answered as he already knew about Miss Sage, who bought the page of that Authority, it’d be much more useful if he could keep his act better if he knew about that Authority.

Old Bai stared at him for three seconds, as if trying to parse the spiritual weight behind the young man’s eyes. Finally, the old archivist let out a slow, tired breath. ”The Threadbinder is not a simple path, young man. It is an ancient, forbidden title from the first Epoch.” Old Bai murmured, leaning against the desk. ”In modern terminology, it refers to an Authority over Fate itself.”

Mo Fei’s pupils dilated slightly, but he kept his breathing steady and waited for him to speak.

”Those who walk the lower ordinals of that alignment begin as Apprentices—learning to see the tethers that connect objects, spaces, and souls.” Old Bai explained, his eyes drifting toward the dark ceiling of the vault. ”But as they Ascend, they don’t stay as observers only. They manipulate. A high-ranking Threadbinder can forcefully knot the destinies of entirely separate entities together. They can swap the luck of a dying man with a king. They can pull strings across the universal divide.”

The old man turned back to Mo Fei, his gaze holding a warning. ”But the price is absolute madness. I have seen a few people choose that Authority, but for some unknown reason, all of them died before they could reach Demigod.”

A cold trickle of sweat slid down Mo Fei’s neck. That meant he couldn’t pry into it; if he ever tried doing it, then it could lead to fatal payback.

”I see...” Mo Fei managed to speak with a dry throat. ”A dangerous path indeed. Thank you for the warning, Old Bai. Now, about the star cards?”

Old Bai’s brow furrowed, his fingers gently tapping the wood of the desk. ”Star cards? They are the divination tools used by the nomadic mystics or the esoteric card decks printed in the capital; they are mostly just mirrors for human psychology. A way to classify the universal roles people play, there are thirteen of them, the warrior, the sage, the commoner, and the Jester. But in the orthodox occult, cards are rarely used as anchors unless they are heavily enchanted.”

Mo Fei nodded, keeping his expression neutral, but his mind was racing.

The cards he materialized, Courage, Sage, and Commoner, seemed deeply rooted from a structure he had read, but that didn’t exist anywhere in the textbooks of 1894.

”Thank you, Old Bai. I will prepare for Lionel’s assignment.”

”Take care, Sherlock.” the old man murmured, slipping his spectacles back onto his nose. ”And remember: when you play with destiny, destiny plays back.

After saying that, he brought up a book that was related to the Descent of a Threadbinder. Mo Fei took it quietly before walking away from the place.

***

An hour later, the carriage wheels rattled loudly over the Western District as Mo Fei and Murphy returned to his rented room.

The moment he locked the door behind him, he collapsed onto his bed, his mind completely overwhelmed by the revelation. He had three gold pounds from Lionel and another three from Old Bai. He had enough money to buy a steamship ticket.

From today he had Eleven days. He closed his eyes to sleep for a while.

Three hours passed as he slowly woke up again.

Just then he heard a voice echoing behind his head. ”Mo Fei, finally I can connect.”

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Mo Fei stretched his hands and sat on his bed. ”Yes, I’m listening.”

After a long pause her voice came, but it was filled with slight anger. ”Where were you for so long? I couldn’t even connect with Lucy.”

”L-Lucy?” Mo Fei said in a surprised tone. ”What are you talking about?”

”The Divine Serpent, I named it Lucia and Lucy.” At that time, her voice sounded slightly proud of the name as if it were the best nickname ever.

”Kiyori... that’s not a female snake; you heard it, right?”

”I listen, but I don’t care.”

”How do you know it’d respond with that name?”

”It will.”

”Do it then.”

Upon hearing that, she paused for a second before calling out the Divine Serpent with its new name. ”Lucy, can you hear me?”

A long pause stretched between them, but the Divine Serpent’s voice didn’t come for a long time as Mo Fei scoffed. ”Of course, it didn’t like the na—”

”Did you call me, Great Mistress?”

”Huh?” Mo Fei blinked as he stared at a wall. ”What...?”

”Tehe, I knew Lucia liked the name.” Kiyori spoke more proudly before taking out a long breath. ”Ah, so tell me now why I couldn’t connect?”

”The Spirit World was fractured... because of my mistake.”

”Oh, what did you do now?”

***

Back into the estate of Ciradyl. The celebration had already ended yesterday. The guests had returned to their homes, and the countless lights that had illuminated the palace grounds were gradually extinguished.

Inside one of the quieter rooms, Eda Autumn sat comfortably on a couch, one leg crossed over the other as she held a cup of tea.

Across from her sat Lin Shouxing, and Zhuo remained nearby, sitting silently on a chair with his arms crossed. His mind was still occupied by the strange place he had somehow entered.

’What was that place?’

Eda took a sip of tea before glancing toward Lin as she slowly took another sip of her tea and asked. ”So you’re really leaving now?”

Lin raised an eyebrow. ”Yes, I need to find a dead Nikoi for Zhuo’s Ordinal requirements.”

Eda placed her cup down and blinked once. ”You might get one, but some people are illegally hunting them. Although I put in securities, but it still remained a problem.

Lin stared at her for several seconds before leaning back and heaving a sigh. ”I’ll have to find them too then. As a queen, why don’t you try to act like one more.”

”I do, but not today.” Eda gave her a shrug, lifting both her hands up and murmured.

”Why is that?”

”Technically, I’m still trying to impress you since you are still original here, hahah.”

Lin nearly choked on her coffee, coughing slightly as she moved her hand to her lips. ”Cough, cough. Oh please, Eda, you aren’t good at flirting; don’t bring it.”

Zhuo looked between the two women with an awkward look as he stared at both of them with a question in his mind. ’Are they always like this?’

Eda leaned forward slightly and feigned a look of hurt. ”Besides, you’re taking Zhuo with you, the maids would be upset when they don’t find their cat.”

”He is not a kid; why are they so obsessed with taking care of him?” Lin lowered the coffee cup and glanced at Zhuo before continuing. ”Where do Nikois live more often, though?”

”In the northern fields, you can easily find them there.”

Lin finally stood up and moved toward her blade, after her, Zhuo stood too, taking his blade from the nearby desk.

Eda watched them before waving her hand. ”Take care; take some cash with you too so you won’t face trouble.”

Lin paused, remembering how she lost her purse, which had her money, last time, and with a small breath she grabbed fifty pounds and moved out with Zhuo, who followed her silently, still busy in his thoughts.

Both of them came out of the estate and looked at the sky. It was evening already as they both moved out.

***

Mo Fei, however, still lay on his bed, talking to Kiyori in his mind, but just then he heard a newspaper man’s voice. He paused and came out of his room after changing his persona.

Outside, the whole street was filled with noises as a newspaper rushed through, his voice running through the air.

”People of Ciradyl, multiple suicides are happening in the Latvensa City; avoid moving or visiting there.”

...

Murphy Law’s piercing gaze watched the man move as a newspaper stopped near him. He bent down and picked it up before clenching it in his fingers, where the cases of the suicides were noted; people were hanging themselves up without any initial reasoning. All of them were healthy and enjoyed their lives but were found dead... thirty suicides this month from one city.

His gaze landed on the heading as he slowly tilted his fedora down and turned toward the direction of the city and looked at the words.

’The Hanged Man.’