Nina appeared in Duncan's sight. The girl was jogging with a happy smile on her face. When she saw her uncle sitting in a daze at the door of the antique shop, she quickened her pace and raised her hand to say hello: "Uncle, I'm back!"

Duncan woke up from his deep thoughts. He put his thoughts aside for the moment and stood up to greet his "niece". After noticing that the girl was out of breath, he was stunned for a moment and frowned slightly: "Didn't I give you money for the bus? Why did you run back after school?"

Nina stopped in front of Duncan and took a few breaths. She scratched her hair a little embarrassedly, then reached into her schoolbag and rummaged around. After a long while, she took out a small paper bag and handed it over: "I... passed by Dr. Albert's clinic on the way back..."

Duncan took the paper package and squeezed it, realizing that there were several pills inside.

"Doctor Albert said that you have been using alcohol for pain relief for a long time. Although your physical condition has improved and you have successfully quit drinking, people who drink for a long time are more likely to have adverse reactions if they forcibly quit drinking," Nina explained in a low voice. "This is a medicine used to reduce alcohol withdrawal reactions. If you feel unwell, you can take a pill... In addition, Doctor Albert also said that if your health has not deteriorated recently, you can stop taking the medicine you took before, but he still recommends that you go to his clinic for a thorough check-up when you have time..."

Duncan listened silently to Nina's soft and even slightly cautious explanation for a long time without saying anything. Only after Nina finished speaking did he silently and carefully put the small packet of pills away close to his body.

Then he reached out and put his hand on Nina's hair, rubbing it gently.

"Uncle?" Nina looked up in confusion, but saw an inexplicable seriousness on Duncan's face. There was even a little worry in that seriousness, which made her, who was sensitive, feel a little uneasy. "What's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell? Or..."

"I'm fine," Duncan suddenly laughed, bent down slightly, and looked into Nina's eyes, "but don't use your bus money to buy medicine for me in the future - our family is not short of money now, you can also bring more pocket money... If it's not enough, ask me for it."

Nina looked at Duncan in a daze. She felt that her uncle had suddenly become a little strange, but she couldn't tell what was wrong. After staring at him for a long time, she nodded hesitantly: "Oh, oh..."

Then she thought for a moment, and looked into the store again, with an expectant yet hesitant expression on her face: "Uncle, um...you said you would teach me how to ride a bike when I get home from school..."

"The weather is bad now," Duncan raised his eyebrows, "it might rain."

"We are right at the door," Nina grabbed Duncan's arm and whispered expectantly, "We can go back immediately if it rains..."

Duncan laughed and nodded helplessly: "Okay, put your schoolbag away first, I'll teach you how to ride a bike - but you can only practice for a while, dinner is not ready yet."

“Okay!”

Nina cheered a little, then ran into the antique shop like a charge, threw her schoolbag on the counter, and pushed the brand new bicycle out - she pushed the bicycle in a crooked posture, and struggled for a long time next to the door frame before she successfully pushed the bicycle in front of Duncan.

"...Actually, I think you have to learn how to push the bike from scratch," Duncan sighed as he looked at Nina's clumsy appearance, then stepped forward to hold the handlebars. "But seeing how eager you are, you should get on first. I'll help you hold the bike while you experience the balance of pedaling and walking."

Nina nodded obediently, and after Duncan had held the bike in place, she grabbed the handlebars and pedaled to climb onto the seat, repeatedly emphasizing, "Uncle, you must hold on tight! Don't let go!"

"Okay, okay, okay, just trust me..."

A slightly salty and cold wind blew through the old streets of the downtown area, blowing up fallen leaves and flying dust between the low, dilapidated buildings. The dark clouds were very low, but the rain that was about to fall seemed to be still hesitating in the sky and had not fallen to the ground for a long time.

In the small open space in front of the antique shop, there were the girl's excited and nervous exclamations, the occasional jingling of car bells, and Duncan's occasional instructions and teasing.

A pure black vintage private car stopped in an open space near the antique shop. An old man wearing an old-fashioned scholar's tweed coat, holding a cane in his hand and wearing a top hat on his head pushed open the car door and looked in the direction of the antique shop.

Morris saw the familiar, old shop, and also saw the uncle and nephew practicing riding bicycles in the open space in front of the shop.

An ordinary street scene in the downtown area, a warm and ordinary family life, everything seems so normal. Even in this bleak street scene with low clouds and cold autumn wind, the scene not far away seems particularly warm and peaceful.

However, Heidi only stayed in this antique shop for half a day and consumed the blessing of the God of Wisdom, Lahem - and this was under the protection of a Deep Sea Inquisitor.

Afterwards, neither Heidi herself nor Judge Vanna noticed anything unusual.

Morris took a deep breath, and even though he was watching such an everyday scene, his heart slowly began to beat faster.

Then he gritted his teeth and did not rush to greet the uncle and nephew who were in front of the antique shop. Instead, he prepared to complete his observation of the shop first - if possible, he really did not want to involve irrelevant people in the extraordinary events.

The old man fumbled in his coat pocket and took out a monocle with a thin light gold chain. One end of the thin chain was clipped inside the pocket, and the other end was connected to the frame. The name of the god of wisdom, Lachem, and many sacred symbols were engraved on the frame in ancient Cretan. A faint light was floating in the transparent lens.

“May wisdom grant me insight, enlighten my mind, and help me see the truth and penetrate the fog…”

Morris prayed a few words in a low voice, then put his monocle in his eye socket, and then "opened" his eyes, which he had closed eleven years ago, towards the antique shop...

Maurice was in a trance for a moment, looking down at the monocle in his hand, and saw Rahm's name and many sacred symbols engraved on the frame. A faint light was floating in the transparent lens.

"May wisdom give me insight..."

He murmured a few prayers, put his monocle back in his eye socket, and raised his head...

Maurice was in a trance for a moment, looking down at the monocle in his hand.

A cold wind suddenly blew in from across the street, carrying a low murmur in the wind. The old scholar suddenly stopped what he was about to do, and then suddenly raised his right wrist.

A bracelet made of colorful stones and silk threads was worn on his wrist. There were eight stones in total.

The cold wind blew over, carrying with it the fallen leaves on the roadside and the chill of late autumn. The sounds in Morris' ears seemed to fade away. The hustle and bustle of the streets and the bells of the distant church seemed to be far away, as if they came from another world. He could only hear his own heart pounding, and the sound of his blood beating was like thunder. Among the heartbeats, only one sound coming from one direction was still clear -

A girl's cheerful but somewhat nervous voice said, "Uncle, please hold on tight! Ah, it's tilted... the car is going to fall over!"

A middle-aged man said in a gentle voice with a smile: "I'm holding on, you can't fall over - just hold the handlebars straight and it won't tilt... just pedal forward and keep going, that's how bicycles work, as long as you pedal forward and hold the handlebars well you won't fall over."

"You must hold on tight! I'm going forward!"

"Come on, I'm behind you."

Morris suddenly heard another sound, the creaking sound of bones rubbing against each other, and along with this sound, his vision shifted and rotated slightly - it took him a second to think before he finally realized what was happening.

He was slowly turning his neck, shifting his gaze from the antique shop to the open space in front of the antique shop.

A strong warning surged up from his soul. The bracelet with eight stones still on it made a low strange sound like whimpering. Each stone became hot, pulling at his reason in vain as if trying to pull a drowning man out of the water. Morris could still think. He knew that the blessings he had bestowed on himself before setting out had been activated and were taking effect, but he could only carry out these basic thoughts - his neck was still turning, and his eyes were uncontrollably looking in the most dangerous direction.

Close your eyes! Close your eyes! Close your eyes!

Countless voices exploded in his mind, but Morris's reason was unable to drive his muscles to complete even the simplest movement. He slowly turned his head, and finally saw the direction where the sound came from after "opening" his blessed eyes.

He saw a madly squirming vortex of light and shadow, a shattered mirror that seemed to reflect all of time and space at the same time. These things mixed together to form a giant with a barely human outline and a body covered with starlight. The giant was slightly bent over and carefully supported...

Supporting an arc of flame that was gushing out.

There was a loud explosion in Morris' mind, and then the whole world became quiet.