Chapter 1484: Fan Cage

This chapter is updated by wuxiaworld.eu

“Why did I have to die?”

Angel stood at the intersection of light and shadow, Alex glanced at the floor, where there was no shadow. He seemed to understand something and said, “I can confirm that on this continent, no one in Gust Town has a deeper understanding. I speculate that you will leave Gust Town and head to the Holy City.”

“So, in your eyes, as soon as I leave Gust Town, I will die?”

Alex nodded, “Indeed. Since Mr. Pat didn’t die, can you tell me why you came back?”

Angel’s gaze flickered for a moment, and rather than answering, he asked, “Do you want to know the true cause of those people’s deaths?”

Alex did not hesitate to shake his head, “Don’t want to.”

“If you don’t want to know, then why ask me why I came back?” Angel said with a smile as he looked at Alex.

Alex fell silent for a moment. Since Angel had asked it that way, could it be that the murders were indeed related to leaving Gust Town? Was someone slaughtering those who left, or had the leavers discovered something, and someone was preventing them from leaving?

If it was a slaughter, it couldn’t happen without leaving a trace, so they must have found something out.

But what had they discovered?

Alex looked at Angel, who was all smiles, and finally let out a soft whisper, “So, is it the birdcage?”

Angel raised an eyebrow, “Looks like you’re not dumb at all.”

Alex had always mentioned that Gust Town was like a birdcage; going out meant you’d break your wings. So deducing the answer from Angel’s questions wasn’t difficult.

However, Alex did not fully believe what Angel said. To him, Angel himself was a mystery, and there was a possibility that he was misleading Alex. But Alex kept these thoughts to himself without showing them.

“Once I crossed that river, there was a barrier I could not leave, with no way forward, no way to ascend to the heavens or delve into the earth, so I came back,” said Angel, shrugging his shoulders.

After hearing this, Alex did not respond but pondered to himself.

“Speaking of which, aren’t you still curious about what lies beyond Gust Town?”

When Angel asked this question, he unconsciously recalled Alex’s previous answer. Back then, Alex firmly professed no curiosity, more intrigued by… this world.

That time, Alex raised his head, as if looking through the ceiling into the boundless void.

For a moment, Angel felt as though he saw a fellow traveler.

Turning around Gust Town, he felt even more certain of this answer. While others were looking down picking up sixpence from the ground, Alex saw the moon in the sky.

Here was a seeker who set his sights on far-off places.

But seekers must also adapt. If you breathe only the wind from afar, without bending down to pick up the bread that falls on the ground, the seeker too would starve to death.

So Angel asked the question again, eager to know whether Alex was an idealistic daydreamer or a true seeker chasing the moon.

Faced with Angel’s question, Alex once again did not ponder and unhesitatingly gave his answer.

But this time it differed from his previous one.

“Getting a bit curious.”

Angel looked deeply at Alex. If one day he could escape this birdcage, perhaps he truly would become a fellow truth seeker. Of course, that required having the Talent and the opportunity.

“I’m also a bit curious, after all, it seems impossible to ascertain our location without unraveling these secrets,” Angel said to Alex with a smile, “How about we talk about it?”

Alex didn’t answer, but he took a small bottle of new oil from the box and poured it into the oil lamp. Judging by the consumption rate of the oil, it would last the whole night.

Alex showed his support through his actions.

Angel found Alex increasingly interesting.

“What do you think is the significance of this birdcage?” Angel threw out the first question.

The reason he asked Alex was that Angel was an outsider, an unintentional passerby who stumbled into the birdcage. Alex, on the other hand, was a participant. He lived in Gust Town and might know something.

Alex pondered for a moment. It was clear he understood what Angel was asking and said directly, “I have lived in Gust Town for three years, mostly following Priest Berenlang to study the Holy Scripture, seldom leaving the church. I don’t know of any secrets in Gust Town.”

“Haven’t you found anything strange?”

“I don’t know.” Alex himself was a strange person; he was more focused on himself than others.

Alex’s answer was that he didn’t know, which meant he might have noticed something odd, but didn’t pay much attention to it. That’s how Angel interpreted it.

“What are your thoughts on this?”

Alex thought for a moment, he didn’t start with the existence of the birdcage itself, but instead began speaking about the Crua Church.

“According to the documents I’ve seen in the church, the Kruya Church in Gust Town has been in existence for two hundred years. Furthermore, for all those two hundred years, the Holy City has been sending clergy to the church, until five years ago when the road to the Holy City was cut off, which is why no clergy have arrived since.”

“The road to the Holy City was cut off?” Angel looked at Alex with confusion. If the road were cut off, then why would Raven Knight and the others go to the Holy City?

“It is the main road that was cut off. If you cross mountains and hills, taking more dangerous or remote mountain paths, you can still reach the Holy City. But it is very troublesome, which is why the townspeople haven’t gone to the Holy City in these years, and it is also for this reason that the number of people dying in the series of cases isn’t large.” After Alex finished explaining, he continued with the previous topic, “So, if the documents did not deceive me, the ‘Birdcage’ must have formed within the last five years.”

Having finished talking about the time of the Birdcage’s formation, Alex began to analyze the various major events recorded over the last five years.

However, Gust Town itself isn’t very big, and not much has happened over these five years, except for this series of murder cases.

But current evidence suggests that the murder cases are an aftermath of the Birdcage’s formation, definitely not the cause of it.

So, Alex was somewhat stumped.

“Since this lead goes nowhere, let’s change our angle of approach,” Angel suddenly said. “What if the documents are fake?”

Alex: “The person who recorded the documents, would they have any reason to lie about this?”

“Indeed, there seems no need, but what if the whole of Gust Town is a deception?”

Alex’s pupils shrank. If everything was a deception, then the Birdcage’s existence was for the sake of this deception! But why?

“If I remember correctly, you’ve lost your memory, right?”

Alex nodded: “I was adopted by Father Berengar three years ago, and my memories are only from these past three years.”

“Did Father Berengar tell you where you came from?”

“Father Berengar doesn’t know either, he just said that I came floating down the river, unconscious at the time.”

Floating down the river? Angel raised an eyebrow: “Then, you might be an outsider like me? Meaning, you also cannot be certain that the history of Gust Town before you arrived is true.”

Alex swallowed: “I indeed cannot be sure, but I think there’s no need to fabricate these histories.”

“In your view, there isn’t. But to me, the possibility isn’t so small.” Angel stretched out his hand, and on his palm, a miniature garden illusion naturally formed, “Since it’s very difficult to find the meaning of the Birdcage’s existence now, let’s start from the Birdcage itself.”

Alex watched this peculiar sand table illusion, his thoughts stirring, wanting to ask what it was, but in the end, he suppressed his curiosity and didn’t ask.

“In my view, the Birdcage has two forms.” Angel pointed a finger, and the sand table illusion immediately showed undulating mountains and forests; then, a semi-transparent, glass-like box appeared above it, encapsulating one of the mountains inside the box.

“This glass box is the first form of the Birdcage. It is an area cut off from a continent, preventing people inside the box from getting out.”

As for the second form, Angel removed the glass box, leaving behind only the sand table: “This sand table itself represents the second form—the Birdcage is a man-made area. It stands without support, just a miniature garden created by some Transcendent life form.”

Angel dispelled the illusion and said to Alex: “If the Birdcage is the first form, then the history here might indeed be true. It’s just that five years ago, the appearance of the Birdcage cut off the communication between Gust Town and the outside world.”

“But if the Birdcage is the second form, then everything here could be false, including the so-called history.”

After listening to Angel’s words, memories flashed in Alex’s mind, as if he saw a Birdcage in the darkness…

Actually, when Angel mentioned this, he suddenly thought of something himself.

If the Birdcage is the second form, then creating such a Birdcage has to be for some special thing, or for some special person.

Angel spent a long time wandering in Gust Town that day, and he noticed that the people living there did not doubt the place of their existence at all. They deeply believed that they were the indigenous people who had lived there for many years.

The only exception was Alex.

This man had lost his memories; he was the only one who didn’t know the past and might even be a foreigner.

If the Birdcage is the second form, could it be that Alex is the reason for the Birdcage’s existence?

Of course, this was just one of Angel’s guesses, even if it truly was the second form, it could still be someone else or something else.

“I’ve been negligent in my considerations. I acknowledge that the Birdcage might be these two forms. However, I feel it’s too soon for me to fathom the creator’s thoughts with my ability,” Alex paused briefly: “I think we could start by unveiling the truth behind the murder cases.”

Alex no longer brought up the earlier topic, nor did he mention the snippet of memory in his mind; instead, he brought up the earlier murder cases.

“The dead in this series of cases, including Raven Knight, died because, subjectively or objectively, they intended to leave Gust Town.”

“Once they leave Gust Town, they would inevitably uncover the truth.”

“Someone is trying very hard to obstruct them from discovering the truth. Perhaps, finding out who killed them will reveal something?”

Alex’s suggestion followed sound logic, but—

“What if the murderer is not human, or doesn’t even exist within the Birdcage?”

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