As with the anomalous events I've experienced before, I already have a lot of information in my hands, but the problem is that it's very fragmented and difficult to decipher, and it's hard for me to connect them into a whole.

I cleared out one of the walls in the room, wrote down all the clues in my hand on slips of paper, and glued them to the wall.

One of the notes: [My Dream - Towers, Seaside Cliffs, Gloomy and Terrifying Seas and Strange Glittering Seabed, Strange Cylindrical Complexes in the Sea, Maidens in Buildings, Maidens with Tattooed Patterns on Their Chests, Strange Alien Odes, Tykley-Leigh!] 】

Note 2: [Seizures and coma, extremely high body temperature in the process]

Note 3: [K's text message to Shen Tangzhi - in five seconds, he will enter the dream of Ilreruo and see the sea of the extreme sky - if what happens next is true, then you will be ashamed of your questioning, I hope you haven't divulged everything, otherwise it will be irreparable.] 】

Note 4: [The antiquities found by Shen Tangzhi and Hyde - a mysterious scroll depicting a girl in the sea, with a pattern on the girl's back, contained in a very precious gloomy wooden box. 】

Note 5: [Dr. Findlay's research on the cult of the serpent, and his two collections, the Mystic Scroll and the Bone Crystal Swallowing Snake Statue]

Note 6: [In the mysterious scroll, the tattoo pattern on the girl's back has changed - from an earthly giant snake to a feather pattern. 】

Note 7: [Dr. Findlay Disappeared - The idea of the Scottish ancestors worshipping the giant serpent Ager and driving the Titan python disappeared in East Asia, leaving the ancient scroll for Hyde. 】

Note 8: [Dr. Findlay's message - The serpent of the world is the key to open the door and the light to guide the way.] I take the keys away and leave the lights to you, my friend. But please don't come looking for me! This is very important! Remember! Remember!!! 】

Note No. 9: [Shen Tang's statement of "waiting for an opportunity". 】

Note 10: [K passed on the message to me through Zhang Hui - the content is related to Roanoke Island. 】

After writing this, the originally blank wall was already covered with notes, and at this moment, the earth-shaking snoring sound of the old knife was heard in the living room.

"I slept soundly."

I shook my head and looked at the note on the wall.

By the time I realized again, it was already past 12 midnight.

Focused thinking is very mentally draining, when I came back from the deep thinking, the sudden sleepiness came like a wave towards me, I didn't even bother to wash, just climbed into bed and fell asleep.

For the next week, I basically locked myself in my room, except for eating and going to the bathroom.

I spent most of my time searching for information on the Internet and researching the strange ancient painting that Hyde had temporarily lent me, during which Li Yi came once, and he also wanted to move in, but Lao Dao directly rejected it.

My grocery store was finally repaired, and with the help of Li Yi and his two King Kongs, I moved all my belongings back.

At this time, my research on the scrolls and other clues was very deep, and I even had a lot of new understanding.

In fact, every clue in my hand, after a divergent data search, contains a huge amount of information, and these fragmented information comes from myths and legends around the world, historiography (official history/field history) records, published papers or unpublished notes of archaeologists and historians, etc.

The "earthly python" in the image of the swallower, the mysterious motif, or the island of Roanok, or the strange scroll, each is enough to make a person with a heart indulge in research, intoxicated with thinking and guessing.

So, for the next week, I locked myself in the grocery store and continued my research tirelessly, even to the point of day and night.

Strangely, while I was immersed in research, I barely felt tired, and even the time went numb.

I felt like I was in a cabin in the wilderness, outside it was freezing and snowy, the world was silent, there was a warm fire in the room, as if I was the only one in the whole world, everything around me was quiet, and the boundaries and shackles of time and space no longer existed.

It's a state that can't be described in words, but I believe that the vast majority of people have experienced it if they've ever been extremely committed to something.

It was in this state that I noticed that there seemed to be something wrong with the scroll!

At first, I just noticed that under the light of the night, the clouds in the scroll seemed to be slowly floating and much thicker, and the color of the whole painting had dimmed...... But when I got closer, I didn't notice anything unusual, except that the color of the paint in the painting did seem to be slightly dull, as it should have been in antiquities—but the change was almost imperceptible.

However, at some point during the day, I sometimes suddenly notice that the clouds and mist in the scroll seem to become a little thinner and the whole picture is a little brighter.

After this happened a few times, I began to suspect that it might not be some kind of visual illusion or hallucination of my own.

This caused me to wonder so much that I set up my camera and automatically took a picture of the scroll every ten minutes, and after a few days, I finally made some substantial progress.

Using the timeline as a benchmark and comparing all the photos on the computer, I found two patterns.

First, the clouds and fog in the scroll are actually changing from moment to moment, but because the speed is so slow, it is almost impossible for the human eye to notice, but under the camera and computer, all changes are recorded faithfully.

Second, every 36 hours, the clouds in the scroll change to an extreme value—the thickest or the thinnest—and at the same time, the color of the entire picture will become correspondingly dull or bright.

I was so excited by this discovery that I immediately called Shen Tangzhi and told her that I had discovered a secret of the scroll, but that I wanted to make a deal with the information—she had to exchange it with K's information.

Unexpectedly, Shen Tangzhi directly refused.

"It's 9:28 on the 27th, and it's been 9 days and 15 hours since I handed over the scroll to you." She responded on the other end of the phone.

"What do you mean?" I'm confused.

"I mean, it's taken you so long to make such a small discovery."

I was surprised: "You already knew?!" ”

I reacted again in an instant, and said with a smile: "Haha, you don't have to play this trick, don't try to lie to me and say it myself!" I won't tell you unless you agree to my terms. ”

Shen Tangzhi's laughter was brighter than mine, and it took a while to stop laughing and say to me, "Isn't it that the clouds and mist in the ancient scrolls will change?" And the time pattern is 36 hours - am I right? ”

"......" I was dumbfounded, she really already knew.

But looking back, it wasn't surprising that Shen Tangzhi and Hyde had been away from Jinguan City for three months, and they must have had a lot of time to study the ancient scrolls, and they came up with the same discovery as mine.

I was a little unconvinced and asked, "How long did it take you to find out?" ”

"About 48 hours."

"......" my self-confidence was hit by a nuclear bomb again.

Probably sensing my mood change, Shen Tangzhi said in a different tone: "You don't have to be self-conscious. You are different from us, although you are a detective, but most of your research is human nature, logic, and special expertise in dealing with supernatural events, and you are not as good as us in the study of this kind of dead thing. My profession itself is to make a comparative study of a dead object, even the slightest trace or abnormality must be noticed, and Ace is a professional scholar and researcher, and I believe that there are few people in the world who are more professional in the methods and theories of scientific research than him. ”

"Okay. You're very comforting, and I feel even worse. ”

"Well, try to call me again when you find anything else." She said.

I quickly and firmly pressed the "End Call" button.

Despite the bankruptcy of the plan for information trading, this did not affect my state.

In addition to the scrolls, I searched the Internet for a huge amount of information - most of which was related to the earthly python and Roanoke Island.

After a great deal of painstaking reading and compilation, I had a deeper understanding of Dr. Findlay's serpent worship research - unfortunately, I had hoped to obtain Dr. Findlay's manuscript through Hyde, but the latter told me that he had not found it, and that he had to recount to me from memory some of the circumstances of his time working with Dr. Findlay, but whether Dr. Findlay had made any further progress since then, Hyde said he did not know anything.

As for Roanoke Island, it's almost an unconfirmed legend.

It is said that it was the first European colony on the North American continent during the Age of Discovery, but after that, the colony was abandoned.

There are various explanations and speculations as to the reasons for the abandonment, the most widespread of which is that the colonists of the entire colony have all mysteriously disappeared for some unknown reason.

……

After a few days, I finally wanted to take a break from my long research career, when I suddenly realized that my studio had completely changed - the floor was covered with paper and books that had been opened, and the walls were covered with notes with words written on them, as well as tacks and various colored ropes representing the direction of clues.

I sat downstairs, intending to get some fresh air, and then, after a week or so, I saw the old knife again.

But I almost didn't recognize him—because the old knife had changed so much.

What surprised me the most was that this old boy actually got off the list!