The tomb guardian's attitude was more polite than the last time—even bordering on respectful.

Vanna could clearly sense the change in the surrounding atmosphere, as well as the puzzled gazes of her colleagues. However, she herself didn't know how to explain this bizarre change—even if some vague guesses sprang to mind, she couldn't voice them.

She could only lower her head, look at the parchment the guardian giant handed over, hesitate for two seconds before reaching out to take it, and gently take a breath.

"I'll be right back," she said quickly to Bishop Valentine, then followed the giant guarding the tomb and walked towards the pale building not far away.

The heavy stone door slowly closed behind her, and the ancient, mysterious tomb was sealed once again. The giant guarding the tomb did not disappear, but stayed by Vanna's side like a qualified guide, leading her towards the deeper chambers. In the deep, long passage, the monotonous sound of footsteps only served to highlight the surrounding silence.

In her heart, Vanna silently recited the various taboos to be observed after entering Anomaly 004, while also cautiously paying attention to the tomb guardian's actions. She recalled the guardian's behavior before she entered the tomb chamber last time, and thoughts churned uncontrollably in her mind.

Due to the limitations of Anomaly 004, she couldn't remember what happened after she entered the tomb chamber last time, but she did remember that the guardian's attitude had already undergone a subtle change before she entered the tomb last time—at the time, she hadn't thought too much about it, but this time, all sorts of associations were spreading uncontrollably in her mind.

And just as Vanna's thoughts were fluctuating, a low, hoarse voice suddenly entered her ears—the giant guardian had actually broken the silence.

"Do you have any questions?"

Vanna was startled—this silent, terrifying guardian was actually taking the initiative to speak with the "Listener" entering the tomb?!

She quickly filtered through the information about Anomaly 004 in her mind, confirming how to deal with the current situation among the various taboos, then tried her best to calm herself down before cautiously choosing her words and asking, "You're being very friendly towards me. Why?"

"Because you are an emissary," the tomb guardian actually answered immediately. "Emissaries are those who transcend and transform, and should be treated with courtesy."

"Emissary?" Vanna was stunned, seemingly not understanding. "What does that mean? Does it mean I'm a saint of the Storm Goddess Gamona? But everyone in the square outside is..."

"The Leviathan Queen has no emissaries; her emissaries all died before the First Long Night," the tomb guardian interrupted Vanna, his voice showing almost no emotional fluctuations, showing neither reverence nor fear even when talking about gods. "You are an emissary of the Fire-Stealer."

Her heart suddenly tightened, a roar echoed in her mind, and her breathing subconsciously paused—Vanna stopped in shock, the answer she received from a casual question far exceeding her imagination. She felt as if a storm had swept through her mind, and where the storm had passed, waves of conjecture, understanding, and realization surged in her consciousness!

The Leviathan Queen—she remembered that name. Just recently, Captain Duncan had mentioned this title in front of her and Morris!

The Long Night—she also remembered that term. Mr. Morris mentioned after reading that *Book of Blasphemy* that it used "Long Night" several times to describe the ancient "Kings'" attempts to create the world, and she remembered that those heretical descriptions mentioned that there were three Long Nights and three Genesis events!

As for the Fire-Stealer...

"The Fire-Stealer...are you referring to Captain Duncan?" Vanna's heart stirred, and she subconsciously asked.

Inside Anomaly 004, one could not casually talk about the owner of the tomb or the secrets inside, but the taboos did not mention whether one could talk about the outside world—Vanna mustered her courage at this moment, questioning the tomb guardian in front of her, and a certain intuition was reminding her that even if she asked the guardian more questions, there would be no danger.

However, this time, the guardian did not answer immediately. After being silent for several seconds, he slowly turned his head and looked into Vanna's eyes.

"After leaving, you will still forget the secrets you learned here; asking too much is meaningless."

Vanna was taken aback, the curiosity burning in her heart seeming to have been doused with a basin of cold water.

That's right, most of the information within Anomaly 004 could not be brought outside. No matter how much she knew here, she would still forget it after going out.

Even if it was written on parchment, things that shouldn't be revealed would still be torn off.

She didn't dare to ask the guardian about the "forgetting mechanism" of Anomaly 004, because that was already a question pointing to the tomb itself, and asking it would cause trouble.

She could only sigh, take a step in regret, and continue towards the deepest tomb chamber.

But just then, she heard the guardian's voice enter her ears again—

"The Fire-Stealer's name is not Duncan."

Vanna's eyes widened slightly. She didn't bother wondering why the tomb guardian was suddenly willing to answer her previous question, but subconsciously asked, "What about the Leviathan Queen then? From what you said, is that the Storm..."

The tomb guardian suddenly stopped and interrupted Vanna's question in a low voice: "We're here."

Vanna looked up and realized that this deep, long passage had不知何时 reached its end, and the door leading to the central tomb chamber was standing abruptly in front of her, the pale firelight flickering in the tomb chamber, as if urging her to hurry in.

In the next second, she understood: she couldn't continue asking questions.

Even with the blessing of the strange and inexplicable identity of "emissary," the "courtesy" that the tomb guardian could give her was limited—or rather, the questions that the guardian himself could answer were limited.

She just didn't know whether this "limitation" was limited by the number of questions or the scope of answering them—unfortunately, after she left Anomaly 004, all her memories would be cleared, and she probably wouldn't have the chance to verify this question through repeated testing in the future.

Several messy thoughts flashed through Vanna's mind, and finally, she gently took a breath and thanked the guardian in a low voice: "Thank you for your patience."

"Please enter; I will send you out later—although you won't remember."

Vanna nodded and stepped into the tomb chamber. As she stepped through the tomb chamber door, the guardian wrapped in bandages, between life and death, disappeared silently into the passage.

On the ancient, solemn throne, the headless, nameless king sat silently as if he had always been there, the pale fire basin burning calmly in the corner of the tomb chamber, the air filled with a silent, solemn atmosphere.

Vanna came to the front of the throne and saw a comfortable-looking armchair placed in the position left for the "Listener," with a table in front of the chair.

There was a fruit plate and snacks on the table, and even a cup of red tea—steaming hot.

Vanna: "..."

She controlled the change in her expression and tried to sit calmly in the chair.

Although the Listener could not bring the memories from inside the tomb to the outside, she was sure that the people who entered this tomb chamber under normal circumstances definitely did not have this treatment!

Because the information occasionally brought out with the parchment described the process of "listening," and none of them mentioned fruit plates and snacks!

However, after a brief daze and a desire to complain, Vanna quickly calmed down, and her eyes became serious.

She looked around.

Anomaly 004 only contained pale, cold stones. Theoretically, there was no place to store food, and there could not be facilities like kitchens. The tomb guardian might know how to make tea, but she really couldn't imagine the giant baking pastries.

She observed the things on the table.

The fruit was fresh, the tea was steaming, and the plate holding the snacks was an exquisite silver-inlaid wooden plate. The patterns... vaguely had the style of the southern city-states, much like the products of the elven city-states like Light Breeze Harbor or South Port.

Vanna picked up a biscuit, feeling its residual warmth.

Perhaps an hour ago, this thing was still in the oven of a pastry shop in a certain city-state.

So... these things were "brought" directly from a certain southern city-state by the tomb guardian? Could he directly enter the real world in physical form? Or... were there secret worshippers in the real world who accepted the tomb guardian's orders and made "sacrifices" to Anomaly 004?

The fruit and the plate holding the snacks looked like southern specialties. That side was the territory of the elves. The elves... this mysterious and long-lived race did retain many unique belief habits. Some of these beliefs were completely different from the current Four Gods Church, and even formed their own system...

Did the ancient elven books contain explanations about Anomaly 004?

Thoughts surged in Vanna's mind, and her professional habits made her start to get to the bottom of the "unusual" things she saw before her.

But her thinking didn't last long.

A slight rubbing sound suddenly rang out in the tomb chamber, interrupting Vanna's thoughts.

She looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the headless king was slowly raising his arm, as if he was about to stand up from the throne—

Vanna opened her eyes.

The ancient, solemn pillars of the assembly ground came into view, and chaotic, obscure streamers swept across the sky above the square. The soul projections of the saints were gathering from afar, and in the corner of her eye, the pale, mysterious building was slowly sinking into the ground accompanied by bursts of rumbling.

Had she completed the mission?

Vanna was a little dazed. She shook her head, feeling that her memory was still stuck at the moment when she followed the polite tomb guardian into the door—this sense of memory interruption was not unfamiliar, after all, it was not the first time she had entered Anomaly 004 as a "Listener," but for some reason... this time she always felt that her memory had a hint of strangeness, as if...

Certain incongruous impressions still left faint traces in her cleared memory.

But soon, she couldn't bother studying the sense of incongruity in her mind.

Her compatriots had already gathered, Bishop Valentine's projection was among them, and not far away, she could see the late-arriving Pope Helena standing on the edge of the square, seemingly watching this side quietly.

"Vanna," Valentine was the first to speak, "How do you feel? This is your third time entering the tomb; have you been affected?"

"I..." Vanna frowned, seemingly wanting to confirm her mental state, but before she could feel anything in detail, she couldn't help but hiccup, "Hic—"

On the assembly ground, the saints who were gathering with concern suddenly fell silent.

Even Bishop Valentine was stunned. The old clergyman, who had watched Vanna grow up, was stunned for a long time before finally blurting out: "Did you gnaw on rocks in there?"

(End of chapter)