I changed the world.

Surprisingly, although he was knocked to the ground again, this time Father Simon did not experience the intense pain that comes with trauma. Instead, a strange sense of courage began to rise within him.

He rolled over and sat up from the ground, then quickly propped himself up. Father Simon glanced at the monster who had also stood up beside him, but seemed to be in a bit of a daze.

As if driven by some unseen force, Father Simon clenched his right fist and threw a right hook!

"boom!"

In the dimly lit living room, it was as if a bolt of lightning had flashed, followed by a muffled thud!

Father Simon felt as if his punch had struck a sand doll. With a piercing and shrill scream, the monster in front of him was blasted into dust by his punch!

Tiny gray particles were scattered in the air, like dust. Father Simon reached out his hand, somewhat stunned, trying to catch some dust, wanting to see what kind of thing it was.

It was later discovered that these dust particles were actually a kind of light particles. They did not have a physical form; they passed directly through the palm and did not leave any tangible residue on the hand.

Soon, these specks of light, like dust particles, gradually dissipated into the void.

Was that... really typed by me?

Did I kill that monster?

Father Simon's mind raced with a thousand thoughts: excitement, fear, disbelief... a multitude of emotions swirled within him. He frantically pulled the pendant from his chest; its light was slowly dimming, but he immediately confirmed that the light had indeed come from the pendant!

As the light grew dimmer and dimmer until it disappeared completely, Father Simon put the pendant back in. After getting rid of the monster, he began to realize another problem!

That is, the flames coming from the study have grown increasingly intense, and the flames have even spread into the living room, accompanied by thick smoke!

Chapter 637 Fire and Investigation

Father Simon felt a chill run down his spine as he recalled the words he had just heard. He could almost guess that those people's true purpose was to destroy something!

Perhaps some important secret is hidden in Mr. Delvoye's study...

Father Simon, realizing this, couldn't resist the urge to go and help put out the fire. However, after taking only two steps, he felt a strong sense of weakness creeping through his body…

It was like he had just finished a marathon and then had a wonderful emotional exchange with a young lady. The intense muscle soreness and weakness made him unable to support his body, and his legs gave way, causing him to fall to the ground.

What happened? Was it because of the punch I just threw?

Father Simon struggled to get up, but his exhausted muscles wouldn't obey him, leaving him helpless and anxious as he lay sprawled on the ground.

Thick smoke billowed from the study. By this time, the fire in the study had been going on for some time, and the fire began to spread. Not only the interior of the study, but even the door frame of the study was on fire, and sparks from the explosions began to fly everywhere with the airflow. Soon, the fire also started in the living room!

Thick smoke filled the living room. Fortunately, Father Simon was lying on the floor; if he had stood up, he would likely have been choked by the smoke and had tears streaming down his face.

In this situation, Father Simon is no longer facing the problem of putting out a fire, but rather the problem of escaping for his life. If he is not killed by the monster, but instead suffocates from the smoke of the fire, that would be the real tragedy...

Father Simon began to crawl out with all his might. Fortunately, his body had adjusted to the fatigue and he had regained some strength. He was able to crawl forward with difficulty...

Even more fortunately, he heard the distinctive siren of a fire truck coming from afar. The sound grew closer and closer, clearly heading in his direction.

Soon, just as Father Simon had managed to crawl to the door with great effort, a group of firefighters in uniform rushed in. Seeing Father Simon calling for help, they hurriedly carried him out...

At this point, multiple fires had broken out in the living room, and the fires were showing a trend of becoming increasingly intense!

"Sir, are you alright? What happened here just now?" After carrying Father Simon out, a firefighter couldn't wait to ask him what had happened.

Father Simon swallowed hard, momentarily at a loss for words to answer what had just happened. However, reason told him that the matter was far too bizarre, and telling the truth might not even convince anyone, and could potentially lead to a series of troubles afterward…

His primary objective at the moment is to return to Bergopelli as soon as possible... It's just a pity... With it burned like this, Viscount Delvaux's collection of books is probably...

He glanced at the burning house, thought for a moment, and quickly explained the incident to the firefighters.

According to Father Simon, he came to retrieve the books that his teacher Delvo had left for him, but unexpectedly discovered two thieves in the house. He was knocked down by the thieves, who then set the house on fire and fled.

As the firefighter recorded Father Simon's dictation, a nearby fire truck took over the high-pressure water cannon and began spraying water into the house.

At this time, the fire and the arrival of the fire trucks also attracted the attention of the surrounding residents. Some of them came out to see what was happening, and many of them were faculty and staff of the college. Some of them even knew Father Simon.

Seeing that Father Simon seemed to be in poor condition, an acquaintance offered to take him to a nearby clinic for a check-up. Father Simon couldn't refuse, so he was half-heartedly helped to the clinic...

................................................

........................

承和三十七年西历2016年4月1日21:32格兰德王家学院诺丁街11号

The fire has been extinguished, and the firefighters have left. The neighbors who had gathered to watch have also gone home. A cordon has been set up around residence number 11, prohibiting others from approaching, and it is stated that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Two men in police uniforms were carefully inspecting the front door of the residence. Anyone familiar with the local police system would recognize that these two were not officers from the local police department. In particular, compared to the somewhat lazy local police, these two were much more capable, with strong physiques and sharp eyes. Moreover, the crossed sword insignia on their collar badges indicated their identities: agents of the Grand External Security Bureau.

“Father Simon said the fire was started by two thieves…” An detective with short gray hair frowned, muttering to himself as he touched the huge, exaggerated gaping hole in the door, where half the door panel had been lifted. He shook his head slightly. “This isn’t something an ordinary thief could do…”

Another brown-haired detective, who had been inspecting the area with a flashlight for a while, then went to the living room to conduct a more thorough inspection.

"There were no signs of firearms being used at the scene..."

"But... there are signs of a struggle."

The brown-haired detective stood beside a smashed wooden chair, carefully examining one of its broken legs. He then shone his flashlight meticulously on the surrounding ground, before shining it along the ground to the wall beside him. The wall was now covered with large areas of soot, but among these marks, he astutely spotted some neatly arranged patterns.

“Leo, come and take a look at this,” he suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, the gray-haired detective who was squatting in front of the wooden door stood up, walked to his side, and followed the flashlight beam, his gaze falling directly on the semi-circular chisel marks on the wall.

He took a few steps closer, came to a chisel mark, examined it for a while, and then stretched out his right hand to measure the chisel mark. The chisel marks were very deep, with five points in each group distributed in a semi-circle, and even half a thumb could be inserted.

“Look…doesn’t this look like some kind of claw mark?” he suddenly said.

"Even a lion couldn't leave such deep claw marks on this wall, could it?" The brown-haired agent didn't answer directly, but instead raised a question.

“Perhaps it’s something we don’t know.” The gray-haired agent named Leo shrugged and chuckled.

However, this remark was clearly not funny. Instead, it made both of them subconsciously scan the surrounding walls and ceiling, as if worried that a monster might suddenly pounce out from some unnoticed corner...

Chapter 638 The Vatican's people are really well hidden...

“You’re right, it might really be something we don’t know…” The brown-haired agent took a deep breath: “After all, this Father Simon isn’t an ordinary person…”

"Chatham, do you suspect that Father Simon is fighting with something?"

“Isn’t that how it is in movies? The priests of the Vatican fight against the monsters in the darkness…” The brown-haired agent named Chatham said, while subconsciously looking up at the ceiling around him again.

"In any case... Father Simon is clearly not telling the truth. I suspect that he came here not simply to pick up a few books..."

“You suspect he has some ulterior motive? But we questioned Mrs. Louise before, and she did give the key to Father Simon. At least it seems he was just there to collect some books.”

"It's a pity that everything was burned down. Perhaps, someone really did want to destroy something..."

"Regardless, let's report the facts. This matter seems to be very complicated. That Father Simon may not have any special abilities as the previous intelligence suggested..."

Do you think he's hiding some of his abilities?

"It's highly likely. At least, judging from the traces here, it's quite obvious that he might indeed possess some abilities beyond those of ordinary people..."

"These Vatican people are really good at hiding... Anyway, let's check the scene again and then report the information as soon as possible..."

***

承和三十七年2016年4月1日21:57墨根河号探索试验舰

"Sir Joseph, this is today's situation briefing." Wearing a mask and protective suit, fully armed, First Officer Joseph, in the captain's seat in the command tower, received the report from his subordinate with a grave expression. Since Captain Winters "fell ill" three days ago, attacking and injuring his crew, and subsequently being forcibly isolated, First Officer Joseph had taken this position, assuming the responsibilities of captain.

Joseph flipped through the briefing in his hand, remaining silent. The situation on the Morgan River was now extremely dire.

Of the 64 crew members, including the captain, 21 have died. Of the remaining 43, 8 are still under quarantine. The abnormal loss of crew members is approaching half.

What's even more alarming on board is that, to this day, they still haven't been able to find the real cause of the crew members falling ill. Even though they have carried out multiple rounds of biological and chemical disinfection operations across the entire ship, and the ship has been under the SO-A1 level emergency plan, the fact remains that crew members are still falling ill in the past few days.

like water off a duck's back!

It can be generally accepted that this sudden illness is not an infectious disease caused by any microorganism.

Furthermore, the information brought by the ship's doctor, Mr. Sherlock, was even more chilling: the crew members, including the captain, who had been forcibly quarantined, were changing; they were transforming into "another kind of being"...

Joseph had observed a crew member who had been in quarantine for 10 days through surveillance video. He could hardly recognize that the man, whose muscles and bones were severely deformed and who looked more like some kind of monster than a human, was a handsome young man who had been quite dashing not long ago.

To avoid further panic among the crew, Joseph temporarily instructed the ship's doctor, Mr. Sherlock, not to inform anyone else about the changes in the crew members.

However, given the current situation, he didn't know how long this secret could be kept. In fact, Mr. Sherlock didn't even need to add fuel to the fire; the abnormal casualties alone were enough to cause widespread panic among the crew.

Fortunately, the Mogen River was, after all, an experimental ship, and its crew consisted of elites from the Earth Defense Force. They were fully prepared before boarding, so so far, even with nearly half of the crew gone, there has been no worst-case scenario of a complete collapse of order.

"Wang, how much time is left until we reach the jump point?" he asked the navigator. The fact that navigator Wang Wei wasn't showing any signs of illness was a great relief to everyone on the ship; otherwise, with current subspace travel technology, returning to Earth would have been virtually impossible…

Wang Wei is a navigator in his thirties with dual master's degrees in mathematics and space astronomy, and is one of the first elites in human history to complete navigator training.

He was wearing protective clothing and hunched over a computer screen at the control panel, comparing a star map. Hearing the first mate's question, he looked up, thought for a moment, and replied, "At the current speed, it will take approximately 2.5 more calendar days. Because our previous voyage did not reach our intended destination and we changed our route midway, coupled with the earlier space storm causing a deviation in our trajectory, we have recalculated our path. The current path should theoretically be the optimal one."

"Okay, please double-check the flight path. Given our current situation, we must return to Earth as soon as possible..."

"I understand, First Mate. I will check the route again." Wang Wei nodded. As a crew member, he was naturally very clear about the abnormal situation currently being encountered on board.

Joseph nodded, about to give a few more instructions, when suddenly the entire ship began to violently shake. At the same time, a piercing alarm began to sound.

"What's going on?!" Joseph hurriedly looked at the control panel next to him.

"First Mate, we have encountered a subspace storm! The turbulence is now carrying us forward at high speed!"

"We are veering off course!"

Joseph looked at the series of data synchronized to the screen in front of him with a solemn expression. According to the data, they were deviating from the planned route at an extremely high speed.

This instantly made Joseph anxious; he naturally knew what this meant. According to humanity's current understanding of the warp, once a ship enters the warp, it is usually swept up by turbulent energy tides, moving at speeds far exceeding those of the normal universe.