I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Stone looked at the down-on-his-luck conman in front of him and pondered a question.

That's why the internal organs of God's body found in [Summer Log] point to Byron.

Clearly, after Lu Ban's examination, there were no fragments of God's body inside Byron's body, so he was probably not the one who ate God's internal organs.

So where exactly does the problem lie?

Stone was unaware of Lu Ban and Xia's investigation progress. He took a sip of his drink and watched the storm outside the window grow stronger. Due to long-term erosion and soil loss, some trees were uprooted and fell to the side.

The trees piled up together, blocking the road and making the way up the mountain even more difficult.

Seeing this, Stone suddenly had an idea.

It's clear that Byron wasn't the one who killed God, or at least not the one who devoured God's internal organs. Assuming Stone's own Summer Log is reliable, there's only one explanation.

God's internal organs and Byron's are the same thing.

When Stone considered this possibility, he felt like he might be going crazy.

Under normal circumstances, Stone would never have thought of such a development, but now, after experiencing all of this, his idea has grown stronger and has even become mainstream.

Stone glanced at Byron, who was staring blankly at the clock, completely unaware of Stone's gaze.

Once the spark of Stone's thinking ignites, it is difficult to suppress.

He quickly came up with his answer.

The reason why Gaode's internal organs point to Byron is because Byron is Gaode's internal organs.

Or, if we look at it from another angle, Gaode is Byron.

This sounds a bit outrageous and unbelievable, but in the context of a foreign land, it seems perfectly reasonable.

Whether it's Gaode or Byron, they are both one entity.

Gaode is Byron, and Byron is Gaode.

They are all part of the mud monster.

Since the mud monster can mimic a human, it can mimic two people.

God and Byron are humans who are mimics of mud monsters.

This is why Stone's "Summer Revisited" led him to discover Byron's hiding place while tracking Gaudí.

They were originally one.

Thinking about this, Stone suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He's now sharing a room with this mud monster.

Stone knew the power of the mud monsters very well; in fact, no one understood them better than him what they were capable of.

Ten years ago, he witnessed these monsters burrowing into human bodies, causing their internal organs to bloom into a glass flower, all of which required only the monsters' gaze.

Although Stone knows how to deal with these monsters and avoid their harm, this does not diminish their danger in the slightest.

"what happened?"

Byron suddenly asked, shifting his gaze from the swaying pendulum to Stone.

"I've thought of something."

Stone calmly turned around and looked at Byron.

Do you know how detectives solve cases?

“How could I know, sir? I am just a wanderer.”

Byron frowned slightly, indicating that he wasn't quite sure.

"For a detective to do something, the first thing is to have faith."

Stone said seriously.

"Believe? Isn't it more like doubt?"

Byron found it strange and asked curiously.

"If we choose to doubt, then everyone and everything is worthy of doubt, all evidence and testimony can be overturned, nothing in the world will be true, and investigations will never be able to proceed normally."

Stone said he placed both hands on the table to give Byron a sense of security.

"Therefore, the first step in the investigation is to believe, to believe the testimony of every witness, to accept every piece of evidence, and to use this evidence and testimony to reconstruct the case."

"Won't this create a contradiction?"

Byron asked doubtfully.

"That's the key point."

Stone answered.

"When all the testimonies and evidence come together and contradict each other, we can find a suspect. By investigating these contradictions, we can find out who is lying."

"That's a good idea."

Byron couldn't help but say.

“Yes, so I asked the butler before, and he said that no vehicle had arrived at Stormy Mountain Villa during this period. Let’s assume that what he said is true. Then, during this period, no one else but us came here by car.”

Stone said slowly and deliberately.

"But according to you, Mr. Byron, you fell asleep on the way here and woke up to find yourself in a barrel of wine. Furthermore, Mr. God arrived before you. Therefore, there must have been a car that took you into this Stormy Mountain Villa, which contradicts the butler's testimony."

"You...you mean I lied to you?"

Byron suddenly became a little nervous; he withdrew his hand, looking very awkward.

“But according to my investigation, you weren’t lying either. A car did bring you in, and you were indeed put into a barrel of wine until we found out and you were released.”

Stone looked at Byron.

"That's where the contradiction lies."

"Detective, I'm not lying, really, I don't know anything."

Byron leaned back, a subconscious action to avoid danger.

“I believe that neither you nor the butler are lying.”

Stone pondered for a moment.

"However, there are some deviations in the process."

Byron looked bewildered.

"To put it simply, you did go here at Gaode's invitation, and you did come by car, but you lost consciousness along the way, but that wasn't in the last few days."

Stone explained.

“You were chosen by Gao De a long time ago as material for this ceremony. I don’t know why he chose you. Maybe it’s because you’ve read the writings of Daoist Heming, or maybe it’s something else. He made up a reason for you to come here to preside over the soul-summoning ceremony. Then, on the way, you lost consciousness, were locked in a wine barrel, and stored in an underground wine cellar, where you have been until now.”

"I can't say how long this will last. Given all the arrangements, it's even possible that you were already locked up in the underground wine cellar when the mansion was sold to Browning."

Hearing Stone's words, Byron was even more confused. If what Stone said was true, then they should have starved to death long ago!

"Yes."

Stone noticed Byron's confusion and quickly explained.

"Because you are no longer human."

He connected everything.

During the time Byron was unconscious, he was devoured by the mud monster, whose soul and memories were drained, and the culprit behind all of this was God himself.

After "Gordon" suffered a fatal injury, the mud monster activated Byron's consciousness, which was located in the barrel, in order to hide itself. It pretended to know nothing and hid in Gaode's subconscious.

It's obvious that "Gaode" needs to hide something.

What is he hiding from?

As Stone pondered this matter, a thunderbolt struck. He saw Byron's expression constantly changing, from fear and confusion to numbness and indifference.

His eyes were vacant, like a doll that had been played with and broken.

"Ah...woo...ah...ga..."

A sound like bubbles bursting echoed from Byron's throat.

Chapter 639 Ascension

Crane-Cry Taoist.

For some reason, Lu Ban didn't feel anything particularly special when he heard the name.

Perhaps it was because he already roughly knew the other person's identity and had witnessed how he went from an ordinary person to what he is now.

It's like you see a gang leader who looks fierce and menacing, as if he'd take someone's hands and feet at the slightest provocation. But if you start from when he was still wearing open-crotch pants and running around in alleys with a pacifier in his mouth, you'd feel something similar to Lu Ban right now.

However, Daoist Heming had obviously experienced a lot, and he didn't remember Lu Ban. He wondered if Lu Ban would react when Lu Ban mentioned that he used to run through the streets in open-crotch pants when he was a child.

"Are you Daoist Heming?"

Lu Ban asked a question as if to confirm.

"What kind of person do you think the Crane Cry Daoist is? Has he ascended to become an immortal? Or has he already decayed into dust?"

Browning seemed to have misunderstood Lu Ban's meaning, and asked a question in return. Before Lu Ban could answer, he continued to explain.

"Sublimation is a special kind of transformation that allows one to relinquish the constraints of the physical body and become a truly superior being. In this case, my existence is no longer limited to the material world."

Browning explained.

His words were offensive, causing Sia to frown slightly, but for Sia, who had studied magic, Browning's remarks were not too outrageous and were still acceptable.

"Human consciousness also depends on matter. Without matter, there is no way to talk about human consciousness. If you want to achieve immortality and elevate yourself, you must first give up your physical body, including all your material possessions."

As Browning spoke, he pulled out a small knife from somewhere, picked it up, and cut his finger. The sharp blade sliced ​​through the skin, dug into the flesh, and scraped against the bone with a grating sound. Then, he cut off the entire finger at the joint and played with it in his palm.

"Flesh and blood are fragile, and even those monsters are ultimately doomed to destruction."

He was referring to those mud monsters. It seems that Daoist Heming did indeed use the contents of the "Seven Chapters of the Mysterious Monarch's Secret Scripture" to summon mud monsters and attempted to merge his will with them.

However, he did not succeed, either by preserving his will in some way, or by proving through experiments that the method was unreliable.