Deep Sea Embers

Looking at the crystal pendant shaking slightly in Heidi's hand, Nina swallowed slightly nervously - although the other party told her to relax, this was her first time receiving hypnotherapy, and it was always difficult to control her reaction.

While her eyes were attracted by the crystal pendant, she also noticed that Heidi was wearing a seemingly simple stone bracelet on her wrist. The bracelet was woven with tough silk ropes and connected in series with many colorful stones. Several of them were Rune-like marks can also be seen on the stones.

Noticing Nina's gaze, Heidi smiled and shook her wrist: "I am a student of the Academy of Truth, following and serving Lachem, the God of Wisdom - although I can't tell from my appearance, from the practice registration, I But he is a priest."

The cleric... is not only a psychiatrist, but also a member of the Academy of Truth?

Of course Nina has heard of the Academy of Truth - although its name sounds like a school, in fact the true identity of this "academy" is one of the four orthodox churches, together with the Church of the Deep Sea, the Death Sect and the Fire Bearer. The church jointly maintains the civilized order of the Deep Sea Age. The difference from the other three major churches is that the Academy of Truth does not have a strong "theological" presence. Instead, it prefers pure knowledge inheritance and the research and development and promotion of cutting-edge technologies. , its followers also build relationships based on master-disciple and school.

Other churches are based on churches and sanctuaries, and spread the faith and organize masses as their daily routine. However, the Academy of Truth has established countless universities and laboratories in various city-states. When a high-ranking priest meets a lower-ranking priest, the daily routine is to throw a big wave over them. Question, see if your faith in the Lord has reached the score line - it can be said that the painting style is unique.

It is precisely because of such a special "style" of the Academy of Truth that the number of members of the Academy of Truth is actually the smallest among the four major Orthodox churches. Members who are qualified to wear signs on a daily basis and are registered as official priests are Even rarer - because the questions are really difficult.

Ordinary universities may not produce a few top students every year who are qualified to convert to Lachem, let alone a poor child like Nina who studies in a public school in the lower city.

Heidi in her eyes suddenly seemed to be enveloped by a halo, and instead of making her relax, this halo made her even more nervous.

This is the awe that ambitious vocational high school students feel when they see top graduates from top universities.

Of course Heidi noticed the change in Nina's expression, but she didn't care about it. She just fiddled with the pendant in her hand as if carelessly, and slowly spoke in a calm tone that sounded the same as before: "You can tell me Tell me about your childhood? Just now you said that your parents died in an accident. That incident may be a shadow in your heart... Can you tell me about it? "

"Actually... there's nothing I can't talk about," Nina thought for a moment, "I've told many people, but everyone thought I was too young and couldn't remember things clearly, and thought I was talking nonsense - ten A year ago, a leak occurred in a factory in the Sixth District. At that time, many cultists were vandalizing, and many people were arrested later. Do you know about that? "

"Of course," Heidi nodded, "I was only more than ten years old at the time. Our family happened to be staying near the Cross Street Block when the accident happened, and we also saw the crowd of people who collided..."

"Then do you remember there was a fire?"

"Fire?" Heidi tilted her head slightly. She unconsciously stopped playing with the crystal pendant, "What kind of fire?"

"Look, you don't know about the fire either - but in my memory, there is always a fire. My parents died in that fire, but everyone said I remembered it wrong..."

Heidi listened to Nina's statement quietly for a long time, then nodded slightly and asked again: "So this should be the shadow in your heart. You are afraid of a fire that only you know exists, and when This weird phenomenon will appear around you again, taking away the people around you, and at the same time, no one can help you - no one can even notice what is happening to you. "

Nina nodded slightly.

"Have you been under any pressure recently?" Heidi asked again, "Academic-related and life-related. These recent pressures may amplify the long-term haze in your heart..."

Nina was silent for a moment, and then spoke hesitantly: "Maybe it's because uncle's health has been in bad shape, and it's getting worse and worse a while ago, which makes me very worried..."

She paused for a moment, then quickly added: "Ah, of course he is getting better now, and I feel that I have relaxed a lot. I haven't had that weird dream in the past two days..."

"Are you worried about your family's health..."

Heidi whispered thoughtfully. She listened to the soft whisper of the girl opposite her as if she was dreaming, and watched Nina leaning on the bedside, half asleep, and casually put down the crystal pendant.

As a "psychiatrist" who has studied in the Institute of Truth and needs to deal with the supernatural realm, she does not need to use methods such as shaking a pendant or lighting a mist to perform hypnotherapy - just say a few words.

The only function of this pendant is to attract Nina's attention, make her relax and reduce her resistance to "words".

The psychiatrist breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Nina who had completely relaxed with gentle eyes, watching her gradually fall into a deeper sleep.

"It can be seen that you live a very hard life... All the tension and anxiety are buried deep in your heart, and you have become accustomed to this lifestyle. You hope that this will make the people around you easier, but you ignore yourself - —But just relax now, have a good sleep, and leave all the stress in a dream that is about to dissipate. When you wake up, those worries will have nothing to do with you.”

Half asleep, Nina's voice sounded softly: "...Thank you..."

Heidi smiled, and in order to further put Nina into a deeper state of relaxation, she asked casually as if by accident: "By the way, was your uncle in poor health before? What disease did he have? I just saw Mr. Duncan seems to be in good health."

Nina was silent for a longer time this time before speaking softly: "It's just that he is weak. He is now... completely recovered..."

However, Heidi could no longer hear Nina's response.

The moment she asked the last question, she was already lying at the end of Nina's bed, falling into a deeper dream than her patient.

On Heidi's right wrist, a hand-woven stone bracelet is glowing slightly - this is one of the symbols often worn by believers in the Academy of Truth, representing that the wearer is a person who has undergone rigorous training and received wisdom. The monks who are favored by the god Lachem and are determined to fight against the crazy power of the heretics. Every rune stone on them represents a favor from Lachem.

After a few seconds of flashing, a red agate in the stone bracelet suddenly made a slight cracking sound, and then quickly disintegrated into dust and disappeared in the wind.

In the shop on the first floor, Vanna asked Duncan a few more questions. On the one hand, she wanted to learn more about whether there were any missing details in the museum fire, and on the other hand, she wanted to confirm whether Duncan and others were affected by the sun's debris. .

During the conversation, the unfamiliarity and awkwardness of the first meeting gradually disappeared, and the atmosphere became friendly and familiar.

Duncan could feel that this "Judge" who held a high position in the church was really concerned about the safety of the survivors of the fire that day - not just to combat heretics or investigate clues, but her attitude was sincere from the bottom of her heart.

He didn't know whether the young judge could care so much about everyone in the entire city-state, or whether he was just caring about a few people in this antique shop because of Heidi's relationship, but the sincerity shown by Vanna at the moment was enough to make him Leave some good impression.

"Speaking of which, Miss Heidi and Nina have been up there for a while, right?"

During the conversation, Duncan thought of his niece and subconsciously glanced up at the stairs leading to the second floor.

"Indeed," Fanna also reacted to this reminder. She frowned slightly, "Usually Heidi's treatment process is very fast..."

"...I don't think you can use Miss Heidi's usual treatment model as the standard. Physical hypnosis and kinetic anesthesia can be applied very quickly to everyone." Duncan's mouth trembled, "But the two of them did take too long. It’s been a long time... nothing will happen, right?”

Fanna shook her head: "No, Heidi is a professional who has received strict training from the Academy of Truth. She would not mess up something in an ordinary hypnotherapy session. She probably started chatting with Nina. She sometimes It's like this - I've dealt with too many paranoid cultists, and talking to a normal person every once in a while is just like a holiday, shall we go up and take a look?"

"Go up and have a look."

Duncan and Vanna then got up and went up to the second floor. They came to the door of Nina's room one after another. However, before they could open the door, they heard the movement in the room at the same time——

Two grunts coming and going.