New Gods of North America

Women may not care about men's ambitions and hobbies, but they are usually very sensitive to men's gazes.

Mrs. Russell quickly continued to speak, drawing Wayne's attention back, and said something that seemed to be meaningful, "You can't always do what you want."

Wayne wanted to take a few more glances, but he felt the atmosphere was turning cold.

So he could only chat with Mrs. Russell for a few more words, roughly learned the lady's name and background, and then quickly left.

Miss Olivia was still behind Mrs. Russell's shoulder, giving him a teasing look.

When the carriage came, the books and stationery were loaded onto it.

Wayne told Lina what he had just seen and heard.

Lina immediately became interested:

"What kind of pendant is it? Is it set with gemstones? Does it look valuable?"

Wayne couldn't help but tease, "Don't you care why I'm staring at other people's chests?"

Lina thought Wayne was interrupting. "It's not like Inesa and I haven't worn dresses before. I haven't seen you look at them for a long time. What's so good about the others? What's the feature of the pendant?"

Wayne thought about it for a moment, then took out a pen and paper from the side.

I drew it roughly based on my impression.

There is indeed a gemstone, which looks like a sapphire. It is quite large, but it is not polished to be very round, and the position is a little off.

The shape of the entire pendant is somewhat similar to a teardrop. Although the lines are relatively rounded, the bottom is not a regular semi-arc.

There is also a part of metal in the middle pressing on the gem, which looks a bit like a "diagonal shawl strap". The workmanship seems to be quite complicated, but it makes the gem look like it has been scratched and its size appears smaller.

After all, Wayne has never studied art, so his painting style may be a little distorted.

But he thought it was pretty similar.

Lina looked at the notebook Wayne handed over and couldn't help but hold her forehead:

"You feel that it doesn't look like an extraordinary item, but your spiritual intuition seems to react... If it's this shape..."

Lina tried to draw another pattern on the notebook, "Is it like this?"

Good fellow,

Your painting is more abstract than mine.

It's basically a gradually shrinking arc that surrounds a circle, and at the end a part of it passes through the circle.

Wayne tried hard to identify it. The good thing about abstract art is that you can't say it's similar, but it's not completely unrelated either.

So Wayne reluctantly gave Lina a "passing score":

"It feels roughly like this, but the exact appearance is still quite different..."

Lina looked as if she understood. "Then I understand."

As she spoke, she blackened the symbols on the notebook, then tore off the pages and tore them into small pieces.

…

"The 'Wisdom Supremacy' sect is a fanatic organization that believes in the 'wise sage'. It is generally believed that they were destroyed by the Holy See hundreds of years ago. Their representative symbol is the 'fruit-wrapped serpent', which is a blasphemous metaphor for the fact that the first human ancestor was lured into eating the fruit of wisdom in the Holy Scripture.

"Before its demise, this sect was mainly divided into two factions. One faction believed that wisdom was the essence and highest attribute of human beings, and despised blindness and blind obedience. Therefore, they once targeted the Holy See, planned various hostile activities, and often provocatively left hints of their next move.

"The other faction believes that rejecting the temptation of knowledge is the true wisdom. They advocate that believers follow their instincts, abandon meaningless knowledge and thinking, and just follow the guidance of wisdom. In the Middle Ages when the Holy See suppressed various thoughts, they often made things worse. They were considered accomplices of the Holy See, and also made the Holy See bear a lot of extra infamy."

Back at the detective agency, Inissa was giving Wayne some science advice in the small dark room, while Lina seemed unwilling to get involved with any "dirty stuff".

Wayne pondered for a moment, "These two ideas are almost completely opposite, right? Can they still form a cult?"

"There is also a view that they are actually 'two sides of the same coin' of thought."

Inissa said, nodding slightly, "But the serious internal divisions and struggles are said to be one of the reasons for their demise."

Wayne looked down at Inissa's notes:

"It's this pattern that's different from what I saw. It takes a certain level of abstraction to feel that they are similar."

"It's possible that it's true if it doesn't look like it."

Lina felt that she had completely lost interest in the pendant:

"The New World doesn't seem to be hostile to the 'Wisdom Supremacy' cult, so the obvious 'fruit-wrapped venomous snake' may simply be the imitation behavior of its worshipers.

“Old objects that are difficult to identify, especially those that can still make Beyonders feel that something is wrong, are more likely to be things they left behind.

"You said the necklace with the pendant is a bit long, right? It's possible that it was originally meant to be worn secretly, and it was deliberately made to look like something real, and the gem was deliberately made blue. It feels like something that people who believe in 'wisdom first' would do. Maybe someone deliberately took it out to show the people of the Holy See."

"So the 'Wisdom Supremacy' cult was not actually destroyed?" Wayne asked Lina.

When it comes to matters concerning "wise sages", it feels like her status is almost that of a professional leader.

Lina thought for a moment, "The cult as a whole should have been destroyed, but not all of their members were wiped out. And sometimes there are people who find some relics or notes and start to believe in them again. When I was in Frank, I met a few from Germany. One of them was inherited within the family, and some were guided by mentors."

"In that case, is the pendant still valuable now?" Wayne asked.

"That depends on who has it. At least there are gems. But when they were in Frank, the Beyonders who knew the value of things on the black market refused to accept their things, fearing that they would be discovered by the Holy See's Inquisition. Those who didn't know the value of things couldn't pay a high price. Anyway, I don't really want to provoke them. I feel that they may look normal on the surface, but their minds may have been out of control a long time ago. They all look like sane lunatics."

Inissa didn't seem to have any feelings towards the "Wisdom First" sect:

"Considering that it may have a certain history, maybe the other party just wore it as valuable jewelry. If I have the opportunity, I would like to see such cultural relics."

Wayne actually wanted to take a look, "Then let's find a chance to get it out. If there's a problem, tell the church. If there's no problem, remind the other party not to wear it out again."

Lina reminded Wayne from the side:

"But you'd better not remind the other party directly. If the other party doesn't know its origin, it's fine. But if he is really a person who believes in 'wisdom first', once he knows that you know about it, you have to be careful, because you may be targeted by him."

How about letting you steal it?