Chapter 59: Singing from the Paris Catacombs

Curator Julian's assertion about "the UMA that feeds on memories" brought this initial meeting to a conclusion filled with unknowns and dangers.Lin Jie and William, armed with the background knowledge provided by the curator and an even more bizarre new mystery, left this sanctum of knowledge and returned to their safe house in the Le Marais district.

They did not immediately take action over the next two days.

Julian seemed to be using the association's intelligence network in Paris to conduct final confirmation and analysis of the recent abnormal activities in the catacombs.

Meanwhile, Lin Jie and William used this valuable rest period to begin familiarizing themselves with Paris—this city both romantic and dangerous—under their new cover identities as "a silk merchant from the East" and "his British bodyguard responsible for protection."

They saw the Champs-Élysées decorated everywhere with lanterns and colored banners to welcome the World's Fair, they saw impoverished painters gathered on Montmartre heights with artistic fire burning in their eyes, and they also saw the poverty and crime that equally existed hidden behind the magnificent architecture.

Late one night two days later, while Lin Jie was carefully wiping his under the kerosene lamp in the safe house, a rhythmic signal mimicking the call of a cuckoo bird sounded.

The visitor was none other than Curator Julian.

The elegant French scholar had shed his linen suit, changing into a set of traveling hunting clothes more suitable for movement.

He carried a bulging canvas backpack on his back, clearly filled with "secret weapons" for dealing with various unexpected situations.

His blue eyes no longer held any trace of bookish laziness, but instead carried the focus and sharpness belonging to a true hunter.

"I presume you two gentlemen have had sufficient leisure time enjoying afternoon tea and opera in this City of Light."

Julian entered the room and placed a scroll of parchment sealed with wax on the table, his voice carrying a sense of urgency. "Because just one hour ago, we received the latest news—two more lost little mice in Paris's underground world will never hear the evening prayer bells from the surface again."

The expressions on both Lin Jie and William's faces turned grave simultaneously.

They knew this meant the Eternal Serpent's operations were still ongoing, and that mysterious UMA was likewise continuing its hunt.

"Sit."

Julian pointed to the chairs by the table, then slowly unrolled the parchment scroll. "Before you charge into that enormous labyrinth piled with the bones of six million people, I think you need to first hear this not-quite-complete 'resume' about our new 'friend' that I've just compiled."

The parchment wasn't any official document, but rather a hand-drawn map of the Paris catacombs by Julian himself.

Its accuracy and richness of detail far exceeded any publicly available map by a hundredfold.

He had not only marked all the publicly accessible tour routes, but also used red ink to draw countless long-abandoned, buried secret passages and hidden spaces that even the Paris municipal government had forgotten.

"Paris Catacombs, Catacombes de Paris."

Julian's finger traced across the spiderweb-like complex map. "Before becoming the 'Kingdom of Human Skulls,' it was a massive limestone quarry left over from ancient Roman times."

Its total length remains unknown to this day, with conservative estimates exceeding three hundred kilometers.

It's like a massive city inverted beneath Paris—dark, damp, filled with death and the purest 'silence.'

"However, starting about three months ago," Julian's fingertip pressed on a spot marked "Old Denfert-Rochereau Street Entrance" in the map's central area, "this silence was broken."

"The earliest abnormal reports came from a group of foolish university students practicing Satanism who attempted to hold secret gatherings here."

"They claimed to have heard a kind of... singing deep within the catacombs. An extremely beautiful yet indescribable singing. That singing seemed to speak directly to your soul, evoking the deepest, most beautiful memories within your heart."

"Hearing that singing, you would forget fear, forget cold, forget where you were, wanting only to rush recklessly toward the direction the singing came from."

"Two of those university students completely lost themselves to that singing and never returned."

"While the survivors who escaped were like empty shells with their souls sucked out, having completely forgotten everything that happened after entering the catacombs."

"They only remember that heavenly 'singing.'"

Julian paused, then pointed to several other locations on the map marked with red crosses.

"After that, similar incidents occurred several more times in succession."

"The missing persons were mostly homeless people seeking shelter here, or some daring 'urban explorers' from around the world."

"Their only commonality was that before disappearing, they had all described that 'irresistible,' 'seemingly heaven-sent' beautiful singing to companions or passersby."

"The Paris police classified it as 'mass hallucinations induced by underground methane gas' and accidental 'falls into unknown pits.'"

Julian's voice was full of disdain. "But we know this is no hallucination. This is an unavoidable 'mental trapping' launched by an extremely sophisticated sonic-type UMA."

Lin Jie listened quietly, his fingers unconsciously gently stroking the that could interfere with machinery.

This equipment would likely be of little use against a UMA that used pure "mental" or "sonic" attacks.

And his revolver equipped with the "Guardian Scale" module might provide some protection through its "guardian" and "calming" powers, but this remained uncertain.

This enemy was far more bizarre and unpredictable than the Gremlins' physical harassment or the Mist Walker's shadow assaults.

William's face also showed a grave expression.

As an experienced veteran, he knew better than anyone that the most terrifying enemies on the battlefield were never those you could see and fight, but these "intangible killers" that could make you completely lose your will and become prey without even realizing it.

"You mean the Eternal Serpent cult has set their sights on this mysterious UMA?" Lin Jie cut straight to the point.

"Correct."

Julian nodded approvingly. "For those maniacs dedicated to studying 'souls' and 'spirits,' a UMA capable of directly plundering human memories is simply an inexhaustible treasure trove!"

"They no longer need to torture living souls through low-success-rate black magic rituals to extract those pitiful amounts of 'spiritual energy' as they did in the past."

"They now only need to follow behind this UMA, like a pack of greedy hyenas harvesting the 'empty shells' that have been mostly drained of memory after its hunts."

A complete yet terrifying logical loop formed in everyone's minds.

The Eternal Serpent needed two core holy relics for their ultimate ritual at the Paris World's Fair—"divine blood" from the "Primordial Dragon Species," and "Memory Essence" from humans.

According to the intelligence from the stone tablet, they might have already obtained multiple blood samples from different sources except for the Loch Ness Monster's.

And this mysterious singer in the Paris catacombs had become one of their "hunting dogs" for obtaining the latter.

"So we have two tasks."

Julian's gaze slowly swept across Lin Jie and William's faces. "First, we need to venture deep into that death labyrinth to find that 'Catacomb Nightingale'—my temporary codename for it—and determine its true nature and weaknesses."

"Second," his tone turned icy cold, "we need to find those 'hyenas' following behind it while it feeds, and eliminate as many enemy forces as possible before they complete their harvest."

"As for threats elsewhere in Paris, they're none of our concern—they'll be handled by other teams from the 'Serpent Breaker' task force."

The mission briefing concluded here.