Chapter 357 Chance Encounter on a Snowy Night <TOC> Chapter 359 First Encounter with Shadow
Translator: SumTLMan
Embodying the scientific spirit of seeking truth from facts is a good thing for doctors. Angel did not plan to discuss this topic further and instead took out a parchment scroll from his pocket.
The scroll depicted an image of a black snake coiled around a long spear.
“Have you ever seen this image before?”
“Never. Is this the emblem of a particular family?” Sherry asked, puzzled.
Angel just smiled and said nothing, putting the scroll away. Then, he looked at Sherry and asked softly, “One last question, Dr. Sherry, have you ever heard of Hippocrates?”
Sherry looked at Angel with curiosity. The more she learned about this stranger who had appeared on this snowy night, the more intrigued she became. The questions he asked were strange and unrelated, and she had no idea what they meant.
Hippocrates… Sherry pondered for a moment, seemingly having heard the term somewhere before but unable to recall it.
Just then, a man wearing a black velvet cloak and uniform suddenly burst in from outside, interrupting the two’s conversation.
Sherry stood up and looked at the newcomer, “Night duty officer?”
“It’s Night Duty Officer Heiman!” The uniformed man nodded, his face filled with anxiety, “Dr. Sherry, please come with me quickly! There’s been an accident at the Tarot Harbor, a patrolling ship has capsized, and many injured people need urgent care!”
Sherry’s expression became serious, and she swiftly packed her medical kit, “I understand! Apart from drowning, are there any other injuries?”
“Yes! Many people are injured! There are also several cases of arterial bleeding, and all nearby doctors have been called!” The night duty officer replied quickly, apologizing to Angel in the process. He thought Angel was a patient, and it was impolite to interrupt someone’s medical consultation, but there was no alternative. Compared to this seemingly healthy young man, the injured at the harbor needed urgent care even more.
Upon hearing this, Sherry immediately picked up a scalpel, sutures, and alcohol.
“Right! Besides these injuries, there are also burn victims!” The night duty officer added.
Even burns? Sherry paused, looking puzzled at the night duty officer, “Could it be a battle?”
The night duty officer waved his hand with a bitter smile, “No, it’s not a battle. The patrol ship just broke in half from the keel and caught fire… It’s strange, I asked the colleagues who were saved, and they said the ship suddenly broke without warning. From afar, it looked like it had been cut open by someone… But who could cut through such a large ship? I guess it’s due to years of disrepair.”
Sherry paid little attention to the cause of the accident and continued to gather the necessary first aid equipment for burn victims. She then quickly organized her medical kit.
“Alright, let’s go!” Sherry said solemnly to the night duty officer. It was only at this point that she suddenly remembered the peculiar visitor in her clinic.
With an apologetic expression, Sherry said, “I’m sorry, sir, as you’ve heard, I have an emergency to attend to…”
The implication in her words was that she was asking him to leave.
Angel took a sip of the warm Wimbleton tea, put on his hat, and smiled, “It’s getting late. I should be going. And, the tea was delicious, thank you for your hospitality.”
After saying this, Angel slowly walked into the heavy snowfall, eventually disappearing into the darkness.
It wasn’t until the strange visitor vanished from sight that Sherry suddenly remembered his last question, “Have you heard of Hippocrates?”
Hippocrates; the name sounded very familiar to her. However, she couldn’t recall it until now. She had once attended a lecture by Professor Caroline, who mentioned Hippocrates as a sacred place. But she had graduated many years ago, and her memory had become fuzzy with time. She only remembered a rough outline, that Hippocrates was somehow related to the “Hippocratic Oath.”
Sherry recalled that Angel had also asked about the “Oath of the Healer.” Were the two connected?
As Sherry was pondering the connection between the two, she was interrupted by the night shift worker, who dragged her towards the Tarot Harbor. Sherry remembered that there were patients waiting for her help, and her wandering thoughts were quickly swept from her mind.
As the night shift worker pulled her along, he exclaimed, “Thank goodness your clinic hasn’t closed yet. Otherwise, by the time I run two hours to the city center medical school for help, the patients would probably be dead. This city is so big; it’s a hassle.”
…
Angel, not hearing Sherry’s answer, felt a slight sense of regret. However, he hadn’t expected a random clinic doctor to know about Hippocrates, so the regret was not too strong.
It was the sudden visit of the night shift worker from the sea port that caught his attention.
The sea port’s patrol boats often wandered near the bay area; he had seen them a few days ago. How could a nearly twenty-meter-long patrol boat’s keel suddenly break due to age and lack of maintenance?
Angel had been on a boat and had watched documentaries about Earth’s shipbuilding, so he knew very well that the keel of such a large vessel would certainly be the most carefully inspected part. Any issues would be discovered immediately. So, it couldn’t be due to lack of maintenance; it must have been an accident.
As for what kind of accident, Angel was unsure. However, he had a guess based on what the night shift worker had said: the patrol boat was broken in half, as if it had been sliced through… The night shift worker thought it was impossible, but Angel felt it might not be so.
The time for the extraordinary gathering was drawing near, and a group of unorthodox practitioners who had power but had not been trained by orthodox wizarding organizations would undoubtedly cause a disaster if they acted recklessly.
Angel speculated that perhaps a wizard apprentice participating in the extraordinary gathering had acted, and it was one of those chaotic madmen.
Within half an hour, a thin layer of snow had accumulated on the ground, resembling a white carpet stretching into the dark depths.
Suddenly, Angel stopped.
Under a street lamp, the weak light illuminated several meters around it. In this faint glow, the snowflakes appeared like dancing catkins in the sky.
Drip, drip, drip —
Ahead, the sound of footsteps approached, accompanied by an immense and eerie magical pressure.
Angel stood under a streetlight, his expression unchanged, simply gazing forward.
The first thing Angel saw was a pair of shiny black boots, followed by dark blue linen trousers, a black patent leather belt, an ocher plaid vest, and a stylish black studded leather jacket.
The stranger wore a wide-brimmed soft hat and seemed to have a cigarette in their mouth, emitting sporadic sparks.
Angel silently observed the newcomer without speaking. However, behind him, the snowy night scene began to blur and shift, and at the same time, eerie music descended from the sky, carrying a bone-chilling frequency.
“Ah, an illusionist, that’s quite rare…” The visitor’s voice was a very pleasant magnetic baritone, yet their words carried a frivolous tone that didn’t match their voice.
As they spoke, the stranger removed the cigarette from their mouth, flicked it gently, and it traced an arc before finally landing on the pale snow. The burning cigarette butt still struggled for its last breath.
“Who are you?” A faint light flickered in Angel’s eyes.
The visitor replied with a chuckle, “I am…”
Suddenly, they retreated several steps, “Sound-based illusion? Almost fell for your trick.”
A hint of surprise flashed in Angel’s eyes. When he spoke, he indeed used the “Euphonious Illusion.”
However, as he secretly built the illusion nodes, attempting to block the visitor’s thoughts, they had already discovered it and evaded the influence of the illusion nodes in a split second.
It was evident that the stranger’s physical and mental reactions had reached an extremely high level.
“Are they bloodline-related?” Angel wondered.
“That’s not very friendly of you. I just came to see who disturbed Kulakuka, and it turned out to be an orthodox wizard apprentice,” the stranger muttered, “Should I make a move? But they’re an orthodox apprentice… The only orthodox around here is Silent Hill, and if they’re from Silent Hill, that would be troublesome…”
“Ah well, I won’t be able to explain it to my mentor.”
The stranger spoke with an “it’s your lucky day” tone, “Alright, I won’t hold it against you. But I should warn you, it’s best not to talk about the Kulakuka matter.”
With that, the stranger slowly turned around and walked into the darkness.
An inexplicable appearance followed by an equally inexplicable departure. Angel frowned but ultimately did not give chase.
“What is Kulakuka?”
Walking on the soft snowy ground, Angel returned home with his questions.
Upon arriving home, he unexpectedly saw Totoro and Dushana looking out from the courtyard. Only when they saw Angel did Dushana breathe a sigh of relief, “Sir, as soon as you left tonight, Totoro refused to sleep and has been keeping watch here.”
Angel looked at Totoro and saw a hint of affection and longing in his eyes.
Angel smiled helplessly, originally thinking that under Dushana’s guidance, Totoro’s “imprint” would fade somewhat, but it had the opposite effect.
“I’m fine, you two should go to sleep.”
After sending the two back to their rooms, Angel’s mind was still occupied by the man who had suddenly appeared earlier… Undoubtedly, he was a wizard’s apprentice, and his strength was not weak.
From his tone, it seemed that he came to cause trouble because of “Kulakuka,” but for some reason, he suddenly gave up. Why?
Most importantly, what exactly is “Kulakuka”?
This puzzling question that perplexed Angel all night found an answer the next day.
…
In the early morning, Dushana was teaching Totoro in the courtyard. She had originally planned to go on an outing to the suburbs today, but her employer had asked her not to leave the house for a few days. Although she did not know why, she did not object.
During the lesson, Dushana saw a small boat approaching from the river in the distance.
A fierce-looking, scarred obese man walked menacingly towards the villa.
Dushana stopped her lecture, with worry appearing in her eyes.
She did not recognize this man, but his demeanor was quite menacing. Could he be here to cause trouble for her employer? Dushana worriedly watched the man.
One moment, Dushana was concerned for her employer. The next moment, she realized that something strange was happening.
The scarred man suddenly screamed in terror, shouting “There’s a ghost!” and scurried backward. But after retreating only a few steps, he changed direction and continued to retreat. In the end, he was actually just running in circles, unable to escape.
Was this man sick? Dushana wondered silently.
Perhaps realizing that he could not escape no matter how hard he tried, the man turned pale with fright, let out a miserable scream, and fainted on the spot.
Chapter 357 Chance Encounter on a Snowy Night <TOC> Chapter 359 First Encounter with Shadow