238 I am Ashamed (1/2)

In the silence of the dark room, silver light converged out of thin air. The shining silver light soon formed an old man’s face. Wrinkles covered the face that was pale and bloodless as if it had not seen the sun in years. And yet, his eyes were like the vast sea. They were awe-inspiring by themselves.

”Doctor Norton, I am Bayer, in charge of Avalon.”

”Emergency line?” Norton recognized the signal and furrowed his brows. ”Has sign of Leviathan awakening appeared again?”

”No, there’s something else.” Bayer sighed and stammered out, ”A few days ago, I submitted something related to the Voynich Manuscript’s interpretation. Do you still remember?”

”Of course! The Revelation musicians of Trinity College went crazy arguing over what you submitted. If not for Hermes’s vouch, they’d still be arguing now. What’s wrong? Is it fake?”

Seeing Norton’s seriousness, Bayer’s expression instantly grew troubled. ”It’s not fake but…alright, Ingmar’s research results may possibly be plagiarized.”

There was a long silence.

After a long while, Norton sucked in a cold breath and massaged his temples. ”If that’s the case, then it’s a big problem. F*ck, we’ve already requested to ring the Philosopher’s Bell. Who filed the case?”

”Professor Abraham Wilson from the Royal Academy of Music.”

”Abraham?” Norton thought for a bit and shook his head in doubt. ”I’ve never heard of a Revelations musician skilled in deciphering ancient texts. Am I mistaken?”

”Uh, actually…he’s a musician from the School of Abstinence. His status is sensitive.”

”Is he reliable?”

”That’s the problem.” Bayer sighed. ”I already had Nibelungenlied check the identity of the student who had come to report it. Guess what happened?”

Norton furrowed his brows. ”Just f*cking say it! Stop being dramatic.”

”Oh, okay.” Bayer shrugged. ”He doesn’t have household registration or a place of birth. He doesn’t exist in Anglo. Even though he has white hair, there is no report of Eastern Dragon bloodline entering Anglo within the past two years. Isn’t it strange? This youth seemed to have jumped out of a rock. In the end, I used the Church’s archive to find his identity…”

Norton froze. ”He’s a member of the Church?”

”Not exactly. He’s not part of the clergy but his background is scarily interesting. I could not even dream it up.”

”How interesting? Is he the b*stard child of some archbishop?”

”From his status, it’s pretty much like that.” Bayer scratched his head. ”His godfather is Bann Randle, commander of the Knights Templar. He is the manager of Heaven’s Door and the swordsman personally appointed by the pope. I can’t say anything if you still find this kid untrustworthy—if you don’t fear the Fourth Corps coming to your home with swords tonight.”

Another long, long silence.

Norton also lit his pipe and inhaled sharply. After blowing out a long breath, he said, ”Okay, no matter if the plagiarism is real or not, I’m just happy that we haven’t rang the Philosopher’s Bell yet.”

”So this passed?”

”It passed.” Norton sighed. Frustration was written in his features. He had lived long enough and seen enough to become so pessimistic. How many more arguments would happen over the Philosopher’s Bell that had not been rang in close to a century?

-

The tension was almost tangible in the large conference room in the afternoon. None of the professors present spoke. In the stiff atmosphere, they looked at Abraham in the corner. Abraham sat in his seat as always, staring at his steel hand without a word. He had no presence as if he was insignificant. But today, the eyes looking at him were filled with troubled pity.

News of Ye Qingxuan going to the Musician’s Union had spread in the morning. The school board had grown furious because this action had jumped past their zone of control and furthered the doubt of their ability to solve matters.

This would be a scandal to the academy if news spread, no matter what the result was. Before this meeting, Abraham’s duties had been halted, and the disbandment of the history department had gone into consideration.

Everyone understood that this time, the school board was really going to act. In an instant, the rising history department of yesterday was now on the verge of collapse.

”I’m sure everyone has already heard of what I will speak about today,” Ingmar said coldly at the front. ”These past days, I’ve been thinking of the big picture and hoping for a compromise. I’ve taken many steps back and was even willing to hand out the position of a second author to solve this mess. But I can’t believe others saw this and thought I was weak! I never thought that they would blow things up to this level for their unspeakable goal!” His voice was like nails smashing into stone with each word, creating cold echoes.