Chapter 48 A Ghost on the Body

Lili's series of abnormal words and actions instantly stunned everyone in the secret room, causing them to stop what they were doing. However, the person involved seemed to feel nothing. She just kept rubbing her eyes, the drowsiness and confusion on her face becoming more and more serious. In this dazed state, Lili finally noticed the unusual atmosphere around her. She wagged her tail and looked at Hao Ren, "Landlord, landlord, what's up?"

Hao Ren immediately jumped back more than two meters. The first words that came to his mind in this situation blurted out, "Who the hell are you!"

Lili continued to wag her tail, "I'm Li..."

Her words stopped halfway, and the husky girl's face showed a mixture of confusion and astonishment. After a moment, she slowly stood up, and like someone who had just woken up from a long dream of thousands of years, she began to look around. The ancient furnishings in the secret room were reflected in her eyes one by one.

After a long time, a large tear silently slid from the corner of her eye, but Lili was completely unaware of all this. The expression on her face was still dazed and confused, as if this tear was controlled by another will hidden deep in her soul, a will that had already died.

"Big Dog?" A few seconds later, Vivian tentatively called Lili, "You...do you remember something?"

"I...no, but I just feel weird, this place is very familiar," Lili woke up. Only then did she feel the coolness on her face. She touched the corner of her eye, somewhat surprised, "Oh, why am I crying?"

Hao Ren stared blankly at Lili, finally feeling for the first time that this dog girl, who was always exceptionally healthy and super energetic, was in an extremely fragile state. Her mind seemed to be trapped in a huge turmoil. Seeing that Lili's steps were a little unsteady, he immediately stepped forward and supported her, carefully letting her sit on the stone bed, "Don't talk first, don't think wildly. Maybe something left in the secret room affected your mind. I'll have the data terminal check you out..."

In fact, at this time, a certain conjecture had already inexplicably emerged in Hao Ren's mind. However, this conjecture was too shocking. If it were applied to Lili, it couldn't be described as a simple collapse of worldview. Therefore, he preferred to believe that this constantly problematic husky had just eaten something bad off the ground.

Just as he was helping Lili to sit down, a gust of cold wind suddenly came from the corner of the secret room, and then a translucent black phantom suddenly appeared in the air. This time, the presence of this figure was exceptionally strong, and Hao Ren saw her immediately.

"You are..." Hao Ren looked in astonishment at this spirit body that appeared out of nowhere, suddenly realizing that this figure suspected of being a ghost had appeared for the third time: the first time was in the library, she ran into a large bookshelf and disappeared; the second time was in the banquet hall, this figure also appeared out of nowhere, and finally disappeared into Lili; and in this secret room, this was her third appearance.

The "ghost" that appeared out of nowhere did not speak, but stood quietly three or four meters in front of Hao Ren and Lili. Her face was blurred and her body was slightly transparent, but it could still be judged that she was a petite woman.

While everyone was surprised, Claude carefully observed the phantom, and finally exclaimed, "Holy Spirit Echo?!"

Hao Ren and Vivian said in unison, "Speak human language!"

"This is...the echo of the First Saint!" Claude quickly explained, "The First Saint was killed by the red moon, and her soul was torn apart, so she could not rest in peace. On the higher floors of the Spirit Realm Clock Tower, you can occasionally see images similar to the First Saint walking around, which are the echoes left by her soul. But the truth of this matter is only known to the Twelve Saints and us attendants—ordinary demon hunters would confuse these images with the ordinary space-time phantoms that can be seen everywhere in the Spirit Realm Clock Tower, only we know that this is the power left by the First Saint."

Hao Ren immediately looked at the phantom in surprise, not expecting that what he had encountered twice before was actually the remnant soul of the First Saint. And what surprised him even more was yet to come: after standing quietly for a while, the phantom suddenly took a step towards this side. Her shape fluctuated like ripples of water, and her blurred face gradually became clear, slowly outlining her eyebrows, outlining her lips, outlining her facial features, outlining Lili's appearance.

Finally, she lunged forward and merged into Lili's body.

"Wow!" Lili exclaimed subconsciously, her tail stiff, "A ghost is possessing me!"

"Shut up, you're being possessed by yourself!" Vivian was intelligent and experienced. If she still couldn't figure out the situation at this time, then her ten thousand years of training would have been wasted. Although she was a little incredulous like everyone else, she still asked, "Big Dog, you...could you be the First Saint?!"

Lili's eyes were straight at this time, "Do you think I look like it?!"

"This isn't a question of whether you look like it or not," Hao Ren said as he stepped forward and grabbed Lili's tail and ears, tossing them around. "This, this, this...I thought I had experienced many battles and seen a lot in the past two years, and that I could remain calm in the face of anything. Why is it that anything that happens to you is still so devastating..."

Lili didn't dodge in time, and after letting Hao Ren grab her tail, she exclaimed, "Hey! Landlord, what are you doing!"

Before she finished speaking, she slapped Hao Ren on the head, causing the rigid shield to emit golden light on the spot.

Hao Ren's head was buzzing from Lili's slap. Fortunately, this place was solid, otherwise the dog girl's shy and angry slap could have sent him into the ground. He embarrassedly withdrew his hand, "Uh, I was just overzealous in my concern, I just wanted to see if you had changed."

At this time, the data terminal had already circled Lili several times. The entire process of the phantom merging with Lili had been recorded by it, and the analysis was now complete, "According to the analysis of this unit, you guessed right: that's not possession, but a return and fusion."

Lili was surrounded by everyone, looking innocent, "So what should I do?"

Discussion, research, observation, analysis.

Those precious ancient scrolls seemed to have suddenly become unimportant, and the attention of Hao Ren's group shifted from those antiques to Lili. Hao Ren used the high-tech data terminal, while Vivian and Izhaks were checking Lili's mental state. Bai Huo and Tu Taan, together with Claude, were searching through the ancient scrolls related to the First Saint for various data and evidence.

After a flurry of activity, things finally became clearer.

"How could Big Dog become the First Saint..." Even though the facts were already in front of her, Vivian still couldn't believe it. She stared at the lively husky, completely unable to associate her with the great leader of the demon hunters, "This is such an over-the-top development..."

Just then, Mimir's voice suddenly sounded in everyone's minds, "If you trust me, perhaps I can help investigate."

So a group of people ran out of the secret room again. Mimir widened his eyes and looked at Lili, his voice also full of surprise, "I didn't expect the First Saint to 'reincarnate'. To be able to do this under the illumination of the red moon is truly amazing."

"How do you plan to investigate?" Hao Ren looked curiously at the guardian giant.

"Check the soul and spirit," Mimir said frankly, "And I have been in the Spirit Realm Clock Tower for thousands of years. My perception is all over the tower, so I am also very familiar with the echoes of the First Saint. With this connection, I should be able to figure out what's going on with this little girl."

Hao Ren suddenly realized: the most powerful force of the guardian giants is their spiritual energy!

The demigod creatures created by the Creation Goddess all have amazing spiritual energy. Leaving aside the Eldest, the spiritual power of the guardian giants is also at a crushing level for mortals. Muru's mumbling in his sleep was enough to create a cult in the Diocese of Beinz. Mimir's power would certainly not be worse.

After thinking for a while and obtaining Lili's consent, Hao Ren nodded, "Okay, I'll leave it to you."

Then he communicated with the data terminal through a mental connection, "You monitor them from the side, and immediately cut off their mental connection if there's a problem."

It's always wise to be cautious—although Hao Ren believed that the "guardian giant" race was respectable, he was still very unfamiliar with Mimir. Moreover, this was a guardian who had lost his memory in the Original Sin of Godblood, so it was even more necessary to be careful. This was not paranoia or conspiracy theory, but necessary vigilance and responsibility.

After arranging everything, Lili stood slightly uneasily in front of Mimir's huge head, relaxing her mind as instructed.

At the same time, countless glittering runes, ancient runic characters, reappeared on the floor near Mimir's head.

"Open your heart..." Mimir's voice echoed in Lili's mind, carrying a reassuring and peaceful power, "Uncover your sealed memories...recall the moment when you first opened your eyes in this body...what you see, I will also see..."

Lili closed her eyes. With complete relaxation, her thoughts sank deeper and deeper, gradually returning to the starting point of her life in this world.

The snow-capped mountains and forests whose name she had forgotten, the nameless cold village...