Chapter 8 Chapter 2 Summer

I lack the impression of summer in this city.When I was still traveling, I forcibly created an impression based on my experience of early summer, but after arriving today, I found that the impression was completely different from what I saw with my own eyes.In vain have my forgings been: for the city remains as it was when the spring sojourned.There was not a spirited person to be seen on the road, the trees and houses were all gray, the sound of cars was dull, and the birds flew slowly, taking a long time to flap their wings. Perhaps this city is like this in all seasons, and time here only means the repetition of a day.For those who have been set in life, life has been stuck at a certain point, and the rest is all repetition and repetition-maybe some accidents can make life move forward: no matter what happens next.I think it's always lucky to be able to realize that your life is not bound by endless repetition.

If it weren't for that notice letter, what I would have done today would be another important thing—that is also an example of repetition and repetition, but there is joy in it.But now I put myself in the middle of a journey, giving up all possibility in that direction.The decisive factor may be out of helplessness, but the other part makes me extremely excited and inexplicably nervous: What will happen in the cabin this time? After that time, I didn’t write a diary again, not because my life was as dull as this city, but because I was too busy on weekdays, and I didn’t have the leisure to organize my thoughts and record them one by one.The autobiography, which was missing a section, sold very well. In the third printing at the end of next month, the print run will exceed one million.As the expected "best-selling autobiographical author" this year, I have been busy with various interviews and book signings all day long. If I leave without saying goodbye this time, the publishing house will probably feel a headache again.

However, what can now be confirmed is that one of the assumptions I mentioned in the previous pages of the diary is just a conspiracy-theory-like fantasy-the sample book I received is exactly the same as the version sold in the bookstore. There is also no bonus section 16. That way, what happened in the cabin couldn't have been the work of some avid reader who got the book early; the teaser letter mentions that Miss America is from Philadelphia, which is beyond the 16th, which has only been read by a few people. Suspects of ultra-feminists in the reading editor's circle can also be ruled out without problem.

Then someone who knew my past very well—or maybe one, or even two of the five suicide women mentioned in verse 16 who are still alive—had carried out or manipulated the plan.I have told bits and pieces of my childhood story to most of the women in my life, and perhaps a little about these few women who committed suicide.The quintet at the end of the fourth verse of my autobiography—it was actually a poem whispered impromptu in my ear by a woman in the distant past who had heard my story. How many years ago was that?That part of the picture is mixed with countless beautiful faces, countless bedroom decorations, and countless combinations of dialogues, and it has become blurred to the point where it is impossible to distinguish.There is only one image of that woman that remains vividly etched in my memory: she shook her head at me with an abstract, faceless expression, and turned away with a sigh, as if to despise me.

Well, stop all these fanciful reminiscences of the distant past—or else my pen will be overwhelmed! Now that I'm starting to write a diary again, why don't I fill in what was left out in the diary last time, about that event. On March 2, the carpenter and I found all 7 pieces of paper, centered on the Gerodius Necronomicon Clock, and according to the law of the arrangement of the stars, the "Ultimate Matrix" set by the mysterious mage was successfully completed. reduction.But even so, the black magic enthusiast couldn't immediately determine what the big magic circle for summoning undead was going to summon from all the text elements in the inner circle and the outer circle.

"Lucifer is just a guide. The interpretation of the big magic circle is very cumbersome, Mr. Writer—I can't tell you the exact information right away. The only thing that can be confirmed now is: the demon god summoned through this large-scale ceremony will never It’s a second-rate character who can handle it easily.” He asked to hand over the spliced ​​"Ultimate Matrix" to him, but I did not agree.But I promised that I would draw a "roughly the same" copy sketch for him on the spot - I used the red marker pen he handed over to draw on the reverse side of a scrapped large carpentry design drawing folded in three that he carried with him I drew 49 double-layered rings, and then filled in all the text elements in the inner and outer rings and the main features of the star according to his requirements for the required information: without spending too much time, I Try to keep it as consistent as possible with the original.After the carpenter compared the two "Ultimate Matrix" and thought that my copy could meet his research requirements, I put away the original manuscript.

At that time, I arbitrarily believed that as long as these first-hand evidences containing a large number of handwritten information and even fingerprints were brought back to the big cities, some useful clues would definitely be investigated.Although it may not be possible to find out the specific prisoner, at least you can get a rough limit; contacting the university professor I know who is also a black magic enthusiast should be more reliable than the carpenter who doesn't know the details.In fact, I still have a glimmer of hope for the idea that "the prisoner may be close by." As long as there is a way to do handwriting analysis and fingerprint identification, the truth may be revealed soon.

Because of the incident that affected my mood, I no longer have the mood to hunt leisurely in my homeland.I only stayed alone in the repaired wooden house for one day, and returned to the village without spending the night. During that day, I didn’t even assemble the shotgun. I just carefully checked every corner of the house again, hoping to find some missing clues : As a result, I found nothing, but exhausted myself. Just in case, before leaving, after carefully confirming that the doors and windows are locked, and the hunting and ventilation holes are blocked, I also took the spare key of the cabin.Probably to prove that these unbelievable things are man-made, rather than relying on any supernatural power, I also lit the remaining two candles, and sealed the bottom seam of the locked door with dripping wax oil .The door of the hut opened outwards, and the accumulation of wax cups was slightly higher than the bottom of the door: so that if someone else opened the door to enter, the paraffin barrier I had erected would certainly be broken.When the wax water had just solidified, I immediately used my pocket knife to carve the following text on the arc-shaped wax mound viewed from above:

Dear wizard, if you mar these words, it is equivalent to breaking the staff in your hand. This was more than mere provocation: I deliberately worked on the font, size, and arrangement so that the entire sentence covered as much of the upper surface of the wax mound as possible, and most of the second half of the sentence passed through the circle. The edge of the arc, and a few scratch marks on the wooden floor - unless someone can use real magic, otherwise, it is impossible to open the door and enter the house while retaining all these deliberately created details ! I was very satisfied with my little ruse, but the subsequent progress in the city was disappointing: there was no way the police would accept this transnational mysterious murder case where the dead were not human; The fingerprint and handwriting examination of the large magic circle that was stitched together did not yield any useful results—except for a bunch of fuzzy fingerprints and fingerprint fragments that were extremely difficult to distinguish, there were no clues that could identify the characteristics of the drawer. , The conclusion of handwriting identification is also a bunch of nonsense.On the other hand, I showed the photocopied Great Magic Circle to a professor of religious folklore, a professor of parapsychology and a professor of European religious history in the university, but I got three completely different Conclusion: The professor of folklore insists that this is not orthodox witchcraft, but that some enthusiasts have made a groundless mix of various close ritual symbols, and it is not a real big magic circle; the professor of parapsychology insists that "the ultimate "Matrix" exists and scoffs at the denials of the folklore professor; the history of religion professor cites the Dominican inquisitor Kr. mer) for the research results of the corresponding relationship between the difference between men and women and ritual magic, and believes that this ritual - regardless of whether it is true and effective - the caster should be a woman.

I am not interested in the debate between the first two professors about the authenticity of the Great Magic Circle, and I only agree with the simple conclusion of the professor of religious history—but when I told him that the spellcaster was probably the dead among the five women who committed suicide, Or after the two surviving survivors, he was unable to come up with further hypotheses.In this direction, I had to find a way to confirm: I called the nursing home in Paris, but they said that there was no Miss France; A supermarket that has been in business for more than twenty years; I managed to contact the cemetery management agency in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and after checking the computer information, it proved that the body of Miss America was not under any of the tombstones; as for Miss Poland and Miss Hungary, I even I don't know where they are buried...

To be honest, I shudder at the wonder of this magic.It's like a secret that only one person knows is being threatened by another unknown person.This is a familiar plot in suspense films, but once you are really in such a weird situation-the trace of a person who does exist in your memory suddenly disappears completely.You're convinced it's a lie, you lack trust in all the earnest guys who tell you the "truth" in good faith, to the point where you wonder if you're insane: knowing it's not a good show on the screen, or a fictional plot in a novel, But it really happened by my side - this is too scary! My intuition told me, too, that it was a woman—but who the hell was that? Ha, no matter how chilling your heart and spine may be to read about the five women who committed suicide, I'm here to reveal it: it's all nonsense, nonsense—if these diaries have One day it will be compiled into a book, so this paragraph is one of the places to test the readers' attentiveness: I clearly mentioned in Section 16 of my autobiography attached to the end of my diary on February 24 that these ladies from all over the world It's just my abstraction of examples, how can I find them in reality? Leaving aside these futile and time-wasting findings from the big cities, I now rather place my hopes on Mr. Carpenter—I wonder if he can discover anything during these four months of studying the sketches. what. Unexpectedly, the car rental shop in the off-season is only open in the afternoon - I wrote this diary while waiting in front of the shop.Suya just got through the phone, but no one answered.I'm not going to dial it again: if nothing else happens, I should be able to reach the village around midnight today.In the big city that may still be in the "far away evil country", the phone in the village can't be dialed at all-if it is not a technological limitation, it is clearly the epitome of ideological barriers: for many years, It has always been like this, as if it has been forgotten by people, it exists stubbornly... I saw the guy from the rental car shop come and answer the door, so I'll leave it at that. Even though I'm not around, I want to say "Happy Birthday" to her. Entrusting the gift to an unreliable post office, I don't know if she will receive it on time. For more than half a year, I have been too focused on my own affairs, and I have alienated her unconsciously. My relationship with her has not been made public for more than ten years.This is the accumulation of mistakes—I, holding the idea of ​​"picking a suitable time to talk about it later", even I know that I am perfunctory for her due status, and use evasion to satisfy my own cowardice. But the unmistakable introspection can't change the reality. At this moment, I just hope that she will not gradually start to feel dissatisfied with the status quo because of loneliness. I called her on the gas station phone and no one answered - I hope she's not mad at me. Pulling over the side of the road with a full tank of gas, I wrote this brief note: next time I see this, beg her forgiveness.Spend as much time with her as you can, and get rid of that thought before it arises. I would never have written a word tonight if I hadn't been determined to record a miracle. It is no longer a phenomenon that can be explained by simple mechanical theories such as mass hysteria or group hallucinations—it completely violates the laws of nature and is absolutely impossible: it does not appear in front of us like a phantom and disappear immediately. Instead, it uses a rock-solid posture to convince us that miracles do exist. "A miracle is an extraordinary event caused by God, whereas a law of nature is a general rule of ordinary events caused by God." John Nigel Hawthorne defended miracles in this way - I can guarantee that he has never seen miracles, because it is really impossible to judge those incredible, supernatural things by the standard of "ordinary". Realistic Scenario: I now think - NO!Now I firmly believe that the only criterion for a miracle is "impossible", just like the scene we saw in the wooden house today: That was an impossible miracle!Of course, this scene may make Catholics feel sorry: it is neither an "act of creation" nor a "shade of the cross", but a veritable miracle from paganism, even from Satan. This is a new teaser letter found in Shekou.Looking up, I can still see this snake: it is a fat viper, with very obvious dark gray diamond-shaped strings on its back, and its scales are earthy brown-it floats on the ceiling, as if it is not affected by gravity. No, make no mistake—it is not a winged, flying serpent, like Aphrodite's chosen mate for the fair Psyche: no wonder then.Remember what was said in the teaser letter - that is also the strange picture I saw in my childhood fantasy - the snake is crawling on the ceiling.But what I described was when I was sinking downwards: at that time, everything in my eyes was turned upside down, and the ceiling was the ground, which still complied with the law of gravity established by God; Crawling: Like those insects whose legs are covered with suckers and barbs, they can walk on the inverted plane by virtue of their innate wonderful rock climbing skills.However, this ability seems to disappear with the disappearance of life: stand on the chair that once belonged to the village chief, and take a closer look—then, you will see the tile-shaped belly scales of the northern adder , they are not attached to the ceiling. A scene immediately flashed in our minds: a polar adder, starting from the corner of the wall near the door, like a timid and agile gecko, first slid up the wall and crawled straight with its head up.When I reached the corner, I just thought about it for a moment, and then crossed over again—now it was hanging upside down in the air, like an animal star in a big circus, performing some kind of acrobatics.Magic, to be precise: for there's no sign of any slings or curtain props being set up here—nor could it fit on its slippery body.Relying on its own special ability and some kind of unknown power, it is attached to the ceiling, and it deliberately twists its body and makes various postures, proudly despising the nature that made the ordinary and no surprises. God of rules. This may be the first time it tried its own divine power, and when it succeeded, it was a little carried away, completely forgetting that a hunter who was jealous of its power was waiting in the dark for a chance to strike; or it was simply a punishment from Jehovah, for this cursed "Mr. Serpent (Note: Serpent, the name for snakes in Western mythology)" cast a spell of subduing——when the North Viper climbed to the middle of the ceiling, the floor of the wooden house suddenly cracked, and the fierce Evil Eros shot seven arrows in a row, and every one of them hit the water chestnut on its back. Then the ground returned to its original state, and no matter how carefully one looked at it with human eyes, there was absolutely no trace of any damage. Poor snake, it died immediately, keeping the contract with the devil and falling into hell.Although the magical power of absorbing and crawling disappeared, those arrows supported its body, allowing it to maintain the posture at the moment of death. That posture is extremely weird!The head is holding the tail, the tip of the tail hangs down, and the slightly thicker part of the tail just hangs on the two fangs on the back of the upper jaw.The arrows are arranged very regularly, one is inserted every three or five water chestnut flowers, and all of them are concentrated in the front half of the snake's body.The front one pierced the snake's neck, pressed the chin obliquely, and firmly clamped the snake's head.The seven arrows reasonably and ingeniously fixed the half of the body on the ceiling into a semicircle shape; Like the heavy lanterns nailed to both ends at a carnival ball, the middle hangs down slightly.From the point of view of the whole snake, it seems that it was tortured to death, and even the corpse suffered unimaginable abuse, humiliation and destruction. The above style of writing is very misleading, making people feel that the scene is too flashy and not rigorous.Devout believers will definitely say: "It's just a false miracle!".Yes, no one has seen the above exaggerated pictures with their own eyes. Everything is derived from the reverse deduction of the results seen, and a lot of unreasonable embellishments are added-please forgive me, this is all to express Due to excitement: I admit, I was a little incoherent when I narrated!Now, then, I would like to restate the facts in clear and simple terms.Calm down the mood, add details, let everyone know how this mysterious wizard once again showed the impossible in front of everyone, how to let me get rid of all the fears about the past, memories and unreasonable speculation, purely about the matter itself Feel fascinated and crazy. I reached the village around 1 o'clock last night.Since it was too late, I spent the night directly in the dormitory—early this morning, I asked the owner of the dormitory to invite a carpenter, and on the grounds of "checking whether the repaired support columns and replaced windows are firm" A mysterious person who gave "greetings from Philadelphia" went to my cabin on the appointed day. On the way, I asked the carpenter about his research results on the Great Magic Circle in the past few months, and he told me: "The specific situation cannot be determined-because the whole set of rituals is incomplete. I learned from "Sepher Raziel HaMalakh" The medieval Judaic magic book written in Mam language, there are many manuscripts circulating in various languages, and the content is difficult to distinguish between true and false. Generally, one of the manuscripts of the Latin version "Liber Razielis Archangeli" is used as the original) to find out the sorcerer The reason for using only items from your hut when performing rituals - that's a specific form of curse. You know, in curse spells, dolls are often used with parts from the body of the person being cast - blood, hair are common , nails; there are also extreme ways of using bone meal, bloody skin, severed limbs and even eyeballs: the so-called 'establishing a connection' - to complete the ritual. According to technical terms, this is called a 'direct connection' by witchcraft researchers. Because the ritual is relatively simple, it is repeatedly used by tens of thousands of people with various hatreds every day—some of them are very effective. Those who use blood as a medium and cooperate with a rare formation can even take people's lives effortlessly. I I heard that there is also a secret technique that can absorb souls with just a single hair, but I have never found a conclusive example." "I can roughly guess what's going on - so what happened in the cabin should be an 'indirect connection'. I heard the word on Sacred-Magick (Note: an occult website); The Merseburger Zauberspruche (a set of Germanic pagan magic books written in the 10th century, compiled in Old High German) also deals with some specific examples of execution: without using a medium directly from the object of the spell, it is possible to Achieve the same curse effect." "This places extremely high demands on the ritual itself." The carpenter nodded, "A single magic circle and a single medium simply won't work: a curse against a certain Valois lord in the 13th century—probably Eleo Nora, or Tristan—anyway, the ritual was performed with the blood of 73 people who had contact with him, but because one of them was not worthy of the name, the wizard was also pushed to the stake. You see , this is also something similar: you are the lord of the wooden house, the time spent here is engraved in your memory, all the things placed here are added by yourself, and you have had contact with them-this is in line with' The basic condition of indirect connection'. However, the medium does not come from beings with spirituality, and the objects are not often touched. Therefore, it must be completed with an unprecedented large magic sequence, with specially selected sacrifices, and a long ritual process... A curse on you: a mortal curse most likely—can you think of anyone who could have such hatred for you?" "There are countless people who hate me—especially women—" I replied pretending to be indifferent, "It's just that, for this grand ceremony, I care more about it: since this wizard is so powerful , knowledgeable and talented, why don’t you just take a piece of my hair to complete a simple ceremony, but spend a lot of time doing these many things: For a master of impossible magic, this should not be considered difficult.” "I have to ask you." The carpenter shrugged, "Maybe it is to achieve a special effect-there is a so-called 'memory sealed place' in ancient Greek magic books. It is said that under certain conditions, The complex 'indirect connection' can make the cursed suffer more pain than the simple 'direct connection': in addition to the curse, there are also concretized hallucinations, and even fall into a magic state that can never be escaped and will never die. The medieval " The book The Sword of Shadow Moses puts it this way: 'the concept of time is taken out of there, leaving only the repetition of pain' - which is far more terrifying than death thing." I didn't let this topic go any further, and then I asked him why the ceremony was incomplete: He took out the sketch of the big magic circle I had drawn, and used the lines connecting the 14 inner circle names and 21 outer circle names The orientation and angle of the patterns formed, as well as some obscure witchcraft semiotic theory to explain.I won't list them in the diary because they are too complex, obscure, and incomplete: this is much more complicated than interpreting the astrological chart in astrology. Yes, the carpenter's explanation of this strange theory did not end until we reached the gate of the log house.I just glanced at the wax mound at the door of the wooden house, and interrupted his endless chatter with a smile: "It's a pity that these wonderful theories can only stay on that piece of paper." I shook my finger at him, "Obviously, no windows were damaged by brown bears this time. The doors and windows were locked, and all possible exits and exits were closed They are all tightly blocked: this is a secret room that even dust cannot get in!", I showed the small mechanism at the door to the carpenter, "This is the seal I put on before I left last time—all the strokes are Made by me, the scratches on the edges are still tight, and even the waxy surface is intact: that trickster wizard, even if he stole the key to the house, can't meet my challenge. This simple little mechanism, This time it worked out a lot.” The foundation planks of the wooden house are joined together one by one, and it is impossible to remove the wax mound without damage unless the house is demolished.And the adhesion of the selected wood and the existing gaps, as well as the connection between the wax and the wood that I added with a knife, at the same time prevent the possibility of peeling off, heating it a little and then putting it back in place—in short, as long as you don’t It is simply impossible to open the door and enter by destroying the wax mound.Moreover, I observed that the paraffin was still clinging to the bottom seam of the door: that is to say, it was impossible to remove the door.It is impossible to disassemble the windows of the wooden house from the outside, and it is even more impossible to remove the roof-as long as one does not enter the house, the wooden house cannot be breached from the outside at all! I proudly took out the only key (I left the spare key at home) and opened the door of the wooden house.The handwriting left on the floor was gradually erased with the opened door. As I stepped into the wooden house, I looked around the house anxiously: The sealed fireplace, the wooden bed covered with a cloth, the stairs leading to the attic, the closed windows, the empty desk, the locker that apparently no one has touched... Nothing, nothing happened. I was about to cheer for my victory when the carpenter who came in pointed to a spot on the floor and said: "Sir, it's blood..." I looked in the direction he was pointing - there was a pool of fresh blood there.To be precise, it can't be regarded as a pool of bloodstains, it should be a collection of a large number of scattered bloodstains: there are conspicuous blood droplets everywhere, like a freeze-frame picture of a planet exploding, with scarlet streaks of different lengths drawn from the edge The blood lines, combined together, are simply a deliberate work of art. We looked up almost at the same time, looking at the ceiling above the bloodstains. The stunned scene I saw has been described in great detail before, so I won't repeat it here.Only a few other details that have not been mentioned or have not been explained in detail are recorded as follows in a simple way with separate entries, as a supplement to this entire diary (due to the limitations of oral discussions on citations, I will be in Necessary places are left blank to cope with possible data verification in the future)——Because of excessive tension and days of fatigue, I can hardly think normally at this moment.I hope that the content recorded above and below will not make me feel confused when I reread it in the future. 1. About the snake connected head to tail; First of all, it must be stated that our discussion today only focuses on the form of "occupation": the reason will be detailed in the second point that follows. The "Ouroboros", in modern times, is a symbol well understood by most people who have no interest in witchcraft: it's all thanks to the popularity of Jungian psychology as popular culture. The following additions were made on July 9, citing Volume 14 of The Complete Works of Jung: Alchemists believed that ouroboros was a dramatic symbol capable of both unifying and assimilating opposites; the reward of this process of self-unification and assimilation was immortality.Because on the one hand, ouroboros is destroying itself, and at the same time, it is giving itself vitality, gestating itself, so that it can gain life.So ouroboros symbolizes a principle that exists through the conflict of opposites, which is the best interpretation of the first element. It is a kind of magic spell in itself, and has gradually developed into a special and uncommon magic circle.According to the carpenter, the format of "Obuncle" is only used as a support for the existence of a new magic circle, and the specific runes may be hidden in the seven arrows submerged in the ceiling-I agree with his speculation, because today's The discovery also fully confirms his previous view that "the ritual is not complete": the facts known so far seem to indicate that he is indeed a trustworthy researcher of black magic and witchcraft.All the conclusions drawn from him have been gradually improved on the premise of the existence of verifiable data.Without solid evidence, he would not draw firm conclusions. Here are his further inferences: As for the form of "occupation", it is considered as a "purification step" in large-scale ceremonies, only from the perspective of witchcraft.Although there is no available information at hand, the general flow of the summoning ceremony planned by the mysterious wizard can still be deduced from the sacrifices used in the two animal sacrifices: In the first stage of the ceremony, I specially chose the leap day that occurs every four years (the carpenter didn’t ask me why I had to go back to the hut every four years on the leap day—he didn’t seem to care too much about my privacy, he just wanted to calculate the stars. Pan and asked about my birthday).Even, it is a very special leap day-according to astrology, the length of the synodic month represented by Gregorian leap day this year happens to be at the lowest point of the tide of my life, that is, the weakest resistance to witchcraft day.Counting backwards from the second millennium to the eighth year, after 2,000 years of intercalation, this is the only best time to cast a curse; the next time I can use this curse ceremony on people who share my birthday must be Wait until 2408! I was shocked by this statement, because I also know some astrolabe calculations and know that what he said is indeed true.It can be proved almost at the same time that everything that wizard did was to inflict horrific and severe punishment on me that is completely unimaginable at present. I don't want to detail my fears in a diary, because I've never wanted to preserve bad memories—I'd rather hypnotize myself, ignore the date-choice part, or use some other form of memory to fix it. modified.Anyway, at this moment, the attention should be shifted to the sacrifice of the ceremony - the huge brown bear. As the original totem of the hometown (The Primitive Totems), the brown bear symbolizes infinite power.Shedding its blood as a sacrifice can accumulate a large amount of spiritual power needed to perform dark witchcraft.The wizard collected the spiritual power of the first stage and stored it in the darkest and abnormal death chamber in the ancient cemetery: because the great magic sequence completed by using the necromancer and the blood of the sacrifice has a strong orientation, Those imprisoned energies desperately want to return to the hut again, so they will emit extremely terrifying obsessions in the tomb, attracting all the energy of the undead in the entire cemetery, allowing the accumulation of spiritual power to reach a terrifying level. But the energies attracted by these two accumulations are not of the same type. The ouroboros-shaped magic circle used in the second stage of the ceremony is to reconcile and purify the two energies. Distilled into a form suitable for use, and incidentally endowed with some new properties. Regarding the monsters to be summoned by the whole set of rituals, combined with the information given by the first stage of the ritual, the carpenter believes that it is still inseparable from Satan - the snake is the most primitive symbol that symbolizes Satan; the ouroboros in pantheism means the world A cycle of self-destruction and self-creation, which also fits the references of Armageddon, separation of terror and bliss, chaos and re-establishment of order.Perhaps it is the eschatological viewpoint that is highlighted in a small area. Under the guidance of Lucifer, the dead are resurrected and the soul is immortal. In a small space of eternal circulation, in the flames, countless "eternal perdition" is staged. The following additions were made on July 14: The enemies of the LORD shall be like the beauty of the pasture.They will be destroyed, they will be destroyed like smoke. Depart from me, you cursed ones, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.Only one who can destroy both body and soul in hell is to be feared. When he said these things, he couldn't hide the emotion in his heart that he was looking forward to the success of the ceremony. Although he didn't consider the bad feelings of the parties, it fit well with his identity as a researcher. As for the third stage that should be carried out on September 4, and the possible fourth and even fifth stage, the carpenter said that he was "not sure": after all, the content of the spell used in this ceremony is still unknown (the reason will be soon. will be explained in point 2)—either on the arrow shaft or arrowhead sunken into the snake body, or embedded in the seven arrow holes in the ceiling.Of course, it is also possible to hide in the body of the North Viper. A more interesting case: no spells found - I've checked both sketchbooks and this time no paper was missing.In other words, if the wizard still composes runes according to his good habits in the first stage, and happens to be not very good at carving wood and metal seals, he will not leave even a trace of handwriting in the second stage strangeness. 2. Regarding the discovery in the attic; What was confirmed next was the content about the establishment of an "indirect connection" in the "Sev Roger El Angel's Magic Book" mentioned earlier.According to the carpenter's suggestion, the seven arrows were not taken down for the time being, and they were allowed to spend another night together with the snake corpse on the ceiling.Wait until tomorrow to invite the crossbow expert in the village to help him determine the weapons used to shoot these arrows before further processing.照木匠的说法，那位使弩箭的好手能够通过箭矢没入材质的角度和深度，以及各种动物尸身展现出的射伤状态给出和猎杀过程相关的大量信息：比如动物在被射中之前是否已经死亡，以及弓箭是否只是用手力直接插入到尸体当中。 这些内容无疑是十分重要的。木匠已经检查过天花板，证实钉住极北蝰的那部分木板并没有被翻转过。实际上这检查根本全无必要：按照木屋的建筑结构，那些木板和我曾设置蜡丘的门前地板类似，都是一块一块嵌合在一起的。如果不拆掉屋顶，就绝对没办法卸载掉；强行破坏的话，用不着他来检查，谁都可以一眼看出痕迹来。 因此，翻转天花板，将活蛇在阁楼钉死，然后将木板还原的可行性，现在就可以完全排除。要破解这个不可能奇迹，就只有证明蛇在箭矢穿身之前就已经死亡这一条路了。 虽然没有取下箭矢，无法得知可能雕刻在箭头上的符文内容。但仅观察箭矢本身，就已经可以得到十分惊人的线索： 那些箭矢全部是用小屋中现成的材料制成的！ 阁楼上的军用三折锹柄被整个取了下来。那位巫术师用伐木斧和八角锤将挪威无毛榆木制的三角形手柄分成了五段，中段直柄则分作两段（两段拼凑起来的长度比原来直柄的长度短了不少，可能是巫师在制作时损耗了一部分）。虽然箭杆的长度普遍稍短，但若是近距离使用，也不会有太大问题。 箭杆的细部处理可能使用了储物柜里的多用途小刀。储物柜里的刀石磨损得相当严重，可见巫师做这些加工工作用了不少的时间。锹柄木经过严格的烘干、整形、雕磨和上漆工序，虽然具备较高的硬度，但要穿透比重较大的松木天花板，就算不是用手力插入，也还是十分困难——因此，额外的金属箭头是必要的。仔细清点过一遍屋中的物资，我发现储物柜中的午餐肉罐头少了三个：这应该就是巫师制造箭头的材料。罐头的外壁是镀锡钢板压制的，处理之后作为弓箭的箭头毫无问题。伐木斧的刃尖残留有少许金属屑，这说明那位巫术师应该是用伐木斧垫在钢皮上，再用锤子将需要的形状敲击下来。他可能是将敲割下来的钢片折成了三层，再用八角锤敲打成需要的形状，最后配合锤击和刀石摩擦造出锐利的箭头——刀石的磨损情况也对应了这个猜想。 在阁楼的地板上发现了不少被金属切割、磨刮和捶打过的痕迹：巫师大概就是在那里制造箭矢的——总共七支手制的短箭，就算是制箭的专业人员，在没有砂轮机和切割器的情况下，也一定需要耗费大量的时间。 露出的箭杆尾端并没有安装专门的箭尾，只是将后端削成了扁平的形状：这或许说明射箭者确实是在很近的地方发射的。根据常识推断——极北蝰被钉死在天花板上，大部分的箭矢都是垂直没入。如果是躺在地上用短弓射击，拉弓的手臂显然很难舒展开，力度也不能令人满意；假使射击者移动了木床，躺在床侧拉弓，蛇血可能会溅到床上——要是再特地遮上一层塑料布的话……虽然可行，但也太过麻烦了。我认为可行的方式唯有用手强行将短箭摁入，做出好像是用弓弩射入的假象。可是，以这位巫师施展不可能魔术的高超水平来看，太容易被人识破的方法应该不会被采用——不过，谁知道呢？或许正是利用了这种理所当然的想法来设置诡计也说不定。 另一种可能是使用十字弩，这样就能得到比短弓高得多的准确度和稳定性。通过工具侧瞄好之后，将弩固定在地板上发射即可。射中蛇身的箭矢位置精确，半圆形排列相当完美——极北蝰的背部覆满光滑的鳞片，如果短箭不具备相当的速度，而是仅凭手力来摁入，又要兼顾位置的准确，大概很难取得我们所看到的那种震撼效果。 另外，留意到木匠和其它猎人所说的、那个素未谋面的弩箭专家是“村子中唯一精通弓弩的人”这项情报，也不能随随便便排除他和巫师合作的可能性。如果猜测属实，那他八成就会提供虚假的信息：将用手摁入的短箭说成是用弓或者十字弩射入，将原本已死的蛇鉴证为活着时被射杀，以让他那个合伙人创造的奇迹变得牢不可破。为了应付这种情况，我打算同时请老猎人和“猎狐犬”来木屋监督——作为老练的猎手，即使不能通过猎物中箭的情况推断射杀的详细过程，总也能大致判断出那条蛇在被钉入时究竟是生是死；更重要的，因为多一些狩猎的行家在场，如果弩箭专家确实是巫师的同谋，他在说话时也必定会比只有我和木匠这两个鉴定动物尸体的外行在场时要谨慎得多。 没错，我确实是“鉴定尸体的外行”，但这并不妨碍我成为一个好猎手——哪怕是只对自己宣布，我也要再重申一遍：我只对会动的猎物感兴趣。 老猎人的两个儿子就在前台打牌。等到日记写完，我就去加入他们的牌局，顺便以闲聊的方式、绘声绘色地向他们讲述今天在木屋中发现的诡异场景——不可能的魔法能够吸引任何人：当他们对这个故事啧啧称奇、迫不及待地想要知道事情的真相时，我便可以无可奈何地耸耸肩，说一句“很抱歉，我也不知道答案”，然后顺理成章地邀请他们的猎人父亲明天去木屋做客。并且允诺他们，明晚他们一定能从父亲的口中得知神奇魔术的真相——我敢以我的作家身份做担保，今天的牌局到那时就会被迫中断了。 在他们离去之前，我会请他们也顺便邀请那位“猎狐犬”朋友。或许是这样说： “我听说，他也对这些古怪的事情抱着极大的兴趣。我很想邀请这位朋友，但却不知道他住在哪间屋子里……因此，请一定代为转告一声，麻烦你们了！” 这是容不得人拒绝的口吻。 3，关于蛇口中的新预告函； 我在第2点中提到这次没有丢失纸张，并作出了箭孔和蛇身里不会藏有用速写本中厚纸书写的符咒的推断——在此处需要再添加一些限定：速写本中的纸张，其实还是丢失了一部分，不过马上就被找到了。 是的，就是之前被撕掉了巴掌大方角的那张纸，这次左下角又少了同样大小的另一个角，但巫师仍旧没将这残缺不全的一页撕下来——我也并不打算将它撕下，这是荒野生存务必遵循的守则：一样东西用完之前，不去动另外的。 和上次一样，纸的另一角被巧妙放置在祭品的口中，上面依旧用储物柜里的炭笔写上了扭曲的字迹，所用也依旧不是当地的语言——即便不是笔迹专家，也可以就此断定：两次的预告函均是由一个人所写。 继费城小姐之后是伦敦情人——全部是第16节中所提到的虚构自杀女人。首句是自传第4节中五行诗的第二句：“爬行在天花板上的蛇”，正好和极北蝰被钉死的位置吻合。 回过头来考虑诗的上一句：“熊被困在小屋里”，又和第一阶段仪式的情况吻合。任何进出口都不足以让那头棕熊进出：它是被困而死的。 那么接下来就是“守在窗前的狐狸”和“贴墙取暖的渡鸦”，最后是我“死在自己的怀里”。五行诗、五个自杀女人，对应小屋中五种祭品设置的方式，以及五张预告函中的内容——这是很自然的联想，根本不可能是巧合！ 但这就奇怪了：因为那五行诗并非引用了哪本古诗选集中的文字，单纯是我回忆当年落水时所产生幻觉的诗化总结。对于那位大师级别的巫术师以及在木屋中举行的、那场令人敬畏的终极召唤仪式而言，和这首未包含任何深刻背景的诗产生联系，几乎就同时意味着丧失和古老神秘巫术之间的关联：一场仪式，无论是巫术还是宗教上的，都应具有其固定的流程和形式，否则便不能受此称呼，也不会有对应的效果。尤其是巫术，它和正统宗教带着狂欢性质的仪式全然不同，无论是诅咒、祛邪还是召唤，必定是针对具体的目的，来选用特定的、严谨且单一的施法过程：比如用十三根松针蘸小指鲜血，在念《影子摩西之剑》中特定咒文的同时将松针点燃，是为了让仇人瞎眼；塔罗魔法中，将宝剑八、金币五、圣杯七、权杖二和命运之轮以任意顺序倒扣在逆五芒星的角上，则是为了准备封印房内受虐待而死的猫的怨灵。施法的目的越高不可攀，对应的仪式要求也越严格：罕见的法器、奇特的咒文、稀有的祭品、千载难遇的时机、极难到达的禁地、特别指定的巫师血统……终极魔法仪式，限于如此繁琐具体的前提，以及不怀好意的天主教破坏者和纯属无聊的空想式文人对巫术正典的篡改、虚增、杜撰和捏造，现在甚至连找到正确无误的施法流程都如大海捞针般困难——成功完成一次传说中的仪式，在数千年巫术史的大部分时间里，根本就是无数法师遥不可及的梦想。 除非与某本从未见过的巫术正典中的咒文内容暗合，我所写的五行诗显然不可能成为巫术师设计仪式的蓝本——但事实却是：某人这样做了。那么，排除掉“除非”中的微小可能，就只剩下另一种唯一的假设：在这场前所未见的终极召唤仪式中，需要依据施法对象曾写过的一首带具象描写的五行诗来安排祭品和场景。虽然我也听闻过不少匪夷所思的施法要求，但依据备受亚瑟·爱德华·维特（注：Arthur Edward Waite，近代最富盛名的恶魔学学者）推崇的那本《阿巴忒尔：远古之魔法（Arbatel：De magia veterum）》中所透露的观点，在此种与撒旦级别的魔神紧密相关的召唤仪式当中，是不应出现如此不负责任、近乎儿戏的组成部分的。 相当的巫术正典中都抱持类似的观点——因此，这又是巫师在仪式理论上为我们设置的不可能陷阱了。 从仪式整体结构上不可动摇的、与数字五之间的关联来看，这场大型仪式将会被拆分为五个阶段——这是相当合理的推论。按照已知三个阶段的执行日期（包括第二张预告函上的9月4日）来看，第四阶段大约会在今年冬季举行；而第五阶段，如果确实存在，并且能够印证五行诗中“死在自己的怀里”这句的话——我无法阻止自己产生这样的想法： 我将会被作为最后的祭品。并且，“死在自己怀里”的场景，蕴含“衔尾蛇结构”的完整立意——无限个我、无穷次的死亡：这该也是那位神秘巫师的委托人，或者就是他本人的用意，即是终极召唤仪式预备向我施加之诅咒所要达成的最终目的。 以下增补于7月16日： SEXTA DIVISIO EST quod alii operantur per immortales creaturas. Alii per mortales Nymphas Satyros，& similes aliorum elementorum incolas Pigm·os，&c. 译：第五类即是，那些对灵物开诚布公、直接相对之魔法师；但也有解读梦与隐晦符号之人，坚信那些远古之灵，必得唯一对应为其占卜及祭祀之物（注：为结合文意，此译有曲解之处）。 以上正式的日记中，我故意略去了勿忘我的部分——我必须谨慎处理这一点，因为那些遗忘的画面来自真实的记忆。但有关真实的记忆究竟如何，我们也无从判定：少数人知道，或者根本没有人——它们只是记忆，不是真实：这倒是能够确信的。记忆和真实之间的连接究竟能有几分相似，此刻已经无从了解。脑中的画面组合太过破碎，好些错乱的颜色掺杂其间：就如往暖色中插入数行冷色，或者在丛林间安置几间楼房。某一种过去无疑是存在过的，但那存在也仅是梦境——画面和声音，少许当时的感觉，曾经在某时某地触碰过的肌肤，以及为她采摘过的花朵…… 在狭小屋子的后院里，窝在没刷过清漆、打磨也嫌粗糙的花梨木户外椅中，眼前一大片蓝色勿忘我，全是五瓣，团在一起像是天空的倒影。其间穿插水红色的郁金香，朵朵都是刚开。阳光很好，呼进肺里的空气带着泥土味。就是在那里：制造错觉的结界、记忆中的乐土、遥远的回忆，褪色的画面是都市的丛林、异地的故乡，心灵可得慰藉之地。我看到一双手：左手扶住的一摞稿纸垫在膝写板上，握笔的右手是另一个人的：是属于女人的、洁白纤细的手。纸上密密麻麻的潦草手稿，笔尖划过无数正在接受删改和审阅的地方——仔细看，是两种不同的字迹。 那么就是两个人坐在那里，在双人木椅上：她的左手搭上我的肩，我的右手抚着她的发际。太阳近在眼前，世界模糊闪亮；眼睛看得见花香，像云雾一样将我们萦绕。 是在哪里呢？费城共济会教堂后的小区，伦敦圣雅各福群会公园入口前成排的荷式洋楼，华沙老城区离鸽子广场不远处的平顶屋……要不就是，第十八区：但那是在巴黎，还是布达佩斯呢？我在这画面中既看不见蒙马特高地，也找不到佩斯彻提莫（注：Pestszentimre，布达佩斯市的一个区）那绿松环绕的群楼——那就都不是，而是在自由意志市。我想不到了：这画面安插在地球的每个角落，在我看来也都合理。重要的是，那正在写着的小说——那是我写的，我的想法和心血，毫无疑问。但那正用心删改着的，那个女人—— Who is she? 面对此刻将要被夺去生命的压迫感，我和我的回忆慌张得像一大群乱飞的蛾子。在似乎无穷无尽的凝固过去中急切搜寻所需信息时的感觉，好像是要倒退着打开回廊里的无数扇门，每扇门之后又有更多的门，以及相似的回廊，有些还上了锁。 记忆是脑中的一台巨大机器，片刻不停地吞噬着周遭的时空。此刻我扳开了回转的闸门，令它将遗忘的往事交还给我。它好似从未这样逆向运行过——我的双耳几乎都能听见时光回溯时的响声，那声音正如一整套未上油的新造齿轮咬合时发出的摩擦声那般尖锐刺耳，像无数把舞动着的镰刀，打算将这台逆转的机器、连同它运行的载体一道切个粉碎。 I gave up. 回忆竟是如此艰难的事情。 我放弃了…… 弩箭专家是个谨慎、又带着些许傲慢的人，他在说话之前都会先考虑片刻，并且不自觉地握紧手中刚刚取下的猎人皮帽——虽然这习惯让他看上去符合“秃了顶的精明矮个子”这样一种典型形象，但却总让我不知不觉地将他当成是巫师的一个马虎同谋，必须时刻注意不要说错了话：我承认我是被从他口中说出的那些有趣讯息弄得疑神疑鬼了——这位为了一场木屋聚会而特意穿上整套并不合身的西服和耀眼的真丝塔夫绸马甲的小个子先生是猎蛇的高手、制弩的专家，甚至还是一个玩填字游戏的奇才：这所有贴在他身上的标签都不能不让我将他当作第二阶段仪式的唯一嫌疑人。 我现在几乎拿不动笔——连日的劳累和失眠、过度紧张以及昨晚的噩梦快要将我整个击垮。但我必须记录，哪怕不能思考，哪怕组织不起像样的语言，用了错误的比喻，字迹潦草到自己都难以读懂，我也得将发生的这些都写下来：文字只有在面临危机的时候才能发挥它真正的作用——避免遗忘，前提需是记录真实。一个人的过去如果对自己失信，绝对是一件相当可怕的事情。 鉴于以上的原因，和昨天在日记中的尝试类似，我将彻底放弃内容过渡的各种技法：连贯式、承接式、转折式……全部都不如一个数字编号来得更醒目和具说服力。 1，关于天花板上那条极北蝰的验尸报告； “弩箭专家”这个代称显然不足以用来准确概括那位博学多才的矮个子先生——那么，在此篇以及今后可能的日记中，我将改称他为“万事通先生”：这了不起的称呼当然和他的实力相配，我甚至可以在此断言，如果他定居到大城市，一定能够在大学里谋得不止一个的教授位置。 看看，虽然我、老猎人和猎狐犬三人都能一眼分辨出它是极北蝰，万事通先生却向我们指出——这种蛇根本很少出现在这一地带。仪式执行者大概只是看重了它是唯一能够在北极圈边缘生存的蛇种，却并不了解极北蝰的生活习性：此种毒性并不强的中小型毒蛇，因为身上显眼的菱形花纹，日耳曼人又称呼它为“十字水獭（注：Kreuzotter）”——外观特征只能解释这俗名的前半部分，“水獭”意指极北蝰热衷于在亚寒带针叶林带的上端边缘处，那些拥有沼泽、潮湿洼地和高山溪流的区域居住，而这样的区域是不能通过建造木屋的风险评估的。 换句话说，除非它是真受了魔法的蛊惑，否则不可能来到这个小屋。 接下来证明它即使是受了某种召唤，独自从适合的栖息地爬行过来也不可能：且不提蛇行的缓慢速度和附近唯一的沼泽区离木屋有多么遥远这两点——现场四位擅长各类理论及实践追踪术的猎人在一番花费不少时间的严格考察之后，一致认为近几日内绝对没有蛇类动物曾在木屋周围爬行过：更要命的是，万事通先生在墙壁和天花板上找到了蛇行留下的痕迹——那是蛇在选用履带式运动方式时，被松木表面粗糙的部分刮下来的少许腹鳞。但就是这同样的东西，在木屋的地板上却完全没有找到。 这是在不借助显微工具的情况下极难分辨的痕迹，经由万事通先生的指点，我们却都能在仅使用火柴和盐末的秘法处理之后，看到这些闪闪发光的行迹——从房门无窗的那侧、离地面将近一米的位置出发，向简易壁炉所在的方向爬行，拐过墙角、绕过烟囱后斜向上，在天花板上爬到遭受钉刑的位置，被处死在那儿，痕迹也同时终止。 一个令人感到奇怪的地方是——凡是在墙壁拐角的位置，检验到的痕迹都特别密集，就好像极北蝰在那个位置爬行得极为艰难一般。万事通先生表示，蛇确确实实曾在墙壁上爬行过，即使轨迹和在地面上稍有不同：它似乎比在地面上时要更加用力，身体的扭动更为频繁，但这反重力的奇迹是能够证实存在的。 或许是不习惯恶魔赠予的新运动方式，就像是不理解为什么会突然由一个地方瞬移到木屋的墙壁上一样——木匠认为这条极北蝰被通过某种方式和木屋建立了连接：这可能与第一阶段仪式中用到的某样法器有关。我对这并没有指明出处的推断半信半疑——不过，他却用事实说服了我，让我相信“瞬移术说”至少是这次诡异的反重力爬行的可能性之一。 他举出的证据是第一阶段到第二阶段仪式之间，巫师通过特定步骤聚集起来的、大到近乎恐怖的能量（详见昨天的日记）。按照古希腊魔法的经典理论，世间一切均是灵力和能量的体现：这也是召唤魔法的理论根基。召唤的魔神，可以是具象化的，甚至是对物质世界有强大破坏力的灵体——巫术史上，受召唤的魔物破坏村落的实例，在各类资料之中数不胜数。瞬移术作为召唤魔法的一个发展方向，通过和物质世界中拥有实体之物以仪式及特殊咒语连接的方式，增加一次实体到能量之间的转换过程，便能达到随心所欲改变实在之物位置的奇妙效果。 为了论证这项主张，他发展了数月前的一个论断：第一阶段中出现在地板上的“U”字连接，并非仅代表“终极”那么简单——它实际上是能量聚集的一种方式。这个如喇叭般的形状将能量的连接投影到了其正对的墙壁上，也即极北蝰在第二阶段仪式中被传送到的位置！ 他在说这些推断的时候故意没有引经据典，甚至额外添加了多次“作家先生，如您昨天对我说的”——我当然清楚，这是他在其他村民面前极力掩饰自己作为黑魔法研究者的方式：虽然有些过于刻意。 万事通先生在讨论的顺利进行上倒帮了很大的忙——他毫不掩饰自己也是个神秘学爱好者。对于“瞬移术说”，他提出了一种听上去极具说服力的理论： 首先明确瞬移连接的概念，法师们绝不会试着在瞬间移动整体，而是向时间妥协，以创造“次元镜子”的方式节省聚集到的能量。依据常识性的科学理论：如果单纯将实体的原子打散，需要高达十亿摄氏度的高温，如此的过程会让实物彻底毁灭，重组根本就毫无可能；对“次元镜”施行的科学解释是再造，即通过对自然元素的控制复制出实体，并将原来的实体转换为再造时的信息，通过契约魔神的力量将这些信息自另一次元运送到仪式指定的位置（实体并不能通过另一次元，此处所指的“信息”也可看作“灵体”：这样就符合召唤术的理论基础了）——如此一来，原始实物的质量越小，施行瞬移术所需的能量就越少。神奇的万事通先生，他更通过质能方程估算了所需能量的具体数值：两公斤重的极北蝰，通过“次元镜”完成瞬移再造所需的能量，根据现代科学的成就来换算，大约需要一座核电站全力运转三年的时间；若是使用神秘学中的能量，只要所选择的仪式“效率足够高（这是他的原话）”，用“一般的方式”聚灵一个季度即可。 而这正是第一阶段和第二阶段之间相隔的时间。 但这终归只是猜想，随之而来的疑问则是：如果那些由好不容易得来的棕熊祭品积聚起来的能量都用在针对极北蝰的瞬移术上，整个终极召唤仪式所需的能量又从哪里而来呢？况且，如果如此强调瞬移术，那第一阶段中的棕熊同样不可能进入木屋，如果还是使用“次元镜子”，那此处所需的能量，不是需要以鲸鱼或者恐龙作为祭品了么？巫师这样做的用意何在呢？ 万事通先生也无法解释棕熊进入的问题，对于巫师的目的，他却给出了一个有趣的参考：有一类大型仪式是必须使用召唤之物作为祭品的，从实体到灵体再还原为实体的过程，意味着“完全的净化”，这和衔尾蛇所表达的一种主要含义相符。对于能量消耗的问题，万事通先生觉得能量并非消耗掉了，而是在重塑形体之时被部分添加到了自“次元镜”运送过来的灵体当中——他举了《天下奇书（The Miracle Book）》中关于创造双头生物魔法的例子，据传13世纪有术士用其中的咒文成功再造了九头蛇许德拉，而原体仅是一只壁虎：换言之，如果咒术得当，这不但不是无谓的消耗，反而是增强能量的特殊方式。 我可从未听说过除圣经之外的《天下奇书》——在留意了墙壁和天花板上两处痕迹密集之处后，我向在场众人提出了一个无神论式的假设： 反重力魔术的实现，无非是使用钢丝组合、隐藏的支撑架和磁场这三样道具。万事通先生的验尸结果显示，那条极北蝰，除了尾端有少许被硬物夹持过的痕迹之外（或许是巫师在摆放衔尾蛇造型时留下的），完全没有被人碰过。经过众人的检查，木屋内也完全找不到固定过钢丝或者支撑架的钉孔及嵌扣夹痕，壁炉烟囱上没有刮伤——如果要使用前两样道具完成所见的移动痕迹，除非烟囱被拆开一条缝，否则极难做到：但事实是，烟囱和壁炉并没有人动过——我利用急救箱中细蒙脱石粉极强的吸附力，尝试着按照《猎人百科全书（注：The Hunter's Encyclopedia，一本战后出版的、厚达1152页的狩猎指导书，内容涵盖狩猎的各个方面）》中教导的实用追踪术检测了一次烟囱周围的痕迹。得出的结论是，烟囱有几个月没被人动过，没有指纹，也没被人擦拭过：这就将应用钢丝和支撑架的可能性逼入了死胡同。 但使用磁场就可行，只要有人在屋外控制磁铁，就可以让极北蝰在墙壁和天花板上运动了。至于磁铁，可以让蛇吞下去。 这个说法很快就被否定了：万事通先生在检查过弩箭插入的状态之后，便将蛇尸从天花板上取下，在屋外沿着腹部中线剖开。大致量过身长后（顺带一提，这条雌极北蝰的体长超过了70厘米，已经算是此类型中值得惊叹的尺寸了），蛇头被他单另用小斧剁了下来——测过蛇血无毒，证明蛇毒没有扩散，他说他打算用毒囊给新制的箭头淬毒：极北蝰的毒性不强，正适合打猎时使用。 他一边用小刀解剖蛇体，一边向我们耐心解说心脏和气管肺的位置，退化的左肺和发达右肺的必要性，以及蛇肝的作用。在拉掉胆囊和脾脏之后，他剥下胃和食道外层的白色隔膜，将这一部分也剖开了。 万事通先生的意见很明确，我们也能够从翻开的胃和食道壁看出：除了弩箭造成的损伤外，满是粘液和污血的内壁并没有刮伤。胃中有一只没有消化完的花园睡鼠（注：Gartenschl·fer）——这是极北蝰小姐的最后一餐。 “连尾大约三十厘米，在野生成鼠中算是体型较大的。”，这位先生拎起那只黏糊糊的恶心东西，“文献记载的生活区域，最北端到芬兰南部。经度线过芬兰海向东就不再适合其生存了——芬兰海一带同时也是极北蝰喜爱的栖居地。鼠类如果越线生存，除了数