Chapter 84 Chapter 82

"Fleet Street?" Langdon asked, looking at Teabing from the back of the car.Fleet Street hides a catacomb?So far, Sir Ray has still played his game, saying nothing about where the "Knight's Tomb" will be found.Yet, according to the poem, this "knight's tomb" must be found in order to find the code and thus solve the mystery of the smaller cryptex. Teabing opened his mouth and smiled, then turned to Sophie and said, "Miss Neveu, how about letting this brilliant Harvard student read that poem again?" Sophie rummaged in her pocket for a while, then took out the black cryptex wrapped in parchment.It was unanimously decided to put the rosewood box and the larger cryptex aside in the safe of the plane, and take only the much-needed, lighter, more mind-boggling black cryptex.Sophie spread out the parchment and handed the note to Langdon.

Although Langdon had read the poem several times on the plane, he still couldn't figure out the exact location of the grave.This time he was reading the lines again, slowly and carefully, hoping to find a clearer meaning in the iambic pentameter—now that they had come from the sky to the solid earth. The poem reads like this: A knight whose funeral the Pope presided over was buried in London. His actions offended God because they were contrary to His will. The orb you're looking for should have been in the knight's tomb. It reveals the secret of rosy skin and fertile womb. The language of the poem seems to be concise and clear, saying that there is a knight buried in London, and the knight probably did something to anger the Catholic Church.A orb that should have been in his grave was missing.The poem closes with a reference to "rosy skin and a conceived womb", apparently referring to Mary Magdalene, the "rose" who conceived Jesus Christ.

Despite the simplicity of the poem, Langdon still had no idea who the knight was or where he was buried.And once the grave was located, they seemed to have to look for something that was missing.The orb that was supposed to be in the grave? "Any thoughts?" Teabing said, smacking his lips.He seemed disappointed, though Langdon felt that the Royal Society historian was delighted that he had an idea.Teabing turned to ask, "Miss Neveu, what about you?" She shook her head. "Then what would you two do without me?" Teabing jokingly said, "Very well, I'll play with you all the way to the end. Actually, it's very simple, the first sentence is the key. Read it What do you think?"

Langdon read aloud: "A knight was buried in London for whom the Pope officiated." "Very well, a knight whose funeral the Pope presides over." He stared at Langdon. "What do you think this means?" Langdon shrugged: "Is this knight buried by the Pope? Or was his funeral presided over by the Pope?" Teabing laughed loudly: "Ha, it's really interesting. Robert, you are always an optimist. You can read the next sentence. This knight has obviously done something that offended the authority of the church. Think again, think about it The relationship between the Church and the Templars. You'll see what it means."

"Could it be that the knight was executed by the pope?" Sophie asked. Teabing smiled and patted her on the knee. "Honey, you're awesome. A knight buried alive by the Pope, or a knight killed by the Pope." Langdon was suddenly reminded of the infamous siege of the Templars in 1307—on that ominous thirteenth day, Black Friday, when Pope Clement killed and buried alive hundreds of thousands of Templars. Knights Templar. "However, there must be countless graves of knights killed by the Pope. "Oh, no, no." Teabing said hastily, "Most of them were tied to the stake and burned to death, and then thrown into the Tiber River without any ceremony. However, this poem refers to a A tomb, a tomb in London, but in London, very few knights are burned." He paused, staring at Langdon, motionless, as if waiting for the dawn.He finally got angry: "Robert, for God's sake, it's in the church built in London by the troops of the Priory of Sion - the Templars themselves!"

"You mean the Temple Church?" Langdon was taken aback and couldn't help but gasped. "It has a tomb there?" "Of course, there, you will see the ten most shocking tombs." In fact, Langdon had never been to the Temple Church, although he had referred to it countless times in the process of researching the Priory of Sion.The Temple Church was once the center of activity for all the Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion in honor of Solomon's Holy Temple.The title of the Knights Templar was bestowed by this church.In addition, the "Holy Grail Documents" also made them have a huge influence in Rome.Tales abound of mysterious and bizarre ceremonies performed by knights in the Templar Church's distinctive chapel. "The Temple Church is in Fleet Street?"

"Actually, it's not far from Fleet Street on the inner passage of the Temple Church." Teabing said playfully, "I didn't intend to tell you that I wanted you to sweat more and spend more money. Brain." "It's time to worry about it." "Neither of you have been there?" Langdon and Sophie both shook their heads. "I don't find it surprising that the church is now hidden behind a much larger building. Few people even know it's there. It's an eerie place. The church has pagan architecture, inside and out. color." Sophie asked in surprise: "Pagan architecture?"

"It's definitely a pagan architectural style!" Teabing exclaimed, "The shape of the church is circular. In order to pay respect to the sun, the Templars abandoned the traditional Christian cross-shaped architectural layout and model, and built this church." A completely circular church." His eyebrows twitched violently. "It strikes a sensitive nerve among the monks of the Holy See. It may be no different from their pagan revival of Stonehenge in downtown London." Sophie glanced at Teabing. "What about the rest of the poem?" The royal historian's glee faded. "I don't know for sure. It's embarrassing. We'll have to go through the ten graves carefully. If we're lucky, we may find the one we know right away that doesn't have a ball."

Langdon realized how close they were now to their goal.If the missing orb would reveal the code they were looking for, they could open the second cryptex.He struggled a lot, imagining what they would find inside. Langdon began to read the poem again.It's somewhat similar to the original crossword puzzle game.A five-letter word that could unlock the secret of the Holy Grail?On the plane, they've tried all the obvious five-letter words like GRAIL, GRAAL, GREAL, VENUS, MARIA, JESUS, SARAH, and so on.These words are too obvious, obviously there are other Some five-letter words associated with the womb of this holy "rose".Even an expert like Ray Teabing couldn't find it right away, which meant to Langdon that it was anything but an ordinary word.

"Sir Ray!" Remy called back.He was watching them from the rearview mirror of the car through the open compartment. "You mean Fleet Street is near Blackfryer Bridge?" "Yes, through the Victoria Embankment." "Sorry, I don't know where it is. We usually only go to the hospital." Teabing rolled his eyes at Langdon and Sophie. "Damn, sometimes I really feel like I'm taking care of a baby. Wait a minute. Help yourself to a drink and a snack." He stood up, Clumsily crawled into the open compartment to talk to Remy. Sophie turned to Langdon and said softly, "Robert, no one knows we're in England right now."

Langdon knew she was telling the truth.The police in Kent would have told Fache that there was nothing in the plane, so Fache would have thought they hadn't left France.We are in the dark now.However, Sir Ray's tricks wasted a lot of their time. "Fache will never give up easily," Sophie said, "He is determined this time, and he will not give up until he wants to catch us." Langdon had been reluctant to think about Fache.Although Sophie had promised him that when the matter was over, she would do her utmost to take all remedies to exonerate him.However, he began to worry that it would be useless to do so.Fache might easily be a part of this conspiracy.Although Langdon couldn't imagine that the police department would be in a mess over the Holy Grail, he still felt that there were too many coincidences tonight.Therefore, he couldn't help but see Fache as a hidden accomplice.Fache is a religious man, but he deliberately planted a series of murder charges on my head.Also, as Sophie had said, Fache might have been a bit overzealous about the hunt.But no matter what, there is too much evidence against Langdon at the moment. Apart from his name written crookedly on the floor of the Louvre and in Saunière's diary, Langdon seems to have thrown another Tell a big lie and get away with it.It was Sophie who was reminding him. "Robert, I'm sorry for involving you and getting you so deep," Sophie said, putting her hands on his knee. "I'm really happy to have you by my side." Her words were by no means exaggerated, but purely heartfelt, yet Langdon still felt a sudden and unexpected intimacy.He gave her a tired smile: "When I sleep, you will find me more interesting." Sophie was silent for a few seconds: "My grandfather told me to trust you, and I'm glad I listened to him at least once." "But your grandfather doesn't even know me." "Even so, I think you did everything he wanted you to do. You helped me find the keystone, told me about the origin of the Holy Grail, and told me about the 'divine marriage' ceremony in the basement." She paused for a moment: "Anyway, I feel closer to my grandfather tonight than ever before. I think he will be very happy." Through the early morning drizzle, London in the distance began to be faintly visible.In the past, the most eye-catching things in London were Big Ben and Tower Bridge, but now they are replaced by the eye-catching "Millennium Eye". It is a huge and avant-garde Ferris wheel, 500 feet high, forming Another breathtaking view of the city.Langdon had wanted to climb up to sit there, but these pods reminded him of sealed meat cans, so he finally chose to stay on the ground, admiring the infinite scenery on both sides of the steamy embankment of the Thames. Langdon suddenly felt someone pinch his knee and drag him back.When he turned his head, Sophie's green eyes were staring at him.Only then did he realize that Sophie had been talking to him non-stop. "If we find the Holy Grail Document, what do you think we should do with it?" she said softly. "It doesn't matter what I think. Your grandfather gave you the cryptex, and you'll take care of it. Because your gut tells you that your grandfather will let you do it." "I'm asking for your opinion. You've apparently written something in the manuscript to convince my grandfather of your judgment, and that's why he's planning to meet you in private. It's not easy." "Maybe he's trying to tell me you got it all wrong." "If he doesn't appreciate your point of view, why did he send me to you? Do you agree in your manuscript that the Grail Documents be made public, or are you hiding them?" "I didn't say anything. I talked about the symbolism of the holy woman in my manuscript, and I reviewed the entire history of its worship. Of course, I can't say arbitrarily that I know where the Holy Grail is hidden and whether it should be hidden. announced to the world." "But you're writing a book about it, so you obviously feel you should share material about it." "Discussing another history of Jesus Christ out of thin air and—" He paused. "Following what?" "There's a big difference between publishing thousands of ancient documents and using them as scientific evidence that the New Testament is false." "But you told me that the New Testament was invented." Langdon smiled: "Sophie, if you ask me to say that all religious beliefs in the world are based on fiction. This is my definition of religious belief - believing in what we imagine is true, blindly following what we cannot prove Both the ancient Egyptians and contemporary religions used metaphors, allegories, and exaggerations to describe their gods or gods. Metaphors are such a way that they can help us process things that we cannot otherwise process. The problem arises when we start to fully believe in the metaphors we make up for ourselves." "So you're in favor of keeping the Grail Documents forever hidden?" "I am a historian, and I am opposed to anyone damaging these documents, and I would love to see scholars of religion have more historical materials to explore the extraordinary life of Jesus Christ." "You have objected to both sides of my question." "Really? The Bible sets a fundamental guidepost for thousands of people living on this planet. The Koran, the Jewish Law, and the Pali Canon also use exactly the same way, has pointed the way for many people of other religions. If you and I could find some material that contradicted the legends of Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and paganism, would we do that? We would wave our flags, Say to those Buddhists, can we prove that Lord Buddha was not born from a lotus? Or tell those Christians that Jesus was not really conceived from a virgin womb? Those who really understand their beliefs usually also know These stories and legends are metaphorical." Sophie was dubious: "My devout Christian friends believe that Christ can really walk on water, can turn water into real wine, and believe that he was really born of a virgin." "It totally validates my point," Langdon said. "Religious metaphors become part of the fictionalization of reality. And in reality, it helps everyone calm down and improve themselves." "However, the reality they are facing is a false reality." Langdon chuckled: "However, no matter how false it is, it is still more real than an expert cryptographer who believes in the imaginary number 'i' Some?! Because she believed it would help her break the code." Sophie frowned: "It's not fair for you to say that." The two were silent for a while. "What question did you ask just now?" Langdon asked suddenly. "I do not remember." Langdon laughed: "You're really good."