Through astrology, the count fixed the day of sacrifice after three days.

After the final sacrifice, Pluto will complete the final ceremony, become a demigod and obtain eternal life.

The excited Pluto was the first to leave the count\'s room. He wanted to make some preparations for the sacrifice. The lioness and the three headed dog also left one after another. Only Kunta was left in the room.

The count was still playing the harp. He liked Kunta\'s anxious but helpless look.

After playing six songs in a row, the count squatted in front of Kunta, patted Kunta\'s head and said, "tell me, why do you want to save him? He almost killed you when he saw you for the first time!"

"I, I didn\'t want to save him," Kunta shrunk his neck and smiled carefully. "I just think he has some use for you."

Quinta lied, but the count did not intend to punish him or even expose him.

"You\'re right. He\'s really useful. I\'ll give you a chance to save him," the count took the stone statue of Poseidon and handed it to Kunta. "In three days, I want to hear the answer. If you can\'t do it, you can imagine his end."

Kunta took the stone statue of Poseidon and ran back to his room quickly. He took out all the books related to ancient languages and compared the words on the stone statue one by one.

"Why Poseidon? Why not Zeus? At least I can recognize most of the words of the statue of Zeus."

Kunta turned the book faster and faster. From anxiety to anger, his thinking became more and more chaotic.

"I can\'t do that?" Kunta suddenly threw the book on the ground. "Two days, only two days... I\'ll die!"

Two days later, Kunta took Poseidon\'s stone statue and walked slowly to the third floor of the castle and to the count\'s room.

The lioness standing in the corridor suddenly grabbed Kunta. Her eyes were opposite. Kunta heard the voice of the lioness.

Voice transmission, the first-order spell of Sphinx, she is transmitting her heart to Kunta with her eyes.

"Whatever you find, don\'t tell the count that he is testing you."

The count knew very well that two days was not enough to discover the mystery of the stone statue. If Kunta gave the answer, it proved that he had already begun to study the stone statue and that he had hidden something from the count.

Kunta was silent. He took the stone statue and went into the count\'s room. As soon as he opened the door, he found that the count was already standing at the door.

"It seems that you have prepared the answer." the count looked at Kunta and the Sphinx not far away. The Sphinx subconsciously avoided the count\'s eyes.

Kunta was not afraid. He didn\'t sleep for two days. His spirit was in a trance.

"Sir, I can\'t do it." he held the stone statue in both hands and raised it before the count.

Confirming that Kunta was not lying, a smile appeared on the count\'s face.

"So you gave up?"

"I beg you to let the boy live," Kunta bowed her head. "He can be used for you. Please believe me!"

The lioness held her breath and Kunta bit her teeth. They are waiting for the count\'s decision.

"I believe you," the verdict came faster than expected. The count put away the statue, walked out of the door and touched Kunta\'s head, "let\'s see if the little guy is still alive."

When he came to the underground study, worm was sitting in a daze at the door.

He was tired, like a surgeon who had just completed a major operation.

He had no sweat, but there were several cracks on his face. Part of his skin had fallen off, revealing a translucent new skin.

"Is he still alive?" asked the count.

"Alive," worm nodded, "but not for long."

"Does he really not read?"

"I don\'t know. I don\'t even know the letters, but now it\'s different. He learned all the words, memorized the whole volume of the divine manual and the ode, and recited 40 volumes of the war chronicle."

"You are so cruel," sighed the count.

Worm raised his head hard. "I\'m just following your orders."

The count pushed the door into the study and saw Manda sitting at the desk, still reading.

His eyelids were forcibly torn open by silk thread. His protruding eyeballs were bright red. He could not see the pupil or white eye. Blood slipped down the corners of his eyes and fell on the book drop by drop.

The count asked worm to break the silk thread on Manda. Manda fell to the ground and fainted in an instant.

"Give him some water, let him sleep well for a few days, and pray to Typhon for him to wake up." the count turned and left the study.

……

Manda lay in bed with blood dripping from his closed eyes. He had been lying all day and night. If he was lucky, he would wake up in a few days. If he was unfortunate, he might lie like this all his life.

Kunta took the kettle and poured water into Manda\'s mouth bit by bit.

Indeed, everyone went to the temple, and Kunta finally had the courage to say a few words to Manda.

"Let me call you, suffering prophet, please look here, great creator and guardian, please allow me to recite your name, Prometheus, please pass your endless fire to this poor young man..."

Wiping off the blood beads from Manda\'s eyes, Kunta sighed: "do you hear me? I\'m praying for you, praying to my most respected God, praying that you can wake up, praying that you can live like a normal person.

Will not become deaf and blind, will not become savages, will not become living dead people who only eat and sleep. "

Kunta sighed again and said:

"In fact, you don\'t have to suffer so much. I can end all this earlier. I\'ll soon find the answer. I\'m only a small step short, but I dare not do that. The count will kill me. I can\'t deceive him or tell him the result. I can only expect his kindness to you,

I\'ve always regarded you as a friend. I can\'t tell why. You almost killed me and wanted my meat, but I still regard you as a friend,

I cherish you very much, but I cherish my life more. Is that shameless? Am I still your friend? "

While talking, Kunta shed tears. Before the tears fell on Manda\'s face, Manda suddenly opened her mouth and sprayed all the water she had just drunk on Kunta\'s face.

Kunta was stunned for a moment, immediately lost the kettle and climbed out of bed.

Manda opened her bloodshot eyes and said expressionless, "you\'re shameless, but you didn\'t do anything wrong. You\'re still my friend!"

"You, how can you, you, you are like this, it doesn\'t make sense..."

"Don\'t talk nonsense!" Manda struggled to sit up. "Tell me, who\'s that guy named worm?"

Kunta calmed down and trembled; "He\'s not human."

"I know he\'s not a man, he\'s a devil!" Manda said, gnashing her teeth.

"He\'s not a devil, he\'s an insect," Kunta wiped his face. "He\'s a book worm."

Werm is a Book borer living in the study. Forty years ago, the count built the castle on the cliff. He became the first resident in the basement because he ate an ancient book illuminated by the light of Athena, thus gaining wisdom and divine power.

When the count found him, he already had a human shape. Instead of killing him, the count made him a believer of tifong and gained the first-order divine power.

"He is different from us. He has the magic power of God, but he still retains the habit of insects. He has eaten a lot of books. He will remember the contents of each book. He can also use its insect silk to transfer his knowledge to other people\'s minds."

Manda cut her teeth at the closing ceremony and carefully afterthought the process:

"You know what? He put something from his mouth into my nostril and drilled up along my nostril. You know how disgusting it is..."

"This is what the count likes most about him, and it is also a very effective means of torture," Kunta poured a glass of water to Manda. "His worm silk can\'t transmit known knowledge, but unknown knowledge."

Manda drank up the water, shook her head and said, "I don\'t understand what you mean."

"Take you as an example. If you can read, he can\'t pass on the basic knowledge of literacy to you, otherwise your head will explode immediately, which also proves that you lied to the count. If you really can\'t read, he can pour all the words into your brain overnight, making you bear unimaginable pain, which is more terrible than cutting and burning."

"Why did you do this to me? What did I do wrong?" Manda clenched her teeth and her head began to ache again.

Kunta came up and asked, "are you really illiterate?"

"Of course i..." Manda looked around alertly. She couldn\'t kill herself because of a casual forced act.

Kunta saw Manda\'s concerns: "don\'t worry, everyone went to the temple, and no one could hear us."

Manda blinked. Instead of answering Kunta\'s question, he suddenly asked, "why do you pray to Prometheus?"

"I, I, of course I\'m for you," Kunta explained. "Prometheus is a great prophet, the founder and guardian of our ancestors. He, he is in charge of medicine. I pray to him in the hope that he can heal your pain!"

"Nonsense! Apollo in charge of medicine! Prometheus is the God of Titan. It is recorded in the ode that not everyone is qualified to recite the name of Titan unless he is a believer. Tell me the truth, is Prometheus your God?"

"When, of course not," Kunta gave up his resistance and sighed, "my destiny God is glaucus, the God of prophecy in the sea. Because there are some talents in divination and prophecy, I mistook my destiny God for Prometheus. As a result... You know, I became a lost man and was forced to come to this valley and become a believer of Typhon."

It turned out that he worshipped the wrong God, but I didn\'t expect Kunta to fall to this land, but he still guarded the original faith.

Quinta blushed, lowered his head and whispered, "I firmly believe that Prometheus will hear my prayer one day."

"One day," Manda pinched Kunta\'s face, "have you cracked the words on the stone statue?"

"Almost, almost. It\'s a combination of ancient Aramaic, Aegean and Crete, and there are many changes in word order. Just give me two more days..."

Boom! The whole valley trembled with a loud noise.

The castle was shaking violently. Manda fell out of bed and accidentally pressed Kunta under her.

The chandelier on the roof fell and cracked the floor, less than a step away from Manda.

A few seconds later, the two men struggled to stand up in the dust.

Looking at the chandelier on the ground and the broken floor, Kunta shivered and said, "you, you saved me?"

"Ah... You\'re welcome," Manda muttered to herself, looking at the messy room and the thick fog outside the window. "What happened?"