Mystic Overlord: Reading Gives Strength
Chapter 173 - 172 Final Conclusion

Chapter 173: Chapter 172 Final Conclusion

The essence of a coded message is simply altering the information to make it unrecognizable to others.

Simple ones include popular acrostic poems;

Stepping up the difficulty, there is the Caesar cipher;

Further up is the codebook used by telegraphs;

And the pinnacle, symbolizing human technological achievements, computer encryption.

All these things are encompassed within the essence of coded messages.

If they have one thing in common,

—pattern.

To be precise, it is using predetermined rules to unearth what the expressor truly wishes to convey.

The initial letters in acrostic poems, the sequential changes in Caesar cipher, Morse code in telegraphs, algorithms in computer encryption.

No matter what, these codes all follow their own specific patterns.

Or perhaps, the codebook that can accurately decipher their true content.

So, the coded message in my hands...

What is its codebook?

Thinking this, Ronald turned his gaze towards the "Bolunwei Chronicles—37" on the bookshelf next to him, a thick book nestled among others lying quietly on the shelf.

Just like when Ronald had decoded messages before.

No difference at all.

When initially decoding the message, Ronald had merely used this chronicle as a reference book and naturally put it back in its proper place after use.

But now...

The situation seems slightly different.

Thinking this, Ronald stood up and walked over to the shelf to take down the chronicle.

His fingers flipped quickly, and he turned to page 687 again.

This time, unlike the precise search before, Ronald meticulously reviewed the contents of the chronicle.

However, the result was disappointing.

—Still fruitless.

On page 687 of this chronicle, the main content was straightforward and clear.

It was mostly trivial matters in Blenheim City at the end of the previous winter, such as the scheduled public execution by hanging of a notorious robber next February, the smooth outset of maintenance work on the Yizi Forest railway, the opening of a new era theater in the city...

Ronald read every line and every sentence.

There really wasn’t much to catch his attention.

A city’s chronicle only covers so much.

Either records of well-known people’s births and deaths or some superficial specific events.

To say anything matched up with this mysterious force, there wasn’t a single one.

Oh...

Right!

There was a familiar term though.

Regarding the preparations for the execution, where the warden announced the execution order, Ronald remembered the name Bach Krichens well.

But this.

Still didn’t connect to the mysterious force.

After all, it couldn’t be the warden himself revealing to Ronald that he was a traitor, could it?

From either a logical or emotional standpoint, that was completely impossible.

"..."

"Not the content of this page, huh?"

Standing in front of the bookshelf, he pondered for a few seconds.

Ronald confirmed he remembered the general content of this page, then flipped the chronicle to the cover and title page to examine them carefully.

Since there was no information on this page of the coded message, he decided to focus on the entire chronicle instead.

Thus, after flipping through, Ronald remembered a name.

—Elva Sherwood.

This was the editor of the chronicle Ronald held.

Because there was a personal introduction on the title page, he knew this Mr. Elva Sherwood was of advanced years and also a highly respected scholar within the country of Griede.

As the author of the chronicles, he was currently the most suspicious.

If an investigation were to be conducted,

starting with this man would certainly be right.

Silently noting down the information, Ronald flipped through the book in his hands again.

Ensuring he had missed nothing, he then returned the chronicle to the shelf.

In this era, anyone with a bit of money wanted to appear cultured.

Thus, decorating a bookshelf had become a necessary part of interior decor, and it was almost essential to include these types of thick, beautifully bound city chronicles on one’s personal bookshelf.

Even if Ronald were not at home,

if someone wanted to find this book, they definitely could.

Therefore, he did not plan to tear out page 687 from this book.

—If possible, Ronald did not like damaging books.

He walked slowly back to his desk, still pressing the coded message into his notebook and tucking it back under the corner of the desk.

Then, he stretched comfortably:

"Ha—"

That concluded the brain work for today!

In the afternoon, Ronald had asked Nicole about the coded message she initially received, which was successfully deciphered using a text illustration album as the cipher.

They could discuss it further the next time he met the young female investigator.

After all, he had only left her estate today, and it would not be appropriate to visit again immediately.

With that thought, Ronald headed downstairs.

Although the lunch at Nicole’s had been quite enjoyable, it had still left a bit of a shadow in his heart.

This was a good opportunity to learn cooking from Ms. Hudson...

————

Time flew swiftly, and a new weekend soon greeted the winter of Blenheim.

Early on Saturday, only a sliver of light appeared in the eastern sky.

Ronald was already heading out of the city in a rented carriage.

To be honest, his mind was somewhat preoccupied.

Although he had important work at the exhibition today, he was mostly thinking about the issue with the coded message.

Because just last night, he had taken the opportunity to discuss it again with Nicole.

The outcome of the discussion was that Ronald learned:

the text illustration album Nicole had used to decipher the coded message a year ago was also edited by Elva!

From that point, it became obvious.

Elva, even if not a member of this mysterious force, was definitely a crucial part of the invitation process.

The reference materials for decoding the messages pointed towards each other.

The target could almost be pinpointed without error.

To continue the investigation, it was undoubtedly time to visit this scholar.

—It was just unfortunate that now was not a suitable opportunity.

Because this scholar named Elva had already relocated to the capital, Springs.

As for going to the capital to find Elva...

It was better to just think about it for now.

Even Nicole agreed to visit Mr. Yajin again to confirm the details of the investigator’s coded message from those years ago.

Thus, this matter was prioritized to be addressed later.

Their activities in Blenheim would first focus on the warden’s "betrayal" and "Lumier" from Black Mountain.

Sitting in the carriage leaning against the compartment wall,

Ronald’s gaze followed the roadside to the suburban manor.

The venue for today’s exhibition looked no different from his previous two visits.

He hoped his work over these two days

would proceed as smoothly as before...

With that thought, Ronald’s right hand suddenly trembled.

It was nothing else.

It was just that the power of ’deception’ within "Divine Comedy - Hell" had been activated—

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.