Chapter 147: The Story

After Thomson was arrested, the police knocked on Sophia’s door, intending to ask whether she had any quarrels or conflicts with him, and why he had targeted her and Edward. But when the door opened, the house was in complete disarray, and Sophia’s neck was covered in bruises.

Because her throat had been injured, Sophia was temporarily unable to speak.

The officers wanted to take her to the hospital for treatment, but she refused. Pushing past the crowd around her, she found The Book of Death. Using the excuse of going to the bathroom, she entered the restroom and, with trembling hands, opened it—only to find that the book now contained just two chapters.

The first chapter was “Sophia,” and the second was “Thomson.” The prophecy concerning Thomson had changed once again.

This time, his lifespan had been extended to 65 years old—yet in the winter of his sixty-fifth year, he would die in prison, after suffering abuse from the prison boss, his old injuries flaring up, combined with long-term malnutrition.

“Wuu…”

Seeing this chapter, Sophia could no longer hold back and let out a whimper like a wounded young animal.

She was wrong—truly wrong… She should have followed Rebecca’s warning from the beginning and sealed the book away properly, never letting anyone see it!

The power of The Book of Death was simply too great. Even the police might not be able to resist the temptation of “knowing the time of death and stealing life.” Therefore, when the police questioned Sophia about Thomson’s motive for killing, she lied.

Sophia concealed the existence of the book and insisted that it was due to a conflict within their group of five.

“Then why did Edward kill his mother?” the officer asked expressionlessly.

Sophia suddenly raised her head. “What did you say?!”

“We searched Edward’s house and found his mother lying in the bathtub, no longer breathing. Although he was very careful, the scene still left some traces. We can tell that this was not an accident caused by negligence, but a premeditated murder.”

“What?! No, how could he…?”

Even though she had been mentally prepared and had guessed that Edward might have killed someone, when she heard that the victim was his own mother, Sophia still couldn’t hold back and began to vomit violently.

“That poor girl had always lived a sheltered, happy life, never exposed to the ugliness of human nature. Although she tried her best to lie, the police still noticed inconsistencies in her statements. They believed that, as a mutual friend of two murderers, she was highly suspected of instigating and manipulating them…”

Just as Rebecca had described, Sophia came from a wealthy and happy family and was an extremely naive girl. Even her lies were clumsy, and under police interrogation, she wouldn’t be able to hold out for long.

Moreover, the Micano police had already gone through incidents such as the “Cursed Witch Case,” the “Theater Massacre,” and the “Lucky Relief Case.” Most officers firmly believed in the existence of supernatural forces. If Sophia confessed, they wouldn’t dismiss her words as a joke like most police would—they would open The Book of Death and verify it with their own eyes.

And that was exactly what must never be done when dealing with The Book of Death.

“That ominous book is like Pandora’s box—completely harmless before it is opened. But once someone flips through it and learns their future, a new round of misfortune begins… Only a very small number of people can resist the temptation to extend their lives, like Sophia. Most people are greedy and afraid of death—even I am no exception,” Rebecca sighed.

In fact, not just Rebecca—even Everly, upon hearing about the book’s miraculous abilities, couldn’t help but entertain a few thoughts. Fortunately, she remembered “Horror Movie Survival Rule #13: Never casually open ancient chests, boxes, books, or similar objects.” She knew that seeking help from such a cursed item would only lead to a bottomless abyss, so she managed to restrain herself.

“Then how was this resolved in the end?” Everly asked.

“I snuck into the police station and replaced the real Book of Death in the evidence storage with a worn-out notebook—before things became irreversible.”

“Wow~”

“And then, on my way out, I accidentally tripped and broke my leg.”

“Uh…”

“That’s why I hate taking jobs involving high school students. Seriously, those kids are just too troublesome!”

Everly, not exactly known for her tact, managed to show a bit of it this time: “Are you in the hospital right now? I can come visit you.”

“That won’t be necessary. I have a panacea—just two drops, and I’ve mostly recovered.”

“Phew…” Everly let out a sigh of relief.

A story was one thing, but if her momentary goodwill had dragged a friend into trouble and caused Rebecca any harm, she wouldn’t have felt okay about it.

She confirmed with Rebecca, “So the Book of Death is in your custody now?”

“Yeah. That thing causes way too much harm—it has to be sealed away properly and kept out of sight, or it’ll just bring disaster.”

At this point, Rebecca changed the subject. “Oh right, I think you mentioned before that you had something you wanted to ask me?”

Before New Year’s Day, when Everly had just returned to the gas station, she had called Rebecca. But at the time, Rebecca was on a train heading to Bolivia, and the call had to go international. The signal was poor, so they had only exchanged a few words before hanging up.

“Ah, that… it’s like this…” Everly hesitated slightly, then asked tentatively, “Rebecca, do you know about the Fountain of Youth?”

“Of course. There are tons of legends about that thing—I even heard stories about it when I was a kid… What, from the sound of it, are you thinking of looking for it?”

“Yeah. Actually, back in university, I came across a clue about the Fountain of Youth by accident…”

Everly wanted to share the clue about the Fountain of Youth with Rebecca. After all, according to the legends, it was a spring—a flowing source of water—not a single drop or a limited cup. Even if one more person knew about it, there wouldn’t be a shortage. And Rebecca’s knowledge was so vast that poems which seemed obscure and difficult to Everly might be understood in entirely new ways by Rebecca.

Even if Rebecca couldn’t help her decipher the riddle of the poem, Everly felt that simply repaying the many past favors Rebecca had given her was reason enough to share the clue.

Unfortunately, Rebecca didn’t want to know.

“Stop, stop, stop—I can’t listen to this!” Everly had barely finished half a sentence before Rebecca interrupted urgently. “Although youthfulness and immortality are the pursuit of many, and I admit I am tempted by them, in our Bolivian traditions, life, aging, illness, and death are all part of the world’s cycle. Death is not death—it is a return to the earth, an embrace by nature. It makes us cherish the present and respect the natural order…”

“In short, I personally am tempted, yes, but seeking eternal life conflicts with my beliefs. So Everly, you absolutely must not tell me the clue. If I know nothing, I can maintain peace of mind. But if I knew the clue and couldn’t pursue it… I’d be miserable!”

“I see… I’m sorry, I was projecting my own perspective,” Everly apologized sincerely.

She had no faith—not in her previous life, nor in this one—so everything her eyes saw and her hands grasped was worldly, and she had little understanding of the ambitions and pursuits of those who held strong beliefs.

Yet there were some people in this world who were truly pure: willing to explore and struggle for what they believed in, even at the cost of their own lives. No matter how ordinary they appeared on the outside, their hearts shone like stars—a brilliance that Everly both admired and envied.

Rebecca chuckled lightly. “It’s okay. Honestly, I’m not exactly a person with strong self-control either. If you really told me, I might have gone with you to look for the Fountain of Youth… So, I’m sorry—if you have any information about it and want me to investigate, I probably won’t be much help.”

“That’s fine, that’s fine. I can slowly look into it myself later, it’s not urgent,” Everly said.

“By the way, when I was little, I heard a story related to the Fountain of Youth. I don’t know if it will help you, but do you want to hear it?”

Everly’s eyes lit up. “Of course! Please tell me!”

Rebecca’s story was simple.

The protagonist was a king named Alexander, who had conquered vast lands and gradually grew dissatisfied with being just a mortal king.

One day, by chance, Alexander heard of a dark land far to the southeast, where the gods had left a spring called the Fountain of Youth. Drinking from it would grant immortality. So he set out with his servants toward this dark land.

They traveled along a smooth, level road without rises or dips. After twelve days, they encountered an angel, who told the king to curb his ever-growing ambition and return to the human world. Otherwise, at the journey’s end, he would gain not immortality but death.

The king, full of unwillingness but powerless to resist, had no choice but to turn back and leave the dark land… Yet he did not give up. He sent his followers to continue the search for the Fountain of Youth. In response, heaven sent a punishment, causing the king to die young.

“My mother often used this story to teach us not to be greedy, to know our limits, and not to pursue what isn’t meant for us. I heard it so many times that I could recite it by heart. When you mentioned the Fountain of Youth, this story was the first thing I thought of… So, what do you think? Can it help you?”

Everly’s voice was tinged with excitement. “Yes! This is really helpful! Thank you, Rebecca… If I have more questions later, can I keep asking you?”

“Of course! Ask away anytime—we’re like family!”

After hanging up, Everly still felt a rush of excitement. Who would have thought that just listening to a story could bring such unexpected gains?

The king in the story, if she wasn’t mistaken, must have been Alexander the Great, the Macedonian king from the 4th century BCE—a brilliant military strategist and politician, a disseminator of Greek civilization, and the initiator of the Hellenistic era, holding a very high place in history.

In fact, the earliest records about the Fountain of Youth are also linked to Alexander the Great. But Everly wasn’t a history specialist; she had only vaguely heard that Alexander had sought the Fountain of Youth. The exact details of how he searched or what he experienced along the way were unknown to her.

After all, as mentioned earlier, many civilizations’ myths and folklore include traces of the Fountain of Youth. If it exists, there’s a good chance there isn’t just one. And the poem Orff had given Everly mentioned Aurelbis, an Indigenous deity, which naturally led her to assume that this Fountain of Youth was located somewhere in the Americas.

The Fountain Alexander sought was on the Eurasian continent, separated from here by a vast ocean—it could not be the same one. There are so many stories about the Fountain of Youth, many recorded in local languages. Everly’s time and energy were limited; if she tried to trace every story back to its origin, three years wouldn’t be enough to learn all the necessary languages.

So Everly had always focused her investigation on the Americas and the Winton tribe of Indigenous people, never considering going through all the Fountain of Youth legends on other continents.

And yet, who could have predicted that a simple bedtime story would unexpectedly connect Alexander’s legend with Orff’s poem—the legend mentioned a “Where there are no highs or lows” and an “angel,” and both of these images also appeared in the poem!

[Proceed along a flat and dark straight road,

Where there are no highs or lows,

…

Give the key to the flaming angel at the gate,

And you will earn the right to ascend the steps.]

So, if Everly wanted to figure out what the “Where there are no highs or lows” and the “Flaming Angel” referred to, she would need to investigate the story of Alexander the Great searching for the Fountain of Youth.

Very well—one mystery solved, and a new one arises.

But all of that could wait until Everly started university. The time she could spend with her grandfather was precious, and she had already decided to enjoy her holiday to the fullest.

So, after noting down her to-dos in her notebook, Everly set aside her swirling questions and once again immersed herself in the warmth and relaxation of the holiday.

Balance, balance~