Chapter 98: The Answer of the Inner Layer

At the very bottom of the Panel, the line of text concerning the seed had also changed.

It had originally read, "Planting condition: [Spirit] attribute unlocked."

Now, the text was updated: "Seed planted. Germination countdown: 24 hours."

Richard checked his Pocket Watch. It was just past eleven o'clock.

Tomorrow night would be the moment the answer was revealed.

He walked out of Nail Alley, returned to Central Avenue, and headed north.

The night wind blew down his collar, stripping away the last bit of warmth inside his coat.

He could feel the changes brought by the walking skill with every step.

His stride and breathing gradually fell into perfect sync. The lightness in his legs meant traveling late at night was no longer a burden.

Pushing open the back door, he found the living room pitch black.

He slipped inside and gently shut the door behind him, muffling the click of the latch with his hand.

He took off his shoes and stepped onto the wooden floorboards in his socks.

This time, he paused in the second-floor hallway to listen at his sister's door.

He only relaxed after hearing her steady breathing from inside.

Returning to his own bedroom, he closed the door and slid the bolt shut.

Richard placed the oil lamp on the nightstand right next to the Gargoyle.

Under the moonlight, the Gargoyle bared its fangs with a ferocious glare; the Sphinx, meanwhile, kept its eyes half-closed in a calm expression.

With the two beast-shaped supernatural items crouching by his bed, it was almost as if they were standing guard over him for the night.

The next day was a normal school day.

In class, Richard acted no differently than usual.

He sat in his usual spot near the window in the front row, listened to the lectures, took his notes, and sat with Warren and Grey for lunch as always.

Warren ordered his usual lamb chops with mashed potatoes.

"Why do you keep checking your watch today?" Warren asked, chewing on a lamb chop. "Look, you just did it again."

Richard offered a casual excuse to brush it off.

The seed's countdown hung heavy on his mind. He was simply too curious about what was inside.

Over in the underclassmen area, Evelyn was sitting among a group of girls from her grade.

Lately, the food on her plate had become much more lavish than before.

Aside from the standard bread and salad, there was a roasted chicken leg on the right side of her plate, and a steaming mug of hot cocoa resting beside her soup bowl.

She had not ordered the chicken leg herself.

Nor the cocoa.

The girl sitting to her left was from the neighboring class.

Ten minutes earlier, she had walked over with her tray, sat down next to Evelyn, and placed an apple in front of her.

"For you. We just picked it from my family's orchard. It's really sweet."

Evelyn glanced at the apple. "Thank you, but I don't..."

"Just try it. It's really sweet."

The girl on her right went even further.

She had run straight to the counter to buy a cup of hot cocoa and set it right next to Evelyn's soup bowl.

"It's getting cold out. Have something hot to drink."

"I have tea..."

"Cocoa is better than tea."

Even as Evelyn said, "No, really, you don't have to," she had already picked up the apple and taken a bite.

It really was sweet.

She picked up the cocoa and took a sip.

It was delicious, too.

The two girls exchanged a satisfied look.

They were not the only girls crowding around Evelyn.

Another was telling Evelyn about a gorgeous ribbon she had seen at the department store yesterday; yet another was offering her some cookies she had brought from home.

As Evelyn chewed her apple, she dealt with the enthusiasm coming from all sides, her ears filled with their constant chatter.

She was not stupid.

How many words had these girls spoken to her before? Not even twenty combined.

Since when had they become so friendly? Probably right around the time her brother became Greenwood's man of the hour.

More and more people wanted to get close to Richard Williams, but Richard's own social circle was extremely tight.

His lunch hour was solidly occupied by Warren's little group, and he spent most of his breaks between classes holed up in the library.

Since they could not break through from the front, they took the flank.

And the most obvious opening on that flank was his younger sister.

Evelyn placed the apple core on the edge of her plate and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

She knew exactly what they were doing, but the apple really was sweet, the cocoa was delicious, and the cookies were perfectly crisp.

And being the center of attention... well, she could not say she hated it.

During the next break, Evelyn left her classroom and walked down the hall toward Richard's.

She found her brother at a corner of the corridor, leaning against the window as he flipped through a book.

"Brother."

Richard closed the book. "What is it?"

Evelyn's expression wavered between smugness and annoyance. "Can you do something about your suitors?"

"What suitors?"

"You know... all those girls who keep sucking up to me all day long!"

She feigned irritation.

"One gives me an apple, another buys me cocoa.

And another insisted on telling me about a ribbon she saw at the department store. What do I care about ribbons!"

"They bought you hot cocoa?"

"...Yeah."

"Then let them keep sucking up. Deal with whatever they give you yourself."

Richard opened his book again and went back to reading his ancient Greek.

Evelyn glared at him, turned on her heel, and walked away.

As she headed back, Richard's gaze drifted over the top of the page, landing on his sister's buoyant step.

The greedy little brat. She complained out loud, but she clearly loved every minute of it.

Richard shook his head and pulled his attention back to the book.

After school that afternoon, he went home, ate dinner, helped his mother wash the dishes, and headed upstairs to his room.

Evelyn was doing her homework next door, her pen scratching against the paper.

Richard sat at his desk. On the surface, he was flipping through his ancient Greek textbook, but his attention was mostly focused on the Panel.

A little after ten, the countdown hit zero.

A new prompt popped up at the bottom of the Panel: "Seed germinated. Entrance open."

"Enter?"

"Notice: During entry, your physical body will enter a deep sleep. It is recommended to proceed in a safe environment."

[Yes] / [No]

Seeing this message, he pressed his ear against the door.

His mother had stopped coughing, and his Father's snores could be heard through the floorboards.

The light in Evelyn's room across the hall had been out for over half an hour, and the sound of her steady breathing carried through the door.

The whole family was asleep.

Richard lay down on his bed and pulled the covers up to his chest.

He selected [Yes].

His consciousness plunged into darkness.

Maybe three seconds later, maybe three minutes, solid ground appeared beneath his feet.

The surface felt icy and damp.

A thin layer of black water covered the ground, barely reaching his ankles.

Above his head was another body of water.

It was an inverted surface of black water, a perfect mirror of the one beneath his feet.

Hanging about three meters above him, it was flat, silent, and reflected his silhouette.

If forced to find a word for this place, Richard's first thought was a tomb, or perhaps a water dungeon.

There was a light in the distance.

Richard took his first step.

As his foot stepped into the thin black water, ripples finally broke the surface.

The inverted water above his head rippled in perfect synchronization.

He started counting his steps.

The temperature of the black water remained constant, never growing any warmer or colder.

Ten steps, twenty steps, thirty steps... the light source was slowly drawing closer.

At forty steps, he could begin to make out its outline.

At fifty steps, he stopped.

A stone door stood amidst the black water.

Two square stone pillars supported a crossbeam, but there was no door between them.

Richard's gaze fell on the reliefs carved into the pillars.

On the left pillar crouched a Sphinx.

It had the body of a lion and the face of a human. In its reclining posture, its front paws rested on the edge of the base while its tail curled around its hind legs.

The human features were incredibly distinct: high cheekbones, a narrow chin, and slightly upturned eyes.

It wore an indistinct crown—perhaps shaped like a serpent, or perhaps a sun disk. For some reason, Richard simply could not get a clear look at it.

On the right pillar was a vulture with its wings spread.

Its head was bowed, staring down at the black water below.

As he observed it, the carved Sphinx's mouth opened and closed:

"Born of the soil, it first kisses the earth on four limbs;

Standing at noon, it measures its shadow on two feet;

Returning at dusk, its third foot is no foot, but an extension of the shadow.

—What is this?"

Hearing this, Richard's first reaction was: wasn't this just the classic riddle of the Sphinx of Thebes?

What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?

The answer was man.

An infant crawls on all fours, an adult walks upright on two legs, and an old person leans on a cane, which acts as a third leg.

This was Oedipus's answer, and the most famous riddle in ancient Greek mythology, mentioned in plenty of popular books.

Yet he did not answer right away.

Because the last line of the riddle was different from the classic version.

In the classic version, the third leg was a cane.

Here, it had become an "extension of the shadow."

"Its third foot is no foot, but an extension of the shadow."

Was this alteration a trap or a clue?

If the answer was still "man," then the last line was merely a rhetorical flourish, totally insignificant.

But if the answer was not "man," then the last line was the key distinction.

Richard stood in the black water for a moment.

He decided to take a gamble.

"Man."

The Sphinx relief on the crossbeam closed its mouth:

"The answer is correct, but incomplete."

"Man is the surface of the answer."

"Shadow is the inner layer of the answer."

"Return tomorrow, and bring the answer of the inner layer."

After the text finished appearing on the wall, the entire space began to dim.

Richard felt a pulling force from somewhere behind him, dragging his consciousness back.

When he opened his eyes, he was still lying in bed.

The covers were pulled up to his chest, his posture identical to before.

Nothing in the room had changed.

The lamp was off, and a thin sliver of moonlight spilled through the crack in the curtains.

He checked his watch. He had spent about twenty minutes in that space.

It felt about that long, too.

He wiggled his fingers and toes, then tried bending his knees.

Everything was normal.

He felt no discomfort whatsoever; in fact, he felt a little more energetic than before he went in.

It was just like having an incredibly vivid dream.

The Sphinx had told him to return with the "answer of the inner layer."

What was the answer of the inner layer?

"Shadow is the inner layer of the answer."

That sentence itself was not the answer.

It was a direction, telling him that the answer had to do with "shadow," but as for what it specifically was, he would have to figure it out on his own.

Richard lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

The "third leg" in the classic riddle was a cane.

A cane was a tool in the material world, an assistive device humans needed due to old age.

The seed's version had replaced the cane with an "extension of the shadow."

Why would a shadow extend?

The physics answer was simple: the angle of the sun lowered, stretching the shadow out.

But the Sphinx was likely not asking about physics.

Richard closed his eyes, mentally reviewing everything he knew about "shadow."

Appendix C had mentioned that seepages from behind the veil existed in multiple forms.

His shadow had displayed the ability to act independently when the oil lamp was unsealed.

It had risen up and tried to strangle him.

This meant the shadow possessed something independent from the main body... what was it?

Will? Instinct? Reflex?

He was not sure.

His thoughts had reached a dead end for the night; he lacked sufficient knowledge to make a judgment.