"Who I am isn't important. What's important is finding out who killed Saunière, and that GPS."
William walked over to Sophie, took a bar of soap from the sink, pressed the GPS tracker into it, turned, opened the window, and threw it into a garbage truck that had just driven by. "Follow me," he said, then turned and led Langdon and Sophie into the women's restroom.
Less than five minutes later, they heard police sirens from downstairs. Then they saw a dozen police cars rushing after the garbage truck.
William smiled at the two. "Now what do we do? Where do we start, Princess Sophie, Professor Langdon?"
Sophie didn't speak. She just led William and Langdon to Saunière's body and said sadly, "He was much older than I imagined. We hadn't been in touch for a very long time. He called me several times today, but I never answered. He sent me a message saying he had something life-or-death to tell me. I thought he was trying to use it as an excuse to see me. I never imagined I wouldn't even see him one last time. I'm sorry, Grandpa."
Hearing Sophie's words, William grumbled inwardly, "That old man Saunière didn't even call me before he died. It seems he still didn't trust me. Did he just leave my name to make me protect Sophie?"
After crying silently for a while, Sophie said, "Since Saunière couldn't find me, he could only turn to you two. Professor Langdon, you are an expert in symbols. William and Saunière are both from the Priory of Sion. There must be some connection between you and Saunière that made him trust you and ask for your help. The situation must have been very urgent then; Saunière didn't have time to tell any of us three."
William grumbled inwardly, "Saunière didn't not have time to tell him and Langdon; he didn't trust him and Langdon."
Just then, Professor Langdon picked up the note with the number sequence that Fache had discarded. He took out a pen and scribbled in his small notebook, finally saying, "According to the sequence, these numbers and that sentence can combine to form new words: only Leonardo da Vinci and sacred."
Langdon and Sophie exchanged glances. Sophie said, "Da Vinci! The Mona Lisa painting is not far from here. The clue must be there."
Having found a clue, Sophie quickly led the two towards the Mona Lisa painting. The three of them shone their flashlights and found a message written in invisible ink on the bottom right corner of the oil painting. "Another riddle."
William had no idea what the sentence meant, while Professor Langdon continuously combined letters from the sentence in his mouth to form new words. When he finally said "Virgin Mary," Sophie immediately said that the painting of the Virgin Mary was in another hall.
The three then found an iris crest key behind the frame of the Virgin Mary painting. Langdon looked at the key in his hand, then at William. "This is the same Priory of Sion symbol as the ring on William's hand. What exactly was Saunière trying to tell us?"
William shrugged. He was completely bewildered at this point, merely playing a supporting role. However, William's ears suddenly twitched, and he said, "Someone's coming. Just stand there and don't move. I'll handle it." With that, William walked towards the doorway and hid behind the door.
About ten seconds later, Sophie and Langdon saw a Louvre security guard rush over, hand on his gun, shouting at them, "Hands up! You're under arrest!"
The security guard had barely taken a few steps into the hall when he sensed someone behind the door, but before he could turn, William knocked him out.
Gently laying the security guard on the ground, William gestured for Sophie and Langdon to hurry. The three quickly left the Louvre, getting into Sophie's car and speeding away before Fache and his team returned.
In the car, Sophie held the iris crest key and said, "This was Saunière's. I saw it when I was little. He even said he would give it to me when I grew up."
Langdon took the key and asked, "Sophie, have you heard of the Priory of Sion?"
"No, this is the first time I've heard of it today. What does this have to do with the Priory of Sion? William, shouldn't you tell us? You and Saunière are both members of that… society. You should know the most."
William, sitting in the back seat, rolled his eyes. "I don't know. All I know is that this ring on my hand belonged to my grandfather. He gave it to Saunière when he was about to die. Last night, I found a message among my grandfather's belongings. This morning, I called Saunière, and he arranged to meet me at a café this afternoon. Then he returned this ring to me and said he would take me to England to join the society. Other than that, I don't know anything else."
Seeing that William wouldn't talk, Langdon had no choice but to speak himself. "The Priory of Sion, also known as the Sion Society, is the oldest and most secretive organization in the world. Its grand masters include Leonardo da Vinci and Isaac Newton. The iris is their emblem. They protect a secret, which they call 'man's dark deception.' The Sion Society is responsible for protecting the source of the Lord of Light's power in this world."
William asked in surprise, "What source? Doesn't the Lord of Light's power come from himself? How can we find it? This is from thousands of years ago! And Professor Langdon, how do you know all this?"
Sophie, who was driving, just dodged two police cars and said, "Never mind all that for now. We need to find a place to hide. Fache won't give up looking for us."
"Sophie, find a car dealership. Don't forget, I'm not wanted. We'll buy a car," William said.
"Oh, right, William, you're not wanted yet," Sophie immediately drove to the nearest French Renault dealership.
William got out of the car and walked into the Renault dealership alone, bought a car with his card, and then picked up Langdon and Sophie 500 meters from the dealership and drove off.
In the car, Sophie asked William, "William, does the Sion Society really exist?"
"I don't know. I only learned about it from Saunière today. Do you hope it exists?" William asked.
Sophie was silent for a moment before saying, "I don't know. Since I was young, Saunière trained me to decode and solve puzzles. He often asked me, 'Sophie, what's next? What should we do next?'"
Langdon smiled and said, "Searching for treasure."
"To help Saunière find the murderer, I hope the Sion Society exists. That way, we can find more helpers," Sophie said.
"But I hope it doesn't exist, because the legends of the Sion Society are too bloody. Most of its members were massacred. Legend has it that over a thousand years ago, a French king conquered Jerusalem. That largest crusade in history was actually orchestrated by a secret brotherhood, which was the Sion Society. Their army was called the Knights Templar."
"The Knights Templar claimed to protect the Holy City, but in reality, they were trying to conceal their true purpose. According to legend, this war was to find an ancient artifact, an artifact lost since the Lord of Light was alive. The Church desperately wanted to find that artifact."
Hearing this, William quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road and asked, "Did they find it?"
Langdon looked at William with a puzzled expression and said nothing. William quickly said, "Tell me, Langdon."
"Alright, I don't know either. Let me put it this way: the Knights Templar suddenly stopped their search and went directly from the Holy Land to Rome. No one knows if they blackmailed the Church of Light."
"Or if the Church of Light bribed the Knights Templar with money. The fact is, the Pope issued a decree granting the Knights Templar supreme power. By the fourteenth century, the Knights Templar's power was too strong, posing a serious threat to the papacy."
"So the papacy issued a secret decree, a decree to be opened simultaneously across all of Europe. The decree stated that the Pope declared the Knights Templar secretly worshipped Satan and, by God's command, ordered the elimination of these heretics. Due to meticulous planning, their purge was successfully completed, and the Knights Templar in Europe were almost completely annihilated, except for England."
"Afterward, the Pope sent troops to seize the Sion Society's treasure, but found nothing. The surviving Templars disappeared from then on. The search for the holy relic and treasure began at that time."
Sophie asked, "What holy relic and treasure? How come I never heard Saunière mention it?"
Langdon smiled and said, "Sophie, you have heard of it. Everyone in the Western world has heard of it. The holy relic is the legendary Holy Grail."
"The Holy Grail."
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