Professor Langdon, unaware that he was being suspected, only felt better after exiting the elevator.
Fache asked, "You seem very nervous, Langdon."
Fache's words made Langdon even more nervous, as if his secret had been exposed. His face turned a little pale, and he quickly took a deep breath, shook his head, and said nothing.
After following Fache into the exhibition hall, Langdon quickly tried to divert Fache and William's attention by saying, "The Grand Gallery. You found the body here, didn't you?"
Fache's brows furrowed, and he quickly asked, "How do you know that?"
Langdon said with a relaxed tone, "I recognize the photos you showed me. The wooden floor in them is just like this. My memory is good; I wouldn't mistake it."
When Langdon saw Saunière's body, his expression was horrified, and he swallowed, "My God."
After quickly walking closer and observing for a moment, Langdon said, "The way Professor Saunière's body is posed refers to the Vitruvian Man, one of Da Vinci's most famous sketches.
But why is there a pentagram drawn on his chest?"
Fache asked with his hands behind his back, "Does that have any special meaning?"
Langdon was a bit speechless at Fache's amateur question. He was so ignorant. He said helplessly, "Symbols have different meanings in different contexts."
Fache said solemnly, "Professor, I brought you here because I want to know the meaning of this symbol here."
"From a Christian perspective, the pentagram is a pagan symbol. This is a very ancient pentagram, a symbol of the goddess Venus, representing the feminine half of all things.
In the words of religious historians, it is called the symbol of the Sacred Feminine."
Fache asked, "Are you saying Saunière drew a feminine symbol on his chest before he died? Ha, why?"
Langdon was speechless. "I don't know, officer."
"Is that so?"
"Of course, how would I know why Saunière did this? I can only tell you what I know; this isn't some devil's prophecy."
Fache shone his flashlight on the ground, revealing some words and numbers. He turned to Langdon and asked, "What kind of message do you think a dying person would write?"
Langdon thought for a moment and replied, "Probably the killer's name."
"Yes, exactly," Fache said, noticing Langdon's expression becoming increasingly serious. He was about to continue when he heard a voice.
"Captain Fache, sorry to interrupt. I've received photos from the scene and cracked the code. I believe the numbers Saunière wrote on the floor are the Fibonacci sequence, so headquarters sent me to understand the specific situation."
As soon as the voice faded, William and the others turned to see a police officer approaching quickly with a beautiful young woman. She came up to Fache and handed him a document.
Fache took the document from the beautiful woman, glanced at it, and nodded. "Alright, Officer Sophie, what do you want to know?"
Sophie didn't answer Fache but instead turned to Langdon, saying, "Excuse me, Officer Fache, please wait a moment. Headquarters has an urgent message for Professor Langdon."
The beautiful woman smiled at Langdon and said, "I'm Sophie, from the Cryptography Department of the French Criminal Police. The American Embassy called our headquarters. I apologize, but the embassy said this matter is a matter of life and death, Professor Langdon. You'd best take the call now. This is the phone number left by the embassy; the last three digits are the password."
Langdon took the note, puzzled. Hearing it was a matter of life and death, he quickly dialed the number on the note and heard a voice from his phone.
The call connected, but an unexpected voice came from the phone. "Professor Langdon, please remain calm. I'm Sophie. Please do as I say. You are in a very dangerous situation. Do not reveal anything to Fache. He is not here to help you."
Fache looked at Sophie and Langdon, utterly bewildered. He glanced at William, who shrugged, indicating he didn't know anything.
After Fache explained some details of the case to Sophie, she smiled and shook his hand, bidding him farewell.
After Sophie left, Langdon stammered, "The embassy said a relative of mine was murdered. I'm sorry, officer, my mind is a mess right now. May I use the restroom?"
Fache heard about Langdon's murdered relative and, seeing Langdon looking distraught, nodded apologetically and pointed him towards the restroom.
"I'll go too; I also need to use the restroom," William said. When Langdon was on the phone, William had cast an invisible amplification spell on him.
He heard everything Sophie said to Langdon clearly. He suspected Langdon wanted to escape by going to the restroom, so he walked up to Langdon with a smile and said, "Let's go, Professor."
As Langdon and William entered the restroom, they were surprised to see Sophie waiting inside. Seeing William enter, Sophie didn't seem surprised at all and immediately asked Langdon, "Did you receive Saunière's message?"
"What are you talking about? You must have the wrong person. I was invited here as a consultant. Why do you say I'm in danger?" Langdon asked, confused.
"No," Sophie said sternly, "you are being watched, Professor Langdon. Fache is a direct man. He brings suspects to the scene, then watches them perform, hoping they will reveal themselves and be proven guilty on the spot."
Langdon pointed at himself in surprise and asked, "A suspect? Me?"
"Yes, Langdon, you can check your pockets," Sophie said. "Hurry."
Langdon disbelievingly felt his pockets, but when he touched his outer jacket pocket, his face turned grim because he found a GPS tracker the size of a fingernail inside.
Sophie took the GPS tracker from Langdon's hand and said, "A GPS tracker. This thing can accurately locate anyone. This is to prevent you from escaping. As for you, William Devereaux…" Sophie took out two pieces of paper and gave them to Langdon and William respectively. On the papers were photos, seemingly of the invisible words and numbers from the crime scene.
Sophie turned to William and asked, "When did Saunière contact you today?"
"I called Saunière this morning, and he arranged to meet me at the Monica Cafe. After that, he went to work, and we agreed to meet at the cafe at 8 PM," William said.
"And you, Professor, what message did Saunière leave for you? Fache didn't go looking for anyone else; he only looked for you and William. William has evidence to clear his name, but you don't. Tell me what message Saunière left for you. We don't have much time, Professor Langdon," Sophie asked.
Langdon was dumbfounded by the question. "Then who are you?"
Hearing Langdon's words, Sophie's voice was low, tinged with sadness, as she said, "Saunière deliberately wrote that Fibonacci sequence to get someone from my cryptography department involved in this case. And your name, and the initials of William's name, WDS, written at the end, were all to get you both involved. Professor Langdon, you are a symbologist; he must have sought you to decipher the secret message.
As for why he wanted William to join, I don't know. So, Mr. Devereaux, can you explain why Saunière wanted you to get involved?"
William looked at the photo in his hand, which indeed had his and Langdon's names on it. It didn't take long for William to realize why Saunière wanted him to join: first, to find the secret, and second, Saunière knew William's combat abilities were very high and he could handle the dangers during the search.
But to expect William to believe Sophie's words based solely on a sequence of numbers—William wasn't that easily convinced.
"Then how can you prove that you were also asked to join by Saunière? I don't believe it based on just a sequence of numbers, Sophie."
"PS, the 'PS' on the photo refers to me. Saunière was my grandfather. When I was little, he often called me Princess Sophie. The first letter of 'Princess' is P, and the first letter of 'Sophie' is S."
William and Langdon exchanged surprised glances. After a moment of thought, they both nodded. William walked up to Langdon, took his right hand, examined it carefully for a moment, and even sniffed Langdon's palm.
Professor Langdon's hands were clean and soft, and William couldn't smell any gunpowder residue. After checking Langdon's left hand, William said, "Alright, I'll believe you for now, Professor. At least your hands don't look like someone who's fired a gun."
Langdon suddenly grabbed William's left hand, looking at the ring on William's pinky finger. "An iris crest? How do you have this ring? Isn't the Priory of Sion a legendary organization? William, who exactly are you?"
Sophie also looked at the iris crest ring on William's hand and quickly said, "I've seen this ring before. Saunière also has one like it."
Sophie and Langdon looked at William in surprise. "So you and Saunière are both members of the Priory of Sion? That explains why Saunière met you and asked you to join. My God, so the Priory of Sion truly exists?"
----------------------------------
I've already posted 30 new chapters on Patreon!
If you like the story and want to reaad more, please visit my patreon. Every support is very meaningful!
[patreon.com/Kazenova223]
Thank you very much!