Ten minutes later, Liang En followed Officer Burke to room 504, the scene of a previous murder. A local Greek police officer was guarding the place, but Officer Burke flashed his badge, and they entered together.
The room now appeared immaculately clean, as the police had already taken away everything that could serve as evidence, leaving behind only an empty house.
"The victim was directly slashed across the throat; the murderer used only one knife strike to kill the victim. This indicates that the murderer has an understanding of human anatomy, and might even have received specialized combat training," Officer Burke explained as he walked over to the former position of the couch, pointing to the spray of blood on the wall.
"What we can be sure of is that the victim hardly struggled at all. There were no cries for help heard from outside, indicating that the murderer cut through the victim's windpipe and carotid artery in one strike."
"The murderer was indeed brutal, but—" Liang En paused as he looked at the now-darkened bloodstain on the wall. "You know I am an archaeologist, not a forensic expert, so all this doesn't mean much to me."
"Sorry, it's a professional habit." Officer Burke apologized with an embarrassed smile and then carefully uncovered a piece of plastic sheeting on the floor.
"When we entered earlier, we found that the victim had drawn a strange symbol on the floor altar with his foot. After searching through our databases, we discovered that it is likely a symbol of the far-right, but we can't understand why it would appear here."
"The local police have been very diligent in gathering information related to this case, but both factually and theoretically, there seems to be no connection between the far-right in Greece and this individual, let alone a motive for murder."
"Let me see." Liang En stepped forward to examine the still-visible mark on the floor—a roughly circular trace surrounded by lines stretching outwards, resembling a sun.
"This is—the Black Sun." As a professional historian, Liang En immediately recognized the symbol for what it was.
The Black Sun, or Sun Wheel, associated with Germanic mysticism and neo-paganism, primarily originates from the Sun Wheel design embedded in the floor of Wewelsburg Castle.
Located in northwestern Germany and built during the Renaissance, the castle is now a youth hostel, but if we go back over half a century, it served as a temple for the Nazi SS.
In 1934, Heinrich Himmler chose Wewelsburg Castle as the spiritual center for the SS. The SS spent 3 million dollars refurbishing the 17th-century castle, and it is widely believed that the labor was provided by concentration camp detainees.
The castle housed a library with 12,000 volumes on Aryan studies and a cavernous dining hall with an Arthurian Round Table for Himmler and his twelve closest aides.
According to records, each of Himmler's 'Round Table' knights was given a coat with a weapon, and upon their death, their remains were cremated in the central hall, their ashes placed in an urn atop their designated seat.
The castle also concealed a chapel housing the rings returned by SS members killed in combat. However, this place was demolished before the end of the war and has not been found to this day.
Although now merely a common tourist site and hostel, in its time, the castle was nearly the center of German mystical studies, as well as a hub for SS ideology and thought control.
SS leader Heinrich Himmler tried to elevate it to "the center of the new world." He replaced Christianity with early Germanic traditional religions, and pagan rites and ceremonies became a part of everyday SS life.
Many of the elements we know today, such as the Black Sun symbol, originated from this place.
Currently, this symbol not only appears among far-right groups but also in the wave of Germanic neo-paganism, which primarily relates to pre-Christian religions involving polytheism, pantheism, and dualism.
The largest of these new pagan movements is based on ancient Germanic beliefs, spreading across Europe.
However, the earliest origins of the Black Sun symbol trace back to the "Central Sun" in the Theosophy of Helena Blavatsky, a mystic from the Russian Empire. This invisible or burnt-out sun symbolizes opposing forces and extremes.
Now, the Black Sun at Wewelsburg can be understood as comprising three SS runes, representing 'rising,' 'zenith,' and 'setting.'
The overall design was commissioned by Heinrich from ancient Aryan chapters, inspired by the legend of Arthur's Round Table, with each spoke of the Sun Wheel representing a knight (a high-ranking SS member). It aimed to integrate three key symbols of Nazi culture—the SS rune, the Sun Wheel, and the Victory Rune.
Because of the number of far-right groups currently flaunting this symbol, especially prevalent in Greece, the police naturally thought of those
far-right scum first.
However, Liang En's thoughts were not confined to right-wing organizations. Since joining the Golden Dawn, he had researched a significant amount of information related to real-world secretive organizations.
Upon seeing this symbol, he also thought of another mysterious group, the Thule Society, which by its history and style could indeed be involved in such activities.
The name 'Thule Society' originates from Greek, proposed by a Graeco-Roman geographer and located in the far north (usually believed to be Iceland).
Also referred to as "Ultima Thule" (Latin for "farthest Thule"), it is mentioned in the pastoral poems of Roman poet Virgil.
The organization initially started as a "Germanic Study Group" led by Walter Lahrhaus, a World War I veteran turned art student from Berlin, an extreme racist.
After the World War and internal divisions, the core of this group became the branch of the Aryan occult group "Germanenorden" established in Munich in 1918.
Unlike in China, where 'Aryan' is considered merely a designation for a certain ethnic group, in the Western world today, the term itself is a standard racial slur, revealing the true nature of the organization.
The core research of this organization involves assertions about the origins of the Aryan race, combining these origins with ancient mythological stories.
To join, members must swear to seek the best knowledge and confirm that neither they nor their spouses have Jewish or colored blood in their veins, nor any ancestors from colored races.
Even though the organization did not vanish with the defeat of Nazi Germany, it has continued to exist to this day.
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