musicians of old

Chapter 53 The Underground Party
The time when Joan went out was so close to the start time of this underground meeting of the wise, which made it hard for Fanning to believe that it was a coincidence.

He suppressed the doubts in his heart, pretended to be nonchalant, and continued to sit on the sofa for five minutes.

Then he leaned into Xilan's ear: "I'll go out for a while too."

Seeing the little girl's puzzled expression, Fan Ning confessed: "You stay with Lord Nessimi and don't move."

Finally, I looked at Joan's father: "Excuse me for a while, if you come across a 'hint flow' work with a suitable price, you can buy it with confidence."

"Okay, I'm about to try."

This Lord Nehemiah was listening to the explanation on the stage, while concentrating on the art reviews in the album, he waved his hand indifferently.

Fanning left the store, walked through the corridor, and stepped out the door of Prudence's auction house.

The night was dark and foggy.

The No. 226 warehouse area next door is a low-rise factory building that covers an area several times larger than the auction house.

The gate facing the street is relatively clean and guarded by staff, but obviously not in all directions.

For example, there is a large abandoned area in the southwest direction where Fanning detoured so far.

The outskirts of this place are crowded with low-rise houses, the light from the broken windows is feeble, and what I can smell at the tip of my nose is the cold smell of garbage.

Inside are more dilapidated sheds, leaning against the corner of the wall of the house that has not been demolished, supported by a few pieces of rags and wooden shelves.

Several people in ragged clothes sat around the bonfire of the tin barrel. Some were pulling hemp in their hands, and some were weaving fishing nets. They looked up at Fan Ning with loose and numb eyes.

Fan Ning walked through the depths, sideways into the riddled barbed wire in the warehouse area, and walked towards the metal steps extending underground. The slums behind him gradually blurred in the thick night, turning into a huge gray and black mass.

After the attack that night, Fanning wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on right away.

DuPont's later suggestions made his plan swing between "radical participation in the party" and "conservative wait and see".

But Joan's strange departure tonight easily broke this swinging balance.

The stench of the sewers in the second-floor warehouse was lingering, and every time Fan Ning lifted his footsteps from the dirty ground, the soles of his leather shoes brought a viscous tearing sensation.

In the dark corridor, the spiritual sense perceives the surrounding environment. Although the vision is still dim, at least there is no need to fumble with hands to avoid hitting the wall or falling into the pit, so that he can walk calmly.

"Welcome." A cold voice suddenly sounded.

It seems to come from the top of my own head!
Fanning stopped in the dark, but instead of looking up or looking around, he stretched his hands to his waist.

Like a radio?
Fanning suddenly became aware of the faint noise behind the word just now.

"There are items prepared for you ahead, if you need to protect your privacy, please take it yourself."

The background noise of the radio fades away two seconds after the sentence ends.

Fanning's mental state was still tense, but it was much calmer than the big reaction just now.

Although it is mysterious, at least it is not a hostile thing that strikes without saying a word.

He stretched out his hand into the darkness ahead and touched a flat surface similar to a metal plate. After groping around, he found one piece after another, similar to the lockers in the supermarket in his previous life.

In the greasy and dirty environment around them, they feel cool and refreshing.

Fanning didn't find any buttons or handles to open these "lockers."

"A test to identify the wise?"

He probed the invisible thread of inspiration into the back of one of the metal plates, and found that there seemed to be a capsule-like sphere stuck somewhere, with a diameter of only three or four millimeters.

The fluctuation of the phase of "Yan"?What Fanning learned during the day came in handy.

With the injection of his own inspiration, the surface of the capsule melted, and a small drop of liquid inside evaporated, emitting a strange gray light in the form of mottled stripes.

Some mechanical structure was activated, and with a "clang", the cabinet door popped open.

Inside was a neatly folded black cloak, and a metal mask with exposed eyes and nose.

"The meeting place is on your right at the end." The voice on the radio continued.

Fanning, who was wearing a black mask, walked in this direction, and the hem of the unusually fat cloak was dragged on the ground a meter away.

The bad smell of the sewer gradually eased, Fan Ning went straight to open the tightly covered curtain at the end, and saw the long-lost light.

"Hey, I didn't expect that in the end, we would be able to welcome one more friend."

The woman's voice is lazy and magnetic, as if whispering softly in someone's ear.

Fanning's eyes between the pores of the mask blinked vigorously a few times to adjust to the light.

This is a small bright room, with many old walls peeling off, painted with colorful graffiti and words, but compared to the dark sewer-like environment before, Fanning still has the illusion of entering the "portal gate".

Six people sat around the oval round table and turned their heads to look at themselves.

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Sylvia. Who are you? My friend." The woman sat at the head of the curtain, and her sexy voice continued.

This Sylvia was the only person without a cloak at the scene. She was wearing a sunflower-colored tea break dress, with a loose but round chest curve that could not be concealed, and a golden mask with an expressionless face on her face.

At the same time, Fanning's eyes caught sight of one of the people wearing a silver mask. Although he was wearing a black cloak, the little man was very recognizable.

"Mendeleev." Fanning made up an approximation of the Hoffmanian pronunciation and announced his name to Sylvia. He didn't try to completely change his voice, which would be very unnatural, but he tried to use something similar to English. Intonation, to pronounce some Hoffmannian words, sounds like a Gentile with a strange dialect.

It is relatively safe to hide body and appearance, and it is not realistic to pursue absolute privacy.

Well, as a chemistry dog, it's not too much to temporarily borrow the name of the big guy who created the periodic table of elements in his previous life, right?

Afterwards, Fan Ning deliberately picked an empty seat opposite Joan, and sat down calmly.

Joan, who was wearing a silver mask opposite, tilted her head slightly, as if she was a little confused by her own voice.

In an atmosphere that should have been tense, Fanning was still a little secretly amused.

When he left the auction house last, his height was too ordinary, and when he was wearing a black cloak, only he could guess her identity.

"Joan, who told you that you are so recognizable as a little man, but why did you appear here?" Various speculations emerged in Fan Ning's mind.

"Mendeleev?...Hey, 'Experiment Officer', your commission has failed. It seems that the 'Grey Eagle' cheated your advance payment last time and ran away. It's rare to see you give some trust in advance. Look Did you miss it?" Another young female voice who took over the conversation sat on Sylvia's left.

"If you want to think on the bright side, maybe that guy is dead." The man called the "experiment officer" said in a mocking tone, "I just heard that the guys from the authorities shot another group of people who committed crimes. Those who touch the forbidden... It seems that there are some things that it is better to go there personally."

"Fortunately, we have a new friend, Mendeleev." The woman continued, "Then I will be the third to introduce myself to the newcomer. You can call me—the perfumer."

Sylvia smiled and said: "Let's share a secret with our new friends first. The 'Perfumer' is the actual person in charge of the Prudence Auction House and a knowledgeable transaction notary. I always thank her for helping me Organize parties and provide venues."

"Ms. Sylvia, you're welcome."

The perfumer's tone was flat, obviously this message was not her secret or taboo.

"The actual person in charge of Prudence Auction House. Sure enough, there is something tricky..." Fan Ning thought to himself.

But obviously, whether it is a name like Sylvia or a code name like perfumer, they are just masks of the hidden world.

The remaining four said their "names" in turn.

"Broker." "Experience officer." Two voices of ordinary adult men.

"Translator." An old male voice.

"Purple Bean Cake." The last female voice was tender and sweet.

Joan. Why is your name so strange.Fanning cursed in his heart.

"Okay, today is four men and three women, the party has officially started." Sylvia said lazily, but not slowly.

"Our gatherings are always more pragmatic, concise and efficient than the empire lords, so everyone can speak one by one-what is needed, what can be entrusted, and what can be paid... But the old rules, in order to show the friendliness to new friends, we first ask What does Mendeleev need?"

——This is her usual tactic, the purpose is to let the newcomer hand over the details first.

But her method is very skillful, asking the newcomers what they need instead of asking what the newcomers are going to offer, which avoids aggressiveness and makes it easy for people to let their guard down.

After speaking, Sylvia's golden mask turned towards Fanning.

　Thank you for the monthly ticket of the Sword Master of Heaven and Earth ~ Zhao Si and Xuanyuan, the masters of the Magic Immortal Castle, for the reward ~

　　
　
(End of this chapter)