Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 294 Is it time to leave?
January 1856, 1 was destined to be an extraordinary day for the city of Nimscher.

Near dawn, the professor, who had not slept all night, stood on the balcony with a wide view, overlooking the entire Nimsher through the French windows. It was the quietest only at this time, with no more noisy tourists or drunkards wandering around at midnight. The tall buildings and low houses were all lying on the mud and rocks washed by the river, as if they were asleep. The quiet atmosphere enveloped every clear spring and every winding river in the city, forming all the memories that made the people of Nimsher proudly call it the "City of Springs" for thousands of years.

But where are those memories now? Where are those holy spring monks who once flowed like water in the streets and alleys of the city, looking for deep wells and ancient springs buried under simple alleys and broken bricks and tiles, thereby inspiring a kind of praise for the vitality of life? When they were still praying devoutly to the compassionate and sad statue of the spring spirit on the carriage on the road of wandering, did they hear the people a hundred years ago gathered on the land under their feet and sang in unison -

Ah!
May the great spring spirit grant us the blessing of life!
That voice was powerful enough to penetrate all human creations, reach the spiritual realm where God resides, and gain His recognition and approval. Unfortunately, it is now completely gone, as if it had disappeared into the ancient distance along with the departure of those people.

Is it a pity?

It doesn’t matter.

Whether it is the Spring Spirit Tifu or the Holy Spring Monastery, whether it is the Holy Spring Sanctuary - the Temple of Tiphis or the former Spring City and today's international city of Nimsher, what fate they will encounter and what kind of ending they will have, it doesn't matter to Professor David.

Because Rochelle was right about only one thing: he had never been a devout believer in Quan Ling, and he couldn't even be considered a qualified believer.

Going back in time, in fact, his father Schmidt David was not a follower of the Spring Spirit either. He just couldn't follow the leader His Majesty Kellur to evacuate for some reason and had to stay in this city. Going back further, when the Holy Spring Monks entered Leisenburg, he betrayed the Blue Sky Order, surrendered and helped the former defeat the latter's ancestors. He could not be considered a follower of the Spring Spirit. He just stood on the side of the victor.

The David family has had many identities in the history of Leisenburg: a new noble family rising from the bottom, a loyal subject of the royal family, a devout believer of the Order of the Blue Sky, a man of insight in the new era, and the backbone of the Holy Spring Order after its decline... But everyone who inherits the name of David actually doesn't care about these identities. They just have to use them to get something and then realize that great wish.

Now is the time to take off the disguise.

The eyes and ears of the Night Watch and the Balance of Order were closely monitoring him near the museum. He had to escape from their surveillance area without being noticed, so that the plan could proceed to the next step.

Professor David on the balcony took a last look at the sleeping city of Nimsher. Perhaps he would never come back to this city again in his life, but would change his appearance, step onto the stage of history with another identity and another reason, and begin his gorgeous performance. This is exactly what "David" is best at doing, or rather, it has become an instinct.

But don't be impatient.

He turned and walked to the display case in the center of the exhibition hall, and took out the Kreisov brass scroll that was kept without any protective measures. The familiar weight made his palms sink, and the brass cover was filled with an ancient and heavy atmosphere. As the director of the Lubeon Museum, Professor David has touched this brass scroll countless times in the past ten years, but now he found that his hands were still shaking slightly, as if he couldn't control his excitement.

As for how to escape, Professor David was not completely unprepared. In other words, the ancestors of the David family had anticipated similar situations a long time ago and began to make careful arrangements. Now is the time to reflect the results of generations of accumulation and inheritance.

He put the Kreisov brass scroll into his arms and put it in the inner pocket of his coat. Then he took out a black wooden box, about the size of a palm, with mysterious runes engraved on the surface. The professor opened the box carefully. As soon as he opened a small gap, a dim afterimage floated out like a shadow on a curtain and flew quickly towards the balcony, as if trying to escape from here. Professor David, who was well prepared, stretched out his hand and grabbed it. He could feel the strength of it struggling in his palm.

The professor snorted coldly, and with his other hand, he took some white particles from the opened black wooden box, which looked like salt, and sprinkled them on the mask in his palm, causing it to struggle more violently, but only for a moment. Soon, it lost the strength to resist and crawled in the professor's palm, looking listless. Professor David then loosened his palm, and what appeared in his eyes was a mask as thin as a cicada's wing, which felt very soft to the touch, like human skin; but what appeared on the mask was not anyone's face, but a series of pink granulations that were wriggling and growing, like countless worms crawling around in the eye sockets, nostrils, ears and mouth. At a glance, it was enough to make the timid feel sick and vomit.

This is a holy relic, its name is: Lava's human skin mask.

It first appeared in the Kreisov period, and was a relic enshrined in an underground tomb. Later, it was verified that the tomb might be buried with a [Monster] who had reached the realm of demigod. A skilled grave robber excavated the relic from the tomb and later it fell into the hands of a believer of the Heavenly Order named Lava. Due to a coincidence, Lava injected magic power into the mask, which immediately stimulated its original power and created an avatar that was exactly the same as himself.

Lava was overjoyed and thought he had accidentally obtained a powerful holy relic, but he was soon devoured by the mask in his sleep, and the clone became him, continuing to live in his place. Later, the mask continued to devour Lava's family, friends, colleagues and even his immediate superiors, step by step towards the top of the Heavenly Order, until it was exposed due to too many missing people, and was sealed by the then high priest himself.

The original plan was to destroy this evil and uncontrollable relic directly, but later it was accidentally discovered that salt grains could effectively restrain its ability to move and change, so the decision was made to seal it in case of emergency.

When the Holy Spring Order entered Leisenburg, they had a fierce conflict with the local Blue Sky Order. At that time, the ancestor of the David family betrayed the Blue Sky Order and joined the Holy Spring Order, leaking many secrets, which led to the defeat of the former. In that unprecedented defeat, the ancestor David found ways to obtain some relics of the Blue Sky Order and passed them down as the accumulated wealth of the family.

Although later, due to the promulgation of the "Religious Decree" and the large-scale evacuation of the Holy Spring Monks, the then head of the family, Schmidt David, had to surrender to the Order and obey the provisions of the "Management Regulations". In order to show his sincerity, he also handed over many extraordinary items accumulated by the family, including magic potion formulas, magic documents, research materials, etc. to the Order, thus preserving the transcendent status of the David family and successfully obtaining the position of curator of the Lubeon Museum.

However, some extraordinary items have been kept secret, and only the direct descendants know about them. Lava's human skin mask is one of them. Its effect can often have unexpected results. In the past, the David family used its power to seize a lot of wealth. Today, it will also become a powerful helper for Professor David to escape surveillance and realize his long-cherished wish.

Slowly input a small amount of magic power into Lava's human skin mask. This level of magic power fluctuation is less than 100 O'S, so it will not attract the attention of external observers, but it can stimulate the power of the holy relic, causing the curled up mask to gradually unfold and emit a dim light.

Then, Professor David carefully covered his face with the mask. As soon as it touched his skin, the pink granulations that crawled like tiny insects could not wait to rush in through the holes on the mask's facial features, and penetrated deeply into the professor's mouth, nose, ears, eyes and other parts. They kept moving back and forth in the area below the skin and began to simulate his facial muscle texture and subtle changes in expression.

This process was filled with unimaginable pain, but Professor David remained silent, as if he was doing something very ordinary. About half a minute later, he suddenly stretched out his hand and forcibly tore the human skin mask off his face. The sound of "snapping" was as sharp and piercing as tearing off a piece of paper. The ends of the torn flesh buds were still moving restlessly, sticking to the tiny pieces of flesh, and constantly dripping pink blood beads, and the professor's elegant and gentle face was already covered with mottled blood.

The human skin mask in his hand floated up and turned into Professor David's face, exactly the same, even the smallest parts were the same. Then, with the human skin as the core, the pink granulation continued to stretch, tangle, entangle, and solidify... forming the head, neck, body, limbs, and even clothes, glasses and cane. In just a moment, a complete Professor David appeared in the dim museum. He supported the heavy walnut cane with both hands, with an elegant smile on his lips, and nodded slightly to his original body.

Only by careful observation can one see that in his seemingly gentle eyes, there is a dark impulse and greedy desire, as if he wants to devour the flesh and blood of the person in front of him to fill his own emptiness.

There is no doubt that this is an evil doppelganger, no different from the real monster.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)