Old-time musicians

"Fake!?" The three surviving investigators were surprised.

"Sir, why don't we arrange a secret ritual inspection, so the results may be more accurate?" Salman asked tentatively.

"It's just a waste of time." He Meng's soles stepped directly across the painting at will. "If we talk about the near-migration zone, they can't be sublimated by spiritual observation, it can only mean that we started from the foundation and understood this thing before. The understanding is wrong.”

"There are fourteen paintings, and none of them meet the requirements?" Behind a few people, the figure of Norma Gunn, with a hoarse and weak voice, floated over like a ghost, especially the lines on her torso were almost transparent.

"It is not easy to find works that meet the mystical conditions of 'Gate of Seven Lights' or 'Fountain in Painting'. With Vincent's artistic attainments, he only completed five works in more than 20 years." He Meng shook his head. Shake his head.

"In comparison, our empire-wide search only lasted half a year. We were in a hurry. Those five paintings were just based on feeling and luck. Now that the whole army has been wiped out, it was within the scope of my expectation... As for the Turner Art Museum, There is a high possibility that this batch is a fake or a diversion, but what he did just now..."

The brows on his stiff face were deeply knitted as he recalled and distinguished the calling methods, spiritual fluctuations and phase properties of Fan Ning's attack just now.

"Candle" that burned through everyone's bodies, "Huang" that withstood Gang's full blow, "Yan" that seriously injured Gang, "Key" that released his own restraints, and "Jin" that quickly escaped...

Oka also seems to have grasped some connection: "What has been sublimated is "Green Night" in the painting burning incident, as well as the "Pain Room", 'Cocoon' and 'Pond' he stole, and the five methods just now It happens to be another unoccupied seat..."

"Vincent seems to have used some special curse seal triggering method to fuse the invisible power he collected and the sublimation power of the mysterious painting." He Meng speculated.

"He is indeed working on the idea of ​​a 'fountain in a painting'. After more than twenty years and five paintings, this must be a perfect fit to sublimate the leader's spirituality... I just don't know how he triggered this. The secret was left to Fan Ning, who was later promoted to a knowledgeable person? I didn’t even have time to identify the language family of such a prayer with special and unknown syllables. There may be other ways to assist sublimation. This information requires at least a certain amount of space. Come to carry it, we have searched for so long and still can’t find it, why can Fan Ning find out..."

"What hints Vincent used is not the point." Gang analyzed the current situation. "The point is that Fan Ning has most likely gathered the conditions for opening the 'Gate of Seven Lights', and its colors have already been five-sevenths." A closer connection with Fan Ning's spiritual qualities will be more beneficial for us to contain the 'Fountain in the Painting', but..."

She glanced at the disgusting dizzy patterns on the wall of the passage ahead, and then quickly looked away: "But he just ran forward like that?"

"If he goes crazy first, it will not do us any good... The containment method provided by the leader comes from the world source god 'Qingkou Tree'. It is necessary to drag the activated 'Fountain in the Painting' into a dormant state first. , If he hadn’t used the spiritual connection of the mysterious paintings to disperse and suppress it first, we would have had great difficulty in performing it..."

"Don't worry, Fan Ning is definitely not a fool." He Meng said, "This person is even more shrewd than I expected. He used all his trump cards just now in order to temporarily get rid of our hostage. This There is more than one way to travel, and perhaps he has another way that we don’t know about.”

"Fortunately, the secret realm of the 'Great Palace School' ruins was built in the special structural gap of each other's door. I once passed through the 'Seven Lights Gate' more than fifty years ago, which allowed me to Sensing some vague revelations, even if we enter from different ports, we will probably meet together in the end... Can your condition still support it? "

"Even if 20% of the inspiration and strength are left, it is enough to deal with this conductor who has used up his trump cards." Gang calmly waved his hand to indicate that it was okay, "...but I admit that I was careless and underestimated the enemy just now. Even if his strength is not worth mentioning, The means of a person like Vincent should not be underestimated.”

Not many people would be willing to be taken seriously by a Insighter who favored assassin abilities, but it was obvious that Fan Ning was being taken seriously this time.

He Meng pondered for a moment after hearing this, and then reminded this colleague who was less than half his age:

"Fan Ning's existence is only an insignificant part. The various unknown risks in the ruins are a huge threat. To be on the safe side, as long as we confirm that the reentry mechanism of the secret realm ahead is a regular 'path recurrence' in the third history, we can find the exit. Then you turn back first, go out and determine the specific location of the landing point, and ask the inspector general, Mr. Davis, to lead a team to guard it with you to prevent Fan Ning from finding an opportunity to escape first. The plan to re-explore the abnormal area has entered the preparatory stage. I just happened to take it with me when I got out.”

"You have more experience than I do." Gon accepted the advice of the veteran of the Special Patrol Department.

"Seize the time and continue to deal with the pollution."

Under He Meng's control, the floor tiles in the passage dissolved and collapsed again, and the bodies of the four investigators fell into it. After a few breaths, everything returned to the original state.

…

"Why seven, not five?"

Further ahead in the passage, Fan Ning had finished training his chariot and was walking quickly in the darkness.

In order to distract his attention from a series of creepy things around him, he recalled Vincent's hints again, and some unnoticed doubts were dug out.

"Reciting a specific prayer can sublimate seven mysterious paintings in a controllable way"

The flashlight showed the hint at that time, which was undoubtedly seven.

Fanning naturally knew Vincent's list of works very well, and the details of the content of each painting could be clearly seen in his mind. He confirmed that there were only five paintings with the characteristics of sublimation.

List of works

It's impossible to miss something, right?

The most important thing about the list is the name of the work + time.

"Twilight and Wall on the Top of the Mountain" and "The Perspective of Snakes and Scorpions" were created at the end of the new calendar year 895.

"The Abyss Seen in a Certain Emotion", "River of Silver Mirrors", and "Creative Sketches on Extremely Asymmetrical Containers" were created at the end of the new calendar year 902.

The distribution is very uneven, too scattered and too concentrated, this is Fanning's first feeling.

Moreover, these two years? …

The year of the 37th and 38th Harvest Art Festival?

Vincent lost contact during the 39th Harvest Art Festival in the year 909 of the new calendar. Roy's investigation showed that he was not a staff member or an invited guest. This conclusion is very reasonable and credible when reviewed now. If a chief inspector who is proficient in the three-fold and a senior member of the Abnormal Zone Investigation Team raised his social status so high and stood in the spotlight of "guest" in a dignified manner, his former identity would probably be easily discovered.

In contrast, a "Turner Art Museum Director" is just one of the thousands of inconspicuous "artists" in such a high-level international cultural event as the Harvest Art Festival. If Vincent was active in San Perto City with some other purpose during the festival, such an identity would undoubtedly be extremely suitable.

So recalling the creation years of the five mysterious paintings, it really makes people wonder...

Did Vincent actually go to three consecutive Harvest Art Festivals, and one of his purposes was related to "creating specific mystical paintings"?

This is possible. In Fanning's earlier memories of this world, Vincent traveled more frequently than Fan Chenxun in his previous life.

Could it be that his original plan was to create seven paintings, so the hint left in the earliest "Twilight and Wall on the Top of the Mountain" was also seven paintings?

However, he accidentally lost contact for the third time, so the creation plan was not completed, and there are actually only five paintings at present?

Fanning's thinking inadvertently moved forward a little further.

Then he found that he saw some strange light.

This is not necessarily the end of the effect of the visual sealing spirit.

But based on past experience, he has walked through this passage and came to the complete migration layer, and there is no longer a "visual perception" way of seeing things.

He continued to move forward, the light became more and more wall, and the lines and color blocks became clearer and clearer.

It was as if he had broken into an invisible curtain, and the next moment he was on a huge platform.

He looked up at the sky with an inexplicable strangeness, and looked around.

"After sublimating five more paintings, this place is completely different from the last time..."

The abyss behind is no longer the black of nothingness. The ultramarine storm, sharp blades and bullets are whistling and surging below. The platform is still as dark as ink, but some white lines of opposite colors are flowing disorderly, giving people an extremely dizzy feeling.

The low night sky is filled with thick water vapor, and the green light permeates the granular mist curtain. In the dark and dirty, it occasionally has a crystal clear sense of contradiction. Several huge unknown stars are scattered and pale. Looking closely, they seem to have become several lavender doors that open the sky.

This color splicing without logic and order once made Fanning feel that his mind became confused. When he saw the huge monster occupying the main part of his vision in the distance, the strange and bizarre impact made him feel that he was out of breath.

It should be considered a building. Its brown-black shell has a lot of rot or faults, but the overall shape is like a huge right triangle ⊿, with the short side lying on the ground and the hypotenuse pointing upwards. The area of ​​each layer is gradually decreasing. The top few layers and the vertical high wall on the other side at the far end are all immersed in the green mist of the night sky or background.

Looking at this giant multi-story building with a completely abnormal structure and completely contrary to the known human aesthetics, Fan Ning once remembered his experience of having a high fever several times when he was young: when he was lying in bed in a daze, he kept seeing some strange and huge geometric bodies or geometric patterns in his dreams. The hugeness of the astronomical level and the perspective relationship that was completely beyond the scope of understanding, the feeling of crushing and suffocation made him panic and tremble all over for a long time after waking up.

There is no other choice here. The threat from behind will catch up at any time. After the discomfort was slightly relieved, Fan Ning did not dare to delay any longer and prepared to go to this completely opened secret site.

His main purpose is naturally to find an exit.

Whether in history or now, whether it is an evil god organization or an official organization, any knowledgeable force has the need to explore the Yiyong Secret Realm and build a place for secret rituals in it, because these places are evolved from the remnants of the divine activities of the Lord of Witness, and naturally have many mystical functions that are difficult to achieve in other places.

If the Harmony School or the Longevity Esoteric Sect had explored this place, and even used it as a relatively fixed "study place" or "ritual place" for a period of time...

Then a very realistic problem is that these people need to frequently travel back and forth between the world and the waking world.

Whether it is based on the model of the third historical ruins or a new return path, there must be a relatively stable way.

Thinking about this in his mind, Fan Ning suddenly felt a little chill on his wrists and neck.

Rain? Or? …

Fan Ning raised his arm, as if the situation yesterday was reappearing, he saw several needle-sized paint stains on his skin.

Thinking of the scene in that too realistic dream where his side was finally wrapped and dissolved, his discomfort and anxiety in his heart became stronger.

He didn't know how he got out in the end. Did he wake up from the nightmare? Or, because of the "Old Days"?

I vaguely remember that the witness symbol I saw last flashed, but this time, the "Old Days" was not on me. In order to prevent contamination and to deal with the sudden search and attack by the Special Patrol Office one day, the "Old Days" had been sealed in the Qiming Church for a long time.

Fanning tried to speed up his pace as much as possible, but he didn't know if this had any practical significance in the dream.

The huge multi-story building in front of him, like a celestial body, seemed to be within reach, but it felt like two or three hours had passed, and it seemed that it was still halfway to the destination, and he was still running on the huge black and white twisted platform.

Fortunately, the paint rain didn't seem to be very heavy, and there was no sense of physical exhaustion in the dream. After six or seven hours, Fanning finally came to the starting point of the hypotenuse of the giant right triangle.

As far as the field of vision could reach, some of the lower layers had honeycomb-like holes. Maybe they were rooms, but there were dense cochlear-like ducts growing and interspersed in between, which made people feel that it was not a building, but a living thing.

The environment exuded an unclean smell like festering thick water. After Fanning raised his foot and stepped over the threshold, the scene seemed to jump discontinuously like a dream. He stood on a flat floor in the building that was divided into countless honeycomb compartments.

The tall and smooth stone supported the floor height of at least 20 meters. This was not like the material that could be found in this world. Various reliefs, plates and stone statues hinted at the structure of human facial features. They fell, lay horizontally and floated in a way that did not conform to the gravity relationship. There was also some warm-toned twilight. If you stare at it for too long, you will hear a hollow continuous sound that sounded like the wind or whispers.

A strong feeling of disgust and dizziness hit Fanning, and he leaned over and gasped with some difficulty breathing.

Then, the sudden tightness on his forearm and inside his cuffs made him stand up again alertly.

The ritual vessel "Gel Fetal Membrane" that resists "Pool" contamination?

Fanning thought of "The Painful Room" almost reflexively, because it was not an unexpected encounter at all. In fact, considering that if he entered the secret door again, he would definitely encounter "The Painful Room", he always had "Gel Fetal Membrane" ready.

This ritual vessel not only successfully resisted the slippery and corrosive feeling on the tip of the tongue brought by it in the sealing room, but was also sent to the Guidance School to identify the authenticity of its effectiveness.

Only, this time it was upright…

Fanning finally saw in a trance that the painting was hanging on the stone wall in front of him in one of the honeycomb compartments on the first floor of the giant building.

It was not some so-called indoor sketch of a delivery room and a delivery bed.

It was a portrait of a woman standing in front of the red church arcade. She had pale skin, earrings and short crimson hair, but her features and emotions were elusive, and her age was unrecognizable. Her facial features and facial lines were difficult to piece together in cognition, just like dumping the objects in a storage bag onto the table.

The name of the painting was not "The Painful Room".

The new name, like other irresistible knowledge revelations in the dream, was directly implanted in his mind:

"Miss Scarlet".