Old-time musicians

At the beginning of the year 915 of the new calendar, the Western Continent.

In the Kingdom of Holy Janus, the small town of Lepiqi in the southeastern suburb of Saint Perto.

The winter dusk covered the streets of the city with an inky carpet, and the drizzle mixed with ice fell, and the fire in the church fireplace crackled.

"It's almost curfew time again"

The dark red clouds outside the window slowly turned into dove gray, and Father Hester looked at the roadblocks made of thick wood and barbed wire on the street, until they gradually connected into a vague wall in the thick darkness.

He stood up, took a deep breath of the thin and cold air outside the window, then drew the curtain and raised his hand.

The charcoal fire in the fireplace went out, and green smoke floated out.

After finishing a day's work, there was no night worship, assembly or choir performance tonight. Several deacons and church clerical staff in the auditorium saw the figure of Father Hester coming down the spiral staircase from the second floor, and they all stood up to turn off the lights and pack up their things.

But half a minute later, Hester's back, who had just stepped out of the door, stood still.

"Who is it?"

The wheels of the carriage passed through the mud and gradually disappeared at the end of the street, leaving a man with an umbrella at the church arch.

This was a middle-aged gentleman who looked to be about 40 or 50 years old. His hair was neatly combed, and there were mottled grays on his temples. He was wearing a very formal and old-fashioned suit from the last century, and his boots were covered with mud and gray snow.

"A survivor of the 'Carnival' incident in the southern continent." After the middle-aged gentleman walked into the rain-sheltered area, he put away his black umbrella, took off his hat, and bowed elegantly, with a serious expression.

A survivor of the southern continent? Hester looked at him a few more times.

It is now the sixth day after the New Year of 915 in the new calendar, and the fourth month after the sensational subversive incident. The peak period has passed, and there are very few new survivors.

Unexpectedly, another person appeared today. If he came directly to me, he might be a colleague of the Holy Sun Church.

However, Hester looked at the other person repeatedly and was sure that he was not someone he knew.

"Excuse me, what is your name?" he asked tentatively.

"Antoine Lavoisier," said the middle-aged gentleman, "I am a Janus from a merchant family. I have known some music since I was a child, but I was once a lost person until I met my music teacher, Bishop Sessler, who has been traveling and preaching in the southern continent. Unfortunately, the old gentleman has not returned this time."

The next moment, the gas lamps and some candles that had just been extinguished in the church "bang" ignited.

The light broke the darkness formed by the plaster columns and statues, and generously cast their light and shadows on the red carpet and colored windows again.

The Bishop Sessler mentioned by Lavoisier is indeed a real person. Before he went to the southern continent to preach, Laibiqi Town belonged to the bishop's diocese.

The two sat down casually in the first row of the audience seats and chatted. Of course, Priest Hester was still carefully confirming some things.

"If Mr. Lavoisier wants to register for church membership here, I wonder if there is a contact person in the former southern country? Well, the follow-up will also involve the classification of the clergy and church ranks, if you can already bathe in the light in your dream."

The other party took out a small black disc, a dark letterhead and a leather bag for documents.

The golden light of the small disc flashed.

"Scorching Sun Guidance" When Hester saw this curse, his vigilance was relieved a lot.

Those who can activate "Scorching Sun Guidance" are at least middle-level knowledgeable people, at least they have faith in "Unfallen Fire".

The content and signature of the letter

Contact person: Bruno Walter

Guarantor: John Christopher

Conductor Walter has worked in the South Continent for several years. Before the incident in the South Continent, he did have an intersection with Bishop Sessler. He has just recently moved to the North Continent to take up a new post, and Christopher is the head of the church in his new city, Uvlansel.

A high-ranking "Forged Lion" musician and the endorsement of a senior member of the Awareness.

As for the various documents in the briefcase, they are Lavoisier's household registration certificate and related procedures. Compared with the first two things, the gold content is second.

Hester also talked to Lavoisier about some details of the South Continent and some mystical knowledge related to the "Unfallen Fire". The other party was pious and had a clear knowledge, but his response was a little rigid.

A typical middle-aged organist in the church.

Hester glanced at the organ high up in the church during the conversation, but seeing Lavoisier, who was dusty and covered in snow, he gave up the idea of ​​suggesting him to try it tonight.

About half an hour later, Hester stood up and led the way:

"I have arranged accommodation for you, but the subsequent formal process of review and approval will take some time. The Special Patrol Office has formulated a strict background check system for survivors."

"Often the culprits have the most demands." The organist laughed undisguisedly and opened the umbrella again in the rainy night.

"Only the top leaders can complain about this kind of thing. You and I had better keep it in mind for the time being." Hester reminded hurriedly.

Now, with the secret organization fueling the flames, the public's anti-Special Patrol Office and anti-official organization sentiment is very serious.

The main thing is that no matter how much the cause is attributed to the "Red Pool", these people have to bear the "leadership responsibility", especially the Special Patrol Office is the first to bear the brunt.

In response, some people in the school and the church secretly gloated over the misfortune, and some people had a bad premonition, but as an official organization with relatively strict discipline requirements, the top leaders still advised those who knew about it below them not to touch the bad luck of the Special Patrol Office.

"By the way, weren't you blocked when you entered the city?" Heisler tried to change the subject with small talk.

The war in the Western Continent has been going on for two months. Although this is the rear area of ​​the battlefield, as a small city below San Perto, entry and curfews are still strictly controlled. The kingdom's army probably does not know this organist.

"I used the curse seal to cook a pot of potatoes for them." The other party said calmly.

"Officers who have a little knowledge of the royal city will know about the 'Fire Sun Guide'." Hester smiled, "However, your entry and exit information must be recorded and reported, and there will be a process to follow later."

The group of people led Lavoisier to a row of small single-family apartments on a street not far from the church.

"It just so happens that our Bishop Tucville has been very busy in the past few days. There are distinguished guests from the Bologna School of the Northern Continent to be received in San Porto. Mr. Lavoisier can stay in the small town for a few days to rest."

"You have just survived an accident, and I'm afraid you have limited resources. The "Emergency Price Control Law" is currently being revised once a week and once a month. The prices of commodities are still soaring day by day. The church will first ensure your food and accommodation."

"Thank you, Mr. Priest."

"See you tomorrow."

After a few last words of casual farewell, the door of the apartment was closed by Lavoisier.

"Contact Bishop Tucville in San Porto." The polite smile on Priest Heisler's face faded at the corner of the street.

"Now?" asked a deacon next to him.

"Summon his courier immediately to send the urgent message." Heisler sighed.

"Survivor review is a high-risk job, and you should have felt it over the past few months, especially for official knowledgeable people like this who are 'returning to the team'. It is good to have more capable people, but they also focus on the group of people. Even if there is no manipulation or replacement by a secret organization, the subsequent 'distortion' or 'lost' rate of these survivors exceeds one quarter."

"Not only do we have to go through the process carefully ourselves, but there is also a strict review and final review by the Special Inspection Office. Bishop Tukville must take the time to come back in advance to check it."

"Understood, Mr. Heisler."

In the apartment room, the middle-aged gentleman stood calmly in the room for a few minutes after turning on the gas lamp and lighting the fireplace.

His expression gradually turned into a frown of pain.

If someone's spiritual sense is strong enough to spy on him, they can see that his astral body has two double images, similar in color to tan gold, and with clearly torn boundaries!

He set up a dense atmosphere on the upright piano in the room, lit the candles, and sat down to play a piece of polyphonic music by the late medieval master Kashunich. Only then did the abnormal double image of the astral body disappear, and his brows relaxed. Come.

"There were no such obvious indications before. What Qiong said is right. If the original hidden knowledge pollution is not sorted out, the inspiration and understanding after being promoted to the Deep One will cause big problems.

"Fortunately, Vienne mentioned that there is a temporary solution to the pollution of the 'old days', which can be alleviated with the help of simple secret rituals by playing music works of the 'late medieval period' or the 'baroque style' of previous lives."

The wrinkles on the organist's face faded little by little, the facial features shifted relative to each other, the mottled temples changed from mixed to pure, from dark gray to brownish red, and the entire body became much thinner.

The old-fashioned middle-aged gentleman turned into a handsome young face with a hint of worry.

It was Fan Ning who had been away from the "painful land" of the southern continent for four months.

At present, this method of suppressing his "old" pollution indicators is still very effective. After his promotion, he dismantled them for nearly four months. After his spiritual state was temporarily stabilized, he chose to work in the official organization with a new identity. Show your face and gradually carry out your plan.

After waking up from the dream, the world situation was turned upside down.

The "meat sacrifice" incident caused the fertile southern country to disappear overnight. Many shipping arteries disappeared out of thin air. Marine species communities suffered a devastating blow. Many supply markets that relied on the raw materials of the southern continent for medicine, food, and industrial raw materials were in ruins. As a result, the world stock market collapsed, companies went bankrupt, people were unemployed, the market was turbulent, and tens of millions of people engaged in panic buying, dumping, robbery and riots.

Afterwards, the Special Inspection Office made an extremely detailed report on the incident within the discussion group, and the conclusion on the cause of "Dream Collapse" has been "accepted" by major official organizations - although there are still doubts about many of the details.

As for the various versions spread among the people, although public opinion has been controlled on the surface, various conspiracy theories and doomsday theories are now rampant, and various serious anti-Special Patrol Office and even anti-official organizations are undercurrents.

All in all, this huge incident was not only the most terrifying and largest mysterious event in the new era, but also involved a series of chain reactions, which had a subversive and negative impact on the already turbulent situation in several continents. The two countries in the Western Continent have entered a state of war due to some historical geopolitical conflicts that have been detonated.

Official insiders are still required not to directly participate in the war, which has been the practice since the discussion group was established.

The things they have to deal with are more complicated and difficult to deal with.

For example, the problem of survivors in the "Meat-sacrifice" incident.

Yes, there are still many survivors of this incident.

——All the southerners in the south were spared, but a few of the southerners who stayed in foreign countries for a long time and foreigners who stayed in the south for a short time, either did not disappear with the dream, or found the exit to the awakening world in the astral turbulence after the nightmare collapsed, and returned to a completely inexplicable place compared with the previous one.

Taking the statistical number of the above three types of people as the denominator, the official overall survival rate given so far is 08%.

There are more than 400 million people involved, and there are about 300,000 survivors, scattered in the three continents of the north, southwest and southwest.

The survival rate is very low, but the number is still huge.

Under the unified dispatch of the discussion group, the search, statistics, classification, and aftermath work have been carried out one after another. Compared with the pitiful number of official knowledgeable people, coupled with many secret organizations with ulterior motives disrupting the situation, the intensity of the early work was simply dizzy.

Fortunately, the intensity soon eased down, and after three months, there were very few new survivors.

Fanning's current identity as a survivor is not completely fabricated. Before the dream collapsed and dissipated, Lavoisier and his teacher Bishop Sessler both existed and indeed had intersections with Walter in the southern continent. Fanning picked these identities that had vanished and "transplanted" them to himself.

After some character and personality processing, Lavoisier became a middle-aged organist who converted to the Holy Sun Church and achieved success late in life. He is proficient in doctrine and has a devout faith. His personality is a mixture of old-fashioned and fanatical, and he is determined to find the secret of the "God's Theme" in the church legend.

The latter is an important explicit motivation for Fanning's current action plan.

——Fanning understands that his plan to investigate the abnormal zone as soon as possible is probably inevitable. This is not only related to the secrets related to Vincent and his own crossing events, but also before returning to the northern continent, he needs to rely on the "God's Theme" to solve the pollution troubles of the "old days" and use its wreckage without worries.

For a believer of the Holy Sun Church, seeking the "theme of God" is also a reasonable lifelong pursuit.

This motivation can be used universally and is open and aboveboard, suitable for fishing in troubled waters after infiltrating the official team.

"And what about Joan's current situation?" Fan Ning frowned and thought, sitting in front of the table with swaying candlelight, and took out the silver flute she threw to him at the end.

As early as after escaping from the broken nightmare, Fan Ning noticed that there was a special migration sign left in its tube.

It may be her private way back to the dream.

The series of changes that occurred in the southern continent later made Fan Ning suspect that the "child mother", "cracking field" and the former "honey garden" and "fox lily field" might have some inextricable connection with the abnormal area.

"It's been four months. At present, I dare not enter the Qiming Church where the "old days" are stored, but other ways to enter the dream should be tried."

To be safe, Fan Ning once again arranged the secret ritual to stabilize his mind.

After the secret sleep-inducing atmosphere rose from the candlelight, he held the flute, smashed the small glass tube containing several milliliters of the "key" phase-shining essence liquid, and poured it into the flute.

As he closed his eyes and fell asleep, the arcs inside the flute overflowed from the tube and began to rotate violently outside.