The painting is not big, probably about the same size as a modern 24x19. A circle of iron sheet is nailed to the edge to serve as a frame, and the content is an empty street under the sunset.
Hitzfeld couldn't help but narrow his right eye slightly.
She saw that in the upper center of the picture, which was the uphill place where she had walked before, there was also a black shadow standing there.
The body is slender, standing on all fours, and the face cannot be seen clearly because of the backlight.
“Sunset and Wolves. A work full of distortion and evil.”
Alfred said suddenly.
"It was originally called "Sunset in Als" and was painted by the famous Kazan painter Bedrek. It was stolen and disappeared in 1948. When it reappeared, it turned into such a sinister appearance."
"You mean everything that happened before was... this painting?"
Hitzfeld frowned deeply.
She lowered her head and stomped her left foot.
There was still pain...her injuries hadn't gone away!
"Nightmare is still crawling out of a nightmare."
Alfred looked at her in amusement.
"Do you think being eaten by a nightmare is real or fake?"
"Its principle is easy to understand... You should already know that people have nightmares, corruption will cause nightmares to hatch in nightmares, and this terrible influence comes entirely from the interference of the dream world on the human spirit... Then think about it from this perspective, we can store the artificially created nightmare seal in certain objects, and stimulate its reappearance through some means... This possibility is certainly possible."
With a sigh, the old man put the painting under his armpit.
"This painting has been used by the Eclipse Church to launch attacks many times. Once triggered, the scene in the painting will turn into a nightmare, descending into reality and engulfing it. Unless he dies or someone breaks it, it will never stop."
"Several previous victims didn't even leave their bodies behind."
"Compared to that, you're pretty lucky."
"..."
Hitzfeld said nothing.
She would not try to be brave and say that she could handle it by herself if she had enough bullets.
If she had calculated wrong, she had calculated wrong. The fear of escaping death was still echoing in her heart, not allowing her to make any excuses for herself.
Two hours later, 221 Iris Street.
"good."
Satisfiedly wiping his lips with a napkin, Alfred raised his eyebrows in admiration.
"I didn't expect you had this skill."
It was already dark outside the window. The old man and Hitzfeld were sitting opposite each other at the dining table in the living room.
The difference is that the food on the opposite side was eaten up completely, while the food in front of Hitzfeld was hardly touched.
Today's experience left her with no appetite. In fact, after returning, she spent at least an hour washing off the corpse stench on her body.
"I want to talk to Shadow Lion about the next steps of protection."
She stared at the old man, ready to speak frankly.
Assault.
This shows that the library’s warning is not groundless.
This means that she, who would become disabled without guns, has been targeted by a group of lunatics.
She realized that the legacy of Dawson Literary Society would be the most important bargaining chip at this stage.
Can you use these chips to save your life?
Even further explore those hidden secrets.
It all depends on how she talks next.
Chapter 39: No Giving Up
Hitzfeld had no intention of trusting Shadow Lion.
Even though she quite liked Ethan and thought he was a bit like Agent Coulson of ., a universal lubricant, it was not difficult to find from her wife's manuscript that this organization also had many problems.
Information leakage.
There may be spies from hostile forces.
Dogmatism and rigid internal administrative rules.
And so on and so forth... She thought it was most likely these problems that forced the Madam to quit Shadow Lion that year.
So whether for the sake of her lady or her own life, she could not completely trust these guys.
"I know you have a lot of questions, so I might as well give you a general overview of the situation, so you know what kind of trouble you are involved in and what choices you should make to try to stay alive."
Alfred nodded and took a breath, preparing himself for a long speech.
"First of all, we have been maintaining a cooperative relationship with 'Wheel of Fortune'...ah~the so-called 'Port Wayne Royal National Library'."
"We all belong to the Kingdom of Sara and are committed to maintaining the stability of this country and this society."
"But as you can see, some people don't want peace."
"Maybe they are influenced by evil spirits, or maybe they are mentally abnormal. In short, there are many evil sects of all sizes hiding around, worshiping evil gods, trying to fulfill their wishes by offering sacrifices to some terrible things."
"The representative among them is the Eclipse Church."
"They are a very ancient, very secretive organization."
"According to the archives, they may have existed longer than the Kingdom of Sara. I don't know exactly how long, and perhaps only the people at the Wheel of Fortune know the answer."
"Forty years ago, the Eclipse Church launched a large-scale cult ceremony in the town of 菊颉簿涼木市 predecessor - the town of 涼木市."
"The Golem Curse... I believe you already know something about it from the painting on the third floor."
"Its source is a golem, a statue made of ironwood."
"No one knows when it appeared or who put it there. Anyway, when we received the news and rushed over to deal with it, it was standing quietly in the ground. The remains of the artifact were found in the ground!"
"That was a terrible, terrible disaster... It was a disaster that happened all over the world! It was a disaster that happened all over the world! It was a disaster that happened all over the world! "
"We paid a huge price to destroy the golem, isolate all the infected people, and eliminate the remaining infected people in the city. Now we have finally landed in Ninmu City."
"And in this matter, your teacher can be said to have made great contributions."
"Because of some mistakes we made internally at the time, she became disillusioned with her previous ideals and used her merits to exchange for a retirement quota, and stayed there to take care of her daughter."
"And then...well, there were some things we didn't do well, so when you saw her...well, she was already alone."
As he said this, Alfred twisted his hands together and looked away at the floor.
"If possible, we really don't want to involve her again."
He suddenly raised his head and looked at the girl sincerely.
"Not only me, but everyone who knows her story hopes that she can enjoy her old age in the place where she gave everything."
"The Eclipse Church again?"
Hitzfeld frowned slightly.
"They still haven't given up on that ritual."
Alfred nodded slightly.
"The way the ritual spreads corruption is so terrifying that we spent a huge amount of effort to completely cut it off forty years ago. Now the ritual has spread corruption and has become a means of transmission for the people. The ...
"I believe you have guessed it... yes... so they are targeting Dawson Literary Society."
"Dawson's Literature Society is a small literature society founded by Lilith Dawson before she married Ivan Glee. It is only open to the organization, and specializes in organizing and collecting information and materials about evil spirits and incense making. Forty years ago, when Lilith Glee left the organization, she did not take all of Dawson's Literature Society's assets with her. A large number of books and documents were sent to the library for safekeeping to ensure that no one could get their hands on them over the years."
"So naturally everything was peaceful at the beginning... But maybe it was because we suppressed them too harshly over the years, and they were eager to make some big noise... So they kept on doing this while trying to get rid of the old man and the new man!"
"Do you understand what I mean, Hitzfeld?"
He stared at the girl sternly.
"It means you have something dangerous in your hands."
"very dangerous."
"Those books and documents may contain the secret to restarting the golem curse."
"I suggest that you transfer the ownership of all the documents to us - of course, this is just a trusteeship - only in this way can we ensure that the disaster will not happen again."
Hitzfeld also looked at Alfred.
She did not speak.
One minute.
Two minutes.
"……what do you think?"
Alfred's eyelids twitched.
He never expected that one day he would lose to a child in cultivating qi.
"not so good."
Hitzfeld said coldly.
Alfred filled in a lot of missing information, and with his description and the manuscript, she was finally able to piece together the whole story.
Many doubts were solved, including how the Eclipse Church got this information - either from a spy leaked by the Shadow Lions, or directly from Ivan Grieg's mouth.
But that's not enough.
Not enough to exchange for her chips.
Alfred's words sounded nice, but he didn't explain in detail how to do it.
For example - she could hand the things over, but would the people of the Eclipse Church believe that she knew nothing?
Certainly not.
Then she would still be attacked.
Shadow Lion certainly doesn't believe it either.
So in order to prevent her from being captured by the Eclipse Church and leaking secrets, they would even put her under house arrest, claiming that this was to protect her.
If she really had no cards and no worries, she would definitely accept such conditions. At least it could save her life.
but……
The Eclipse Church can't catch me, can't get answers from me, what are they most likely to do next?
There is a high probability that he will attack the lady.
Hitzfeld remembered his wife's serious and rigid face.
I remember her rigid and preachy look.
I remember how she ate all the food I cooked without batting an eyelid.
I remembered her mocking herself as a shooting genius.
Thinking of how much effort she had put into sending her to the capital.
I remembered her standing on the steps and asking her if she wanted me to send her off.
Thinking of what happened to her in the manuscript.
And what kind of mood was she in when she wrote the sentence "It turns out that I am not as strong as I thought".
"...I want you to escort me back to Jiuxiao before the next eternal night!
She stared fixedly at Alfred with her right eye.
"If you don't agree, there's no point in discussing this."
"you……"
Alfred was a little caught off guard.
