As one of the king's closest companions, Vera's mansion was naturally chosen in the best location in the inner city, not too far from the bustling streets but not too noisy. It's only about an hour's walk from where the largest bishop lives.
But when everyone actually came here, the characteristics of the ruins were almost overwhelming. The entire mansion seemed to show no signs of lack of maintenance, and even the fence and metal gate outside the courtyard showed no signs of rust. The grass and trees in the courtyard are not blooming, but they are still green. A sculpture is erected in the center of the courtyard, carving a huge clock, but the dial does not have twelve numbers, but twelve patterns.
On the pillar on the right side of the gate, a brand similar to the one at the institute was embedded, but it lacked the lively and out-of-the-box feel of that brand, and it was just three heavy black characters [Tokyo Pavilion].
Jean raised his hand and pushed the door gently, and immediately there was a gap and it was not locked.
"It's almost like letting us in." The man named Kong Xiu in Liu Yunqing's team said, "How is the danger of the ruins?"
"Different ruins are different. They are mainly used to seal treasures, because the treasure itself has the power to pull people into the illusion of memories. Traps are not often found in ruins." Jean said.
"But it's different here." Lian Bisheng interrupted.
"Yes, according to the greatest bishop, Vera's body is indeed still here. None of us know what a single body can do, but it is certainly not without any danger." Lu Ning nodded.
"Just in time to test our combat effectiveness." Yan Rong clenched his fist.
Everyone pushed open the door and walked into the courtyard. The moment Lu Ning entered the Pavilion of Time, she suddenly felt her head sink. The world in front of her seemed to have many more overlapping people. However, this was only for a moment, and the surroundings returned to normal in an instant. The companions also looked around with blank expressions, as if they were experiencing the same situation.
"Just now……"
"It's really not that simple here."
"Move with caution."
The group of people warned each other and began to walk towards the main room of the mansion. This is a three-story house, and it doesn't look that luxurious on the outside. If it were an ordinary bungalow, it would be normal, but it was a bit simple for Vera's status.
Yan Rong touched the door of the main room with the tip of his spear, then stepped forward, grasped the door handle and pushed it inward, then jumped back a step. But nothing happened, and all her vigilant actions were in vain.
"Inside here..."
Zhu Qinyuan frowned and looked inside the door. He saw an ordinary-looking porch with faintly visible stairs. There was no hall. It was clearly a mansion but it was structured like an apartment.
"What's the problem?" Jean asked.
"No, I didn't notice it." Zhu Qinyuan shook his head, "But as Vera's residence, there are some time-related objects here, which can make people aware of it."
"Let's go in." Lu Ning stepped up the steps and entered the house.
Compared to the quaint appearance and huge appearance, the inside is full of modern facilities. The corridors that are not too wide are lined with rooms on both sides. Some plants are only a few ornaments for decoration. The rest is cleaner than the corridors in the institute. . Lu Ning stepped onto the stairs, and she could feel that there were living things in this room.
"Let's go up and have a look..."
At this moment, she noticed something was wrong, turned her head sharply, and found that the people under the stairs had all changed their shapes as if separated by a thick convex lens, and her voice did not reach those people at all. in the ears. Lu Ning hurriedly wanted to go down the stairs, but at this moment, someone grabbed her sleeve.
"Don't go there."
She was startled. She didn't hear any noise. There were stairs above. Who could come down silently?
But when she turned around, she saw a somewhat haggard face - that was Dorian, but she seemed a little older than in Lu Ning's memory.
"you--"
"Shh, come upstairs with me." Dorian tugged on Lu Ning's sleeves and led her up the stairs, turned a corner, and entered a room. This house looks like a separate living room, with a bedroom, bathroom and even a small kitchen.
"Dorian, why are you here? Alex has been looking for you. We saw Bingham at the Dark Sage..."
"Dark Sage, ha, I was fooled by him." Dorian sat on a chair, "It's been a long time since I saw you. Maybe it's not that long for you, but for me it's been thirty years." For years.”
"More than thirty years?" Lu Ning frowned.
"Where to start?" Dorian thought for a moment, "Why don't you ask, these years of experience have been engraved in my mind, and I can't forget it even if I want to."
"What happened at the campfire?"
"It was a group of lunatics who were exiled to the wasteland from the outer city who attacked us. Didn't you see the bodies?"
"There are only corpses carved in black by the bonfire. What kind of madman is this?"
"Hmph... Now that I think about it, this was also premeditated. Those guys are not crazy at all." Dorian snorted, "Those guys are well-equipped. It seems that they are premeditated. Anyway, they suddenly started plotting. We After suffering a big loss, Bingham and I saw a way out when we were almost desperate, and then... we saw the Dark Sage."
"Do you think those attacks were also arranged by the Dark Sage?"
"Otherwise, why would a bonfire in the wasteland be suddenly attacked? Or take advantage of the moment of the red alarm... But we were stupid at the time. When we saw the Dark Sage, we thought we were seeing a legendary figure. Bingham entered with him first He left the room and told me after he came out that he asked me how to take revenge and got a blessing, telling me not to ask the same question again. But that was the only thing we wanted to do at the time, and he wouldn't let me ask if I could think of it for the moment. If nothing else happened, the Dark Sage brought me into the room, and I didn’t want to waste time.”
"It's easy to make mistakes when in a hurry."
"Yes, I was anxious and thought it was because I grew too slowly, so I asked the Dark Sage if there was any way for me to become stronger quickly and truly protect the people around me."
Lu Ning sighed.
"He told me that there was a treasure in the inner city's ruins that would be perfect for me and could provide a way for me to get here. But I was given a mission... to also obtain for him a person named Valla." something studied.”
According to the greatest bishop, Vera had predicted what would happen to the people who lost their lives before committing suicide. Since the greatest bishop knew this, maybe Vera had actually advised many people, but they were just not listened to. No matter what the reason for Vera's suicide was, with her character, she realized that it was impossible not to find a way to solve the problem, and the Dark Sage was probably here for this too.
"So you're done?" Lu Ning saw that there were no special changes in her body after she said this, and she knew that the dark secret order had probably been lifted.
"Yes, the treasure was put together with those documents. I was almost killed by two servants, but I got them by luck. The moment I got the documents, a black stone came out of my body, and the documents were rolled in "I found myself in a path that I can't enter, and our deal is over." Dorian said bitterly, "But the price is that I still can't escape from here after thirty years!"
"What is going on in this place?" Lu Ning asked.
"This place has become a maze of time. Invisible one-way time barriers are moving slowly throughout the house. When a person passes through the barriers, he will be sent to another time period." Dorian has had some experience with the condition of the house over the years, "but the problem is that the entire house shares a space, and you can only step into the outside space if you are at the right time. The rest of the outside is nothing."
"So what would have happened if I walked back just now?"
"The one-way time barrier is only visible on the impenetrable side." Dorian said, "I don't know what will happen. I only know that none of the people who pass through will be able to see me again."
"So there is someone else here?" Lu Ning asked.
"About twenty or so, they all want to try their luck in this ruins. They are all like me back then. They dared to break in without even knowing who Vera is." Dorian raised her forehead, "But Don’t worry, the time barrier only exists in the corridor and will not appear in the room. It is still safe here.”
"Is this the only danger here? I remember you mentioned being chased by servants?"
"Yes, servant..." Dorian pinched her eyebrows, "There are male and female servants walking around here. There are not many of them, but I don't know when they will encounter each other. The male servant's weapon is a straight sword. and a pendulum, while the maid's weapons are pistols and pocket watches. They will attack any non-servant they encounter indiscriminately, and each of them is frighteningly powerful."
"What level?"
"I can still run when faced with two or three, but if there are five, I can only wait for death. By the way, the treasure I found has been fused, and my current strength should be good." Dorian said.
"I will pay attention, but my friends... Alex also came with us, we have to find a way to notify them, right?"
Dorian smiled bitterly: "We have to find a way... Time will isolate all communication signals. We don't even know which time period we are in. The time in this mansion seems to have never changed. I have been groping for thirty years. It's been years and I haven't found any correlation with these times. I tried leaving marks on the walls, blackening some walls, everything I could, but they didn't appear for any period of time."
Lu Ning thought for a while: "These... what if those servants are cleaning?"
"Then what can I do? They are the guardians of this house. They can manually generate time barriers, and can quickly travel to another time through time jump. The damage they received can be restored immediately using time return. Butchers are not that unreasonable. All right?"
This is indeed a problem.
Lu Ning knew that it was useless to worry about her friends. She could only pray for good luck. Unfortunately, she had hit a barrier. She could only hope that they would discover her disappearance as soon as possible.
...It was actually quite early. Yan Rong discovered that Lu Ning was missing almost five seconds after she disappeared.
"Where is Lu Ningren?" She looked around, "Which room did she enter?"
"Didn't enter the room over here." Jean was standing in the corridor on the left and didn't move much, so he was very sure. But no one paid special attention in other directions. The structure of the mansion gave up a lot of space for rooms, and the narrow corridors also meant that everyone's view was not wide.
"I remember that she was behind me, and she seemed to be preparing to go upstairs..." Finally, Liu Yunqing remembered something, "Anyway, she was looking at the stairs, but everyone was looking elsewhere, so I think she must have gone upstairs. I would call everyone to join in, but I wouldn’t pay special attention.”
"Spatial isolation?" Lian Bisheng frowned, "Anyway, don't get close to the stairs over there... One of us will go back to the door to guard the door. If something happens to the people inside, we have to personally inform the greatest bishop and think about it. Method."
Li Qianqiu glanced at the people in his team: "Mao Yan, Su Licai, you two go out and guard."
"Brother Li... do you think we are weak?" a young man said immediately.
"Because you are young." Li Qiqiu said bluntly, "If it were for training, I would let you accumulate experience, but the situation is unclear now. If you don't take such a big risk here, it won't be worth it if you die."
"It sounds like Brother Li, Sister Liu, you haven't given enough." Another person also spoke, "Although we are young, we are not children anymore. It is not okay to always accept such care."
"...Someone has to get out."
"Then let Sister Yueying go out. Her old injury is not fully healed. If we get into a fierce battle, we may not be able to take care of her." The first young man said immediately.
Li Qianqiu sighed and glanced at Kong Xiu: "Kong Xiu, how about you and Jiang Yueying help us guard?"
"If no one else takes the initiative, then so be it." Kong Xiu nodded.
Others did not grab this. Kong Xiu and Jiang Yueying, who had always looked pale, thanked everyone, walked to the door, and went out safely in the eyes of everyone. After that, Jean raised his arms: "Now, let's see what's weird about this house."
As soon as he finished speaking, the Glorious Church officially unfolded, and Jean's body turned into a solemn black bishop's uniform, and the sword in his hand turned into a cross-shaped scepter. He hit the ground hard, and loud hymns suddenly sounded. It was played throughout the entire mansion.
"Eighteen positions of music are distorted." After listening for a moment, Jean made a judgment immediately, "The stairwell is also one of the positions, but according to the music, those positions are moving slowly... I can't rule out that there are others that I can't find. Please be careful about the hidden methods that come out!"
"Let me lead the way." Yan Rong said.
"Follow me upstairs." Jean walked to another staircase.
At the bottom of a staircase that no one noticed, a manservant wearing a dark green servant's uniform suddenly appeared. He listened to the hymns in the room, his eyes wide open, and his two blue-grey hands He tightened his grip on the weapon in his hand.
