A lily of the valley. The stems and leaves are green and green, and the flowers are crystal clear and as fresh as new. At first glance, there is nothing unusual about it. Only when you look closely can you notice the small gold nib at the end of the stem.
The blond young man Eden took it off his collar and simply drew a square frame against the stone wall. The light green ink smeared into the wall and quickly turned dark black after contacting the air.
He reached out and pushed against the stone wall. I don't know when the ink line turned into a real door crack, and the wall opened to the opposite side like a stone door. Behind the stone wall is a gorgeous, brightly lit room.
"Let's go to the Nightingale Theater to discuss the specific situation."
He stepped into the door first, followed closely by Jing Huang, and Yaleriga, who was hiding in the shadows, also followed.
Luo Binhan was still surprised by the "painted door". When he passed by, he took a closer look and found that the door seemed to already exist in the room. It was the only exit from the room.
There is wood burning in the fireplace in the room, and on the left is a row of floor-to-ceiling windows, covered by several dark red velvet curtains, with only a few gaps exposed. The mahogany floor seemed to have aged well and creaked slightly when someone walked on it.
Eden sat down in the armchair in front of the fire. To his right is a bookshelf as high as the roof, and further away is an exquisite grandfather clock. The clock face is made of dark oak as the main body, and four spiral columns support the ruffled brass dial. The reliefs on the side of the clock are densely covered with vines, olive branches, roses, lilies, hydrangea, iris, laurel, anemones... the dazzlingly colorful pictures of flowers seem to describe a dreamy scene in heaven.
The only thing that surprised Luo Binhan was that the grandfather clock seemed to have been damaged. The pendulum behind its glazed partition is an upside-down lotus flower, swaying like the wind blowing across the lake. However, three of the four hands on the lotus leaf clock dial - Luo Binhan counted them again - were still. Only the shortest black needle was spinning like flying.
That obviously exceeded the speed of the normal second hand, which made Luo Binhan feel as if his life was mysteriously disappearing.
Jing Huang also saw the clock. He clicked his tongue in displeasure: "Is it necessary to go to this extent? Are you being too cautious?"
"It's an insurance policy."
Eden replied as he sat in the armchair. He gently opened his coat, and a pearlescent mechanical bird flew out from the inner pocket.
A nightingale. Each of its feathers is made of gold, and the ends of the barbules are inlaid with fine gemstones. Its wings are made of ruby and emerald, its tail feathers are made of bluestone and lapis lazuli, and its neck and abdomen are made of diamonds and crystals of various colors.
The priceless artificial nightingale sat on Eden's shoulder. It looked back and forth, using its eyes made of obsidian to observe its surroundings, and its every move was lifelike. When Iden put his finger on its head, a series of melodious and crisp chirps came out from the beak carved from white jade.
Eden placed it in the golden birdcage on the low table on his left hand. The nightingale jumped up to the crossbar lightly and clung to it with its claws made of topaz. It continued to look left and right in the cage, and Luo Binhan could even feel its vigilance and uneasiness from its movements.
Jing Huang had no interest in this strange mechanical bird. He sat down on the acanthus pattern cloth sofa opposite Eden. Yaleriga stood quietly behind him, not seeming to mean to sit down.
Luo Binhan read an invisible tension from the attitudes of these two people. He realized that Jing Huang was actually more wary of the gentle and cold blond man in front of him than the dragon who was over 100 million years old.
Momolo gently held his sleeve, and the two of them sat on the cushioned bench beside him. The chair was spacious enough for three people to sit together, but Momoluo deliberately stayed close to him, enough to deal with accidents immediately.
The five people were relatively silent, with only the crackling of firewood in the fireplace. After a long time, Jing Huang raised his feet on the sofa.
"The atmosphere is not quite right... Although it is a common custom here to leave graffiti at the garbage station, there was not so much messy content when I found you last time. What is going on? As the lord of the gate city, you, No matter how much you dislike fire thieves, you wouldn't go out of your way to incite others to cause trouble on your territory, right?"
He touched his cheek darkly.
"And that broken stone tablet, is it going crazy? I'm just clearing the fucking wall, why is it rushing up to hit me?"
"Because you violated a taboo." Eden said calmly, "You let other people's blood fall on the ground. The golem will not consider the motives of your actions."
"Then they will arrest those who wrote in blood! If you don't arrest those who throw things, how about you arrest me who washes the walls?"
"That can't be done because they didn't break the law."
Jing Huang looked at him inexplicably.
Eden stood up from the main seat and walked to the window covered by a red velvet curtain. He looked into the depth of the gap and said: "The top of the city is an abandoned place, and the damage caused there does not violate the rules."
"I know that. But didn't they write the words with cursed blood? Isn't this considered harmful to others and a taboo?"
"They used their own blood," Eden said.
Jing Huang raised his head slightly. Eden looked at him indifferently.
"They put a curse on themselves, and then took blood to write those words. The specific kind of curse is unclear, but the Golden Guard has not found any remains so far, so it must not be a fatal type."
"...Is it necessary to do this? Even if they wipe out this city, the curse will not be able to hurt the fire thieves even a hair, right? Then again, you are really good at it. You have obviously avoided the thieves. If the fireman runs away, he will inevitably be implicated in the end.”
Jing Huang's words were mixed with disgust and gloating, as if he had no intention of hiding them in front of his master. He followed up and continued: "The recent rumors are getting tighter and tighter. It is impossible to keep a place like yours from all directions without chaos. Is this what worries you? Do you want me to write curses on those places? Catch the literal mouse?”
"No need." Iden said, "Those blood curses are irrelevant. There is another thing that needs you to solve."
The dark red velvet curtain behind him automatically opened without wind and slowly opened to both sides, revealing the strange scene outside the window.
A theater the size of a basketball court. It has thirteen rows of red cloth seats forming the auditorium, the floor is covered with a velvet carpet woven with flowers, and six crystal chandeliers illuminate the entire space brightly.
The room where everyone is located is located above and behind the auditorium, like a second-floor box specially prepared for VIPs. However, both the stage and the audience were empty at this time, making this grand and elegant place a bit eerie.
Eden walked slowly back to the main seat. The caged golden nightingale chirped.
The lights in the theater suddenly went out, the music played softly, and the actors appeared from both sides of the stage. They are all puppets in costumes, with clever joint designs on their arms, legs, neck and waist, allowing them to move flexibly. The sculpted face is matched with skillful makeup, and it looks fake from a distance.
The light and shadow on the curtain change, and the horrifying story begins:
——The cat man lives in the pavilion and plays with the mermaids in the water. Suddenly an iron net descended from the sky, trapping him inside. A hunter came from a distance, shot it to death with a gun, and then skinned it and took out its bones.
——Mother walks in the woods, comforting her baby in her arms. A wolf-faced monster emerges from the darkness. It bit the mother's head into pieces, dyed her dress and necklace red, and left her young son crying on the spot.
——A dwarf boat dealer with hidden jewels in the box. The masked men forced each other with knives, took away the goods and jewelry, and then cut their throats and hung them to death.
The puppets dance together on the stage, and although there is not a word of dialogue, all the details are clear. After the three scenes were played one after another, the bleak music suddenly stopped.
The stage closes, the lights come on, and everything returns to its original state.
