"What's the matter, madam?" the black-haired man said, and then he turned to look at the family members on the left and right, "We haven't had guests here for a long time... What's going on these days, one after another."
Alicia suddenly felt dizzy. She suddenly realized that the person in front of her was most likely the famous character in the children's book illustration. She swallowed: "Are you Aladdin?"
Through Neeleman's notes, Alicia gained a deeper understanding of that legendary story. She knows that the magic lamp that makes people's wishes come true is by no means something that does not require a price - after obtaining a happy life through the magic lamp, she will inherit the curse of the previous lamp god and become a slave who realizes the wishes of others. If no one cleans the oil lamp again, it will be trapped in a small space forever.
This magic lamp seems to be the cruel ridicule of the ancient gods on mankind's pursuit of "full happiness".
Good wine, good food, beauties, beautiful houses... People wiped the oil lamps again and again, asking for nothing more than these things that can temporarily satisfy their desires.
Rational thinking seems to only appear when you are outside the situation. For example, people who read the story may think like this: Wouldn’t the person who uses the magic lamp suddenly feel panic at night, afraid that these things can come true without any cost? Sweet dream?
Perhaps, every time they wipe the magic lamp, they actually know it in their hearts.
They know that everything is secretly marked with a price, and every time they wipe it, the price tag of their souls is shaken...
Even so, even if they know that they will pay an unbearable price after death, the gods who created this terrible thing also know that people will never stop making wishes - for their "full happiness" and "envied happiness". For good wine, good food, beautiful people, and beautiful houses... they will wipe the magic lamp again and again.
Because that's what people are.
"Are you Aladdin?" The Aladdin in the story "One Thousand and One Nights" studied by Neeleman was the last owner of the magic lamp. This also means that if Alicia is indeed inside that magic lamp, then what is in front of her is probably the most famous young man who hit the jackpot!
"Aladdin, Aladdin..." the black-haired man sighed, "My name is Ding Alai. These people from the Western Regions always get their first and last names wrong.
"I was an Oriental when I was alive." Ding Alai stood up, his tall figure wrapped in black clothes, "I was a papermaker. After the battle of Talas, I was captured by the people from the Western Regions. I followed the army all the way west, passing through Broken Leaf City. , and finally arrived in Baghdad.
"I suffered there for many years and finally became free...
When Ding A came to talk, his "family" smiled and looked at him with straight eyes. That expression made Alicia uncomfortable.
"You should know the rest of the story - I was bewitched by a wizard from the west, and I got this thing by chance..." Aladdin opened his hands and covered the surrounding area.
"It took me so long, but I came up with two things." He chuckled, and Alicia couldn't describe his expression at the moment. Although it was a smile, there was nothing worth remembering in that smile, "First, don't be messy. Picking up things and going home; secondly, having your wish come true may not necessarily be a good thing."
"Oh, one more thing," Ding Alai scratched his nose and pointed in the direction of the auditorium, "There is another person over there."
There is another person? What's the meaning? Alicia Pompeo turned towards the direction pointed by the djinn.
Behind the rows of stage lights stood a tall figure. Alicia couldn't see who it was.
Why is there another person? What is he doing there?
Squinting her eyes, the female chess player gradually adapted to the bright light. When she saw the only "audience" in the auditorium, her eyes suddenly widened.
The man had a strong facial profile, a rough beard and long hair. In the pupil of his opened left eye, the original golden island was gone. It was now hollow, like the eyeballs of a dead person.
Alicia suddenly remembered the missing body in Ocean City.
Rabbi Lins Pompey, who was in the audience.
The living dead snapped his fingers, Ding Alai's set collapsed into pieces, and the surrounding area turned into darkness.
trap!
The female chess player felt dizzy.
For the first time, she couldn't see clearly the person she was playing chess with. Erwin Schrödinger crossed his hands, his face immersed in darkness.
"Wright!" Alicia yelled as she pulled out of the lamp, feeling like her head was being jerked out of the water.
The phase returned to her body with some suffocation. She watched helplessly as a cold light emitted from the spout, and a silver snake coiled around Wright's body. The moment Wright lost his balance and fell to the ground, the snake bit him hard on the arm, and the solidified frost spread around him. In the blink of an eye, his body seemed to be sprinkled with salt.
The old oil lamp disguised as a magic lamp fell to the ground, and there was no trace of mystery in it. Counterfeits can be deadly.
The full moon was obscured by thick clouds, and four or five figures appeared on the originally deserted grassland.
A lady with her hair tied tightly gathered her cloak, her lips were gray and her face was expressionless.
A man in a brown coat with a distinctive mustache pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose with his middle finger.
The two Aces of the Foundation, two of the most famous top scholars in the world.
Schrödinger probably didn't come. Alicia judged before she fell to the dirt. But she saw the player's eyes. A beam of light illuminated those eyes in the darkness, staring coldly at her.
·
All memories of what happened in Prague were suspended, and Alicia's thoughts returned to the dungeon of Hasenhill Castle and the current body.
For me, this is the worst possible situation.
Wright Flamel was already firmly under Schrödinger's control.
As for the successor president, Schrödinger, he had no idea where he was hiding at this time.
However, even in these darkest times, there is still a little hope.
Wendy and Jennifer already know that they have been captured, and they will definitely gather their forces to try to rescue them. However, since her manpower was spread across the continent, and the farthest ones had reached the hinterland of Northern Europe, it must have taken a long time.
In addition, he has sent a distress signal to Arthur through the book club key.
The detective will definitely come to save him.
A hand wearing a knight's ring flashed before Alicia Pompeo's eyes——
It's strange. In my impression, that guy is obviously weak, but I always feel that he can save the crisis at hand.
He, he will come too. That was the person who had been with him in the chessboard space all night long, making plans to kill the lion and chop the wings.
The small window on the iron door was closed, and the phantom chessboard stopped abruptly. The female chess player exhaled a long breath in the darkness, and then she closed her eyes and felt herself melting into the darkness.
·
After the Golden Era docked at the Port of Hamburg in Gelmann, Sean and his party only rested for one night before boarding the train that runs through the country from north to south. After three days of uneventful rail journey, they arrived at Munich at the southern end. ——We are getting closer to Vienna, where the foundation headquarters where Alicia is imprisoned.
Before arriving in Munich, Arthur, who had never shown up, informed Sean of a location and told him to meet a key figure in the operation there. So Sean came to the door of an old restaurant called Franz Scannell located next to the City Hall Square.
