When we returned to the detective station, it was getting late. Another cloudy night, the moonlight and stars were nowhere to be seen.
After opening the door, the first thing Ed did was to fall down on the bed and enter the palace of thought.
"Sylvie..."
[Okay, I know you are looking for this. 】
Before Ed could finish his words, the dark copy of the Kuntu Family Secret Code was already thrown on the desk. As you scan the pages with your fingers, you can see that the content above is complete and detailed, word for word.
Since Mr. Kuntu can summon level four spirits through the knowledge in the book, the content of this secret book must be extraordinary.
Just when Ed wanted to flip through it carefully, the pages of the book suddenly closed, as if they were closed by some external force. Flame words in Sylvie's handwriting appeared on the dark book cover:
[I must warn you, Mr. Smart, this book is indeed of great value, but the forbidden knowledge contained in it will permanently corrode your sanity. 】
Erode sanity?
Ed recalled that Mr. Kuntu's crazy state in the last few pages of his diary may have something to do with this secret book of family heirlooms.
[Reason is a tool for human beings to understand the world, but this world cannot be fully understood by human wisdom. Just like a difference engine trying to process data beyond its capabilities, it will inevitably lead to the collapse of the entire mechanical system. 】
"So this book is of no use to me?"
he asked rather regretfully. There is a treasure in front of it, but it contains a curse. Turning around and leaving would be unsatisfactory.
Even so, Ed also knows that those chaotic and crazy knowledge cannot be easily touched by mortals.
[It’s not useless. After scanning, I found a dream coordinate written in secret text, which may contain the Kuntu family's secret treasure. 】
"Secret treasure?" Ed's eyes lit up.
A card full of scars was spat out by the strange machine:
"Dream Beacon: Antique Studio"
[This dream is very fragile and is on the verge of collapse. It is unlikely to be a threat. You can explore it with confidence. 】
"uh-huh."
Ed inserted the card into the door slot. In front of him was a dark studio about the same size as Buck's cellar. There was heavy rain outside and thunder and lightning.
The ground is in a mess, and with the decline of the Kuntu family, this place has lost its former glory.
The decline of the family did not happen overnight. I am afraid that this dream was already empty before Mr. Kuntu was born.
The portraits on the wall show the successive heads of the Kuntu family. The canvas is stained by damp water vapor, the figures become blurred and distorted, and the oil paint flows down like tears.
[There is a faint anomaly here, move the portrait away. 】
Sylvie's flame text appeared in front of the widest portrait. The figure in the painting looked like a potbelly, but the outline of the eyes shone with evil and extraordinary wisdom.
Moving away from the large portrait, there was actually a hollowed-out alcove behind it, with a broken dressing mirror placed here.
The golden-proportioned oval frame, with trivial and complicated patterns, is extremely noisy and luxurious, as if it is trying its best to confirm the glorious era of the family in the heavy rain.
However, the mirror in the center had disappeared, leaving only three incomplete fragments, vaguely reflecting Ed's broken face.
[The Mirror of Illusion was made by Zorel, a great craftsman during the reign of Voluni. There are 64 mirrors in total, and the number in existence is unknown. This should be the core item that constructs this dream, and it is precisely because its power is exhausted that the dream is crumbling. 】
"what's it for?"
[Communicate with other mirror holders, temporarily change the appearance, and temporarily withdraw the illusion in the mirror into the real world. It's just that this mirror has been broken, and only the last function is left. 】
"Extract the illusion into the real world?"
This description was too unreal, and Ed didn't understand it for a while.
[In other words, you can release a clone of yourself. The power of the clone is very weak, similar in strength to that of a mirror, but it will imitate your every move. Or, you can directly control his actions through the puppet secret text. 】
"Understood."
Ed stretched out his palm, and the pale white flames instantly swallowed up the remaining three broken lenses.
Boom——, lightning and thunder intertwined outside the window. The thunder was like a hammer hitting an anvil violently, vowing to crush the room.
In contrast, a card appeared at Ed's fingertips:
"Mirror Fragment of Illusion (3/3)"
With the lush electric light, he saw a long, ticket-like piece of paper quietly placed under the frame.
"Admission ticket...Invisible Hand Auction House?"
[Hurry up and get out of here. 】
The flame text flickered faintly, showing urgency. Ed couldn't care less, put the ticket in his pocket, and hurriedly left the room.
Just when he returned to the palace of thought through the door, the antique studio instantly fell apart, leaving only nothingness and chaos.
Ed originally thought that he could get another faceless iron coin this time to pave the way for his future program upgrades, but he didn't expect that Kuntu's family was already completely destitute.
Fortunately, I didn't get nothing...
He took out the peculiar admission ticket from his pocket. It had a texture like paper but felt as smooth as satin.
The ink on the card depicts a dark palm, with an eyeball embedded in the palm, and the alluring text reads - Invisible Hand Auction House.
"What is this, Sylvie?"
[I don’t know, there is no record of it in the program. 】
"Wow, there's something you don't know about?" Ed half sighed and half felt weird.
[Even the gods are not omniscient and omnipotent. This pattern can be split into a dream coordinate through geometric transformation. If you are interested, you might as well go and see it in person. 】
Go and see for yourself?
Ed thought about this proposal seriously. There was a virtual image of the Keeper program, so he didn't have to worry about his identity being exposed. There must be more than one ticket like this, and the possibility of risk is not high.
Moreover, even if there is danger in this dream, I can forcibly disconnect from the dream through the secret keeper program. I can completely bear such a risk.
So, he dived into the second dreamland and redesigned a new virtual mirror——
Fat face, pot belly, pear-shaped figure, plus Mr. Downston's same round mustache. No one would have guessed that such a person would have even the slightest connection with Edgar Waikolo, a former maintenance worker and reserve investigator with the Bureau of Investigation.
Insert the ticket for the "Invisible Hand Auction House" into the card slot in front of the door, and the door to the dreamland opens again...
Before entering, Ed pulled the ticket out of the card slot. This ticket would be used later when entering the venue.
What comes into view is a slender four-story building. The light and stable frame of steel beams and columns replaces the heavy texture of classical architecture. The bas-relief decoration uses less cold-colored marble and instead uses warm-textured brass and tropical wood, which reflect a dazzling golden light in the illusive sunlight.
The wooden face of the clockwork doll is painted with delicate blush, and the automatic piano nearby controls the player through a punched cassette, playing the music of the gorgeous suite with incomparable precision:
"Welcome to the Invisible Hand Auction House, sir, everything has a price."
