Click.
Ed opened the door to Buck's room, or rather to his own room, without knocking.
In the room, Buck was sitting in front of the drawing board with his back to him. There was an empty chair in front of him, as if he was waiting for visitors.
"You're drawing on an empty chair?" Ed said.
"It's not empty now, please take a seat." Buck said with a rare and gentle honorific.
It seems that he guessed that I would come to him.
Even if Buck wanted to harm himself, Ed didn't think he would choose to do it here. He calmly sat on it, lowered the brim of his hat slightly and asked:
"You went to see Stone Quinto?" Ed asked, leaning on his cane.
"Yes." Buck sat in front of the drawing board and dipped his right hand into the palette tremblingly. The disability of his hand did not affect his painting speed at all, and he was as clean and neat as a professional mason.
"Because of that painting?"
"Of course." He said without hesitation.
Ed felt reassured, knowing that Buck would continue to dig for clues about the painting. Fortunately, this guy was at least willing to confess frankly:
"Listen, Buck, I don't know what you're planning, but it has to stop here - your obsession with that painting has gone a little too far."
The painting had been surrendered to the Crow's Nest overnight and is now being stored in the maximum security Contaminant Archives. Of course, he would not let Buck know about this.
Buck turned a deaf ear, and there was no trace of enthusiasm in his golden eyes. He said in a slow and calm tone like a dock worker sitting on the steps to rest and roll a cigarette:
"If you want to uncover the secret of that painting, you must first master the secret text of the 'Curtain' - Stone Kuntu mentioned that there may be clues in the black-covered book."
"...In addition, he also told me the prayer that awakened the words in the book - 'The River Styx is dead and the night is starless'. That's all I know. Is there anything else you want to ask?"
"..."
Ed fell into silence. He did not expect that Buck would confess the matter to himself, which made him feel a little embarrassed for a while.
He thought that the painting had made Buck lose himself, but now it seemed that Buck still had reason.
Objectively speaking, Buck's meeting with Kuntu this time also did him and the Bureau a big favor - after all, Mr. Kuntu would definitely not tell anyone else this secret.
Maybe there's no need to take action against Buck just yet, just keep observing?
"Don't worry, Ed, I wouldn't do anything bad to you. You're my friend—whether you remember it or not."
Buck let go of his brushes and palette and stood up with a smile on his face. Just when Ed was wondering what he was going to do, Buck turned the easel around with difficulty:
"By the way, I don't have the money to pay the rent. If you are satisfied, you can take the portrait away."
Ed looked intently at his portrait and couldn't help but feel a tremor——
His portrait - or rather just a vague figure, with a faceless hole cut out of his head, colorful paint seeping out from the broken crystal wall...
…
Five minutes later, in the palace of thinking.
"What do you decide to do with that little golden retriever, my dear good sir?"
Ed pondered again and again, and finally turned from the desk to look at her:
"Sylvie, a serious question: Do you think it's possible for him to be aware of your presence?"
The hidden content of that portrait seemed to involve his core secret. He didn't know why Buck would give such a portrait to him. Was it some kind of threat or hint?
If Mr. Eaton had done the same thing, Ed would have definitely taken a ferry that night and smuggled across to the New World. Even if he did, he would have to swim out of Silvermist City.
But hinting...that's not very Buck's style.
"I'm afraid that's not possible. At most, he can only perceive your subtle changes at a vague, conceptual level. To detect my existence, you need a very high level."
"How high a position is required?"
"It's probably as high as seven or eight floors."
Sylvie did not give a clear answer, but instead used a wisecrack to avoid the topic. Ed had no choice but to give up asking:
"Then what do you think I should do now?"
"My program specifications theoretically do not allow me to provide users with decision-making suggestions——"
Sylvie held the pillow in her arms, acting as if it had nothing to do with her:
"But that guy is an unstable factor. If you really decide to get rid of him, it doesn't cost much. You just need to ask the Woodcutter and Fishing Gang to 'do a small favor' - they are the best at it. This is the kind of thing.”
"Forget it, just stay vigilant about him for the time being and monitor him more."
Buck did not commit any hostile act against himself, and even helped a lot. Killing someone just because the other party "might" be a threat was really inappropriate both emotionally and rationally.
What's more, perhaps because she found hope in this peer who had the same disease, Charlotte's mental state seemed to have become more stable since he moved here.
That's it for now...
Ed sighed softly and gently touched the copy of the Book of Darkness with his palm. Since it has been stored in the database of the Keeper program, he can access it at will at this time.
Just by touching the dark cover with your fingertips, you can hear a faint whisper in your ear.
In addition to the secrets of Victor Quintu's legacy, this book should at least contain the path to mastering the secret text of "The Veil", but the knowledge contained in it contains a lot of contamination.
Through the database of the Divine Adjustment Bureau, he knew that it was one of the seven forbidden secret texts, "Feast", "Drowning", "Curtain", "Curse", "Resurrection", "Veil", and "Plague", which coincided with Corresponds to the seven sacred mysteries of the Church.
However, since Ed's confidentiality level is low and he cannot check the specific functions of each secret text without authorization, he can only speculate based on his own experience:
The secret text of "Feast" seems to be related to the mutation of the body; Mr. "Sea Monster" has mastered the secret of "Drowning" to a certain extent; as for the secret text of "Veil", the "informant Frank" of the Woodcutter and Fishermen's Gang has already given it to him. He demonstrated it.
As for the other four, he could only roughly guess the areas they affected based on the names of the secret texts: "Plague" must be related to epidemics, "Curse" sounds like voodoo magic, and "Resurrection" is 80% related to death. The spiritual mage cannot escape his involvement.
But "Curtain"...he really couldn't figure out the function of this secret text just based on the name.
"By the way, Sylvie, do you know the area of effect of the secret text of the 'curtain'?"
"Theoretically, I can only provide free consulting services related to the manual of this machine. If you want to check the information, you are welcome to pay -"
"Okay, I'll think about it myself..."
