Chapter 278 Password
Chapter 278 Password
A blood-red sunset hung on the distant horizon, and the flood receded, leaving a devastated scene.
Looking back from the highest point of the bell tower, there are large areas of exposed brown-yellow mountain among the dense vegetation on the back hill of Vanessa Castle. Those are scars torn open by landslides and mudslides, which were not there before.
Ning Zhe adjusted his body position, loosened his hands, and landed on the edge of the stone pavilion below the spire with a bang, almost falling down.
This is the highest point of the entire Vanessa Castle. In the stone pavilion on the top of the tower hangs a huge bell made of black iron, and the end of the bell tongue is connected to a hemp rope as thick as an arm.
Ning Zhe felt severe pain in his broken left arm. He frowned, supported himself on the pavilion pillar with one hand and slowly stood up. His face was pale.
The pain in his body could not shake his will, but Aurore's body was shaking slightly. The pain from the fracture made the muscles in his left arm tense and spasm. He felt nauseous and wanted to vomit, as if he had hit his internal organs when he fell. These were all inevitable physiological reactions of a flesh-and-blood body.
After taking a few seconds of deep breath, Ning Zhe adjusted his disordered mental state, placed the corpse oil lamp on the ground with his still intact right hand, took out a lighter and lit it with one hand.
As the lights came on, the rust spots on the black iron bell in the center of the stone pavilion disappeared, replaced by a thick yellow metallic color, similar to the texture of brass.
Ning Zhe took off the sword from his waist and tapped the bell lightly. The clear and long sound started.
Yes, he had indeed come to the old Vanessa Castle where the flood had just receded. The black iron hanging bell in front of him, which had been removed by the European government's engineering team and replaced with a bronze bell due to rust problems, was the most direct evidence.
"So...how did I fall from the underground corridor leading to the secret room to the rooftop?"
Before Ning Zhe could think more, a burst of light footsteps suddenly came from below. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw a spiral corridor under the steps of the stone pavilion, which was getting closer and closer. It seemed that someone was coming up the stairs.
The stone pavilion on top of the tower occupies only a few square meters. There is no place to hide, and no way to retreat.
But there is no need to retreat.
Ning Zhe took a deep breath. The excruciating pain stimulated the fragile nerves of his body. He put the sword on his waist with one hand and tore off the covering of the lampshade. The bright light poured out without any hindrance.
At the bottom of the stairs, the footsteps approached, and the first thing that caught my eye was an old head with sparse long hair. No, it was not sparse, but shaved.
The man who walked up the stairs was as skinny as a skeleton. The hair on the top of his head was shaved off, forming a perfect empty circle. The hair around his head and on his temples was still long, hanging down to his shoulders, like an artificially shaved Mediterranean hairstyle.
"The crown of thorns..." Ning Zhe's heart moved slightly. He moved sideways a few steps with the corpse oil lamp and hid his body behind the black iron pendant bell.
Through the bottom of the hanging bell, one could see a pair of skinny feet walking up the steps to the pavilion, with only the hanging bell between them and Ning Zhe. Just as Ning Zhe could see its feet, at this moment, as long as it lowered its head, it could also see Ning Zhe's feet.
——Generally speaking, this is the case.
But now Ning Zhe is holding a lamp in his hand.
A skinny old man with a Mediterranean or crown of thorns hairstyle walked up to the stone pavilion, stood there for a few seconds, then turned around and walked to the hanging clock, his head turning stiffly, as if observing something.
"Crackling..." It was the sound of cloth rubbing against the ground. An old man, as skinny as a skeleton, walked a few steps around the pendulum.
Ning Zhe stared at the slowly moving feet on the other side of the pendant clock. He also moved away, holding the corpse oil lamp and took two steps in the same direction.
The old man stood there in a daze again, his hollow eyes filled with confusion.
A man and a ghost stood at the two ends of the stone pavilion, separated by a hanging bell. On Ning Zhe's side, the hanging bell appeared bright brass under the light, while the mummy old man's side was still rusty black iron, clearly distinguishing the two.
The mummy walked around the hanging bell, and Ning Zhe also walked around the hanging bell. In the end, both the man and the ghost stopped where they were.
"Sure enough." Ning Zhe glanced at the oil lamp in his hand, and he guessed right.
When you are in the New Vanessa Castle, the Old Vanessa Castle will be illuminated by the corpse oil lamp. Now that you are in the Old Vanessa Castle, the result illuminated by the corpse oil lamp will be completely the opposite - the New Vanessa Castle.
There are no ghosts in the new Vanessa Castle. These ghosts only exist in the old Vanessa Castle in the past.
The mummy old man who couldn't find his target walked around the hanging clock a few more times. Although they were in the same stone pavilion, Ning Zhe, who was holding an oil lamp, seemed to be in another world, and even his face could not be detected.
After circling around for a while, he still couldn't find his target. His skinny legs left the clock, walked down the stairs, and the ghost finally left.
Ning Zhe followed quickly, holding a lantern and carrying a sword.
-
Click.
A small flashlight lit up in the deep and narrow corridor.
Baizhi squatted on the ground and looked at her watch. An hour had passed.
"He still hasn't come back..." The girl's eyes visibly dropped. According to the instructions Ning Zhe left before he set off, he should have died down there by now.
So what should I do now? Leave here? ...I should leave, but where should I go?
After much thought, Bai Zhi finally decided not to go anywhere and just stay here so that Ning Zhe wouldn't be unable to find her when he came back.
The candle has gone out, and all that remains is to wait.
Waiting is what Bai Zhi is best at. She has been going through this since her first nightmare at the age of 14 until now. Maybe she inherited her mother's cowardice, or maybe for some other reason. People's hearts are complicated, so who knows?
Waiting is what Bai Zhi is best at. Fortunately, he did not let her wait too long this time. Along with the sound of footsteps, lights came on in the deep and dark corridor. Bai Zhi, who was squatting against the wall, raised his head from his knees. A familiar figure was getting closer and closer in the halo.
Ning Zhe looked extremely miserable now, his face was covered with coal dust, his broken left hand hung limply at his side, his beige wool sweater was soaked with large patches of blood, only the oil lamp in his hand was dimly lit, illuminating his illusory figure.
Bai Zhi stood up, somewhat surprised that he would appear from the direction he came from. Even more surprised was that he didn't seem to be dead underground, because at this moment he was still bearing Auror's face.
"Ningzhe?" Bai Zhi asked tentatively in a low voice: "You lost a lot of blood..."
Seeing her hesitant look, Ning Zhe understood what she meant and whispered, "I'm afraid of you..."
Bai Zhi's eyes lit up, and she continued with a smile: "...When your heart is broken, no one will help you wipe away your tears."
The code matched.
(End of this chapter)