Chapter 352 Candlestick Sculpture on the Stone Bridge

Chapter 352 Candlestick Sculpture on the Stone Bridge

Chapter 352 Candlestick Sculpture on the Stone Bridge (Additional 2500 words)
Lin Yi pursed his lips and did not respond, because he knew that things were often not that simple.

Soon, the wooden signpost nailed to the stone pillar at the starting point of the stone bridge appeared in front of him. The words on the signpost made him unable to distinguish between dreams and reality for a moment -

【Welcome to the Art Building! 】

He was half-dazed for just a moment when he was awakened by a clanging sound. The sound came from the tetanus iron sheet hanging by a rusty iron chain under the road sign.

The content on the iron plate is the notice of the art building.

Lao Mo didn't stop and took Lin Yi directly to the stone bridge.

Through the dense rain and fog and the dark white mist, Lin Yi could still see the arch supported by huge stone pillars at the other end of the stone bridge, and the outline of the art building behind the arch hidden in the depths of the storm and fog.

In that outline, you can vaguely see a bell tower and many sentry-like watchtowers. Ancient buildings and thick stone walls are intertwined, and the gloomy atmosphere makes people shudder.

The dim candlelight flickered through the glass. This only warm color seemed particularly strange and terrifying in the dark rainstorm.

In the storm, Lao Mo and Lin Yi, carrying two strings of big eyeballs and walking on the stone bridge, were like an adventurer and his apprentice in the temple escape, moving forward step by step.

They were surrounded by pure nocturnal creatures. They were more enthusiastic about supernatural powers than the pseudo-human sculptures, but they were also more afraid of light. They did not dare to approach the field formed by the light, just like ice and snow could never face the sun directly.

They huddled on the sidelines and followed stealthily, constantly locking onto Lao Mo and Lin Yi with an instinctive desire, trying to find any flaws that they could exploit.

In addition to the purebred nocturnal species, there were also a large number of Laughing Angels wandering around them. It seemed that after the example of the first Laughing Angel being killed by Lao Mo, the other Laughing Angels did not rush to attack. Instead, they drew various curves in the air, locking onto them like experienced hunters, but were not in a hurry to take action at all.

Below the stone bridge is a cliff. Part of the cliff has been hollowed out and the gaps are filled with pillars, which serve as a support. The violent storm swept in the black tide, which hit the cliff and pillars again and again, as if trying to destroy them.

The salty, damp and cold air seemed to be able to penetrate the storm and reach Lin Yi's bones, causing waves of tingling.

Under the sweep of the strong wind, the candle flames burning on both sides of the stone bridge swayed and made a "whooshing" sound, as if they would go out at any time.

“Whew—Whew—Whew—”

Amidst the tide and the strong wind, there seemed to be some strange humming sounds, as if there was a demon monk holding a cult scripture and chanting some kind of music in Sanskrit. This strange sound was so familiar to Lin Yi. It was the kind of chanting that came from the pseudo-human sculptures, the night-walking species, and the forest of tombstones of the dead:
"I AvgruNnen av tKe og... mrke jaGer... for... Tapte Sjeler... fanTome..."

"I... Avgru...Nnen av... tKe og mrke jaGer... forTa...pte Sjeler fanTome..."

As the chanting sound appeared, endless gray fog began to rise from the storm, as if it was going to drown him and Lao Mo on the stone bridge.

The laughing angel flying around seemed to become more excited, but still had no intention of attacking Lao Mo and Lin Yi.

At this moment, a distorted beam of light suddenly came from behind him, like the bat light that pierced the clouds lit by Inspector Gordon in Gotham, tearing a hole in the storm and falling on Lao Mo and Lin Yi.

"This is...!" Lin Yi was shocked. He turned around and saw the art teacher "Big Golden Retriever" standing on the top floor of the observation deck behind him.

It’s no wonder that from the perspective of the Russians, they can feel the shock of the scene even more without experiencing it personally.

The art teacher "Big Golden Retriever" held a huge searchlight, and his waterproof leather jacket rustled in the rainy night. At this moment, he was not on a boat in the Caribbean Sea, but on Batman.

However, the light did not stay on them for too long as it did when escorting the Russians, but immediately pointed to somewhere in the art building.

"The big golden retriever has shown us the way, let's go."

On the top floor of the observation tower, the art teacher "Big Golden Hair" looked at Lin Yi, frowned slightly, and muttered to himself: "It's really strange, why does that faceless student give me a familiar feeling?"

On the stone bridge, Lin Yi looked at the smiling angels wandering around and asked in a low voice: "Old Mo, does the golden aura have a certain inhibitory effect on them?"

"Not really." Lao Mo said, "Golden aura is a supernatural power with a relatively high purity. If everyone has it, then the more you have, the stronger you are. The golden aura in the Sly Laughing Angels' bodies is not as much as ours, so they dare not act rashly."

"The one who attacked you before was also trying to catch you off guard, so after I killed it, the rest didn't dare to act rashly."

"Oh, so that's how it is..." Lin Yi suddenly realized.

The two continued to move forward, heading towards the end of the stone bridge behind the observation tower, and the huge stone archway carved with mysterious symbols.

The closer we got to the Art Building, the darker and more terrifying the sky became. It was as if the whole world was being crushed by a huge plate of lead, so heavy that even breathing felt oppressive.

Thick dark clouds rolled around, blocking all light, as if they were going to swallow up the entire world. Ice-cold rain poured down in torrents, and with the help of the strong wind, every drop of rain was as piercing as an icicle. The howling wind brought with it the sound of waves crashing and breaking, which rang in his ears like countless evil spirits howling.

The candlesticks on both sides of the stone bridge were like giant beasts whose vitality had been drained by the storm. Only the last ray of sporadic flames were left, holding on tightly. The walls were mottled and bumpy, covered with scars. The more you walked, the more you could feel a desolate atmosphere.

Lin Yi soon smelled some faint smell of blood and decay in the wind. These smells seemed to come from the art building. They should have been very strong, but because of the storm, they were broken into thin wisps.

Lin Yi could no longer imagine what kind of human tragedy was happening inside the art building.

"These candlesticks..." Old Mo saw Lin Yi observing the surroundings, so he said to him as they walked, "These are all products from the Black Moon Outpost period. The creatures carved on these candlesticks are the "Apostles"' initial understanding of the "Origin" form based on their explorations at sea..."

"The reason why the sculptures have different shapes is that as the number of explorations increases and the times progress, the Apostles' understanding of the 'origin' also varies..."

Lao Mo pointed to one of the candlesticks. The carving on the candlestick was a bit abstract, like some long creature with wings: "Look at the shape at that time, it was the 'Quetzalcoatl'..."

"At one time, the 'Apostles' of a certain period had such an understanding of the form of the 'Origin'. After they went out to sea, some of them got lost in the depths of the ocean and gradually gave rise to the Mayan civilization of later generations..."

Lao Mo pointed at a sculpture that looked like an octopus or some other creature. The creature seemed to have many tentacles or perhaps many heads.

"That's 'Hydra'... a monster from Greek mythology, killed by Hercules."

"In reality, Hercules failed because he did not approach the 'Source' at all. What he killed was the 'Nest of Snakes' in the Alien Sculpture."

Lin Yi became interested and asked, "How was Hydra killed?"

"In Greek mythology, Hydra was the second of the twelve labors of Hercules."

"When Hercules was fighting Hydra in the Lena Lake Swamp, he found that every time he cut off a snake head, two new heads would grow in its place. To overcome this difficulty, he asked his nephew Iolaus to burn the wound of the snake head with a torch, thus preventing the growth of new snake heads. Finally, Hercules cut off the immortal head of Hydra and buried it deep underground... This is the myth that has been passed down."

"But think about it, torches used to burn wounds, and swamps where Hydra live... What does this remind you of?"

Lin Yi was stunned for a moment: "The firelight... is it something with the characteristics of sunlight? Could it be that the swamp is a terrain mixed with supernatural powers?"

Old Mo nodded. "Hydra grew up in the Lena Lake Swamp, which is actually mud mixed with solid supernatural power. Remember the fanatics and the matrix? No, that's the kind of thing... Every time Hercules cut off Hydra's head, Hydra needed to absorb supernatural power from the swamp to repair its body. In the end, he curbed Hydra's supernatural characteristics and successfully killed it."

"Even so, it was only when the time, place and people were right that we were able to successfully kill him."

"And Hercules also absorbed a large amount of extraordinary power in the process, exceeding the pollution threshold that he could withstand as a demigod..."

"Hercules' death was dramatic. Legend has it that his wife Deianira was worried that he would fall in love with another woman, so she was deceived by the Centaur Nessus and smeared his clothes with blood soaked in poison. In the end, he could not bear the pain brought by the poisonous blood and burned himself to death."

"But think about it, 'self-immolation', this method of using the power of fire to sublimate..."

Lin Yi's heart skipped a beat: "Sacrifice?"

Lao Mo smiled and said, "After Hercules killed Hydra, he became an 'Apostle', became forbearing and crazy, and eventually he went to his own destruction step by step. Deianira and Nessus were unable to use the right method to save him... Of course, unless the 'Apostle' wakes up, there is basically no other possibility of salvation."

"In order to reach a higher level of transcendence, Hercules sacrificed himself, thinking that he could gain eternal life and become a god on Mount Olympus..."

Lin Yi asked: "Did he succeed?"

"I don't know." Lao Mo shook his head. "If you have the opportunity to access the official "Secret Files", you may have the opportunity to know some secrets related to it..."

As he was speaking, he pointed to another candlestick not far away: "Speaking of 'Hydra', we have to mention those two things..."

"That is……?"

"'Xiang Liu' and 'Yamata no Orochi'."

Lin Yi looked over quickly, but each of the carvings on the candlesticks was very abstract. You could understand it by imagining the symbols similar to cuneiform and oracle bone inscriptions. Without explanation, it would be really difficult to tell which was which.

But Lao Mo shrugged his shoulders and said, "Of course, I can't actually tell which one is 'Xiangliu' and which one is 'Hydra'. You can just listen to it casually as a popular science lesson. It doesn't matter if they are not the same as the ones on the shelf. Anyway, they are both here." "Wherever 'Xiangliu' passes, there will be floods and poisonous swamps. Isn't this very similar to Hydra? Because they are the same thing."

"The alien sculpture 'Snake's Nest'?"

"Yes, there will be some differences in supernatural properties, but they won't be too different in essence..."

"Is 'Yamata no Orochi' also one?"

“It’s really funny when it comes to this…”

"Oh?"

Lao Mo sneered and said, "The civilizations that were created by the 'Apostles' have huge and deep roots, not like the ordinary people... The culture of the ordinary people originated from the heyday of the Tang Dynasty in China. Famous monsters such as the 'Yamata no Orochi' and the 'Nine-Tailed Fox' were all passed down from then on."

"The reason why I say it's funny is that when the big event broke out in X999, a 'snake nest' appeared in Xiaorizi. It was the 'Yamata no Orochi' that they had been thinking about... Do you understand this concept? But the 'Yamata no Orochi' exists, but the 'Susanoo' doesn't..."

"Monsters are coming, but it would be better if there is Ultraman in your world"

"The final result was that our Chinese principal and his group of people stepped forward and guarded some key "dark areas", but Xiaoshi had nothing, so they were completely wiped out by a "snake nest" without any resistance."

"Oh..." Lin Yi showed a look of sudden realization, and then nodded seriously, "Of course, of course, that's 'Jörmungandr' over there?"

"Yes, that's 'Jörmungandr'." Lao Mo nodded without even looking at it. Since he didn't know it anyway, he just pointed at the candlestick in front of him. "Its existence embodies the fear and strange worship of the mysterious power and great danger in the ocean in Norse mythology."

"In Norse mythology, when the Ragnarok comes, the giant earthly serpent 'Jörmungandr' that surrounds the world wakes up from the endless abyss and fights with Thor, the god of thunder, until both die... The core of Norse mythology is that after the old world is destroyed, a new world will be born..."

"This is also very consistent with the meaning of 'Doomsday'..."

"Similarly, the Ouroboros in Indian mythology has similar meanings: cycle and eternity, destruction and rebirth, self-devourment and evolution..."

Hearing this, Lin Yi suddenly felt a little puzzled: "Lao Mo, then our Chinese mythology also came from this?"

"'Huaxia'?" Hearing this, Lao Mo couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and said with a smile, "How do you think the Classic of Mountains and Seas came from?"

"The oldest 'Apostle' compiled his observations of the world into the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas' based on the experiences of countless returnees. This is why the topography in the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas' does not just correspond to the landforms of the Chinese region, but to the entire world..."

"Look at the characters on this bridge. Can't you see that the rudiments of characters in almost any country with a rich cultural heritage can be found here?"

"Of course, there are more prototypes of words in art."

“Even many great voyages of exploration in later generations were related to the actions of the ‘Apostles’, such as Magellan, Columbus, Zheng He, etc.”

"But I don't have a deep understanding of those things..."

Lin Yi opened his mouth, not knowing what to say: "So, are those major events that affect the world all related to the "Apostles"? "

"It's not about the 'Apostles', but about the extraordinary." Lao Mo said, "Just like using physics to patch up the world, this world was destroyed by the first batch of apostles, and then began a long process of patching up..."

“As the saying goes, five years of simulation, three years of exploration, and another three years of patching up.”

"Wait a minute!" Lin Yi raised his hand to interrupt, "What you said...seems to be more than just the Art Building, uh, I mean, more than just the campus matters?"

Lao Mo said, "You have to understand one thing. Fanatics are fanatics, apostles are apostles, the Art Building belongs to the campus, but the Black Moon Outpost does not."

"The history of the Black Moon Outpost can be traced back to a very long time ago, far older than the origin of world culture... Its architectural form was not influenced by the Nordic style, but its architectural style influenced the origin of Europe and even other civilizations..."

"The reason why the Art Building was chosen and built on the site of the Black Moon Outpost is not because the Art Building is special, but because the Black Moon Outpost is special. In official construction tasks, there are very few sites that require such a large amount of manpower and material resources to complete the construction."

"During that period, the Black Moon Outpost, which should have been buried forever, resonated with the campus due to certain reasons. If it was not anchored by the campus and allowed to drift freely, it would easily bring about a disaster more terrible than Doomsday..."

"If this is not the case, there will be more relatively safe options for the location of the art building."

"The Art Building... no, the Black Moon Outpost, will bring misfortune?" Lin Yi asked in surprise.

Lao Mo looked around and said, "Look at the environment where this art building is located... Endless darkness, rolling mountains, vast oceans, the only 'vitality' in the entire world. Its existence itself is a beacon in the darkness. If it wanders recklessly in the layers and accidentally creates an invasion path for the 'root', then what infiltrates the campus will not be as simple as 'gray fog'..."

"You encountered sea water in the gym today, right?"

"That was just the result of the storm penetrating the layer. If the seawater backflows and directly penetrates the campus, a mere S City University, no, even the entire S City, will not be able to withstand it... And that was just seawater in the physical sense, and the extraordinary power has not been taken into account..."

"This is just a simple example. There are many more complicated factors. I can't explain it to you clearly... But you should at least know the strategic positioning of the Art Building, right?"

"I...kind of understand." Lin Yi seemed to be thinking about something.

He thought of the representation of the gymnasium in the layer. The city wall was like a great sword piercing into the endless black clouds, but at the root was surging an endless black tide... Could it be that the sea water had penetrated through this layer?

Is that what you mean by “city wall and rampart”?

With some heavy thoughts in mind, Lin Yi and Lao Mo crossed the stone bridge in the storm with gray fog and arrived at the huge arched stone gate on the other side.

After passing through the archway, Lin Yi looked up and saw the mysterious inscription symbols carved on the archway that looked very much like cuneiform.

On the ground behind the arch, the shadow of the window glass in the art building, which was full of religious colors, was projected onto the area in front of the stone gate by the clear yellow candlelight, looking like some kind of ancient, strange and mysterious ancient totem.

This ancient totem seemed to carry some special aura that once blocked the invasion of abnormal weather on the castle. However, at this time, its characteristics seemed to become extremely weak and were no longer sufficient to effectively intercept the storm and fog.

“Rustle… rustle…”

A tide of purebred nocturnal creatures followed closely behind them at a distance, while the Laughing Angels lowered their flying altitude, floating over there like ghosts.

After Lao Mo led Lin Yi through the archway, the Laughing Angels and the purebred nocturnal creatures rushed forward and followed them into the art building.

After passing through the archway, there was a quiet corridor filled with dim candlelight. The storm did not follow, but the howling wind kept pouring into the corridor. Lin Yi was soaked all over, and when he was blown by such wind, his body temperature was taken away at an extremely fast speed.

The strong wind also caused the candles in the corridor to shake violently, and some curtains were lifted up, making a rustling sound that intertwined with the rushing wind, making the entire corridor feel shaky.

Walking through such a corridor is like walking through the passage of a huge ship sailing on the sea.

Sensing the Laughing Angel and the Night Creatures chasing him relentlessly, Lin Yi lowered his voice and exclaimed, "Old Mo, they are following us!"

"I know." Lao Mo said, "It doesn't matter... For the Art Building, more debt is not a problem."

What a great saying: The more debts you have, the less worries you have. The corners of Lin Yi's mouth twitched fiercely. He thought to himself that if the art building had a soul, he would give Lao Mo a thumbs up and give him a six.

However, Lao Mo proved his words with his actions. He raised his big eyeballs without any warning, and the range of light instantly slashed out like an invisible blade. Some purebred nocturnal creatures hiding in the dark corners of the corridor were illuminated by the light, and their sharp pale nails immediately "hissed" and emitted white smoke as if they were soaked in sulfuric acid. They let out a scream and curled up into deeper darkness.

"I don't even bother to kill these things." Lao Mo said coldly.

Lin Yi nodded. He knew that Lao Mo was bragging. For Lao Mo, killing the time they wasted and using it to hurry on the road would increase his efficiency.

This corridor is very spacious, but there is almost no candlelight, so it becomes the best hiding place for pure nocturnal creatures. If they are lucky, these pure nocturnal creatures can even poach a few careless art students.

However, the string of big eyeballs in Lao Mo's hand became a torch in the darkness, illuminating a large area.

Although Lin Yi had been here with Mao Feiyang before, coming here in person always gives him a real sensory feedback.

There are not many wooden structures in the corridor, but more of them are made of large yellowish-brown square stones. Therefore, the stone walls are not smooth and flat, but have some bumps and holes. At this time, it exudes a chill that touches the soul.

After walking in the corridor for a long time, Lin Yi gradually developed a strange feeling in his heart, as if there was something invisible hidden in a dark corner of this empty corridor where the cold wind was echoing.

And he could be absolutely sure that this kind of thing was neither a nocturnal creature nor a laughing angel!

When he had this thought, he suddenly felt uncomfortable as if he was being watched, and he felt uneasy.

(End of this chapter)