Old-time musicians

"Close your eyes?"

Qiong stood on tiptoe and gently touched Fan Ning's forehead with her fingertips: "Do you have a fever?"

In an underground building full of terrible things, if the eyes are dark again, it means giving up the only weak sense of security - imagine lingering in the dark, turbulent and endless sea, and the small boat you are in is still abandoned. …

Seeing that Fan Ning seemed to be deep in thought after finishing speaking, Qiong curled her lips again and said: "...In all the horror books I have read before, the protagonist has a nightmare experience in the final stage, and then finally gives up resistance and screams. , and then closed his eyes in despair', and then the story usually comes to an end or comes to an abrupt end...You mean we are now..."

Sheeran interrupted Joan: "Caron, since you have proposed a certain measure or method, have you guessed what is inside?"

Fan Ning came back to his senses: "No, I don't know what's inside, and I don't know where it will lead."

Facing the helpless expressions of the two girls, he quickly explained: "I was thinking about why the changes in the underground building happened, and why those weird paints, plasters, specimens and dolls suddenly came to life... In the beginning I naturally think this is purely because of the 'intrusion of outsiders' - us living people entering a monument that has not been visited for hundreds of years will inevitably disturb the unknown dormant things inside. "

"But later, after I picked up the "Oakgon Codex", the words on the table reminded me of all the previous investigations..."

"The old organist's consultation notes at Vienne contain strange notes about colors and feelings..."

"The blood-red question marks drawn by Ms. Hamilton on the workhouse pauper files of that period..."

"After Benjamin went crazy, he became intolerable to color and pursued special paintings..."

He also turned his head and glanced at the paint monster attached to the invisible plane: "——So, I suspect that the pollution of people by the 'Fountain in the Painting' starts from the eyes!"

"...Start with the eyes?" Hearing this, Sheeran seemed to understand something: "For example, the feeling of color?"

"Yes, this kind of pollution is gradual, and the speed will also vary depending on the depth of people's contact or the strength of their resistance..." Fan Ning nodded.

“At the beginning of the symptoms, people just feel that they seem to have a sense of aesthetic pickiness or dissatisfaction when looking at the colors of ordinary things, and start to marvel at the color matching of some special works of art, and then, They will have a sense of disgust from what they see every day, first psychologically, and then physically - not only visual discomfort with colors, but also 'synesthetic' discomfort, such as whispering in the ears and tingling on the skin. , feeling suffocated, and even some weirder discomforts, such as the 'feeling of being eaten' mentioned by Vienne, such as Benjamin vomiting directly to the point of vomiting bile..."

"At this stage, the polluted person will become intolerable and perform some uncontrollable and unbelievable behavior in the eyes of others, such as the old organist piercing his own eyeball with cutlery, such as Benjamin suddenly suddenly watching the exhibition at the auction house. Swearing and burning paintings like crazy..."

"And the final result of the pollution is probably to 'see the holy spring'..." Fan Ning tried his best to restrain his urge to read the confusing words behind the small frame again.

"I noticed this reference to 'seeing the holy spring' as early as Fabian's prayer at the graduation concert, and heard it again and again... At first I thought it had a symbolic meaning like 'insight into the truth', but now From the looks of it, it seems to have a literal meaning..."

"These polluted people will desperately describe, depict, appreciate, and worship the image of the 'fountain in the painting.' They will begin to seek those colors that are normal to them, and will collect so-called 'beautiful pigments.'" ' or paintings with 'artistic attainments', a knowledgeable person will also devote himself to finding and opening the 'Gate of Seven Lights' that is closely connected with Him...

"As for the poor people who were in the hospital where the art museum was located more than 20 years ago, we have no way of knowing the details of what happened to them, but the result is that they followed the guidance of pollution and participated in or created an unknown and ancient sacrifice. They undergo intense changes and dissolutions in pain and joy, and eventually transform into colorful pigments - these pigments are closer to the image of the 'spring in the painting' than their original appearance. This is how they 'see the holy spring' ' way."

Hearing this, Xilan looked up thoughtfully and asked: "So, since pollution starts with 'what the eyes see' and ends with 'seeing the holy spring'... we can safely avoid it by closing our eyes." These come to life paints and objects?”

Fan Ning shook his head: "No, it's too late for what happened before. We have unintentionally investigated many incidents about the 'Fountain in the Painting'. Although it may not be as direct as Benjamin, some hidden changes may have been unknown for a long time. It happened unconsciously... Coupled with the fact that after entering the secret door, we witnessed a large number of these 'beautiful' pigments, a series of changes have occurred..."

Joan said: "Caron, I probably understand. You feel that the deformed monster temporarily blocked by the 'Consecration Curtain' is irreversible, and some of the pollution we have suffered before may be difficult to clean... But this stone door Maybe we can avoid further pollution by closing our eyes?

"That's right. The only thing I'm confused about is that I can't tell whether all this is reality or an illusion, but that doesn't matter. For things on the mysterious side, they can kill us or transform us without logic. Become a monster, truly kill, or truly transform..."

"Okay, rationally I can accept your conjecture, but I really don't dare to step into the darkness. The devil knows what's inside, the devil knows where it will lead..." Joan couldn't help but tremble as she said this.

"You have to think this way, we are exhausted, and if we really encounter some unknown and terrifying existence again, can you change the situation with your eyes open? The more realistic situation is just - closing your eyes may be useful, opening your eyes The eyes are basically useless, there may be a road ahead, but there is nowhere to escape from here..."

"I agree." Sheeran nodded with determination, "Let's give it a try... That's all we can do..."

"Okay..." Joan's voice was still trembling.

After several explanations and discussions, another ten minutes passed. The invisible wall blocking the deformed paint ball at the door of the room might last for more than an hour, or it might disappear at any time.

"Close your eyes first... Qiong, don't cover your face, just close your eyes." Fan Ning watched Qiong Yiyan finish, then turned to look at Xilan.

Her young face was still calm, she took a deep look at herself, and then slowly closed her eyes, her eyelashes still trembling slightly.

Fan Ning put the crowbar behind his back, took a deep breath, walked to the stone door and bent down.

Feeling the coldness in his hands, he closed his eyes and exerted force on one side.

A heavy rumble sounded.

"Caron, we can't get separated." Sheeran said at this time.

"That's right, I'm holding you in the middle." Fan Ning said, "Remember...in order to eliminate interference from unknown entities, I will gently squeeze your hands twice from time to time, and you must respond to me within three seconds...except We try not to have any other physical contact other than our hands, Joan, don’t jump on her out of fear, we can’t be sure it’s you.”

"Obviously I understand..." Qiong's voice was filled with tears, "I'll wait until I get out before I pounce..."

Two warm little hands were handed to Fan Ning's hands. They were a little stiff at first, and then slowly relaxed.

He took two steps forward and crossed the threshold.

There was a void of darkness, and the air was eerily silent.

"What about the door?" Xilan asked softly.

"Even if it is closed, the gap cannot block the ball of paint. If the "consecration curtain" really fails immediately, and the deformed monster is really so smart and efficient, our outcome is doomed anyway."

Although Fan Ning spoke calmly, he felt a chill on his back.

It cannot be ruled out that the invisible wall created by the ritual weapon has failed. At this time, the deformed existence is growing in the room behind him.

Taking three steps forward again, Fan Ning's forehead touched the cold stone wall in the darkness.

"It's the same here... Why did you end up here? This... you're only about two meters in, right?" Apparently, Xilan, who was holding his right hand, also reached out and touched the wall.

Fan Ning was very confused. Spiritual sense cannot explore the environment out of thin air. It needs to transform "transcendental revelation" into "sensory signals". Giving up the eyes is equivalent to giving up this most important spiritual sense.

I have been analyzing it for a long time, but it turns out that there is no way here?

Feelings of frustration and unwillingness came together, and he wanted to open his eyes to see what kind of room was behind the door.

But after Qiong spoke up, he was brought back from his thoughts: "There is no obstruction on my left side."

...What's going on? The back passage makes a 90-degree turn right after entering?

The three of them were puzzled, and then turned left.

After seven or eight steps, I hit the wall again.

"...I wonder what this place looks like?" Sheeran complained in confusion.

"Don't open your eyes." Fan Ning warned.

"Caron...I, there is no obstruction on my left side." Joan said.

"Okay, let's turn left." Fan Ning responded, and the three of them turned again.

He squeezed the two girls' hands gently with both hands, and both of them immediately felt their responses.

After walking for more than ten steps, they stopped at the same spot.

...That's wrong...Is there something wrong with this direction? ...go in, turn left, turn left again?

...turned around?

Imagine a rectangular room. Enter through the stone door on the rightmost edge of a certain wall. Then the only way is to turn around to the left and back?

Joan said weakly: "Caron...why do I think we are walking back to the room in this direction? It's impossible. This is a room on the edge of an underground building. I've seen that the outside of these walls are covered with rocks. There’s no passage?”

"Even if there is a passage, we have walked more than ten steps and should have returned to the room long ago... Now there is no door or wall, and it is still unobstructed..." Fan Ning frowned deeply with his eyes closed, "Don't think about it yet. This is a question. This underground building is full of weirdness. Didn’t we also encounter this kind of weird thing when we were exploring the two floors above the deep well? "

He thought for a while and said: "Sheeran, at least now the wall on your right is a continuous turning and extending from the right side after entering the door. You use it as a reference to control the left and right directions. Let us walk as close to the wall as possible, otherwise I'm afraid the terrain here is too strange and I'll get lost in the dark... I'm responsible for moving forward and backward."

"Okay." Sheeran responded.

Another soft little hand put on the back of his neck, then groped downwards and took away the thing behind his back.

Fan Ning then said: "That's good, it's good that you hold the crowbar, you can avoid using your hands to explore, I'm also worried that you might bump into something strange."

Xilan was at a loss: "From your tone... I... I haven't taken it yet?"

"??? You didn't take it?" Fan Ning's scalp suddenly felt like it was bursting.

...Then who was touching him just now?

He turned his head back reflexively, but suddenly remembered that he couldn't open his eyes, so he turned his head back.

"I took it away." Joan spoke softly at this time.

"Hiss..." Fanning felt his back was soaked with sticky cold sweat, and he almost couldn't catch his breath. He asked unhappily, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Shilan's tone was also a little angry at this time: "Qiong, can you be more stable at this time? This is really scary!"

"I..." Qiong's voice was a little surprised and a little aggrieved: "Carron, you clearly said that you wanted me to take it out to explore the way... You said you were holding one hand each and couldn't free your hands, so you asked me to help."

The three stopped again.

"So... what did you hear?" Shilan said after taking the crowbar.

"...Should we...open our eyes and see what's going on?" Qiong held Fanning's hand tightly, "Or you let me stick to it...I feel like I haven't seen anything for a few minutes and I've been turning around, and even my consciousness is blurry. I just heard you talking to me, and now I feel like someone is looking at me..."

"Don't open your eyes, don't stick to me, keep walking." Fanning motioned the three to move forward slowly again, "Hurry up, who knows if that group of deformed pigment creatures is still stuck on the wall of the 'consecration curtain', or has grown not far behind us?"

Holding hands and confirming with force from time to time is the only signal in this weird place.

But as Qiong said, his experience is similar. He feels that because of closing his eyes, the whole person is almost in a state before sleep, like awake and not awake, the boundaries between senses become blurred, and the words in his mind tend to start to flow in fragments.

Fanning began to pinch the hands of the girls on both sides regularly. In order to prevent this sleep state from continuing to deepen, he did not use an even method, but actively mobilized his thoughts, recalling the bass level trend of Bach's "Goldberg Variations" theme, counting in units of 10 steps, 10, 70, 60, 50, 30, 40, 50, 10... After each corresponding number of steps, he sent a signal waiting for them to respond to him.

After walking for a while again, the uneasy feeling of being watched in the dark suddenly increased. Fanning felt that there was something staring at him in front and behind. The feeling was not far away, but right in front of his nose, following him as he walked.

Obviously, the crowbar in Shilan's hand kept hitting the wall, making a normal sound of metal and stone colliding, but Fanning felt that the walls on both sides seemed to be covered with countless eyes-it might not be quite accurate to say eyes, it should be covered with countless unknown visual organs? ?

"Are you almost asleep?" Fanning asked, "Why don't you respond to me with your hands?"

"I've been pinching you all the time?" Xilan said softly, and the crowbar in his other hand that was hitting the wall also stopped temporarily.

"...Don't you pinch us lightly about every 10 steps?"