Soul Painter

In 1939, Miskatonic University had two distinguished guests.

One of these two guests is from Paris, and the other is from the ancient oriental country. They are the influential figures in the political circles of the world. Everyone calls them the Queen of Paris and the Leader of the Orient respectively.

As the spokesperson of the traditional European imperial power, the Queen should usually live in the Palace of Versailles. The current situation in Europe is turbulent. Without her seat, it may cause some unnecessary troubles.

And the leader, as one of the leaders of the sudden rise of the Eastern Revolutionary Wave, although her existence is more meaningful than actual, she is also an indispensable leader. It is very rare to visit a university in another country across the ocean. Condition.

Now the two are visiting Miskatonic University together. The president personally greeted them as a show of respect, and took the two distinguished guests and their entourages to visit various buildings and facilities in the university. Libraries are interested.

"To be honest, our trip is also to visit the remains of an old man." The leader said to the principal, "It is Mr. Gao Fan, the professor of mystical aesthetics in your school."

"Do you know Professor Gao Fan?" the principal asked.

"Yes, we met in an old world and were very close," said the leader.

The Queen smiled and nodded at this, and so did she.

The principal knew that Professor Gao Fan came from the old world. Hearing what the leader said, he couldn't help being very interested. The existence of the old world is an insoluble mystery to many mystics. People who have had a huge impact are all from the old world, but few people can describe clearly what the old world is.

So the principal asked the leader and the queen to describe the existence of the old world.

It was noon at this time, and the sun shone in through the mottled stained glass windows, making the portraits of Gao Van hanging on the walls linger in five colors, as if Gao Van's life was always full of strange sparks in the memory of the leader and the queen.

"I don't really remember what happened in the old world." The Queen shook her head, "Lu Zhi's life is only a part of my entire existence, but this part is special, so I have today's visit. If you want to know more about it, you have to ask Madam Leader , she once possessed the ultimate secret."

"Ultimate...Ultimate means the mystery of the old gods?" The headmaster couldn't help asking, even a little flinching in his voice, is this a topic he can listen to?

"It's not the secret of the old gods." The leader smiled. "The ultimate secret is actually very simple. If there is one word to describe it, it would be 'knowledge'."

The headmaster didn't understand.

The queen didn't understand either.

"We can acquire knowledge from scratch, but it is impossible to forget it..." said the leader.

"I can," said the queen.

"Unless the brain has been affected." The leader glanced at the queen, "but the knowledge is still hidden in your past. Within a certain range, you have obtained all the knowledge of time, space and people, and you Mastered the ultimate."

The answer was so mediocre that the principal couldn't help being a little disappointed.

"Don't underestimate this answer." The leader said, "For example, the principal once asked, what is the old world, let's not talk about where the old world came from, but where did the old world go, and they went to a place where all knowledge belongs. Land, a 'depression' full of all knowledge in this world, that is the year 1920 that we have all reached, at this moment, passing through the 'depression', another world was born, this is the origin of the old world."

The depression... The headmaster seemed to have guessed something when he heard this, which surprised him.

"So, you mean, we're also..." said the principal.

"Yes, after the 'knowledge depression' in 1920, the era we belong to has become another old world. When someone can master the ultimate in this old world, we will return to 1920." The leader said, "Don't worry, this cognition doesn't involve any mystery. It's purely my self-cognition born from mastering the ultimate. It belongs to human beings, so you don't have to worry about being cursed, principal."

The headmaster heaved a sigh of relief. Knowledge is valuable. He knew deeply that the portraits or posthumous portraits of these professors on the wall were also reminding him that he didn't want to have a chat today and be hung here tomorrow.

"If you think about it that way, isn't 1920 the year... where the old gods are?" thought the queen.

"Yes, but not entirely true." The leader said, "The scope of the old gods is more than that. Think about it, in our old world, is there a great existence that has never appeared before?"

"That's right, that invisible celestial being is probably doing hard labor in the old world under the rule of the three pillar gods." The queen said, she can remember how miserable the invisible celestial being chased them in the ultimate building of human beings , I am very pleased with this ending.

"I think every great being is born in this way." The leader said, "They are the most important knowledge in this 'knowledge cycle', the old world will flow to the depressions with them, gather in the depressions, Gather into a new old world and continue the cycle, this huge cycle that gathers everything is the old god."

"It feels so futile, so what was the purpose of the old gods in creating all this?" the queen asked.

"It's not in vain. The old gods are the law. The old gods don't exist. The ultimate purpose of the great existence to recognize the old gods is to surpass the cycle. The cycle continues to expand its own existence just to protect itself. Everything is waiting There will be a day when any creature can break out of the cocoon." The leader said.

Both the headmaster and the queen were silent.

About the old gods, about the ultimate, about the old world, this answer is indeed unremarkable, and knowing it will not change anything, but isn't this like all the last knowledge, it affects everything, and cannot be touched by anyone .

"This painting." The leader stroked Gao Fan's portrait, "It must have been painted by Gao Fan himself."

"Yes, before Professor Gao Fan mysteriously disappeared, he drew a portrait of himself, as if he knew that all this was about to happen." The principal said.

The leader can see that, after all, she is so proficient in the magical painting skills that Gao Fan is proficient in, and because of this, she can see clues that others cannot see.

"This painting is retrograde." The leader said, "seal it, because this painting points to the end of this world, it is a shortcut, if you are 'infected' by it, you will miss this world , 'retrograde' to 1920."

Retrograde... This word reminds the principal of the wife of the mysterious aesthetics professor Gao Fan, an oriental woman named 'Xin Wei'. This is a very beautiful woman, but she always walks backwards in the school. It caused a lot of speculation, but Gao Fan explained that this is a custom of a certain ethnic group in the East, and the teachers and students are used to it, so they take it for granted.

"So, Gao Fan left this old world and went back to 1920?" The Queen was surprised, "How did he do it?"

"Because...she." The leader pointed to Gao Fan's eyes in the portrait. If you look carefully, you can see a figure in his eyes. This figure is obviously a woman, and she is from the back, but she keeps walking forward , it's weird, and the more you look at it, the weirder it gets.

Just this discovery is enough to make an ordinary human being infected by "retrograde", but the leader, as a human being who once possessed the ultimate, her mystical attainments have already reached the pinnacle of human beings.

"For some reason, Xin Wei could only live in 1920, so Gao Fan also went there." The leader said.

"So, Professor Gao Fan followed his wife and 'retrograde' shoulder to shoulder with our world, back to 19 years ago?" said the principal.

Obviously, the answer is this.

So from today on, there is a new explanation on the whereabouts of Gao Fan, the professor of mysterious aesthetics, on the wall of the library of Miskatonic University:

In pursuit of love, he stayed in 1920 forever.