Aona took Fang Plover to a corner of the room, but she didn't see any movement. The bookshelf there quietly slid to one side to reveal the spiraling staircase behind it. She turned around and reminded her carefully:
"Up here, Mr. Ed, please pay attention to your steps. The light inside is very dark. Sorry, I haven't been here for a while. How about letting Pepe go up and light the lamp first?"
"No need." Fang Yu shook his head. He didn't want to waste time. There was no need to worry outside. He had already given instructions to the others. Miss Mei, Shesta and Luo Yu were here to stand alone.
Even if there were any emergencies, he still left behind a flexible device of his own. Fang Yu raised his head and looked at the deep staircase, "What's up here?"
"It's just an attic, filled with things from the past. I remember that the letter was placed here, before Castana was abandoned. By the way, that's the name of this place.
Including the ruins above, Mr. Horta should have told you about it."
Aona walked into the secret passage first, walking in front and walking up the steps step by step. She was not a physical person, but the projector could still accurately reflect the girl's shadow moving upward step by step.
The fluorescent blue light somewhat illuminates the inner wall of the secret tunnel, and the fine rocks come from the artificially polished rock walls.
She said as she walked: "But that's good. Otherwise, we have to go to other places to get it. Although I remember the location of every secret room underground, those places are still quite far away."
The girl recalled: "A long time ago, I would occasionally come here to be alone, see things, think about people, and reminisce about the past. I remember that it used to be the study room of Hailingwell and the others, and they would often light the fireplace.
There we held candlelight conversations at night, telling some strange customs and stories from various places. The fire was bright, illuminating each of our faces. In order to design the fireplace in the cave, they spent a lot of effort, and the chimney was actually
There was a huge machine, as was the fireplace in the hall downstairs, but it was a later version. I can still remember everything at that time, short, simple but happy..."
Aona seemed to have untied a knot in her heart and became somewhat talkative. Pepe held the necklace and followed closely behind the two of them.
Through her words, Fang Yu seemed to be able to see clearly everything that happened seven hundred years ago. Three young people came here and unearthed the gem that shone with azure light from the soil.
He built a laboratory based on his own ideas, and while avoiding pursuit from the empire, he talked about the future and made grand plans.
Young people have countless energy and enthusiasm, and in this dark underground, they design one device after another that can change the future of this continent. But in the darkness, only the green light reflected in the crystal is swaying,
Reflecting everyone's heart.
After that, the situation in Xinta Ankong changed, a dynasty collapsed, and an empire was established, but the ideals drifted away, leaving only ambitions. In the next hundred years, many people came here and built an underground city.
Aona, as well as a huge and lonely iron statue called Otta, Pepe's ancestors, were watching those people in the darkness and did not have much contact with them, but secretly provided the help they could.
She had thought about revenge, but the blazing flame in her heart had long since faded away over time, and even the descendants of the students of Hellingwell had gradually decreased. This dark underground place that had been silent for tens of millions of years, after a brief hustle and bustle, reappeared.
Return to silence.
It's hard for Fang Yu to imagine what kind of loneliness it is.
A door appeared in front of the two of them, and those thoughts disappeared in an instant. The stone steps were not too long, and Fang Yu felt that this place should be above the hall below based on his sense of direction.
The door looked very thick, with an iron frame on the solid wooden board. Such wooden doors are common in some castles, and they probably imitated a similar room on the ground.
The builders deliberately downplayed the underground factors here. It can be seen that the three geniuses are people who have a certain pursuit of life. They transformed the harsh environment here, but they can still enjoy the hardships.
Aona asked Pepe to open the door, and the little head walked over and stood on tiptoes to grab the doorknob.
But before the door opened, Fang Plover asked a question: "Ms. Aona, where did the students of Hellingwell go in the end? I saw that Kastana has been reduced to ruins. Those people should not have been with us."
Will the city die together?”
He still cares about the temple of knowledge under the elven ruins. The great alchemist Hein went to Kaolin-Ithurian during the last ten years of his disappearance. The Zero magic furnace was born from his student Helinwei.
So, does Helinwell know about the existence of Type Zero Crystal?
Has Hellingwell ever tried to search for the whereabouts of his mentor and the whereabouts of the Zero Crystal? He did not return to this place in the end, and where would he go in the rest of his life?
Will the students of Hellingwell know something about this? Is there any scrap of news? What is left in the inheritance of this line? Can he find information about the sixth technical route elsewhere?
Their successors, or the clues they left behind?
"Some people have left, and some have stayed, but in the final analysis, humans are not creatures living in the dark underground. I don't know how many years have passed, and the empire outside can no longer remember that there was such a group of people, and more and more people remain.
There are fewer and fewer, and finally they gather in the church that you once entered, and that is the last person left."
Aona turned around and replied with a calm tone: "After those people passed away, this place changed back to what it was a thousand years ago. The city weathered over time, covered under thick dust, cracks appeared, and eventually collapsed.
, turned into ruins. But I don’t need such a big place, so I just live here alone.”
Peipei fiddled with it several times with her paws, and finally pulled down the doorknob with a 'click' sound. She pushed hard, but the door didn't move at all. Fang Plover saw this and stretched out his hand, and with a little strength, he pushed the door open.
gap.
It must have been that no one had touched it for a long time, and the door shaft had long been rusted and made a squeaking sound. The kobold turned around and looked at him with some gratitude, but Aona did not allow it to talk too much, so Pepe had to be obedient.
The ground said nothing.
Fang Yu opened the door and realized why Aona said this was an attic. He had really underestimated the peerless genius seven centuries ago. A certain spell had been fixed in the room, and there was actually a floating starry sky on the ceiling.
.
To be honest, he had seen similar spells in the Hall of Thousand Doors, but he had never seen such a gorgeous one. The azure starry sky completely formed the roof of the attic, and the twinkling starlight seemed to be within reach with just a slight stretch of the hand.
There was a sofa in the room, facing a fireplace. The flame in the fireplace had been extinguished for many years, and a thick layer of ash had accumulated on the carpet in front of the sofa.
Perhaps many years ago, there were a few pairs of boots walking up and down on this carpet, and their owners were all amazing and talented people of that era, but this kind of imagination only reflects the silence at this moment.
Next to it is a bed and a desk. The books on the desk are still standing upright and neatly stacked. One of the books is spread out on the table, as if someone had just turned over it not long ago. There is an ink bottle next to the book, and there is an ink bottle inside.
There is also a quill stuck in it. If it weren't for the thick layer of dust on it, it would be almost doubtful that anyone has lived here.
But it's just time that freezes everything.
There is actually a floor-to-ceiling window next to the bed.
Just like the arched windows found in all attics in imperial-style buildings, they are tall and transparent. Silver moonlight shines through the window, reflecting on the bed, and falling into a pool of clear light.
If he hadn't known that the window outside the window was under the rock formation, Fang Pulmon would have almost suspected that the window led to another world, perhaps Aiyin Block seven hundred years ago, or a street in the imperial capital, where the moonlight reflected the dense layers of
On top of the dense roof, there is a patch of blue or gray-brown tiles.
The lights swayed in the night, and civilization seemed silent.
Fang Yu was stunned for a moment. No wonder Aona liked this place. It must be a place that the three geniuses attached great importance to, so it was transformed into this place.
This might be her dormitory, the room of a princess from the last dynasty. Several young people often gathered here to share their stories with each other. Maybe one of these young people had fallen in love with this princess.
"Mr. Ed laughed," Aona said, "The letter should be stored in a junk pile somewhere here. I will take Peppa to find it. Could you please Mr. Ed to turn on the light?"
."
Fang Yu nodded. His eyes roamed the room, looking for the location of the torch stand or crystal chandelier, while imagining what significance this room once had to those peerless geniuses.
But he suddenly saw a huge machine in the corner of the room. It was like a huge magic furnace, with countless pipe networks extending from the floor and ceiling, connected to the appliance.
The magic guide is shaped like an octahedron and a square cone, and is inserted into the base below. There are many metal arms and legs hanging from it, scattered on the ground, and the other end is connected to something like a claw.
Fang Yu had never seen such a weird magic device. It looked like an enlarged version of the Annihilator QV700, but it also seemed like the core of something. He couldn't help but take a second look and asked: "This is
?”
"One of Jeldham's inventions," Aona's eyes flickered and she replied, "If Mr. Ed is interested, you can study it later."
Fang Plover glanced at the thing again and nodded, but he always felt that the thing was a little unsafe, so he didn't get too close, but walked over the metal arms and legs on the ground towards the fireplace.
He couldn't find where the magic light switch was, but suddenly an idea came to him.
There were some firewood piled next to the fireplace. The air here was very dry, and Fang Plover thought he might be able to use the firewood to light the fireplace.
But a crisp sound of 'click' came from behind him, and Fang Plover didn't even look back. A bright blue light lit up from the magic furnace behind him, forming a dense network structure.
The translucent light net lit up, and another metal crossbow bolt hit it, deflected to the side, hit the stone wall of the fireplace with a clang, and then lost strength and fell to the ground.
Fang Plover glanced at the cracked crossbow arrow on the ground, then turned around and looked calmly at Aona not far away. The emerald necklace flew up from Pepe's hand at some point.
An invisible force controlled it to fly towards the machine in the corner.
The girl raised her hand, and Void pressed the pendant onto a groove on the machine. On the other side, a crossbow bow conjured from nowhere was floating next to her hand.
The bow string has been reset, and the crossbow arrows on it have long since disappeared.
"The energy shield of the magic furnace," Aona looked at Fang Plover with some surprise, "Mr. Ed, have you been guarding against me for a long time?"
"You even know this. Miss Aona seems to know a lot more about the world on the ground than I thought," Fang Plover said. "The earlier magic furnace did not have this small device shield. It was
It was invented in the era after the tower magic furnace."
Aona's expression was a little stiff, "Mr. Ed, there is no need to mock me. You are not from the Empire, and you have done me a big favor. I had no reason to be your enemy. But you are related to that person, and I can't let you go."
Leave easily."
"that person?"
Fang Plover was startled.
His guard against the other party came from many aspects, the main reason was the tower magic furnace and Sylvide's reminder to him. And in his many subsequent tests, the other party failed.
Aona said that she didn't understand alchemy and knew only a little about the mechanisms left by Jeldham, Helinwell and Friston. The facts proved that this was not the case. Others may not have noticed, but he believed that Xiaoyao, Shui Yao
Wuming and Luo Wei must have noticed it as well as themselves.
Perhaps because she was too eager for the necklace, Aona herself did not notice that she revealed too many things when discussing the three mechanisms with them. It is impossible for a person who is completely ignorant of alchemy to understand those things.
What's more, she has spent a lot of time with the students of Hellingwell. Alchemy may be complicated, but after hundreds of years of accumulation, she will more or less master a lot of knowledge. So this woman must have a reason for lying to them.
of.
From that moment on, he had been wary.
But the real suspicion was about the emerald necklace. He thought it was the emerald heart at first, but after testing it with the Blue Glory, there was no response, and he discovered the real secret inside.
That necklace was a key, and it was very similar to the one left to them by the guy who claimed to be the Pirate King.
No matter what the key was, it at least proved that Aona was not telling the truth to them. The pendant was not a souvenir at all, but something she had other intentions for.
Therefore, when the other party invited him to pick up the letter, he kept an eye on it, quietly activated the backup shield of the magic furnace, and left a flexible device in the hall.
And left a message to Luo Wei and Sylvide.
He came here because there were still too many unsolved mysteries in his mind. Who was Aona and what was she planning? Where did Hellingwell, Jeldham and Friston go in the end?
Where.
She might know, but she just didn't tell the truth. There is no way that Hellinwell's student just came here to take refuge, because he himself is the inheritor of the sixth technical route, so he naturally understands the importance of craftsmen to the ideal they pursue throughout their lives.
manner.
In short, there are too many questions that need to be answered.
And now, he got the first answer.
That's what the key is in that necklace -
The emerald pendant was sinking slightly in the depression of the construct. Aona looked at him angrily, "Stop pretending and hand over the mechanical soul! Otherwise, no matter how many times you are resurrected, I will definitely chase you to the ends of the earth!"
"
Fang Yu was shocked.
He thought about the purpose of the girl in front of him inviting them here, but it was definitely not to open the box. It should be an unexpected surprise for the other party.
Which aspect of their characteristics did she see through Ota in the ruins before she laid a trap for them to come to this place? Fang Pliance believes that if they hadn't offered to try to unlock the three traps,
The other party should have taken action against them long ago.
At first, he was thinking about the Type Zero Magical Furnace, but Aona should be interested in the Type Zero Crystal on his body. This logic is very smooth, and it is also the only reason why he thinks that he has a connection with this place.
But just before entering the door, he took the initiative to ask questions about the church. The other party seemed to know nothing about the secret behind the Angina icon, which also gave up his original idea.
Unexpectedly, Aona surprised him as soon as she opened her mouth.
His first thought was that the other party had discovered the truth about Miss Dragon Soul in him.
The second thought is that the Silver Tower was also involved in this incident.
But time no longer allowed him to have a third thought, because the huge machine next to Aona had already made a creaking sound, as if it had been awakened from the dust of history.
Its shell slowly opened, then rose up from the base, merging the projector above Aona's head like a deformation, and then the internal mechanism operated, fitting the two together bit by bit.
Aona's image was a little unstable, and her voice was intermittent: "Didn't you ask where my body is? Now... you saw it..."
She raised her hand.
The octahedral square cone-shaped magic guide suddenly turned its direction, and the crystal embedded in it lit up slightly, flashing a dazzling red light. Then under the guidance of the girl, the metal arms connected around it
They all came alive.
Like a giant octopus, it waves its claws and approaches the square plover.
The kobold Pepe was already petrified, huddled in a corner of the room, looking at the two of them tremblingly, not knowing what was going on.
But Fang Yu looked at Aona as if another question in his mind had been answered, but there was not much fear on his face. He lightly clenched his fist, and suddenly, a black shadow jumped down from the roof, impartially.
, falls right on the regular octahedron.
The thing actually looked like a smaller mechanical octopus. Its equally sharp arms and legs penetrated directly into the seams of the square cone, bursting out a ball of sparks. The girl screamed and subconsciously covered her face with her hands.
The huge machine also lost control in an instant, its waving arms and legs drooped downwards, and at least half of the tubes fell heavily to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
Fang Plover was controlling the choke monster. The starry sky on the ceiling was gorgeous, but it was also convenient for him to hide things. The reason why he took the initiative to open the door and walked into the house first was to take a second step.
Of course, it would be fine if there was nothing unusual about Aona, but as it was now, his backhand would just come in handy.
As expected, the other party had no experience in commanding flexible structures. However, Fang Plover had already experienced many battles, so he seized this opportunity and shouted: "Miss Tata, cut off her connection with that thing. It is best to seize control."
——”
In a flash of silver, Miss Tata appeared between the two of them.
To be honest, Fang Yu did not expect that his Miss Dragon Soul would be able to seize control of this seven-hundred-year-old antique. It would be too difficult, and it was impossible for the constructor not to take basic precautions against his flexible construct.
But it should still be possible to cut off the opponent's control for a moment.
It's just that he didn't expect it anyway.
The moment Tata appeared, Aona's face suddenly showed an extremely shocked look, as if she was struck by lightning, she stared blankly in this direction, forgetting to even fight back.
"Mimetic Dragon Soul!?" The girl was clearly just a shadow, but she was trembling all over, "How is it possible, who did it, how did it do it!?"
She was momentarily distracted.
The huge machine tilted sideways and crashed to the ground.