Lu Li's eyes fell back on the mottled and delicate oil painting itself.
The manor house was occupied by strange people, and the players broke in and destroyed it. It was undoubtedly lucky that the giant oil painting was safe and sound.
Speaking of oil lamps, the rough texture and fading make the oil paintings imbue with the weight of history.
"Who are you?"
Claire asked the voice in the painting, but got no response and approached.
"Please don't come over..."
The cowardly voice sounded again, and Claire temporarily stopped.
"We are from Giant Tree Academy." Lu Li replied.
The female voice behind the painting exclaimed: "The giant tree... have we retaken Midnight City?"
Lu Li waited for Claire to answer "Absolutely", but she didn't say anything, so he replied: "It's being done."
"Great... You are back... When disaster strikes, I only have time to hide here. I have been there for a long time..."
"You've been locked in there?"
Lu Li looked at the bay window next to the giant oil painting and estimated the space behind the painting from the thickness of the wall: it could be used by people who were not very tall, but that was all.
It has been nearly four months since humans hid underground due to the Dark Ages.
"Yes... the monsters took over the manor after people left. They didn't notice that I was hiding here, and a long time passed... Not long ago, I heard violent explosions and noisy screams outside, and then footsteps sounded outside. I
I was too scared to come out until you brought me a token."
The gentle female voice spoke slowly with a hint of urgency: "Where did you find it?"
"In the barrels of the cellar."
"Wine barrel...?"
The woman in the mural didn't know that the barrel contained blood, and what that meant. Her attention fell on what she cared more about: "Ole... Do you know my Ole?"
The melancholy and tired figure leaving behind appeared in Lu Li's mind.
"Ole Lorenzo?"
"Yes, my boy... you know him? Is he okay? Is he here too?"
Lu Li could not answer the mother's anxious inquiry, so he summoned the businessman Anthony and asked again: "Can you contact Ole Lorenzo?"
The businessman's answer did not change.
"cannot."
Death is only the most pessimistic prediction, there is still a possibility that Ole Lorenzo or Margaret may still be alive.
"Oh no...he'll be fine, right...right?"
"Let's help you out first."
Lu Li approached the giant oil painting and confirmed his initial speculation. The oil painting was not a professional refuge house, but a safe for storing wealth or secret documents. However, no matter how much it was moved or moved, the frame could not move.
"I'll do it."
Claire took over from Lu Li and grabbed both ends of the frame with both hands.
Wow
Cracks spread in the wall, and dust fell with the gravel. Claire used brute force to remove the metal picture frame embedded in the wall.
Dim butter lamps shine into the space behind the mural.
A complete skeleton wearing a floral dress and pajamas was curled up on scattered gold coins and shillings.
"It turns out that I have already..."
The voice of sudden loss slowly dissipated as the truth was revealed.
When the silence returned, Lu Li looked at Claire: "You already knew this?"
Claire nodded in response.
Because of Ole Lorenzo, Lu Li planned to collect her body and bury her bones.
"Lu Li...that gold coin from Emperor Gudmerin...bring it with you."
Will Ken's old whisper sounded again, this time pointing to an exquisite gold coin with a side profile engraved in the pile of gold coins.
Lu Li put away the gold coins according to Will Ken's instructions, while Claire was picking at the scattered books with the toe of her shoe and found nothing.
Two minutes later, amid the curiosity of the contestants who had not yet left the mansion to search for strange things and collect supplies, Lu Li came to the backyard of the manor holding a bulging blanket.
Claire stopped Lu Li from wasting time by digging a hole in the ash-covered soil and overturned a landscape rock weighing several thousand pounds.
The sunken earth pit is just big enough to hold the bones.
Lu Li put the blanket wrapping the bones into the pit, and Claire stepped on the edge to cover the pit. Then he set up a simple tombstone and wrote the name in the lower right corner of the giant oil painting.
【Marlene Lorenzo】
After doing this, they returned to the wine cellar, stepped on the bloody red carpet, and entered the red brick secret passage.
The entrance to the secret passage automatically closed shortly after they left.
The narrow secret passage made it impossible for them to walk side by side. It was cramped, turbid, and dead silent. The depression caused by the dim secret passage illuminated only by oil lamps made it difficult to suppress their thoughts.
For example, monsters rush out of the darkness deep in the secret passage, or the secret passage is narrowing and squeezing.
Claire, who walked quietly in front, seemed to be hiding a secret.
Will Ken's reminder planted seeds in Lu Li's heart. Maybe some kind of spider web with Lu Li as the center is being weaved and a vortex is forming; maybe everything he encounters now is the delirium of the Emerald Dream; maybe everything is an illusion before death after entering hell.
In any case, there is no point in making assumptions because there is no solid memory pointing to them.
This secret passage is long enough, because it leads directly from the suburbs to Earl Hunter's manor. Even though the manor is not in the center of the city, it is an 8 or 9-mile long passage in Midnight City. It is simply incredible, especially underground in Midnight City.
It's hard not to guess whether Earl Hunter had any purpose in digging the secret passage. It couldn't really be just to contact his subordinate families.
Now that Earl Hunter and Midnight City are hiding underground, this abandoned secret passage has given Lu Li and Claire an advantage, leading them to avoid the strange things on the ground and quickly reach the strange lair.
But a collapse lies ahead of them.
Claire did not use brute force and signaled to Lu Li: "Now we need your helpers."
It's those worms.
Worms quickly came from the ground, squirming and devouring the collapsed soil layer while expanding the width of the secret tunnel.
Lu Li and Claire followed. At a certain moment, Claire's bandaged palm pressed against the shaking rock wall.
"We've been discovered."
She signaled Lu Li to follow the worm and leave. When the distance was far enough, tremors and dust surged from behind like a wave.
Claire collapsed the tunnel again. The existence on the ground could not find anything and also blocked their escape route.
The length of the collapsed tunnel is nearly two miles, and this desperate distance only takes dozens of minutes for the worms who respond to the call.
The narrow passage reappeared, and Lu Li asked Worm to hide underground and wait.
Afterwards, the secret passage encountered no more obstacles. When the sloping upward stone steps showed the edge of dim butter lamps, it meant that they were close to their destination.
"That viscount may not be powerful. What can really cause trouble is the large number of servants and slaves that are rushing in. So we have to sneak into the manor and get close enough to it."
Claire opened her stomach bag, took out two paired potions and gave one to Lu Li: "Do you remember the alienation potion? This is the key to our ability to get close to the Viscount."
As she spoke, Claire pointed to the smaller bottle of the pair of potions.
"Don't worry, I've improved the potion this time and prepared the antidote."