He reached out and touched it again, only to find that everything in his left eye was normal. It was even a little warm.
...Strange, getting weirder and weirder.
It's like the two states switch back and forth from time to time...
Is this an illusion or a different world?
Could it be that just now, Elle's face turned into a skull face similar to that of the painter Amos?
"——Elei, can you hear me?"
At this moment, the wandering child heard Amos' call.
He turned around subconsciously.
Then I saw...a skeleton sitting on the chair next to me, looking at me with concern.
There is almost no flesh on its body.
Only the left eye and the back of the neck.
Its left eye is inlaid with a green eyeball. On the back of its neck is a piece of skin the size of two palms... There is even some light golden hair on it.
The homeless child remembers it clearly.
Amos has brown hair and blue eyes, while Elle has blonde hair and blue eyes.
——In other words, these are Ai Lei’s eyes and skin!
"How is your body...?"
The skeleton asked slowly in a heavy voice with echo: "Can you see...?"
Can you see it?
Why are you asking me if I can see it?
Didn’t I tell you at the beginning that I had a headache?
The wandering children are keenly aware of the problems involved.
"I……"
--visible.
He was about to answer like this.
But the moment he was about to speak, he suddenly felt in a trance.
When he woke up again, he found that the skeleton had turned back into Amos.
His eyes are still blue.
Wait, isn’t it?
The wandering child suddenly realized something.
"I can see it very clearly...and my body feels very comfortable."
As he answered slowly, he used the skillful technique he had practiced in the examination room to touch his eyes and the back of his head without leaving any trace.
as expected.
This time he felt a strange, cold touch again.
Both his eyeballs and his neck were cold. He could even clearly feel his protruding cervical vertebrae, which felt a bit sharp to the touch...
"——I understand, one of the anchor and his father must be dead."
"——Is he trying to tear Ai Lei into pieces and put them on himself?"
"——Child God, how do you feel! How do you feel!?"
"I feel good, Dad."
Ai Lei's expression changed, and she asked softly: "I just felt that my body is very light and... powerful. What's wrong with me?"
"This is a gift from Lord Bones, Ai Lei."
Only then did Amos finally show his cards to Ai Lei: "My strange god-given pigment was given by Duke Skeleton.
"And your current healthy and strong body was also given by Lord Bones. His divine power resides in your body... Not only will you live in good health, but you will not get sick again, nor will you age."
He chuckled and said: "Isn't this a good thing? This is a benefit that the righteous gods cannot give."
"...then, father."
"Ai Lei" was silent for a while and asked seriously: "What is the price?"
"There is no price."
Amos replied without hesitation: "This is just a one-way ceremony to pray for blessings. The transaction between me and Lord Skeleton has not officially begun. You don't need to pay anything... He may promise me that he will give me a number next."
Ten times as much paint as the first time, enough for me to use."
Looking at...
Ailei's face looked a little strange.
If you don’t have to pay anything, then where are Ai Lei’s left eye and the back of her neck?
No, I should say...
Such an obvious thing.
——Why does Amos think that I didn't notice this?
"……wrong."
Annan looked at this scene and was suddenly startled.
He recalled one thing again——
If he guessed correctly.
It's possible that Amos wasn't the one who killed Elle.
In other words, he didn't realize at all... that he had killed Ai Lei.
In that newspaper from forty-five years ago, "Elle"'s body fragments were scattered in the frame of each painting in the form of minced meat. And in the gallery, as far as the "gallery" in the nightmare is concerned, it is guaranteed.
There are more than a hundred paintings.
If we really had to dismantle Ailei's body and put it into each painting... how much work would it be?
Is there so much hatred between them?
The time of Ai Lei's death... was later than the time when the gallery was built.
Should he go to the gallery at night when no one is around and stuff the pieces of meat into the frame piece by piece?
impossible.
It's not that Annan believed in the relationship between their father and daughter... but with Amos's clumsy skills, it was impossible for him to do these things quietly without being noticed.
Then there is only one possibility.
That is the time when the fragments of Ailei's body entered the painting, earlier than the time of her death.
——Her body was broken before she died.
This is not impossible.
To be more precise...
"The pigments given by Lord Skeleton...are probably ground with Ailei's body?!"
Annan's pupils shrank.
He suddenly felt a chill running down his spine.
A somewhat bold guess.
But it just explains everything.
Lord Skeleton's ritual, even if it is the first time, is not costless at all...
But the price has been paid in advance!
In the third sacrifice, if you choose "half life span", you will sacrifice the previous part... which means you will become an old man in an instant.
So the "half of conscience" and "friendship from now on" sacrificed in the second sacrifice will not have any impact on themselves? If so, what is the common ground?
It is contempt for other people's lives.
In other words, the second sacrifice cannot be stopped. Those who perform the second sacrifice will definitely perform the third sacrifice... because no matter which ritual they choose, "eating a certain part of another person"
", it will no longer cause them psychological burden.
According to this logic, the content of the third sacrifice will definitely require the sacrificer to perform a fourth sacrifice.
This is not surprising.
The ritual that best pleases the Skeleton Lord is "the creator is killed by his own work". The "sacrifice replacement ritual" that can avoid paying the price requires severing ties with one's parents, wife, children, and friends.
think about it.
Would a protector who loves artists like such a ceremony?
Many images suddenly appeared in Annan's mind:
——Every painting in the gallery contains Elle's flesh.
——The basement found over there contained Ai Lei’s skeleton that had lost all flesh and blood, as well as a container with a dead baby.
——Amos swallowed Elle's umbilical cord.
——Amos’s missing eyes and skin appear on Amos’s body.
"...I totally understand."
Annan murmured: "Amos simply did it backwards..."
He finally reacted.
Mr. Bones is not a patron of artists and creators at all.
The reason why he is hostile to Yaweng is not because they are robbing artists of their resources.
He hates all creators.
Therefore... he became an enemy of Yaweng, the artist's protector.
He laughed at their greed, satirized their willingness to use any means for their works, and asked them to pay a price for it...to become devils.
From the very beginning, Lord Bones believed that the person who called him would definitely hold the ceremony to the end.
So He has already taken the final price in advance...that is, the lives of their "loved ones". He just allows these people to continue their activities as usual before they realize they are dead.
To be more precise, it should be the lives of these artists' "loved ones" before the ceremony.
Rather than after they become famous, lose half of their conscience, eat the body of the person they love, or break up with them, that person's life...
Although by that time, they no longer valued this person.
So ironic.
The fourth sacrifice, which was the most painful, was completed at the very beginning.
They had already been unable to look back. And at this time, there was no need to look back.
At that time, the original ones were already dead.
Completely cut off all ties with the past self, lose all the glory of the original body, just like the original body died. Put on the skin of the person you loved and harmed... and watch yourself die in society.
【Creators are killed by their own works.】
The ceremony itself.
It is a dramatic retelling of this theme.
"……strangeness."
Annan frowned slightly.
Analyzing according to this logic, Amos's ritual should not have been completely completed.
Otherwise, he would have become Ailei...but in the end, he even coughed out Ailei's eyes.
...Or, it could be said that it was because he coughed out Airei's eyes.
Why would he enter this nightmare of "taking away Airei's eyes"!?