Free Web NovelHearing three muffled thuds from deep within the house, as if someone was knocking on a wall, Lu Yibei and Jiang Li exchanged silent glances for a few seconds, nodded to each other, and quickly returned to their back-to-back vigilant stance from when they first entered the Studio.
Just as Jiang Li was about to step deeper into the house, Lu Yibei suddenly whispered.
"Wait a moment."
Jiang Hao turned to look at Lu Yibei, casting a doubtful gaze at her.
Lu Yibei glanced at Jiang Li, then at the painting beside her with the strange Eyeball, and slightly raised her chin.
"【What about this thing? Just leaving it here, I feel uneasy.】"
Jiang Li thought for a moment, "【Destroy it directly?】"
"【That's not appropriate, is it? This spooky thing is a bit eerie, and it might be important evidence. I think it's better if you take it back with you when you leave later and study it.】"
"【Then cover it with a white cloth again?】"
"【If you cover it, it'll still'stare' at us! It's quite uncomfortable.】"
Jiang Hao rolled her Eyeball at Lu Yibei.
"【So what do you want to do?】"
Lu Yibei rested her chin on one hand and pondered for a moment, her gaze inadvertently sweeping over the paints scattered on the ground not far away, and her Eyeball lit up slightly.
"【I've got it! Let me put some makeup on it!】"
Just as magic must be defeated with magic, the best way to change the discomfort caused by a painting is, of course, with another painting!
Being stared at by a strange Eyeball and being secretly observed by the eyes of a two-dimensional beautiful girl, the experience is completely different, isn't it?
"【To be honest, for a period of time, I actually dreamed of becoming a manga artist, drawing two-dimensional beautiful girls every day. For this, I even practiced drawing for a while, and I'm quite confident in drawing eyes.】"
Jiang Hao, "【Probably just drawing eyes, right? I heard that eyes are what many beginner manga artists are best at, and then beyond that...】"
After sending a message to Jiang Li with her gaze, Lu Yibei immediately took action, picking up the paint palette in a proper manner, squeezing out the paint, and then picking up two flat brushes and returning.
Returning to the strange Eyeball painting, she re-covered it with white cloth, and then skillfully drew a pair of White Little Flower's eyes on the white cloth, almost the same size as the strange Eyeball.
If she hadn't considered that this painting still had research value, she would have even wanted to modify the original painting directly.
After surveying her masterpiece, Lu Yibei put down the paint palette with satisfaction, turned to look at Jiang Li, "【How do you think I drew? Isn't it great!】"
It proved that no matter how strange something was, as long as it turned into the appearance of a two-dimensional beautiful girl, it would only make people feel cute. Next to her, Jiang Li shifted her gaze from the substitute, which seemed even more bizarre than the original painting, and raised her hand to rub her slightly throbbing temples.
"You drew very well, don't draw next time."
She originally wanted to tell Lu Yibei the truth, but seeing Lu Yibei immersed in her own "artistic" creation, she felt that telling Lu Yibei the truth seemed a bit cruel, so she suppressed the impulse in her heart.
However, after messing with it like this, the discomfort of being spied on by a sneaky gaze indeed felt much better? Jiang Hao thought.
After dealing with the strange Eyeball painting, the two continued towards the direction from which the knocking sound came.
They hadn't walked far when they were unsurprised to find that the direction from which the knocking sound came perfectly matched the direction in which the dark red dragging trails on the ground extended, pointing directly to the innermost bedroom.
Could one of those dark red dragging trails have been left by the person making the knocking sound?
Was she imprisoned? Was she imprisoned by the painter, or by those who broke into Hanye Studio first?
Was only one person imprisoned, or were there many?
With these questions in mind, the two quickly arrived at the bedroom door at the deepest part of the house.
It was a very old wooden door, so old that one might suspect its history was even longer than this row of small buildings. A rusty padlock hung on the door.
Due to its age, a lot of dirt had accumulated, making it impossible to discern its original color. In the cracks that had opened along the wood grain, some viscous substance seemed to be slowly wriggling. Upon closer inspection, it was completely still, no different from ordinary dirt.
Stopping at the door, Lu Yibei gestured for Jiang Li behind her to step back, then raised her rhomboid tower shield in front of her, while also holding Xuan Ying Luofu horizontally in front of her.
Her hand rose, the sword fell, silently severing the chain on the door.
After Lu Yibei cut the chain on the door and Jiang Li caught the falling padlock, the two waited in place for a few seconds. Seeing that nothing strange suddenly rushed out from behind the door, they pushed the door open.
"Creak—!"
After a soft, whimpering sound, the wooden door, which seemed as if it could break at any moment, slowly opened. Accompanied by the breeze brought by the opening of the wooden door, a white shadow floated out from inside the room.
Without any hesitation, Jiang Li almost reflexively stepped forward, raised her hand, and swung her blade at the white shadow. The next moment, the sound of tearing fabric echoed in her ears.
"Rip—!"
A section of white cloth, severed with charred edges, slowly floated down to Lu Yibei's feet.
She paused for a moment, looked at the section of white cloth, then at Jiang Li; she then retrieved several Alchemy Dirty Bombs from her God Kingdom Prototype with a backhand motion, and gently rolled them into the pitch-black bedroom.
As the faint glow of the Alchemy Dirty Bombs illuminated the bedroom, a bizarre scene unfolded before the two of them.
This bedroom should have been the master bedroom; the space was not small, but there was no furniture inside, only white cloths hanging from the ceiling, filling the entire room, layer upon layer, obstructing the view.
The white cloths were very thin, and faint stains that hadn't been washed clean could be seen on them, inexplicably reminiscent of the gauze used during wartime when supplies were scarce, simply washed, dried, and reused.
At this moment, outside, wind and rain lashed down, and cold wind poured in through the cracks of the closed windows, making a low, wailing sound, causing the white cloths throughout the room to sway, reflecting the faint green, indigo, or crimson light of the Alchemy Dirty Bombs, just like a group of ghosts dancing.
Are they trying to hide something by hanging so many white cloths?
If there was a person or something else hidden behind these white cloths, it would be difficult to discover them immediately.
Even if it's still standing behind those white cloths, motionless, we still wouldn't know it's there.
Lu Yibei was thinking when she suddenly narrowed her Eyeball and tightened her grip on the Xuan Ying Luofu.
She sensed something was wrong!
One, two, eight.
After silently counting in her heart, she turned around and sent a message to Jiang Hao with her gaze.
"【One is missing.】"
Jiang Li tilted her head, "【What's missing one?】"
"【One Alchemy Dirty Bomb is missing. I threw in nine just now, but there are only eight glowing spots now.】" Lu Yibei responded with her gaze.
After understanding the message conveyed by Lu Yibei's gaze, Jiang Li's expression instantly became alert, and she subconsciously tightened her grip on her long blade, holding it in front of her. freewёbnoνel.com
There are many possibilities for an Alchemy Dirty Bomb to be missing.
For example, it suddenly failed for some reason, or it was completely blocked by something, or it was hidden by some existence hidden behind the white cloth.
If it's the last one...
"Boom—!"
A sudden explosion erupted, the ground shook—
A pillar of flame, flickering with electric light, erupted from beneath the center of the bedroom like a volcanic eruption, hitting the ceiling with a muffled thud. A foul smell of burnt protein permeated the air.
The next moment, all the white cloths in the room burst into flames.
Yes, Lu Yibei detonated the missing Alchemy Dirty Bomb.
The simplest way to locate a bomb is to detonate it, isn't it?
If some unlucky person had unknowingly taken that Alchemy Dirty Bomb, it would also let her understand the simple truth that even children know: don't take things that aren't yours.
Jiang Li, whose thoughts were forcibly interrupted, hurriedly activated her Power, cast 【Punishment of Eight Water Prison】, extinguished the flames that ignited the white cloths, and then looked at Lu Yibei with a dark face.
She had no idea that an ability that should have been used against enemies would be used for the first time to extinguish a fire.
Seeing several muddy streams surging from the void, controlled by some mysterious force, swirling in the confined space, a look of surprise flashed in Lu Yibei's Eyeball. She turned to look at Jiang Hao, just about to ask her what kind of ability this was, when her heart trembled at Jiang Hao's icy gaze.
"【Detonating dangerous items in a residential building? Aren't you afraid the building will collapse?】
"【I won't dare next time.】" Lu Yibei shrank her neck.
Jiang Hao shook her head helplessly, "【Forget it, let's go take a look first?】
Seeing Jiang Li's gaze, Lu Yibei came back to her senses, remembering that the flames from the Alchemy Dirty Bomb explosion just now had come from underground.
She looked in the direction from which the pillar of flame erupted, and as expected, in the center of the room, she saw a large hole ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) with charred edges.
Staring at the hole, Lu Yibei nodded thoughtfully.
Were those white cloths probably meant to conceal the existence of this hole?
As she pondered, she leaned in to observe closely, and saw that a layer of charred, viscous substance, whose original appearance was already difficult to discern, was peeling off around the hole.
Perhaps the reason Lu Yibei's Alchemy Dirty Bomb fell into the hole without making a sound was because of this viscous substance?
And the smell of burnt protein...
Is it the flesh and blood of something?
Looking a little deeper, one could vaguely see the exposed, cracked concrete walls after the charred, viscous substance peeled off, and a section of a distorted and deformed hanging ladder.
A basement? No, it could also be connected to an air-raid shelter, Jiang Hao thought.
From the war years to the 1960s and 1970s, Mountain City experienced two very special periods. During those two special periods, the people of Mountain City excavated a large number of air-raid shelters.
Those intricate air-raid shelters created Mountain City, with its brightly lit skyscrapers above ground, and hidden beneath the skyscrapers,
A mysterious underground world.
Therefore, whether this entrance, which might lead to Mountain City's underground world, was accidentally discovered and utilized by someone, or if it already existed, it was all within reason.
After a brief analysis, Jiang Li shifted her gaze from the hole, looked up at Lu Yibei, "【Go down and take a look?】
Lu Yibei hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
The hole leading underground was not particularly deep, with a drop of about twenty meters, but because the hanging ladder was damaged in the explosion and the situation below was unknown, the two descended very slowly, taking five minutes to successfully reach the bottom of the large hole.
As soon as she stepped onto the ground, Lu Yibei held up an Alchemy Dirty Bomb, looked down at her feet, and frowned.
Under the faint blue glow of the Alchemy Dirty Bomb, one could see that the ground was covered with a layer of something resembling wet hair, similar in texture to the carpet laid beneath the paintings in the work area, but much thicker.
Stepping on it, with a slight push of her foot, she could feel a rebound sensation, like stepping on flesh and blood. freeweɓnovel.cøm
The space beneath the large hole was very narrow, with only a passage wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side. Being in it gave a strange illusion, as if one was standing in the digestive tract of some giant creature—
A strange stench hung in the air, seemingly brewing some ominous meaning.
"This—thump-thump—!"
Just as the two were surveying the harsh environment around them, a rapid sound of footsteps echoed. Following the sound of footsteps, at the end of the passage ahead, a figure flashed past.
