Beatrice, although Ankur was dead, something in her body seemed to come alive, slowly flowing out, floating upwards like invisible steam, trying to rise to some dark place infinitely far away.
This caused the surrounding light to dim, making the ceiling of the apartment appear strangely unreal, and Lumian, Franca and Bronx all felt as if they were being watched.
It's not that there was really any gaze directed at them, it was more like there were only three of them in the entire building, and without any obstructions, so the crimson moonlight in the sky inevitably illuminated them.
Thump, thump, Lumian's heartbeat suddenly quickened.
The two witches who were good at divination had a strong and intuitive premonition of danger.
With a pop, a translucent blood bubble appeared on Beatrice Ankur's face, and then a brown tumor with a wood-like texture grew inside the blood bubble.
The tumor burst and bubbles came out, stained with bloody pus, wet and sticky.
This... Lumian's pupils dilated rapidly, not anticipating the occurrence of this situation.
He had killed more than one or two members of the "Society of Bliss" and had stayed next to their corpses for such a long time before, but there was no unusual change. Death was the end of it all, so there was no disturbing, indescribable undercurrent surging around him, with an unknown origin.
Although he had no idea what was going on, Lumian quickly came up with a solution.
He looked up at the blurry and illusory ceiling, then looked at the wall from which faint noises came. He planned to take a step forward, grab Beatrice's body, and "teleport" directly to the Albert Mine where he had been before.
The closer you get to the underground of Trier in the Quaternary Period, the more dangerous it is. There are all kinds of pollutants and uncontrolled factors lurking. Even if there is a corpse that is about to mutate, no major problems will erupt.
That place itself is a collection of problems!
At that time, as soon as Lumian dropped Beatrice's body, he would use "Spiritual Travel" for the third time to return to the ground and away from danger.
He thought of a plan in a very short time, and when he made up his mind, Franka instinctively took a step towards Beatrice's body where a second tree tumor had grown.
Her right hand reached into the secret pocket of her skirt, trying to take out the ancient mirror she had "picked up" from the ground.
That ancient mirror is connected to a strange and dangerous mirror world. You can try to stuff Beatrice's body, which has undergone unknown mutations, into it and let danger fight danger!
This would buy enough time for further processing. In the end, no matter whether the dead believers of the "Mother Tree of Desire" won or the strange mirror world swallowed up the pollution and "smoothed" the alienation, it would no longer affect Franka, the humans present, and the surrounding residents.
Compared to them, Browns Soran, who obviously lacked sufficient experience, first reacted by using black flames to burn the remaining spirituality of the corpse and using frost to freeze the newly emerged abnormalities, using the most "witch" way to stop the situation from deteriorating.
At this moment, Lumian, Franca and others felt that the light around them had dimmed even more, as if the red moon in the sky had been lost and only the light of a few gas wall lamps remained.
Subconsciously, Lumian turned his head to look at the window and found that the glass there was dark and dim, no longer transparent. It had changed from a "channel" for communication between the inside and the outside to a wall that closed off the place.
Almost at the same time, the invisible thing that was slowly evaporating from Beatrice's body seemed to have lost its direction and could not find the way to the darkness in the infinite distance. It could only wander in place and gradually sink.
Their mysterious connection with some unknown things was thus severed, and both Lumian and Bronx suddenly lost the thrilling feeling of being "watched" from afar and "illuminated" by gazes.
Thump, thump, their heartbeats were slowing down. They saw that the tumors on Beatrice's body were shrinking rapidly and no new blood bubbles were emerging.
The darkness surrounding the corpse returned, and a sinking invisible object began to attach to the surface of the diamond necklace around Beatrice's neck.
Under the crimson moonlight high in the sky, the building at 23 Menil Street was completely dark. All the windows were dark, and no human figures were reflected. It was dead silent and gloomy, like a haunted house.
In a room in the apartment opposite, a white palm was holding a mirror with a peculiar shape and a simple temperament.
The mirror is surrounded by sculptures of black snakes entwined with each other. Each "snake" has a single huge scarlet eye on its head, no mouth, and no fangs.
At this moment, the surface of the mirror was clear, reflecting a brightly lit building.
Every floor of the building has windows that emit the yellowish light of gas wall lamps, playing out scenes of family drama:
The old security guard on the first floor smoked his cigarette butts, leaning against the wall of the lobby, enjoying the quiet of the night; the couple on the second floor sat in the living room, one reading a novel, the other unfolding a newspaper in front of him; the window on the third floor was half open, a half-naked man looked at the door in a sneaky way, ready to climb down and jump to the street at any time. Lumian, Franca and Bronx on the fourth floor were looking around in confusion, one wanted to use some kind of ability to try to leave the "crime scene", one put his right hand into the secret pocket, wondering what he wanted to take out, and the other seemed to have some guesses, and distanced himself from the other two... .
Another white hand reached out and wiped the strange mirror that was entangled and surrounded by one-eyed "strange snakes".
Suddenly, the brightly lit building disappeared on the mirror surface, and in the dead silent and gloomy apartment at 23 Menil Street, lights lit up one after another, figures appeared one after another, and all kinds of sounds were heard from afar.
After looking around, Lumian found that Athena's apartment had completely returned to normal. It was no longer surrounded by the dark night, the crimson moonlight could hardly shine in, and the glass windows had turned into dark walls.
Beatrice Ankur's body had completely returned to normal. The sudden change that had caused people's palpitations and fear was like an illusion that only existed in nightmares.
Lumian, who was ready to grab Franka and "teleport" away at any time, was relieved when he did not "wait" for a possible attack. He turned his head to look at Browns Soran:
It is impossible for the Witch Cult to send only such an inexperienced member to examine Franka... .
Was it the powerful witch who was secretly observing and controlling the situation who took timely action to help us deal with possible changes
This performance doesn’t seem like that of a mid-Sequence Beyonder, a high-ranking witch, or a Sequence 5 “Witch of Pain” who possesses a divine item
No wonder Bronx dared to come in without worrying that Franca and I would attack her…
I don’t know if the witch hiding in the dark has seen my “Hum Ha Technique”…
Franca thought of the same thing and turned her gaze away from the window, glancing at Browns Soren.
She frankly expressed her guess, but did not ask. She looked down at Beatrice's body and said with a little curiosity and confusion:
“That necklace seems to have changed a bit
Lumian also noticed this and felt that the transparent diamonds on the necklace were reflecting the light of the gas wall lamp on every side, which made him feel flustered and his mouth dry.
Is this a special weapon similar to "Corrupted Mercury"? Did it fail in the previous times because no abnormality occurred, and the gift of the gifter was not blocked and all returned to the mother body? Lumian had a rough guess, walked to the side of the corpse, and squatted down.
He carefully reached out his hand towards the necklace, and as soon as he touched the surface, he felt multiple desires rising up, tumbling and difficult to suppress.
Lumian quickly withdrew his right hand, thus getting rid of the state of blood rushing.
Carrying magical items such as "Torture" and carrying the negative effects of multiple contracts, he is no longer suitable to touch the necklace that can awaken the deepest desires.
"You come." Lumian stood up and motioned for Franca to handle it.
Franka did not refuse and took off the diamond necklace with great anticipation.
The two did not stay any longer, said goodbye to Browns, and returned to the market area.
Market Avenue.
Franka successfully dealt with Beatrice and had a chance to pass the witches' scrutiny. She also got an extraordinary thing that should be more compatible with the "Witch of Pleasure" ability. She was in a very good mood and was just about to hum a little song to express her good feelings.
She glanced at Lumian, who was walking silently.
"What's wrong
"I was wondering where Maipu Mier is hiding..." Lumien paused and suggested seriously, "Let's go underground now.
Franka was stunned at first, but then she understood Lumian's idea:
"Do you think Maipu Meier will return to the place where Suzanne Mathis once worshipped the 'Shadow Tree'
“Maybe.” Lumian wasn’t sure, but he felt there might be some clues or traces left.
Franka, who thought she had gotten an advantage in the distribution of spoils, did not try to persuade him, and went into the underground Trier with Lumian from the nearest entrance of the market avenue.
With the help of the fireball's illumination, the two followed a fairly familiar path, passing through the collapsed mine where the "Supreme Bliss" member Rentas was buried and the place where Janna was knocked unconscious, and went all the way to the altar area that they did not dare to approach last time.
There were traces of burns everywhere, no living things, no foul smells, as if it had been exposed to the scorching sun for many days, leaving only piles of dry bones from different creatures.
The collapse and cracks in the middle of the cave had been filled with soil and rocks. Lumian observed carefully for a while and found some fresh traces around the original location of the altar.
They obviously do not belong to the same person but come from different "visitors".
Looking at these traces and the collapsed area deep underground that was filled up, Lumian's mind suddenly emerged with the "Shadow Tree", "Samaritan Woman Fountain", "Iron Cross" conspiracy and other things happening around him.
They seem to come from different sources and are scattered and complex, but they have one thing in common:
They all point directly or indirectly to the underground, to the history and dangers hidden beneath Trier!