Elena nodded and said: "Indeed, we all need time, so we should not continue to engage in these meaningless contests."
"Since you left China, the news that you planned to go to Britain to search for the Dunhuang code has been leaked. I am not the first person to keep an eye on you, and I will not be the last one. I think you still don't know, Have you already encountered the Elder of the Wugui Sect, right?"
While I frowned slightly, Elena pulled out a stack of photos and threw them in front of me. On top of them were the notes written by Fan Chongyi to me.
"Notes? That flight attendant?" I suddenly woke up. The only person I had close contact with was the flight attendant. She quietly stole my notes while touching my forehead, and poured me water. I returned the notes when I was there. And I was not aware of all this at all.
The Buddhist master really deserves his reputation.
I tapped the table lightly and said, "Go on."
Elena said: "Before I tell my purpose, I must declare one thing in advance. The ancestors of the Blood Tulip family are out-and-out pirates. However, they have never been to China, let alone Dunhuang. So, in a sense, the Bloody Tulip family are innocent victims of the Dunhuang Curse.”
I shrugged my shoulders noncommittally, and Elena continued: "Compared to other adventurers, the Tulip family is not interested in substantial treasures. We pay more attention to the secrets behind the treasures. This is different from the Chinese detective. The God Hand is very similar.”
I turned to look at Lu Xinyao, who nodded slightly and said, "Western adventurers pay more attention to treasure hunting. Gold and jewelry have a fatal attraction for them, but they will not pay attention to the civilization left in the secret realm."
I understood what Lu Xinyao meant: adventurers and detectives belong to two extremes. The former is for plunder, and the latter is for revealing secrets.
Elena continued: "After my ancestor saw Dunhuang cultural relics, he became obsessed with Dunhuang culture and began to collect Dunhuang cultural relics by any means. He did get a lot of Dunhuang cultural relics. But he also brought back the curse of Dunhuang. . The Blood Tulip family almost perished because of this. It was an Easterner who helped me figure out a way to stop the curse, so that the family can continue."
I heard this and interrupted the other party: "I have a few questions to ask you. First, what kind of curse has your family suffered? Second, what are your methods to prevent the curse from spreading?"
Elena said: "About the family curse, if I tell you, you probably won't believe it. Because I don't know what the curse is?"
Elena opened her shirt and pointed to the tulip tattooed slightly below her left shoulder: "Once the curse begins, this tulip will turn red and bloom. Family members will know that the curse has come. At the same time, they will also feel My own body is discovering lesions.”
"At that time, family members will leave secretly and go to the dark castle hidden in the mountains, never to appear again."
Elena closed her shirt and said: "This is the Eastern man's way to prevent the spread of the curse. He does not allow family members to bring up any topic about the curse when the curse occurs, and must reach the castle as quickly as possible. From now on, no one will Appear again."
I looked at Elena: "The solution you mentioned is isolation?"
"You can understand it simply like this." Elena did not object: "You must want to ask, where is the Dark Castle, right?"
Elena looked at me with a serious expression and said: "The Dark Castle can be said to be a mythical forbidden area in the West. It was originally an ominous place where countless undead gathered. Before the family brought the curse into the castle, it was A forbidden place for the living.”
"I can tell you responsibly that a long time ago, adventurers sent cursed objects into the dark castle. To this day, some people still throw ominous objects into the castle. Over time, there are It has become a veritable place of death. No one can enter or exit at will."
I immediately caught the loophole in Elena's words: "What do you mean no one can come in and out at will? You mean, there are still people who can come in, right?"
Elena smiled and said: "Many adventurers have gone in, but they never came out. That's what I mean when I say you can't come in and out at will."
I hugged my shoulders and said, "Really? We are cooperating."
Elena took a deep breath and said: "Okay! I heard that a wizard has entered the dark castle. Of course, it's just a legend."
While I frowned, Elena continued: "Don't think that you are the only one with strange people in China. There are also countless masters hidden in Europe. However, they are not adventurers, nor are they what you call charlatans."
I nodded slightly: "In other words, you can't guarantee that you will definitely find the Dunhuang Curse when you enter the dark castle, right?"
Elena nodded and said: "Although I really want to insist that the Dunhuang Curse is in the Dark Castle. However, I don't want to destroy the cooperative relationship between us. Therefore, your entering the Dark Castle is also a kind of gamble."
I hesitated and asked, "What's the name of the person who taught you how to stop the curse? He doesn't even have a name, right?"
"Zhang Zuiyuan!" When Elena said three words, she immediately sat up straight: "Who? Zhang Zuiyuan?"
I asked tentatively: "Are you talking about Zhang Zuiyuan, the elder of Wugui Sect?"
Lao Diao told us about Zhang Zuiyuan. He has a very close relationship with Tie Qing and is also the elder responsible for guarding Tianshakou of the Wugui Sect. Did he secretly sneak into Europe or return to the headquarters of the Wugui Sect
Elena shook her head and said: "If the person you are talking about lived sixty or seventy years ago, maybe it was him."
Ye Xun and I looked at each other and saw each other's shock.
If we extrapolate Tie Qing's age forward, Zhang Zuiyuan might actually be a figure from that period.
I managed to calm down and said, "Since my whereabouts have been leaked, are the Ghostless Sect and the adventurers also planning on the dark castle?"
"This, I don't know!" Elena shook her head and said: "The dark castle is like a curse in the eyes of adventurers. No one will approach the castle easily. Unless they have been forced by the curse to go situation."
I nodded slightly and then said, "I have another question. How did Stein die later?"
Stein's full name is Marc Oler Stein. Originally from Hungary, he was a Jew and became a British citizen in 1904. He is known as a famous archaeologist, art historian, linguist, geographer and explorer, but in fact he is an out-and-out thief and robber. It was Stein who first stole the Sutra Cave from the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, and he was also the thief who stole the most cultural relics in Dunhuang.
Elena said: "According to documentary records, he died of illness on the way to the expedition. Stein arrived in Kabul on October 19, 1943. Unfortunately, he caught a cold on the 21st, and then developed bronchitis. He suffered a sudden stroke on the evening of the 24th, 1943. On October 26, he died of illness at the Embassy of Country M in Kabul and was buried in a nearby Christian cemetery in Kabul."
I frowned and said, "Didn't he die from the Dunhuang curse?"
Elena said: "About this, the family has conducted investigations and even sent people to search for Stein's body, but to no avail. The cemetery has long been destroyed by the war, and we can't find any clues. .”
I am not sure whether Stein died of the curse, but I am certain that Stein once searched for the ancient Loulan country, and he was the discoverer of the Xiaohe tombs in the ancient Loulan country.
Stein's adventure seemed to have been moving along the Silk Road. Kabul, where he died of illness, was one of the important towns of the Mughal Empire on the Silk Road.
After the Mughal Empire weakened, Western powers began to frantically compete for colonies. Finally, the old empire of Britain turned the Mughals into their own puppets. Was Stein's death in Kabul a coincidence, or was he searching for the lost ancient kingdom of Loulan along the Silk Road
If it is the latter, it means that he has peeked into some of the secrets of the Dunhuang Book.
I banged my hand on the table and thought for a long time before saying, "Give me the map to the Dark Castle. Our cooperation can continue."
Elena shook her head and said: "No! This time, I want to leave the dark castle with you."
Elena said without waiting for me to speak: "Not long ago, the family curse broke out again, and many people are preparing to leave the family. I need you to send them to the castle. Of course, it is best to bring them out."
Elena said: "Although the family has always claimed that the family members whose curse broke out voluntarily entered the castle. In fact, everyone was sent to hell under the secret escort of the family."
"This is a secret in the hands of the family patriarch, and I happen to be one of the family's candidate heirs."
Elena probably didn't lie. The most difficult thing to understand in this world is human nature. Especially before the threat of death, a person who is mentally broken does not know what he will do. Maybe some people will obediently walk into the castle and wait to die, but there are also people who will definitely slip away in the middle, and some people will even deliberately hide the fact that their curse has occurred. It is reasonable for Blood Tulip to send people to monitor in secret.
Elena said: "The patriarch will tell me the secret in advance because the curse this time is too violent. Sixty percent of the members of the Tulip family have already been cursed. If they cannot come back, the blood of the Tulip family will be in trouble." Maintain it, and after a few years, either the family bloodline will no longer be pure, or the Tulip family will disappear. No matter which situation is the result that the family wants to see. Can you understand what I mean?"
I can probably understand what Elena means. The older a family is in Europe, the more emphasis is placed on bloodline. Even if they were formerly pirates and slaves, once they became nobles, it meant that they had become the ruling class, and they began to pay more and more attention to their family's bloodline, as if bloodline could bring them a real sense of security and maintain their status. noble.