… What's happening here
The homeless child froze for a moment.
He reached out and touched it again, only to find that the left eye was normal. Even a little warm.
... It's weird, and it's getting weirder.
It's almost as if the two states switch back and forth from time to time...
Is this a hallucination, or something from another world
Could it be that just now, Alley's face has become a skull face similar to that of the painter Amos
"—Ailey, can you hear me?"
Just then, the street children heard Amos calling.
He subconsciously turned around.
I saw... A skeleton was sitting on a chair next to him, looking at him with concern.
It has hardly a piece of flesh all over its body.
Only the left eye and the back of the neck.
Its left eye is inlaid with a dark green eyeball. On the back of the neck is a piece of skin the size of two palms... There are even some pale golden hairs on it.
Street children remember clearly.
Amos has brown hair and blue eyes, while Ellie is blonde.
—In other words, these are the eyes and skin of Ai Lei!
"Body...how?"
With an echoing heavy voice, the skeleton asked slowly, "Can you see...?"
Can you see it
Why do you ask if I can see it
Didn't I tell you at the beginning that I had some headaches
Homeless children are keenly aware of the problem.
"I… "
-visible.
He was about to answer in this way.
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 were still blue.
Wait, isn't it
The street kid suddenly realized something.
"I can see it, it's very clear... my body is also very comfortable."
As he answered slowly, he used the ingenious technique he practiced in the examination room to touch his eyes and the back of his head without any trace.
as expected.
He felt a strange, cold touch again this time.
Whether it's the eyeballs or the neck, it's all cold. He can even clearly feel his protruding cervical spine, and it feels a little sharp...
"—I understand, one of the anchor and his father must be a dead person."
"-Is he going to dismantle Ai Lei and stick it on his body?"
"—God how are you feeling! How are you feeling!?"
"I feel good, Father."
Ailei's expression changed, and she asked softly, "I just felt very light and... powerful. What's wrong with me?"
"This is a gift from the Skeleton Lord, Ai Lei."
It wasn't until this moment that Amos finally showed his cards to Allie: "My strange god-bestowed paint was given by Skeleton Lord.
"And your current healthy and powerful body is also bestowed by the bone bone. His divine power is stored in your body... You will not only live in good health, but also will not get sick again, nor will you grow old."
He chuckled and said, "Isn't this a good thing? This is a benefit that 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 a gift. The deal between me and Skeleton Lord has not officially started. You don't need to pay anything... He may promise me that he will give me dozens of gifts in the future." The paint is twice as large as the first time, enough for me to use."
looking at...
Allie had a weird expression on her face.
If you don't have to pay anything, where is Ai Lei's left eye and the back of her neck
No, it should be said...
Such an obvious thing.
—Why would Amos think I wasn't aware of it
"...not right."
Seeing this scene, Annan was suddenly taken aback.
He remembered one more thing—
If he guessed correctly.
It's possible that Ai Lei didn't really kill Amos.
In other words, he didn't realize at all... that he had already killed Ai Lei.
In that forty-five-year-old newspaper, the body fragments of "Ailey" are scattered throughout the frame of each painting in the form of minced meat. As for the gallery, as far as the "gallery" in the nightmare is concerned, the guarantee is more than one hundred pieces.
If it is really necessary to disassemble Ai Lei's body and put it into each painting... How much work will it be
Is there such a big hatred between them
The time of Ai Lei's death... But it was later than the time when the gallery was built.
Is he going to run to the gallery at night when no one is around and stuff pieces of meat into the picture frame
impossible.
It's not that Annan believed in the relationship between their father and daughter...but with Amos' clumsy skills, it was impossible for him to do these things quietly without being noticed.
Then there is only one possibility.
That's when the fragments of Ellie's body entered the painting, before her death.
—Her body was broken before she died.
It's not impossible.
To be more precise...
"The paint bestowed by Lord Skull... is mostly made from Ai Lei's body?!"
Annan's pupils shrank.
He suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
A somewhat bold guess.
But it just explains everything.
Even if it is the first time, the ritual of Lord Bones is not without cost...
Instead, the price has already been paid in advance!
In the third sacrifice, if you choose "half of your lifespan", you will sacrifice the previous part... In other words, you will instantly become an old man.
Then the "half of conscience" and "friendship from now on" sacrificed in the second sacrifice will not have any impact on oneself? What are the commonalities, if any
contempt for the lives of others.
In other words, the second sacrifice could no longer be stopped. Those who make the second sacrifice will definitely make the third sacrifice... because no matter which ritual they choose, "eating a certain part of another person" will no longer cause them a psychological burden.
According to this logic, the content of the third sacrifice will definitely make the sacrificer have to perform the fourth sacrifice.
This is not surprising.
The ritual that most pleases the bone bone is "the creator is killed by his own work". But the "Sacrifice Replacement Ceremony" that can avoid paying the price needs to break up with one's parents, wives, children and friends.
think about it.
Would a protector who loves an artist like such a ceremony
Many images suddenly appeared in Annan's mind:
—In every painting in the gallery, there is Ellie's flesh.
——In the basement found over there, there is a skeleton of Ellie who has lost all her flesh and blood, and a container containing a dead baby.
—Amos swallowed Alley's umbilical cord.
—Amos's body, Ailey's lost eyes and skin appeared.
"...I totally get it."
Annan murmured: "Amos is totally wrong..."
He finally reacted.
Skeleton is not a patron of artists and creators at all.
The reason he was hostile to Javon was not because they were robbing artists of their resources.
He is hating all creators.
Therefore... the enemy of Javon, the artist's protector.
He laughed at their greed, satirized them for their works at all means, and asked them to pay for it...becoming demons.
From the very beginning, Lord Bones thought that the person who called him would definitely hold the ceremony to the end.
So He has taken the final price early...the lives of their "loved ones". He just let these people go about their activities as usual before they realize that they are dead.
To be more precise, it should be the lives of these artists' "loved ones" before the ceremony.
Not after they become famous, lost half their conscience, ate the body of a loved one, or broke up with them, that person's life...
Although by that time, they no longer valued this person.
so ironic.
The fourth sacrifice, which cost the most, was completed at the very beginning.
They have long been unable to turn back. And at this time, there is no need to look back.
At that time, they were already dead at the beginning.
Completely sever all contact with the past self, lose all the glory of the original body, as if the original body died. Putting on the skin of the person you love and the person you have harmed...and watching yourself die in society.
[The creator is killed by his own work.]
The ceremony itself.
It is to repeat this theme in a dramatic way.
"… strangeness."
Annan frowned slightly.
According to this logic analysis, then Amos' ceremony should not be completely completed.
Otherwise, he should become Ai Lei... But in the end, he coughed Ai Lei's eyes out instead.
… Or rather, because he coughed Alley's eyes out.
He will enter into this nightmare of "taking Ai Lei's eyes"!
Annan's eyes suddenly lit up.
He finally knows all the rules of this nightmare!