With the assistance of the station staff, members of the symphony orchestra, number 89, quickly gathered in a small open space next to the platform, moved to the exit of the station efficiently, and collectively boarded a pre-packaged batch of trains.
Box carriage.
"Caron, do you feel hot?" Joan gently fanned her dress.
"hot."
As soon as Fan Ning stepped out of the train carriage, he realized that the summer heat in this place was even worse than that of Ufranser.
He opened the corner of the carriage curtain and took a first look at the night view of the streets around the station. It was similar to that of Ufranser, which is also an industrial city, but the latter was only scattered into small patches, far less spectacular than such a vast ocean.
.
As the industrial heart of the empire with a permanent population of over 4 million 13 years ago, the city surface of Saint-Talambo is filled with huge and bloated steam engines and steel pipes. Boilers burn boiling water day and night, passing through layers of ditches and tunnels.
, providing power for the city's factories and residents, and also making it difficult to see sunlight all year round.
The incandescent light of the huge airship soaked into the night sky, staring like a giant eye at the chimneys, factories, buildings with pointed roofs and billboards with steel brackets below. The ground looked like there had just been a summer rainstorm, and the hurried pedestrians were walking in trousers.
It is very clean, and the endless flow of carriages and cars brings up leaden gray water splashes.
"The atmosphere in the Imperial Capital is indeed different from usual." Lu said next to him.
"How do you say it? Where is it reflected?" Fan Ning asked.
"The number of pedestrians. At this time, in this central area, there are much more people than now... The security system has tightened the martial law a lot, which has caused homeless people and poor people to be driven away and will not stay where they can be seen on the main road.
, Secondly, some citizens who are aware of the atmosphere will tend not to go out after dark... No matter what, it is better to tell the students to stay in the hotel with peace of mind and restrict free activities."
"I'm going to explain it before departure. I suggest you focus on investigating the safety issues of the subway..." Fan Ning shared some of the information Julius had given her in the small town of Vatznay.
At around seven o'clock in the evening, everyone settled down at the "Boethius Grand Hotel" in the Tulip Parish of St. Talambara.
In the late days of the Hoffmann Empire, the influence of the Holy Sun Church on ordinary people gradually reached its peak. Parishes replaced the status of villages or lord manors, and were the basic units in the divisions of various local governments. At most, there were more than 21,500 in the country.
After several administrative reforms to this day, the church's cultural influence among the people at the most basic level is still deeply rooted, but the non-religious affairs functions of the cities, towns and counties further up have basically disappeared, and the "Tulip Parish" is just an unchanged church.
The general or customary name of.
According to Fan Ning's father's special inspection office work file, the previous stop before going to the abnormal area to investigate was Tulip Parish.
Located in the center of Santa Ramburg, the Boethius Hotel is only a 15-minute walk from the Theoline National Concert Hall. The owner of the property behind it is closely related to the world-famous "Boethius" brand.
The piano comes from the same company.
Many well-known artists from all over the world who perform in Santa Ramburg stay here, and its specifications and costs go without saying.
Dinner was very simple. The logistics staff ordered lunch boxes and snacks directly from the hotel and asked the service staff to deliver them to the musicians' rooms on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors. Even Qiong did not object to this plan, which shows that the nightmare brought
The negative emotions that came were not light.
Fan Ning returned to his room, threw his luggage bag towards the large sofa next to the floor-to-ceiling window, then frowned and began to clean up the pile of envelopes and small cards in his hands.
There may be about twenty in total.
Some of these were handed to me by the hotel staff when I just checked in at the front desk - the sender had already inquired about the symphony orchestra's itinerary and knew that his conductor was about to stay at the Boethius Hotel. The other part was sent.
I even knew the room number I booked and put it in the mailbox at the door in advance.
There are a few pictures that are even more outrageous. They were picked up by Fan Ning from the ground after unscrewing the door.
"Dear young composer, conductor and pianist Mr. Carolne Van Ning: You are sincerely invited to be the home piano teacher for the three daughters of Baron Raymond. Your musical talent has made our Miss Myron Staff, Judy
Miss and Miss Isabella are fascinated by it. The teaching tasks and time period can be arranged according to your wishes. We can make up for your occupied personal time with at least 30 pounds per hour and give you the highest salary of the Raymond family.
Yours sincerely"
"Teaching each lady one hour a week, the weekly salary is 90 pounds, and the annual salary is more than 4,000 pounds?" Fan Ning held this eloquent letter with several hundred words and began to calculate quickly in his mind, "It is quite sincere. The monthly income
The annual income has reached the threshold of the middle class, but traveling back and forth between cities every week means too much energy is spent on the three ladies, and I can’t do anything else.”
"The main reason is that I have written so much, and I don't know how their piano foundation and practice progress are." Fan Ning raised his wrist, and the letter rotated in a parabola and fell into the trash can.
"Dear young musician Carolne Van Ning: You are sincerely invited to attend the dinner and music salon held by Ms. Camilla, the art critic and editor-in-chief of "The Event" at 7 pm on August 22."
"The Affair? Why didn't I know Tioline had this newspaper?" The envelope continued to fly into the trash can.
"You are sincerely invited to serve as a judge for the finals of the "Annual Potential Pianist Competition of the Year 913 in St. Taranburg," which will be held on August 24th at the West Wavre district venue of the Tioline Summer Arts Festival. The appearance fee is 145 pounds."
"The Summer Art Festival has a branch venue? It's not that popular. Who organizes this kind of pheasant piano competition? The judges' appearance fee is not even a round sum." Fan Ning raised his hand again.
"Dear conductor, collector Mr. Carloun sincerely invites you to take the time to attend the art-themed summer night pool party to be held at the seaside resort of Gil'Ezia in the Lowlands on the evening of August 20th. From your loyal friend, Grand Godiver Colliery
Company Earl Gardner."
"What does the pool party have to do with the art theme?" Fan Ning looked at the invitation in his hand with a strange look on his face, "Why use a card instead of an envelope? If you just use a card, why do you have to print a row of colorful ink photos of the girls?
?”
"I always feel like I have seen something similar to this somewhere." The trash basket made a sound again.
Fan Ning suddenly recalled that when he was a child, he seemed to have heard his father Vincent complain about such topics.
Once a person makes some noise in the art world, he will start to receive event invitations from all aspects - this seems to be a side perspective, reflecting the higher social status of artists in the mystical world.
Even some outrageous or disrespectful incidents that happen to them will be considered as natural for artists.
The premiere of "Death and the Maiden" in the music salon, the premiere of "Symphony No. 1", the new conductor of the symphony orchestra, the radio "trailer"... After making a few small noises, the number of event invitations has increased, but what about the quality?
These activities, on the one hand, need the popularity of artists to consolidate their status in the upper class, and on the other hand, they need to increase the exposure of their activities to increase their artistic value. It is not ruled out that some well-known people are very interested in these activities and begin to indulge in sensuality.
But in Fan Ning's view, participating too much is wasting one's artistic life.
Art exchange is necessary, but you have to try to choose a high-quality platform, right?
After looking at a dozen of them, he threw all the envelopes and cards into the trash can.
After hastily filling his stomach, Fan Ning re-checked the locks of the doors and windows, and then took out the top hat from the briefcase. The shape was now somewhat distorted.
There were many people in the imperial capital, and he didn't dare to show off in public with an investigator's belongings, so he forced the hat into his briefcase.
He turned over and over and stared at the top hat that had mysteriously fallen out of the ashes of the doll for a while. He felt that there was something wrong with it compared to when he saw Vasius wearing it, but he couldn't tell it for a while.
Fan Ning tried to read it on the floor, on the desk, on the big bed, in the dressing room, on the toilet in the bathroom...
Nothing came of it. In the end, for some reason, Fan Ning walked to a floor-to-ceiling mirror in the room and moved it above his head by accident.
Then, he continued to let go in a mysterious way, and with a "pop" sound, the hat covered his head.
Patterns similar to black and white grids suddenly flashed before Fan Ning's eyes, and his muscles and bones seemed to be covered with a layer of something. He was lightly strangled a few times. When his hallucinations dissipated and he regained his vision, he was almost beaten.
The scene before my eyes dropped my jaw!
The gentleman in the floor-to-ceiling mirror wears a top hat and an all-black formal suit. His facial features are small and squat, and his expression is gloomy.
Why...how did I become like Vasius?
His hands suddenly felt cold. Fan Ning looked down and saw, damn, even the pocket watch was in his hand again.
Fan Ning first moved back and forth around the room and made some body movements, then stood back, looked at "Vasius" in the mirror a few more times in surprise, and finally lowered his voice tentatively and said:
"You really didn't disappoint me!"
"After we go back, let's go to the Special Inspection Hall and have a good chat about your Turner Art Museum..."
...Is it such a high-end imitation? Fan Ning carefully savored the various sensations in his body and consciousness.
After taking off the hat, similar hallucinations appeared in the vision and body again, and then they returned to their original appearance.
"So for this mysterious incident, I didn't go all the way in vain? Did I bring something back with me?" He couldn't help laughing at himself, "But... this matter is indeed a bit difficult to understand."
It is said to be an extraordinary item that cannot be easily erased? But it did evaporate with Vasius, but later fell out from the ashes of the puppy doll.
Say it is a ritual instrument with mysterious and more special properties? ...The function is to change into one's own appearance? What's the meaning of this?
Fan Ning held the brim of the hat on both sides with both hands, turned it over again and looked at it several times. Then he suddenly found a white, swirling snake-shaped symbol composed of concave abstract lines at the top of the inside of the hat.
He was so frightened that he took off his hat and dropped it to the ground, and took a few steps back.
Why did the Lord of Witnesses, "The Mantra," appear!?!?
Cold sweat suddenly soaked through Fan Ning's vest.
I had almost forgotten about this matter!
The night before setting off today, Fan Ning had some uncomfortable dreams and felt like he was being watched inexplicably. It was because of this that he acted very cautiously from the time he left home early in the morning.
But what later attracted my attention were: ghost stories, production accidents, train failures, "hidden lights", the town in Joan's memory, the connection between the fragments of the audio series, etc.
So how many elements of the "secret history of entanglement" are mixed into this mysterious incident?
After Fan Ning calmed down for a while, he picked up the hat again.
The two most dangerous points of hidden knowledge are: first, the impact of new knowledge on the original cognition and three views when receiving it for the first time; second, the high-level secrets existing in the memory, or the subtle influence caused by a large number of hidden knowledge accumulated over time.
Change.
Just now I saw the symbol of "Mantra Snake" again. It was neither the first situation nor the second situation. The main reason was that this thing was a bit scary and scared me.
After Fan Ning carefully reviewed his experience in the small town of Watznay in his mind, he found that there was another very important point that he was completely unable to understand.
…Could it be, Mr. F?
When he was looked at by Mr. F for the first time, Fan Ning felt that he seemed to be scanning everyone for something, and the look in his eyes made him briefly think of "Truth Tiger". Who would study the hidden knowledge of this existence? And
Why did he stay in the small town of Vaznai? Was he unable to escape or did he not want to go out?
At that time, I had a very strong fear and a sense that the situation was out of control.
When the feeling of losing control reaches its peak, this person unknowingly takes away something from everyone.
It's just that the key to the art museum was accidentally left in the secret realm of Yiyong, and the baton "Old Days" was returned to him after he got it. It was this incident that dispelled his sense of vigilance. "Old Days" had already passed away.
Many mysterious properties have been initially discovered, and they may have greater value. If Mr. F is really malicious or wants to take it for himself, what can he do at that time?
Moreover, after everyone went to 1F, which is the actual second floor of the art museum, they never interacted with Mr. F again, and I don’t know if he knew what happened upstairs.
After recalling such a large circle, Fan Ning still felt that seeing the "Truth Tiger" symbol was a bit scary, but rationally told herself that there was nothing to be afraid of.
Vasius was left behind by the occult trigger, and this top hat allowed him to disguise himself as him. From this point of view... As the manager of the art museum, Mr. F was helping himself throughout the whole process, no matter what his subjective thoughts were, at least, this was the result.
This allows you to optimize the previously decided disposal plan and choose a more proactive approach.
Do I need to keep the hat thing strictly confidential and only let myself know about it?
...If you want to take the initiative to attack the Special Patrol Office, it would be better to verify the safety and have someone you trust to handle it.
So Fan Ning left the door ajar, sat on the edge of the bed, lifted up the black receiver, and dialed the phone in the room not far next door.
"Hello?" Sheeran's voice came.
"it's me."
"Oh, Carol...what's going on?"
"Come to my room."
"...Okay." The voice of the girl opposite hesitated for a second or two, and then Fan Ning heard Joan's voice, which was not clear in the distance, "Caron, are you not writing music today... I can come over and join you.
Play?"
Fan Ning thought for a moment and said, "You just come together."