old dream

245 The Long Night
Every window in the old factory building has been covered with thick tarpaulins.In the open space in the middle, a bonfire was lit.It's a pity that the space of the factory building is too large, so the flames can only burn weakly in the cold, unable to raise the surrounding temperature.

Ke Lin dumped a box of red stones on the ground, and a cloud of bright red dust rose in the air for a moment, but evaporated and disappeared with a slight sigh in the blink of an eye.

After two days of back and forth between more than ten secret warehouses, a thousand pounds of red stones were finally gathered here.

"Actually, it seems that it is not as impactful as imagined."

Ke Lin threw away the wooden box that had just been unsealed in his hand, looked at his results and said.He reached out to adjust the bandages on his body, and many wounds opened due to the force of his body.

"No, it's scary enough."

Looking at the red stones all over the ground in front of her, Ji Lian said in a daze.A thousand pounds of redstone, which had never appeared in textbooks, was enough to make the professors of the monastery feel absurd, but it was dumped directly and roughly in this remote and unknown abandoned factory building.

Large and irregular red stones are stacked together, and there are still many gaps between them.But even this can only cover about three square meters of ground.If they are carefully gathered together, they are probably only about the size of a bedside table.

No one thinks it's an exaggeration until they realize their value.But they exude a strange faint blush all the time.Everything in the field of vision seemed to be glowing red, not only the dark curtain in the distance, but even the bonfire beside it was also dyed a coquettish color.

When there is no access ceremony, the evaporation of large redstone is very slow, just like a huge ice cube can actually be stored for several months.But Ji Li'an could always hear the faint chirping sound, because it was countless tiny evaporations quietly gathering together in the air.

40 Ori just spread here, enough to buy two hundred lives.Every hour, dozens of Ori disappeared.

The human body cannot be used as a medium for super-large rituals, because the high-pressure spiritual essence of this scale is enough to destroy anyone's body and mind in an instant.

"here we go."

Ji Lian took a breath, raised her head and said to Colin.

…………

Golden Iris Block, the most famous wealthy area in the old city, every main house is surrounded by huge gardens.As the sun went down, the street lamps came on one by one.At this moment, the curtain behind a window moved inconspicuously.

Someone was peeping out there.

"Not surprisingly, they have put their hands outside Stade."

Seeing the wizard walking towards the window, Luca said casually:
"Ninth inning should have thought we were gone."

He was playing with the wine glass on the coffee table boredly, and the nearest newspapers were piled up not far away, and his usual photos were published on them.

As early as a few months ago, Luca had already purchased real estate from others in the wealthy area.Even if the Stade police station were all out, they would not conduct excessive searches in this kind of place.Coupled with the wizards' usual clean and neat methods, it can be said that they are out of danger.

With just a glance at the bushes and flowers outside, the wizard lowered the curtains.There is no abnormality for three consecutive days, which is enough.

He turned back to his bedroom and said at the same time:

"Two nights from now, I'll be out for a few hours."

Luka stopped what he was doing, frowned and did not speak.

Normally, it would take at least a month to avoid it.The wizard's unreasonable actions would probably affect him.

"Just to tell you." The wizard said, as if he didn't notice Luka's dissatisfaction.

Because of the current "old friend", it is impossible to ask him anything.

…………

It was still early, but Archduke Edmund was already lying on the luxurious bed frame embroidered with gold thread, because it was difficult to sleep.

I don't know from which year, bedbugs began to appear in his bedroom.Because the furnishings are too expensive, they cannot be smoked with ignited things, and the servants can only catch them one by one, but this is difficult to stop.

It was another night of torment, and the Grand Duke seemed to be able to feel the bugs crawling among the ornate curtains.The bed was ordered by the Grand Duchess from the distant port of Yago, because Ankh did not have such fine craftsmen.But now it seems that the complicated process only gave the bedbugs more space to hide.

At midnight, the Grand Duke, still sleepy, pulled the bell.The courtiers and noble maids came in slowly through the two doors.The maids rolled up their sleeves and skirts, climbed onto the large mattress, and began to search for bedbugs among the layers of silk and velvet, while the Grand Duke sat in the middle coldly with his arms folded.

At this time, a close minister came over cautiously:

"Your Highness, you are in the mood now..."

"Say it directly."

"The arrangement in Stade." The minister continued in a low voice:
"Since you gave the new order, Herwig hasn't contacted us for a week."

Herwig, also known as the "City of Silence".The lack of regular contact doesn't mean that something happened to him, it's just that it might be too radical not to call him back to Danalo at this time.The Grand Duke's expression remained the same, watching the maids gently flipping the floral gauze between the curtains, he said after a while:
"Replace him."

…………

As the night approaches, all the speakeasies in Stade are packed and their locations are no longer a secret.But in the depths of a bar, the door of Ricardo's office was closed. He was alone listening to the vague noise outside the door, and slowly clenched his fists, a look of determination flashed in his eyes.

And in the ground deeper than these bars, the hunting group has been clearing the bugger's lair for several months.Elena looked at the almost brightly lit lair, but her mind was on Ji Lian who was performing the ceremony. They had agreed a few days ago that when Ji Lian's plan was over, she would reveal the lieutenant's true colors to the world.Then, leave together.

Elena suddenly withdrew her thoughts.Now almost all the members of the Jackdaw Hunting Group have gone underground. She glanced at her companions, but was surprised to find that there was no trace of Nancy here.

…………

Outside an abandoned factory on the southern outskirts of Stade, the water on the dirt road has frozen.Nancy, who was wearing a special windbreaker, leaned on a fence, her black hair and eyes seemed to have merged with the long night.

She looked at the broken window not far away that was covered by an oilcloth, and from time to time she gasped slightly because of the cold.Rubbing hands together for a little warmth.But her body didn't tremble in any way.

Nancy looked up at the dark sky. On this date, Ziyue and Yiyue could not be seen all night.

"No, it went well." She murmured softly, not knowing who she was talking to:

"It's better to say that it went so smoothly that I was a little scared."

Nancy said quietly.

On December 29, the Earth has not yet fully slipped into the shadow of the female moon.

Darkness will last a full 72 hours after the sun sets today.Because there will be a solar eclipse big enough to tie the two nights together.This is the darkest time of the year, but it is also the most obvious festival for people. It is a rare reunion time when the whole family does not go out.

And in Dallozzo's ancestral home, the evaporated red stone is brightly lit.Craigie D'Allozzo is still huddled in the dark basement.

But even in the dark, he was starting to feel sick.

Even with his eyes covered, he could still feel the erosion of those rays of light.It was as if they had learned how to bypass the eyes and become entangled in their own minds inexorably.

Craigie soon felt that it was too much, and he got up from his chair to go to another room to catch his breath.He tremblingly opened the door to the basement.But even those originally mild redstone halos have completely changed.Craigie covered his eyes with his hands fiercely, and even wanted to poke himself blind, but it didn't help at all.

He could only kneel down on the ground, howling bitterly.

(End of this chapter)