Mystery: The Silver Key

Chapter 18 Dangerous Painting

Irving ultimately couldn't bring himself to bite himself again; he was afraid of the pain, and he sensed that Cyril's gaze was becoming dangerous.

Cyril noticed Owen's unusual behavior and was debating whether to leave.

A moment later, he reached out and pulled Irving out of the restaurant and towards the stairwell.

His desire to be watched in the shadows outweighed his wariness of the unknown and danger, so he didn't plan to leave so soon.

Since my spiritual intuition did not give any warning of danger, it means that the danger here is within my control, and at least the "apprentice's" ability can get me away.

As I walked up to the second floor, the air was filled with a pungent smell of essential oils, and moans, indiscriminate in their utterance, came from every room, as if everyone on the second floor was engaged in some kind of indescribable activity.

Behind him, Irving awkwardly tugged at his shirt, saying, "Let's go straight to the third floor."

Sirion nodded immediately. He didn't have any particular voyeuristic hobby and didn't want to see the offensive scenes in the rooms.

As the two figures disappeared around the corner of the stairs, the groans from the room suddenly became louder, as if they had inexhaustible energy, were extremely excited, and wanted to release their pent-up emotions.

But the sound quickly weakened, turning into intermittent panting, then a hissing sound of the throat rubbing against the air, and finally, there was no sound at all.

On the third floor, Sirion suddenly stopped and looked back. He seemed to have crossed some kind of boundary.

"What's wrong?" Owen, who was walking ahead, turned around and looked at him.

He didn't answer, but frowned and pondered quietly. Then he reached out and pressed his hand against the air in front of him, trying to touch the fleeting feeling he had just experienced.

The next second, a deep blue light emanated from his palm, forming a phantom, colorless door in mid-air.

On the other side of the "door" stood another Cyril, each extending a hand and pressing them together across the "door," as if mirror images.

"A mirror space, also incorporating the power of the mind realm?"

"This is definitely not one of the 22 known extraordinary pathways!"

He murmured to himself, then stepped through the "door" in front of him, his figure merging with that of Cyril outside the "door".

Only the flickering firelight illuminated the dimly lit dining room. Cyril stood blankly before the long dining table, his eyes filled with layers upon layers of illusory doors that seemed to appear and overlap.

The next second, the illusory door in his eyes disappeared, his pupils shrank sharply, as if he had suddenly woken up from a dream, his chest heaved violently, he took a step back, and looked warily at the dining table in front of him.

There was never any exquisite or luxurious dinner on the table, only a tablecloth painted with bizarre oil paintings, as if it were a work of art haphazardly smeared with a mixture of grease and flesh, carrying a faint smell of blood and burnt odor.

The rich, dark red hues overlap and twist, outlining a series of ferocious and unrestrained faces. They seem to be looking at everyone outside the painting, silently cursing them. Just looking at them can cause physical discomfort.

"The world in the painting..."

Cyril murmured to himself unconsciously, and the relevant knowledge began to spontaneously appear in his mind again, as if it had always belonged to him.

A lot of knowledge suddenly flooded his mind. Although it didn't cause him to lose control like the "Hidden Sage's" knowledge-driven approach, the sheer volume of knowledge still made him feel uncomfortable.

To relieve the dizziness in his head, Sirion had no choice but to close his eyes and organize the extra knowledge in his mind.

"Totems and paintings, the power of fantasy and dimensional realms—this is definitely not something from this planet."

"It also contains desire and the power of some strange realm, which cover the top layer, so I didn't notice the problem at first and was sucked into the world of the painting before my spiritual awareness was alerted."

"This seems to be a trap specifically set for me."

He suddenly looked up, as if gazing at the starry sky above through the ceiling.

A trap specifically designed for him from beyond the planet could only be the work of a "high-dimensional observer".

"Even though the seven gods and the barrier are still there, how can they still infiltrate with a little bit of power? And how can they target me so precisely..."

He suddenly fell silent. With his inherent high status, it seemed that he didn't need to be precise. The power of the "high-dimensional observer" would inevitably appear by his side sooner or later.

There may also be other factors that induced it, such as the incomprehensible special power on the tablecloth scroll. It may belong to fate, pushing him to make contact with the Blood Axe Gang, leading him to this place, and stepping into the trap.

The only unexpected thing is that he had taken the "Apprentice" potion before he came. The ability of the "Door" pathway, combined with his own special abilities, gave him the ability to leave the world in the painting on his own.

Should we leave immediately and report this to the church, or stay and explore to find a way to remove this tablecloth that possesses the power of a "higher-dimensional observer"?

Take a chance; the bigger the waves, the more valuable the fish. If all else fails, call on Adam when in doubt.

As he pondered, the night outside the house suddenly deepened and became silent, as if covered by an invisible, thick black curtain.

Above, in the silent night sky, a solitary star hanging on the horizon suddenly burst forth with a bright light; it expanded, it fell...

Then, it suddenly stopped, as if it had lost its target, and after flashing blankly a few times, it retreated back to its original place.

Outside the house shrouded in the heavy darkness of night, beneath the gas lamp where Sirion had once stood, Adam, dressed in a simple white robe, stood quietly, as if He had always been there.

He withdrew his gaze from the night sky, turned his head to look at the shadows on the other side of the street, and said in a calm and unhurried tone:

"It seems we all underestimated the influence of the Outer Gods on this world. Even though the original barrier hasn't disappeared, they can still send in some low-sequence power relatively easily."

"In a few years, perhaps the power of the middle sequence will be able to be sent in more easily."

Where His gaze fell, the figure of a young, dark-haired woman was drawn from nothing.

She was beautiful, but her face was expressionless, and her dark eyes were deep and unfathomable, yet lacked any spirit.

She looked at Adam calmly, her tone completely indifferent: "You think highly of him?"

Adam, with his usual gentle smile, said, "At least when the end times come, he can help us hold back one of the Old Ones."

"If he is lucky enough and grows fast enough, perhaps he can give us one more old one and take away one less old one from the outside world."

The elegant lady, shrouded in darkness, offered no comment, only stating calmly, "One who can contend with an ancient being must be another ancient being."

Adam looked at the other person with an unchanged expression: "So we need a 'Lord of Mysteries,' or a 'God.' There's not much time left; we must make choices and decisions."

In the darkness, a complex emotion flickered in Ms. Xiuli's lifeless eyes:

"The gods of the astral plane cannot be missing too many, otherwise the end of the world will come sooner, unless a new god appears who can control his own state well."

Adam paused for two seconds, pondering whether the other was asking when he planned to become a god, or whether he planned to introduce several new Sequence 0s, or both.

After a brief silence, He spoke leisurely: "Within two years."

He didn't say whether he would become a god within two years or introduce a new Sequence 0 within two years.

After a brief pause, He continued, "I hope you can help me kill Ocycus and Chick."

As soon as he finished speaking, a bright ray of sunlight seemed to appear in the surrounding darkness, and grayish-white stone appeared, but it did not spread; it was immediately swallowed up by the darkness.

Everything was covered in secrecy, and no information or mystical sensations could be transmitted.

In the darkness, the beautiful woman appeared to have an ethereal, star-studded skirt, and her once lifeless eyes now held a touch of human reflection and doubt.

She—no, it should be Him—silently looked at Adam, waiting for His next words.

"They are all related to the 'Primordial God.' I don't know to what extent their primordial will has been restored, but to control the Chaos Sea, we must first deal with them."

"To bring down Sequence 0 with minimal cost, stealth is the most suitable and crucial ally."