musicians of old

Chapter 843 Dangerous Elements!

Several guards were the first to jump to the front of the stage, pick up a spray-tube-shaped riot weapon, and aim it at Fanning.

The acid corroded the surface of the mask, producing hissing white smoke, which was effective, but it did not penetrate immediately.

"Get the axe! You idiot, the axe!"

"Cut the edges of the panels that are joined together!!"

The head guard was giving orders in a fit of rage, and soon several more long-handled fire axes were swung at the platform.

The protective shield was damaged, but Fan Ning remained unmoved. He had already walked to the next Ottoman astrolabe and struck the core of the intricately operating brass celestial sphere with his hammer.

"boom!!"

The gears emitted a tooth-grinding, groaning sound, bursting and flying off one after another, clattering and clattering all over the ground.

The missing portions of starlight suddenly shone brightly, the "lamp-shaped" outline flickered wildly a few times, and then went out completely.

"I apologize, I have never experienced such a declaration before, and my heart is actually quite uneasy. At first, I even forgot to introduce myself." The girl above continued to speak slowly, "However, as some of you may have already guessed, I should not be here at this time. I am the chief hammer wielder, Nancy Esterházy, and this collection should have been my family's property!!"

“Three years ago, when I signed the transfer agreement here, the notary read out the terms down to two decimal places. The swarm of locusts has devoured this venue, including the Leridge Group, the Imperial judicial and notary institutions, and the church that provided the crucial ‘chain of evidence.’ Some of the things you wanted to see, some of the secrets you were wondering about, are now all covered up on the shield. You can see them as soon as you get closer!”

Countless guests, whether surprised or curious, along with media reporters, swarmed forward again, only to be loudly threatened and driven away by the guards.

Fanning remained oblivious to the chaos outside the shroud.

Venetian carnival masks.

"boom!!"

As the hammer fell, the mask shattered like a fragile eggshell. The colorful light emanating from behind did not dissipate, but rather gushed out like a living, colorful spring, forming a series of distorted, dazzling, yet fleeting fractal patterns, as if countless eyes opened and vanished in an instant!
Fanning felt a strong wave of dizziness, and the intense sense of déjà vu reached its peak the moment it shattered.

"No! My property! Trash! Open it now!"

Leirich is roaring.

"Damn it! By the time you manage to break through the security barrier like this, that lunatic inside will have already destroyed all the property!"

"Shouldn't this shield be two-way?! Why isn't there a switch on the outside of the table?!"

Faced with the murderous questioning, a guard who had been frantically pressing buttons on the wall behind the platform turned around, sweating profusely: "Director, it is indeed supposed to be bidirectional! But for some reason, the outer button is malfunctioning; it won't go down no matter how I press it!"

The security shield is there to maintain order during the auction. After all, the stage is too open, and over the years, all sorts of strange people might be encountered. With so many people around, it's impossible to rule out the possibility that some guests might suddenly rush onto the stage to cause trouble or even attack the staff.
Therefore, the shield is not intended to completely seal off the inside, but rather to simplify security costs.

It has switches both inside and outside the circular platform, and is heavily guarded by soldiers.

But now, the switch is malfunctioning.

Seeing the man still trembling and doing futile work, the head guard suddenly seemed to realize something and shouted, "No, the main mechanical valve! The main mechanical valve must have been stepped on! These two buttons in the storage area have lower priority than the main valve! We need to check the special collections restoration room!"

"What are you waiting for! Send another group!" Lerich's eyes grew even colder upon hearing this. "I knew someone was up to something; these people are actually working together from the inside!"

"And that guy up there! That Nancy! Don't bring her down! Damn it. If she doesn't shut up, let her go see God right here!" The guards were once again urgently mobilized and deployed, and a team of men with security weapons rushed toward the collection restoration room.

Another group of guards, searching for the source of the sound upstairs, moved swiftly through the semi-open stairwell, quickly closing the distance to the attic where the conductor and musicians, Kaprun, were staying.

"Tonight, what we want to end is not Lleich, but to call on the public to work hard to eradicate this systemic tumor that parasitizes Vienna's philanthropy! Mr. Kant warned in Königsberg, 'Man is not an instrument of others, but an end in himself!' Philanthropy is by no means a production line for the reproduction of suffering, nor is it a perpetual motion machine that pawns human dignity for the compound interest of capital!"

Nancy, on the microphone stand, also sensed the approaching danger and gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"I have no expectations about what my fate will be tonight or in the future. I only hope that the Van der Schaaf Collection case will be overturned so that I can donate it! Yes, please bear witness to what I have said! And let it be agreed that the Medical Association, the Cloth Merchants Association and the Poor Committee will jointly supervise the flow of its funds!"

"Perhaps, if I had simply remained the chief hammer bearer, I would have lived much longer than I am now. Perhaps this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I will always remember Mr. Beethoven's annotation in a newly published score not long ago—"

He said, "Is it absolutely necessary? It absolutely has to be this way!!"

It has to be this way. Nancy, you're absolutely right. Beethoven is also a musical master I admire, and Miss McAdam, who risked her life to collect evidence and is now guarding the valve, is another example. It's a pity our meeting was too short. Fanning took a deep breath, and the dark golden hammer tip once again drew a short and decisive arc in the air!

He aimed at the middle of the Saul ruby ​​bow, at its most vulnerable point.

"Crack——!"

A crisp, heartbreaking sound echoed throughout the venue.

The sound of precious ebony cracking was like a knife, and the bow hair curled and trembled violently, emitting an extremely high-pitched and ear-piercing inhuman scream, as if a soul was being torn apart in an instant!

"Ok?"

More than half of the "illusory objects" had been smashed, but Fan Ning suddenly felt something blurry in the corner of his eye.

That was just a sound, a shrill, breaking sound.

But the broken bow is gone!
This bow, which looks like a knife from a certain angle, was smashed so badly that not even a shard remained!
Fanning began to doubt her own eyes; what was strange was that she felt many things had been "diluted."

Things at a higher elevation, vibrant, three-dimensional, and with various colors and textures, are like splashes of water on a painting where the paint is still wet. They seem to have been diluted and dispersed by some invisible flow.

"what happened?"

Shaking his head, Fan Ning's gaze met that of another person on the platform outside the canopy.

Chief valuer Nikolayevich Squiaben.

According to the auction process, the chief appraiser explains the process from the outside, while the chief hammer holder operates the auction from the inside, working together to guide the auction.

Squier had been waiting outside and did not step down amid the chaos and commotion.

The man stroked his beard and revealed a meaningful smile.

Fan Ning suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

He saw this person get out of the wheelchair and slowly stand up!