Life Dungeon Game

With these two factors combined, Winter City has become a battleground for several large regional organizations, making it the very center of the storm.

Of course, these forces converge here, and there is an inherent connection between them.

He Ao flipped through the documents in his hand, page by page.

The remaining three B-level units are unlikely to attack rashly. Given He Ao's 'achievements,' they might even unite, making it difficult to defeat them individually as before.

Among the people around He Ao now, the strongest is Lena, who has just been promoted.

Once he gets bogged down by a B-level opponent

Other B-level officers might be able to take care of the people around him.

Moreover, behind these B-level figures, there is very likely an even stronger 'Patriarch' behind them.

And there is that eternal divine kingdom, whose whereabouts are unknown.

Even though he had done so much, the curtain that covered the entire city of Winter was still suffocatingly powerful.

However, he didn't have much time left.

Just a little bit more...

The boy's gaze paused slightly, lingering on a photograph in the document.

He was a white-robed man who looked very gentle, a white-robed man who left a deep impression on He Ao.

This is the white-robed man who summoned monsters in the stormy sea at the very beginning of the instance, and was then killed by Heo.

This white-robed man was probably sent by Kate to find 'Ilo's' body, but Heo couldn't find any information about this white-robed man or his men in Kate's files.

So when he had Eve sift through the intelligence materials in the church, he also asked her to help him search for information about these people.

Eventually, Eve found their message in a remote coastal church.

The man in white robes is a priest of the Eternal Secret Church's coastal chapel, whose task is to accompany the church's ships on their mining expeditions and, to some extent, protect them.

The mechanical man and chainsaw man that He Ao had seen at the stormy sea were all security personnel 'outsourced' by this church, and they often accompanied the man in the white robe.

He Ao took a deep breath and read through all the information about the man in the white robe.

Prior to this incident, the man in white robes had been exploring new mining areas in the vicinity, even venturing deep into the Storm Sea.

In that instant, countless shattered fragments reassembled in He Ao's mind.

Not even close.

He looked up at the frosted glass cabinet above him.

"Close your eyes!"

With a loud shout, he leaped out and clung to the glass cabinet.

He held onto the bookshelf with one hand and pressed the edge of the glass cabinet with the other, then suddenly pulled open the lock, revealing the cabinet that had been sealed for many years, 'sealing' the 'Baptism'.

Inside, it was empty.

Chapter 826 The Usurper (Long Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

He Ao turned his head and looked at the glass cabinet door he had opened. On the dimly lit, semi-transparent cabinet door, a blurry 'painting' was reflected.

The old man in the painting is kneeling on the ground, with even light shining on him.

The 'painting' did not change just because He Ao's perspective changed from the front to the back. What he saw was always the 'front' of the painting, or rather, the reflection of the painting projected into his mind.

As He Ao gazed upon it, a series of distorted and eerie hymns gradually echoed in his mind. In the infinitely high and distant place, a great being seemed to be projecting its gaze across endless time and space.

Two lines of bloody tears seeped from the corners of He Ao's eyes. Then, his pale skin began to be covered with an eerie blush, and then fine strands of blood seeped from under his skin, gradually spreading throughout his entire body.

The endless pollution raged through his body, but his gaze never left the 'painting'.

As he watched, the painting 'imprinted' on the glass surface rapidly faded and became lighter until it disappeared completely.

In the end, the 'painting' completely disappeared from the glass case, and the pollution surrounding He'ao gradually subsided.

He Ao looked up and around.

The distorted patterns that had gathered around the glass case had completely disappeared, returning to calm.

The painting on the glass cabinet is not a real painting, but a simple reflection of the painting that was originally placed in the cabinet.

As the cabinet door opened, He Ao noticed the 'reflection,' which disappeared due to the structural change.

He Ao stared at the empty cabinet and fell into a brief silence, while the entire library fell into an eerie stillness.

"Ok?"

A soft, slightly nervous question from a young girl broke the dim silence.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

He Ao withdrew his gaze from the empty painting and answered slowly.

Vera removed her hands, opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was He Ao, covered in bright red blood, looking like a blood-soaked figure. Her voice rose slightly, tinged with worry, "Your body!"

"fine."

He Ao shook his head and jumped down from the glass cabinet.

Veri quickly grabbed a pack of tissues from the side.

He Ao reached out, took the tissues, and then quickly pulled out a few to wipe the blood off his face. "Thank you."

At this moment, his gaze was still fixed on the empty frosted glass cabinet.

"This is?"

Vera looked up and followed his gaze. "Someone took the things inside?"

She seemed to realize what was happening and said thoughtfully, "After Father died, besides you, only Carrie and I entered this room. You and Carrie are both people I can trust."

She paused, pondering, and asked, "Was it broken into? When?"

“I’m afraid that the things in this cabinet were taken away a long time ago, even before your father died.”

He Ao's gaze fell on the edge of the glass case, where a lot of dust had settled, as he opened the frosted glass case.

Previously, a very thick layer of dust had accumulated on this cabinet.

However, the cabinet itself is very well sealed, and there is not much dust inside. The only dust that remains is evenly distributed and there are no signs of items being stored inside for a long time.

Before your father passed away?

Veri was slightly stunned; that was a very distant memory for her.

"When your father was still alive, did he bring anyone to this library?"

He Ao turned to look at her, "Who knows that there is a special 'oil painting' here?"

“My father often brought people here. He liked to bring people in when he held small meetings, and he also liked to show his friends his collection.”

Veri paused, seemingly trying to recall, "Besides Uncle Endil, Uncle Jeko, and Vincent, many people from the United Industries and even the city cabinet have been here."

She glanced at the densely packed books around her. "Many of these books were collected by my father's 'friends'."

"Is it?"

He Ao snapped out of his daze and looked at the frosted glass cabinet above him again.

"You suspect..."

Vera looked up at Heo.

"You need to know the painting exists before you take it, right?"

He lowered his head and looked at Veri.

After all, this painting wasn't the only valuable item in the library, yet only it was lost.

"Um,"

Veri paused, then said softly, "It was probably Vincent who took it."

There were too many people coming into this library, so it's impossible to determine who ultimately took the painting based on this alone.

Then she paused, her voice slightly lower, "It could also be someone else..."

"Anything you do will always leave other traces."

He looked up at Vili, but didn't say anything more. Instead, he asked, "Did your father see this painting back then?"

The mere 'reflection' contained terrifying pollution; the power of the painting itself was probably far more terrifying than He Ao had originally guessed.

Even if it is not an extraordinary object in itself, it may have 'come into contact' with an untouchable high-level being in some sense, thus giving it a special power.

If Skorn, as an ordinary person, had seen this painting, he shouldn't still be able to retain his full sanity.

"Ok?"

He Ao's question made Veri momentarily lose her composure. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly as if she was trying hard to recall. "This painting seems to have been here a long time ago. I was very young then. I remember when my father brought it back, it was wrapped in a thick black cloth, and then he put it in a glass cabinet."

"Was this painting wrapped in a black cloth when it was put into the cabinet?"

He Ao was slightly taken aback.

The black cloth was most likely some kind of sealing method, allowing ordinary people like Scorn to be protected from the effects of the painting.

However, if the painting itself was covered, how could it leave a reflection on the glass case? Did some unknown force allow the painting to penetrate the seal, or...?

He looked up and glanced at the glass cabinet again.

The person who took this painting back then may have 'seen' it in this library.

That person briefly untied this...

The seal of the painting, the overflowing power of the artwork, is imprinted on the glass case.

Of course, those black cloths might not be able to completely seal the power of the painting. The painting might have some ability to tempt people to break the seal after being looked at, otherwise Scorn wouldn't have used a frosted glass cabinet to 're-seal' the painting and put it away.

In the Federation, collecting antiques is truly a high-risk hobby.

Nobody knows what they might suddenly receive.

He Ao lowered his gaze.

At this moment, all the fragments in his mind were finally completely connected.