"Is this where Nicholas lives?"

Annan raised his head and looked around with slightly squinted eyes.

This is Noah's St. Bernie's district, and it is also the location of the most densely traded underground in the Intramus, commonly known as the "Black City".

Papa's Grocery Store and Alberta Used Bookstore are here. Annan had just been buying books with Paper Ji nearby, not far from Nicholas's residence, and after hearing Paper Hime's words, they went around half a street and went straight here.

It's a two-storey, low-slung stone-walled villa, and the surrounding area is very barren and the grass in the yard is not well tied. One street away is a high-rise residential complex that is being bulldozed and rebuilt, and you can even smell the stone outside the door.

The environment here is definitely not good.

Damp dark stone walls, cascading creepers outside. Tiny cracks in old stone bricks...... This house can be said to be very old.

In general, it is difficult to imagine that a researcher would live in such a house.

Although Annan did not know much about alchemy and transformation spells...... But if it's too humid, it will affect the experimental data, right? I'm afraid there will be some problems with the storage of the potion. The so-called "store in a cool, dry and ventilated place".

However, such thoughts disappeared as soon as Annan entered the house.

As he entered the room, he felt very distinctly that he had entered a diaphragm. There was slight resistance to the pace of moving inside...... It's like heading against the wind, but only for a moment.

In an instant, the air spontaneously formed a filter membrane, directly filtering out the impurities and excess water on his body.

The air inside the room is exceptionally fresh and dry. Even the smell was removed when I entered the room.

- The most important thing is that this barrier, whether it is Annan or Paper Hime, is completely unaware of it before entering the door. Because it is cleverly designed to be "triggered instantaneously when someone enters". If it's a trap, they've probably stepped into it.

"Worthy of Nicholas."

Annan was not angry, but exclaimed: "Such a delicate barrier, it can still operate on its own after he leaves......

"Definitely. And this self-cleaning filter barrier alone is not something that ordinary people can make. ”

Paper Ji glanced around.

She was surprised to notice...... This enchantment is actually a composite enchantment that is set up casually with the test tube rack as the fulcrum, which is complex enough but does not seem cluttered. His handling of several of these details can even inspire Paper Hime.

Paper Ji also spoke highly of Nicholas: "I didn't have an intuitive understanding of his alchemy ability before. Now it seems......

"I'm afraid he's already done with the [Supreme Crown]."

"He's done."

A heavy, deep voice rang out in the room.

Annan and Paper Hime looked away.

A human-height plaster statue was found sitting cross-legged on the ground.

Its eyes are slightly closed, its sockets are deep, as if it is silently thinking about something, and the gloomy expression on its face is reminiscent of that of a philosopher or a monk who has no desires and desires.

"Stone Father."

Paper Ji nodded at him.

Father Shi just replied smoothly: "You know, you shouldn't come. In particular, Annan should not have been brought with him. ”

"But you gave me the address. You also know that I am with Annan, but you did not stop me. ”

Paper Ji retorted, "This is an attitude in itself. ”

"Maybe."

Father Shi didn't say much.

He didn't seem to like to talk, he just looked up.

The eyes, which were clearly carved out of marble but were like living creatures, met with Annan's four eyes.

"What do you want to know?"

Father Shi replied flatly: "I'll tell you depending on the situation." ”

The implication of his words is that there are some things that he will definitely not say.

"You let Nicholas go?"

Annan was straight to the point and cut to the chase.

Because if you can't even say that, then this conversation is of little value.

Father Shi snorted: "I did it on purpose." But Nicholas should not have known about this, and his escape was well planned.

"He took advantage of his out-of-body experience to create a ritual field in the sewers two kilometers away in a straight line. He gradually severed the relationship between his soul and body, and cultivated a prosthetic body that could be used temporarily with very few materials, and projected his soul in batches...... Then he used the soul reinforcing potion mixed into the soul purifying medicine to make up for the loophole of his soul's missing.

"Eventually, he managed to escape from prison."

"Warden," Father Shi replied calmly.

“…… But? ”

Annan knew that Father Shi still had something to say.

Sure enough.

Father Shi nodded and said calmly, "But he doesn't know...... All 'palaces' are my body, and all 'sculptures' are my eyes and ears. And the whole royal city is a huge palace...... His actions were exposed to my surveillance from the very beginning; If I wanted to, I could make the sewer he was in collapse in an instant. I'm in the same barrier as him, and that's easy. ”

This is why the Stone Fathers would become the watchdog of Nicholas.

This is actually why he brought Nicholas to Noah's royal capital.

As the god of palaces and sculptures, his power can only be increased to the maximum in the capital of ordinary countries - he can monitor and control the palace at will, and use the sculpture as his "surveillance guard", and only in the capital will he get enough palaces and sculptures.

Even the body he is using now is not the body of the stone father.

Because the Stone Father is present in all sculptures—this is only a medium through which he is revealed.

Unlike Paper Hime, Shi Father is not a creation of Ya Weng and "became a spirit". Rather, it was a student of Jaon...... He is still one of the very few students who can get Yaon's approval. In just fifty years, as a mortal, he mastered the level of sculpture and architecture that Yaon had accumulated over thousands of years, and made almost negligible innovations to achieve the gods.

In fact, he is the only god who has become a god of art as a mortal.

"But you...... Why did you send him away? ”

Annan stared at Father Shi tightly.

And Father Shi replied calmly: "His talent can't be used in Noah. Because of the lack of materials here, it will tie him down. ”

This is a lie.

At least not comprehensively.

But Annan was in no hurry to puncture this.

He just slowly asked, "So, Nicholas......

"Do you know that you are a 'mirror'?"

Hearing this, Father Shi was silent for a long time.

It took about half a minute before he spoke again: "You can't have guessed it.

"The Faceless Poet told you."

"That's right."

Annan replied in a deep voice: "But because of this, I guessed a lot.

"For example...... This is simply a false Nicholas. He didn't have the soul of Nicholas, he wasn't even an artificial man of Nicholas, he just had a body, Nicholas's mindful body. ”

The paper girl on the side immediately became agitated and blurted out: "I didn't say it!" ”

"I know. This is what the Faceless Poet told you, and it seems that even Nicholas's escape was fate itself. ”

Father Shi replied calmly: "In the realm where [Keeping Secrets] is located, I can't peep...... You don't have much time out of my sight, and only the Faceless Poet has a chance to tell you this.

"His actions were dangerous. You shouldn't know you're chasing the mirror, because that's your destiny.

"As we all know, [fate is the wheel of the chariot], and it will leave traces only after it has passed. Your pursuit of your own destiny is a paradox in itself. This will cause you to find the mirror with your own will, but you will not be able to find your own mirror. It will only appear to you when you are not hungry for a mirror. ”

…… So, when I didn't know Henry VIII, Nicholas and Bernardino, they appeared to me?

And when I went after Bernardino, I did it to get justice for Salvatore, not to find my mirror...... That's why I caught him!

Annan's heart suddenly understood.

So when Annan was thinking about when to find the "fourth mirror" of Nicholas, Nicholas suddenly disappeared.

Then a new question arose from Annan's mind:

Why did the Faceless Poet tell himself such a thing?

Why did Father Stone let Nicholas go?

…… Unless.

These two things originally pointed to the same goal.

The two gods improvised without communicating, but instead formed a tacit understanding of cooperation......

“…… Do you hope that this false 'Nicholas' really thinks that he is Nicholas who has lost his memory, and that he will live as Nicholas? ”

Annan was keenly aware of their thoughts.

But this ...... What's the point?