Chapter 112

Chapter 112

Crossroads Hospital was not equipped with carriages or other means of transport, so Watson and Nello had no choice but to leave on foot.

Although he and Nello were the only two people when they left the dormitory building, Watson knew that this trip was definitely not just for the two of them - when he was exercising in the room, he heard the door of Clovette's room next door opening and closing slightly. , obviously the other party had already left and went out.

As Nello mentioned that this trip might be dangerous or require fighting, Watson also took out a familiar firearm from under the bed, wrapped it in a roll of black cloth, and carried it on his back.

The two of them were wearing hoods and cloaks as dark as night, completely hiding their physical features. They walked silently along the deep alleys of the foggy city, shuttled through intricate alleyways like spider webs, and secretly walked through the streetlights. out of reach of shadow.

A drunken man staggered into the alley and spat out the food residue in his stomach. He vaguely seemed to see two flashing black shadows reflected in the sewage pool on the floor of the alley, but when he was horrified When he looked up, he couldn't see any trace. He was so frightened that he thought he had encountered a ghost. His dazed mind immediately woke up and he stumbled back to the glow of the street lights.

Even the stray cats and dogs in the alley would get their fur all over their bodies and run away barking/meowing in fear when they smelled Watson's scent.

As soon as the two left the city, they immediately increased their speed and launched a long-distance attack under the night.

Although Watson's achievements in the secret transmission of the heart are not as good as Nello, after all, he has received night cross-country running training in another dimension of time and space, and his skills and experience are quite rich. Even if his endurance is slightly insufficient, he can still follow steadily. Don’t be left behind.

The two of them ran for ten kilometers and arrived at the outskirts of the city where no one cared about. On the outskirts of the deep and dark forest, there were already other members of the sect waiting here.

They originally hid behind bushes, haystacks, and stone shadows. After hearing Nello's cry, they slowly left the hiding place with their handheld oil lamps and came to the road in front of the dense forest.

In addition to Watson and Nello, there were five other people on the field.

Marina, a woman about thirty years old. She seemed to have been a math teacher in the slums, plump and short. There seemed to be light brewing inside the tumor on his chest, leaking out through the gaps like eyes.

Gunser is a man of average weight, average height, and average appearance. He is one of those ordinary people who, even if you have just met him, will immediately forget his impression the next second you turn your head... There is no highlight at all. But the sarcoma on his chest was particularly obvious. There was a wound that seemed to have been hastily sutured at the top of the deformed flesh. The scar between the flesh and blood had not yet completely closed, leaving a deep gap.

Crovette...her happiness is the kind of happiness that cannot tolerate unhappiness, perhaps because all her unhappiness has been transferred to another face on her chest, her biological sister.

Khalsa and Lido, two strong young men who are very loyal but not proactive enough. In the past, when I worked at Cross Road Hospital, I could complete the tasks assigned by the leader very quickly, but after the daily work was completed, I would fall into idleness and do not know how to actively find the work and complete the work... These two are barely achieved. Qualified line workers. The tumors of their hearts beat faintly.

Although Clowett used to be a bit childish in always laughing and joking, among the seven people on the field, her secret transmission skills were definitely among the top three.

As soon as she saw another cloaked black figure following Mr. Nero, and looked at the familiar silhouette and the sound of footsteps, she immediately reacted and exclaimed in a low voice: "John! Why are you here too?!"

"Me? Of course I'm here to help." Watson put down the hood of his cloak and nodded slightly at the other four church members present, which was regarded as a greeting.

Everyone also nodded and smiled, and gradually came closer to form a tight circle, listening to the mission arrangements of Mr. Nero, the commander and deputy leader of this operation.

But Nello just waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, everyone, let's go to the old place deep in the forest first."

The trees and grass in this dense forest are lush, and the branches and leaves are as luxuriant as a big umbrella. The plan is to completely block the dim moonlight on the cold night. The dense forest is so dark that it is difficult to see your fingers.

Fortunately, the five people who came first were equipped with lanterns, shovels and other adventure equipment. They all lit up the rectangular lanterns, and the mirrored glass behind the lamps refracted all the light to the front.

But even so, the light of the lantern is difficult to penetrate the darkness like a thick veil. The dim yellow and dark colors are intertwined and intertwined, as if hazy and mysterious colors are born, making it difficult for people to see the road ahead.

But the ground under your feet is also extremely uneven, with potholes in the east and bulges in the west. If you are not careful, you may step on the ground and stumble to the ground.

But the six church members ran with natural expressions, not looking down at all, as if they were walking on flat ground... Obviously they often come and go here, and they have memorized the environment here, even with their eyes closed. Walk without any hindrance.

It was Watson's first time here and he didn't understand the terrain at all, so he followed the team obediently and followed the footsteps of the church members in front.

They ran through the dense forest for about half an hour, and finally came to a stop in front of a natural cave as dark as ink.

With the help of moth vision, Watson could clearly see the situation inside the cave from a distance - this is a typical Mithraic sun cave.

Ever since Watson knew that there was a god-like Si Chen in the world, he began to consciously collect and read various mythological stories and religious history. Watson relied on these reading materials to pass the time when he was hospitalized... Therefore, he is currently Knowledge about Mithraism immediately came to mind.

Mithraism, an extremely ancient secret religion, mainly worships the god named Mithras.

It is said that the belief in Mithras appeared as early as four thousand years ago in the Kingdom of Mitanni. He was originally the god of contracts, with thousands of ears, thousands of eyes, thousands of detectives, and thousands of insights. At that time, Mithras was only a high-ranking god in the ancient Aryan faith. However, it was not until the first century AD that Mithraism began to gain strength in the ancient Roman Empire, and the priesthood became more abundant and bright. The God of God and the God of the Sun, the God of Life and the God of War... During its heyday, it once suppressed the disciples of Jesus, and it was even rumored that the date of Christmas was copied from Mithraism.

But such a powerful religion could not withstand the erosion of time. With the promulgation of the "Theodosian Code", all pagan rituals were banned, and Mithraism died out, but the legacy of this religion remained. The ruins of temples are still scattered throughout the continent of Europe.

Just like the Mithraic Cave hidden in the dark night, there is a square shrine with a stone sculpture placed in the center of the cave...or should be said, this is the sacrificial altar of Mithraism.

The small altar of Mithraism looks to be only half the height of a man. It has become very dilapidated and old after the erosion of time, and is full of cracks like swords. But it is generally well preserved.

The top of the altar is a square plane, and the ivory-white stone seems to be dyed with bright red blood that cannot be washed away. It seems that many bloody sacrifices have been held here in the past years.

Right in front of the small altar, which is the most glorious position in the cave, is the story of Mithras slaughtering the cow.

There is a young man in the sculpture. He has a handsome appearance and a powerful figure. He wears a leather helmet, a cape on his shoulders, and flying shoes. His image seems to be the same as the demigod hero Perseus in Greek mythology... …But Watson knew that the young man in the painting was Mithras, the supreme god in Mithraic belief.

Mithras sat astride a white bull. His left knee was bent like a sharp point against the bull's back. His left hand went around from behind and pinched the bull's throat, forcing the white bull to raise its head toward the sky. Then he held a knife in his right hand. The pointed knife stabbed hard into the back of the white bull's ear.

The sharp blade was halfway in, and the white bull screamed in pain and wanted to be rescued, but hounds, poisonous snakes and scorpions rushed to bite the cow's body. Crows circled in the sky, peeping and laughing sarcastically.

Watson looked at this carving and felt that this picture of Mithras slaughtering a cow seemed to have a deeper meaning.

However, due to the secret transmission of the moth, his thinking has gradually grown to the point of being almost unconstrained, but he is unable to capture any strange inspiration from it, and falls into some kind of hallucination of discovering the truth... It seems that this carving is not related to Si Chen.

So, this small stone altar is not the goal of Nero and the others... So what is the secret treasure they are looking for?

This ancient cave temple has been rummaged through by those who are looking for strange things, and there is no valuable thing left. That is, the material of the central altar is rough and visible, and it is very heavy and difficult to move, so it can escape the treasure hunt. The devil's claws... What are Nello and the others planning to find? What difficulties are you in and need my help?

While he was thinking, everyone had separated and stood in their respective positions, and Nello also ordered: "Marina, let's do it."

Marina, this short lady came to the end of the cave. She was holding an oil lamp in her hand, and the dim light shone on the stone wall like an equilateral triangle. His eyes blinked, emitting an incandescent light towards the portable oil lamp, making the dim yellow light of the lantern also imbued with a strange color.

The images on the stone wall carvings seemed to begin to distort, and some of the blinding magic began to temporarily fade away. A hidden switch was revealed in the mural. As Ms. Marina twisted the switch, the extremely subtle sound of gear operation echoed in the cave. .

The stone altar began to slowly fall backwards, and the ground cracked and slowly separated like a door, and it seemed like a huge mouth was slowly opening, exposing the narrow stone steps at the bottom that looked like the esophagus/intestine of a giant beast, leading to the dark place. Unknown land.

The cold wind mixed with a smell that smelled like blood spurted out, and it seemed like the stench accumulated in the rotting stomach of a giant beast.

Even the flame in the glass shade of the lantern could not help but sway, as if the cold wind could break through the protection of the lamp shade and directly affect the flames inside.

"According to the rules of the past night, I am still at the front of the team, Marina is second, Gunser is third, Clovette is fourth, Watson is fifth, Khalsa and Lido are We are responsible for guarding the top tonight." Nello held a lantern on his left and a gun on his right, and took the lead in stepping down the stairs.

Marina followed closely behind, Gunther continued to follow, Clovette's two faces were chuckling, and Watson also took out two short guns and held them in his hands.

The downward staircase is curved like a spiral, and is so narrow that it can barely accommodate one person passing by at the same time. If a strong man with a strong back and a strong waist comes, he may have to go sideways.

"Although this seems to be just a Mithraic sacrificial cave left over from the Roman Empire, in fact there is a deep and vast pyramid-shaped space hidden underneath. Each layer is deeper than the next, and each layer is deeper than the next. The layer is vast... This may be a place that existed before the Roman Empire, a mysterious temple older than Mithraism."

"We have previously explored all the way down to the Groom's Level, which is the second underground level. On the way to the third underground level, we encountered some obstacles...so we need your help, Chief Watson, to help us clear the way. obstacles on the road."

Groom's level... Watson murmured this word in his heart. Of course he knew the origin of this name - it was rumored that after Mithraism entered the Roman Empire, in order to meet the Roman emperor's ruling needs, seven status levels were specially created. system to please the emperor.

The seven levels of Mithraism, from lowest to highest, are: Corax Crow - Nymphus Bridegroom - Miles Warrior - Leo Lion - Perses Persian - Heliodromus Sun Servant - Pater Father.

Watson asked: "The second underground floor is the groom's floor, so this pyramid-like building probably has seven floors in total?"

Nello also replied: "According to our inference, it is very likely that this is indeed the case."

While they were talking, they had landed in the equilateral triangle-shaped room on the first floor underground.

The spiral staircase fell from the top of the underground pyramid space, and they entered directly into the center of the first-floor room.

The first floor is already much wider than the cave above. It is enough to accommodate the seven of them standing in separate positions. There is no need to bend the waist, and they can stand up straight as much as they want.

However, in this so-called first layer, there are dry trees made of bronze standing everywhere, and green leaves cut from cloth are hung on the branches as sharp as swords.

Even without the light of the lantern in his hand, Watson could clearly see that these sword-like steel branches were stained with long-dried blood, which seemed to be left over a long time ago... The ones scattered on the ground showed an ancient look. The dry human bones with traces of corrosion over time are enough to prove this point. One step on them can easily turn them into a pile of bone powder.

"No need to worry, we have solved the mechanism on this level, and these sword trees will not move again." Nello reminded.

Mechanisms, sword trees... So is this the real treasure hiding place? An ancient mechanism with at least a thousand years of history is still functioning normally. Watson knew there must be some occult power hidden in it.

They carefully crossed the forest of sharp swords and came to a door in the corner. This door had been dimmed gray under the light of a lantern, and there was a metallic smell floating in the air... It was the smell of lead. .

Watson saw a string of ancient Latin words printed on the top of the door - Corax. This is the Crow's Gate.

However, he looked around at the surrounding bronze sword trees and at the murals on the equilateral triangle roof, which depicted a dark and dark night, with only a severely faded arc moon hanging alone... Why did it feel like this layer was imitating Built in a woodland environment?

Do Nello and the others feel the same way?

Is there any connection between this place and Mansu? If the next six floors are built to imitate the environment of Mansu, can I use this to get a glimpse of the scenes in other areas of Mansu?

But Watson was still just a newcomer to the sect in the sect, and he had not yet had time to learn about Dream Walk Mansu, so he did not express these questions.

"Sir Watson, your inner secret practice is not complete yet, and your body is not strong enough to withstand the environment ahead. Please wear this mask first."

When the author looked up Mithraic information, he found an explanation that the Mithras Slaughter of the Bull diagram is a constellation, and Mithras just represents Perseus, that is, Perseus... What a coincidence, it opens the door to coincidence! And Perseus happens to be the incarnation of that one in the human world.

By the way, the author is going on a long trip tomorrow for something and will take a day off.