The reason why this exclamation is strange is not because of the content of the old man's words.

- There are dozens of people who have praised Qingye like this, if not hundreds.

What made Aono care more than the sentence itself was the demeanor with which he said it.

The old man's gaze did not just fall on the surface of Aono's physiognomy, but seemed to see his inner soul that was different from ordinary people through this handsome and peerless skin.

The emotion he emitted was not because of Aono's appearance.

It's because of the inward, deeper things.

It's just that that look only existed for a very short two or three seconds, and then disappeared.

But.

In Aono's observation, no matter from which point of view, the short and stiff old man is just an ordinary human being.

It's still extremely old, and its vitality is beginning to weaken.

Does such an old man really have the ability to see through his own soul?

Aono never underestimates everyone.

He just stared at the old man coldly, trying to see his hidden secret.

"Young man, what are you doing here?"

The old man didn't care at all about Aono's impolite eyes, and continued to ask in that ugly voice.

"Old man, what is this room for?"

Aono put back on the mask he wore when facing ordinary people.

asked with a gentle smile.

He was already accustomed to such a life with a mask, and if he suddenly took off the mask, he would be a little uncomfortable!

The old man did not express surprise at Aono's change of face, but spoke unhurriedly.

"This was originally a granary for some grain and bacon, and then it was used by those people to put some things brought out from there."

"There?"

Aono frowned.

"Is it Salin?"

The old man's complexion changed suddenly, his gloomy face trembled, and it became more and more gloomy, and even the patches on his face looked even more hideous and terrifying.

He seems to be dissatisfied with Aono's title.

The tone was much more solemn.

"That's what you outsiders call it, it's a resting place for the sacrificial crickets, and if it weren't for your repeated intrusions, how could He have unleashed his curse on you?"

The old man was angry, remembering the past.

"What you people brought out of here."

Suddenly, the old man smiled strangely.

The corners of the mouth are slightly split from both sides.

The face in the shadows seemed to have changed into something else that could not be named.

It just makes people shudder.

"So they were at the beginning, and so are you, and whoever touches those things will be cursed by Him and drown in this boundless suffering."

"Young man, are you really ready?"

"Of course."

Aono marched forward with his head held high, and his steps were unwavering.

Walked into the cramped wooden house.

In the wooden house, the special pungent smell becomes more and more intense, like a fine wine that has been fermented for several years.

At the moment of opening, the aroma of wine overflows.

However, the smell that Qingye faces is far from being described as "fragrant".

【】

【】

The panels, still inexplicably white, have never happened before.

But Aono wasn't flustered, or even surprised.

For him, the panel has always been just an auxiliary tool, far from the point where he can't live without it.

It seems that Aono's desire to make the panel want to get more attention.

The blank space in front of the pupil trembled a few times and re-evolved into words.

Aono ignored the panel's hint for a moment and looked down.

In the corners of the cramped wooden house, there are fragments of crumbling pottery.

The pottery shards are not complete, they are just fragments.

Aono possessed and picked up a piece of it.

Even Aono, as an archaeologist, can see at a glance that this is a very beautifully crafted pottery shard.

There are clearly visible traces of painting on the face, and even if there is only a part of the figure, it can still be recognized, which is something like a human arm.

Because its painting is very delicate, it accurately draws the shape of the blood vessels and muscles of the arm, and has a strong modernist style.

If it is really a cultural relic excavated from Sarin, perhaps its value will be more than Aono imagined.

The pottery shards are curved, unlike the murals painted on the walls.

It will be much more difficult to draw a figure on a curved clay pot than the former.

Moreover, the painter skillfully uses the point of "bending" to express the edges and twists of the arms more vividly.

It was as if an arm was wrapped around a clay pot.

But this sense of realism, instead of giving Aono an impulse to appreciate, made him a little upset.

- The arm, which only seemed to look like a human arm, may be another unknown creature itself.

What's more, the pungent smell of the remnants of the pottery slices.

It has a slightly fishy odor, reminiscent of the saliva of some animals, which is full of bacteria and sticky dripping from the corners of the mouth.

Or like herbs or fermented wine.

Aono instinctively felt disgusted - he really felt disgusted by the smell.

This is evident from this.

To make matters worse, the smell seemed to linger on the tip of Aono's nose like a maggot on the tarsal bones.

Is this the smell mentioned in the note? ’

On the way to the car today, Aono continued to browse through some of the notes.

The archaeological notes mention -

——

As Aono was thinking about it, a surprised greeting came from behind him.

"Aono-sama?"

It was Taichi Kaneshiro who followed in Aono's footsteps and came here.

"Did you just talk to someone?"

Aono turned his head and looked at where the old man had just been.

At this time.

There, empty.