Most of the exhibits in this section are placed in rows of glass display cabinets, through which we can see a series of strangely shaped machine models, as well as some portraits of the era.

The original form of these portraits, says Sheeran, was a mechanical inventor who lived in the 18th century.

"These are inventors who have been forgotten by the times, whose work is either ignored or appropriated." Xie Lan said this with a slightly sad tone.

Underneath the glass shrouds of these portrait exhibits is a white label with the names and dates of birth and death of the inventors.

And these serious-looking, forgotten inventors are the theme of this exhibition.

As far as we know, we're in the last section, and if we don't make progress here, then some of our most important investigative threads will be cut off.

But I firmly believe that our investigation must be in the right direction.

All the strange events point to this "Phantom of the Machine" exhibition, and the appearance of Ron and his gang reinforces this point - there must be important clues hidden in these exhibits.

"Well, I think a couple of us might have to spend some time on these exhibits...... So, Xiao Xie, you can go and rest first, thank you for explaining it to us. I said so.

Shen Tangzhi gently patted Xie Lan's shoulder and nodded at her: "Yes, if something like this happened today, you must be very tired, hurry up and rest." ”

Kirishima Kaoru bowed slightly: "It's really troublesome!" ”

"Ahh......h

I said, "Then, please send Xiao Xie to Section Chief Liu, and we will meet in the hall of the museum later." ”

"This ...... All right. ”

Liu Jiyun hesitated for a moment, but probably remembered that we were from the police bureau, so he agreed.

When they walked away, Shen Tangzhi asked me: "They are all far away, let's say, what did you find?" ”

"I really can't hide anything from you...... Well, I haven't found it yet, but I have a hunch. ”

"Bad premonition?"

I shook my head: "I can't tell...... It's kind of like going back to that orphanage. ”

"You mean ......"

I looked around and said, "Section Chief Shen, help us pay attention to the changes around us—especially some details." Kirishima-san, you and I are the only ones who have experienced that strange dream in the orphanage, and if you look closely at the exhibits in front of you, what we are looking for must be hidden in the middle...... Got it? ”

Kirishima Xun and Shen Tang nodded solemnly.

"Be careful not to get too far away from me – let's get started."

Most of the exhibits are miniature models of strange machines, and the vast majority of them, in terms of the models themselves, do not have the capital to leave a name in history.

At least half of the mechanical models are so incomprehensible to me what they are actually used for, and the vast majority of them are closer to some bizarre work of art than to a tool for increasing productivity.

The remaining half of the mechanical models are somewhat related to the famous inventions of history, such as at least five or more improved prototypes of steam engines.

But why, in the end, do we only remember James Watt and hail him as the "father of steam power"?

The answer is simple, because his improved model is unmatchedly good, beating all opponents without any suspense.

In this respect, the inventors whose faces are full of despair and disambition in these portraits cannot be more than win us a glimmer of sympathy and a sigh.

Over time, their works have faded away from their less glamorous colors, like the old portraits in the display case......

Their eventual disappearance from the memory of the masses is a doomed end.

"Mr. Yoshimitsu, come and see this!"

Kirishima called out to me three meters away, and in a glass display case in front of her, there was a very old portrait.

Not only is the painting gray and faded, but even the paint is a little cracked - the technique of this painting is also very clever, it seems to have been the work of an unknown painter, and the oil paint and paper used are too bad.

However, as soon as I stood next to Kamiru Kirishima, I couldn't take my eyes off it anymore – the face in the painting felt very familiar to me!

"It's ......"

Kirishima pointed to the painting in the display case and said firmly, "At the end of that strange dream, I appeared and saw a huge machine with a mask, which is the circle of the mask!" ”

That's right, this is the strange face that appears in the steam in the strange dreams we experience.

Kano Kirishima had a better ability to reassemble the picture than I did, so she discovered the painting before I did.

I recall seeing the machine's steel mask in a dream transform into a flesh-and-blood face, and the whole face in this portrait looks much younger, while in the dream it is an old man's face, but there are many common features between them, such as yellow eyes, heavy jaws, gray curly hair...... Wait a minute.

I glanced at the label attached to the glass protection, and it turned out that this man's name was Ste Hemdal, born and died between 1735 and 1805, which was really the time when the first industrial revolution was in full swing.

I thought we had discovered the most important thing, but I was so surprised that I blurted out as I glanced a little further ahead:

"That's ...... The machine in the dream world! ”

I hurried forward and walked to a display case not far away—and when I could see what was under the glass cover, I couldn't help but breathe!

It was a strange collectible, a strangely shaped model of a machine, a miniature version of the beastly machine that was going to crush us at the end of the dream!

Shen Tangzhi and Kirishima Xun also came to my side, and when they saw this shrunken version of the weird machine, Kirishima couldn't help but let out a soft snort.

As we see in our dreams, this miniature version of the machine is made up of various hammers, gears, and connecting rods to form the appearance of a face.

The label on the glass cover reads:

[Dream Machine - St Hemdal, made in 1790.] 】

And just as I was staring at the strange mechanical model, a strange change began to take place: the "face" of the little machine faded and was replaced with another face.

Is that...... The face of the little girl who saved us in a dream!

At the same time, the girl's voice rang in my ears: "Sir, please help us!" ”

The girl's voice seemed to come from far away, and it seemed to ring directly in my ears......

"You have to help us, because it's also helping yourself!" "Listen, we're all in extreme danger...... Tonight, you must return here with your companions who also have the ability to dream. Please, sir, you must come! This is our only chance to save ourselves! ”

There was a deep despair in the girl's voice, and in the end, it was no longer a plea, but almost a plea for help.

"Hmm......"

I shook my body and took a step back.

"Yoshimitsu, what's going on?" Shen Tang held me up.

As with the sudden appearance, the girl's voice disappeared abruptly, but I felt a momentary dizziness in my head, and I almost lost my feet.

But I didn't have time to catch my breath when I saw another strange sight - the mechanical model called the "Dream Machine" actually began to shake and make a buzzing sound!

Immediately afterward, the gears and levers, which were as fine as works of art, began to operate without any power, and it emitted a "whining" sound like a train whistle, and several white steam spewed out from its body, which instantly filled the entire glass cover of the display case, and a layer of water quickly condensed on the glass surface.

In the next second, the surface of the glass display cabinet actually cracked like a spider web!

I yelled, "Get down!" ”

At the same time, I spread my arms and threw both Shen Tangzhi and Kirishima to the ground.

"Bang!"

Behind us, the glass cover of the display cabinet shattered and burst!

Countless glass slags exploded in all directions, and I suddenly felt a dense stinging pain on my back, and quickly hugged Shen Tangzhi and Kirishima Xun tightly in my arms, and protected them with my own body.

……

"That's, Mr. Yoshimitsu......" Kirishima smoked mosquitoes screamed like a slender voice coming from under me.

At the same time, Shen Tangzhi's voice also came out of my arms: "Hey, even if it's taking advantage, it's about the same, right?" ”

"Huh?"

That's when I realized something was wrong—the movement behind me seemed to disappear in an instant.

Moreover, the actions of the three of us are indeed very ...... Unsightly.

Shen Tangzhi's whole person was tightly hugged by me, my head was buried in her left shoulder, half of my face was close to the skin of her neck and side face, and the lips were Shen Tangzhi's earlobes that were more round and jade than the pearl studs she was wearing.

And Kirishima Smoke's posture is even more awkward - because of the relationship between height and flutter, when I threw Kirishima Smoke's petite body down, I just pressed her face on my lower abdomen, which was only less than two fingers away from my "critical" place......

"Ahh Excuse me! ”

Realizing this, I suddenly felt a thrill and quickly rolled to the side.

"Ahem!" I quickly explained, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, the situation was urgent—"

"If it weren't for the fact that you didn't mean to be rude, do you think you would still be able to talk to me 'in parts'?"

Shen Tangzhi got up neatly from the ground, pulled Kirishima up with his hand, and elegantly pulled the slightly disturbed hair behind his ear with the other hand.

Kirishima smoked his face was flushed, he lowered his head and didn't dare to look at me, hiding behind Shen Tang, already ashamed to death.

Shen Tangzhi's face was also slightly flushed, but she was much calmer than Kirishima Xun: "What happened just now?" ”

"That machine—"

I was about to say, "That machine moved", but when I looked back, the "Dream Machine" model was quietly sitting in the glass cover!

I froze!

The reason for this surprise is not that the "dangerous situation" I have just experienced until now has happened, it turned out to be a hallucination, but something more serious:

The hallucination just now actually deceived me!!

For all kinds of dreams, hallucinations, illusions, illusions, I pride myself on being well-informed, it is not an exaggeration to say that I have experienced a hundred battles, and the recognition of illusions and reality is also the most basic ability of a spirit detective.

And the previous supernatural experiences have also proved my ability to recognize illusions.

In recent years, I've rarely been fooled by illusions.

And once this happens, it also means that the incident I encountered is extremely dangerous!

When I was deep in thought, Shen Tangzhi had already guessed the truth of the facts through a series of my reactions: "You just ...... Hallucinations? ”

I nodded: "It's a powerful hallucination, and it actually deceived me." ”

"Just now, I saw this mechanical model suddenly start on its own, and there was an explosion......"

"Mechanical activation?"

"Not only that, but I saw the face on the machine, which became the face of the girl in my dream, and she called out to me for help, begging me to be sure to come back here tonight."

"It's funny. I want to take this mechanical model with me, and I'm sure Hyde and Tang Yuan will come up with something......"

As he spoke, Shen Tangzhi pulled his legs and was about to walk towards the display case, but I hurriedly stopped her and said categorically: "No!" ”

Shen Tangzhi raised his eyebrows.

I explained, "The hallucination was a message to me, and it was also a warning that if we were to do something about this mechanical model, something extremely dangerous would happen!" ”

Seeing that Shen Tangzhi hadn't been completely convinced by me, I took a deep breath and continued, "See the label on the glass cover, right?" It's called the 'Dream Maker', and all the clues we have found along the way are related to 'dreams' or 'hallucinations'...... I say that, do you understand? ”

Shen Tangzhi looked at me for a while, and suddenly said in a very low voice: "You really didn't mean to rub oil just now?" ”

I felt the urge to faint on the spot - after a long time, are you still suspicious?!

I had the feeling of slamming all my strength into the air with a punch, and I complained, "Am I such a boring person in your eyes?" ”

"Uh-huh."

Shen Tangzhi shrugged slightly, turned around and walked away.

"Hmm!"

I snorted as she turned around and smacked the heel of her high heel on the back of my foot.

"Are you bored? Then you are not wronged. Shen Tangzhi dropped this sentence and pulled Kirishima Xun to the front.

"What's the mess? Ouch, this woman is really ruthless. ”

I followed with a slight limp.

Soon, we met Liu Jiyun in the lobby of the museum, he seemed a little anxious, and quickly stepped forward to us: "The police department has blocked several major entrances and exits nearby, and there is no whereabouts of Ron for the time being...... In addition, Dr. Wang Nuo is already waiting for you. ”

Shen Tangzhi nodded: "Okay, please lead the way." ”

I hope to meet this Dr. Wang Nuo and get a breakthrough clue.

After all, Dr. Wang Nuo should be the most familiar with that weird "dream machine".

And the reason I tried to stop Shen Tang's idea of moving the Dream Machine model was because I concluded that this behavior would inevitably be stopped.

The main body that prevented this behavior was probably the "Dream Machine" itself - if it was the culprit that caused a series of strange events to occur in the entire Jinguan City, then its energy must also be huge.

You know, just now we were in an exhibition hall full of mechanical objects, and if we encountered a "mechanical activation", I was not very confident that we would be able to leave with Shen Tangzhi and Kirishima Fumi.