"I'm here to investigate on the orders of the Lord, when did you get this book and how did you get it?"

Of course, Ji Ran knew how to restrain his emotions, and even his tone changed.

Ji Ran saw the suspicion on Mrs. Du's face.

"The Devil's Bible?. With a swift movement of her left hand, she effortlessly took out the book, propped it on the spine of her palm, and flipped through it with her fingers, the date of which was embedded in the piece of paper. She nodded, looked at the piece of paper and recalled, "This book was found in the palace of my deceased husband when I went to Beijing to exterminate the Donghu people. ”

"The palace of the Donghu people?" Ji Ran silently wrote down the news, and then asked: "But you and Huayang Gong are both military generals, why do you have a soft spot for this book?"

In fact, although the first husband was a military general, he also loved to collect all kinds of precious solitary books, rare books, and he couldn't put it down when he got this book, as if he was crazy. As soon as Mrs. Du mentioned Huayang Gong, Mrs. Du seemed to be touched by something, and her lost right limb trembled as if in an empty sleeve, "Collecting a good book is the same as winning a war." She paused and smiled melancholy, "It's a pity that not long after we got this book, the Second Expedition to Donghu took place, and you must have heard about what happened next." ”

Ji Ran nodded slowly, but did not speak.

Later, he naturally knew that the invincible Huayang Gong was inexplicably ambushed by the Donghu people and ended up dying in a foreign land.

"These books," Mrs. Du obviously did not want to go on, she pointed to the whole study, "each one has been poured into the efforts of the deceased husband, and every time I read these books, it seems that I am communicating with the deceased husband." ”

With that, Mrs. Du stood up and took down the book that Ji Ran had dreamed of from the bookshelf.

She handed the Devil's Bible into Ji Ran's hands. Ji Ran slowly flipped through it, resisting the urge to immediately check whether the nine prints were complete.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and confirmed that there were no missing pages. In fact, this third number is more well-preserved and more complete than the other two, and Ji Ran doesn't need to do too much preparation to get straight to the topic.

The sun is shining brightly outside, and the clock tower of Notre-Dame Cathedral, which is close to it, is lined with blue sky.

There was a middle-aged maid in the room, hunched over, tossing and going between the stacks of books and the desk. But Mrs. Du personally used a silver tray and came back with tea. She hinted with her eyes that Ji Ran didn't need to help, and they sat down at the desk together.

"Do you really believe in ghosts, Lady Huayang?"

"I believe, at least after the death of my deceased husband, I believe in ghosts and gods very much. She looked at him with interest.

"Where's Ji Gongzi?"

"I don't believe it!"

"Of course! People your age usually only believe in themselves. Mrs. Du showed a look of understanding, obviously she was not surprised by Ji Ran's thoughts, and even gave people the feeling that she had already known the answer.

"Alright, let's focus on the book!" she paused for a moment, then smiled again, "Anything to gain?"

"No!" Ji Ran lied naturally, on the one hand, this was his habit of performing tasks, and on the other hand, he didn't want to involve this kind old man.

He had just discovered that in the book, the samurai on horseback was about to go inside the walls of the city with three towers instead of four, "I just thought the expression of the samurai on horseback was meaningful." ”

"Yes, indeed. Turning to the reader, his finger in front of his mouth gesticulating a gesture of secrecy. The wall behind it surrounds the tower, which is the secret. Look, the door is closed, first open it. ”

Just when Ji Ran was thinking about how to summarize it, Mrs. Du said: "Go on the road silently!"

Ji Ran was secretly nervous, and turned to the place of the second illustration with increased vigilance: the hermit was standing in front of another door, the key was in his "right hand", and a huge mastiff was hidden not far away.

"What a weird story. Ji Ran said casually. Mrs. Du smiled lightly and nodded mysteriously. But Ji Ran seemed to suddenly think of something, and this scene gave him a sense of déjà vu.

Where is it?

Ji Ran thought slowly, and an inspiration flashed.

It was the manor, and when he first met the owner of the manor, the erhu that the man was carrying was on his right. Ji Ran suddenly fell into deep thought.

But Mrs. Du has already turned to the third illustration.

"A bridge that connects the two shores of light and darkness. Whether it's classical mythology or a game of upgraded chess, the meaning is too obvious. It connects the earthly world to heaven or hell, like an arched bridge. ”

Ji Ran nodded and flipped to the fourth illustration.

He felt that the secret smoke was being peeled away, and the doors opened automatically, making a strange creaking sound. Now in front of him was the clown and a stone labyrinth.

"What does this mean, is it something to choose?" Ji Ran frowned.

"It's the labyrinth. ”

"Yes, there it is. She pointed to the painting, "The door at the entrance is closed." ”

And the door to the exit was also closed, Ji Ran looked at it carefully, and his brows couldn't help frowning. Then scroll to the next illustration.

"Good. That's exactly what it means. This is in line with the moral of the picture. Scrooge counted his gold, ignoring the grim reaper beside him with an hourglass and a rake. ”

"Why a grass rake instead of a sickle?"

"Because death slaughters, and the devil does the work of collecting!"

They stopped to look at the sixth illustration, a man nailed to the wall. Ji Ran made a disgusted expression, as if the answer was too obvious.

Is it Jiang Xiaoyun?

He thought, but his hand didn't stop, and he flipped to the next illustration.

Kings and nobles play Go on a strange chessboard.

But the strange thing is that the chess pieces on both sides are actually the same white.

The two black dogs were cruelly biting each other.

"What does this mean?" Ji Ran looked at the illustration helplessly.

"I don't know, but I'm afraid you can't tell the difference between winning and losing when you play chess like this!

Mrs. Du glanced at Ji Ran calmly and said softly.

"As for the eighth," she said, "outside the walls of the city there was a kneeling man about to be beheaded, and the executioner was a warrior in armor with a sword in his hand. But the strange thing is that the executioner actually has a dog's head. In the distance, there was a wheel, and there were three figures on it, one with his tongue extended, one spitting out something, and one slowly walking out of the wheel. ”

"There is only one painting left. ”

"Yes, the last one is also a picture that I haven't understood for so many years, but I still have a little gain, at least I know where the ancient castle under the sun is!" Mrs. Du frowned, a little unwilling, but then smiled relievedly, and kindly told Ji Ran about her achievements.

"Where is this?" said Ji Ran, pointing to the castle.

"Helian Vigorous Great Xia City!"

"Great Xia City, King Helian Bobo, when did that happen!" Ji Ran shook his head with some disappointment, obviously he had heard of this person.