After the first morning class, there were still quite a few students left in the opera house, some rehearsing operas, others chanting in unison.

In this solemn and sacred atmosphere, the short, sneaky old man naturally stood out.

Xu Xiaoyou glanced at Tang Xin in the distance, then at Daphne, and followed them unnoticed.

Daphne warily surveyed the surroundings, roughly scanning the nearby students, and once she was sure no one's gaze was on her, she pressed against the wall, stealthily climbed onto the stage, and pulled the curtain cloth to disappear quickly into the darkness behind.

Warm breezes blew through the corridor, insulation equipment hummed, and colorful silk hung down from above, reflecting brilliance. The corridor walls were adorned with many paintings, mostly portraits of past masters who created works.

Soon she reached the end of the corridor, where a wall stood. Beneath the wall were several columns with arch-shaped cross-sections, recessed inward, adorned with a few pink flowers.

The surrounding area was fenced with red warning ropes, and the wall was also decorated with paintings. The man in the painting had dark red pupils, a black robe with red patterns, sitting upright, hands on his knees, eyes staring straight ahead with an unfathomable gaze. From any angle, the man appeared dignified and noble.

Belvedere Divine Song.

Daphne again surveyed the surroundings cautiously, then stepped forward to pluck the flowers from the column, following the sequence of one, three, seven.

The moment she pulled the third flower, the wall trembled, dust falling, and a rumbling echoed as the painting changed.

The once serene man's expression twisted into a horrifying grimace, mouth agape, sharp fangs visible, crimson pupils staring directly ahead.

Amid the grinding mechanism within the wall, the painting split in two from the center, the entire wall pushed inward.

Beyond, in the dark corridor, one torch after another burst into flames, illuminating Daphne's face. Her expression unchanged, she briskly walked towards the interior.

Rumble, rumble.

Soon, the wall closed again, the man's expression on the painting returned to its noble tranquility. Black ink seeped from the painting surface, the split traces remarkably repaired in a blink...

The air in the corridor smelled unpleasant, filled with the pungent odor of expired paint, moisture, and moss growing in the corners. The deeper she walked, the more the air was suffused with a fishy, watery smell.

It was as though a damp, stained rag had been forgotten in a corner of the world, waiting for someone to discover its now lethal scent.

Soon, Daphne reached an iron door, where an imposing armored figure raised its head arrogantly and suddenly unsheathed the blade from its waist!

The sword pointed at Daphne's face:

"Passphrase."

A mechanical clamping sound emerged from beneath the armor.

This was armor imbued with magic from the stars. Despite the dim light, through the gaps, the inside was noticeably empty, even as a palm-sized spider quickly crawled from its right eye to the left.

Daphne pondered for a moment, then extended her index finger to slightly press on the sword edge, crimson blood flowing from the fingertip, sliding down the sword groove to the hilt end.

"You may pass."

As Daphne was about to enter, the armor suddenly let out a sinister laugh and again blocked the sword across the iron door.

It withdrew the sword, holding it in front, head tilted back at a forty-five-degree angle:

"Rules cannot be broken."

"Sir, you're too much; last time I came here you charged me..." Daphne's face was grim.

"If I alert the academy, the student council's defense team will be here within a minute."

"You're still a wanted criminal, aren't you?"

"You!" Daphne glared, but due to the importance of her next task, swallowed her resentment, snorted softly, and fished out a shell-shaped object from her pocket, handing it to the armor.

The knight weighed the inspiration in its hands, a humanoid smile appearing on its helmet as it accepted the item and opened a path, unlocking the iron door:

"Go quickly, Mr. Ventel has been waiting for you for quite some time, my dear Lady Daphne."

Daphne snorted coldly and walked into the room.

The knight once again assumed its proud stance until shortly after, a girl dressed in a military coat, with dazzling blonde hair, appeared before it.

"Who are you?" the knight asked in confusion. "I don't recall seeing you before."

"But it's not important, just give me inspiration and I'll let you pass."

Xu Xiaoyou pondered for a moment, then rummaged through her pockets, eventually spreading her hands out empty.

"Dare trick me!" The knight roared in anger.

The armor was about to draw its sword when Xu Xiaoyou's lips curled into a smile.

"Spiritual Body Type?"

The knight hesitated momentarily, feeling unease, as a line of blood appeared on the girl's cheek...

As if witnessing something utterly terrifying, white smoke escaped continuously from the armor's gaps, and it clawed at itself in agony. At some point, it seemed to lose all support, the armor suddenly falling apart with a hundred pieces of inspiration clattering out.

"Exploded all over."

Xu Xiaoyou's tool card appeared, collecting all the inspiration and knight components, pushing open the iron door and walking forward.

...

In the hall exuding a decrepit aura, a red carpet stretched from the door all the way forward, ending with a round table placed there, and a black, deep ceiling with a rift that allowed a few strands of gray-white light to slant in, illuminating a fresco on the ceiling, resembling some forgotten shrine.

Around the room, many armors similar to the knight stood formally, wielding all sorts of weapons. At the back were two giant guard statues, each with six wings, giant blades embedded in the ground, casting large shadows.

A murderous atmosphere spread.

A man sat at the round table, not in the main seat, with a canvas in front of him, depicting this underground temple in watercolor style, a typical Impressionist style.

It wasn't until the appearance of the old man that the silence broke.

He cursed under his breath as he walked in, kicked at a piece of armor, then hopped around clutching his leg.

"Ventel, I've told you more than once, there's a problem with the interior of these armors, right?"

"Every time they extort money from me; do we really have to meet in this place?"

Ventel set down his brush: "Most of the other places on the Star of Art have the Tuner's spies; the academy is the calmest. If Belvedere knew you were still alive, he'd turn the Star of Art upside down."

"Though these armors have flaws, they are true gentlemen in character. At least, after benefiting, they won't betray you."

"Nonsense, their intelligence comes from the Stars, of course, they can't breach contracts under the Stars!"

"Wait, why are you alone? Where's Fandony and that Lancelot kid?"

Ventel looked up, expression serious: "Lancelot, he's in trouble."

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