Whispering Poems

Chapter 4092 Umbilical Cord, Evil Objects, and Musical Instruments
After the skin was removed, a bloodied and mangled woman's body was revealed, clearly missing her original skin. She hadn't worn the skin for very long, so she still retained her physical form and appearance; both Shad and Vig recognized her.

"Mrs. Connaught?"

The person who died in the church was wearing her skin, while she wore someone else's skin, played another person in the opera troupe, and even performed on stage.

After removing the skin, the bloodied and mangled woman stared blankly at her horrifying reflection in the mirror. Then, she took out some bottles and jars from the cabinet under the dressing table and carefully applied the liquid inside to the old man's skin.

Miss Rowling just examined those containers, and they were all filled with skincare cosmetics. It seems that Miss Rowling's conclusion wasn't wrong.

After the human skin was repaired, the bloodied and mangled woman did not immediately put it on. Instead, she went deeper into the room, knelt before the restored mermaid oil painting, and prayed. Only after praying did she put on the old woman's skin again. This process was far more disgusting than taking off the skin, and Shad didn't really want to describe it.

When the old gentleman, dressed in a very old-fashioned style, reappeared, he looked at himself in the mirror for a while before pushing open the door and leaving.

"This world is crazy, isn't it?"

Only then did Wei Ge speak:
"To escape by faking death, he shed his own skin and put on someone else's. I think I will never understand the thinking of such a person."

"Mrs. Connaught is now involved with both the leather goods and that unknowable relic, which complicates matters further."

Xia De said:
"However, we found no trace of the leatherworker here. It seems we still need to find the person who gave the leather goods to that fat woman."

The four left the storage room and continued searching backstage for a while. The troupe wasn't completely corrupted; most of the people there were just ordinary people struggling to make a living. The "third female lead" was eventually found by Wei Ge in the restroom.

The Eye of Edwards reminded Shad that the other person was also wearing leather. However, this person was not an ordinary person, but a second-ring circle mage.

To Shad and Vigo, low-level warlocks weren't much different from ordinary people. The woman washing her hands in the restroom didn't panic when four strangers entered.

"The performance isn't over yet, and outsiders aren't allowed backstage. Also, sir, should I remind you that this is a women-only restroom?"

Although she wasn't the lead actress in the performance, the woman with long brown hair was still very beautiful. In her stage costume, she looked like an eighteen or nineteen-year-old "first love" girl often seen in stories, but once Xia De realized she was wearing leather, all he felt was disgust.

Moreover, he had a strange feeling that the other party's life force was extremely weak, almost like that of a seriously ill patient. Xia De believed that this might be some kind of trick, and he did not let his guard down just because the other party's level was low.

"Where did you get that skin on your body from?"

Wei Ge asked with a cold face, but unexpectedly the woman actually laughed while leaning against the sink:
"Isn't she beautiful? Although women don't stay eighteen forever, there are always eighteen-year-old girls in this world. Age is really cruel to us. Once we've passed our prime, all the glory and attention we received will disappear, and we'll be looked at differently by both men and women."

But all these problems can be solved simply by putting on this skin. You know what? I had already stopped bleeding, but after putting on this skin, I even started bleeding every month again.

Wei Ge's lips twitched, and her expression grew even colder:

“You are also a ring sorcerer, so you know what the materials of what you wear are.”

"Of course I know. But in my opinion, since women can use cosmetics and pretty clothes to make themselves beautiful, what's the difference between this and cosmetics and dresses?"

The woman, leaning against the sink, asked Wei Ge:
"So, you came to me for this skin? I think your appearance is already excellent enough. Yes, even I'm jealous of your looks, so why did you come looking for a skin?"

She giggled:

"It can't be that you think you're too pretty, right? How about this, I'll trade the skin I'm wearing now for yours. But I can't help you for nothing; you have to let the man behind you sleep with me first. Pretty girls have that kind of privilege."

"Cough cough, cough cough, a madman whose brain has been ruined by leather goods."

Wei Ge coughed and muttered a curse under her breath, raising her hand to strike, but the woman leaning against the sink suddenly vomited into it. She spat out large mouthfuls of black blood into the sink, laughing as she vomited, tears streaming from her eyes.

Xia De, who had been on guard, immediately stepped in front of Wei Ge, but she did not attack; she quickly fell to the ground, lifeless.
"My life has finally been worthwhile!"

"Damn it, it's actually fake immortality. Hmm? Wait a minute."

The magic did not revive the woman, or rather, the "false immortality" only lasted for half a second before it was broken, and the woman died instantly.

Viggo then gestured to Miss Rowling to examine the woman's abdomen. After the clothes were cut open, a section of umbilical cord was found attached to the woman's abdomen.

The pink umbilical cord was quite fresh, almost like a live worm. When Viggo and Miss Rowling saw it, it was trying to burrow into the corpse's stomach, but it lost its activity as soon as Viggo touched it. After twitching a few times, it stopped moving.

It appeared to have no trace of any element; even Shad only sensed a very faint whispering element after touching it. The woman was clearly killed by this thing.

After examining it, Wei Ge learned what it was:
"The Guardian-level relic, the umbilical cord of the undead, is the umbilical cord of some nameless evil entity. After connecting the umbilical cord to oneself, the holder can regard others as mothers and thus extract their life force or even spirit."

The artifact was destroyed; it had clearly gone out of control before our arrival. It's unclear whether the woman deliberately manipulated it, or if we just happened to stumble upon this unfortunate event. Or perhaps the leatherworker behind her sensed our presence and intentionally caused the artifact to malfunction?
There was no excessive life force in this corpse. The umbilical cord, using this woman as its mother, had nurtured the nameless evil creature's offspring. The evil creature, carrying all the power and life force of the relic, had already separated from its mother.

Wei Ge spoke very quickly, and after finishing this long string of words, she coughed violently.

Miss Rowling took out the blood wine and gave it to her to drink, while Shad asked:
"Do you sense that the life energy in this opera house is excessively high? I originally thought it was because this place is closer to the Vatican of the [Creation Church], which might be the reason why the relics went out of control."

He closed his eyes to sense his surroundings. Although the magical technique "Life Spark" granted him the ability to sense life force, he couldn't detect any unusual life energy around the washroom.
"That newly born unknown evil entity has probably already moved to another location in the opera house. It seems something big is about to happen."

He then looked at the corpse beside the sink. The corpse trembled and, incredibly, managed to stand up, supporting itself on the ground. This was certainly not a resurrection; the calamity it had created resided within her. But before the corpse could move further, black chains pierced her chest, then pulled a large ball of fire from her body.

But to Xia De's surprise, even after all the embers were pulled out, the corpse still managed to reach out and grab the chains.

[Leather goods.]

"She" whispered a reminder, but Winnie, who had remained silent until now, moved even faster. She blew out white frost, freezing the corpse in place. The biting frost formed sharp spikes pointing in the same direction on the frozen surface, completely freezing the skin that was about to go out of control.

Flames appeared in the mark on Shad's palm, and the source of fire emerged, containing the life energy transmitted from the chains. The leather object, which had almost gone out of control due to the attraction of life force, returned to its original state, but Winnie froze it in ice as a precaution.

Shad was very worried:

"It's strange that it was resurrected right after dying. Could it be that there's a mutated life form with a twisted spark lurking in this opera house? Otherwise, it doesn't make sense. Now, this opera house not only contains an evil creature born from relics, but also a monster born from a calamity created."

After drinking the blood wine, Wei Ge's complexion improved.
"But where could she possibly connect with the mutant? She's an actress tonight; she was active on stage for the first two acts. It can't just be the stage."

Xia De didn't hear the second half of Viggo's sentence clearly because a low note like thunder suddenly rolled over from outside the wall, followed by a high note like thunder striking the sky. The walls of the entire opera house trembled in the roar, and even the mirrors and glass in the restrooms cracked.

At that moment, Shad, Viggo, and Miss Rowling all covered their ears. Only Winnie, who was of inhuman race, frowned slightly. Then she noticed that the cat that had been standing on Shad's shoulder seemed unaffected.

"Is that the sound of the giant pipe organ in the opera house? Is that thing really that loud? I feel like it's not the air vibrating, but energy vibrating."

Even after the loud noise ended, Shad's ears were still ringing, and when he spoke, he even felt as if his voice was coming from a very far place.

Wei Ge also rubbed her ears:

"The giant pipe organ in this opera house would never make such a loud sound under normal circumstances. I think I know what's going on. Since activated machinery can develop corresponding supernatural abilities due to its original function, what do you think has been activated?"

Xia De guessed it:
"If I remember correctly, you mentioned on the way here that the giant pipe organ in this opera house is powered by three steam engines. The instrument is as tall as a two-story building, with the longest bass tube exceeding ten meters. It has five keyboards, more than a hundred stops, and over seven thousand pipes."

Wei Ge nodded:
"Yes, the oldest opera house has the most advanced steam-powered instruments. Arcadia is very avant-garde, isn't it?"

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