Chapter 946 Five-Star Rating
After returning to Room 2303 with that painting, Jenna asked Franca, "Should we have Lumian contact Stiano? He should be very interested in how to deal with this kind of painting."
The previous self-portrait sketch of Luo Shan could be photographed but not deleted, while this precipice bridge painting couldn"t be photographed at all.
Franca pondered for a few seconds, then smiled and said, "That"s one of the backup plans, but not the first choice.
"We currently only know that Stiano is interested in mystical photos that can spread online and can"t be deleted. We"re not sure if he has the desire to research paintings that can"t be uploaded to the Internet. Besides, always owing favors to someone or owing too many may not be a good thing. It will have to be repaid eventually. There"s no such thing as a free lunch.
"It"s similar to taking out micro loans. Do it appropriately and moderately, and be prepared to repay from the beginning."
With the a.n.a.logy of micro loans, Jenna immediately accepted Franca"s reasoning.
"Then how do we deal with it?" she asked.
Franca"s smile widened.
"Wait until dawn, then take this painting to the Star Dream Provisions Store after the morning rush hour."
"Huh?" Jenna couldn"t quite follow Franca"s train of thought.
Franca, who had read extensively before her transmigration, always had a broad perspective. She chuckled softly.
"When you get to the Star Dream Provisions Store, ask the shopkeeper if She"d buy items with mystical elements, and how much She would offer.
"If She"s willing to buy it, this painting probably won"t be able to come back on its own."
Can it be done like this? Jenna thought carefully and found it quite feasible.
Based on the premise that only true G.o.ds could enter Mr. Fool"s dream besides those who possessed medium items or had special connections, as well as details like contacting the Major Arcana card holders by sending letters to the Church of the Evernight G.o.ddess"s high-ranking deacons through the Star Dream Provisions Store, and the dim environment of the store itself, Lumian"s team could actually guess the shopkeeper"s ident.i.ty in reality, but they tacitly agreed not to mention it.
If the shopkeeper agreed to buy this strange painting, it meant She definitely had a way to control the corresponding anomalies and truly transfer ownership to Her hands.
Moreover, wasn"t it normal for a provisions store focusing on mystical elements to purchase items with mystical elements?
After pondering for a few seconds, Jenna asked, "What if the shopkeeper doesn"t want to buy it?"
"Then ask if we can put this painting in Her store for consignment. We"ll pay a storage fee and give Her a cut of the final sale. It"s equivalent to paying Her to handle the anomaly," Franca said with a smile. "If She still doesn"t agree, we"ll contact Stiano through Lumian. If Stiano doesn"t accept, you can take advantage of the daytime to find an opportunity to throw this painting at the police station. Remember to hide your ident.i.ty well."
At this point, Franca"s expression suddenly turned serious. "My spiritual intuition and mystical experience tell me that your process of dealing with this painting won"t be very smooth. There will be dangers. If the danger is too great, you should actively exit the dream. We still have two more chances later, there"s no need to risk your life now."
"Understood." Jenna nodded solemnly.
Afterwards, she and Franca entered that strange s.p.a.ce again and found Luo Shan once more guarding by the semi-transparent barrier, in quite good condition.
Franca revealed her ident.i.ty as a colleague and started chatting casually with Luo Shan, learning more details about Zhou Mingrui"s situation and which employees in various departments of the Intis Group were worth noting.
The results of the conversation left Franca and Jenna very satisfied, feeling that saving Luo Shan was not only a choice of emotion and stance but also a very correct decision in the course of completing their mission.
The information obtained from Luo Shan might have taken Franca and Lumian one or two months to slowly collect on their own.
"Later on, we"ll need your help to convince Zhou Mingrui that he is the future messiah," Franca said to Luo Shan with a flattering smile. "We can"t directly tell him the truth; he definitely wouldn"t believe it."
"He absolutely wouldn"t believe it. No normal person would. They would just think it"s a prank or a scam," Luo Shan nodded, then added in a small voice, "I don"t fully believe it myself now…"
Franca pretended not to hear Luo Shan"s mumbling and changed the subject.
When dawn broke and they automatically left that strange s.p.a.ce, Franca got out of bed and took out the clothes she was going to wear today from the wardrobe, with a heavy expression.
Jenna showed obvious signs of drowning, her nose, respiratory tract, and lungs becoming extremely uncomfortable.
She wanted to use her subst.i.tutes but couldn"t sense those mirrors. She seemed to be separated from them in different worlds—even the mystical connection cut off.
Suddenly, silent black flames flowed out from Jenna"s eyeb.a.l.l.s, nostrils, mouth, ears, and other places. These black flames burned her body from the inside out, burning all the invisible things trying to influence her.
Outside the black flames, frost condensed, encasing Jenna in a thick ball of ice and snow.
On the surface of the sphere, countless invisible spider silk retracted, wrapping layer by layer, forming a huge "coc.o.o.n".
Jenna finally no longer felt the agony of nearly drowning, but she still couldn"t sense her body or subst.i.tutes.
The next second, she found herself walking on a bridge.
On the other side of the bridge was a steep cliff and a dark forest at the far end of the cliff.
Have I entered that painting? Jenna tried to turn around and return to the starting point of the bridge, to escape the world inside the painting from the entrance, but she couldn"t control her body and watched helplessly as "she" continued forward along the bridge.
At this time, two people walked out of the dark forest.
One was Luo Shan with a malicious face, and the other was Jenna herself.
A Jenna with a seductive smile!
Crack!
The bridge suddenly broke, and Jenna fell towards the dark abyss whose bottom couldn"t be seen.
Great fear and despair invaded Jenna"s mind, her consciousness rapidly blurring, unable to save herself.
She seemed to already see the image of herself smashed into b.l.o.o.d.y pieces.
Taking advantage of her consciousness not yet completely falling into darkness, before the unimaginable pain arrived, she mustered her last clarity, about to actively exit the dream.
But it didn"t work.
It didn"t work!
Useless… Jenna"s gaze suddenly froze.
She didn"t give up; she was still trying to save herself, gritting her teeth, struggling to regain control of her body to use the Demoness"s feather-fall technique.
At this moment, a ray of sunlight shone into the dark abyss, illuminating the cliff high above.
All the scenes before Jenna"s eyes instantly shattered and fragmented in the brilliant sunlight.
She suddenly opened her eyes and found herself still sitting in the car, hugging that painting.
"We"ve arrived," the driver turned halfway, reminding Jenna.
I arrived so quickly? Jenna felt as if she had been walking for an entire morning in a stuffy environment, her clothes soaked with sweat.
She looked out the window somewhat bewilderedly and saw the Star Dream Provisions Store.
Jenna instinctively pushed open the door and got out of the car, wanting to rush into that shop to avoid other possible anomalies that might come later.
"Remember to give me a five-star rating!" the driver called out to her retreating figure.
Jenna unconsciously turned her body sideways, looking back at the driver.
The driver had a smile at the corner of his mouth and somehow produced a crystal monocle, putting it on his right eye.