Snatching the Painting
Red Dust Base.
Buzz——
The Grand Relief Gate trembled slightly. Under the effect of "Guernica" and the abstract key, a crack had already been opened.
And at this time, within the Picture Frame where the Second Hall was located, an Abstract Trapezoidal Giant Hand was gripping "Guernica" tightly, its triangular eyes full of surprise and anger.
"'Guernica' has become ineffective... How is this possible? What did you do?!"
The Second Hall never expected that "Guernica" was actually empty, completely and utterly empty, as if it had been ransacked by bandits... One must know that even though Eight of Clubs had been locked inside for so long, he couldn't hurt a single Role. And Chen Ling was merely Third Tier, how could he possibly achieve this step?
Moreover, Chen Ling had also snatched a portion of the Grand Relief Gate's authority. Naturally, the Second Hall couldn't let him go. Just as he was about to make a move, a sudden white light suddenly flashed before his eyes.
The next moment, "Guernica" vanished without a trace.
The Sterling Silver Snake Earrings swayed gently. A figure wearing a White Baseball Cap was playing with a rolled-up scroll, and there was a large lump bulging on the back of his head.
"Made it in time..."
Bai Ye breathed a slight sigh of relief.
"Path of the Thief?" The Second Hall narrowed his eyes. "Are you a Fire-Stealer... No, you're from the Dusk Society?"
"You guessed right," Bai Ye smiled slightly, lifting a corner of the brim of his baseball cap with his fingertips. "Unfortunately, there's no reward."
As his words fell, his figure transformed into an afterimage, rapidly sweeping into the distance clinging to the semi-hollowed-out dome. However, even if Bai Ye's speed was fast enough, the Second Hall still snorted coldly, and a Domain rapidly expanded!
Just as Bai Ye held "Guernica" and was about to flee this corridor, the dome beneath his feet suddenly twisted. The originally gorgeous and aesthetically pleasing dome seemed to have its colors erased, its shapes suppressed, and its lines pulled... In the span of a breath, it turned into a simple and abstract square.
The center of the square was an absolute blank void, like an abyss connecting to a bottomless depth.
Not only the dome, but all matter covered by the Second Hall's Domain transformed into abstract geometric figures. A sense of crisis surged into Bai Ye's heart. He leaped down from the dome's square without hesitation, his figure briefly stagnating in mid-air.
The next moment, all geometric figures transformed from planar to three-dimensional. Countless massive giant pillars, like the gnashing teeth of a giant beast, crushed the space where Bai Ye was into pieces!
Boom——!!
In front of the Grand Relief Gate, the low voice of the Second Hall came:
"To actually dare to break into the Red Dust Base single-handedly... Should I say you are brave, or foolish?"
In the shattered space, a figure lightly leaped out from the geometric figures. His fingertips pinched the brim of the baseball cap, and the next moment, the baseball cap actually turned into a tall Magic Top Hat.
"Who said... I came single-handedly?"
Bai Ye tossed the black Magic Top Hat high up. It spun in mid-air, mysterious and profound.
Chill flashed across the Second Hall's eyes. He snorted coldly, and a floating circle was instantly extracted into a black line and shot out, piercing through the black Magic Top Hat like a bullet!
However, the moment the line broke open the Magic Top Hat, the latter turned into a sky full of white doves, flying in all directions.
Just as the Second Hall's attention was attracted by these white doves, Bai Ye's figure seemed to be concealed by light and shadow, seizing the opportunity to continue fleeing out of the corridor, without the slightest intention of fighting the Second Hall head-on.
Although Bai Ye was Rank 7, facing a Rank 8, he still almost had no chance of winning... This gap of one tier was like a chasm, not easily bridged. What's more, what Bai Ye's [Path of the Thief] excelled at was not combat to begin with. Since the painting Chen Ling was in was already in hand, there was no need for him to stay any longer.
However, it was simply impossible for the Second Hall to just let him leave like this.
"Playing tricks on me?" Finding himself deceived by a hat trick, the Second Hall's anger grew even more vigorous. A pair of abstract arms stretched out from the Picture Frame.
"Do you think you can escape right from under my nose??"
The moment his words fell, the geometric figures surrounding Bai Ye simultaneously stretched out dozens of abstract arms, sealing off his path of retreat from all directions.
At the same time, a section of Bai Ye's sleeve also suddenly twisted, turning into three abstract concentric circles that directly bypassed his wrist and bound onto "Guernica", forcefully dragging and separating it from Bai Ye's hand!
Bai Ye was startled and immediately reached out to try and "steal" that scroll back, but the latter was directly swept into a nearby cube, flew out from another cube across space, crossed hundreds of meters in an instant, and returned to the Second Hall.
Having snatched back "Guernica", the Second Hall's expression clearly relaxed a bit. A pair of abstract palms grabbed the scroll and slowly unrolled it, seemingly to confirm whether Chen Ling and Eight of Clubs were still inside...
Following that, he stood frozen in place.
In those triangular eyes, unconcealable astonishment surfaced... The scroll in his hands was completely blank, completely and utterly empty.
This wasn't "Guernica" at all!
"A spectacular Performance."
A voice came from the other side.
Beside Bai Ye, the tall Jack of Clubs was wearing a black magician's robe. One hand slowly placed the Top Hat back on his head. He gently snapped his fingers, and eighteen identical "Guernicas" floated beside him.
"...Unfortunately, your luck doesn't seem to be very good. Want to try again?"
"You still have eighteen chances, or..."
"It could also be eighteen thousand times."
Jack of Clubs clapped his hands together, and the eighteen "Guernicas" surrounding him crazily duplicated and spread outwards. In the blink of an eye, they turned into eighteen thousand identical scrolls filling every corner, like grains of sand in a vast desert, boundless and endless.
And among these, only one was the real "Guernica"... or perhaps none of them were.
Seeing this, the anger in the Second Hall's eyes almost congealed into substance. The abstract figures filling the Domain all twisted up. He spoke grimly:
"...Do you really think I have no way to deal with you?"
"This is the Red Dust Base, my home ground... As long as I seal this place, even if you have heaven-defying abilities, you won't be able to escape! As long as I kill you, 'Guernica' will naturally fall into my hands."
Facing the Second Hall's threat, Bai Ye didn't seem too surprised. He put his hands in his pockets and smiled:
"You're right, this is the Red Dust Base... But the Red Dust Base isn't just you alone, right?"
"What do you mean?" The Second Hall's triangular eyes furrowed.
"Besides you, the Hall Master, the Red Dust Base also has a large number of ordinary Floating Life Painting members, as well as newcomers who haven't been trained up yet... And as for our Dusk Society, it's not just the two of us who came either."
Bai Ye pointed outside the Domain,
"Guess what they are doing right now?"