Open A Clinic To Cultivate Myself Chapter 325 Come Here

A dozen hours later.

Florence, Italy.

Ning Tao left the hotel he was staying and hailed a cab. He asked the driver to take him to Florence Cathedral.

The taxi driver was a veteran driver. He drove very steadily and with moderate speed. Ancient edifices breezed past them by the window and the sky was pure like an untainted blue sheet. This city which gave rise to the European Renaissance made him feel as though he had traveled back in time.

“First time Italy?” The veteran driver asked in broken English, breaking the silence.

“Yes, my first time,” Ning Tao said.

“Want pretty girls? Pure Italian pretty girls, not from East Europe.” A benign smile hovered on the veteran driver's lips.

“Uh… better not. I'm here for sightseeing only.” Ning Tao rejected him, feeling quite awkward.

The veteran driver gave Ning Tao a name card. “You Hua Country people are shy. If you want one, call this number. I will bring the girl to your hotel.”

Ning Tao held the name card from the Italian driver in his hand. He did not know whether to accept or to reject.

Do I look like a prost.i.tute's client?

The cab arrived at Florence Cathedral. After paying the cab fee, Ning Tao alighted.

Before him was Giotto's Campanile, a campanile constructed out milky white, deep green and pink colored marble stones. It complemented the adjacent Florence Cathedral and was another ancient landmark of Florence.

Ning Tao raised his head and glanced at the summit of the campanile. An idea suddenly struck him. He did not hurry to Hanks's former house and bought a ticket instead, going up the narrow staircase in Giotto's Campanile.

The idea he had was to leave a blood lock in this most renowned of ancient buildings. In this way, he could construct a rapid channel network and arrive in seconds to whichever destination around here. Since he had come to Florence, he must leave behind a blood lock in Giotto's Campanile.

When he was about to reach the top, he met a young couple descending the stairs. Ning Tao made way for them by keeping to the wall. He only resumed mounting when the young couple had descended.

There was a clock at the summit of Giotto's Campanile. It must have been several centuries old. The clock body was rusty and corroded from age.

No matter how grand and st.u.r.dy a presence, it would eventually succ.u.mb to time.

Ning Tao surveyed the story and discovered an appropriate spot very quickly. He executed Ladder under Feet. Taking three steps in the air, he leaped up the st.u.r.dy stone beam where the clock was hanging. He blew away the dust, bit his finger, and found a spot to draw a blood lock.

After drawing the blood lock, Ning Tao stepped down. He stood by the window, gazing at the Florence Cathedral some distance away. Its ma.s.sive orange dome was the symbol of the cathedral, one of the grandest masterworks of European Renaissance. Then he looked down at the house Maria had mentioned. It was located just one street away from Florence Cathedral.

“Why did Hanks rent this house? If he was trying to shun attention, he should have picked a more secluded house. This district contains a world-renowned tourist attraction, yet he picked a house here. Was it because… the cranium was nearby and he did not dare to seize it? Did he rent this house to watch the cranium?” These thoughts suddenly crowded Ning Tao's mind. He began to feel excited.

Ning Tao left Giotto's Campanile and restrained his impulse to visit Florence Cathedral. Instead, he went directly to Maria's house.

It was a two-storied house, with carved iris decorations on its gate posts. The gate was marked No. 68. Everything was just as Maria had described. The door to the house was locked, and the windows of both stories were also tightly shut.

Ning Tao came to the door and stamped his foot gently on the tiles. He soon discovered a loose tile and squatted down to remove it. In the cavity under that tile, he found a key.

Maria had told him about the hidden location of this key.

Ning Tao opened the door with the key and walked in. A moderate-sized living room faced him, with two rows of worn fabric sofas. Behind them was the fireplace, with charcoal ashes and some residual logs. There were some electrical appliances here but their models and builds were very old. He did not know whether they could be powered. This house had not been tidied and swept for a long time. The floor, the electrical appliances and the furniture were all coated with a layer of dust.

Ning Tao raised his head to observe the ceiling joist. Then he executed Ladder under Feet and mounted three steps up the air. He seemed to be mounting an invisible staircase and went up the joist.

The ceiling joist was covered with dust. There was a cigarette case hidden in an inconspicuous corner.

Ning Tao moved to grab the hidden cigarette case. He stepped back onto the floor and opened the case. There was a folded piece of paper in the cigarette case. He took it out and unfolded it. There was only one line on that paper.

After translation, it read, “An evil item that must undergo the Last Judgment.”

Ning Tao could not help but frown. “Just one line. What kind of a clue is this? The Last Judgment is mentioned in the Bible. Must I scour the Bible for more clues? Hanks, oh Hanks, couldn't you just give me a precise address?”

Hanks must have ascertained the hiding place of the skull, but used this vague line to hint at its “secret location”. It was not hard to understand his intention. He must be worried that someone else would discover this paper and find the cranium, which was why his hint was so vague. But he did not realize that this meant more trouble for Ning Tao, a treasure hunter who had never stepped in Florence before.

Ning Tao threw the cigarette case away, only keeping the slip of paper. He glanced at the staircase covered with dust, walked over and went up the stairs to the second story.

There were three rooms in the second story— two bedrooms and a study.

Ning Tao entered the two bedrooms first but found nothing. In the end, he pushed open the door to the study.

There were many books in the study on diverse subjects. The study table was next to the window, and the curtain was drawn. If he had pulled it open, the study table would be brightly lit, enough to work or to read. One could even enjoy a scenic view of Florence's ancient town district.

Ning Tao did not hasten to draw open the curtain to ventilate this study. Instead, he opened his small medicine chest and took out a porcelain vial containing the residual Ancestor-seeking Elixir. After opening it, he poured out the residual elixir onto his palm. He summoned the state of smelling in his nose and took a deep sniff.

His eyes were momentarily blinded. As light returned to his sight, another person suddenly appeared before him.

That person was Hanks.

Hanks was standing by the window, and its curtain had been drawn open, fluttering slightly in the wind. Through this window, he could see in one glance the magnificent and lofty orange dome of the Florence Cathedral.

Hanks's eyes were fixed on that dome. He did not move.

The activated Whisperer had also captured some sounds. They now surfaced in Ning Tao's mind.

“Hanks, would you like sugar in your coffee?”

It was Maria's voice. It sounded clear and distinct, as if she was standing in Ning Tao's position.

“Maria, I have to return to Murica. Are you willing to leave for Murica with me?”

This was Hanks's voice.

The room was a sealed s.p.a.ce. The remnant energy could not be easily dissipated. This was why Ning Tao did not hasten to draw open the curtain. Although Hanks only left behind a vague clue, Ning Tao could discover more in his own ways.

Their conversation was clearly from a different time node, not at that moment when Hanks was staring at the Florence Cathedral. The sound and timing were not synchronized. It was already a miracle to be able to see someone and hear their voices from the past.

Hanks suddenly turned back his head, looking in Ning Tao's direction.

It was a glance which totally flabbergasted Ning Tao.

It was like face changing in Sichuan opera. It was clearly Hanks at first, but in an instant, he had changed into another person.

That person was no stranger to Ning Tao. It was that woman in red.

A peerlessly exquisite face with profound, green eyes. That keen expression in her eyes seemed like a sharp sword which could fossilized, penetrating Ning Tao's body instantaneously to turn him into a fossil!

She suddenly opened her mouth and her lips quivered twice.

The Whisperer on Ning Tao's wrist was suddenly overwhelmed by a snowy screen. The unfamiliar voice of a woman surfaced in his mind.

“Come here,” she said.

“You can talk? Who are you? Where are you?” Ning Tao was extremely agitated. He could only ask short questions.

The scene trembled and the image suddenly shattered like a mirror.

The study was still the same study, but the window curtain had been drawn shut. The study table and bookshelves were covered with dust. The noon sun shone in through a crack in the curtain, casting a bright illumination on the faded, grayish floor. The impression they gave resembled that of an old, yellowed photograph.

Ning Tao was stunned for at least two full minutes. His brain was full of that woman's face, and her one sentence— “Come here.”

Come here.

Where to?

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He could not say.

Ning Tao shook his head vigorously, and his allergic reaction to the residual Ancestor-seeking Elixir started to work. His eyes were momentarily blinded and then a new scene appeared. The house had disappeared, together with Florence Cathedral. In their place was a dense forest. A man, naked from waist-down and with flowing locks, was drilling a piece of wood, trying to ignite a fire. His weapon was placed beside him, a stone ax whetted by rocks.

Upon this second capture, the residual soul energy left in that time node had transferred and dissipated. Although the law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be destroyed, it was extremely difficult and complicated to recapture it. Right now, he could not.

Ning Tao did not dare to trigger a third allergic reaction to his residual Ancestor-seeking Elixir. He kept the elixir. “If I have the luck and manage to locate that cranium, I can refine a new Ancestor-seeking Elixir. I will leave this one for Jiang Hao, to help raise her demon spiritual power.”

He put his porcelain vial back into the small medicine chest and came to the window, drawing its curtain open.

Golden sunlight shone directly onto his face, glittering and resplendent. The ma.s.sive dome of Florence Cathedral was only a street away, distinctly visible.

A smile started to hover on his lips. He could somewhat guess where that cranium had been hidden