"Yes, I’ve completely understood..."
It could be confirmed that the paint capable of imprisoning souls was made from Elle’s body.
That is to say, Elle might have already been dead after the first ritual was carried out. Her body remained active, unaware of her own demise...
Then the question arises, how could a corpse become pregnant?
It is well known that to obtain an umbilical cord, one must do so after the birth or death of an infant. Amos could swallow the umbilical cord, which indicates that the infant was already dead by then... Why did he soak the infant’s body in wine instead of discarding or destroying it?
Was it because he did not want to...or dared not?
The flesh ball that burned with colorful flames emitted an extraordinarily terrifying aura. Annan was almost certain that though he knew not whether it was male or female, he definitely was no match for that ball.
In the original history, it took the assistance of several "industry insiders"—that is, official Transcendents—as well as the deaths of many people, to subdue it.
So why would such a dead fetus, dead for six months and yet to be born, possess such formidable power?
All of this had one explanation:
Its father was not Amos.
The newspapers mentioned that Elle Morrison’s sudden disappearance occurred at the end of January in 1458.
The stillborn had been conceived in the womb for about six months.
And the current date in this copy of the Wandering Child’s ongoing version is June 12, 1457...which is also Elle’s birthday.
Perhaps there is some special significance to holding the ritual on her birthday.
Even if the Wandering Child hadn’t feigned illness, Amos probably would have planned to take "Elle" to the basement to conduct this ritual. In the version that Annan cleared, perhaps after finishing the birthday cake, he would have been taken downstairs as well.
In any case, Amos would obtain Elle’s left eye during this ritual.
And during the process where Elle lay on the bone bed and suddenly lost consciousness completely...
She had already conceived the Geraint’s child.
A key issue was...every nightmare is born from the erosion of the world by the curse left behind after a Transcendent’s death.
Since the main perspective of the nightmare is the painter Amos, then the master of this nightmare should have a direct connection with him.
And the default difficulty level of this nightmare is Twisted.
That is to say, the highest level battle in this nightmare requires a Gold-rank to complete...It must have been born from at least one Gold-rank Transcendent who died here full of resentment, uncollected by anyone.
So...in this nightmare,
who is the deceased Transcendent?
Is it Amos? Is it Elle?
Is it the Chief of Police? Is it a police officer?
Probably none of them.
The most likely scenario is...
——the master of this nightmare is actually the infant born to Elle.
The offspring of the Geraint conceived with a human in the dream!
"This explains the first sentence at the beginning too."
Annan had a sudden revelation.
In the first nightmare Annan entered, although he played the role of the bodyguard John... the master of the nightmare was Tan Juan Geraint.
Because John was not a Transcendent at all. The phrase "Betrayers, all must die" that Annan heard may not have been John’s wish, but belonged to Tan Juan’s obsession. He subconsciously entrusted his obsession to the bodyguard John, hoping John would save him.
But in any case, their positions were unified.
And in Nightmare: Gallery,
the whispers heard upon entering the copy were of an aged and weak voice.
"Do not turn back...never turn back..."
He said it like that.
Then the question arose.
If the master of this nightmare is that stillborn, then who is this obsession telling not to turn back?
If Amos eventually disassembled Elle or killed her for sacrifice, why in the minus one floor did he have the courage to call out to Elle? Why did he believe Elle could protect him?
And why would this land be cursed by the Geraint?
There is only one answer.
Even though Annan could not see the nightmares of the layers behind now.
He was almost certain.
Amos must have suddenly realized everything at the very end. Although looking back was already meaningless and Elle was already dead, with "Amos" having taken many lives on his shoulders...he still regretted it.
He gave up the way to exonerate himself and be reborn as Elle.
In the final moments of liberating the divine child, he still hesitated.
So, on the third level, Amos coughed out Elle’s eyes; this corresponded to his regret for having consumed Elle’s eyes.
Based on this deduction, he should, at every new level, cough out a different body part, each corresponding to the parts that Elle is about to lose in this nightmare...
The dead infant’s obsession was to make Amos "not look back," to resolutely complete the final ritual, to let Amos die, and to "rebirth" Elle.
...And then stuff it back and be reborn again?
Which means that the strategy Priest Louis initially told Annan was, surprisingly, the correct one.
"Do not look at the paintings," "Do not look back."
Just need to keep moving forward firmly.
Pausing before each painting to take it in meant that the half of the conscience remaining in Amos was preventing him from completing the ritual.
If Amos had no regrets, if he had completed the ritual without ever looking back, then the dead infant would have been resurrected, and the Offspring of Bones would be successfully born.
As for what would happen after that, Annan didn’t know.
Although he didn’t know why Amos hesitated in the end.
Whether it was a prick of conscience; or out of hatred for the Child of Bones, he deliberately sabotaged his ritual, sealing his divine child; or turned it all into a perfect work of art, defying the Lord of Bones... Annan didn’t know.
All these were hidden in the last three levels of the nightmare.
But he was certain, the Child of Bones descending upon the earth was definitely not to promote his father’s "I’m listening" AI robot, Little Bones Junior.
Annan was dumbfounded.
He never expected it would come full circle ?
Louis’s walkthrough was actually correct?
He was sure that Priest Louis had no idea about the mechanics of this nightmare. Yet, he somehow stumbled upon the correct way to clear the instance...
However, this should only be the NE—the normal ending.
In this nightmare, the normal ending is actually a bad ending...
Annan believed that the true ending, perhaps with a higher degree of completion, could be achieved by passing through the basement of negative one layer.
But no matter what. One thing was certain.
If you do not look at any paintings and endure the escalating fear all the way to the end... you should be able to clear the game directly.
But that would be extremely dangerous.
...No, danger is the least of it.
With that thought, Annan checked the time.
It was 5:53 AM, nearly dawn. Looks like he couldn’t finish playing as Wandering Child this time...
Looking at the barrage of messages encouraging him to take a chance and fight Amos directly, since the instance couldn’t be cleared normally, perhaps there would be a surprise.
Annan silently blended into the ecstatic crowd, sending several messages in the barrage:
"—The mechanics of this instance look a bit complicated, huh."
"—Child God, why not ask Tan Juan for advice? Maybe there are some clues."
"—Yeah, go ask. Since Young Master mentioned that we might lose memory in this instance, it shows he understands it."
"—I think this instance is already touching on the main quest, so it might be pointless to ask..."
"—But Child God currently has the highest goodwill. Isn’t it more likely that he’ll get some information if he asks?"
All these messages were sent by Annan alone.
Thank the heavens, the barrage system is anonymous and lacks any blocking feature...
Otherwise, if someone casually blocked and found out the screen is suddenly clean, that would be quite the spectacle.
"...There seems to be some sense in that."
Wandering Child, upon hearing this, nodded thoughtfully.
Amos asked curiously.
Wandering Child just glanced at him, too lazy to respond. He didn’t continue his role-play either.
He was just waiting for the instance to end...
Suddenly, in the moment of dawn’s arrival...
A dazzling golden light, from nowhere, in the blink of an eye tore through the whole world around Wandering Child, including himself.
His entire consciousness was immersed in the warm sunlight, feeling the cold within, especially in his abdomen, gradually dissipate, as if he had fallen asleep.
And when he opened his eyes again, he found himself still lying in bed.
—Outside the window, the day had risen, adorned with a triple layer of luxurious golden runes.