Chapter 42 Chapter Forty-One

"The truth has meaning," he whispered to himself, "the truth has meaning." Malak leaned Peter's wheelchair against the altar, then turned around, and unzipped the heavy leather bag on Peter's lap.He reached into the bag, lifted the pyramid out, held it up in the moonlight, was at Peter's eye level, and showed him the runes at the bottom. "Behold, your record is complete." Peter's face twitched in a futile attempt to speak. "Excellent. I can see you have something to say to me." Malak roughly tore the cloth from his mouth. Peter Solomon coughed and panted for a while before finally speaking, "Catherine..."

"I'll call an ambulance for her. But first you have to tell me how to get to the secret staircase." Peter's expression changed drastically, and he said in disbelief, "What?!" "Stairway. The location of the lost mantra, mentioned in Masonic lore, a hundred feet below the sanctuary." Now, Peter looked terrified. "You know the legend," Malak tried to coax him into letting go, "a secret staircase, hidden under a boulder." "There's no secret staircase in this building!" exclaimed Peter. Malak smiled patiently, pointing his finger up. "The shape of this building resembles a pyramid." He pointed to the four arched walls leading to the central skylight in the spire.

"Yes, the Sanctuary is a pyramid, but with—" "Peter, I have all night." Malak stroked the white silk robe on his perfect body, "but Catherine is different. If you want her to live, you have to tell me where the secret ladder is." Calmly, Malak took out the sheet of paper on which he had rearranged the base runes of the pyramid. "This is the last message from the Masonic Pyramid. Your friend Robert Langdon helped me decipher it." Malak held up the paper and held it in front of Peter's eyes.Seeing this, His Holiness gasped.The rearrangement of the sixty-four symbols not only became a whole with a clear meaning... but the real pattern also emerged from the chaos.

A pattern of stairs...under the pyramid. "Where is it?" the tattooed man asked forcefully, "Tell me how to find the hidden ladder, and I will let Catherine live." I wish I could do that, Peter said to himself.But the ladder isn't real.The myth of the staircase is purely symbolic metaphor...one of the great allegories of Freemasonry.It's called the "winding staircase"... Unfortunately, explaining this to the man didn't save Catherine's life.Peter lowered his head and stared at Fuge, and couldn't help but sighed. "You're right," he rambled, "There is really a hidden staircase under this building. You help Catherine find rescue first, and I will take you down."

The tattooed man just stared at him and shook his head. "I'm not happy with you, Peter. You failed the test. You're still playing me for a fool. Do you really think I don't understand what I'm looking for? Do you think I haven't realized my true potential? ?” After speaking, the man turned around and took off his silk robe.As the white silk robe slid gently to the floor, Peter saw the tattoo on his back for the first time, running up his spine.Above the white loincloth, a quaint winding staircase rose up the center of his strong back.Each step lands on a vertebra.Peter was dumbfounded, and let his eyes follow the stairs up to the back of the man's head.

Peter stared blankly. The tattooed man leaned back slightly, revealing his shaved head and the circle of naked scalp on Tianling's cover, which was surrounded by a snake connected end to end. oneness. At this moment, the man slowly lowered his head and turned to face Peter.The huge double-headed phoenix on the chest was staring at him through those lifeless eyes. "I'm looking for the lost mantra," the man said. "Are you going to help me...or watch yourself and your sister die?" "Do you think I'm afraid of death?" cried Peter, his voice hoarse with agony. "If Catherine is gone, I have nothing! You killed my whole family! You took everything from me!"

"Not everything," Myrack replied. "Not yet." He reached into his purse and took out the laptop in the study.After turning it on, he glanced at his captive. "I suspect you haven't figured out the nature of your predicament." The CIA helicopter flew off the lawn, turned around quickly, and picked up speed. Sato pulled out a sleek titanium suitcase from under the seat, and opened it to reveal a surprisingly complicated-looking laptop.While entering the login password, Sato asked, "Professor, do you still remember the golden wig found in that man's house?"