Chapter 47 Chapter Forty-Six

The Vatican Secret Archives are located in the far corner of the Borgia Courtyard, on a hill behind the Porta Santa Ana.The archives house more than 20,000 volumes and are said to contain rare treasures such as Leonardo da Vinci's loose diaries and even unpublished manuscripts of the Bible. Langdon walked briskly up the deserted Fundamenta Road to the Archives, and he couldn't believe that he was about to be allowed into the Archives.Victoria was at his side, walking easily beside him.Her hair, gently undulating in the breeze, smelled faintly of almonds, and Langdon took a breath of the scented air.He felt himself distracted, and immediately brought his thoughts back.

Victoria said, "Can you tell me what I'm looking for?" "Find a little book written by a guy named Galileo." She was surprised. "Stop messing around, what's in the book?" "There should be something called a mark in the book." "mark?" "Signs, clues, signals...it depends on how you translate." "What mark?" Langdon quickened his pace. "A secret location. Galileo's Illuminati needed to protect themselves from the Holy See, so they established a highly secret meeting place in Rome, which they called the Illuminati Church."

"It's audacious to call an evil lair a church." Langdon shook his head. "Galileo's Illuminati were not evil at all. They were scientists and advocates of the Enlightenment. Their sanctuary was merely a safe place for them to meet and discuss topics forbidden by the Holy See. Although we know that there is such a secret hiding place place, but to this day no one has found out where it is." "Sounds like the Illuminati know how to keep their secrets." "Certainly, in fact, they never reveal their hiding place to anyone outside the fraternity. This secrecy protects them, but it also creates a problem when they want to recruit new members. "

"If they don't spread the word they can't grow," says Victoria.Her legs and her brain work perfectly together. "Exactly. Word of Galileo's Brotherhood has spread since the 1630s, and scientists from all over the world have made secret pilgrimages to Rome in the hope of joining the Illuminati... They were eager for a chance to look at Galileo's telescope and Listen to the voice of the master. Unfortunately, due to the high secrecy of the Illuminati, the scientists who arrived in Rome did not know where to go to the meeting, and who to speak with confidence. The Illuminati wanted to draw new blood, but they dared not take Their secret adventures, let others know their whereabouts."

Victoria frowned, "Sounds like a dead end." "Indeed. As we speak." "Then what do they do?" "They're all scientists. They've looked at this problem and found a solution, a brilliant one. The Illuminati have made a very clever 'map' that guides other scientists to where they live." Victoria seemed to be suddenly suspicious, she slowed down and said, "Map? It seems a bit sloppy. If a copy falls into the hands of others..." "Impossible," Langdon said. "There are no copies anywhere. It's not the kind of map you draw on paper. It's a very large map, with directional signs running across the city."

Victoria walked more slowly. "Is it an arrow painted on the sidewalk?" "In a way it does, but it's more ingenious. The map consists of a series of hidden, symbolic signs in public spaces throughout the city. One sign points to another...and the next... Connecting into a road... eventually leading to the lair of the Illuminati." Victoria stared at him. "Sounds like a treasure hunt." Langdon laughed. "In a sense it is true. The Illuminati call their series of marked paths the 'Path of Light,' and anyone who wants to join the Brotherhood must follow this path to the end. It is also a test .”

"But if the Holy See wants to find the Illuminati," Victoria argued, "couldn't they also follow the signs?" "No. This road is very hidden. This is a mystery. Only certain people have the ability to solve it and follow the route indicated by the sign to find where the church of the Illuminati is. The Illuminati intends to use it as an initiation ceremony, It's not just a security measure, it's a screening process that ensures only the brightest scientists get to their door." "I don't agree with that. In the seventeenth century, the clergy were among the most learned people in the world. If these signs were in public places, surely someone in the Holy See would be able to find out where the Illuminati's lair was."

"Of course," Langdon said, "they would have found them if they knew they had special meaning, but they don't. And they never pay attention to them, because the Illuminati used a method so that the clergy would never guess what the symbols meant. What they did in semiotics is called camouflage." "camouflage." Langdon's heart skipped a beat. "You know the term." "Camouflage," she said, "nature's best form of self-defense. Like standing up and floating in seaweed." "That's right," Langdon said. "The Illuminati took the same philosophy. The signs they created were all set in ancient Rome. They couldn't use symmetrical words or scientific symbols because they would be too conspicuous, so they asked a An artist of the Illuminati—who was also a genius—made the symbol of the symmetry of the word 'Illuminati', and they commissioned him to carve four sculptures."

"Illuminati sculpture?" "Yes, there are two strict principles to be followed in making these four sculptures. First, the statues must look like other works of art in Rome... so that the Holy See will never suspect that these works of art belong to the Illuminati. " "Religious Art." Langdon nodded, feeling a little excited now, and spoke faster. "The second principle is that these four sculptures must contain a specific theme, each sculpture must subtly represent one of the four elements of scientific concepts." "Four elements?" Victoria said, "There are more than a hundred elements."

"That was not the case in the seventeenth century," Langdon reminded her. "Early alchemists believed that the entire universe was made of only four substances: earth, air, fire, and water." Langdon knew that the early crosses were the most common symbols of these four elements—the arms of the cross represented the four forces of earth, air, fire, and water.In addition, there are indeed many similar symbols of earth, air, fire and water in history-Pythagorean cycle of life theory, Chinese, Jung's male and female archetypes, zodiac quadrants, even Muslims also reverence the ancient four elements...although in Islam these four elements are called "Earth, Cloud, Electricity, Wave".

But to Langdon, this more modern usage had always terrified him—the Masonic expression for the four mystical levels of primordial matter: earth, air, fire, and water. Victoria seemed baffled. "So did this Illuminati artist create four sculptures that look religious but actually represent earth, air, fire, and water?" "Exactly," Langdon said, quickly turning onto Via Sentinel, which leads to the Archives, "these sculptures are mixed with the innumerable religious artefacts scattered throughout Rome. The Fraternity donates the artwork anonymously to Specific churches, and then using their political influence, easily placed these four statues in their carefully selected churches in Rome. Each statue is a sign... subtly pointing to the next church... next A sign awaits there. These signs serve as clues under the guise of religious art. If an Illuminati applicant can find the first church and earth sign, he can follow its guide to the 'Air '...then 'fire'...then 'water'...and finally to the Illuminati Church." Victoria looked more and more confused, "What does this have to do with catching the Illuminati killer?" Langdon smiled slightly and revealed his trick. "Oh, it's related. The Illuminati used a very special name to call these four churches, and that is the Altar of Science." Victoria frowned. "But that doesn't mean anything..." She stopped suddenly. "The Altar of Science?" she exclaimed. "The Illuminati killer. He warned the Cardinal that he would become a pure sacrifice on the Altar of Science." Langdon smiled at her. "Four cardinals, four churches, four altars of science." She was dumbfounded. "You mean the four churches where the cardinal was dedicated are the same four churches that marked the ancient Path of Light?" "I believe so, yes." "But how did the killer leave us this clue?" "Why not?" Langdon replied. "Few historians know about these sculptures, and even fewer believe they exist. Moreover, the location of these sculptures was unknown for four hundred years, without a doubt. The Illuminati believe that no one will know for another five hours. Besides, the Illuminati don't need their Path of Light anymore. Their secret lair is long gone. They live in the modern world. They are in the bank meeting room Meeting at a restaurant, at a private golf course. Tonight they want to make their secret public. The time has come for them to show up in a serious way." Langdon worried that when the Illuminati showed up, there would be a symmetrical word that he hadn't mentioned.Four prints.The killer swore that each cardinal would have a different symbol stamped on him.Proving that the ancient legends are true, the killer said, the legend of the four symmetrically printed characters is as old as the Illuminati themselves: earth, air, fire, water—four characters that are perfectly symmetrical, like the word "Illuminati."Each cardinal was branded with an element representing ancient science.Rumor has it that the four inscriptions were in English rather than Italian, a point that has been debated by historians.English is too random in its derivatives, unlike their mother tongue... and the Illuminati never do anything haphazardly. Langdon turned onto the brick path in front of the Archives.Those terrible scenes kept churning in his mind.The long-planned conspiracy of the Illuminati is gradually being revealed.The Brotherhood has vowed to remain as silent as possible, gathering the strength to resurface without fear and strike back in broad daylight to achieve their goals.The Illuminati no longer have to hide.They want to show off their power and prove the truth of the conspiracy myth.What happened tonight will make people all over the world dumbfounded. "Here comes our escort," Victoria said. Langdon looked up to see a Swiss guard hurrying across the side green toward the front door. The guard stopped when he saw them.He stared at them as if he were hallucinating.He turned away and took out the walkie-talkie.Clearly doubting what he was about to do, he spoke eagerly into the other end of the walkie-talkie.His angry shout reached Langdon's ears, and although he couldn't understand it, the meaning of the words was very obvious.Finally, dejectedly, the guard put the walkie-talkie back and turned around with a look of displeasure on his face. The guards didn't say a word as they led them into the archives.They passed through four steel doors, two entrances with skeleton keys, and down a long stairwell to a foyer with two combination keypads.After passing through a series of high-tech electronic doors, they came to the end of a long corridor with a pair of wide oak double doors.The guard stopped, looked at them again, muttered in a low voice, walked to a metal box on the wall, opened the lock on it, and pressed a code inside.The door in front of them creaked, and the deadbolt swung open. The guard turned and spoke to them for the first time. "The files are in the door. I was instructed to send you here, and then go back for another mission." "Are you leaving?" Victoria asked. "Swiss guards are not allowed to enter the Secret Archives. You can come because the Pope's chamberlain gave orders directly to the commander." "But how do we get out?" "The entrance and exit are one-way, you will have no problem." This was all the conversation between them, and the guards immediately turned and left along the corridor. Victoria made a few comments, but Langdon didn't listen, his mind was still on the double doors in front of him, he wanted to know what mystery was hidden behind the door.

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