Chapter 76 Chapter Seventy-Five

Langdon was the first to run to the screaming girl. The terrified girl stood dumbfounded, pointing at the ragged, old and weak drunk man at the base of the stele.He sat slumped on the steps, looking miserable, miserable... clearly a homeless man in Rome.His gray hair was stained with oil, and strands stuck to his face, and he was covered in rags.The little girl was still screaming as she ran towards the crowd in panic. Langdon felt a wave of terror as he rushed towards the sickly man.The rags the man was wrapped in had a spreading black blotch of blood that was bubbling, and it all seemed to happen in an instant.

The old man's waist seemed to be twisted, and he leaned forward unsteadily.Langdon rushed forward, but it was too late.The old man fell headfirst down the steps and landed face down on the sidewalk, motionless. Langdon bent on his knees, and Victoria rushed to him, and a crowd gathered around him. Victoria put her finger on the old man's throat from behind. "And a pulse," she cried. "Turn him over." Langdon had already taken action.Grabbing the old man's shoulders, he turned the old man over.When the old man was turned over, the tattered clothes fell off in pieces like carrion.The old man lay softly on the ground with a thud.In the center of his bare chest was a large scorching mark.

Victoria gasped for breath, then backed away. Langdon was stunned, sick and terrified.The markup is straightforward, but scary. "It's the word 'Qi'," Victoria said with a sob, "It's...it's him." The Swiss guards appeared from nowhere, shouting loudly, trying to track down the black evil star that had long since disappeared. Nearby, a tourist explained, a dark-skinned man had kindly helped guide the wheezing, poor homeless man across the square just minutes earlier...before disappearing into the crowd, He even sat with the sickly old man for a while.

Victoria tore off the remaining rags from the old man's abdomen.There is a deep piercing on either side of the branded symbol under his rib cage.She turned the old man's head and began blowing mouth to mouth. Langdon was unprepared for what happened next.When Victoria blew, the piercings on both sides of the old man's chest hissed and sprayed blood like the nostrils of a whale.The salty liquid sprayed Langdon's face all at once. Victoria stopped suddenly, terrified. "His lungs..." she stammered, "his lungs... were punctured." Langdon wiped his eyes and looked down at the two piercings.Blood holes gurgled, and the cardinal's lungs were pierced.he died.

Victoria covered the body when the Swiss guards arrived. Langdon stood up, completely bewildered.Just then, he saw her.The woman who had been following them was crouching nearby, with a BBC camera on her shoulder, and it was filming here.Eyes met, Langdon knew she had captured everything.After that, she slipped away like a cat.