A tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Leaving the apartment building, Ye Tian went straight to the subway station, stopping by a shop on the way to buy a new phone and a pair of sunglasses. His old phone was already thrown away and he needed a new one. He bought the sunglasses to conceal his eyes, so that no one would notice any abnormalities when he observed antiques at the museum.

As he arrived at the subway entrance, he was startled by the sight in front of him and almost fell down the stairs. The slightly worn-out entrance emitted a white light, similar to the antique pistol from yesterday, but the light was not as pure and had a bit of impurities. It was obvious that the New York subway was also an antique, which was why it emitted light. However, due to the different construction ages and the continuous repairs, the light appeared uneven and inconsistent. Ye Tian quickly regained his composure and put on his sunglasses, not wanting to reveal his abilities on the way. He also didn't want to waste his limited time on the subway by using his X-ray vision.

When he emerged from the subway station, he arrived at the Manhattan SC area and saw many objects emitting light, mainly historical buildings. He noticed that any building with a history of over fifty years emitted white light, but like the subway station, the light was uneven. Modern buildings had no light, even though they were beautiful, they were not antiques. In Ye Tian's eyes, Manhattan was already illuminated, and every few steps he would see a historical building shining with white light. Fortunately, the white light was soft and not dazzling, so he could appreciate it without straining his eyes.

At half past ten, Ye Tian arrived at the entrance of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, queued up to buy a ticket, and waited to enter. Like other historical buildings, the museum emitted a white light, and its brightness was relatively high. It was probably because it was built in 1870, which was relatively early. After a dozen minutes, Ye Tian walked into the museum with his ticket.

As he walked just a few steps, Ye Tian's eyes began to flicker with shock and even madness. Luckily, he had his sunglasses on, otherwise, he would have attracted the attention of the security personnel. He was shocked by the huge Pharaoh statue standing in the Egypt exhibition hall entrance. As he approached the statue, he saw that the entire statue was emitting light, dazzling and beautiful. Unlike the white light emitted by other historical buildings, the Pharaoh statue emitted a purple light, almost black in color.

"Wow! What's going on? Why is there such a big difference between antiques?" Ye Tian's mind was full of questions and he urgently wanted to know the answer. However, this was not the place to study the problem, and there were too many people, making it impossible to stay for long. Suppressing his curiosity, Ye Tian followed the crowd into the Egyptian exhibition hall on the first floor.

As soon as he entered the hall, shock immediately struck him again. There was a reclining lion statue from the fifth century BC at the entrance, and the light he saw on it was black. The light emitted by antiques changed again! Why? By comparing the introduction of the lion statue with the age of the Pharaoh statue at the entrance, Ye Tian quickly understood. The light emitted by antiques was different depending on the age of the artifact. The Pharaoh statue was about four to five thousand years old and emitted purple light, while the lion statue was seven thousand years old and emitted black light.

At the same time, Ye Tian also discovered the limitation of his X-ray vision. He could only see the light emitted by antiques if he was within five meters of them. If he exceeded this distance, he was no different from an ordinary person. Understanding this, Ye Tian felt a little disappointed. His ability was not too outstanding, and he had to get close to make it work. He couldn't just scan the streets and discover antiques that others couldn't see. He was also relieved that he didn't have to wear sunglasses all the time to conceal his abilities. If he didn't have this distance limitation, it would be much more fun! In the United States, there weren't many historical buildings, so the changes in light were likely limited. If this were in China or other countries with a long history, wouldn't his eyes be blinded by the flashing neon lights all the time?

Afterwards, Ye Tian began to visit other artifacts. The artifacts here were basically over three thousand years old, emitting mostly purple and black light, with differences in color depth. Through a lot of comparison, he quickly discovered the relationship between the age of the artifact and the light emitted. During the process, Ye Tian also tried to use his X-ray vision to see the inside of the artifacts. However, he quickly dispelled the idea, at least not wanting to try it in this exhibition hall. His first attempt failed, he couldn't see through a stone coffin, just like when he tried to see through the wall last night.

Realizing this, he immediately withdrew his gaze, so as not to overexert himself and faint here. The second time he tried, he succeeded in seeing the inside of a painted mummy wrapped in linen. But when he saw the petrified bones inside the mummy, and the empty chest and abdomen, he was so nauseous that he almost vomited!

He immediately withdrew his gaze, no longer wanting to use his X-ray vision in the exhibition hall, lest he lose his appetite and even have nightmares.

Through continuous experimentation, Ye Tian gradually understood some other characteristics of his eyes.

In addition to being able to see the light emitted by antiques and being able to see through relatively thin objects, he could also see halos on the antiques, layer by layer, more or less, seemingly the greater the artistic value, the thicker the halo.

This was especially evident in the murals and carvings that depict scenes of ancient Egyptian life. Some of the antiques had halos that could even reach dozens of layers!

This reminded him of the Luger P08 from yesterday, which also had a lot of white halos, but he didn't understand what that meant for its value as it was his first encounter with his ability.

He also discovered that as long as he didn't use his X-ray vision, his eyes seemed to have no energy consumption and could always see the light emitted by antiques.

If he used his X-ray vision, it was estimated that the conclusion he had previously reached would still apply, with a total usage time of only ten minutes.

Thus, Ye Tian had almost figured out the changes in his eyes.

The next step was to see what colors the antiques from other eras emitted.

By understanding these, he would undoubtedly become the most authoritative antique appraiser and art connoisseur! No antique or artwork could escape his eyes, and the authenticity, age, value, etc. would be clear at a glance! He could get whatever he wanted!

Of course, this was just for his own pleasure! He couldn't tell anyone, although it was a bit regrettable, it would bring him countless wealth and honor.

Thinking of this, Ye Tian was suddenly excited to the point of madness.

"Screw Wall Street! You guys are now begging me to come back on your knees, but I don't care! With this ability, I can live a thousand times more exciting than before!"

After calming down a bit, he continued to visit the exhibition hall, constantly testing his eye's abilities and enriching his knowledge of antiques.

He lingered here for almost an hour, carefully studying with a learning attitude, before leaving and coming to the nearby American Pavilion.

The antique light had once again changed, and this time he saw almost all red light, with a small part being orange and a very few emitting yellow and green light.

After leaving the American Pavilion, it was already lunchtime. Ye Tian didn't leave, instead he had an expensive lunch at the museum restaurant and then continued to visit other exhibition halls.

After visiting the European Pavilion, the Greek Pavilion, and the Roman Pavilion on the first floor one after another, he finally understood the relationship between antique light and era.

Antiques from fifty to one hundred years emitted white light, from one hundred to three hundred years they were red, from three hundred to five hundred they were orange, from five hundred to one thousand they were yellow.

From one thousand to one thousand five hundred they were green, from one thousand five hundred to two thousand they were cyan, from two thousand to three thousand they were blue, from three thousand to five thousand they were purple, and above five thousand they were black.

Antiques from each period were the same, with colors becoming deeper as the era progressed, and the more valuable the art, the more layers of halos there were.

His purpose for coming to the Metropolitan Museum had been achieved, and he had basically figured out his abilities!

Apart from X-ray vision, Ye Tian also established a set of unique and accurate methods for identifying antiques and artworks that belonged only to himself. These abilities would be the foundation for his future survival and success.

Next, it was time to appreciate and experience the essence of human culture in the museum!

Since he would often deal with antiques in the future, it was very necessary to understand related knowledge, and the museum was undoubtedly the best place to learn this knowledge.

Ye Tian decided to spend a certain amount of time here and at nearby natural history museums and the Hayden Planetarium every week to accumulate related knowledge.

Today, he just wanted to relax and take a cursory look.

Soon, Ye Tian arrived at the RB Pavilion on the second floor.

He wasn't interested in RB culture, and although he had been to the museum before, he had never been to the RB Pavilion.

The reason he came in today was to see the famous "The Great Wave off Kanagawa."

This painting was hailed as the treasure of the Metropolitan RB Pavilion, a work by the RB ukiyo-e painter Katsushika Hokusai, and was blown up by RB people as a masterpiece!

During his time working in Manhattan, Ye Tian had met some RB people, and every time they came to New York, they would come to worship this painting like a pilgrimage, and boast to everyone they knew how great and outstanding it was.

Since he was at the Metropolitan Museum, Ye Tian wanted to see this painting.

He was prepared to use his own methods to identify it and compare it with other masterpieces to see if it really was a great work as RB people claimed, or if it was just their own self-hype!

As expected, there were RB people crowded in front of the print, admiring the small artwork and constantly exclaiming and praising it with an extremely intoxicated expression!

Ye Tian stood two or three meters away from the painting and gazed at the picture hanging on the wall. Through his eye's ability, he quickly made a preliminary judgment on the painting.

The work was undoubtedly genuine, emitting a red light, and the color was very deep, consistent with the early 19th century era.

But judging from the number of halos on the outer edge, the artistic value was not as great as RB people hyped it up to be, it could only be said to be a masterpiece, still far from a great work.

Not to mention other works in the museum that were more outstanding than this, with much more halos.

Ye Tian continued to look at it, because of the distance and the small size of the work, he looked very focused, under the concentration, he unconsciously used his X-ray vision, and his vision directly crossed the space, seeing through the print.

This was the third time he had used his X-ray vision today, after seeing through the mummy and the antique from earlier.

Suddenly, a cool and refreshing feeling came to his eyes, accompanied by a hint of pleasure!

Before he could react to what was happening, a bizarre image appeared in Ye Tian's eyes, leaving him stunned in place!