Walking more than 400 meters into the inner city, past the ruins, you can still see the standing super-ancient city wall.
The further you go inside, the more magical the style of the building becomes. The Death Puppet City is built in a giant's palace. Its city hall and archaeological research institute are both in the core area, and there are many residential dormitories directly built on it. Next to the archaeological base, maybe when the engineering staff got up at night to go to the toilet, they could see the main tomb chamber and ancient buildings in the excavation area next door. It was convenient for them to finish their work and be startled by the ghosts that had been dormant for many years and suddenly awakened.
The terrain drops all the way from the northeast to the southwest of the city. The city wall of the palace leans on the ridgeline of this low slope to create a porch, pavilion, tower, and courtyard. Judging from the size of the door opening, the ashlar stone made of basalt reveals sharp edges. The lines seemed to have been cut by skilled craftsmen. At first glance, Xueming could not imagine how the masons of that era could process such regular building materials.
The murals on the city wall are not as exaggerated as the totems of Shinto Castle. Instead, they are simply painted with a layer of decoration. It seems to be to ensure the stability of the wall. After all, a wall of this size has to go in and out of the mountain frequently. This giant emperor doesn't do anything fancy with mythical creatures like demons and giants. Over time, most of these oil paints have become discolored and weathered, making it difficult to see the specific content.
The closer you get to the ruins of the inner city, the spiritual pressure brought by the environment becomes stronger and stronger. It is colder than the silence of Hongxing Mountain, and warmer than the noisy, noisy, crazy and dementia of Shinto City.
It's a very strange feeling, like entering a big hot spring and holding your breath in the sauna.
When they arrived at the first military camp, the first thing they saw were layers of sand and gravel explosion-proof walls. These temporary trenches formed energy-absorbing boxes. Some crystal clear pyroxene could be seen in the sand and gravel, which were all underground. The most common gabbro in the world, bluestone craftsmen call this stone rough stone. Their purity is very low, and their complex lattice structure emits a variety of lights under light sources at different angles. As jewelry material.
Walking along these temporary trenches, still some distance away from several large barracks, Xueming saw the team's training stadium and flagpole.
A dark star reflected on the dark red flag is now the emblem of the Stardust Warriors.
No one came out to rescue Ghost. This was just one of the dozens of military camps. According to the information provided by BOSS, there were not many soldiers stationed outside the palace. They would only attack when they were extremely tired and emotionally collapsed. He returned to the military camp to repair, and spent the rest of the time fighting monsters in the ruins.
"The monsters in the palace are called subordinate objects in the passenger log. These things are always trying to escape from inside. Although the death runes can catch them, it seems that they don't have to be taken care of, but there are exceptions."
Ghost helped Xueming set up a new tent outside the barracks. It was not that he would not arrange a bed for the "new recruit", but it was done to ensure Xueming's sleep quality and the gunsmith's life safety.
"Excuse me?" The VIP picked up the alloy stakes and tamped them into the soil to fix the tent's base frame. He patiently explained: "Our beds are all occupied. In the past few decades, if any of us are buried, The monsters inside will be eaten, and the vacant seats cannot be used for guests to sleep on. They will have nightmares and suffer very serious mental damage - and it will be best for you to stay away from us."
Ghost gestured to the ground of the tent while grumbling casually.
"Our barracks happened to be far away from the epicenter during the spiritual disaster that year. It was a medical team, and most of them were women's soldiers. I was originally a medical soldier in the jurisdiction of the camp next door. Men and women had to be managed separately - but it turned out that my battalion didn't have many People survived, but in the end everyone became desperadoes by luck, mixed together in a war group, and before I turned into an evil spirit, I lived with them, which was very embarrassing."
Jiang Xueming asked casually: "The scope of influence of Dead Rune is strictly divided. For example, in the ironworks area, only a few hundred square meters and a thousand square meters of land are affected. How far is your original barracks from here?"
"Oh." When talking about this, Ghost's voice became softer: "I was in love with a little sister at the time, and I sneaked here. I avoided the sentry patrol, and I was locked here as soon as I crossed the barbed wire fence."
"Then I have to congratulate you?" Jiang Xueming only found it interesting. He didn't expect that this VIP was an unruly gangster during his lifetime. "You two got together later?"
The tent was put up bit by bit, and Ghost worked very quickly. With the blessing of the spirit body, he could almost lift a dozen pieces of debris at the same time.
"She was eaten by a monster, just like many, many others. There are too many bad things like this."
When talking about this matter, Brother Guiying's face did not change at all, as if he was discussing the weather, so it was natural to use the fake news from the WeChat marketing account as a source of discussion.
"I used to be a hygienist in Class 7, but because of the bleeding, my professional skills were not very good, hehe."
Ghost chuckled, a little embarrassed.
"Then he became the only male in the entire seventh battalion."
Jiang Xueming brought all the toiletries to the folding bed and whispered, "Sorry."
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about." Ghost arranged the small bench and the mirror. He saw a disaster in the mirror and saw his young self disappearing in a flash. He immediately pulled a poncho and covered it with the mirror so as not to scare the guests. "Time will pass." I will cure you slowly, no matter what happens, whether you are happy or sad, all that will be left in the end is loneliness."
"It's been too long. There are so many new guests in my life. After turning into a spirit body, ghosts have to deal with so many things that it makes my scalp numb. I don't have much time to stop and cherish the past. Now the Internet is popular What’s the word for?”
Ghost put his hands on his hips and scratched his head——
——Pieces of hair were pulled off from the skull, revealing the bloody scalp and bones, which then healed quickly.
"Oh! It's called EMO!~Hey! This word is really hard to remember, it's so fresh!"
Jiang Xueming felt inexplicable fear again, and Aoheng Mingde had been making insinuations, trying to extend Xueming's life.
Perhaps this is a good thing for BOSS, the station and the underground world. Faced with the temptation of longevity or immortality, Xueming refused again and again. It was precisely because of Teacher Victor, because of Mr. Wen Bucai, and because of weird immortals like Ghost that they all suffered through the vicissitudes of life and lost part of their humanity. emotion.
On the other hand, Xueming has seen countless long-lived old monsters during his expedition. They may have worked hard when they were young and were cheerful and kind-hearted. In some areas with little information, these monsters are still considered to be patron saints. After a period of time, they will actively offer human flesh to the "gods".
But these monsters eventually lost to time and turned into demons that cannibalize people to survive. After meeting the most basic survival needs, they began to exploit the people they had protected in various ways. Not only did they want to eat fellow villagers and elders, but also When a house filled with grandparents and grandchildren is filled with food, we must eat sustainably and be benevolent, righteous, and moral.
Xueming can crush the demon's body, but Ao ruthless Mingde invites him and asks him to accept the test of time——
——At this moment, Xueming only felt horrible. There were so many friends and so many enemies. In order to fight against time, the winners had to become eccentric, while the losers became completely crazy.
There are living examples right in front of you, and it seems that all the answers point to "there will be no good end to immortality"——
——The ancient emperors have always preached that "living until old age is pleasant" is a lie. It has never been that beautiful.
David Victor once told Xueming that life without death is incomplete. When a person is still alive, the story will not end. There are always ups and downs in life. In people's hearts, no matter how powerful a hero is, he will grow old one day. But when a hero is immortal, such a long time will make the hero become a hero. What a bastard.
This bastard is no longer strong or good. When someone needs help, the hero will not step forward. He will hesitate, fear, calculate gains and losses, become shrewd and philistine, and will put everything aside because of the path dependence of his thinking. Mark the price. They will pursue interests regardless of human life, because for immortals, short-lived Homo sapiens itself is a consumable, more like a pet that can only live for more than ten years.
Man is a very complex and strange animal. Under the test of time, this hero will always make mistakes.
People rarely understand why the omnipotent hero suddenly fell. They only remember the moment when he climbed to the top of the mountain, and only remember the moment of infinite scenery. Therefore, the long life has become a kind of torture. We have to put on the mask of grace and luxury, and always maintain a dignified and solemn demeanor in front of others. This is also the moment when a living person is carried into the shrine.
Aoren Mingde has always wanted passengers to get rid of superstitions, but it also has to use etiquette to restrain people's behavior. It wants to tell people that it is not a god. The panacea obtained in exchange for flesh and blood has always been regarded as a miracle by passengers. This is an almost unsolvable mystery.
'alright! Let's go. 'Ghost interrupted Xueming's reverie and took a jar of honey from the shelf to take with him to the relic.
Jiang Xueming immediately followed, leaving Mr. Bourne's gun behind. He asked as he walked.
"Brother Zhaoming, how old are you?"
Ghost heard the familiar yet unfamiliar name. He lowered his head and took out his ID card, convinced that the person Xueming was calling was him——
"——I don't remember. It seems."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute, let me think about it."
"You seem to be almost ninety?"
"It's like a hundred years old again. Have I passed my hundredth birthday? Have I passed it? Not passed it? Oh! Oh, oh, oh! No, no! BOSS didn't send me a gift, just the medal for my centenary achievement. , it didn’t send me this thing, other people who are over 100 years old have it, but I haven’t, so it must be that I haven’t passed it!”
"Is this important?"
Jiang Xueming: "I'm curious, do you have any brothers or sisters?"
Ghost's real name is written on the ID card, Wu Zhaoming, but this name is very modern and does not seem to match his age. If calculated according to the time when the spiritual disaster occurred, the VIP should have been only 23 or 24 years old at the time. He is from the 1950s - it would be easier to understand if he was named Jianye, Anbang, Jianguo, Jianwei, Liming, Zhengming, and named according to his generation.
"No." Ghost replied casually: "I am an orphan of a soldier. When the old man left me, I went to South Korea to beat up sticks and Americans."
Jiang Xueming: "That's definitely not a hundred years old."
Ghost: "Hehe. But you also have to call me grandpa."
Jiang Xueming: "How did the spiritual disaster happen at that time? The specific process."
"The sky is almost falling apart." Ghota led Xueming towards the fortress. "The factories and houses built by fragile humans are like paper. The earth is cracked with deep grooves, and only the walls of the royal court are trembling. Even though the wall is made of such huge and solid stone, it is still swaying gently."
"From the deepest part of Pankrasin Palace, from the Palace of the Sun of the Dynasty, countless creatures emerged. They were transformed by the death runes, devouring each other, merging, and turning into unrecognizable monsters."
"During the ten days or so that the Rune Spell expands, the warriors who still have the will to fight have to stop these monsters. They will continue to eat, whether it is cooked food or raw meat, whether they are alive or dead, they have to swallow it. Here, it seems like winter is coming, and we have to conserve energy to get through the difficulties.”
"Later we realized that was just the beginning."
"Many years later, news came from the secret library. It was inferred from the data records of geological activities that this spiritual disaster was the result of the ancient giant finally dying - before it was completely dead, it had already begun to rot and smell burnt. Dark pus and blood poured into the earth, and the dead runes gradually cut the entire city into pieces."
"Before the Death Rune is fully formed, the weak individual will slowly lose all its essence to the stronger monster, so only one deformed monster can be seen in an area - this situation is very common."
"They bite each other, occupy each other's flesh and blood, and are devoured by each other while eating, until a winner is determined, and then they try repeatedly to escape to another cage and cross the dividing line of dead runes. Eat more.”
"Eating is an instinct. It represents a strong desire to survive. It is like a plague. In civilian areas far away from the royal court, most residents still retain this instinct. They crave fresh things and can act relatively rationally. Live and live through repeated days, afraid of change, afraid of familiar things becoming unfamiliar, because once there is a change, you may completely lose your mind and turn into a man-eating monster.”
As he said this, the high-walled porch of the Royal Court Fortress got closer and closer.
"Remember Mads? Before this cunning passenger became a salary king, he broke through our defense. His soul power is very strange. It can knock our spiritual bodies out of our physical bodies and make us unconscious." Ghost talked about the last uninvited guest: "It's not that he caused the spiritual disaster. He came to this place to get the abscess on the giant's body and to get the death rune. He just happened to meet the mythical creature that had just died. It happened to be In trouble - if Victor had not gone to the royal court, Mads would not have been able to get out and would have to stay in this place forever. He could not defeat the gatekeeper and the two monsters in the flower gallery, and would have been trapped in it. It was Victor's highway to hell. The highway conquered these roadblocks for him."
"Say something else!"
Ghost waved and bowed politely to the gatekeeper in front of the porch, guiding Jiang Xueming to introduce the first teacher.
"This is an old friend of ours, and every time you go in or out of the porch, you have to be tested by him."
"He comes from an even more ancient era. According to the investigation and research of the secret library, he should be a famous hero in ancient mythology."
"Since the first day when the scientific research team started working, this strong man with bronze skin has been guarding the gate with his sword and shield. He was only willing to die and get out of the way with bullets and artillery to clear the way. .At first we didn’t know who this figure was, maybe it was some king in history who asked for the elixir of immortality.”
Saying this, the huge shadow that had been squatting beside the porch moved——
——First came the sound of heavy breathing, and a foot wearing straw sandals stepped into the light source.
His feet were huge, and black pus flowed from the straw sandals. The dead rune had almost embedded the grass into his ankles, merging with his flesh.
Looking up the calf, the skin color exposed to the light source becomes lighter and lighter, turning into a grease-like copper color. The fluorescent lamp shines on the angular muscles like marble statues, illuminating the protective pockets full of patina. In addition, It was some weathered and blackened fabric.
When the gatekeeper's upper body completely left the shadow of the porch, he saw a head of white hair and a thick beard, and his eyes had completely turned black.
He held a half-broken sword in one hand and a large buckler full of bullet holes in the other. His strong feet made a rumbling sound, and a melodious echo came from the porch. He was more than two meters tall, with a slender waist. The scales seemed to have swallowed up the monsters in the porch, and the signs of dragon-like creatures appeared. His ears are pointed and the hair beside his temples is raised, which is also a characteristic of the giant monster that swallowed the mountain monster.
"During our long fighting career, our Pankrasin fighting skills were taught by this teacher."
Ghost imitated the movements of the gatekeeper, with his left arm protecting his heart in a shield-raising gesture, and his right arm raised to hold the sword and punch.
"Dong Dong! Dong Dong! Beat the war drum!"
"He has completely lost his mind. Whether he is a human or a ghost, he will fight when he catches his opponent, and he will also intercept the monsters running out from the depths of the royal court. With his help, our defense mission has become much easier."
The broken sword slapped against the buckler, issuing an invitation to a duel.
Ghost had a smile on his face and spoke cordially to Xueming.
"Class has begun. You have to learn Pankrasin. This is your first opponent."
"The wolf king who loves honey——Beowulf丨Beowulf."
(End of chapter)
