Shen Yan and the others' destination was Shangcheng District.
The road was a bit long, so Zhao Kuo took Shen Yan onto a public commuter bus that was peeling off its paint. It had a fishy smell of metal, as if it was about to fall apart. It felt a bit like the early days of the Victorian Industrial Revolution.
The commuting fee of one bronze dove is somewhat similar to that of city buses.
The difference was that the mercenary driving the car sometimes got out of the car to buy a wheat cake, and sometimes chatted vulgarly with the aunt on the roadside.
Stop and go, be willful.
Shen Yan was quite new. He had been in the mercenary city for several days and was no longer a bystander who knew nothing at the beginning.
For example, according to his understanding, this city was built on ancient ruins and had very good sewage treatment measures. The underground waterways ran through the entire underground. Even if it rained heavily, the city would not flood.
Although, this cannot change the fact that domestic sewage is flowing freely on the ground, there are many debris, and there is a smell of garbage disposal wherever you go.
Where low-income people live has always been like this, this is life, reality.
In addition to these, Shen Yan also observed that this was a city with a large population, densely populated by mercenaries and mobile street vendors.
And, among the chaotic crowd, there are many thieves, robbers, gangsters, and hooligans. Of course, as long as you have no money or supplies, they will not even want to talk to you. It is a waste of time. It is very realistic.
Also, the hungry children who always stare at the food in other people's hands, and the old and emaciated old people are even worse than the scenes described in "Oliver Twist".
Even those who are slightly decent, no one knows how much evil heart they hide behind their smiles.
These are actually things that can be seen and felt on the surface.
What Shen Yan didn't know was that every day, countless bodies of people were stuffed into the sewers.
This is a city of chaos.
Shen Yan lay curiously on the car window, observing all kinds of people and the thick black smoke coming out of the chimney of the commuter car.
He also had a lot of doubts and couldn't help but ask Zhao Kuo: "Why don't you see a car repair place in the city?"
He had seen Zhao Kuo use a wrench to tighten the loose screws on the truck and check the oil cylinder for oil leakage. But if the parts of the truck, such as the routes, shafts, brakes, and engines were broken, they would always need professionals to repair them.
Where do they repair such a delicate thing?
In such a harsh living environment, large machinery like vehicles can still be preserved. Shen Yan sometimes couldn't figure out the reason.
Zhao Kuo, who was playing with the handicraft box in his hand, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and even a trace of doubt flashed past, as if Shen Yan had asked a very unexpected or idiotic question.
After a pause, he said: "The vehicle comes from the abyss."
Shen Yan was stunned. He was very surprised by the answer. He had heard from Mr. Dong that the human ghosts in the abyss were a branch of human beings, a group of people who were under the influence of the R source but could not summon the heroic spirits in the ancient artifacts. Human beings, later they retreated to the abyss, lived in darkness, and parted ways with humans who could summon heroic spirits. Over time, they were separated from humans, and they envied and hated humans on the ground.
Zhao Kuo continued: "Although the people and ghosts of the Abyss cannot transmit their voices into Mengyuan to summon the heroic spirits in the holy artifact, they have their own way of survival."
"They like gears, springs, metal, spindles, all that stuff."
"I heard that in the abyss, they built huge steam turbines and a huge mechanical city."
"These machines on the ground all come from the abyss. Not to mention, they are quite easy to use."
The people and ghosts in the abyss are jealous and envious of the people on the ground who can summon heroic spirits, and the people on the ground are envious of the machines in the abyss.
Shen Yan: "..."
hiss!
I don’t know why I was a little excited. It turns out that technology and machinery have never disappeared, but have just regressed. Judging from Zhao Kuo’s words, it should be that it has regressed to the early stage of Victorian industry or when steam engines began to be used?
To a certain extent, Shen Yan is actually closer to the attributes of an abyssal human ghost.
What kind of world would it be like in the mechanical city in the abyss?
However, the excitement in Shen Yan's heart was extinguished when he thought about how many years the people in the abyss had lived without seeing the light of day, and how full of hatred they were towards human beings.
Shen Yan previously believed that this world was a world under the Cthulhu ecosystem and Suina's non-reproductive isolation ecosystem, but that may not be accurate now.
At least, the steam machinery system of the abyss ghosts must be added.
Just like the Mercenary City, mechanical vehicles emitting thick smoke are often seen.
Shen Yan asked with some confusion: "It's not that the relationship between the abyss ghosts and humans is very bad, why is there such a deal..."
If a vehicle breaks down and needs to be repaired by an abyssal human ghost, no matter how you look at it, you need to contact it.
Before he finished the question, Shen Yan stopped talking. In fact, there is nothing difficult to understand. For example, in Shen Yan's era, even if the two countries were at war, there was no business dealings in private, and only the ordinary people hated them to death. I wish I could just cut off all relations, but no matter how deep the hatred is, I can shake hands and make peace in the face of interests, and have a good time over wine. Why, to create a better future together?
It's just driven by profit.
When Shen Yan and Zhao Kuo arrived in Shangcheng District, the commuter bus drove in and out for an hour. The fumes made them dizzy, and they wished they could change their minds.
The city of mercenaries is divided into upper and lower city areas. Shen Yan often heard Mr. Dong say some words of praise for the inner city.
How should I put it, like the difference between slums and rich areas?
Shangcheng District is indeed a little different. In terms of cleanliness, it is on a higher level.
The living environment is not just stacked warehouses, but gray houses made of concrete.
Well, they are all wasteland styles, there is not much difference, in Shen Yan's eyes.
Shen Yan and the others arrived at a station surrounded by thick concrete. It should be a large mercenary group that controlled resources such as wheat cultivation.
Shen Yan was still thinking about what Zhao Kuo was doing here, so he was taken directly in by Zhao Kuo.
In the station, there is a mercenary with a fierce face and a scar like a spider web on his face. The weapon in his hand emits a cold metallic light.
With the ferocity of the mercenaries, if they dare to trespass on their territory, even if blood is splashed on the ground, they will probably open several holes in the opponent's body.
But after seeing Zhao Kuo, the cold weapon in his hand paused, and the expression on his face was very strange.
Shen Yan was trembling, thinking that he might be poked into trouble.
But after those fierce mercenaries surrounded them aggressively, they hesitated and were at a loss not knowing how to continue.
Shen Yan couldn't help but look at Zhao Kuo's back. Do these people know Zhao Kuo?
But why didn't you say hello?
What's going on with this weird atmosphere?
Zhao Kuo didn't have any intention to speak. He led Shen Yan leisurely through the increasingly fierce mercenaries, walked towards a house, opened the door and walked directly in.
There is no one in the house. There are some metal pipes on the walls of the house, inlaid with kerosene wall lamps, and even exposed, rusty shafts can be seen.
Gas pipe?
And gas counters on the walls.
Life in the upper city is indeed somewhat different from that in the lower city.
The room is very empty, and there is a wooden desk with a simple pattern next to the window.
There is a gray steel plate and a screwed bottle of ink on the desk.
And a stack of yellowed paper. On the top page of the paper, there are two twisted sentences written in two completely different language systems. Because the difference is very big, it can be easily distinguished.
Seemingly noticing that Shen Yan was paying attention to the words on the paper, Zhao Kuo took a look and said, "These are products from the abyss. The paper contains the words of the Abyssal Script and the Spirit Clan."
Shen Yan didn't know these two words, but Zhao Kuo did. He frowned and muttered: "I'm studying pollutants again. I don't know whether to live or die."
Shen Yan asked curiously: "What do the two sentences on the paper say?"
“What are pollutants?”
Zhao Kuo: "It's just two simple sentences. The general meaning is that anyone who interprets it will die."
Shen Yan: "..."
"As for pollutants..."
"During the Second Age, there were many documents about interpreting sacred artifacts. These documents were later contaminated. People who read and studied them would become insane and die inexplicably."
Shen Yan: "..."
Is there such a weird thing?
Wait, it may not be weird. If the Cthulhu ecosystem really exists in this world, then all behaviors that explore history and explore the unknown are very dangerous and will bring bad luck due to unknown reasons.
There are demigods like Cthulhu in this world, so do the rules belonging to the Cthulhu ecosystem also exist?
So interpreting old documents is indeed one of the most dangerous things in the world.
Historians and archaeologists are also the most dangerous professions.
The 99% mortality rate of the Cthulhu Running Group remains high, but it is not caused by researching documents and field visits.
Shen Yan thought to himself that the lack of world history may be related to the fact that interpreting documents will lead to madness and death. With fewer people doing such a dangerous thing, the real history will naturally disappear over time.
Shen Yan also captured some special information from Zhao Kuo's words, such as: "Second era?"
Zhao Kuo also understood Shen Yan's doubts very well. After all, not everyone can read. It should be said that most people have never read.
Zhao Kuo said: "We call the era when the sacred artifacts were born the first era, or the era of sacred artifacts."
"After the end of the first era, there are no more heroic spirits that can be called out in the Dream Abyss. We call the next era the second era, also called the era of pollutants."
"In the Second Age, humans used some means to artificially create holy artifacts. However, it was later discovered that the so-called "holy artifacts" produced were all evil things, dangerous and ferocious, completely uncontrollable, and a disaster. of a chronology.”
"In order to distinguish the difference between the two sacred artifacts, we call these things created in the Second Age contaminants."
Therefore, there are two types of contaminants, one is the documents used to study sacred vessels in the past, and the other is "artificial sacred vessels" that breed evil things.
Shen Yan was shocked. It turned out that this world also had its own history, which was quite rich from a one-sided perspective. It also explained some of Shen Yan's doubts, such as why there were cultural relics he was familiar with in this world and why the cultural relics were left behind. , and history disappeared.
Since the Second Age, the most basic laws of Cthulhu have begun to govern the world.
Writing is foolish because it turns the unknown into the known, and the known is meaningless. Therefore, all research and exploration of ancient documents are regarded as voyeurs and must die.
