45 Silk Road 05
◎Don't go near the man-made oasis in the city center, the water there is deadly◎
Zhu Heng never thought he would receive such news.
It sounds like an impassable game, a circular bug that even the system can't fix.
But his current focus was clearly not on this. He asked the bearded man, "Can anyone enter this dungeon?"
"Of course not." The big bearded man said, "Do you have any... tokens or anything like that?" His eyes fell on Zhu Heng, scanning every inch for any suspicious objects.
Token?
Zhu Heng was about to deny it when he suddenly seemed to think of something. He immediately glanced at the back of Helan Dao's hand and asked, "Is it this piece of silk?"
"That's it, that's it." The bearded man clapped his hands and laughed. "Silk is the easiest token to unlock the dungeon's door. Whoever possesses it can enter. However, the token only serves as a 'one-way ticket'. In other words, the holder can descend into the dungeon, but cannot return to the surface."
Zhu Heng frowned. "But in the ruined city you left on the ground, these silks are everywhere. Aren't you afraid that 'they' will follow us?"
"Don't worry about that." The bearded man waved his hand. "Their goal is to prevent us from passing the Silk Road. As long as we don't return to the surface, we won't pose a threat to them... What? Before you two came down, were you chased? Don't worry, you're all safe in the underground city. See those big screens hanging in the streets outside? They'll sound warnings of any danger. We've had zero casualties for six months straight, so our safety factor is quite high..."
"Hmm..." Someone suddenly dragged out the tone and groaned, "Zero casualties?"
Zhu Heng glanced at the source of the sound, and saw a faint smile slowly appearing on Helan Dao's face, as if full of spring light.
The bearded man was stunned for a moment, then looked at Helan and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
"Before we came down, we saw them kill two people." Zhu Heng explained for him.
Unexpectedly, the bearded man categorically denied what he heard: "Impossible! No one can leave the underground city and return to the surface."
"Perhaps, the two people who were killed were outsiders like us." Zhu Heng thought this could explain it, but he didn't expect the big bearded man to deny it even faster.
The bearded man said, "As long as you enter the ruined city, the dungeon system can sense your vital signs, regardless of whether you're an outsider or not. So if there are any casualties nearby, the dungeon will be notified... How long have those two people you saw been dead?"
"He just died, so the body might still be warm."
Zhu Heng glanced at Helan Dao who looked normal. He certainly did not doubt what the bearded man said. The dungeon system must be integrated with the entire "History of the Universe" system. If the bearded man said anything wrong, Helan Dao would not react so calmly.
Hearing this, the bearded man relaxed a little. "Oh, no wonder. The dungeon system should be delayed. The casualty count will be updated by tomorrow morning at the latest. You two...just settle down here. I have to go now. Remember to keep an eye on the dungeon's notifications. Any latest news will be displayed there."
The bearded man was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something and turned back, reminding them, "Oh, and don't go near the man-made oasis in the city center. The water there can kill you."
"Eating human water? Is there some secret or mechanism?" Zhu Heng asked.
"Who knows? Anyway, just remember not to go there. If something happens, no one will take care of us. We have already been abandoned."
"Oh? So, someone was in charge before."
"What are you talking about? Of course someone cared about it before! But now the emperor surnamed Zhu above us is not interested in this Silk Road... What does it matter if the Silk Road is blocked? It's declined, it's declined!" The bearded man put on his hood, sighed, and left.
Emperor Zhu...
Zhu Heng muttered to himself, repeating the bearded man's words. He looked at Helan Dao, who had remained silent, and spoke to him uncertainly, "He's from the First Level Civilization Era."
"It's not as advanced as Level 1, at most a Level 0.7 civilization." He Lan Dao pulled out the era information revealed by the bearded man from the system and explained it to Zhu Heng. "The rulers of the Ming Dynasty, probably. Back then, it was still a Level 0 civilization."
After saying that, he closed the system data window and asked Zhu Heng, "What are you going to do next? I'd like to hear your opinion."
Zhu Heng glanced at him sideways: "Do you and I have a choice?"
What else can I do? Of course, I go to the oasis in the city center.
Helandao didn't even need to say anything, as he already knew his purpose and plan, and showed no resistance, as both of them had the same idea.
The more you are not allowed to go, the more you want to go and die.
-
They left the abandoned building and followed the signs leading to the city center. The road was full of vendors. Just as what was recorded in the book, the stalls were filled with silk, porcelain, and tea, but there were so many of them that almost everyone on the roadside was selling goods, but there were hardly any buyers to be seen, and the goods seemed to be unsalable.
Zhu Heng and Helan Dao paraded through the streets, attracting many pairs of eyes that were drooling over them. The vendors looked like people who had been hungry for several days, and looking at them was like seeing delicacies.
Zhu Heng's gaze lingered on the goods for a long time.
"What's wrong? What's the problem?" Helan Dao noticed that something was wrong with Zhu Heng.
"These silk porcelains don't seem to be of very good quality."
"Isn't this normal?"
Zhu Heng shook his head: "That's nothing. Compared to the quality issue, there is another thing that is even more strange." As he spoke, his eyes fell on Helan Dao's hand.
"You mean to say," Helan Dao raised his arm, "that in this underground city where silk is so plentiful that it's almost unsalable, we can actually use it to knock open the door leading here."
Zhu Heng nodded.
Helan Dao raised his eyebrows and said, "It's really strange. You said that in a place where gold is everywhere, what does it need our gold for?"
As we were talking, we arrived at the artificial oasis in the city center.
Although this is the city center, few people come here, especially near the artificial oasis. There is not a single person to be seen. The green pool is like stagnant water. The surroundings are pitch black. An artificial moon hangs above the head, emitting a gloomy light.
At the edge of the oasis, a Bactrian camel was kneeling leisurely by the water, eating grass and drinking water, its chin rubbing up and down.
There was no sign of the danger of "water eating people" as the bearded man said.
"Let's go and take a look." Zhu Heng walked towards the oasis without hesitation.
He Landao suddenly stopped him: "Wait a moment."
Zhu Heng turned around, but Helan Dao didn't look at him. He also turned his head to look behind him.
Behind him stood a wandering monk, with a clear and calm expression on his face. One hand was placed on his chest, and the other hand was holding Helan Dao tightly.
He was the one who greeted the bearded man on the street.
The wandering monk twisted the Buddhist beads hanging from his tiger's mouth, lowered his eyebrows and looked dignified, "Amitabha, the two donors, please stay and do not go any further."
Helan Dao pulled his wrist out of the wandering monk's hand and said with a smile, "The camel can go, but I can't?"
"Don't misunderstand, benefactor. Everyone in the underground city knows that the oasis in the city center is poisonous and only animals can get close. I was passing by here and saw the two benefactors heading there out of curiosity. I didn't want to see them fall into danger, so I warned them."
"Thank you for your kindness, but," Helan Dao nodded to him, took Zhu Heng's hand, and walked towards the oasis, "We came here specifically to see how it eats people."
Seeing that the two people would not listen to his advice, the wandering monk quickly clasped his hands together and recited Buddhist scriptures with reluctance. When he finished reciting a string and opened his eyes again, Zhu Heng and Helan Dao had already arrived at the water's edge.
"Amitabha, what a sin, what a sin." He stamped his feet, turned around twice, gritted his teeth, and chased after him, "Donor! You can't go any further, donor!"
This time, the one who turned around to look at him was the man with extremely black hair and cold white skin. While being pulled by the donor in front of him, the man turned his head and glanced at him. The broken hair on his forehead cut through the man's dark eyes, and several bright rays of light flashed through them.
The wandering monk was stunned for a moment. He shook his head and then heard a "splash" sound in his ears - Helan Dao stepped into the water.
The wandering monk immediately regained consciousness and subconsciously took two steps back: "Donor...?"
"Oh, it's you. Why did you follow me?" Helan Dao let go of Zhu Heng and looked back at him.
What a tone of voice! It was like a greeting after a meal. The wandering monk felt his legs go limp and he collapsed to the ground.
However, the water was calm and there was nothing unusual.
Helan Dao retracted his foot and stepped back: "How come nothing happened?" From his tone, he seemed a little disappointed.
He turned around and pulled the wandering monk up from the ground. The silk wrapped around his arm brushed across the monk's cheek, making the monk sneeze because of the itch.
"Donor, this silk is of really good quality." The wandering monk sighed.
Zhu Heng kept his eyes on Helan Dao's hands, watching him engage in physical contact with the wandering monk. Just then, he heard the wandering monk sigh, and Zhu Heng remembered his doubts from earlier on the road. He took the opportunity to ask him, "How many of you underground city residents used to do business on the Silk Road? Why do the things you sell seem of poor quality?"
The wandering monk didn't expect that Zhu Heng would come to him to ask questions. He lowered his eyes, a little afraid to look at Zhu Heng, always feeling that the eyes of this donor had an unspeakable magic.
Helan Dao suddenly glanced at the wandering monk.
The wandering monk twirled his Buddhist beads to hide his gaffe. He took a deep breath and replied to Zhu Heng, "Of course the quality isn't very good. Compared to our Silk Road, the current emperor values the sea routes to the east and south more. The best ones go by sea. The heyday of our Silk Road was hundreds of years ago."
Zhu Heng nodded. This was indeed much more reasonable.
He glanced at the calm lake behind him and asked the wandering monk, "Are you sure this water can eat people? Has anyone seen it with their own eyes?"
"Many people have seen it." The wandering monk paused, "However, the dungeon system has never updated the casualty information here."
“Under what circumstances will the system not update?”
"Only casualties related to the oasis won't be recorded," the wandering monk said. "This is a blind spot in the system's control."
As the wandering monk was speaking, a slightly harsh camel bell sounded, echoing loudly.
Zhu Heng turned his head to look for the source of the sound.
"Don't be nervous, benefactor. This is the dungeon system updating its data."
"Update data?"
"It's the latest casualty information. I heard two people died today. The system should be verifying the information. We'll know the results soon."
Zhu Heng and Helan Dao looked at each other, thinking that the news was spread by the big bearded man, and soon spread throughout the entire underground city.
As the bell struck the seventh time, the electronic screens hanging in the air began to scroll subtitles.
The wandering monk stared at it closely: "Here it comes."
The subtitles flew by, then gradually slowed down, the text blocks froze, and the latest data appeared on the screen—
"Day 972424 of Escape from the Ground"
"today……"
The number of casualties slowly dropped to 2, and the wandering monk's face changed slightly. Could it be that the six-month record of zero casualties was really going to be broken... No, that's not right. The wandering monk stared at the electronic screen without blinking. It was not "2"!
On the screen, the numbers continued to jump, slowly sliding from "2" to "1", and then from "1" to... "0".
The news data that finally appeared on the screen was still "Zero casualties today."
Helan Dao touched the tip of his nose and turned to look at Zhu Heng.
Zhu Heng frowned and took two steps back unconsciously. He couldn't have been wrong.
Zhu Heng felt a cold touch under his feet. He looked down and found that he had unknowingly stepped into the oasis water.
His face was reflected on the water. Zhu Heng raised his head, and after two seconds, he suddenly lowered his head again.
There was a splash of blood across his face reflected in the water. Zhu Heng reached out and touched his cheek, but his fingertips were not stained with the red liquid he had imagined.
Zhu Heng suddenly froze in place, staring intently at the water surface - his reflection on the water surface did not make any movement to touch his face.
The person in the water is not him!
【Author’s words】
Working hard to recover and return to normal update
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