Chapter 271 The Last Death (8) The Stone Church
At around two o'clock in the morning, all the players gathered in Room 05, Gao Geng and Wei Xiangchen's bedroom.
"He Lun, Duan Song, Lin Li, Bai Jie, the four of you have now encountered a deviation event." Gao Mengtang opened his sketchbook and quickly recorded the key information. "Recall in detail what you experienced before the deviation event occurred."
After a pause, Gao Mengtang gave a new guide: "Focus on recalling your emotional ups and downs before the deviation incident occurred."
Duan Song's inference that "Bai Jie killed himself" is outrageous, but it is the only answer after the process of elimination.
Chu Hui's skills were not broken, the source of danger was not the environment or the NPC, nor could it be other players. The only possibility left was the player himself.
"Before the deviation incident occurred, did your mental level drop significantly?" Gao Mengtang asked.
He Lun, Duan Song, and Bai Jie all shook their heads, while Lin Li stared at the floor in a daze.
"Brother, I was having dinner with you, we talked until we went to the bar at night, and then I ate a piece of cake," He Lun said. "That's all I can remember."
Duan Song: "I want to change into a nice outfit to have breakfast."
Bai Jie: "I was wondering what use the Eye of God has in the dungeon."
"Where's Linli?" Gao Mengtang turned his head and looked at someone in the corner.
Lin Li: “…”
never mind.
I want to go to the bar, I want to change into a nice set of clothes, I wonder what the Eyes of Allah is for... I can't find any regular answer.
"Maybe we are heading in the wrong direction? If we encounter danger whenever we want to do something, then I will always want to kill the Eleventh King." Shang Yu yawned.
Gao Geng said seriously: "I always want to play with my brother."
The others looked at the two brothers sticking together in silence, which made Gao Mengtang blush.
"Oh, by the way," Shang Yu yawned again, "Lin Li had the accident at noon. I brought her lunch and asked her what she wanted to eat. Lin Li stood in front of the mirror and smiled foolishly."
Grinning foolishly? Lin Li always had a blank expression on her face, a blank look in her eyes, and seemed to be sleepwalking. Gao Mengtang and others had known Lin Li for almost half a year, and had never seen her smile.
Gao Mengtang quickly asked: "What is she laughing at?"
"How could I know?" Shang Yu said, "At that time, Lin Li had just finished taking a shower, and the mirror in the bathroom was covered with steam. She drew a crying face on the mirror, and then slowly smiled a weird smile at the crying face."
As he spoke, Shang Yu imitated Lin Li's expression vividly, like a crack appearing in a stone, and his stiff muscles slowly moved into a smile.
"I asked Linli what she wanted to eat, and she actually started talking," Shang Yu's expression returned to normal, "and she said a string of numbers."
Gao Mengtang: "What number?"
"4782969, if I remember correctly, it's this string of numbers." Shang Yu yawned from sleepiness, "What's your phone number?"
Gao Geng: "9 to the seventh power equals 4782969."
"Huh?" Duan Song was shocked. "How did you know?"
Gao Geng: "Exponentiation is a compulsory subject in junior high school."
But is it reasonable to just casually say 9 to the seventh power?
"Stop, don't think about Lin Li's prediction. Her prediction is the most difficult riddle to guess." Gao Mengtang dragged the topic back to the incident that deviated from the topic. "Lin Li was laughing at the time. She was in a good mood, right?"
Shang Yu: "If her emotional expression is the same as that of a normal person, I think she is happy."
"What about you?" Gao Mengtang looked at He Lun and the other three people, "How did you feel when you encountered the deviation incident?"
The three people looked at each other for a moment, and a flash of inspiration struck their brains at a certain moment, and they felt a sense of sudden enlightenment.
"I really want to dance with Brother Mengtang," He Lun pretended not to see Gao Geng's stern eyes, "I feel very happy when I think of holding Brother Mengtang's waist and spinning on the dance floor."
Duan Song: "When I changed clothes, I saw my beautiful muscles on the mirror door of the wardrobe, which made me very happy."
Bai Jie: "I am secretly delighted that I have stolen the eyes of God!"
After listening to them, Gao Mengtang slammed his palm and said, "Isn't this the discovery of a pattern? You were very happy before the deviation occurred!"
According to this line of thinking, the Edward Royal Train is very evil. Some things on the train cannot stand others being better off. When they see others happy, they will attack them.
But this is just an inductive speculation. If you want to verify this conclusion, it is best to start with the background story of the train. Gao Mengtang took out his ticket and stared at the words "Edward Royal Train" in a daze.
The Black Tower copies are often related to certain events in reality. It would be great if they knew the history of this train.
The players chattered about it for a while. Unfortunately, Wei Xiangchen had no idea that there was a train near the Principality of Mujin. He Lun, Bai Jie, and Duan Song failed history. Gao Mengtang searched all the knowledge in his mind, but could not find anything related to Edward's Royal Train. Gao Geng was admitted through competitions all the way, and he never took a history class.
Finally, everyone looked at Shang Yu with hope.
"Don't look at me. I was educated by the followers of the ancient gods and I don't even know a few words of the common language." Shang Yu leaned back on the sofa carelessly. "Isn't there a poor guy waiting to be saved? He is very knowledgeable, go ask him."
Gao Mengtang immediately used the skill of transcendence, and a double cross appeared under his feet, glowing light blue. Soon, his body disappeared in the light.
*
"Avi!" Gao Mengtang found Wei Wei in box 01.
Wei Wei was sitting at the table, leaning his chin on the window and looking out at the night. Hearing this, he turned his head and said, "Mr. Blind, you are not in the room. Did you encounter any accident?"
Gao Mengtang was immersed in the joy of reunion. After hugging tightly for a moment, he went straight to the point: "Avi, there is a sightseeing train near the Principality of Hibiscus. Do you know the history of this train?"
After recalling for a moment, Wei Wei shook his head.
Gao Mengtang was not discouraged: "What happened in the 142nd year of Allah? Please help me recall it, anything is fine."
Wei Wei didn't understand, but he still reviewed some history based on these keywords: "This period was the Hundred Years' War of Religious Reform. The world was in chaos. There was a plague in Central Continent. The Purge Army and the 16th Knight Legion went on a cross-ocean expedition and occupied most of the countries in Southern Continent..."
He told the story like a messy ball of wool. Five minutes later, Gao Mengtang felt sleepy.
"The establishment of the Third Reich... Are you listening, Mr. Blind Man?" Wei Wei knocked on the table, and Gao Mengtang reflexively wanted to take out the textbook to mark the key points.
Another 5 minutes passed.
Wei Wei: "...The coalition forces failed in their rebellion against the empire, and the whereabouts of Edward, the king of the fallen country, are unknown..."
Gao Mengtang suddenly woke up: "Edward, the king of the fallen country?"
"Yeah. What's wrong?"
Gao Mengtang: "The train we are on is called the Royal Edward Train."
Wei Wei frowned slightly and said, "There are many people named Edward, and I don't know which Edward it is. The territory of Edward, the king of the fallen country, is not in the northeast of Nanzhou, but in the heart of Xizhou, near the current capital of Xizhou, Jiecheng."
Isn't Xizhou's capital, Jiecheng, near Xiao Tien's old house? Gao Mengtang felt that this Edward was the one he wanted to know about, and asked eagerly, "What did this Edward do?"
"The country was about to fall, and he knew he was powerless to save it, so he and his ministers wanted to die for the country," Wei Wei laughed softly. "On the appointed day, the ministers came to the place where Edward was hanged, but Edward disappeared. He did not make any contribution to history, but left a joke in history."
Gao Mengtang: "What happened after he disappeared?"
"I don't know." said Wei Wei.
This time, the time spent in the near-death zone was obviously shorter than the last time. Gao Mengtang's body gradually became translucent. He hurriedly said goodbye to Wei Wei and passed through the wall back to Room 05.
*
Gao Mengtang felt a sharp pain in his chest and fell on the bed. His vision went dark and it took him a while to come to his senses.
"What did Wei Wei tell you?" Shang Yu asked.
Gao Mengtang lay face down in the soft quilt and weakly repeated the news he had learned from Wei Wei.
"The king of a fallen country, Edward, Jie City, the center of the Ancient God Cult, mysterious disappearance, royal train..." Shang Yu touched his chin and thought. At first glance, these conditions seem to have little correlation, but if you think about it carefully, there is a hidden connection.
Bai Jie: "Could it be that Xiao Tien wandered to Xizhou, met Edward, the king of a fallen country, tricked him to Nanzhou, and the two of them built this train together?"
"562 years ago, according to your calendar, in the 142nd year of Allah, the Ancient God Religion was established," Shang Yu added.
The train tracks are laid at the junction of the inner and outer worlds. There is no one around, so it cannot transport goods or passengers. It is claimed to be a sightseeing train, but there is nothing good to see nearby.
Most likely scenario: Edward's Royal Train is closely related to the founding of the Ancient God Cult.
"Brother Mengtang, you don't look well." He Lun said with concern.
Gao Mengtang's chest still hurt, and he groaned in response.
This time, he was in the Land of the Near-Death for a shorter time and there were adverse reactions. It seemed that he could not go to the Land of the Near-Death as many times as he wanted.
It was three o'clock in the morning, Shang Yu suggested going to bed first and analyzing the dungeon tomorrow. Bai Jie laughed at her for being such a leader among the ancient god believers that she couldn't resist the sleepiness. Shang Yu responded with "You've become a ghost, of course you're not sleepy."
"What about the Eye of God?" Bai Jie said awkwardly, "It turns out it's not a good thing. I was wondering why it was so easy to steal it. The Eleventh Wise King didn't even want to keep it."
The success rate of Baijie's theft is related to many factors: the rarity of the item, the owner's love for the item, etc.
There is only one Eye of God, and it is very rare, but Bai Jie stole it easily, which shows one thing: King Eleven does not like this thing and has to take it with him.
"What's his use?" Duan Song poked the glass eyeball with a feather.
Gao Mengtang shook his head: "Wise King Eleven won't tell me directly. However, I think the Eye of God can be a clue to investigate the history of trains. I'll take it back to my bedroom and ask Wise King Eleven tomorrow. If he doesn't want it, we'll keep it."
After saying goodbye to his teammates, Gao Mengtang tiptoed back to his bedroom and lay down next to the Wise King Eleven.
He squinted for a while and then opened his eyes. It was daybreak. The Eleventh Prince had changed into formal clothes and was sitting at the table reading a book.
"Here, I return the Eye of Allah to you." Gao Mengtang took out the glass eyeball. "Do you still need it? It may help us investigate the story behind Edward Royal Train." He chose his words carefully. "But this is yours after all, I..."
The Eleventh Wise King: "It's just a glass bead. I don't need it. You can take it."
Gao Mengtang observed his expression and found that the Eleventh Sage King was completely focused on the book and didn't care about the Eye of God at all, so he quietly put the Eye of God back into his pocket and said, "Thank you."
Gao Mengtang couldn't eat the meat provided by the dining car, so he took two jelly oranges from Bubble for breakfast. When he was peeling the oranges, there was a knock on the door.
"Hello, passenger. Do you have a body on board?" The conductor bowed 90 degrees. "This train does not allow the carrying of bodies. I hope you can hand the body over to us and we will help you deal with it."
Gao Mengtang thought of Bai Jie in the bubble and the body in the forest, and said stubbornly, "No."
Behind the conductor, a hideous hyena poked its head out, baring its gray-black fangs and breathing at Gao Mengtang.
"Passenger, we hope you can cooperate with us to check your personal belongings." The conductor straightened up and reached out to grab Gao Mengtang. His fingers clearly did not touch Gao Mengtang, but an ice bowl of bubbles appeared in his hand.
In the system inventory, the ice cup bubble disappeared. The train conductor was able to lock and directly obtain the item that hid the body!
Gao Mengtang felt a chill in his heart and quickly used the [Lucky Amulet]. A small note appeared and burned to ashes. The conductor immediately handed the ice cup of bubbles to Gao Mengtang as if nothing had happened.
"Sorry to bother you." The conductor bowed again and disappeared on the spot.
Gao Mengtang let out a long sigh, sat on the bed, and stared at the door in a daze.
He thought he had escaped, but the conductor came again twice in the morning and at noon, demanding that Gao Mengtang hand over the body.
"Why are you collecting bodies?" Gao Mengtang tried to communicate with them, "What use are the bodies to you?"
"Hello passengers, dead bodies are not allowed on this train."
Gao Mengtang: "Why?"
"Hello passengers, dead bodies are not allowed on this train."
Gao Mengtang: "..." NPC that cannot communicate
He had used up all three of his lucky charms. When his teammates knew about this, they all handed their lucky charms to Gao Mengtang.
9 players, 27 lucky charms, 4 were used, and 23 were left. Gao Mengtang counted the small pieces of paper and said worriedly: "The conductor is very strict in checking the matter of hiding the body. It's only the third day, and our lucky charms may not last until the end of the journey."
Bai Jie knocked the floor with his cane: "This is not a problem! Other people's inventory is my warehouse. If there is nothing left, I can just steal it!"
Gao Mengtang: "Other people's lucky charms will also be used up."
"Then steal it here as soon as possible." Bai Jie said.
Gao Mengtang: “…”
On the other hand, Gao Mengtang was even more curious about why the conductor insisted on throwing the body off the train. As he was thinking about this question, the train suddenly tilted significantly.
Small ornaments in the room flew everywhere, and several players sitting on the bed were thrown out. The back of Gao Mengtang's head almost hit the wall. Duan Song rushed over in time and protected his head with his palm.
"What's going on?" Duan Song frowned.
Before the players could come to their senses, the second vibration hit, and the train, which was tilted 30 degrees, seemed to be pushed by a group of people. The wheels on one side had derailed and the sleepers bounced off.
The entire train irresistibly tipped over on its side.
Gao Mengtang buried his face in Duan Song's chest. He pushed Duan Song hard, and just as he opened his eyes, Duan Song pushed them back.
"Senior, be careful," Duan Song said in a serious tone, "something is not right."
Rumble, screams, and dust. The train completely derailed and slid for hundreds of meters on the side due to inertia. Duan Song, holding Gao Mengtang, fell on the broken glass window, and the clothes on his back were immediately cut. Duan Song took off his clothes and covered Gao Mengtang's head. The heavy solid wooden bed fell towards them, and Duan Song kicked the bed to pieces.
"Hey!" Gao Mengtang's voice was muffled through a layer of clothing, "Why are you blocking my eyes!"
He pulled off his clothes and looked up. The train had stopped sliding, and the players fell awkwardly on the side of the train. The scattered luggage was still falling down.
Bai Jie sat on the curtain in a daze, the chandelier swaying above his head, the light making his expression obscure and unclear.
"I saw it," Bai Jie said in a trembling voice, "dead people, this train is full of dead people!"
When the train overturned, Bai Jie clearly saw that the originally spacious room was now filled with gray-green corpses. Their shoulders were pressed against their shoulders, their heads were pressed against their heads. Their skin was ulcerated, their limbs were deformed, and their facial features were blurred.
Their movements seemed as if they were cheering, but their expressions were sad, and their mouths opened and closed, repeating something.
The others stared at Bai Jie in surprise and confusion.
"I didn't see anything," said Heron.
Shang Yu, Duan Song and Gao Geng all said that they didn't see it either.
"Brother Mengtang, what about you?" He Lun asked.
Gao Mengtang: "Duan Song kept pressing my head! All I could see was the lace on his clothes!"
Duan Song stammered, "I'm afraid you'll get hurt."
"I saw it clearly. It's definitely not an illusion." Bai Jie said firmly, "It's very likely that only living souls can see those dead people. Lin Li, did you see it?"
Lin Li: “…”
"I saw it too," said Wei Xiangchen, a lonely soul from the half century. "Their clothing is really nostalgic. It was the style of more than 500 years ago."
Shirakai added: "They cheered with resentment, it looked like they had succeeded in their revenge, and they kept shouting the same thing, but I couldn't hear their voices."
"However, judging from their lip movements, what they said was: Let's die together."
Die together? With the players? The passengers on the train died more than 500 years ago, so why are they full of resentment towards the players?
Gao Mengtang didn't think about it for the moment. He jumped hard, pulled himself up by the door frame, opened the window on the other side, and escaped from the train compartment. He took several deep breaths of the fresh air outside.
Not far away, Xian Wang Eleven had already come out. He looked very calm, standing on the carriage, lighting a cigarette slowly.
Gao Mengtang carefully avoided the other hands that were holding onto the window frame and walked over to Xian Wang Eleven: "Do you know what's going on?"
Xian Wang XI glanced at him and said, "More than 51 people died and the train derailed. Didn't you overhear it?"
Gao Mengtang: "Uh..."
"Do you think I knew you were eavesdropping and deliberately spread false news to confuse you?" Xian Wang Eleven sneered, "Everything I said yesterday was true. A one-sided fact. Twelve, I don't need to go to great lengths to deal with you."
He was unhappy, and Gao Mengtang chose to disappear in front of him immediately. At this time, other players also climbed out of the carriage one after another.
The conductors did what they do best: bowed deeply to apologize.
"Dear passengers, we will repair the train as soon as possible. We are deeply sorry for not providing you with a perfect journey..."
The players were too lazy to get angry at the NPC who seemed like an artificial idiot, so they each found a piece of grass to rest.
In the [Last Dead] dungeon, players will turn into living spirits when they die for the first time. Therefore, most of the avatars in the player list are lit. Only the avatars of a few players who turned into living spirits and died again will turn gray and be replaced with a red seal [Excommunicate]. As a result, players do not know how many living spirits there are.
"What is excommunication?" Heron asked, "elimination?"
Bai Jie: "Excommunication is a Catholic term that the Ancient God Church borrowed. In simple terms, it means excommunication from the church."
The copy uses the word "excommunication" instead of "elimination", which is definitely not to show vocabulary. The copy, the train, the dead person in the car, and the word "excommunication" must have their own meaning.
"Mr. Blind, are you okay?" Chu Wen ran over with Chu Hui. After a brief greeting, he said with some concern, "Today is the third day of our trip. We will go to visit the scenic spots at 6pm."
Gao Mengtang unfolded the itinerary and saw that the third day's visit location was called [Splitting Stone Church], but the content of the visit was not written in the itinerary.
Chu Wen glanced around, leaned close to Gao Mengtang's ear, and whispered, "This morning, when I was having breakfast in the dining car, I accidentally overheard the conversation of the ancient god believers. They said that the passengers had to pass a test in the Cracked Stone Church."
"What is the content of the test?" Gao Mengtang asked.
Chu Wen shook his head: "I don't know, but those ancient god believers laughed with ill intentions. I'm afraid this test will be difficult."
It is now two o'clock in the afternoon, and the conductor said that the train will not be repaired until the second half of the night.
Gao Mengtang took out the Eye of God and looked around repeatedly: "What happened on the train is probably related to the Ancient God Religion. Let's go to the Split Stone Church in advance to take a look."
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